Intermediary Classes
I covered the basics in the previous post. It’s a concept unique to LPJ Games, and is mostly a way to insert highly specific classes for modern campaigns. Now I’m not a big fan of how D20 Modern does things, but I think that the 6 Strong/Fast/etc. Hero classes can cover most bases.
Interestingly, unlike the 6 basic classes, two of the Intermediaries (Clinic Defender and ER Intern) have an even number of skill points per level, one less than they’d get with their core counterparts. Since D20 Modern assumes all PCs are human unless the campaign specifies otherwise, PCs have odd numbers of skill points and two feats at 1st level. I assume this to be a typo.
Clinic Defender is a 5-level class with a medium BAB, Good Fort save, a good Defense, 4 + Int skill points per level, and a d10 Hit Die. They represent those pro-choice demonstrators who help escort women into clinics amidst angry mobs, volunteer security guards, and counter-demonstrators. Once again, Field makes an inappropriate war analogy by describing them as “self-taught urban warfare experts.”
At 1st level, the character gains
Read the Crowd, where they can discern a crowd’s overall attitude (hostile, unfriendly, etc) with a DC 18 Sense Motive check. This should not be a class feature.
On a successful roll, they also gain a +1 Initiative bonus in encounters involving the crowd for 24 hours.
At 3rd level,
Supportive grants the character the ability to spend an action point and allow an adjacent ally to use one of their Saves in place of their own. Lasts for 5 rounds or if they move beyond 5 feet. Too situational, requires a limited per-level resource, and has a short range and duration.
5th level,
Counter Demonstration can be used if the character and at least one other person spend a full-round action flinging taunts and insults to enemies. This grants a +1 morale bonus to Defense (Armor Class in Modern terms) and two saving throws of the character’s choice to a number of allies equal to the Charisma modifier of the most charismatic demonstrator within 30 feet. It does not specify the duration. The bonuses are too low, and forcing 2+ people to waste their entire turns is counter-productive in combat.
And bonus feats at 2nd and 4th level.
And what does a Clinic Defender have to give up in exchange for all this? Must choose Personal Firearms Proficiency as one of their 1st level feats, and must put maximum ranks in Concentrate, Intimidate, and either Knowledge (Streetwise) or (Civics) until the former two are at 6 ranks and the latter at 4 ranks. And an allegiance (Modern’s take on alignment) to either a pro-choice organization, a left-wing or liberal cause, or a libertarian religion. I don’t know what Field means by this last one.
The verdict: Underpowered. Charismatic Hero has better buffs, while the Tough Hero has better defensive talents.
Sidewalk Counselor is a 5-level social-based class. Basically you’re a religious person who hangs around clinics to talk women out of getting abortions. Bad BAB progression, Good Reflex and Will, bad Defense progression, and 7 + Int skill points per level.
The class feature descriptions are out of order. Seriously, the bonus feats at 2nd and 4th level come before the 1st level Convincing Argument feature, but is otherwise good. Sadly this isn’t the only editing error I see in this document. Another strike against Chris Field.
1st level is
Convincing Argument, where you combine pseudoscience and religious doctrine to make yourself sound like you know what you’re talking about. A number of times per day equal to Cha modifier you add your ranks in your highest Knowledge skill as a bonus to a Bluff or Diplomacy check. It’s meant to be used for science and religious arguments, but per RAW it can be used with things like Knowledge (Streetwise). Really overpowered, since Diplomacy still works the same way it does in 3.X.
Awaken Grief is at 3rd level, and BOY IS IT UNDERPOWERED. Basically you guilt-shame a pro-choice person or woman who has had/wants to have an abortion. If you get a natural 20 on a Bluff or Diplomacy check on a person who fits the above criteria, you can choose to have them be shaken for one round.
Natural 20. For one round.
Charismatic Hero has two talents which can be used far more often (Dazzle and Taunt), are available at the same level (3rd), and the penalties for dazzle are just one less than shaken.
5th level is the
Choose Life ability, where the character sways one over to their way of thinking. By speaking for a full round and spending an action point, and on a failed Will Save, the target gains an Allegiance to a conservative, religious, or pro-life position of the Sidewalk Counselor. If an existing Allegiance is in conflict, it is dropped. This effect lasts for only 1d4+1 rounds. The target is more favorably inclined towards the character during this brief period of time.
Super underpowered, unless you have magic in your campaign, in which it’s suggested that the target loses spellcasting ability if affected (because evangelical Christians hate magic).
And what are the restrictions? Like the Clinic Defender, only Bluff and Diplomacy and Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) for skills, and Alertness instead of Personal Firearms Proficiency. Not really a penalty for Bluff and Diplomacy, but still not worth it for this class.
The verdict: Useless except for a 1 level dip for Convincing Argument.
Next up is the
Blogger… Intermediate Class? Dude, the text is extra-large for class titles, LPJ Design has no excuse for this!
Basically another social-based class, but with some investigative abilities. It’s 3 levels long, d6 hit die, poor BAB progression, a Good Will Save, the Fort and Ref Save progressions are left blank (GODDAMIT FIELD!), 7 + Int skill points per level, and average Defense.
1st level you get
Media Bias. You’re a hyper-partisan political blogger. Pick a single government, race, occupation, religion, or ethos. You receive a bonus equal to Blogger level+1 on Gather Information, Investigate, and Research checks against people belonging to said group, but you’re “infamous among that group.” What, a mechanical advantage with a flavor text penalty. I would’ve gone for a flat penalty on social skill checks.
Bonus feat at 2nd level.
3rd level is
Blogo-Sphere, where you cut the time spent on Gather Info, Investigate, and Research checks by 25% if you have Internet access.
Penalties: 6 ranks in Diplomacy and Perform (any), 4 ranks in Knowledge (any) and Investigate, Renown as one of your 1st level feats.
The verdict: Underpowered and specialized, Smart Hero gains a larger bonus (equal to Hero level) on an Int-based skill with a talent.
The
Irregular class represents rank and file guerilla soldiers, terrorists, and (for this product) Army of God-style anti-abortion activists who firebomb clinics and shoot doctors. 3 level class, d8 hit die, Good BAB progression, Good Will Save, good Defense, and 3 + Int skill points per level.
Once again we meet poor editing. Suicide Strike is 1st level in the table, Atrocity 2nd, and Die Fighting at 3rd. But Atrocity is the first in the list of descriptions, followed by Die Fighting,
and then Suicide Strike. What the fuck, guys?
1st level you get Personal Firearms Proficiency as a bonus feat.
Atrocity: When doing damage against ‘civilians,’ you don’t roll but instead treat the damage dice at their highest values. A civilian must be an Ordinary (NPC variants of Hero classes), a BAB of +3 or less, and cannot have the Criminal, Law Enforcement, or Soldier occupation.
Potential damage boost, but too situational to be useful for most campaigns. Might be useful against mooks who are ill-trained but numerous, like cultists.
Die Fighting: You can take a single move or standard action once per round if at -1 or lower hit points. You can still bleed to death.
Suicide Strike: If you’re struck by an attack which would drop you to 0 hit points or less, you get an immediate free attack at your highest attack bonus. Only usable once per encounter.
Restrictions: 3 skill points in Knowledge (Tactics), and must take 1 rank in Knowledge (Civics) and (Theology & Philosophy) each before you can multiclass out. So what happens if you don’t, and meet enough experience to grow to 4th level.
The verdict: Die Fighting’s the only good one of the bunch. Otherwise too situational, again.
ER Intern is exactly what it says on the tin. 3 level class, d6 hit die, poor BAB, good Will save, 6 + Int skill points per level, and poor Defense progression.
Holy shit, the class features on the table are in reverse order in descriptions! Just when I got used to sloppy editing, Field surprises me yet again…
1st level grants Surgery as a bonus feat, and
Triage, which allows you to know the amount of negative hit points someone or something has with a DC 10 Treat Injury as a free action. Meaning you can do it effectively unlimited times, so you may as well bother not rolling at all.
2nd level grants
Tireless Healer, where you only need 3/4th the amount of rest to recover hit points. For yourself, not your patients.
3rd level grants
Life Saver, where you roll d10s instead of d6s for Action Points on Treat Injury checks.
Restrictions are 6 ranks in Spot and Treat Injury, and 3 ranks in Craft (Pharmaceutical) and Profession (Doctor). Oh hey, Profession is just a single skill with no subsets in D20 Modern! I really hope that this work is entirely unedited; paying an editor for this would be a crime against humanity.
And that’s it for classes!
Thoughts for far: The classes are weak and the editing’s atrocious. Need I say more?
Next time, feats!
