Alternate Player's Handbook

[Khuxan]

Before PH2 was released, there was a lot of people who thought or hoped PH2 was an alternate player's handbook - i.e., a player's handbook which contained all the stuff you needed to play, but had different options to the typical Player's Handbook. You could generate a character with the PH or with the PH2 or with both the PH and the PH2. Of course, the PH2 ended up being a sourcebook, but I was wondering if people were interested in a true alternate Player's Handbook. It would be different to Arcana Evolved or True20 because it would be completely compatible with the PH - no Sneak or Stealth skill, for example.

Does this interest people? What sort of classes and races and feats would you like to see? Any new skills, spell subschools or descriptors? Should there be a completely different type of magic (either something like AE's ready and cast system, or a system which allows spellcasters to multiclass without sucking)?

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[JustKim]

I don't understand the distinction you're making here. I think maybe what you're positing as a new concept is just an amalgamation of formulas that are revisited on a monthly basis.

What is a book that is compatible with the core rules but introduces variant rules for characters and systems? A setting book. Is there a shortage of them? No.

What is a book that introduces variant rules for running the game? A game option book. Is there a shortage of them? Not really.

What is a book that is compatible with the core rules and presents options for characters? A splatbook. Is there a shortage of them? Certainly not.

 

[Crothian]

THat's basically what Arcana Evolved and in less of a way Iron Heroes is.

 

[Khuxan]

I don't understand the distinction you're making here. I think maybe what you're positing as a new concept is just an amalgamation of formulas that are revisited on a monthly basis.

What is a book that is compatible with the core rules but introduces variant rules for characters and systems? A setting book. Is there a shortage of them? No.

What is a book that introduces variant rules for running the game? A game option book. Is there a shortage of them? Not really.

What is a book that is compatible with the core rules and presents options for characters? A splatbook. Is there a shortage of them? Certainly not.

The distinction is that an alternate player's handbook would be self-sufficient. It would cover all the major archetypes for races and classes. For example, if Wizards were releasing an APH, it might consist of all the Complete base classes... and/or completely new but fairly generic classes - Hunter, Knight, Thief, Witch, etc.

THat's basically what Arcana Evolved and in less of a way Iron Heroes is.

Very much so, except it would be completely compatible with the core rules.

I'm not particularly attached to the idea of an APH, but it was something that came up during the PH2 discussions and I wanted to look into it further.

 

[GSHamster]

I don't think it would work out. You'd need to repeat a lot of basic material, like the entire combat section, and possibly the spell lists (depending on how you divide up the classes).

Then you'd get pilloried for having so much repetition.

It's an interesting idea, having two different PHBs, each as valid as the other. But I don't think it would be received well.

 

[Sleepy Voiced]

I love the idea of Alternate PHBs. I think AU/AE is great, and would love to see other alt PHBs from other designers (Steve Kenson, Robert Schwalb, Robin Laws, et al.) I also tend to think of books like the XPH or Magic of Incarnum as WotC's alt PHBs. They provide new races, classes and systems. I had hoped PHB2 would have been more like an alt PHB, but I am pretty happy with what we got.

 

[Nyaricus]

An alternate PHB, as opposed to the splatbook we got, would not be a good idea - lets put it this way. One of the main reason that AD&D and TSR fell to the wayside was because there were too many campaign setting competing with one another, and if you were to release two PHBs (I and II) you would be taking that split from back in AD&D and bringing it on a much larger scale.

IOW, there is a reason that the core books say "Core Rulebook" on them, and that the lineup hasn't changes for many years and a few different editions and sub-editions.

Very much so, except it would be completely compatible with the core rules.

well, AE/AU and IH are, you just need to tweak Just sayin'.

Cheers!

 

[Turjan]

The distinction is that an alternate player's handbook would be self-sufficient. It would cover all the major archetypes for races and classes. For example, if Wizards were releasing an APH, it might consist of all the Complete base classes... and/or completely new but fairly generic classes - Hunter, Knight, Thief, Witch, etc.

I think the first book of that kind in the 3E era was AEG's "Mercenaries" .

Very much so, except it would be completely compatible with the core rules.

At least AU/AE is very compatible with the core rules. Just don't mix spellcasters.