d20 Modern and D&D 5e

d20 Modern didn't have the same place for wizards that D&D did.

• PCs in d20 Modern didn't start off with spell casting. The first few levels were basic classes, and the PCs had to qualify for advanced classes at a minimum of 4th level.
• Normal PC spellcasting is limited to a maximum of 5th-level spells. Spells of 6th level or higher were part of incantations, which anyone could do, but could go wrong with some bad skill checks.

Now, looking at D&D 5e, it's easy to max out the spells available at 5th-level. With level boosting, a magic user could use higher-level slots to cast their lower-level spells with an effective boost.

Trying to put some levels between Level 1 and Magic is tougher. The martial no-magic classes each have a class option to add magic to the character at level three (Barbarian has the Totem Warrior, Fighter has Eldritch Knight, and Rogue has Arcane Trickster).

So the line should be 3rd level, right? What about full casters? A wizard can't just start at 1st character level. It'll have to wait until 3rd. That means the wizard has to multiclass, but the Ability Score Improvements are often at multiples of 4 in class level, meaning a) the wizard, if she starts at 3rd level, would gain the Ability Score Improvement at 6th level, or b) the wizard wants to stick with the first class from level 1 until the first ASI at level 4.

In other words, the wizard has to choose between 2 levels of magic and an ASI.

Also, having the magic-starting level would be a pain with the magic line (where a class can choose a flat-out magic option) for specific classes would be different from class to class. Let's call the character level where a PC can take magic classes X. The outright casters would be at X, half casters at X-1, and third-casters and non-casters at X-2. But then you'd have to move the paladin to X, because Lay on Hands was an obviously magic effect. Then, there's certain things like Bardic Inspiration and any healing ability that could be decoupled from magic and set on its own.

Thing is, I'm looking at this project and I see the classes would have to be remade if I want to have that minimum level at any point other than 1st character level. If I was using d20 Modern classes, I'd aim for 4- or 8- level classes.

Alliance, Faultline and d20 Modern

I want to talk about the Modern Magic Unearthed Arcana. I've got two projects that are based around modern times: Faultline and Alliance.  Faultline is going to be a sequel to overland set over 5,000 years into the future, so I'm not going to work on it until I get Overland finished. Alliance is a modern city being invaded by monsters, where an eccentric billionaire hires people to keep the magic away from the common public (and then other groups get involved and hijinks ensue).

Now, in the 3.5 days, Wizards released d20 Modern, using the D&D rules in a normal setting.  I loved the game and its "road to a hero" design.  Characters had to start with one of the basic classes, which are generic classes with talent trees.  They had to multiclass into Advanced Classes, which are more like the D&D classes. Alliance was built more from the d20 Modern idea of normal people slowly trying to understand the supernatural world around them.

The current d20 Modern articles we're getting for 5e is a "D&D in the present day" rules.  I like them, but I don't think I'll use the class options for Alliance.  Use the spells for Alliance, yes. Use the options for Faultline, yes. I can't see having a 1st level mage or warlock in Alliance.

I want to use the class options, but that's what Faultline is for.  With some of these articles, they could try to make a d20 Modern book for 5e D&D. If they do, I want them to have both the "D&D in the present" as much as "Normal world invaded by magic." I think they're going to need some more magic-less, psionic-less, classes to pull it off, though. On the other hand, I don't think they're going to make a d20 Modern book until they work out the kinks with psionics.

Then again, I could use the Steve Jobs method and wait until people start releasing their own modern ruleset and then see what I can use and what I can improve on.