Unearthed Arcana Variant Rules - Previews and Questions

[Trainz]

Aw, I'm just makin' the funny. Ignore me.

No no, it's OK. My warning wasn't made to make anyone feel bad.

Sorry.

Ignore me too.

 

[FireLance]

Human Paragon: 3 level-class, med base attack, good will save, d8 hp, any ten class skills, skill points: 4+Int mod, simple weapons, one martial weapon, light armor, spells/day +1 in lvl 2+3, lvl1:Adaptive Learning - choose one skill to be permanent class skill, lvl2:bonus feat, lvl3:Boost one ability by 2 points.

Tarril, thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. If you're still doing so, could I check if there are any prerequisites for taking a level in Human Paragon (apart from being human, of course)?

 

[MadBlue]

I like that defense bonus thing, kinda. But not really.

I'm thinking I might incorporate it into my game, except drop the first bonus (+6 for fighters, for example), and allow the level based bonus to stack with armor. I'll call it a dodge bonus, or something, as I have always fealt that D&D needs more defensive abilities.

I started up a thread on something pretty much like that >Here<. I feel the same way about defensive abilities vis a vis D&D. I think it's more of an issue in 3e because the d20 system is open ended so there's more of a call for boosting items. But eventually it gets to the point that most characters have to have a Ring of Protection, a Cloak of Resistance, an Amulet of Natural Armor and one or two items that boost their abilities, just to stay competitive.

 

[Nifelhein]

Thanks for the info on VP and WP, seem they did not address something we have found out in about 10 posts... sneak attacks... and critical its with spells...

I wish Hasbro never bougth WotC...

 

[jsaving]

Being one of those prime profession..is pretty daunting for some people to do, all that was done now, instead of just saying I am paladin, the next question would be, do you want to be one?

My question is, is there *finally* a paladin class for which "true good" characters (NG) are eligible?

 

[Truth Seeker]

My question is, is there *finally* a paladin class for which "true good" characters (NG) are eligible?

(cough, cough)....tr-ue good...ye say...true good...mercy be, you are looking for a saint.

Roleplay that lad....roleplay it...

 

[AFGNCAAP]

My question is, is there *finally* a paladin class for which "true good" characters (NG) are eligible?

This has alrady been addressed, & the short answer is "no." The paladin prestige class maintains the LG requirement.

However, some other paladin (full core class) options basically allow for paladin classes for all of the extreme/cardinal ALs--the LG paladin of honor, the CG paladin of freedom, the LE paladin of tyranny, and the CE paladin of slaughter.

Honestly, I was really expecting the paladin PrC to basically be a 10-level verison of the paladin, & basically be opposite of the blackguard PrC; it'd require a certain BAB, some feats, and a Good AL (as opposed to LG only, since blackguards allow/require any evil AL). The 10-level paladin would gain 1st--4th level paladin spells, just like the blackguard gaining 1st--4th blackguard spells. I also expected the ranger PrC to be a 10-level PrC as well.

I may wind up using the core paladin & the 3 other-aligned core class variants instead of the paladin PrC, but then again, I'm really considering writing up a version of a 10-level, any Good-AL variety of paladin PrC to be more on par with the current "core" blackguard PrC. Then again, I'll probably work on a 15-level PrC treatment of the freedom, tyranny, & slaughter paladins to provide on-par options with the 15-level PrC of the honor paladin.

I may try to give a 10-level ranger PrC a shot as well, though I'm not sure about a 10-level bard PrC, esp. with the larger spell list for bards (0-6, compared to the smaller 1-4 lists for paladins & rangers, and even a few other classes like sohei & hexblades). Heck, I may try to give a 10-level sohei PrC a shot as well.

 

[Ace]

Yes. It's been the subject of quiet a bit of discussion in this very thread. Not sure how you missed it.

In short, classes get a bonus to Defense based on the type of armor proficiencies their class starts out with. It's not exaclty like Starwars, but similar.

At least, that's how it came across to me. I haven't got the book yet.

I don't know about a +6 defence bonus at 1st level-- It seems high to me unless of course armor doesn't stack in which case it is predicated on Scale + Large Shield as standard starting gear

That actaully makes sence to me

I think I might use something like that system with Conan D20 armor as damage reduction though

a/2 level + the mods given sounds about right and gives offence its customary 20% advantage

 

[Staffan]

I don't know about a +6 defence bonus at 1st level-- It seems high to me unless of course armor doesn't stack in which case it is predicated on Scale + Large Shield as standard starting gear

As I understand it, it does not stack with armor but does stack with shields and other bonuses. In which case, it's a small bonus but not a huge one. At first level it's a +1 bonus, but on the other hand AC tends to increase really fast for the first few levels. Full plate armor is pretty standard at 3rd level for fighter-types, and that's +8.

 

[Li Shenron]

I am sorry, but this thread has convinced me not to buy this book. To me it is a bunch of tweaks that just add complicated rules to an already complicated game. This doesn't add anything fresh and new that betters the game for me. A lot of you seem to think it does, but i'm not one of them.

This appears to me as a release of the 2e Optional Rulebooks in the 3.0/3.5 world. I didn't like it then and i don't like them now.

You are right, Unearthed Arcana is effectively a book of variants. If you don't like the idea as you didn't like it in 2e I agree with you that this book is not for you.

This is a book that gives you many options to try out in a campaign if you just want to try something different: you can take one option alone and already the difference to your game may be huge (for example if you use armor as DR or those VP/WP); you may combine many options at once, although it is clear that some of them are not compatible with each other - but that's ok, this book is not supposed to be used all at the same time, definitely.

If you are not interested in changing the rules of your game, or if you already have your own homebrew options, it is probably not going to be a useful book for you, just as a book of "crunchy bits" is quite unuseful if you normally like to write down your custom PrCls and feats for your game.

If I may produce my personal opinion, I am very happy to see WotC releasing a book of rules after so many of "crunchy bits" only, although again I say that you really can't use more than a few of these variants at the same time.

Furthermore, this book addresses many of the common subjects of house rules in gaming: to name a few... variants to core classes, some core classes made prestige, helping multiclass spellcasters, vitality points instead of hit point, armor as DR instead of AC bonus, defensive bonus, more flexible spells system, alternative metamagic, alternative school specialization, bloodlines, action points, facing in combat, rules for reputation, use of a hex map instead of squares... these are all topics that I have seen discussed on this very messageboard. With UA, WotC is simply suggesting which is the way (or which are the ways, in a few cases) that would probably work best in their opinion, hopefully backed up by some playtesting If someone like me has felt that a variant could bring an interesting change to my game, but I was usually afraid to implement it by myself, this book is where I would start from. It is a book of ideas, but as always you can use them as inspiration and then come up with your own variant if these don't seem perfect.