Suggestions for a D&D/Arcana Unearthed fushion game

[Merlion]

I may soon be running a small campaign that i plan to do as a fusion of AU and D&D, with some Unearthed Arcana variants thrown in as well, and I am looking for some advice and answers to a couple questions. I also have a couple of small complaints about AU.

This is the basic layout. I'm going to use Armor as DR and Class Defense Bonus as presented in Unearthed Arcana. As far as classes, I'm using all the AU classes except for Greenbond, Oathsworn and Totem Warrior, and then also using the Druid, Bard, Fighter, Monk, probably Ranger and possibly Rogue from D&D. Using AU magic (but I will probably catagorize most D&D spells for use with the system...most of them will probably simply be Complex spells), AU Magic Item creation, mostly AU feats with maybe some others if their wanted or needed. Mostly D&D races, unless someone really wants to play an AU one.

So my first area where I'm looking for help is in the classes. Druid is not to hard, I plan to basically just give them simple spell access with the Greenbond progression, and access to all Plant and Positive Energy spells, and probably the Elemental descriptors, electrcitity and Cold. Keep their abilities, but go down to light armor, a d6, and medium Fort saves.

The Bard and the Ranger are a bit harder tho, so ideas in that area would be apreciated. For Bard I plan to give Mageblade type spell progression, and simple and Sonic spells definitely...maybe also let them choose either Mind Affecting or Positive Energy. Verbal components only. Or I may try and rework the Bard entirely so that its all songs rather than spells. And yes, I am familiar with Monte's variant Bard, and I dont especially care for it.
Ranger is even harder. And I'm not sure if I should let the Rogue in or not. The Akashic fills the role mechanically, but it also has a lot of flavour that some people may not want.

So basically any sort of advice or ideas on spell and class conversions would be apreciated.

Also, I would like to integrate Good and Evil magics into the game, and I am also ambivalent about how Positive and Negative energy are handled, in both games. D&D doesnt seem to be able to make up its mind about wether those energies are simply forces, like Fire, or wether they are in fact forces of Good and Evil. And AU basically seems to use them as Good and Evil without actually calling them that. So i'd just like to know the thoughts of others on how they see these 4 things as interacting.

I also have some issues about Outsiders, but I think maybe I should start a seperate thread for that..


Now a question...my main villain is going to be a Magister 10/Mage Priest 10. The Eldritch Spiritsight ability I am a little unclear on. Does it really act as permanent See Invisibility, for everything, or does it just allow him to see "eldritch spirits"?


Lastly, some combination gripe/questions. A lot of AU feats have requirements of, or use ability scores that seem a bit...out of place to me, or that limit a feat to certain classes especially as far as spellcasting. Quicken Spell, Eldritch Training, and a number of others for instance, are general purpose spellcasting feats but require a high Int, which basically limits them to Magisters and Runethanes. Likewise, Power of the Name requires a high Int, but then the save is based on Cha. So only a Magister or Runethane would qualify for the feat, but because they arent going to have a high Cha, the feat is going to be near-useless for them.

Also several combat feats involve Wis based saving throws...which for a non-Oathsworn melee character is going to be...a bit of a problem.

Anyway I know this is long and vague, but I'd apreciate some thoughts and we can go from there.

 

[Merlion]

Bump. I'd really like some feedback here

 

[Odhanan]

I am running an AE/Ghostwalk/D&D campaign. I basically allow every class from both player's handbooks but try to keep the rule systems separated. That means clerics and wizards have their PHB spells, magisters and greenbonds have their spells from AE. This is much more simple to keep the game balanced. I follow the character creation of the book relevant to the character. A starting human unfettered will have three first level feats, the starting human fighter 2 feats. And so on.

It all works perfectly fine together. When/if alignments are needed, I note them myself as the DM (based on roleplay) in my campaign notebook.

 

[Merlion]

I am running an AE/Ghostwalk/D&D campaign. I basically allow every class from both player's handbooks but try to keep the rule systems separated. That means clerics and wizards have their PHB spells, magisters and greenbonds have their spells from AE. This is much more simple to keep the game balanced. I follow the character creation of the book relevant to the character. A starting human unfettered will have three first level feats, the starting human fighter 2 feats. And so on.

It all works perfectly fine together. When/if alignments are needed, I note them myself as the DM (based on roleplay) in my campaign notebook.

....well, I apreciate the reply but I already mostly know how I want to do it. I am looking for comments on the things I've already stated about what I am going to do, and ideas for solving the specific questions I have asked or issues I am not sure about.


I have no desire to run a game with D&D and AU running independently....I am merging them.

 

[Odhanan]

Alright. Not my cup of tea then, I'm afraid.

 

[JamesDJarvis]

I'm planning on treating the AE/AU spells as another type of magic: "Mystic" in my campaign. All the AE/AU magic related feats work on the Mystic spells but not with Arcane or Divine Spells.

 

[JamesDJarvis]

Lastly, some combination gripe/questions. A lot of AU feats have requirements of, or use ability scores that seem a bit...out of place to me, or that limit a feat to certain classes especially as far as spellcasting. Quicken Spell, Eldritch Training, and a number of others for instance, are general purpose spellcasting feats but require a high Int, which basically limits them to Magisters and Runethanes. Likewise, Power of the Name requires a high Int, but then the save is based on Cha. So only a Magister or Runethane would qualify for the feat, but because they arent going to have a high Cha, the feat is going to be near-useless for them.

Also several combat feats involve Wis based saving throws...which for a non-Oathsworn melee character is going to be...a bit of a problem.
.

Goign to be using randomly generated ability scores, so high score requirement feats are going to be special. If a character doesn't qualify for a feat then no problem for me, he doesn't qualify.

 

[Nareth]

Monte Cook, the writer/designer of the AU and AE system/world actually said in a seminar at GenCon that his Ptolus campaign used characters that can be found in both AE and D&D. He has a Magister and a Wizard in the same party, and he finds that the Magister has a bit more flexibility while the Wizard has a bit more punch. There may be some insight into putting a campaign together like you are thinking of at his website:

http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?splash

Not sure whether you want to go to the Malhavoc part of the page, or to Monte's Journal. But, if you were to email him asking for advice, I'm sure he'd be able to offer some tips. Just don't expect him to respond right away. He's probably really busy either putting the print version of Ptolus together or planning new ways to kill his characters

 

[Dragonhelm]

And I'm not sure if I should let the Rogue in or not. The Akashic fills the role mechanically, but it also has a lot of flavour that some people may not want.

I would think that the unfettered fits this role thematically. Been a while since I looked at AE, though, so I'm not for certain.

 

[Merlion]

I'm planning on treating the AE/AU spells as another type of magic: "Mystic" in my campaign. All the AE/AU magic related feats work on the Mystic spells but not with Arcane or Divine Spells.

Again, what I am looking to do is basically AU/AE with some D&D thrown in, not the two operating indepedently in the same game.

Goign to be using randomly generated ability scores, so high score requirement feats are going to be special. If a character doesn't qualify for a feat then no problem for me, he doesn't qualify.

It is a problem for me, for two reasons. One, because the feats are basic spellcasting feats that any caster should be able to use. Next, because some casters (Magisters and Runethanes) will qualify, while others will not.

Much the same with the combat feats that require Wisdom. Most melee types are not going to put enough into their Wisdom to actually support high enough saving throws to make the feat worth taking.

Monte Cook, the writer/designer of the AU and AE system/world actually said in a seminar at GenCon that his Ptolus campaign used characters that can be found in both AE and D&D. He has a Magister and a Wizard in the same party, and he finds that the Magister has a bit more flexibility while the Wizard has a bit more punch. There may be some insight into putting a campaign together like you are thinking of at his website:

I already have this thread posted on Monte's boards

I would think that the unfettered fits this role thematically. Been a while since I looked at AE, though, so I'm not for certain.

Kind of. But some people are just attached to the Rogue.



Now how about some thoughts on the other classes I mentioned, or spell conversion or the pos/neg energy thing?


I particularly wonder about Magic Missile. If it should be a simple or exotic spell (mechanically not thematically). I'm also considering changing all the Exotic spells that seem to be exotic just for flavour (energy bolt, forcebeam, eldritch armor) rather than for balance (those that are actually more powerful than complex spells) into complex spells.