The chart is correct as printed even though those numbers don't match up. Auxiliaries themselves have an additional limit of only so much time/distance (listed later in the text on page 160, left column, under the chart's description of dash speed) at dash speed per month, lowering the value from what it should be if the ship were using dash speed at the per day rate constantly during that time.

Basically, auxes can use the per day rate, but only up to the limit of 1004 parsecs per month, their engines require a lot more down time than military engines.

By Tony Maguire (Cutter) on Monday, August 15, 2005 - 06:45 pm: Edit

Thanks for the clarification, it'll complicate the spreadsheet I'm working on a little but I'm sure I'll manage something.

By Ronald Young (Ryoung) on Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - 10:26 pm: Edit

I just got the main Prime Directive d20 book, and I'm really liking what I see so far, but I'm a little confused on how phasers work. I see that the three stun settings require a Fort save with a DC and penalty to the check based on which setting is used, but I don't see what happens if the save is made or failed. Am I missing something here, or is the data for phaser stun hits incomplete?

For example, suppose I'm hit with a Type 2 Phaser set on Stun-2. As I understand it, I take 2 points of damage (which I guess is real damage and not nonlethal like I'd expect; it doesn't say anywhere that a stun hit is nonlethal that I see) and must make a Fort save at -8 againt DC 20. Is all that correct? What happens if I fail the save? What happens if I succeed?

Other than that, I'm really enjoying the book so far. I plan to pick up Klingons d20 this weekend to go with it.

By Ronald Young (Ryoung) on Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - 11:13 pm: Edit

One other thing I just ran across that I believe might be left over from another edition of the game (PD1 or GURPS; I don't know either one so I can't tell). Page 138 under the rules for transporters there is a sentence that reads, "But under less than normal circumstances, a failed transporter roll will inflict from 1d points of fatigue to 4d points of damage to the transportee depending on how badly the skill roll was missed (GM ruling)".

I can accept those rules for d20, but if they ARE actually the d20 rules, are we talking about d6's? If so, it should have been stated, and "points of fatigue" should likely have been phrased "points of nonlethal damage".

Regardless of that and the point I brought up in the previous post, I'm still really liking the book. Great work!

By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 12:00 am: Edit

Deleted by poster, I thought this was the GPD topic.

By Ronald Young (Ryoung) on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 12:31 am: Edit

Hmmm... I've got a few more questions...

Regarding the Slirdarian Berserk trait, what circumstances would trigger a need to make the Will check associated with this (ex. whenever he enters combat? When damaged in combat?)? Or is it actually intended as something the Slirdarian actively attempts to invoke, requiring him to SUCCEED at a Will check to invoke (rather than fail as the rule is written)?

Another thing I'm not really understanding is how character bonus languages are supposed to work. In the standard d20 rules (as presented in the 3.5 PHB on page 12), a character automatically speaks and is literate in all languages listed as "Automatic Languages" and selects a number of additional languages his or her character knows from the "Bonus Languages" list for his race equal to his Intelligence modifier. Looking at ethnic Klingons, I see that they get two automatic languages and have NO bonus languages listed. If a Klingon has a positive Int modifier, what bonus languages should be available to him? For the other races, does a bonus language listed as "one other" basically mean "any other" since no specific language is listed in that spot?

Lastly, the three seperate bulletpoint lists for the Alpha-Centauran racial traits (page 27) seem to be a little messed up. Looking at them, it seems like only the first item in the list for males and the first in the list for females should really be listed under the gender-specific stuff and all the rest should be under the "Racial Traits (All)" heading. As it is right now, most of it is piled under the "Racial Traits (Female)" heading.

My apologies for all the questions. I've no doubt I'm just not seeing something that's actually clearly explained .

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 09:46 am: Edit

I have sent your questions to the D20 guy and hope to hear back from him.

By Ronald Young (Ryoung) on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 10:01 am: Edit

Thank you. I look forward to the response.

By Ronald Young (Ryoung) on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 12:54 pm: Edit

Fun... I've got some questions about the Vulcan Nerve Pinch

Is it safe to say that when it's listed as a Vulcan racial trait, it's saying they get the Nerve Pinch feat for free at level 1, ignoring the feat's normal prerequisites?

Also, characters with the Nerve Pinch feat and the Combat Martial Arts feat (which is a prerequisite for Nerve Pinch) no longer provoke attacks of opportunity when they Nerve Pinch, correct? I assume so, but I wanted to double-check.

I don't want to seem like I'm trying to be critical of the rules or just out to look for mistakes. I actually LOVE the book; I only nitpick because I care

By Douglas E. Lampert (Dlampert) on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 01:02 pm: Edit

My word is not official on any of this, but I was involved in some proof reading and rules checking; so I'll give you my take till you get an official reply:

I'm pretty sure that the modifiers to DC on stun settings are a GURPS left-over that didn't get removed when the DCs were added. I could have sworn the effect of failing was listed in the text and was some period of unconsiousness.

The Transporter failure item you list sure looks like a GURPS left-over, if it is then those are d6 in GURPS (the only die size GURPS uses). Fatigue in GURPS doesn't really correspond to non-lethal damage in D20, but that is probably the closest match. The numbers might need to be adjusted since D20 characters tend to have a lot more HP than GURPS characters have fatigue.

Races I don't remember well enough to have an idea without checking my rules.

By Ronald Young (Ryoung) on Saturday, September 17, 2005 - 09:33 am: Edit

Any official word on any of this? I was hoping to show PD20 to my game group on Sunday (9/18) to get them interested and I'd like to know the official answers to this stuff before I do.

Might as well mention a couple more things while I'm here... The Galactic Intelligence Agent class (pg. 51) is missing the flavor text paragraph that the others classes have. This might be by design (I don't think so), but it really needs to be there. Something to consider for future printings, perhaps.

On the topic of rank advancement, the "Promotion/Grade Table" on page 77 does not include data for the GIA ranks (GS1-GS10). Could one safely say that the GS1 through GS10 should use the same values as O1 through O10 since GIA agents are always officers? And what the heck does "GS" mean? Galactic Something? ;)

For future printings it might also be advisable to correct a few inconsistencies in the use of boldface text and indentation in the Feats chapter of the book. See "Close-Order Fighting [General]" on page 102 (the "Prerequisites" line should be intented and boldface) and "Fighter/Starship Operation [General]" on page 104 ("Benefit:" should be boldface) for some examples. Not sure if there are others in there, but those two stood out to me on my first quick readthrough of the chapter.

The "Renown [General]" feat (pg. 109) seems to be missing its descriptive text, by the way. I would have also added a "Special:" line to Renown's text to address how it stacks with the Fame and Infamy feats, but so long is it is intended to stack with them, I guess it isn't really necessary.

Despite these issues, I'm still loving the book. I've now got Klingons d20 on the way and will be ordering Romulans d20 within the next couple days. It seems PD has me hooked .

I also might as well mention the level of discussion PD is seeing over on the rpg.net forums. I'm amazed by the number of people who hadn't heard of you guys before, but the last few days have seen alot of buzz about Trek RPGs over there, with Prime Directive being a popular topic. A little mention in your FAQ about how your Trek license came about and works would be pretty useful; it's been asked about over and over again the last few days on rpg.net. At any rate, all this talk will hopefully generate extra sales for you guys.

P.S. - How does one become a proofreader for this stuff? I'd LOVE the opportunity to have a go at it. I ran the only external playtest group for Sword & Sorcery Studios' EverQuest II Player's Guide (a d20 product) because the lead designer for the EQ1 d20 stuff noticed my attention to detail, and I know I could be of assistance here.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, September 17, 2005 - 10:54 am: Edit

I just emailed you the answers.

From: "Jonathan M. Thompson"
To: "'Stephen V. Cole'"
Subject: RE: answers to questions
By Ronald Young (Ryoung) on Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - 10:26 pm: Edit

I just got the main Prime Directive d20 book, and I'm really liking what I
see so far, but I'm a little confused on how phasers work. I see that the
three stun settings require a Fort save with a DC and penalty to the check
based on which setting is used, but I don't see what happens if the save is
made or failed. Am I missing something here, or is the data for phaser stun
hits incomplete?

For example, suppose I'm hit with a Type 2 Phaser set on Stun-2. As I
understand it, I take 2 points of damage (which I guess is real damage and
not nonlethal like I'd expect; it doesn't say anywhere that a stun hit is
nonlethal that I see) and must make a Fort save at -8 againt DC 20. Is all
that correct? What happens if I fail the save? What happens if I succeed?

* If you succeed you don’t pass out, but all effects are cumulative. Which
is why the modifiers are so high.

Other than that, I'm really enjoying the book so far. I plan to pick up
Klingons d20 this weekend to go with it.

By Ronald Young (Ryoung) on Tuesday, September 13, 2005 - 11:13 pm: Edit

One other thing I just ran across that I believe might be left over from
another edition of the game (PD1 or GURPS; I don't know either one so I
can't tell). Page 138 under the rules for transporters there is a sentence
that reads, "But under less than normal circumstances, a failed transporter
roll will inflict from 1d points of fatigue to 4d points of damage to the
transportee depending on how badly the skill roll was missed (GM ruling)".

I can accept those rules for d20, but if they ARE actually the d20 rules,
are we talking about d6's? If so, it should have been stated, and "points of
fatigue" should likely have been phrased "points of nonlethal damage".

Regardless of that and the point I brought up in the previous post, I'm
still really liking the book. Great work!

* That sentence should read "a failed transporter roll will inflict from 1d6
points of subdual damage to 4d6 points of damage to the transportee
depending on how badly the skill roll was missed (GM ruling)"

By Ronald Young (Ryoung) on Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 12:31 am: Edit

Hmmm... I've got a few more questions...

Regarding the Slirdarian Berserk trait, what circumstances would trigger a
need to make the Will check associated with this (ex. whenever he enters
combat? When damaged in combat?)? Or is it actually intended as something
the Slirdarian actively attempts to invoke, requiring him to SUCCEED at a
Will check to invoke (rather than fail as the rule is written)?

* As per the Barbarian.

Another thing I'm not really understanding is how character bonus languages
are supposed to work. In the standard d20 rules (as presented in the 3.5 PHB
on page 12), a character automatically speaks and is literate in all
languages listed as "Automatic Languages" and selects a number of additional
languages his or her character knows from the "Bonus Languages" list for his
race equal to his Intelligence modifier. Looking at ethnic Klingons, I see
that they get two automatic languages and have NO bonus languages listed. If
a Klingon has a positive Int modifier, what bonus languages should be
available to him? For the other races, does a bonus language listed as "one
other" basically mean "any other" since no specific language is listed in
that spot?

* Automatic Languages work just like bonus languages with the exception that
a character gains them regardless of intelligence score. So if a race has 3
automatic languages and the character has a Int of 9, he still can speak
those languages. However those languages are applied against any bonus
languages the character can gain.

Lastly, the three seperate bulletpoint lists for the Alpha-Centauran racial
traits (page 27) seem to be a little messed up. Looking at them, it seems
like only the first item in the list for males and the first in the list for
females should really be listed under the gender-specific stuff and all the
rest should be under the "Racial Traits (All)" heading. As it is right now,
most of it is piled under the "Racial Traits (Female)" heading.

* I don’t know, have to find my archives due to my system having crashed
last week. I am going to have to look up the original file on that one.

By Ronald Young (Ryoung) on Saturday, September 17, 2005 - 11:24 am: Edit

Thanks for the response, but it didn't really answer some of my questions very well .

Regarding the phaser rules, right now the book doesn't mention passing out at all. Saying that when I make the save it means I don't pass out doesn't tell me much because I still don't know what happens if I fail the save (other than the implied "passing out" bit the response just told me). If I do fail and pass out as I've just now been told, how long does that last? Without a duration, the phaser stun rules are broken. If I had to guess, I'd say there seems to be a missing paragraph under the phaser rules.

Regarding the bonus language bit, the answer didn't really address the question . Some races don't have bonus languages listed. In the d20 system, a race selects their extra languages gained from high Intelligence scores from the bonus language list for the race. Without that list, I don't know what I can or cannot take. Even the races that list them only list one actual language (Federation Standard, for example), then put the text "one other". That makes no sense in the d20 system. A d20 bonus language list would say something like "Bonus Languages: Federation Standard, Vulcan, Rigellian, Klingon, Slirdarian, and Romulan". If I'm entitled 3 bonus languages, I could pick any three from the list. With no list at all (in cases like the Klingon), or a list with only one actual language listed, I'm left in the dark as to what I can and cannot take. A good many groups tend to ignore the bonus language listing for a race (allowing players access to pretty much any language), but a common house rule is no reason to present a list that's incompatible with the d20 ruleset. If it's intended that Prime Directive characters should have access to any language as a bonus language, it definately should have been made clearer (and the bonus language list shouldn't have included ANY specific languages listed if "anything goes" is what's intended).

Thanks for getting the other stuff cleared up. Directly emailing the answers, too, was very nice.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Saturday, September 17, 2005 - 01:43 pm: Edit

Questions sent to JT.

By Gary Plana (Garyplana) on Saturday, September 17, 2005 - 06:33 pm: Edit

As the guy who wrote the original text, I can address one point uptopic:

Where the "failed transporter roll" rule says that anything from fatigue to damage may result, I deliberately left that rule vague. A hard rule that says "XXX will happen" did not seem appropriate.

For example, player character A is operating the transporter, and everyone else's character is on the pad. Player A is having a bad day and totally botches his die roll, forcing the GM to rule that the rest of the party just did a recreation of the transporter accident seen five minutes into the first Star Trek movie. No way that is good GMing!

By leaving it vague, the GM can adjust "what happpened" as suits his fancy; GMs who kill off the entire party as a result of a bad die roll don't last long as GMs ... not to mention the guy who blew the die roll. Writing a rule like that would be bad game design, IMHO.

So on a failed transporter operation roll, maybe the party all gets nauseous, or materializes ten feet off the ground, or upside down, or all three. It's vague so that the GM isn't put in the position of making his players roll up new characters because of a single die roll.

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Saturday, September 17, 2005 - 06:59 pm: Edit

Not completely official, but I was involved.

Alpha Centaurans.

Racial Traits (All)
- Medium Size
- Base Land Speed 30'
- 1 extra feat at 1st level
- Automatic Languages: A-C. Bonus: Fed standard, one other

Racial Traits (Male)
- +1 STR, +1 DEX, -2 WIS
- 2 extra skill points at 1st level and 1 extra skill point at each additional level

Racial Traits (Female)
- +2 DEX, +2 CHA

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Saturday, September 17, 2005 - 07:04 pm: Edit

(even move unofficial than the preceeding post)

Languages. Unlike a Fantasy campaign setting, the only limitation on which languages you are learn is to have access to the training. As in modern day, there are really no languages still used (and quite a few dead ones) that you can't learn in a University class somewhere. It is the same case in the SFU - if a Rigellian wants to learn Hydran, he is welcome to take the class in the Academy or in University, just as I'm sure a modern US college student could find a Swahili language class, if he looked hard enough.

Phasers/Stun. It does appear as if a sentence is missing.

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Sunday, September 18, 2005 - 11:04 am: Edit

(looking at PD GURPS for comparitive data)

PHASER STUN. If the Fortification save is failed, the character falls unconscious for a number of minutes equal to the amount they failed their save. The victim cannot be revived before that "time elapses", but then the victim awakens and recovers from having been unconscious normally.

By Tony Maguire (Cutter) on Sunday, September 18, 2005 - 11:41 am: Edit

Regarding the Phaser rules, wouldn't it be more elegant to simply say the victim of a Stun-1 blast takes 1 point of damage and must make a Fortitude save against a difficulty class of 20, rather than a difficulty class of 15 but with a -5 to the roll? Same goes for Stun-2 and Stun-3, why not just set the DCs accordingly?

By Paul Thompson (Pjthomps) on Sunday, September 18, 2005 - 11:59 am: Edit

Hi all,

I am intrested in PD20 but I have a few questions first.

1) How much fluff is in the book? I buy rpgs as much to read as to play.

2)Related to 1) how easy would it be to play a non fed campaign with just the core book?

3) How deadly is combat? is it fast or slow?

4) Are there any example NPC's stated out from the various races?
Thanks in advance for any help

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Sunday, September 18, 2005 - 01:08 pm: Edit

Paul.

1) Quite a bit of fluff - its a Universe intro so should have what you're looking for.

2) Hmmm. You could easily play any race within the Federation or any race in "non-controlled" areas, but you don't really have enough "Empire info" to campaign within the other Empires with any real depth.

3) Same combat speed as standard D20. It's about twice as deadly as D&D, but this is balanced by all of the stun-capable weapons (i.e., GMs have a lot of control over how deadly it is). The key difference is that due to the higher weapon damages (a disruptor pistol hurts considerably more than a crossbow bolt), low level NPCs can't be taken as lightly.

4) There are some sample Federation characters, representing a few of the races, in the book. In character creation, which "education package" you take matters at least as much as race.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, September 19, 2005 - 07:56 am: Edit

Jonathan Thompson says:

You should check the rules concerning "passing out" in the PHB. That
information being in that book was not reprinted as it was felt the need
wasn’t there when you could just look it up in the Core Rulebooks.

If there are no bonus languages presented in the race then the GM/Player may
assume from inference that any language that exist may be taken (depends on
the campaign and the GM).

By Ronald Young (Ryoung) on Monday, September 19, 2005 - 09:02 am: Edit

Well... I'm basically at a loss for words now regarding the "official" response to my questions about phaser rules.

To sum up the current situation as it stands in the book, it goes something like this:

The rules in the book make no mention of falling unconscious when you get stunned. It's not that they don't explain how passing out works, it's that the rules DON'T EVEN MENTION IT.

Thankfully, someone other than Jonathan Thompson has chimed in with the rules as they appear in GURPS. Telling me it wasn't covered because it appears in the PHB makes it seem like J.T. didn't even read my question. If he had, maybe he'd have realized (and I'll capitalize this yet again to make it really obvious) THE PHASER RULES AS WRITTEN DO NOT MENTION PASSING OUT AT ALL! Therefore, players and GMs have no duration to go by even if they just assume a person that fails the save passes out (that's a pretty huge assumption, by the way, if one isn't familiar with phasers on stun settings from some source other than PD20).

The book needs phaser rules errata to appear on the front page of this website. Phaser combat is likely to be an integral part of the d20 playing experience. If the complete phaser rules only appear buried here on this discussion board (and not "officially" stated), the game remains broken for most players.

A third time for emphasis. THE PHASER RULES IN PD20 DON'T EVEN SO MUCH AS MENTION FALLING UNCONSCIOUS. THE PHB IS OF ABSOLUTELY NO HELP HERE. An "official" response is needed.

Sorry if I'm sounding annoyed, but it's exasperating to keep getting half answers. Thankfully Andy Palmer has presented something usable, and I applaud and thank him for actually reading my questions.

I'm hoping Klingons d20 isn't missing anything when I get it. I'm going to hold off on ordering Romulans d20 until I've had a chance to give it a read-through.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, September 19, 2005 - 09:26 am: Edit

I have sent a firm note to JT that he needs to support and maintain his product line.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, September 19, 2005 - 11:16 am: Edit

JT sent this. Remember that I'm just the messanger and don't have much clue what any of this actually means.


>From the players handbook - When a character is unconscious they must make a
Fortitude saving throw against a DC 15 to return to a state of
consciousness.

Since the characters are making a fortitude save vs. being stunned, it is
assumed that that unconsciousness is understood when a character who fails
the initial fortitude check ends up being stunned. Stun has always implied
in my understanding that one fall unconscious when stunned (ala Star Trek
since this is what is being emulated, how often do you see them stun people
and they continue talking or whatever, they are usually quite unconscious).