Merlion
First Post
I may soon be running a small campaign that i plan to do as a fusion of AU and D&D, with some Unearthed Arcana variants thrown in as well, and I am looking for some advice and answers to a couple questions. I also have a couple of small complaints about AU.
This is the basic layout. I'm going to use Armor as DR and Class Defense Bonus as presented in Unearthed Arcana. As far as classes, I'm using all the AU classes except for Greenbond, Oathsworn and Totem Warrior, and then also using the Druid, Bard, Fighter, Monk, probably Ranger and possibly Rogue from D&D. Using AU magic (but I will probably catagorize most D&D spells for use with the system...most of them will probably simply be Complex spells), AU Magic Item creation, mostly AU feats with maybe some others if their wanted or needed. Mostly D&D races, unless someone really wants to play an AU one.
So my first area where I'm looking for help is in the classes. Druid is not to hard, I plan to basically just give them simple spell access with the Greenbond progression, and access to all Plant and Positive Energy spells, and probably the Elemental descriptors, electrcitity and Cold. Keep their abilities, but go down to light armor, a d6, and medium Fort saves.
The Bard and the Ranger are a bit harder tho, so ideas in that area would be apreciated. For Bard I plan to give Mageblade type spell progression, and simple and Sonic spells definitely...maybe also let them choose either Mind Affecting or Positive Energy. Verbal components only. Or I may try and rework the Bard entirely so that its all songs rather than spells. And yes, I am familiar with Monte's variant Bard, and I dont especially care for it.
Ranger is even harder. And I'm not sure if I should let the Rogue in or not. The Akashic fills the role mechanically, but it also has a lot of flavour that some people may not want.
So basically any sort of advice or ideas on spell and class conversions would be apreciated.
Also, I would like to integrate Good and Evil magics into the game, and I am also ambivalent about how Positive and Negative energy are handled, in both games. D&D doesnt seem to be able to make up its mind about wether those energies are simply forces, like Fire, or wether they are in fact forces of Good and Evil. And AU basically seems to use them as Good and Evil without actually calling them that. So i'd just like to know the thoughts of others on how they see these 4 things as interacting.
I also have some issues about Outsiders, but I think maybe I should start a seperate thread for that..
Now a question...my main villain is going to be a Magister 10/Mage Priest 10. The Eldritch Spiritsight ability I am a little unclear on. Does it really act as permanent See Invisibility, for everything, or does it just allow him to see "eldritch spirits"?
Lastly, some combination gripe/questions. A lot of AU feats have requirements of, or use ability scores that seem a bit...out of place to me, or that limit a feat to certain classes especially as far as spellcasting. Quicken Spell, Eldritch Training, and a number of others for instance, are general purpose spellcasting feats but require a high Int, which basically limits them to Magisters and Runethanes. Likewise, Power of the Name requires a high Int, but then the save is based on Cha. So only a Magister or Runethane would qualify for the feat, but because they arent going to have a high Cha, the feat is going to be near-useless for them.
Also several combat feats involve Wis based saving throws...which for a non-Oathsworn melee character is going to be...a bit of a problem.
Anyway I know this is long and vague, but I'd apreciate some thoughts and we can go from there.
This is the basic layout. I'm going to use Armor as DR and Class Defense Bonus as presented in Unearthed Arcana. As far as classes, I'm using all the AU classes except for Greenbond, Oathsworn and Totem Warrior, and then also using the Druid, Bard, Fighter, Monk, probably Ranger and possibly Rogue from D&D. Using AU magic (but I will probably catagorize most D&D spells for use with the system...most of them will probably simply be Complex spells), AU Magic Item creation, mostly AU feats with maybe some others if their wanted or needed. Mostly D&D races, unless someone really wants to play an AU one.
So my first area where I'm looking for help is in the classes. Druid is not to hard, I plan to basically just give them simple spell access with the Greenbond progression, and access to all Plant and Positive Energy spells, and probably the Elemental descriptors, electrcitity and Cold. Keep their abilities, but go down to light armor, a d6, and medium Fort saves.
The Bard and the Ranger are a bit harder tho, so ideas in that area would be apreciated. For Bard I plan to give Mageblade type spell progression, and simple and Sonic spells definitely...maybe also let them choose either Mind Affecting or Positive Energy. Verbal components only. Or I may try and rework the Bard entirely so that its all songs rather than spells. And yes, I am familiar with Monte's variant Bard, and I dont especially care for it.
Ranger is even harder. And I'm not sure if I should let the Rogue in or not. The Akashic fills the role mechanically, but it also has a lot of flavour that some people may not want.
So basically any sort of advice or ideas on spell and class conversions would be apreciated.
Also, I would like to integrate Good and Evil magics into the game, and I am also ambivalent about how Positive and Negative energy are handled, in both games. D&D doesnt seem to be able to make up its mind about wether those energies are simply forces, like Fire, or wether they are in fact forces of Good and Evil. And AU basically seems to use them as Good and Evil without actually calling them that. So i'd just like to know the thoughts of others on how they see these 4 things as interacting.
I also have some issues about Outsiders, but I think maybe I should start a seperate thread for that..
Now a question...my main villain is going to be a Magister 10/Mage Priest 10. The Eldritch Spiritsight ability I am a little unclear on. Does it really act as permanent See Invisibility, for everything, or does it just allow him to see "eldritch spirits"?
Lastly, some combination gripe/questions. A lot of AU feats have requirements of, or use ability scores that seem a bit...out of place to me, or that limit a feat to certain classes especially as far as spellcasting. Quicken Spell, Eldritch Training, and a number of others for instance, are general purpose spellcasting feats but require a high Int, which basically limits them to Magisters and Runethanes. Likewise, Power of the Name requires a high Int, but then the save is based on Cha. So only a Magister or Runethane would qualify for the feat, but because they arent going to have a high Cha, the feat is going to be near-useless for them.
Also several combat feats involve Wis based saving throws...which for a non-Oathsworn melee character is going to be...a bit of a problem.
Anyway I know this is long and vague, but I'd apreciate some thoughts and we can go from there.
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