PHB2 vs. Arcana Evolved

[jeffh]

What looks like "reinventing the wheel" was the result of a long-going survey among 3E players. People were asked what they didn't like about 3E, and the result were things like the arcane/divine divide, the inflexible magic system, the marriage of healing ability to the cleric class or that it wasn't possible to build a good DEX-based fighter without buying the rogue package. Arcana Unearthed was the result of this survey and tried to address most complaints.

????

I'm wondering if you could provide a link or something for this, because I think I read all the Design Diaries and stuff without seeing any mention of this.

 

[Nightfall]

*goes on to believe in the power of the Mageblade!*

 

[Turjan]

????

I'm wondering if you could provide a link or something for this, because I think I read all the Design Diaries and stuff without seeing any mention of this.

I don't think that thread still exists. That was on Monte's old board, in 2002. A real thread monster .

 

[jeffh]

I don't think that thread still exists. That was on Monte's old board, in 2002. A real thread monster .

Ah. By "survey" I thought you meant something a lot more formal and systematic than an internet thread which, among other weaknesses as a piece of research, is wholly self-selecting. But at least I can make sense of your comments now.

(Even so, I'd expect a lot more mention of it in the Diaries and such and correspondingly less emphasis on Cook's own views on 3E if it were as big an influence as you seem to be claiming.)

 

[Turjan]

Ah. By "survey" I thought you meant something a lot more formal and systematic than an internet thread which, among other weaknesses as a piece of research, is wholly self-selecting. But at least I can make sense of your comments now.

(Even so, I'd expect a lot more mention of it in the Diaries and such and correspondingly less emphasis on Cook's own views on 3E if it were as big an influence as you seem to be claiming.)

Sure, a thread is self-selecting. But that's not really important in this regard. During that time, Monte Cook was mostly known as one of the authors of D&D 3E, and most of the activity on his boards were rules questions, as he wrote the DMG. One day, he started the thread, asking what everyone's pet peeves about D&D 3E were. The thread was running for months, and it got very long with time. Monte himself never gave any comment within his thread.

Whether the answers in that thread only coincided with his own views or played a crucial role in his design of AU will probably never been answered. Fact is that AU gave solutions to most common complaints made in this thread, at least as long as the demanded changes didn't alter the basics of D&D (like being class-based). Personally, I don't think that the AU rules are really "his take on D&D", as some people tell, at least not in the sense that AU is the way he wants D&D to be. I think he always preferred D&D as it is, with only very few changes.