Coolest bits of Unearthed Arcana

[Crothian]

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

I haven't had a chance to use them yet, so why don't you like them?

I am using the Earth Dwarf and will eventually be using the Dwarf Paragon for him. Other then that it has seen little use.

 

[Aeolius]

aquatic racial variants; very handy for an undersea campaign

 

[Campbell]

Alternate Death and Dying
Turn Undead Level Check
Reserve Points
Incantations
Weapon Groups

 

[Psion]

I haven't had a chance to use them yet, so why don't you like them?

First off, I think the way they are implemented are inconsistent with ECLs/LAs. Second, they seem very innefficient for their cost. I think that the approach of breaking a real template up into class levels (as we have seen in various dragon articles, or as in paragon classes) works more neatly/with less fuss.

 

[wingsandsword]

In D&D:
Racial Paragon Levels
Action Points
Specialist Wizard Variants
Planar Ranger & Urban Ranger
Wilderness Rogue
Character Traits
Bloodlines
Class Defense Bonus
Reducing Level Adjustments ("Buying off LA")
Reputation
Metamagic Components
Incantations

In d20 Modern:
Armor as Damage Reduction
Character Traits
Wound/Vitality
Sanity
Class Defense, Reputation and Incantations are already a part of d20 M.

I know of some campaigns that use Gestalts, but my campaign doesn't.

 

[Droogie]

We use action points in our game, but people keep forgetting to use them.

I'm running a Battle Sorcerer with an item familiar, and so far I'm lovin' it.

 

[feydras]

Weapons Group Proficiencies - this is my favorite, adds lots of flavor for a minor change
Variant specialty wizards
Urban ranger variant
Paladin as prestige class - haven't used, but the concept is much better
Wound points and Vitality points
Racial paragons - neat idea, especially for prereqs as someone mentioned
Spell point system - used for elven mages in my Iron Kingdom campaign

Great book with lots of ideas. What do people think of the Advanced Player's Manual by Green Ronin that just came out. I haven't checked it out yet but i think it has similar ideas. I love the 'Spellmaster' they previewed from it on their site.

- feydras

 

[Ferret]

After hearing about the bloodlines, I was unsure, but after seeing them I think they are fairly cool, the mechanics seem unnecessary, but I reckon it works well.

I hope to use:
Defense bonus (much reduced, and applying Check penelties)
Ac to DR
Wound points
I may work in the class and race varients, somewhere.

 

[Li Shenron]

I bought Unearthed Arcana when it first came out but haven't really used it. There have been several threads about "most useful" books and UA comes up time and time again. What bits do you like and use in your games?

As a general suggestion, don't overwhelm your game with variants, you have time to try more later in other campaigns Start with trying out the variants which seems easier to add, and which don't interact with each other:

For example you can allow a lot of the character variants (not the generic classes or gestalt, these are variants which should be used for all PCs or none), even all of them, and see what your players pick up. They are almost all well balanced.

Some mechanics variants or add-ons are very easy. You can consider e.g. the following:
- Contacts: these are very useful, we have loved them so far
- Weapon Groups: make the PCs less versatile at first, but better on the long run
- Metamagic components: quite expensive but interesting
- Reducing LA, Magic Rating, Class Defense... all of which lessen some PC penalties

 

[JoeGKushner]

i will forever contend that Gary wrote the UA for his powergaming scions.

the newer edition version does some similar things.

Thanks for not derailing the thread of anything with another complaint diaglo! Always pleasing to see your open mindness stick with the topic at hand...

Now before I get accussed of the same thing...

Racial Paragons: If you have the various Races of books, you can get some nice features by taking the racial substitition levels from thoese books and combining them with the racial paragons from this book.

Action Points: In a few other places like Eberron and d20 Modern but good for those who don't have access to 'em.

Taint: Perfect for those warped and transformed parts of a campaign setting.

Madness: I've used it a few times and am currently using it in my Slavelords of Cydonia campaign.

Bloodlines: It's been an option but not in use so perhaps not the best but something to look for, especially when giving flavor, to NPCs.