AU - first impressions?

[Numion]

Of the classes:

Magister is incredibly cool. And by cool I mean totally awesome!



Well maybe not that, but somehow the magister just reminds me of Gandalf in the movies - depending on the staff, the voice, intimidation .. and it's done with just minor twists. Great stuff.

Akashics are another intresting concept (not saying the others weren't - I haven't the time yet to read them all!). Playing one might be too intimidating to most of my players though.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

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.

This is a cool system, but unfortunately it makes it very hard to use in a standard D&D game... I'm hoping to find some advice on how to convert the Mage Blade to a regular D&D magic system... so far no luck.

 

[Numion]

This is a cool system, but unfortunately it makes it very hard to use in a standard D&D game... I'm hoping to find some advice on how to convert the Mage Blade to a regular D&D magic system... so far no luck.

I haven't thought this thru completely, but what if you let the Mage Blade use the AU magic system, while others used 3e/3.5e system? DCs and spell levels are still there, so what would make it impossible?

A bit like you might incorporate Psionics into an ongoing campaign - different but still similar.

Just my 2 euros

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

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.

*Shrug* In the Design Diary Live seminar I went to at GenCon, Monte said he wanted to make it complete enough so that you didn't have to lug both AU and the PHB and everything else to a game session. Right now I could run a game with only the AU book if I wanted to.

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.

Personally I love completeness in a book like this. For instance, Races of Faerun. While I having a lot of cool information, you have to have the PHB and the FRCS open to make full use of all the races. They only list the changes to the races rather than the full write-up. So I have to have three books open at once if I want to play certain races (half-drow for instance, though this was true with many races). I don't want to have to do excessive cross-referencing during a gaming session. Having AU in its current format elminates a lot of that.

I thought it was visually unappealing.

I personally like the cover and most of the art (particularly by Sam Wood), but there was some I didn't like. (The pictures of the oathsworn and the magisters I wasn't fond of.) However, that seems par for the course. I think some of the art in Faiths and Pantheons is bad, but there's still some spectacular pieces in there and all the writing is top notch. It remains one of my favorite books. Like with AU.

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.

This book never claimed to be 3.5. It is an alternate handbook. Monte never said he was adopting the 3.5 changes. If you want 3.5, buy 3.5, if you want something different, buy AU. This book is meant for people that already know how to play the game, and want some changes. It is not meant for people who are new to the game.

 

[Desdichado]

Is there a lot of Sam Wood art? I'm a huge SW fan.

 

[Numion]

Is there a lot of Sam Wood art? I'm a huge SW fan.

Yes. I looked at the first 60 pages and there were like 10 pieces from him.

Another note: Ride the Lightning is a nice spell. Lightning Bolt + Teleportation

edit: seplling

 

[anonystu]

Barcode,

I think Monte has anticipated your complaint, that you are paying for a lot of core mechanics, and so a large percentage of the original material in the AU book will be released as 3 pdf's over the next few weeks. I think one is about the fighter types, the second one about magic, and I forget the third one (reliability of what the PDF's have: low, but the info's out there). So, if you just want to get your hands on the spell system and related stuff, you can just buy that PDF.

 

[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?

I assume no one saw this the first time I posted it?

 

[EricNoah]

I'm not right with my book right now but I think the psionic spell template basically allows you to cast spells without any v s or m components. The cost is that it takes 2 spell slots to cast one spell in this manner.

 

[thundershot]

*sits in the camp of people who want to use the book without changing the current campaigns*

I'm having a hell of a time rigging BESMd20 to fit with D&D (and it's working out, but some attributes needed MAJORLY changed), and I don't want to have to go through that again with this book. So yes, I want AU to use with what I have established, but no, I don't want to run a campaign with it.



Chris