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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JoeGKushner" data-source="post: 2011007" data-attributes="member: 1129">Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed isn't going to be for everyone. This hardcover is an alternative Player's Handbook that includes races, classes, feats, and a brand new spell system.There are numerous little changes in the way many things are assumed to work. Some skills like tumble and making a concentration check on the defensive now for example, have DC's that are influenced by how powerful the enemy you're trying to defensively cast or tumble by are. Some major changes for spellcasting including templates, which Dragon magazine already featured as a popular add on.  The little changes happen with some names of skills or the inclusion of some skills that 3.5 removed or altered. Other things might not go noticed at first like the different experience point table or the long term effects of starting off with one more feat than standard characters or using non-standard races and classes.But what about the book itself? If you're looking for D&D with a slightly different edge, Arcana Unearthed is for you. Note that a lot of core information is repeated here as it's a self contained game. This isn't a d20 book after all, but an OGL book. That means ability charts, modifiers, ability definitions, and even the human as a race, are repeated. If you can't stand that though, then this book isn't for you.If you're willing to read further though, you will be richly rewarded. Much like the races, spells, and deities in the Player's Handbook hint at a world, those in this book do as well. This ranges from the giants who liberated the land from great evil, to the mohj, a race that is a legacy of those defeated by the giants.On the 'cool' scale, Monte takes a page from Savage Species and gives these races levels that they can take.  Each race starts as a 0 ECL, meaning they are perfect for standard classes, but each can take racial levels to become more in tune with their ancestry. Giants for example, while normally a hardy folk, aren't size large. Taking giant levels allows them to achieve large size. In terms of classes, Monte has brought some of his old rolemaster memories with him. See in that system, having a core class fighter-thief (known as a rogue in rolemaster) or a warrior mage capable of using spells of swords is standard. It's not some prestige class. It's not some third party add on core class. It's right in the core rules. Monte brings both of those classes to the d20 system with the unfettered, a lightly armored fighter who gets sneak attack damage and is very mobile, almost swashbuckler like and the mage blade, a competent warrior who uses magic to augment his martial abilities.  Other classes help fill in the standard D&D roles. Instead of a mage, we have the magister, a somewhat more robust spellcaster. Instead of the druid, we have the greenbond. These classes complement each other nicely and for ambitious GMs, can be mixed into a standard d20 campaign with a little work.One of the biggest strengths of the classes is that in many ways, Monte took the road that the Holy and Unholy Warrior from Green Ronin did. Options. You're not locked into a certain type of class. In D&D, the fighter gets bonus feats and can be highly customized. In Arcana Unearthed, many professions have options within their ranks. The Champions, which are similar in some aspects to the paladin, but can champion anything, have different abilities and powers they gain depending on their cause. The witches have different varieties and abilities depending on their foicus. It's all about options, it all about making the characters different. Now Monte is about offering options. That includes two new types of feat. Well, not really new but may be new to some people. For example, talents are feats that you take at 1st level. We've seen this before as regional feats, racial feats and other options. The point? You've got a birth skill that augments your abilities in some way. Because Monte isn't using standard 3.5 rules for ambidexterity and two-weapon fighting, that only time to get ambidexterity is at first level so all those dual scimitar using ranger imitators take it at first level.The other type of feat is the ceremonial feat where the character must undergo a ritual to gain some special ability or power. Unfortunately, I don't agree with all of Monte's choice for what makes a feat a good candidate for a ritual feat. For example, weapon specialization. This is not a good candidate for ritual to me for a few reasons. One, the fighter based classes can get it as a bonus feat. Getting any bonus feat that is a ritual feat means you can skip the ritual. Some of these ceremonies allow you to channel energy through your weapon or apply templates to your spells. Good high fantasy stuff.Now for spells, things are a lot more flexible here than they are in the standard game. You can take three lower level spells and merge them into a higher level one. You can take a higher level spell and split it into two lower level ones. You can double a spell's power by using two spell slots of the same level. You can apply templates to spells and increase their power in a number of ways. The spells overall are less powerful than standard Player's Handbook spells, but with the additional hit points and abilities the spellcasters here receive, not to mention their increased versatility in casting spells, they'll have no true issues long term. Monte Cook's Arcana Unerathed is an excellent resource for those looking for new ideas for their standard game as well as being a game in and of itself. I personally feel that Monte didn't quite make enough effort to be able to slot this material into a standard d20 campaign but that's my bais not the full intention of the book. Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed is a solid resource with setting support, it's own counters, and its own adventures with several publishers helping out. In short, it's a self sustained campaign setting with tweaked rules that has all of the potential of D&D with that new car smell.My review is short in part due to reviewing different parts of this already in PDF form for those who don't want the whole book. I advice against that personally though as I find that the whole works better than the individual parts as when I read them, no effort was made to break them of Arcana Unearthed and make them more d20 complaint. They work best as hand outs to players who may not have the book or for those who only enjoy certain aspects of a game like magic or melee.<a href="http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/reviews/index.php?sub=yes&where=active&reviewer=JoeGKushner&product=WotS1" target="_blank">Way of the Sword</a><a href="http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/reviews/index.php?sub=yes&where=active&reviewer=JoeGKushner&product=WotS2" target="_blank">Way of the Staff</a><a href="http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/reviews/index.php?sub=yes&where=active&reviewer=JoeGKushner&product=WotS2" target="_blank">[a]http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/reviews/index.php?sub=yes&where=active&reviewer=JoeGKushner&product=Grim[at]Grimoire</a></blockquote>

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