EN World Presents the Year's Best D20!

[philreed]

4) Unearthed Arcana Contacts system, Reputation system, and Class Defense bonus system.

Ronin Arts has released the contact system (slightly expanded and with ready-made contacts) for both fantasy and modern.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2856&SRC=EnWorld

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=2948&SRC=EnWorld

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I would nominate Privater Press' Iron Kingdoms Character Guide. While it is certainly more fluffy than crunchy in some ways, it does provide some unique character classes for the setting which seem to work rather well.

 

[The_Universe]

One vote for the Arcana Unearthed magic system (and the move away from alignment that goes with it).

Can you briefly describe how it differs from the "normal" D20 magic system?

4) Unearthed Arcana Contacts system, Reputation system, and Class Defense bonus system.

5) Castles and Crusades Prime system for Abilities... I nominate it cuz it will be out just before the end of the year, and since this is for the best of 2004, I think it should count.

Please, elaborate on your nominees. The descriptions are adequate for people who already know what they are, but for people who haven't seen the product, an idea of what they entail might be helpful.

Planar Factions and the demi planes book by Ronin Arts. Both of these pdfs are filled with grteaty ideas to bring the planes to the players and vice versa. I'm very impressed with both of these.

Secrets of Theurgy: this will be my last suggestion as there are just too many good things out there. But the classes in this book take a stale idea and keep the basics and make them interesting and exciting.

What cruncy bits therein did you find most inspiring and/or useful? Please describe them for the curious!

 

[Henry]

Not to spoil anyone's parade, but Monte Cook's AU system came out in August of 2003, if you're looking at 2004 only.

Otherwise, I second that it's a great system. Quick explanation: takes spell slots much like a sorcerer, you can either weave multiple slots together to cast higher level spells, or break them apart (only one step "down") to cast more lowe-level stuff. Every spell has a high, middle, and low powered version listed, and you can cast these on the fly. And finally, you prepare a pool of spells each day to use, like a cleric can pick from ALL his class list; but the spells you pick are available spontaneously like a sorcerer, as long as you have the slots open. Awesome system.

 

[Henry]

My nomination? WotC's Psionics SRD update. They fixed psionics to make them not only easier to use with D&D magic, but made them attractive enough to let people give them a fair shake. I've had people actually USING psionics now, besides me, for the first time in almost 15 years.

 

[Belen]

Blah! Do we need awards for crunch!? I agree that a lot of what is posted here is good struff, but rules are just blech without anything to make them come alive.

At first, I thought the Year's Best was a cool idea. Now I am having doubts.

 

[The_Universe]

Not to spoil anyone's parade, but Monte Cook's AU system came out in August of 2003, if you're looking at 2004 only.

Otherwise, I second that it's a great system. Quick explanation: takes spell slots much like a sorcerer, you can either weave multiple slots together to cast higher level spells, or break them apart (only one step "down") to cast more lowe-level stuff. Every spell has a high, middle, and low powered version listed, and you can cast these on the fly. And finally, you prepare a pool of spells each day to use, like a cleric can pick from ALL his class list; but the spells you pick are available spontaneously like a sorcerer, as long as you have the slots open. Awesome system.

Thanks for the explanation for the uninformed. Since UA is a 2003 product, I'm declaring it ineligable (not that it matters ) I'll remove it from the master list in my first post.

Psionics have also been added.

 

[The_Universe]

Blah! Do we need awards for crunch!? I agree that a lot of what is posted here is good struff, but rules are just blech without anything to make them come alive.

At first, I thought the Year's Best was a cool idea. Now I am having doubts.

Start a 'fluff' award thread. Can't hurt.

 

[Queen_Dopplepopolis]

I guess, I don't know if this applies directly... My initial vote was for the solidification of "Exalted" characters as a different breed than simply heroes... but, alas, BoED is a 2003 release.

And so, I case my vote for the introduction of Warforged into the world of fantasy. I think they are incredibly cool - they were just introduced to our game on Friday and WOW! They are bitchin'!

And, if it doesn't apply: I've still let the world know that I *heart* Warforged.

 

[Verequus]

To The_Universe:
Please write "Elements of Magic Revised", because the predecessor is still available on RPGnow, there could be some kind of confusion.

Also I miss:

"Unlikely Heroes" from Plot Device - NPC classes made worthy for players.

"Poisoncraft: The Dark Art" from Blue Devil Games - everything about poisons.

"Libem Liborium" from Silven Publishing - everything for creating books in character.