Coolest bits of Unearthed Arcana

[Greylock]

The only thing that gets used regularly in our game is Action Points, although I'm not so fond of them myself. Getting ready to try a Bloodline in another game. Really looking forward to it.

 

[Psion]

We use:

Action points - (I like)

Terrain Racial variants - (Fits very well into the river of worlds)

Bloodlines - (I don't like, and I am not so sure I would use it again)

LA Reductions - (Works okay - I think ECLs are too high in general)

Some of the class variant options

 

[Wormwood]

By way of example, these are the UA variants I used in my last Eberron Game

Spontaneous Domain Casting
Racial Variants:
Desert Elves
Jungle Elves
Class Variants:
Totem Barbarians (added four draconic ones)
Cloistered Cleric
Thug
Fighting Styles (renamed along draconic themes)
Urban Ranger
Battle Sorcerer
Class Feature Variants:
Favored Environment
Whirling Frenzy
Skills:
Complex Skill Checks
Weapon Groups
Class Defense Bonus
Reserve Points
Action Points (UA implementation, not ECS)
Incantations
Reputation
Test-based Prestige Class Prerequisites (my FAVORITE variant)

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

The Paragon classes are killer for character development, and can be used as an alternate prerequisite for racial PrCs. (You can't just be an elf to be a Bladesinger, you have to be an elf's elf.)

Gestalt is good for small parties, blatant powergamers, and my favorite reason, to make characters better-rounded. After all, the archetype "knight" is poorly represented by Fighter and Paladin, but is perfect as a Fighter/Aristocrat or Paladin/Aristocrat.

The chapter on Adventuring offers several good variants for D&D games, but I prefer to think of it as a d20 game design toolkit.

As for what I'm actually using in my game:
Gestalt
Armor as DR (modified)
Class Defense Bonus (heavily modified)
Weapon Group Proficiencies
Action Points
Racial Paragon Classes (modified to fit Gestalt)
Alternate Massive Damage Threshold
Alternate Death & Dying

 

[Wormwood]

Gestalt is good for small parties, blatant powergamers, and my favorite reason, to make characters better-rounded. After all, the archetype "knight" is poorly represented by Fighter and Paladin, but is perfect as a Fighter/Aristocrat or Paladin/Aristocrat.

We had a fun three person Gestalt game when UA first came out. Everyone gestalted with Monk (Fighter/Monk, Sorcerer/Monk, and Rogue/Monk).

Instant Ninja goodness

 

[Insight]

My group has been using Action Points for a while now, and while I'm not sure we're going to use the UA rules for Action Points, the article is an interesting read, and may eventually get implemented in our game.

The UA concept that has been grasped best in our campaign is the Prestige version of standard PHB classes, most notably the Paladin and Ranger. The Prestige Bard... not so much. The Players don't seem to think it's worth the effort to get to Bard when the class itself isn't that great to begin with. But the others are definitely being used.

I would like to see a class based Defense in our game, but it hasn't happened yet. I think a major reason is that only a few members of the group have UA.

 

[Remathilis]

I built (but never ran) a Oriental Adventurers game with the following

Mechanical Honor
Defense Bonus
Wound/Vitality Pts
Reputation
Taint -> Replaces Alignment
Action Points

I also love Generic Classes. Really.

 

[harmyn]

For myself I use the following and tried one other -

Paragon classes (they just add a lot to the game)
Class Variants (mainly the cloistered cleric and battle sorcerer)
Flaws (but I watch these carefully for abuse)
Traits (again, I watch and see what is taken and why)
Prestige Paladin class (like this take on the D&D staple. Also did a 15 level blackguard adversary)
Taint (for certain games)
Incantations (for low magic or "eerie magic" campaign)
Item Familiars (but NO xp bonus option with it)
Sanity (used in one setting for the half-elves taking an option from Dragon magazine)

Lastly, I did let someone play with the Bloodline option, But that didn't work out to well. The level loss vs. what is gained at various times is just not quite worth it. Maybe if they were variant 3 level prestige classes it could have been a little better - just my opinion.

 

[Pants]

Currently using:
Expanded Action Points Rules
Magic Rating
LA Buy-Off
Spontaneous Divine Casting

So far, only the Action point rules have come up.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I love the buying off of level adjustment.

I'd love to play in a gestalt game.

I like the paragon classes, and the class variants are pretty cool.

We also use action points. It took a while to get us to actually use them, as opposed to hoarding them, but they're great for one-turn feat purchases which lead to fun combos (like, say, Close Quarters Combat and Combat Reflexes when fighting a Squamous Tentacled Horror From The Outer Dark That Wants To Molest You).

Brad