AU - first impressions?

[EricNoah]

A little more detail on the spell system:

The spellcasting classes have charts for Spells Prepared per Day and Spell Slots per Day. They generally have access to all Simple spells and then depending on the class different subsets of the Complex and/or Exotic spells. So they have a big pile of spells to choose from and they prepare a few of those, then during the day they can cast from their little pool of prepared spells in any combo using their spell slots.

Spell slots can be merged together (three first level slots can be given up to cast a second level spell), or unravelled (a 2nd level slot can be split into two 1st level slots).

Add to this the fact that most spells have a "diminished" and a "heightened" effect, the fact that you can learn to use different spell templates to make a spell an "air" spell or a "psionic" spell, and that you can use metamagic feats and you have a great deal of flexibility.

I am desperately hoping some clever person will whip up an AU spell spreadsheet that can handle all of this stuff.

 

[thedangerranger]

I'll second Eric's call to arms for some experienced Excel user to produce an AU spreadsheet.
I think one of the best things about the magic system is different classes method of accessing it.
Example: The witch and the mageblade. The witch casts all spells V,S,M. However they can drop the M component for a 1 step increase in casting time. Then they can drop the V,S components for a doubling of the new longer casting time. This is one of the witch's magic quirks. The mageblade casts spells most effectively with a specific weapon in their hands.
I just like the variety of magic and ways of casting magic.

I wish I could add more, but I am at work without my book and my memory is shot.

 

[Numion]

Just picked up my copy. Seems good this far.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Whats the deal with psionics? I know you have to take a feat to "cast psionics spells", but what does that do for you?

More importantly, how much could I use in Midnight?

 

[Tuerny]

I have a copy of AU and time to kill.

Any specific questions anybody?

Jesse Dean

 

[gordonknox]

Combat

I have a copy of AU and time to kill.

Any specific questions anybody?

Jesse Dean

How would you characterize the AU combat system?

Is it much different from 3.5?

Pros, Cons?

gk

 

[Tuerny]

Well I never got 3.5 (as I knew I was planning on converting to AU rather than it) so I can't really compare it to that. However, give me a little bit and I will see how it compares to 3.0

 

[Navar]

Well I must say that it is far and away the best D20 Product I have ever seen. The classes excel at Versitility and that is what makes the system great. The totem warrior for example always gets the same base attack bonus, saves, and skills, but their class abilities, special bonuses, and even Hit Die are all dependant on what animal they choose.

The witch is the same where he gets a differant spell list (kind of) depending on if he is a mind witch, storm witch, etc.

The Champian is awesome. You pick a cause like life, death, light, darkness etc and become a champian of that cause. Then at 10th level you can (if you want) narrow your focus to be the champian of a race, area, or person. very cool.

The magister is an awesome spellcasting class, and he gets the clasic "mage" powers. For example at one level you get to pick from like glowing eyes, glowing footprints, and a couple of other minor cosemetic changes to your character. And again a few levels later you get to pick from another list which includes wallking 2 inches off the ground, and a couple of other minor powers that are always on. Great flavor

The oathsworn are just awesome. You have to swear an oath, but once sworn you have great powers that allow you to be 100% self sifficant. You don't use any tools if you can avoid it, and from that you can loose the need to eat, sleep, drink water, etc. as you become more and more self seficant.

The entire book is great, but a lot of the best stuff is the new classes.

 

[Barcode]

Disappointed.

I understand the desire to present this as an "alternate PHB", meaning that you won't need a Players Handbook, but how realistic is that? Just about everyone who buys this will own the PHB anyway. Therefore, the estimated 40-60% of the book dedicated to reprinting SRD core mechanics are wasted repetition for anyone who already owns a PHB.

The good changes that were implemented in 3.5 are not present in AU (skill consolidation being one obvious example), so you'll likely want to apply those from the SRD at least, if not own the 3.5 PHB.

The races are pretty cool, and I like much of the magic system, but IMO these could have been presented in a much smaller, and therefore cheaper book. The combat variants are minor, and could have been presented in a long ENWorld post.

I thought it was visually unappealing.

If this product wasn't hyped to death, I wouldn't have thought ill of it, but it fell far below my high expectations. Not worth the price tag. For someone who does not yet own a 3.0 PHB, this is *not* a better buy than picking up the 3.5 PHB. It is not a bad alternative to buying 3.5, particularly with the availability of the SRD.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

I was among the first 10 to get AU at GenCon. While I didn't have too much time to read it during the Con, I did get to read a lot.

I love both the classes and the races. Both types of faen are quite cool, and I want to play a spryte as soon as I'm able. The ability of the verrik to turn off various senses is excellent! All the races aside from the faen and humans have racial levels (3-level classes) in order to "further explore the skills/powers of the individual race." The mojh are particularly intriguing.

The akashic kind of remind me of dopplegangers in a way. They can do anything and be anybody. The witch I like a lot, as they have interesting spell options in addition to their witchery powers. There are also different types of witch (iron, sea, wind, mind, etc.) so playing each one is like a different class. Same thing with the totem warrior. Each type of totem is so different that even the hit dice and skills change depending on the totem chosen.

The warmain is, as Monte described it, "the guy who can never get enough armor on his body." He has some great abilities to do massive amounts of damage, and can weild some really honking huge weapons to boot. The oathsworn basically gives up everything to focus on his/her oath, up to and including food, sleep, air... Do no try to sway an oathsworn from her purpose, I think she'd end up just running right over you.

I'm quite giddy to play. My DM is running a little AU test session next week, and I'll be playing a loresong faen magister. This is going to be a blast!