Alright I've been doing some thinking about how d20 Modern pcs would match up against their real world counterparts in various activities.
For example, the world's longest sniper kill was by Corporal Rob Furlong of the Canadian Army. He used a MacMillan TAC-50 to drop a target at 2,430 meters, 2,657 yards, or 7,971 feet.
Can we build a d20 Modern hero that can match this feat of shooting prowess?
I can't seem to find the stats for the ol' TAC-50, but let's say it's range increment is 120 as that seems to be the case for .50 BMG rifles. Add 60' for the Far Shot feat and another 60' for a telescopic scope. The Sniper prc from the UA web enhancement has a class ability called Improved Far Shot. This class seems like a good fit, plus we really need the range. It supercedes Far Shot, but doubles the range increment instead of just adding 50%.
So far, we've got a total range increment of 300 feet or a total range of 3,000 feet. Bummer. Not even halfway there. Okay, then. It's time to get cheesy. Let's open up our handy copy of Future Tech and slap on a Extended Range gadget to our TAC-50. Hmmm... This only bumps it up to 4,200 feet. Oh well, in for a penny in for a pound, let's slap that gadget on our ammo, too. That makes it 5,400 feet.
Still missing something... Reading more about the shot, it seems that the shot was made easier by the thin Afghan air. (Not to depreciate Corporal Furlong's marksmanship, of course). The big quesiton is how to factor that in. The previous record was by Carlos Hathcock. He used a scope mounted M2 for a 2,500 yard shot.
Okay, maybe the air density didn't help that much after all.
Okay, for a last ditch effort to get the record, I'm using a prc from the d&d wiki. It's called Marksman. At fifth level, it bumps up the range increment 75%. This would bump the total range of Mr. d20's rifle to 6,300 feet. Well over a mile, but also well short of the record.
Scratch one up for the Corporal and real life.