Does AU mix well will Core 3.5 Ed?

[Dreaddisease]

The only thing I'd definitely leave out is the fairy guys - tiny flying PCs are guaranteed to cause a headache!

Interesting. I usually have an easier time with PCs that can fly constantly or some can fly and some can't. I've also had a more interesting time when most of the party could fly (after 12th level). So allowing a flying Race into the game as long as it balances well would actually be something that I would jump on much quicker. I just hate it when the players have to dig deep in their spell books or climb a tree to see the giant wandering towards them. hehe.

 

[Crothian]

I've found that classes from AU and feats from else where mix just fine.

 

[nopantsyet]

I run a mix as well. I follow the advice that's been given above. AU characters use all AU rules and D&D characters use all D&D rules. No mix-and-matching. It's been working out fine.

 

[Frum]

magical dangers

I have mixed and matched AU with D&D 3.5 as well. Most of the classes are fine, especially the Akashic, unfettered, totem warrior, witch, and oathsworn. I think that the warmain might be a bit better than most other warriors, and the mage blade is very versatile compared with other warrior/spellcaster combos.

The magister would be the biggest problem, I think. Even if you confine magister characters to AU spells, they are just so much more versatile and powerful than wizards because of AU's magic system. I would recommend using the magister, and simply getting rid of the wizard and sorcerer classes.

 

[RichGreen]

Are Magisters really that tough?

As I'm thinking of running a Magister as my next character, can you give me some tips on using the AU magic system? The AU spells actually look quite weak and I was going to use some spells from the Complete Book of Eldritch Might to make the character tougher.

Cheers


Richard

 

[Frum]

magister toughness

As I'm thinking of running a Magister as my next character, can you give me some tips on using the AU magic system? The AU spells actually look quite weak and I was going to use some spells from the Complete Book of Eldritch Might to make the character tougher.

I think so. That is in part because of some of the assumptions about spellcasters in AU. A magister recieves almost as many bonus feats as a wizard, gets a bonus to save against magical effects, a better hit die, slightly better skills, and more spells per day. A magister can usually ready more spells than a sorcerer can know.

As to assumptions of the system, a magister already knows all simple and complex spells, and because of the number of spells readied, beats the sorcerer in on-the-fly versatility, and the wizard in overall versatility. Beyond that, the magister can take advantage of the heightened and diminished effects of most spells. Many spells are balanced or somewhat weak for their standard level, but many have surprisingly powerful diminished or heightened effects, which in turn give better options for all the character's casting slots.

I have two magisters in my game, and usually their advantage comes from the simple versatility. They play a much bigger role in the party than the party wizards ever did.

They also really like to cast spells wild. 75% chance of the same or better spell with the same casting slot is a good deal. If you roll like my players, it is even better.

That said, if your DM is using wizards and/or sorcerers and magisters, he or she should really give wizards a better spell knowledge (not just the paltry two spells gained per level), and perhaps give sorcerers some more spells known. I also think that some of the PHB spells are too powerful, which makes some of the magister spells seem weaker than they really are. That's just my opinion, though, and it matters little in a campaign where the spells for wizards and for magisters come from two exclusive sets.

 

[WayneLigon]

As I'm thinking of running a Magister as my next character, can you give me some tips on using the AU magic system? The AU spells actually look quite weak and I was going to use some spells from the Complete Book of Eldritch Might to make the character tougher.

Really, what the spells lack in sheer power is made up for with the versatility of the caster especially if spell templates and the feat Modify Spell are used. The magister knows many more spells than any wizard of his level, can combine spell slots for more powerful effects or to power off-the-cuff metamagic feats (from Modify Spell), break spell slots apart for more spells, etc.

 

[Moorcrys]

AU classes

I've had AU classes mixed with PHB classes since I re-opened my campaign in October, specifically an Unfettered and a Totem Warrior. Players in my campaign have run into some AU-classed foes and didn't seem to have any problem, specifically a champion of darkness and (peripherally) a winter witch. They seem to balance out relatively well, and I haven't had any real complaints.

However, I disallowed Warmains, Magisters, and Greenbonds from the start. The two high-magic classes seem unbalanced if you want to use the standard wizard/sorcerer/cleric/druid classes. The casting flexibility combined with numerous class-related abilities, heightened/dimished effects, and the fact that all the spells are on one list turned me off to combining them with the standard D&D casting classes. I simply am not interested in a wizard being able to heal or raise the dead or a cleric tossing around lightning bolts. With warmains it seemed to me like 'why would you ever take a fighter?' -- a little bit on the uber side for my taste compared to the other fighting classes. And my campaign world has a very very specific racial list (almost entirely human) so I never had any long discussion about using AU races.

What I did do is standardize the feat progression by allowing beginning PHB classes to pick their feats in the same way as AU classes -- a bump in power for PHB characters but I did it for the sake of simplicity. Only remaining AU classes (witch, runethane, mageblade) can use AU spells and PHB classes PHB spells. I also collapsed the Move Silently and Hide skills into Sneak and deleted leftover 3.0 AU skills such as Innuendo. I said if a feat or feat chain is described differently in the PHB than the AU book to use the PHB version (for instance Two-Weapon Fighting), but that feats from either book could be taken (using the limitations and rules provided in the feat). I also nixed, modified, and knocked around a number of the AU magic feats that I felt could be combined with other feats or abilities to create an overpowered effect.

It seems like a lot now that I've had to think about it but it hasn't been a problem. I also really try to bring in campaign/world specific reasons for classes and professions to exist so that players have a good idea as to why there are witches in the world or where a runethane comes from. But in a class-based system adding some classes from AU (or the Miniatures Handbook or Complete Warrior) in a campaign-specific, intelligent way IMHO allows for both PCs and NPCs with new abilities and ideas that add flavor and diversity to gameplay.

Moorcrys

 

[teitan]

I personally wouldn't mix the two. AU has its own flavour that mixing with 3.5 would work weird. Also, consider that AU was designed with 3.0 D20 in mind and you may have a few problems with Wizards being weaker than magisters due to the nerfing of a lot of spells in 3.5 compared to the original 3.0 versions or even the erratted versions.

I would consider mixing it with 3.0 though keeping in mind that the two systems use different levels charts and the AU races and classes are more powerful as a whole (not individually) than the 3.0 classes. The AU classes are designed for more versatility as opposed to archetypal imagery of DUngeons & Dragons.

Jason

 

[Driddle]

I am starting a FR campaign soon and one of my player's is thinking of being a Mage Blade.My thoughts are to only let him use spells, feats and skills from AU. Do you guys foresee any problems that might arise from that? Everyone else in the campaign is from core rules Sorcerer, Rogue, and Barbarian.

You can't do that.