Gantz d20 Modern/Future

[JonSetanta]

These are 2 d20 Modern adaptations of the 6-class variety condensed in to single "classless" variants.

While the "Gestalt" is for most campaigns of Modern and Future, the "Sucky" version is almost like the opposite of leveling up.
You get worse.
... but that's the point, since in the Gantz (manga) storyline people are modern-era or near-future morons in unusual scifi situations, shooting classical Japanese monsters under the guidance of an aloof and perhaps mentally retarded unconscious cyborg in a black sphere.

I took the liberty to do away with skill points since it's a mess with the greater number of d20 Modern/Future skills. SAGA-like static bonus + Level works better; you just grab the skill and off you go.

Gestalt hero Talents have been improved and now scale. Many are cumulative but the Mental ones probably don't need to be usually.
Still working on Mental Talents.


Hero (gestalt)

Level Properties
HP: +10
Base Attack: +1
Best Saves: +2 bonus Fortitude, Reflex, and Will one time, +1 bonus more every even level.
Skills: 8 + INT skills are trained, get +3 bonus once and another +1 bonus per level.

Weapon Proficiencies: Simple


Hero gains the following with level advancement:
• 1 Bonus Feat
• 2 Talents (each new skill added is 1 Talent)
• Defense Bonus +3, and another +1 every even level
• Reputation Bonus equal to +2, and another +1 every third level


STRONG HERO: STRENGTH TALENTS
Extreme Effort (cumulative): +2 to Strength checks, +1 more for each copy of this Talent each time it is added again
Ignore Hardness (cumulative): -5 Hardness and Damage Resistance
Melee Smash (cumulative): +1 damage per level with each melee attack

FAST HERO: DEXTERITY TALENTS
Defensive: +1 Defense per odd level
Increased Speed (cumulative): +10 Move

TOUGH HERO: CONSTITUTION TALENTS
Damage Resistance: reduce Physical damage received by 2 per level
Energy Resistance: reduce Energy damage received by 2 per level
Unbreakable: +5 HP with another +5 HP more for each copy of this Talent each time it is added again

SMART HERO: INTELLIGENCE TALENTS
Research
Strategy

DEDICATED HERO: WISDOM TALENTS
Empathic
Healing
Intuition

CHARISMATIC HERO: CHARISMA TALENTS
Charm
Fast-Talk
Leadership




Sucky Hero for Gantz setting d20 Modern/Future

HP: +10
Base Attack: special; base value +4, does not advance
Best Saves: one save gets +2, none advance
Skills: choose 4 + INT skills to train, access to all skills, but skill bonuses only get the initial +4 and do not advance

Weapon Proficiencies: none, may gain proficiency with a weapon after making a successful kill. Proficiency lasts until another weapon is used or character is reduced to 0 HP.


Hero gains the following with level advancement:
• 2 Flaws must be added each level


The Gantz suit provides the following:
• 4 charges + 1 per level maximum, refills when characters return to Gantz sphere or 12 hours pass since expending.
• Damage Resistance 10 + Level against all types of damage as long as at least 1 charge is left. Character is immune to Gantz energy weapon attacks from other Gantz suit users.
• Charges may be spent to maximize any roll the user makes. All damage dice from a single attack is affected by one charge each time.
• Charges are also automatically reduced by 1 each time the user takes at least 10 + Level damage from a single attack. Damage that exceeds 10 affects user normally by the overlapping amount.
• Black pleather. Knobs. Looks really cool.


WEAK or YOUNG HERO: STRENGTH FLAWS
Pathetic Effort: -1 Attack rolls per odd level; any Attack roll or Strength check result of 1 the user makes cause them to become Fatigued
Unbeatable Hardness: -2 Damage dealt per level when attacking objects or anything with Hardness, Resistance, or Reduction to damage
Feeble: -2 Melee Damage dealt per level and -1 Strength checks per level

CLUMSY or SLOW HERO: DEXTERITY FLAWS
Two Left Feet: -2 Initiative per level and -1 Dexterity checks per level
Fumble: Both -1 Reflex save and -1 Defense Penalty per odd level (total: Reflex save does not advance); any Reflex save or Dexterity check roll of 1 the user makes causes them to drop any held items, or fall prone if no item is held
Decreased Speed: -5 feet (1 space) movement speed per level

FRAGILE or OLD HERO: CONSTITUTION FLAWS
Damage Weakness: +1 Physical Damage dealt to user per level in any round in which they receive more Physical damage than their Level.
Pain Weakness: In any round that the character receives more damage than their Level, all attack rolls, saves, and checks they make until the end of that round gets a -4 penalty.
Breakable: -2 Fortitude save, and -1 Defense Penalty per even level; any Fortitude save or Physical (STR, DEX, CON) check result of a 1 the user makes deals 1 damage to them that can't be prevented.

STUPID or A.D.D. HERO: INTELLIGENCE FLAWS
Ramble: In any round in which the character talks, all allies that can hear the talking get -1 per level to their next check or attack roll in that round. This effect resets after the end of the round. Attempts to use Intelligence checks to gain knowledge or communicate always fail.
Urge: -1 Intelligence check penalty per level. Once each encounter (or hour) when faced with a dangerous decision that might endanger allies or option to gamble presents itself, the character must make an Intelligence check against DC 10 or place allies in danger at the expense of personal gain or indulge in the gamble.
Make It Worse: Once each round when the character fails any attack roll or skill check by a difference 5 or more, they get a -4 penalty to all other similar checks for the rest of that encounter or hour. This penalty is cumulative until an hour passes. Attempting further checks is regarded as a gamble for the Urge Flaw.

COWARDLY or ALOOF HERO: WISDOM FLAWS
Blame: Once each round when affected by any one targeted attack the character must redirect it to a nearby ally or innocent.
Counterintuitive: -1 Will save and -1 Wisdom check penalty per level (total: Will save does not advance); any d20 roll of a 1 forces the user to make as much movement as possible in to danger (obvious or not).
Oblivious Loner: -1 Spot, Listen, and Search check penalty per level, worsens to -2 per level when no ally is in sight. Also stacks with Counterintuitive penalties. Attempts to use Wisdom checks to locate allies always fail unless the allies are obviously visible in well-lit areas, tell or touch the character directly, or remain in line of effect after being located.

AUTISTIC or RUDE HERO: CHARISMA FLAWS
Social Blunder: -1 Charisma check penalty per level; any social check (various skills among Charisma, Wisdom, and Intelligence) result of 1 causes the opposite desired effect or a harmful yet similar result.
Unstoppable Insult: When the character talks to NPCs in any encounter, the NPC starting reaction is one step more hostile than normal and the character is targeted first by any attacks even if more dangerous allies are near. This effect resets each day that passes without the character interacting with the NPC, unless the NPC holds a grudge or was attacked in any way.
Signal To Noise, or "Hurpdurp": When attempting to communicate information to allies or NPCs, once each round an important fact, sentence, key word, or statement is lost to the winds, misunderstood, or botched. The GM chooses which portion of speech is omitted without telling the player until the end of an encounter, or when results become obvious as by reaction.

[JonSetanta]

No one likes or hates it? Oh well. I was hoping for at least a lulz on the Sucky Hero but that's OK.

[Maxus]

Actually, I missed this somehow.

It's late, so I'll check this tomorrow when I have my HP/MP restored. >>

[Maxus]

I'm not familiar with Gantz, but if you're going to have flaws for your characters...These, at least, have some creativity and thought put into them.

[CatharzGodfoot]

I can see where you're going with the sucky hero advancement, and I can recognize the characters that the flaws came from. However, each level is still a positive thing in the Gantz manga. Certain character flaws (like being an asshole) get accentuated in some characters, and others (like being a selfish coward) disappear or reverse in others. So although the 'sucky hero' advancement system looks like it would make for a hilarious game, it wouldn't model Gantz especially well.

[JonSetanta]

I'm not familiar with Gantz, but if you're going to have flaws for your characters...These, at least, have some creativity and thought put into them.

Thank you. It did indeed take some time.
I thought back to the Gantz series I'd read last spring/summer and recalled every blooper that got an individual or party killed (all but 1 member, naturally) to make sure I had all archetypes of moronicity implemented.

http://mangahut.com/manga/Gantz/001

For a shortcut to some good scenes without really spoiling much:
http://mangahut.com/manga/Gantz/245/pg3
http://mangahut.com/manga/Gantz/136


Catharz: How so? I noticed most advantages come from equipment more than skill.

[RiotGearEpsilon]

I'm not clear how these advancements / reductions work. What happens when you level up, exactly?

[JonSetanta]

You might be seeing them together; they're not.

You either have a serious campaign and use the "classless" d20 Hero wherein you get better with every level, or you have a Gantz-style campaign with more than 1 Sucky Hero readied because you KNOW YOU'RE GOING TO DIE.

The point of Sucky Hero is like an accumulating handicap. Yes, you get worse with each level and you must pick more flaws, but as with the Gantz comic your items upgrade and usually cover for your suckitude.... IF you survive.

[Judging__Eagle]

However, characters in Gantz get better as time passes.

What might work could be that characters are not given stats at first.

Instead you just get a pile of characters that are typified with a single sentence: Yakuza Hit-man; Youth Biker-Ganger leader, Biker-Ganger Drunk, Biker-Ganger moron, Biker-Ganger lecher.

You could seriously have large tables of character desctriptions:

First would be proffession, and second would be either mindset or personality-based.

Some proffessions:
Yakuza
Infant-Child
Elementary School Student
High Schooler
Middle Schooler
University Student
Salaryman/Salarywoman
Retired/Elderly
Youth Biker-Ganger
Army Reservist
Martial Artist
Mage
Shinto Monk

Special Proffession:
Animal (Dog, Panda, etc.)

Mindsets/Attitudes:

Former Gantz Champ
Proffesional Gantz participant
Accountant
Widower/Widow
Traditionalist
Innocent
Asshole
Otaku
Coward
Bully
Bubbly
Suicidal
Pathetic
Violent
Lecher
Nymphomaniac/Satyromaniac

You just roll on each table, if you get something you like, good, if not you can roll an other character to add to the pile that will be presented with Gantz.

Every "episode" you have each player roll up a random number of characters. In some instances, you might want a _lot_ of characters to show up, such as when say one of the players decides to go on a shooting spree in order to have the Gantz room get filled with new people.

I'd also reccomend that the players at least read the comics where lots of newbies to Gantz are introduced and then b/c they didn't gear up, get killed. You actually _want_ that to happen, a lot. You want only a few people to remain from episodic fight to episodic fight.

Of course, some characters that have survived could very well either try to help the newbies, so they tell them to put on their suits and get a weapon.

The downside being that they, themselves won't get as many points, so they won't actually get better gear.

However, some character just want to get as many points as their can in order to get awesome weapons. So they are fine with any extra rolled up characters that they get just dying.

I'd also reccomend a level-less system. You instead want a damage box and skills to do things sort of system.

Even the most experienced and well geared character (to date) in the setting got killed by something that a bunch of really much lower leveled characters killed by attacking the monster from angles that were out of it's angle of vision (unknown attacks were what it didn't understand, so sniping from far away worked well).

[JonSetanta]

You kidding?? The first hero, the pervy young guy with a sex addiction, begins awesome if not a little clumsy, but ends up falling from an alien birdmonster.
This is a guy that bumbles in to alien hives, and runs like a terrified little bitch.
The only example of someone getting better would be the longhaired dude with a katana that fights a gang of vampires by himself, and he only accomplished that with an extending sword and invisibility.

On average there are far too many characters dying in cringingly, painfully, avoidable ways in unusual circumstances for me to consider that they've been 'leveling up'. Perhaps they simply didn't get any better, but I think it's funny if, say, monsters ALSO don't improve and the heroes just get worse.

I mean look at how slow the later (boss) monsters react; the tengu and shapeshifting monk take like 5 minutes to progress from snarling to glaring to a single action, even if that first attack can crush a man in an instant.
That means:
• Low Dodge AC
• Low Init
• AWFUL perception for some of them. Absolutely the worst.
• Miss a ton of times. Bad attack bonuses. Rely on flanking, flat-footed, etc to get the jump on PCs.

[Judging__Eagle]

Well, yes, the main character has been killed twice so far.

The long-haired Katana dude has been killed at this point as well.

Really, each episode is a combination of tactics, puzzle solving and diplomacy.

Since the characters hardly level up. At best they get access to a new weapon.