Infernal Teddy
Explorer
I was wondering, who here has used material from Malhavoc's "Arcana Unearthed" line? What have your experiences been?
Arcana Unearthed
- Thread starter Infernal Teddy
- Start date
Crothian
First Post
I used it along side the PHB in a game I ran last year. Two of the players had characters from that book, whilew the others choose character options from the core books. We found that they worked really well together and gave the characters new and different abilities.
Personally, I like AU better then the PHB. It is a better read, seems more creative, and I just like the feel better.
Personally, I like AU better then the PHB. It is a better read, seems more creative, and I just like the feel better.
I ran an AU game a while back.
The classes went over really well. The players have used warmain, champion of freedom, unfettered, magister, and the mage blade. The warmain and unfettered are still an option in our standard D&D games.
The magic system is interesting, but still very similar to its roots.
The feats work out well, most are the same as the SRD.
Overall my group and I enjoyed the book very much.
We still use parts of it in D&D, and I may run another game of it after I get Arcana Evolved.
The classes went over really well. The players have used warmain, champion of freedom, unfettered, magister, and the mage blade. The warmain and unfettered are still an option in our standard D&D games.
The magic system is interesting, but still very similar to its roots.
The feats work out well, most are the same as the SRD.
Overall my group and I enjoyed the book very much.
We still use parts of it in D&D, and I may run another game of it after I get Arcana Evolved.
BlackMoria
First Post
Using AU in a campaign is a relatively 'seamless' process.
New Races - Nice but not necessary to use to play an AU game. Add some or all of the races to a existing campaign is no biggie, beside explaining why this new race suddenly appears in the campaign.
Classes - the classes are slightly more powerful than PHB classes but not so much that you can't have PHB and AU classes in the same campaign. You might decide that Wizards and Magisters (for example) are too similar in concept and may decide to use one or the other.
Feats - feats derived from 3.0 have their own AU spin to them so you will have to decide what version of the feat to use. You can use AU and PHB feats together with little problem.
Skills - some skills are done a little different than 3.0/3.5 in that they are opposed checks instead of target number DCs. Pick which version you like to use.
Magic system - the real strength of AU. The magic system is very flexible with simple/complex/exotic spell lists, heightened/diminished spells, weaving spells and spell templates....yet not so different that players will feel that they are learning a completely new spell system. The only hiccup may be if your campaign uses divine magic....the AU magic system doesn't differentiate between arcane and divine spells. So, you either use the divine magic from the PHB and explain the difference between divine (PHB) and arcane spells (AU) as the way that divine and arcane magic work. Or, you make conversions of divine spells to the AU system.
Other interesting aspects ...the adoption which isn't hard to do. Hero points and the AU dead/dying/unconcious rules are easy to use. Alignment will have to be a decision. AU doesn't use alignment...there is still good and evil in the world and law and chaos; but these no mechanical impact the the game. So, spells, special abilities and magic items dependent on alignment are gone. Or you can still use alignment if you wish and keep these things if you want.
Hope this helps. Check out www.diamondthrone.com or Monte Cook's forums to see how AU/AE fans are using AU/AE in their games.
New Races - Nice but not necessary to use to play an AU game. Add some or all of the races to a existing campaign is no biggie, beside explaining why this new race suddenly appears in the campaign.
Classes - the classes are slightly more powerful than PHB classes but not so much that you can't have PHB and AU classes in the same campaign. You might decide that Wizards and Magisters (for example) are too similar in concept and may decide to use one or the other.
Feats - feats derived from 3.0 have their own AU spin to them so you will have to decide what version of the feat to use. You can use AU and PHB feats together with little problem.
Skills - some skills are done a little different than 3.0/3.5 in that they are opposed checks instead of target number DCs. Pick which version you like to use.
Magic system - the real strength of AU. The magic system is very flexible with simple/complex/exotic spell lists, heightened/diminished spells, weaving spells and spell templates....yet not so different that players will feel that they are learning a completely new spell system. The only hiccup may be if your campaign uses divine magic....the AU magic system doesn't differentiate between arcane and divine spells. So, you either use the divine magic from the PHB and explain the difference between divine (PHB) and arcane spells (AU) as the way that divine and arcane magic work. Or, you make conversions of divine spells to the AU system.
Other interesting aspects ...the adoption which isn't hard to do. Hero points and the AU dead/dying/unconcious rules are easy to use. Alignment will have to be a decision. AU doesn't use alignment...there is still good and evil in the world and law and chaos; but these no mechanical impact the the game. So, spells, special abilities and magic items dependent on alignment are gone. Or you can still use alignment if you wish and keep these things if you want.
Hope this helps. Check out www.diamondthrone.com or Monte Cook's forums to see how AU/AE fans are using AU/AE in their games.
Wombat
First Post
My current campaign uses the races, classes and spells out of AU, although none of the background material. But that is kinda normal for me & my games -- I always like making my own worlds. This means that the relationships between certain of the races has altered, though this has not caused any significant problems. My players love the Litorians and the Quickling Faen, though most of them are still Human.
Overall, the group is having a great time with it, but they have complained that they want the Rogue back in, due to his trap finding capabilities (so far I have left very few traps for them, so it hasn't been as much of a problem). We did add in Monte's Bard from The Complete Book of Eldritch Might and it fits rather neatly; we are considering adding back in the Rogue, but that will wait until the next session for a vote.
At first they were very nervous about learning a new magic system, but now no one wants to go back to the PHB rules -- Magisters are simply prefered over Wizards and Sorcerers and no one really misses the Arcane/Divine dividing line in magic. There has been some rolling of eyes over the fact that the initial "utility damage spell" is Mudball, but other than that they love the flexibility of the magic system.
In the aggregate, none of my players want to go back to the core books. They prefer the races and more particularly the classes in AU to those in the PHB.
One saga's story
Overall, the group is having a great time with it, but they have complained that they want the Rogue back in, due to his trap finding capabilities (so far I have left very few traps for them, so it hasn't been as much of a problem). We did add in Monte's Bard from The Complete Book of Eldritch Might and it fits rather neatly; we are considering adding back in the Rogue, but that will wait until the next session for a vote.
At first they were very nervous about learning a new magic system, but now no one wants to go back to the PHB rules -- Magisters are simply prefered over Wizards and Sorcerers and no one really misses the Arcane/Divine dividing line in magic. There has been some rolling of eyes over the fact that the initial "utility damage spell" is Mudball, but other than that they love the flexibility of the magic system.
In the aggregate, none of my players want to go back to the core books. They prefer the races and more particularly the classes in AU to those in the PHB.
One saga's story
From the AU book, the races are interesting inasmuch as they include a Large race, a flying race, and a non-humanocentric world. Otherwise, I can take or leave 'em. The classes are pretty neat, with a few of the concepts worth looking at for core games (I'd be inclined to use the Champion instead of the Paladin, the Mage Blade instead of the various fighter/spellcaster prestige classes, and the Unfettered and Warmain in place of the Fighter). The real gem is the magic system, which is easily the best D&D-flavoured magic system I've seen.
From other products, the Diamond Throne book was decent enough. I thought it was a little bland as a campaign setting, but it has a few neat ideas and some nice new monsters and magic items. The DM's screen and player's guide is really good, one of the better screen packages I've ever seen. The monster book (Legacy of the Dragons, I think) was OK as monster books go - I've read a friend's copy, it didn't appeal to me enough to buy my own copy, but I'm pretty stingy when it comes to monster books. I've played through both Plague of Dreams and Siege on Ebonring Keep, and both were pretty decent adventures.
All in all, I'd say the AU stuff has been really solid. Haven't looked at Arcana Evolved yet, looks like that'll have some interesting product support as well.
From other products, the Diamond Throne book was decent enough. I thought it was a little bland as a campaign setting, but it has a few neat ideas and some nice new monsters and magic items. The DM's screen and player's guide is really good, one of the better screen packages I've ever seen. The monster book (Legacy of the Dragons, I think) was OK as monster books go - I've read a friend's copy, it didn't appeal to me enough to buy my own copy, but I'm pretty stingy when it comes to monster books. I've played through both Plague of Dreams and Siege on Ebonring Keep, and both were pretty decent adventures.
All in all, I'd say the AU stuff has been really solid. Haven't looked at Arcana Evolved yet, looks like that'll have some interesting product support as well.
In our Dawnforge game, there is a Human (Highlander) Champion (he's being secretive and won't tell us what he's a Champion of, exactly) and a Human (Lowlander) Wood Witch (both classes from Arcana Unearthed) playing alongside a PH/CW (Night Elf) Bard/Hexblade (me), a PH (ghost elf, I think) Wizard, a DFCS Ogre Spirit Adept, and a Tiefling XPH Soulknife. It's all worked out pretty well, actually. No problems, although my bard seemed a little underpowered at 1st level compared to the 1st level Wood Witch. I blame that on the Bard class, though, and not on the AU class.
Turjan
Explorer
Arcana Unearthed managed to deal with quite a lot of things I did not like very much in standard D&D. The main points here are alignment and the arcane/divine divide, which have both been dropped in AU. When I read AU the first time, I was not impressed very much, because I'm not a big fan of Monte's somewhat dry writing style. However, on a second approach, I really appreciated those wonderful concepts within the book, and nowadays it's my preferred flavour of D&D. Even if you don't like those animal races or the Diamond Throne setting, like myself, the concepts behind the races are simply great. The classes and the streamlined and flexible magic system are the main attractions of the book for me 
.
Regarding other books, 'Diamond Throne' was not a big winner for me, and 'Legacy of the Dragons' had just a few monsters I really liked, but I'm really picky with monsters and usually prefer humanoid foes in my games. I have Arcana Evolved and really like it; it's simply a beautiful book.
.Regarding other books, 'Diamond Throne' was not a big winner for me, and 'Legacy of the Dragons' had just a few monsters I really liked, but I'm really picky with monsters and usually prefer humanoid foes in my games. I have Arcana Evolved and really like it; it's simply a beautiful book
.Dr. Strangemonkey
First Post
Playing an AU character in someone else's FR game. So far it is working wonderfully and I couldn't be happier.
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