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Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved (PDF)
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<blockquote data-quote="Crothian" data-source="post: 2199512" data-attributes="member: 232"><p><strong>Arcana Evolved</strong></p><p></p><p>Arcana Evolved is not a normal product. Most times books do not get updated so dramatically. This book is Arcana Unearthed plus some of the info from other supplements mixed in with expanded and new material. Now when Arcana Unearthed first came out I was not the biggest fan. It seemed neat but did not grab me right away. But it did grow on me over the months and when I saw some of the classes in action. When I heard of the update I was more intrigued then excited. I already had all the other books o I was really not sure if it would be worth while to upgrade to another book that contained a lot of the material I already had. I am impressed by the new book though and am glad I did get it.</p><p></p><p> This review covers the PDF version but it is also applicable for the print version. Arcana Evolved is by Malhavok Press one of the front runners in the d20 market and one of the more respected companies for product support, quality of products, and creativity. This is one of the biggest role playing books I have seen being four hundred and thirty four pages long. The sheer length can make it difficult to use on a computer screen. It does have one of the most complete set of book marks I have seen that do help considerable. The book is full color with great art. If one wants to print it out it might be better just to get the print version of the book. Printing this PDF would eat my ink cartridges alive. The look of the book is just fantastic. It has a very good table of contents and Index making it very easy to use for its size.</p><p></p><p> The book starts out with a good introduction and information on what the book is and how it is used. The book is not complete in and of itself while it does have things like attribute bonus characters it does not reprint the CR system for instance. It does contain a lot of information though making the need to reference other books very minimal. The first chapter on attributes is good but pretty basic. However, one great small change they did was include the how much a person can carry chart next to strength. It is a very logical and easy place to remember for that chart. </p><p></p><p> Races are where the interesting things happen. First the races here except human are all nice and different. Each except for the human has three race levels that can be taken. All the races also have evolved levels, these are three additional levels that can only be taken once the first three racial levels are done and with the help of the Tenebrian Seeds. It is a little odd that there are evolved levels for all the races since some of the races should be dead against the evolved levels given their backgrounds. </p><p></p><p> The classes are where I found some of the coolest ideas in the game. One thing though is the classes seems a little to specific compared to the more general classes of the players handbook. So, it at first seems a little to think that lots of people have these classes walking around the world but with time that does go away some. The classes in here all go up twenty fifth level instead of twenty reminding me of the Spinal Tap and how their amps go to eleven. Gaining levels is a little slower here as they require eleven hundred experience times the current level to gain a new level instead of just a thousand experience in the basic Dungeons and Dragons game. The classes though do get some impressive powers in the last five levels and it seems that taking racial levels really robs a character of these high abilities. My favorite class is the Akashic. This is a very skill oriented class. It gets practically all skills as class skill, gaining eight skill points a level compared to none of the other classes getting more then four and gets lots of bonuses to skills a and other things as they gain levels., It is a very malleable class gaining a variety of class options to pick from. For the most part the classes are much more interesting then the core classes of the Players Handbook and I want to play these classes a lot more. They have more to offer, more creativity, and really expand the game with options brilliantly. </p><p></p><p> The skills and feats are mostly the same. There are some differences like the skills of hide and move silently have been combined into sneak. Lots of the feats from the players handbook are reprinted here but things like met magic are changed and I will cover more of that in the magic section. Characters still gain about the same amount of skill points and feats as in other games so that has not changed. The basic descriptions and explanations in this book though are usually superior to that if the PHB. The feats do have some new types of feat bringing in Traits which are feats that can only be taken at first level and ceremonial feats which require a character to have a True Name. True Names are literally someone’s true name. They can be used by caster to make spells more beneficial or hurtful towards the person whose True Name is known. </p><p></p><p> The Playing the Game section is just nice. It is well organized, clearly written, and easy to use. It is basically the same stuff people have seen before but just a little better done and organized.</p><p></p><p> Magic is a great improvement of the core magic rules. There are some nice changes but not drastic ones. There are still spell levels of zero through ten. Classes though do not have their own spell lists they just get access to simple, complex, or exotic spells. All the spells are divided into one of those three categories. Characters prepare spells from what they know then cast from what they prepare. They do not place specific spells in specific slots. They prepare say five first level spells and can cast 4 first levels spells from those they prepared in ant combination. Also, spells can be cast a spell level lower or higher and that alters its strength. One can even burn two slots of the level of the spell to make it a little more powerful. Not all spells benefit from these options but it is in each spell description what the spells options are and what they do. On top of that there are spell templates that give certain descriptors to the spells making them fire or cold or something else when used. Not all are elemental in nature there is a lot of variety in what the spells can do without a hugely complex system. I really like this magic system and it might be the best created for the d20 system. </p><p></p><p> There are also combat rites, small maneuvers certain classes gain that offer a small bonus to their fighting for a round or so. The rites are based off of wisdom like spells but they are not spells and are not affected by things that prevent or hinder spell casting. For the most part I find the combat rites a little weak though I have yet to actually see them in use. </p><p></p><p> The world information is really good and intriguing with lots of adventure ideas here. However, there is more of a set up with no resolution presented here then some people might like. There are lots of things to use as a spring board for campaigns and adventures and some pretty big world mysteries shown here. But there are no answers leaving it up to the particular DM to figure out for himself. Some people work well being able to do that others prefer solid answers. So, that might be seen as a negative to those people. The book ends with conversion notes that seem simple to use.</p><p></p><p> This is a revolutionary product. The ideas in presentation of a world and game design presented here are really, really good. There is creativity in here that is almost unequaled. Some of the differences though may be a little too much for people that are just rigid d20 players. The classes and races are a little odd at first but upon reading them through all the way their place in the world and how to use them became readily apparent. This book is easily worth the price tag as both a PDF and in Print.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Crothian, post: 2199512, member: 232"] [b]Arcana Evolved[/b] Arcana Evolved is not a normal product. Most times books do not get updated so dramatically. This book is Arcana Unearthed plus some of the info from other supplements mixed in with expanded and new material. Now when Arcana Unearthed first came out I was not the biggest fan. It seemed neat but did not grab me right away. But it did grow on me over the months and when I saw some of the classes in action. When I heard of the update I was more intrigued then excited. I already had all the other books o I was really not sure if it would be worth while to upgrade to another book that contained a lot of the material I already had. I am impressed by the new book though and am glad I did get it. This review covers the PDF version but it is also applicable for the print version. Arcana Evolved is by Malhavok Press one of the front runners in the d20 market and one of the more respected companies for product support, quality of products, and creativity. This is one of the biggest role playing books I have seen being four hundred and thirty four pages long. The sheer length can make it difficult to use on a computer screen. It does have one of the most complete set of book marks I have seen that do help considerable. The book is full color with great art. If one wants to print it out it might be better just to get the print version of the book. Printing this PDF would eat my ink cartridges alive. The look of the book is just fantastic. It has a very good table of contents and Index making it very easy to use for its size. The book starts out with a good introduction and information on what the book is and how it is used. The book is not complete in and of itself while it does have things like attribute bonus characters it does not reprint the CR system for instance. It does contain a lot of information though making the need to reference other books very minimal. The first chapter on attributes is good but pretty basic. However, one great small change they did was include the how much a person can carry chart next to strength. It is a very logical and easy place to remember for that chart. Races are where the interesting things happen. First the races here except human are all nice and different. Each except for the human has three race levels that can be taken. All the races also have evolved levels, these are three additional levels that can only be taken once the first three racial levels are done and with the help of the Tenebrian Seeds. It is a little odd that there are evolved levels for all the races since some of the races should be dead against the evolved levels given their backgrounds. The classes are where I found some of the coolest ideas in the game. One thing though is the classes seems a little to specific compared to the more general classes of the players handbook. So, it at first seems a little to think that lots of people have these classes walking around the world but with time that does go away some. The classes in here all go up twenty fifth level instead of twenty reminding me of the Spinal Tap and how their amps go to eleven. Gaining levels is a little slower here as they require eleven hundred experience times the current level to gain a new level instead of just a thousand experience in the basic Dungeons and Dragons game. The classes though do get some impressive powers in the last five levels and it seems that taking racial levels really robs a character of these high abilities. My favorite class is the Akashic. This is a very skill oriented class. It gets practically all skills as class skill, gaining eight skill points a level compared to none of the other classes getting more then four and gets lots of bonuses to skills a and other things as they gain levels., It is a very malleable class gaining a variety of class options to pick from. For the most part the classes are much more interesting then the core classes of the Players Handbook and I want to play these classes a lot more. They have more to offer, more creativity, and really expand the game with options brilliantly. The skills and feats are mostly the same. There are some differences like the skills of hide and move silently have been combined into sneak. Lots of the feats from the players handbook are reprinted here but things like met magic are changed and I will cover more of that in the magic section. Characters still gain about the same amount of skill points and feats as in other games so that has not changed. The basic descriptions and explanations in this book though are usually superior to that if the PHB. The feats do have some new types of feat bringing in Traits which are feats that can only be taken at first level and ceremonial feats which require a character to have a True Name. True Names are literally someone’s true name. They can be used by caster to make spells more beneficial or hurtful towards the person whose True Name is known. The Playing the Game section is just nice. It is well organized, clearly written, and easy to use. It is basically the same stuff people have seen before but just a little better done and organized. Magic is a great improvement of the core magic rules. There are some nice changes but not drastic ones. There are still spell levels of zero through ten. Classes though do not have their own spell lists they just get access to simple, complex, or exotic spells. All the spells are divided into one of those three categories. Characters prepare spells from what they know then cast from what they prepare. They do not place specific spells in specific slots. They prepare say five first level spells and can cast 4 first levels spells from those they prepared in ant combination. Also, spells can be cast a spell level lower or higher and that alters its strength. One can even burn two slots of the level of the spell to make it a little more powerful. Not all spells benefit from these options but it is in each spell description what the spells options are and what they do. On top of that there are spell templates that give certain descriptors to the spells making them fire or cold or something else when used. Not all are elemental in nature there is a lot of variety in what the spells can do without a hugely complex system. I really like this magic system and it might be the best created for the d20 system. There are also combat rites, small maneuvers certain classes gain that offer a small bonus to their fighting for a round or so. The rites are based off of wisdom like spells but they are not spells and are not affected by things that prevent or hinder spell casting. For the most part I find the combat rites a little weak though I have yet to actually see them in use. The world information is really good and intriguing with lots of adventure ideas here. However, there is more of a set up with no resolution presented here then some people might like. There are lots of things to use as a spring board for campaigns and adventures and some pretty big world mysteries shown here. But there are no answers leaving it up to the particular DM to figure out for himself. Some people work well being able to do that others prefer solid answers. So, that might be seen as a negative to those people. The book ends with conversion notes that seem simple to use. This is a revolutionary product. The ideas in presentation of a world and game design presented here are really, really good. There is creativity in here that is almost unequaled. Some of the differences though may be a little too much for people that are just rigid d20 players. The classes and races are a little odd at first but upon reading them through all the way their place in the world and how to use them became readily apparent. This book is easily worth the price tag as both a PDF and in Print. [/QUOTE]
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