Unearthed Arcana *hugs her copy*

[Derulbaskul]

(snip) What I really like about UA is that it encourages me to look at what is there and go a step further. It is like having permission to use house rules, rather than stay by ye holy core books. (snip)

Another angle here, and a personal hope of mine, is that those companies that really struggle to "get the rules right" will borrow and build on ideas out of UA so that there is least some semblance of balance vis a vis the core rules.

And the more rules for replacing familiars, the better! Not that I have anything against them, I just like there being options.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Well, it's not perfect, there's a few questionable rules in there (domain wizards comes to mind as one), but it's certainly going to shake things up....

 

[NiTessine]

I know I'm dropping the Racial Paragons and Level-Independent XP Awards into my current FR campaign. They're only 2nd-level, so it shouldn't shake things up too much.

I'm already plotting a Planescape campaign utilising Armour as DR, Vitality and Wound Points, and an alternate Massive Damage Threshold. Perhaps then the group's solution to every problem won't come from a sheath...

 

[Beale Knight]

After about 2 months of waiting and saving the gift certificate to my FLGS I got for Christmas, I have finally picked up Unearthed Arcana, and I love it!

heh - I'd been hanging onto one since November.

What about you? What do your "must use" and "might use" lists look like?

Once my campaign gets rolling again and we all get used to each other I'm planning on suggesting we adopt Action Points and most the variant classes, including racial paragons. Though I like the generic classes, I/we already have too much invested in the core ones to switch. As for the rest, once the book and rules have circulated some more, and the newer players get used to the core rules, I'll see what everyone else likes.

 

[Beale Knight]

Well, it's not perfect, there's a few questionable rules in there (domain wizards comes to mind as one), but it's certainly going to shake things up....

That class is something I'm struggling with as well. If used, why would anyone NOT be a domain wizard. Am I missing something or is there really no downside when it's compared to a general wizard ala the core rules?

 

[Telperion]

I just ordered my copy today, so the book will arrive in 14 - 15 days.
Needless to say I'm looking forward to reading it, and seeing what I could add into my on-going campaign.

 

[Afrodyte]

That class is something I'm struggling with as well. If used, why would anyone NOT be a domain wizard. Am I missing something or is there really no downside when it's compared to a general wizard ala the core rules?

For one thing, UA suggests that you don't use the class variants alongside the PHB classes for the exact same reason (or something close to that).

As far as domain wizards, I actually think the idea works better for sorcerers. It fits better flavor-wise to have a spontaneous caster with an affinity for particular spell types (say, for a particular element or for a particular type of effect) than one who is just in tune with all things magical. So, you don't get a sorcerer with a few spells completely unrelated to each other. You get Simon the Seer or Pyro, Master of Flame (and his brother Ajex, Prince of the Power of Air) or Gladys, Queen of Hearts.

In addition, that makes it easier to justify things like better HD and a few more skills and skill points to represent the worldly skills that are developed alongside the sorcerer's gift considering how limited their options are magic-wise.

 

[Plane Sailing]

What I really like about UA is that it encourages me to look at what is there and go a step further. It is like having permission to use house rules, rather than stay by ye holy core books.

One of the things I find quite bizarre is that the 3e books, for the first time, actively encouraged you to house rule stuff... and yet message boards are full of people worried about departing from the One True Way on the printed page.

I'm curious that you didn't feel the PHB & DMG gave you explicit permission to use house rules!

 

[VorpalBunny]

Looking foward to using:

• The hp variants: either VP/WP or injury. Haven't decided which, but I'm leaning towards VP/WP. Anything's gotta be better than hp.
• Armor as DR
• Defense bonus
• Spell points
• Generic classes
• Traits
• Honor
• Flaws

 

[Will]

I got the book and have devoured it. Mmmm.

Legendary weapons seem neat, but they are, well, broken. The 'faith scion' feat gives you ... all the benefits of being a cleric. All of them. AND access to a legendary weapon. Uh, what?

Ok, being a druid and becoming a faith scion entails the loss of some skills, but still, full magic and special ability advancement. Bwuh.

Other things, like the domain wizard, similarly seem a little off kilter. People love armor as DR, but I'm not sure it works as well as people would like.

A few of the options, like spell points, have drastic effects that are hard to explain. This isn't an indictment... the book makes it clear that this, and other options, warrant caution.

All that said, man, there are some beautiful things in this book. The classes chapter, with lots of little tweaks, rocks.

I love the generic classes. They might work well for a modern game or some arena where I don't want quite so much crunch, but still want a solid D20 base. I think they'd work well for D20 CoC, for example.

I LOVE the Incantations (basically, make a bunch of skill checks to cast a very specific spell). Again, er, CoC anyone? Or similar genres.

The alternate XP system is very sensible, and skips a lot of accounting. I already have an alternate XP system which works better for me, but it was nice to see, particularly if I join a D&D game that doesn't use my houserule.

All in all, well worth the list price. (Though Amazon had it 30% off...)