TEXT: FX Items
  Bullet Points
  FX Items
  By James Wyatt
  Welcome to the latest installment of Bullet Points. I'm James Wyatt, designer of a lot of D&D books, plus 
  one d20 Modern book that's coming out in 2005, though I can't tell you about that one just yet. It's my job 
  to answer your questions about the game, offer advice on tricky issues, and give you a little peek into the 
  minds of the designers (insofar as I can pry their minds open to wrest insight from them). 
  Every two weeks I'll pick an issue that's provoked a lot of questions or comments, begin with a general 
  discussion of the topic where applicable, and then answer specific questions related to it. If there are any 
  unrelated but pressing questions in the mailbox, I might tackle them at the end of the column, but only if 
  there's room and they can't wait for an appropriately themed column.
  Magic and the d20 Modern Game
  I'm still easing into the transition from D&D to d20 Modern, so I've chosen another topic that's common to 
  both games -- magic items, or FX items as they're called in the d20 Modern game. There aren't as many 
  questions on this topic as there were about magic, so I've also included one leftover question from the last 
  installment at the end.
  Questions and Answers
  We'll start with some questions about the Artificer prestige class in the Urban Arcana Campaign Setting, 
  then move on into other FX topics.
  I have a question about the Artificer prestige class. The item creation class feature seems no 
  different from the typical Mage abilities in the d20 Modern rulebook. Why isn't the Artificer the 
  best at making items?
  Unlike a Mage, an Artificer can craft wands and make magic mastercraft items. In addition, when an 
  Artificer gets the improved brew potion, improved scribe scroll, and improved scribe tattoo abilities, the raw 
  materials have lower purchase DCs, and thus lower XP costs. 
  I was wondering why the abilities to craft wondrous items, rings, and staffs aren't available to 
  the Artificer. Also, the Urban Arcana book doesn't give rules on adding a special quality -- 
  such as flaming or producing a sleep effect on a successful hit -- to a weapon. Are staffs, rings, 
  wondrous items, and weapons with special abilities found only as treasure? Or do we have to wait 
  for another book to get the rest of the item creation rules? 
  The d20 Modern game has no rules for crafting staffs, rings, or wondrous items, or for adding special 
  abilities to weapons or armor. The game assumes that such items are brought in from Shadow, not 
  manufactured in the modern world. 
  
  FX Items
  However, it's quite possible to adapt the item creation rules from D&D for d20 Modern, if you wish. Here's 
  an easy way.
  1. Calculate the price for creating the item using the D&D rules.
  2. Multiply that price by 20.
  3. Find an equivalent purchase DC using Table 7-1: Purchase DCs in the d20 Modern 
  Roleplaying Game rulebook.
  4. Add 1 to that DC for a Mage (assuming that you allow Mages to make these items at all), 
  or subtract 1 from it for an Artificer. 
  Artificers should have to choose forge ring, craft staff, or craft wondrous item as specific item creation 
  talents in order to make the corresponding items. Vehicular magic items fall into the wondrous items 
  category.
  You could also rule that an Artificer can add special properties to weapons or armor using his magic 
  mastercraft ability. To figure out the costs, just apply the purchase DC modifier to the raw materials cost.
  I've picked through the section on magic items in the Urban Arcana Campaign Setting, and I 
  can't find any mention of the purchase DC for raw enhancement bonuses. 
  Check page 375 of the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game.
  Do magic firearms bestow their power on nonmagical bullets they fire? Would nonmagical 
  bullets fired from a +2 Glock be able to penetrate damage reduction 15/+2, or are +2 bullets 
  required? What is the market price on magic ammo?
  Magic firearms bestow their magical power on their ammunition. You can also buy magic ammunition using 
  the same Purchase DC Modifier as for weapons. Such ammo comes in the same units as standard ammo, 
  as given on Table 4-5: Ammunition in the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game. Thus, you can buy 20 +1 
  5.56mm rounds for a Purchase DC of 14, or 50 +1 9mm rounds for a Purchase DC of 15. The 
  enhancement bonus from magic ammunition does not stack with the enhancement bonus from a magic 
  firearm, however. 
  A woundinghandgun is described on page 375 of the d20 Modern rulebook, and an illustration 
  of a shotgun of wounding appears on page 123 of the Urban Arcana Campaign Setting. 
  However, the magical effect for wounding on page 125 of Urban Arcana states that it applies only to 
  melee weapons. Is the text in Urban Arcana incorrect? Can modern firearms and other ranged 
  weapons benefit from the wounding ability?
  I suspect, though I don't know for sure, that the "(melee weapons only)" restriction was added to the 
  description in Urban Arcana late in the game -- after the art was already done -- in order to dodge 
  questions like the next one. From a design viewpoint, I'd say that even though the wounding handgun 
  appeared first, and it's in the core rulebook, it's really better for the game if the wounding property applies 
  to melee weapons only, as it does in D&D v.3.5. 
  
  FX Items
  The description of the wounding handgun FX item says that multiple wounds stack. Thus, if 
  Russell the Soldier hits a GM character in two different rounds with his wounding handgun, 
  the wounding property would deal 2 points of damage per round. What if Russell had used the 
  Double Tap feat, expending two bullets in the same round with his wounding handgun? If both hit, 
  do they cause multiple wounds, which therefore deal 2 points of damage every round?
  Now that we've established that the wounding handgun probably shouldn't exist, we have to figure out what 
  to do with it if it does. Two bullets fired using the Double Tap feat don't deal as much damage as two 
  separate bullets fired normally, and the result is really more like a single, nasty wound than two wounds. 
  Therefore, the wounding damage is still only 1 point per round.
  More Magic Mayhem!
  This last question actually relates to the last column, which focused on magic.
  I'm not sure if I'm reading the Incantations section in the Urban Arcana Campaign Setting 
  properly. The way I see it, if the DC is 41, the caster must make a Knowledge (arcane lore) 
  check every 10 minutes. The help he gets from any secondary casters does not modify that check. 
  In fact, other than manipulating the incantation, nothing reduces this number. So if the character is 
  casting the spell with say, twelve friends, and the casting time is 70 minutes, he must make seven 
  checks. Suppose the caster is 18th level and has an Intelligence bonus of +6. His maximum rank in 
  Knowledge (arcane lore) is 21, and adding his Intelligence modifier gives him a +27 bonus on the 
  check. So on a d20, he would need to roll 14 or higher seven times to get the spell off. If he fails, he 
  and his buddies lose the money, time, and XP cost, experience the backlash, and possibly take the 
  effects of the spell. If I'm reading the rules properly, there is no way anyone would be stupid 
  enough to attempt an incantation, since the risk far outweighs the benefit. Please correct me if I'm 
  wrong.
  I'm not sure your conclusion is wrong, though there might be some mistakes in your assumptions. Your 
  conclusion -- that incantations are too risky to be worthwhile -- really depends on the character making the 
  decision. Some heroes are sure to feel that the power of an incantation is worth the risk. Others may feel 
  that they can manage the risk successfully, and that's where I can step in and respond to your 
  assumptions.
  First off, you picked the highest DC in the book as your example. Yeah, baleful polymorph is a very difficult 
  incantation to pull off successfully. If I were going to attempt it, I'd make sure I had a high-level character, 
  as you suggest. I'd definitely use a living, helpless creature as a model for the target, which would give me 
  a +2 bonus on all my checks. And I'd be sure to take Skill Emphasis (Knowledge [arcane lore]), and maybe 
  Magical Affinity, for another +5 bonus. At that point, I'm rolling 1d20 + 34, so I'd need only a 7 or better on 
  the roll.
  Now, to be clear, my character doesn't need to make seven successful checks in a row. He can fail over 
  and over again, as long as he doesn't fail two consecutive checks. The odds of failing two in a row when 
  the character has a 30% chance of failure are not insignificant, but they're a lot better than you suggested 
  in your hypothetical situation. And maybe that helps balance the risk in your mind.
  As a final note, remember that DC 41 is as high as the examples in Urban Arcana get. Most of the other 
  
  FX Items
  incantations are significantly easier, at least by the time your hero hits those high levels we're talking about.
  Do you have a rules question about the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game? Send it to 
  bulletpoints@wizards.com. For the quickest possible answer, please put the topic of your question in the 
  subject line and keep the question as succinct as possible. If you have more than one question, feel free to 
  send two or more emails -- but for best results please include only one question per email unless your 
  questions are very closely related to one another. Please don't expect a direct answer by email. Check 
  back here every other week for the latest batch of answers!
  About the Author
  James Wyatt is an RPG designer at Wizards of the Coast, Inc. His design credits include The Speaker in 
  Dreams, Defenders of the Faith, Oriental Adventures, Deities and Demigods, Fiend Folio, Draconomicon, 
  and the Book of Exalted Deeds. He wrote the Origins award-winning adventure City of the Spider Queen 
  and is one of the designers of the new Eberron campaign setting, which is due out in June 2004. James 
  lives in Kent, Washington with his wife Amy and son Carter.
  ©1995-2005 Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Wizards is 
  headquartered in Renton, Washington, PO Box 707, Renton, WA 98057.
  
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