5E D&D Modern Magic and Campaign Rules

August 7, 2015

How can that be so? There are only a few mentions of modern weapons in d&d 5^th edition.

You can’t run a game with just a pile of weapons and damage…

Alright, correction, you shouldn’t try! But with the good old group of D&D guys and gals at WotC continuous work we have been getting a steady diet of all kinds of supplements and game rules advice for free!

Specifically for modern we have a behind the screens and unearthed arcana that fleshes out enough rules so that it is easier to run a campaign that uses modern magic, modern weapons, and modern classes.

Between the recent behind the screens on the topic of firearms and modern armor plus the newest unearthed arcana dealing with all kinds of modern magic I am confident I can play my Vyrium modern campaign with just a few additions of my own.

D&D 5th Edition Modern Magic and Rules for your Campaign

and my Vyrium campaign setting

Behind the screens with Dan Helmick delves into modern armor, from leather jackets to SWAT gear. The most protective of which grants damage resistance to ballistics and slashing!

Another point he brought up was the social issue with rolling down the street with riot gear on. Hell people react differently to people who look like tough bikers.

Now imagine a “team” of a biker, a trenchcoat wearing gal with a staff that glows, a guy dressed like a ninja, and 2 indistinguishable figures over 6 ft tall with full riot gear and ballistic shields. Guess who doesn’t blend in walking down the street.

No one is going to get cozy with a guy who looks like he is expecting a war to break out. No, instead they will be interested in getting the hell away from someone dressed like the gentleman to the left.

To go along with the problems of wearing inappropriate attire for a night out on the town the author suggests charisma check modification of some sort based on armor. I guess it all depends on the situation. The guy in riot gear with a badge present in a ghetto would get a very different response then if that same person is in an emergency response situation and you are the one who needs his help.

I am still on the fence about the aim feature, where it takes a bonus action to “aim” which allows you to add your proficiency modifier to an attack or action with the firearm. I like it but when I include it I think several classes that are ported over from fantasy would gain the ability to aim as a reaction or free action as part of their leveling(rogues / fighters).

As for who gets the spiffy modern weapons… get ready for bad times casters because the wizard, sorcerer, cleric, druid, and warlock get nothing! Enjoy your pew pew cantrip attacks while getting shot at by automatic weapons fire.

In fantasy settings powerful ranged attacks are one of the advantages of being a caster. And in D&D 5th edition they really helped equalize the power between a fighter who always gets to swing their sword and now the caster who gets to always cast cantrips. This definitely beats the old model where a caster got a few spells and then had to rely on the smiting powers of non-magical rocks.

They fixed that in 5^th edition with the cantrip but turn the damage of a warrior’s ranged weapon to the level of an 11^th level wizard and the scale gets flipped right off the table.

I fixed this by inventing the Spellshot. A blaster or phaser style item / tech gauntlet that lets casters blast out elemental, force, or radiance damage just like their cantrips but it doesn’t need to be “aimed” and doesn’t count as a spell being cast while still being a magical attack.

I will get into them later when I have a few modern games under my belt with these new rules. But I wanted to mention it here so you know that I had a possible fix for the arms race if it is too one sided after some play testing.