Odds and Ends for Mutant Future, Gamma World, and 5e
As people and other organisms age, their bodies go through many processes of aging, some good and some not so good. Mutations should follow suit, so here are some suggestions on how that might occur using the age catagories from AD&D. They are percentages relating to either the power score system Chris came up with or are applied to the range, damage and area of effect, whichever system you prefer.
Physical and Plant mutations
Young Adult- 75%
Mature- 120%
Middle Age- 100%
Old- 90%
Venerable- 75%
Mental Mutations
Young Adult- 100%
Mature- 120%
Middle Age- 100%
Old- 80%
Venerable- 50%
If you want to get more technical, then these should be plus or minus 2d10%.
I have posted a couple times on the Mystic of Nog, a Al-Qadim kit that allows casters to permanently burn spell slots to gain physical enhancements. Looking at d20 Apocalypse, I was reminded of the mutation system from that book and d20 Future (which can be found as an SRD). The conversion to use the mutations in that system for Mystic powers is simple- mutation points times two equals the spell level needed to be burned. So a mystic or similar character who wants a Venomous Bite needs to burn 10 spell levels. I am getting 5e in the mail soon and I plan on seeing how easy it would be to use a similar system to apply Mutant Future as well as Gamma World and d20F mutations for a wizard or sorcerer subclass (or whatever it is called).
In Mutant Future, one of the specialists that can be hired is the scholar, the MF version of the sage. Unlike the sage questions I posted a few months ago, coming up with non-obvious questions for a scholar has been difficult. Don't get me wrong- history, technology, mutations and monsters are very important subjects in the wastes and all of them are vital subjects for scholars to specialize in. Such characters could allow for entirely new branches for a campaign, sending the PCs over hill and dale to search for the mcguffin. Quite useful from both sides of the table. It is just difficult to think of generic questions as they would be more setting specific than those for D&D.
