Unearthed Arcana Variant Rules - Previews and Questions

[Kichwas]

What's unfortunate about that is that in play the damage save is just simply a superior option.

There's nothing like the tension of having no way on either side of knowing when someone will go down. Like reality, it's unpredictable. In my MnM game I never hear "Ack! I'm down by 23 hit points, toss me the cleric!", but in my DnD game the players track their hit points with desperate attention and uncanny precision.

In MnM you never know which hit will take you down. By contrast in DnD I can predict to the round when a NPC will go down and I can often take the mini off the mat before the player even adds up the damage...

But converting it over to DnD has been problematic at best...

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Are you kidding? I love the name: Anti-Paladin. Wasn't silly to me back then, it's not silly now.

Nope, I like class names that are something that characer or it's allies might refer to it as, in game. A character refering to its self as a Anti-Paladin would, to me, smack of Austin Powers style camp. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's still silly.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

Well, thank ya kindly, Tarril! Glad to hear you're feelin' better.

The Paladin PrC actually wasn't was I was expecting at all (well, I kinda suspected something like it, but I was expecting the paladin PrC to be a 10-level PrC that granted 1st through 4th level paladin spells, much like the assassin PrC, and the blackguard PrC).

I originally was going to have paladins be a PrC only IMC, but I may not do that after all. However, I am considering going with the 4-variety versions of paladins (LG/CG/LE/CE); I'll probably rename the LE paladin variant a "blackguard," & ditch the blackguard PrC.

However, I'm extremely psyched now about the Generic Classes. At first, I thought it was going to be more or less along the lines of the generic class from the Omega World mini-game from Polyheadron/Dungeon; but now, oh, it just seems to be much more than that. It sounds like the perfect system for a few projects I'm working on. I was considering using the Wilderness Rogue, Thug, CW's Swashbuckler, & other variant core classes for a Lankhmar d20 game I was fiddling around with, but honestly, the 3 generic classes ultimately seem ideal.

Man oh man! I can't wait for this book to hit the shelves & lighten my wallet!

 

[Tarril Wolfeye]

Quote: gestalt characters - effectively taking two classes at once: just use all class features and the better of all variable features (for example Base Attack, Base Saves, # of skill points...) Endquote


How does this work? Do you level up half as often? Or what?

No, it seems you don't use standard classes anymore when using gestalt. There's even 1 full page about adjusting CR of monsters and balancing gestalt characters. It's a totally different world - everyone takes two classes at once.

 

[Tarril Wolfeye]

Well, thank ya kindly, Tarril! Glad to hear you're feelin' better.

Well, there was some lactose somewhere I didn't expect, which ruined most of my sunday, but it's all out of my system now.

 

[A'koss]

Thanks for Armor Conversion rules Tarril! Very interesting indeed... I just saw the post about the generic classes, any chance of getting a few tidbits and your impressions of those?

Cheers,

A'koss.

 

[jasamcarl]

What's unfortunate about that is that in play the damage save is just simply a superior option.

There's nothing like the tension of having no way on either side of knowing when someone will go down. Like reality, it's unpredictable. In my MnM game I never hear "Ack! I'm down by 23 hit points, toss me the cleric!", but in my DnD game the players track their hit points with desperate attention and uncanny precision.

In MnM you never know which hit will take you down. By contrast in DnD I can predict to the round when a NPC will go down and I can often take the mini off the mat before the player even adds up the damage...

But converting it over to DnD has been problematic at best...

Yeah, it looks difficult to do this with any sort of precision given the possibility of multiclassing.

 

[Tarril Wolfeye]

The Generic Classes: (almost everything)

When choosing a class you may choose which saves are good and which are poor. The # of good/poor saves is stated by the class. You may also choose your class skills. All classes get bonus feats, you may choose some class features of the standard classes as bonus feats.

Expert: d6; medium base attack; two good saves, one poor save; class skills: any twelve plus Craft and Profession; skill points: 6+Int mod; All simple weapons, one martial weapon, light armor; bonus feats:Lvl 1,2,4,8,12,16,20

Spellcaster: d4; poor base attack; one good save, two poor saves; class skills: any four plus Craft, Knowledge (all), and Profession; skill points: 2+Int mod; One simple weapon, no armor; bonus feats:Lvl 1,5,10,15,20; spellcasting as Sorcerer, fewer spells per day, select spells from cleric, druid, and sor/wiz lists; choose if you are arcane or divine spellcaster - arcane uses Int or Cha, divine uses Wis; you may multiclass between arcane spellcaster and divine spellcaster

Warrior: d10, good base attack; one good save, two poor saves; class skills: any six plus Craft; skill points: 2+Int mod; All simple and martial weapons, light and medium armor, shields (not tower shield); bonus feats:Lvl 1,2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18,20

The DM probably shouldn't apply multiclassing penalties.

 

[Tarril Wolfeye]

Yeah, it looks difficult to do this with any sort of precision given the possibility of multiclassing.

They are giving you the advice (in a sidebar) that no one should get the +2 bonus on Fortitude for the first level in a class more than once.

 

[RangerWickett]

Ach, the generic classes went from "Oh goodness, they're actually going to do something I'm interested in" to "Oh, . . . um, that's boring."

The Expert class could be kinda nice, I guess. But the Warrior is still given armor proficiency, and the Spellcaster has to choose between arcane and divine? Please, for once, can we get some official D&D stuff that doesn't use that silliness. I mean, there's nothing really wrong with it, but I don't want to use it.

I'll just keep my current house rules. I dunno, I guess I was hoping to get some vindication from WotC, to have them say my type of gaming is cool too.

Anyway, I like the alternative ragers. Kinda nifty.