Unearthed Arcana Variant Rules - Previews and Questions

[DonAdam]

Oh, and you're not gonna tell me about it?

Ah, I suppose you've done your part for the nerd community for one day.

Go now, and sleep the sleep of the just.

I bet they're the racial classes that were posted on Monte's site a few months ago...

 

[Woas]

Wow, Tarril is such a great person... I feel your pain with the lactose

I have a few questions if ya don't mind:

Could you explain/describe any more of the variant classes? Such as the Urban ranger, Bardic Sage, Divine Bard and Savage Bard.

What are spell points and how do they work? I don't think I read about them in the previous pages... just the recharge magic. I you already explained this, don't waste your time answering it again for me...

Item Familiars. From the sounds of it this just seems like animated objects that can be used as familiars...

Sanity. I am most curious as to how this works.

And finally, Summon Monster variants. From the sound of this it seems like it could either be lists of alternate creatures a spell caster could summon instead of the normal ones in the PHB, or some variant rules to summoned monsters... being the skeptical that I am, I assume the former.

Thanks a bunch. Your number 1 in my book!

 

[evildm]

Injury:

Divide damage by 5 (round up) -> damage value
Make a Fortitude Save (DC 15 + damage value)

Hope you're having a good sleep. I also don't mean to pester you, but is this total damage AFTER modifiers (str, etc), or before? Just curious. Thanks again for all the info, BTW.

 

[Katowice]

How does Defense bonus work? I know that d20 Modern and Star Wars both use this. Does the book outline how Defense bonus is derived for each class?

ditto for Armor Damage Reduction.

 

[Michael Tree]

Magic Rating - taken instead of caster level, add together

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...)

Does the magic rating affect spells/day and the like, or does it basically allow caster levels to stack for determining spell effects and SR penetration?

How does the gestalt character variant work with multiclassing and prestige classes. I could see it becoming very confusing if every level has different combinations of two classes.

Finally, I'm surprised that no one has asked about the spell point system. How does that work?

 

[AeroDm]

I've been rather skeptical about a lot of what I've seen. I love house rules and plan to purchase UA asap, but some of it looks a little underdeveloped. Granted these are... possibly... excerpts.

I am really interested in combining the generic classes with bloodlines. Hopefully the underpowered generic classes combined with the empowering bloodlines form to make powerful characters suited to whatever niche people want. Here's to hoping.

 

[Olive]

I've been rather skeptical about a lot of what I've seen. I love house rules and plan to purchase UA asap, but some of it looks a little underdeveloped. Granted these are... possibly... excerpts.

Like what?

 

[AeroDm]

Like what?

Well, the Vita/Wounds didn't look very well done at all. I've toyed with it several times and was happy to see many of our additions present, but then I felt it personally fell short.

A lot of the other material seems underpowered which makes me quite happy because the previous track record of splat-books was to create more powerful versions of everything to make it 'mad-cool.' The fact that this book doesn't do that is a breath of fresh air. Unfortunately, I can't imagine too many players using many of the character flaws and the totem barbarians all seem to be lacking over the core barb... again, all in my opinino. YMMV. I still plan to buy it.

 

[Stormborn]

Bloodlines - lots of pages, seems to be some kind of multiclassing with bloodline traits.


Kai Lord:

Bloodlines (take 2) - Ancestors available: Celestial, Demon, Devil, Doppelganger, Black Dragon, Blue Dragon, Brass Dragon, Bronze Dragon, Copper Dragon, Gold Dragon, Green Dragon, Red Dragon, Silver Dragon, White Dragon, Air Elemental, Earth Elemental, Fire Elemental, Water Elemental, Fey, Djinni, Efreeti, Janni, Cloud Giant, Fire Giant, Frost Giant, Hill Giant, Stone Giant, Storm Giant, Githyanki, Githzerai, Hag, Lycanthrope, Minotaur, Ogre, Slaad, Titan, Troll, Vampire, Yuan-ti.
There are three bloodline strength - minor, intermediate, and major, giving 5, 10, or 20 special abilities.
All of that uses up 13 pages.
QUOTE]

Thanks Wolfeye, but I have to admit that I am dying to know how the Bloodlines presented here compare to the Sorcerer Bloodlines present in Dragon. Ugh, can't wait for Friday!

 

[Felon]

A lot of the other material seems underpowered....Unfortunately, I can't imagine too many players using many of the character flaws and the totem barbarians all seem to be lacking over the core barb... again, all in my opinino. YMMV. I still plan to buy it.

When evaluating the totem barbarian variants, they're only going to look balanced when taking the total package into account, rather than saying, for instance, "there's no way that a +2 on a skill check is worth giving up Uncanny Dodge". If a person falls into the habit of looking at the most meager benefit they're gaining in exchange for the best core feature they're giving up, then naturally it's going to look like a poor exchange.

From looking it over, I think this is what the designers' reasoning seems to be:

• Trap sense is the core barbarian's weakest benefit, and so gaining skill bonuses or conditional save bonuses in its stead is deemed a reasonable trade-off.
• Fast Movement is about worth a bonus feat.
• Uncanny Dodge & Improved Uncanny Dodge are worth a couple of bonus feats, or worth an ability that's better than you can get through standard feats (e.g. frightful presence or extra damage reduction or a climb speed).

So, for instance, looking at the Horse Totem:

1. Give up Trap Sense = Gain Handle Animal & Ride bonuses.
2. Give up Uncanny Dodge/Improved Uncanncy Dodge = Gain Run & Endurance feats.

Dragon Totem:

1. Give up Trap Sense = Gain sleep/paralysis saves.
2. Give up Fast Movement = Gain Blind-fight feat.
3. Give up UD/IUD = Gain frightful presence.

Eagle Totem:

1. Give up Trap Sense = Gain Spot check bonus.
2. Give up Fast Movement = Gain Lightning Reflexes feat.

Having said that, they didn't do a perfect job by any means. For instance, their trade-off system doesn't pan out well in nstances where the totem gives a bonus to a skill that isn't on the barbarian's class skill list, like Spot (Eagle) or Hide (Lion) or Move Silently (Serpent). That seems pretty lame.

And, if you apply the formula above, there are a few totems that just plain fall short. The Wolf Totem gains a couple feats in exchange for giving up the dodge features, but effectively gets shafted for losing Trap Sense.