Well, wasn't that fun. I was halfway through this review of Unearthed Arcana when a tiny multi-colored square appeared in the upper left part of the screen, then POOF--no more screen. Oh well, back to square one. *sigh*
Unearthed Arcana (a 224-page hardcover by Wizards of teh Coast) is out and people are raving about it. being the smart bloke I am, I had it pre-ordered and have had the chance (finally!) to absorb its contents. Andy Collins was only half-joking when he wrote "Take a deep breath--its okay," in the introduction to the book. Several days' worth of reading and re-reading have nearly pickled my brain. There's so much look at, and so much to say.
So, what's all the hub-bub about? Unearthed Arcana is essentially a 3.5 toolkit for your campaign. Physically-speaking, the book itself sports the usual WotC 'book' look with a fairly decent amount of artwork by various artists. The diversity of styles ensure that opening this book won't be a continual eyesore.
But what about the contents?!
Chapter 1 deals with races, starting with environmental and elemental-based variants of the standard D&D races. Granted some may not care for jungle elves, for example but if you get the itch to have arctic gnomes then there are notes on tweaking the little buggers to your satisfaction. What got my attention early on, though, were 'bloodline traits'. Essentially you have some unusual ancestry in your background, such as a celestial or giant, and depending on how far back they are genealogically (and the powers of the ancestor's race) your bloodline will be either minor, intermediate, or major. Overall it's a great concept, although it requires 'buying' a bloodline level at certain levels. Why not just call them what they are, ECL's? Using rules found later on in the book, they could be removed by expending XP one level at a time. Something else I liked about chapter 1 were the racial paragon classes, which are based on the race classes concept used by Monte Cook in his Arcana Unearthed HC as well as an OGL article he wrote afterwards for the standard races (IIRC). Here, the list is expanded to include drow, half-dragon, orc, and tiefling racial paragons, and each one builds upon thre strength of the race in question. This is a great use for the 3-level prestige class concept, although the prerequisites are nowhere near that of true prestige classes.
Chapter 2 is all about class variants, and starts off with the totem barbarian. Compared to the totem warrior of AU, I found this to be lower-powered and easier to incorporate in my FR campaign. Following are variants for bards, clerics, monks, rogues, paladins, and rangers. The bardic variants are particularly interesting, since one can choose from the bardic sage, divine bard,and savage bard. As with the totem barbarians, I can see a perfect place for each of them, such as the divine bard and saveg bard representing their own among the Ffolk and Northman cultures of the Moonshaes. there are three new paladin variants: the paladin of slaughter, paladin of freedom, and paladin of tyranny. this is a surprise, if anything I expected perhaps a NG paladin variant (ala Book of Hallowed Might). It isn't a bad surprise, however, and in time I may warm up to the paladin of slaughter (represented by a drow warrior who looks appropriately wicked). Wizards haven't been left out, of course. The two main goodies for them are domain wizards and specialist wizards. Domain wizards recieve a 'domain' of spells but don't have prohibited schools. Otherwise they're like any other specialist wizards. The specialist wizard variants, on the other hand, are another story. Most give up bonus spells, the scribe scroll feat, and/or the summon familiar class ability in exchange for specialty-specific quirks. At last, here's something that makes a specialist wizard different from those who forgo specialization and just takes Spell Focus/greater Spell Focusto 'specialize'. Just look at the conjurer variant, who can cast Summon Monster spells using 1 standard action (instead of 1 full round), or the diviner whose Prescience allows them an Insight bonus equal to their Intelligence modifier to be used on any attack roll, saving throw, spell check, etc. once per day plus one per five class levels attained. Hallelujah!
Further on there are bits on spontaneous divine casting and class feature variants--I don't know about you but I like the idea of planar banishment or aspects of nature instead of turning undead or wild shape. They can be used to replace a given class feature for certain members of the class (or that class as a whole), but I don't see why they can't be considered an option for regular members of that class to use. Take a cleric who can turn/rebuke undead 5 times a day. Instead of giving the character the option of sticking with it or having it changed to planar banishment, why not allow him or her to keep it but allow the option of 'burning' 2 standard turn/rebuke undead uses and channel that energy into sending
outsiders back the way they came from? The same goes for 'aspects of nature', the wild shape class feature for druids. bayond that, there are 15-level prestige class variants for the bard, paladin, and ranger. I find
the prestige bard and paladin to be more viable in the long run. of all the core classes these two seem the most like prestige classes to begin with, and in the bard's case it essentially was back in 1E AD&D before there was such a thing.
And then there's the gestalt character. In a way it's a throw-back to the days of AD&D. You take two classes, choose the best BAB, saves, etc., from each, and every time you go up a level your ability in each class improves comensurately. This could be the answer to those who feel shorted by the current multiclass rules, such as those who choose classes whose spellcasting capabil-ities don't stack (e.g, cleric/wizard). I'm not certain that I'd use it, but it's definitely an option worth considering if you enjoy multiclassing. And lastly, there's the section on 'generic' classes like the expert, spellcaster, and warrior. They're usable but at the same time, well, who wants generic? that's like choosing Sam's cola over Coca-Cola, Pepsi, or Dr.Pepper.
The next section, Chapter 3, is all about building characters. This was probably my least favorite chapter, which isn't saying much. New ways of handling skill checks, charater traits, etc...Not my cup of tea, although the spelltouched feats are worth looking over. They're unlike any other, and the prerequisites depend on certain conditions. A method of speeding item creation, the craft point system, is included. As much as I dislike the current way of keeping magic item creation in check, this gives me more 'hmmms' than ahhhs. But it's workable, and if you don't want to spend so many craft points on an item you can reduce the cost by spending more time working on it.The chapter finishes up with a way of deciding what your character will be just by rolling on the various background tables. Not a bad idea for those who don't have a clue what to do with what they just rolled up.
Chapter 4 deals with adventuring concerns, such as variants for AC, wounds, and the like. It's a short chapter, other than the concept of armor providing a certain amount of damage reduction, nothing here quite held my attention. Chapter 5 is another matter, as it deals with magic. Granted, themed summoning lists may not wow you but components that allow one to add metamagic without affecting a spell's level might. Also, ideas on making metamagic feats worth using were a welcome addition. Two variants are 'daily uses' and 'extra spell slots', the latter of which is probably the best way to handle paying for metamagic. Other topics of interest include the spell point system, legendary items, and the concept of item familiars (magic items that you bond with). What I really like here, however, are incantations. Remember seeing movies where some madman finds a forbidden book and performs a ritual or somesuch despite not being a spellcaster? It's a little like that in that it's a form of magic that anyone can use, although the casting time is lengthy and the price for failure can be high.
Chapter 6, Campaigns, is a mixed bag that begins with the mechanics of contacts, reputation, and honor. If you're interested in having these quantified then you're in luck. You'll also find a healthy amount of information on insanity and its effects upon the campaign as well as 'taint' (the former from the CoC hardcover, the latter possibly from Oriental Adventures). In addition there's a very short piece on tests that can be used to qualify a character for taking a certain prestige class or feat, and a similar short bit on handling XP differently. If you long for the days when a monster had a given XP point, or if you just hate figuring out the exact number of CR x's and y's for a suitable encounter, then you'll love this. The standard XP table is tossed in favor of one where the XP goes to 2,600,000 at 20th level. This is a throwback to the old days but so what? It relieves that headache (if you have one), and if you enjoy converting old adventures to 3e/3.5 then it makes things even easier since you don't have to sweat every single encounter listed. Of course if you use these rules then the XP cost required when casting certain spells also goes up (50,000 XP for a wish, ouch!). Finally, the book finishes with an afterward on how to experiment with variant rules while keeping your current campaign intact.
As I've said before, there's a lot in this book--almost too much to absorb. Some of the material comes from other WotC products, some comes from OGL content elsewhere. A fair amount of it is brand new. And did I mention all the sidebars that include the various authors' home-brew rules? Very good stuff! You may end up using only a third of what's found herein, maybe more, but in my opinion what you do use will add much to your game. Go get yourself a copy of unearthed Arcana, in my opinion it has some of the best variant material out there. Be glad they included a 2-page checklist in the back of the book, you're going to need it.
You've covered pretty much everything I was wondering about here, so thank you.
