d20 Cryptosnark Games Deeds Not Words.pdf

T ABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

What’s New, What’s Different?

Building Your Super-Hero

Ability Scores

Races

Origins

Complications

Advantages

Classes

Adventurer

Armor Adept

Champion

Martial Artist

Mercenary

Mystic

Operative

Playboy

Psion

Rogue

Savage

Sidekick

Sleuth

Tech

Vigilante

Notes on Multi-Classing

Secondary and Derived Abilities

GM Option: Alignment

Multiple Identities

Super-Heroic Skills

Backgrounds

Fame

Reputation

Resources

Feats

Summary List

Alphabetical Descriptions

The Experience Tithe System

Super-Powers

Power Summary Lists

Alphabetical Descriptions

Learning and Improving Powers

Power-Stretching

Creating New Powers and Enhancements

Armor Adept Suit Modifications

Psionic Skills and Talents

Mystics and Mystic Spells

Summary Lists by Level

Alphabetical Descriptions

Super-Pets and Familiars

Super-Science

Extraordinary Machines

117

118

119

122

210

211

212

213

228

241

244

248

272

275

Extraordinary Chemicals

Weapons, Vehicles, and Equipment

Vehicle Systems

New and Modified Game Systems

Super-Strength/Super-Constitution

Unusual Movement

Computers: Using, Abusing, Intruding

Super-Heroic Hazards

New Combat Systems

Mayhem Tables

Forming Super-Teams

Aging and Reinventing Characters

Running the Game

General Advice

Modes of Play

Super-Heroic Encounter/XP Awards

Gaining Hero Points

GM Option: Titheless Play

GM Option: Super Martial-Arts Games

GM Option: Omega-Class Characters

Appendix A: Common Concept Templates

Appendix B: NPC Character Classes

Appendix C: NPC Threats and Complications

Appendix D: Super-Pets and Familiars

Appendix E: Bonded Animal Companions

Appendix F: Animated Shadows

Appendix G: Vehicle Templates

Index

Character Sheet

OGL Information

279

286

314

321

323

324

325

330

335

337

338

339

342

343

344

345

346

347

350

356

361

365

367

368

372

373

375

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I NTRODUCTION

sion of my ever-growing project at no further cost (save to

their printers and paper supplies). After all, it’s their (magnifi-

cent, wonderful) fault that I’m able to do this at all.

In late July of 2002, I released a 318-page commercial PDF

called Deeds Not Words – my treatment of super-heroes for the

d20 system. I spent nearly a year in the research and produc-

tion of DNW, and on the eve of release I was a nervous

wreck, half-convinced that nobody would spare half a glance

at the darn thing. As it turned out, DNW attracted more atten-

tion and praise than I had ever thought possible (in fact, more

than I think it even deserved considering how obvious the

inexperience of its writer and designer was), making it possi-

ble for me to support the game with three supplements and

even branch out into other PDF game releases, which have

since become my primary means of making a living.

Now quit reading this, and start throwing Buicks through

brick walls!

Yours,

Scott Lynch

St.Paul, Minnesota

April 2003

Special Thanks are Due To:

Jennifer Hermey

Jason Sartin

The Good Dr. Rotwang

The Real Fraulein Codename

Darren Wieland

J. H. Frank

Eric Cullum

Darren Calvert

Jason Lego

Clarence Harrison

NDK

The Folks at the DNW Yahoo! Group

The RPGnet Forum Regulars

The Folks at the d20 Supers Yahoo! Group

If nothing else, this is a testament to the forgiveness and

generosity of DNW’s online fan base, and to the unexpected

power of the PDF format to turn ambitious goofballs into

profitable online micro-publishers.

What is Revision 1.1?

DNW Version 1.0 has been available for nine months as I

write this, and it has been a pleasant nine months, but the time

has come to update the system for everyone’s benefit.

Although I spent nearly a year of intense study on DNW 1.0,

there are serious gaps evident in my understanding of the d20

system within its pages. Many game terms and concepts are

misused, and there are enough glaring typos and editing mis-

takes to dishonor my family ten generations backward in time.

However, the most important factor in my desire to revise

DNW is the fact that its initial system was so limited in so

many ways. Although it was the best I could do at the time,

and hardly a disaster, I soon realized DNW 1.0 was a system

that could be improved upon in a hundred different ways.

That’s exactly what I set out to do with the revision you’re

currently reading– take the good parts of DNW, discard the

crap, replace it with a more robust and flexible system, and

create something that I would be happy peddling and support-

ing for many years rather than a few months.

Additional Extraordinary Thanks to:

Bradford C. Walker

John Lorenzsonn

Eugeniana Mahan-Miller

Ken Merriman

Jonah Gordon

Ragin Westerlund

Lawrence Waechter

Revision 1.1 is a hefty book, packing another 60+ pages

onto a document that was never slender to begin with. This is

partly because I’m a rabid completist working in a medium

with fewer page-count limitations than print, and mostly

because I just don’t know when to stop. My initial design

goal, way back in 2001, was for a book with 20 new or origi-

nal feats. Revision 1.1 contains more than 200 new and origi-

nal feats out of the 300 or so it describes. This sort of thing

happened to every single section of 1.0 and 1.1 alike.

Original System Testers

Keith Carroll

Michael Faber

J.H. Frank

Jennifer Hermey

John Lorenzsonn

Sean Poeschl

David Raabe

Jeff Rhody

Cole Sarar

Jason Sartin

Dan Stiglich

Darren Weiland

Chris Whiting

By most standards, given the number and depth of the

changes made, Revision 1.1 should be called a “second edi-

tion” of Deeds Not Words , but I have avoided the use of that

term for one primary reason. My license agreement with cus-

tomers specifies that “all revisions” of DNW are free in per-

petuity, from Revision 1.1 all the way to Revision 1.99999,

heaven forbid I should ever update the bloody thing that many

times. I felt that my customers were owed the “perfected” ver-

W HAT’S NEW, WHAT’S DIFFERENT?

What are Origins?

After you’ve chosen a race for your character, you then

choose an origin, which describes the nature of the super-

powers available to him (if any).

The skill rank maximum for a Deeds Not Words character is

[Character Level] +4.

The skill rank maximum for cross-class skills in Deeds Not

Words is also [Character Level] +4. The one and only draw-

back to cross-class skills is that they cost two skill points per

rank.

How do Classes work?

Classes in Deeds Not Words work the same as ever.

What About Hit Points?

Hit points also function just the same as they always have.

After all, without Hitpoints, super-heroes couldn’t get sucker-

punched, shot, blasted with lasers, or dropped into the flaming

calderas of live volcanoes, could they?

What are Power Points?

Power points are what super-heroes in Deeds Not Words use

to fuel most of their amazing abilities. Power points represent

a combination of psychic and physical endurance.

Like hit points,power points are gained on a level-by level

basis according to class, although power points are affected

by the Intelligence ability modifier or the Wisdom ability

modifier.

What About Armor Class (AC)?

Armor functions quite normally in Deeds Not Words ,

increasing each character ’s AC rating and thus making them

harder to hit. Characters also receive class bonuses to AC that

rise as the characters gain levels. These class bonuses are

totally cumulative with AC gained from the use of armor .

A character recovers a few power points each hour, and his

entire pool is refreshed by regular sleep or rest.

What Else Does Armor Do?

Some armor also absorbs a certain amount of damage every

time the character gets hit. This ability is called Damage

Reduction (DR). For example, a DR rating of 2 means that 2

points are subtracted from the damage total of every attack

that actually hits the character.

What are Enhancement Points?

Enhancement Points (EPs) are what characters use to pur-

chase super-powers, feats, and advantages above and beyond

those allowed by race, origin, and class. Enhancement Points

may be compensated if characters take complications (see

below). Uncompensated Enhancement Points, on the other

hand, grant the character an Experience Tithe. A player may

take as many EPs worth of power for his character at 1st level

as the GM is willing to allow.

Furthermore, some armor also has a Ballistic Damage

Reduction (BDR) rating. BDR represents the fact that many

modern armors are specifically designed to ablate the impact

of bullets. Armor with a BDR rating always has a base DR

rating and a higher BDR number which is applied whenever

damage is taken from a ballistic impact. For example, a bul-

letproof vest has a rating of DR 3/BDR 6. Against a foe

wielding a baseball bat it would offer only DR3, but against

any foe with a firearm it would absorb a full six points of

damage.

What are Complications and Advantages?

Complications and advantages are options that may be

taken at 1st level. Complications make your character’s life

more difficult (and/or interesting) while advantages add to his

super-heroic arsenal of abilities and resources. Complications

may be used to grant a character a number of compensated

Enhancement Points, meaning that they do not grant him the

additional penalty of an Experience Tithe (see below).

Some armors also have special qualities such as fire or elec-

trical resistance. The Equipment section on page 286 provides

full disclosure of these abilities.

Advantages differ slightly from feats in that advantages gen-

erally reflect special backgrounds and possessions, while feats

generally represent trained or innate abilities.

What’s New With Skills?

Skills in Deeds Not Words function just as they always

have, and the formula is the same:

What is an Experience Tithe?

The Experience Tithe is a balance mechanism that helps

keep a bit of parity between characters with super-powers and

characters without super-powers in a long-running campaign.

As a character gains uncompensated Enhancement Points, he

also gains a number of negative XP called a “tithe.” While a

character has a tithe, half of his earned XP go toward paying

it off and half are used normally. Thus, “ordinary” folks level

up (for a while, at least) roughly twice as fast as more super-

powered characters do.

Ability Modifier + Misc Bonus + Skill Rank = Total

However, Deeds Not Words is by its very nature a game in

which skills are a bit more important than they are in a d20

fantasy setting. Each character class receives more skill

points, and it’s a good thing too because they’ve also got

more skills to spend them on.

What are Hero Points?

Hero Points are a special resource used by Deeds Not Words

characters to accomplish heroic feats of daring that are

beyond the capabilities of ordinary folks. Be warned– NPC

villains have their own equivalent, called Villain Points!

and armor in Deeds Not Words fall into one of the following

categories:

• Light Armor

• Heavy Weapons

• Medium Armor

• Impaling weapons

• Heavy Armor

• Improvised Weapons

• Powered Armor

• Rifles

Hero Points are used most often to gain an additional d20

when a character makes skill checks– that is, the player may

roll two dice (rather than one) and select whichever of the two

outcomes is more favorable. However, depending on which

Mode of Play (see below) the GM has chosen, they may have

other abilities and effects.

• Built-In Weapons

• Shotguns

• Edged Weapons

• Submachineguns

• Exotic Weapons

• Thrown Weapons

• Futuristic Weapons

• Trauma Weapons

• Handguns

• Archaic Armor

All of these categories are explained more fully beginning

on page 115.

What are Modes of Play?

Throughout the years, we’ve seen many styles and

approaches to comic-book realities. Some comic worlds are

good-tempered wonderlands where characters never really

die– they just get knocked unconscious or sent to jail. Some

comics are grim and unrelenting in their quest for lethal “real-

ism” Most fall in between these two extremes. With Modes of

Play , the GM can tailor just what sort of fantasy world your

super-heroes are living in.

What about Masterwork Items?

Items and equipment in Deeds Not Words may still be craft-

ed to a “masterwork” level of quality. They may also be “cus-

tomized,” a process which tailors human clothing and equip-

ment to large, small, or unusually-shaped characters.

What is Expanding Damage?

Expanding Damage, usually abbreviated (E), is Deeds Not

Words’ way of categorizing and quantifying attacks or effects

that deal damage in a radius, with greater effect at the center

and less effect at the edge. Each expanding radius is usually

five feet, and damage decreases by one die of the appropriate

type per additional radius. For example, a bomb that does

3d6(E) would do 3d6 damage to anyone within five feet, 2d6

to anyone within 6-10 feet, and 1d6 to anyone within 11-15

feet.

In the Classical Mode , Hero Points may bend or break the

laws of physics in all sorts of ludicrous ways. Life as a cos-

tumed adventurer is dangerous but rarely deadly, and tongues

are planted firmly in cheek at all times.

In the Modern Mode , life is a bit more dangerous. Heroes

still routinely accomplish amazing feats, but consequences

have a way of asserting themselves, and death is a fact of life.

The Gritty Mode is the polar opposite of the Classical

Mode. Heroes find themselves constrained by the laws of

physics and mortality. Death is pretty frequent in a risky pro-

fession like vigilante adventuring.

What About More Specific Changes to

the d20 System?

There are indeed a few:

The GM is also free to shift the Mode of a game over time,

progressing from one to the other as he deems appropriate.

• Jumping distance is not limited by character height;

• Magic weapon enhancements do not negate Damage

Reduction (DR);

• Most armor does not decrease character movement speed;

• Spellcasting functions slightly differently (page 241);

• 0-Level spells do not exist. Detect Magic and Read

Magic are treated as 1st level spells;

• The manner in which armor inhibits spellcasting has

changed;

• Two-Weapon Fighting and Improved Two-Weapon

Fighting now apply to ranged weapons too;

• Cleave is called “Cascade Blow;”

• Great Cleave is called “Domino Effect;”

• Defeat Security is used in place of the Disable Device

and Open Lock skills alike;

• The abilities of Familiars have been modified.

• Challenge Rating (CR) is referred to as Threat Rating

(TR)

What are Backgrounds?

There are three Backgrounds, and they are Resources ,

Fame, and Reputation . Resources dictates how much money

a character has available at the beginning of his adventuring

career, as well as how much he gains on a regular basis.

Fame represents how well-known a character is, but

Reputation represents how well thought-of he is by law

enforcement officials and the public in general. A character

with a negative Reputation score is generally thought of as a

villain.

A character’s rating in all three backgrounds may be affect-

ed by the events of an ongoing game.

What About Weapon and Armor

Proficiencies?

Ah, now there have been some changes here. All weapons

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