Unearthed Arcana Damage (and other) Variants

[Sado]

I'm interested in trying some of the variant rules from Unearthed Arcana, especially some of the damage rules, like the injury rules, armor as damage reduction, damage conversion, etc. Has anyone tried these out, and if so, how did it work for you? What about using more than one together (like the book suggests using defense bonus and armor as damage reduction with each other)?

I'd also be interested in hearing about other variant rules, such as the alternate skill systems, the various alternate magic rules, and the sanity and taint rules.

Heck, if you're using ANYTHING from Unearthed Arcana, tell me about it and how it's working for you, any problems or issues, etc.

 

[kingpaul]

My group did a no-magic setting for several sessions and used the wound point/vitality point variant. With no magic, that seemed to work pretty well.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I use MDT = CON, with some alterations. (I don't allow full spell or Sneak Attack damage to count against MDT.) I also use scaling MD saves and variable results-- so making multiple MD saves is a big deal.

I'm also using heavily modified forms of Armor as DR and Class Defense Bonus. I'm using Weapon Group Proficiencies as written, and I think it works a lot better than the standard proficiency rules.

Biggest change I'm using is the Gestalt rules variant, but there are already a lot of threads detailing peoples' (including my own) experiences with that.

edit: Oh, and action points. Love action points.

 

[SWBaxter]

Heck, if you're using ANYTHING from Unearthed Arcana, tell me about it and how it's working for you, any problems or issues, etc.

I've used the prestige class versions of the Paladin, Ranger, and Bard, like 'em all. I've also used the arcane domains as a replacement for wizard specialization, and that worked out decently. And armour as DR, though my version is taken from sources other than UA (Ken Hood's grim 'n' gritty HP system and OGL Ancients inspired my version). One that I hope to use in a future campaign is the generic classes (modified to give talents a la d20 Modern, which include all the class abilities I like), but that's still a work-in-progress.

 

[takyris]

I'm interested in trying some of the variant rules from Unearthed Arcana, especially some of the damage rules, like the injury rules, armor as damage reduction, damage conversion, etc. Has anyone tried these out, and if so, how did it work for you? What about using more than one together (like the book suggests using defense bonus and armor as damage reduction with each other)?

It worked okay for me, but it didn't end up being great. It involved a fair amount more book-keeping, and there was some counterintuitive stuff -- because it replaces "Heaviest armor you could wear" with "Corresponding defense bonus", it essentially gets you the same results as you'd have while wearing armor. That's not bad, but I don't think it's making the best use of the variation -- I think that Defense bonuses should be based on the class's assumed ability to defend itself, regardless of armor. If you make armor into DR, then this ensures that armor is still valuable, but for a different reason. It soaks damage, rather than avoiding hits.

For example, who should be better at parrying away or dodging attacks: a cleric or a barbarian? Based on my Conan-watching, the barbarian should be all over parrying or diving out of the way of attacks. He should have a better Defense progression than the cleric, as should the ranger.

I really didn't like the Injury rules. WP/VP went okay, but if I were going to use Injury rules, I'd do the extra work and convert the entirety of whatever I was playing to something like True20 (the "you need nothing but a d20" system that is used in Blue Rose and similar to that used in Mutants & Masterminds).