Incorporating UA options into established/core D&D settings

[AFGNCAAP]

I was just wondering about this...

It seems remarkably easy to just drop in options into a homebrew setting, but what about using these options & variants in an established setting such as Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, etc.?

What would happen if you used the paladin, ranger & bard PrCs in Forgotten Realms instead of the core classes? Would you have to rework major NPCs like Drizzt or Scyllua Darkhope? Or what if you used one of the alternate skill systems--would all NPC skills need to be reworked before you used the NPCs in game?

What if you allowed variant classes into FR? Would Sune & Selune now have CG paladins of freedom? Would Bane have LE paladins of tyranny, or Cyric have CE paladins of slaughter? What about the Cormyr War Wizards--would they now merely be members of the battle sorcerer class? Would the Uthgardt barbarians be considered Totem barbarians? What sort of Domain Wizard would Khelben or Elmisnter be considered?

Or what about the racial paragons? Would they have to conform to typical stereotypes of those races in FR? Would there need to be more racial paragons to deal with the various subraces (like a deep dwarf paragon, a duergar paragon, an avariel paragon, a gray orc paragon, a ghostwise halfling paragon, etc.)?

Just curious to hear your views & thoughts on the matter.

 

[diaglo]

i still contend that EGG wrote the UA for his powergaming scions.








i know you aren't talking about the original UA. but a lesson can be learned from the past in this instance.



even today people argue about whether the UA was good, official, necessary, added anything, caused more headaches, was full of overpowered things, etc...

all you had to do was go to a Convention in the 80's and ask the DM if he was using the Comeliness stat to understand what was going to happen.

 

[Voadam]

I was just wondering about this...

It seems remarkably easy to just drop in options into a homebrew setting, but what about using these options & variants in an established setting such as Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, etc.?

No more difficult than any other established setting with existing history and characters I would think.

What would happen if you used the paladin, ranger & bard PrCs in Forgotten Realms instead of the core classes? Would you have to rework major NPCs like Drizzt or Scyllua Darkhope? Or what if you used one of the alternate skill systems--would all NPC skills need to be reworked before you used the NPCs in game?

Did you redo them when the game went from 3.0 to 3.5?

What if you allowed variant classes into FR? Would Sune & Selune now have CG paladins of freedom? Would Bane have LE paladins of tyranny, or Cyric have CE paladins of slaughter? What about the Cormyr War Wizards--would they now merely be members of the battle sorcerer class? Would the Uthgardt barbarians be considered Totem barbarians? What sort of Domain Wizard would Khelben or Elmisnter be considered?

Or what about the racial paragons? Would they have to conform to typical stereotypes of those races in FR? Would there need to be more racial paragons to deal with the various subraces (like a deep dwarf paragon, a duergar paragon, an avariel paragon, a gray orc paragon, a ghostwise halfling paragon, etc.)?

Just curious to hear your views & thoughts on the matter.

The FR gods would definitely pick up the new paladins. the 2e books had several orders for every god including military ones.

The war wizards and totem barbarians would be DM's choice based on his flavor preferences. I'm not familiar with the domain wizards so I won't common on those.

FR would probably spawn its own paragons for each subrace but that would need a DM or player to design, similar to how other chosen for different gods would make sense.

 

[langolas]

I was just wondering about this...

It seems remarkably easy to just drop in options into a homebrew setting, but what about using these options & variants in an established setting such as Greyhawk, Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, etc.?

What would happen if you used the paladin, ranger & bard PrCs in Forgotten Realms instead of the core classes? Would you have to rework major NPCs like Drizzt or Scyllua Darkhope? Or what if you used one of the alternate skill systems--would all NPC skills need to be reworked before you used the NPCs in game?

What if you allowed variant classes into FR? Would Sune & Selune now have CG paladins of freedom? Would Bane have LE paladins of tyranny, or Cyric have CE paladins of slaughter? What about the Cormyr War Wizards--would they now merely be members of the battle sorcerer class? Would the Uthgardt barbarians be considered Totem barbarians? What sort of Domain Wizard would Khelben or Elmisnter be considered?

Or what about the racial paragons? Would they have to conform to typical stereotypes of those races in FR? Would there need to be more racial paragons to deal with the various subraces (like a deep dwarf paragon, a duergar paragon, an avariel paragon, a gray orc paragon, a ghostwise halfling paragon, etc.)?

Just curious to hear your views & thoughts on the matter.

If you're running the game, it's however YOU want it to be. The books are more guidelines than set in stone. It's the DM's Guide, not the DM's Bible/Koran/Torra etc. I personally would not update any of the premade characters, just too much of a pain. In the FR campain Im playing in we are using the core classes from the PH, with some tweaks depending on flavor and character. Use judgement. you are god in the game.