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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 1047303" data-attributes="member: 2067">Arcana Unearthed: Meh.I picked up Arcana Unearthed the other day and after flipping through it like a half-starving Marlon Brando through an all-you-can-eat buffet, I had to get a few things off of my chest. So consider this my semi-review.Before I start in on this thing, let me just say this at the front:HARD COVERS WITH BLACK AND WHITE INTERIORS MAKE BABY JESUS CRY!I feel like a friggin' Hostess commercial animal-puppet of some sort. "Hey, where's the cream filling?" I wasn't exicted when Nyambe did it (but it's okay, they shelled out for a few pages, and were small pioneers), it irked me when the Arms and Equipment Guide did it (I guess the splatbook + idea was just coming around...all right), and now I feel the need to speak out against it. I feel a bit cheated. I guess I just expected a great amount out of an alternate PH. Y'know, the original was a great legacy that it would be tough to live up to. Now that that's off my chest, on to the good, the bad, and the ugly. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Point #1: Balance makes me nervous. I trust Monte, but my DM's judgement alarm is going off in all sorts of directions, from the minor (slightly unbalanced racial ability score modifiers) to the ginormous (an extra feat at first level?! Holy crap, those TALENTS?!). Basically, I had to put the kabosh on allowing in the book full monte (so to speak) about halfway through the 'feats' chapter, when I realized that the Talents could literally make or break a character. They're unusually potent feats that are certainly more powerful than any other feat, and their only limitation is that you can only have one, and can only choose one at first level...which doesn't make me feel much better, to be honest. A talent can save you several thousand GP down the road with damage bonuses and AC bonuses and to-hit bonuses that are nearly as good as magical equipment, and sometimes better.Point #2: New Races. I almost universally love them all, and want to have their freakishly delicious children. The only quibble I could have is over giants being called 'giants' (which makes for weird semantics outside of the Diamond Throne setting), and several of the races having quesitonable balance (mentioned above). Perhaps also a quibble on the racial classes giving +1 to ability scores, as it makes me nervous, but not enough to outlaw it yet. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Point #3: New Classes. Again, nearly nothin' but love. The quibble here lies in things 'left out.' Namely, there's no religious figures at all...which could be okay, but it made me feel like the setting as a whole was missing religion, and that nearly obliterates my suspension of disbelief, personally. The closest thing are the 'magical hippies', the Greenbonds, who are just pretty much worshipers of life itself....which is cool, but remarkably 'duh,' in that it didn't take a whole lot of creative leaps to make a healing druid. The other aspect left out would be a 'stealthy type.' While you could make an Akashic who specialized in stealth, and some of the other classes won't do too shabby in it, there's nothing that tells me 'I'm the sneaky one.' Again, it feels like a missing link in the world and in the party...stealth seems to be an almost-overlooked approach.Point #4 : 3.5. Honestly, I would've waited another week or two for AU just so the 3.5 rules could be blended with it seemlessly. I know Monte doesn't agree with all of them (and the game, not being d20, has no requirement to conform to all of them), but some of the advancements are substantially better, and Monte could've benefited from them (speed bonuses instead of listed speeds for monks/"unfettered" for instance; or the better rules for animal companions for the Totem Warriors, or just the right name for Survival, or some of the deleted/rolled skills). As it is, it's gonna be a bit sloppy...related to this, the editing seems...not up to par. Things like the 'runechild' template have their requirements ill-defined, or contradictory in some places. Still, that second point is only a minor erratta point.Point #5: Skill Consolidation. I love the idea to have one skill covering Hide and M. Silently ("sneak"). I'd also like one opposing though...maybe "sense" or something. Point #6: Equipment. I heart this entire chapter, basically. Other than 3.5 compatibility, I could groove on this gear for a long time to come.Point #7: TEMPLATES FOR ALL! Not just for monsters anymore! Spells, weapons, races, everything gets a template. I actually like it, as it makes the basic system far more flexible.Point #8: Flexibility. This is a grand step up and I'm for it. The only worry is that, other than the spellcasters, you're not giving up much for it.  Which threatens to make some things obsolete.Anyhoo, those are the main things. Overall, good...I just had to get them off my chest. Thanks for listening. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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