Unearthed Arcana Variant Rules - Previews and Questions

[d4]

Weapon skills in GURPS are much more specific than the UA groups.

Axe/Mace, Bow, Broadsword (which also includes clubs), Fencing, Polearm, Spear, etc. -- GURPS doesn't seem "much more" specific than UA. in fact, in some categories, UA is the one that has more specifics -- c.f. GURPS' Axe/Mace skill, which in the UA system is two different proficiencies.

the only real difference is that "exotic" weapons tend to be their own skills in GURPS whereas in UA they are lumped in with the other categories.

 

[Heretic Apostate]

Dang, resurrected from page 4...

My copy of UA is pending from Amazon (ordered an item that went from "ship within 24 hours, at a 30% discount" to "ship within 2-3 weeks, at no discount," but luckily, I kept the discount...).

So I'm going to keep asking...

Looking through my copy of Torn Asunder (Bastion Press, I believe... the publishers of Into the Green, the item in my order that is holding up my order ), and I'm wondering about the six-step damage system.

How are healing spells handled? Do you get penalties as you get more damaged? Anything pop out about the system that you think people would like to read about?

 

[Marshall]

UA *does* resemble the Complete Fighter's Handbook's broad groups. Personally, while I like the system in UA, I'm not sure how folks who are used to fighters having every weapon out there except the weird ones would take it. I know I'm not using it in my current game partly for that reason.

Actually its closer to the 2eCW "Tight Groups"

In fact, the groupings are so narrow as to be almost useless, IMO

 

[Heretic Apostate]

Looking through my copy of Torn Asunder, and I'm wondering about the six-step damage system.

How are healing spells handled? Do you get penalties as you get more damaged? Anything pop out about the system that you think people would like to read about?

Bumped to get answers...

 

[Silveras]

Dang, resurrected from page 4...

My copy of UA is pending from Amazon (ordered an item that went from "ship within 24 hours, at a 30% discount" to "ship within 2-3 weeks, at no discount," but luckily, I kept the discount...).

So I'm going to keep asking...

Looking through my copy of Torn Asunder (Bastion Press, I believe... the publishers of Into the Green, the item in my order that is holding up my order ), and I'm wondering about the six-step damage system.

How are healing spells handled? Do you get penalties as you get more damaged? Anything pop out about the system that you think people would like to read about?

Healing spells heal 1 non-lethal and 1 lethal "hit" per 5 points of healing.

Getting "hits" is based on making Fort saving throws. The more damage in the successful attack, the more difficult the save. Also, as you accumulate "hits", you have penalties to the save. Once you start getting hurt, it becomes easier to continue.
Resting overnight restores 1 hit per 2 character levels; 1 per level if you get 24 hours bed rest.

 

[Psion]

is it me or aree these generic classes starting to look better and better as we find out more

It's you.

To each their own, but as for me, I think that having a bit stronger built in archetype is part of the point of classes. If I wanted something more generic than D&D, I'd play Fantasy Hero.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

It's you.

To each their own, but as for me, I think that having a bit stronger built in archetype is part of the point of classes. If I wanted something more generic than D&D, I'd play Fantasy Hero.

I've been thinking about using the Gestalt rules as a means of fine-tuning your archetypes-- for instance, instead of having a special class for Samurai or Knights, have them take levels of Fighter/Aristocrat. You could do the same for Paladins-- most of whom would have Aristocrat levels as well.

You could follow this out for a lot of complicated concepts. Most Ninja PrCs and just about every Ninja base class I've seen were really just Monk/Rogue hybrids. One of my friends used to always play Paramanders in 2e-- it's a simple stretch to make them a Paladin/Sorceror.

It surprises me. I was expecting them to just be munchkin fodder.

 

[Squire James]

Huh. So, a LA drop is no bargain, is it? About the only thing it's good for is making sure that the character ends up at CL20 when they're ECL20, instead of (for instance) CL18 when they're ECL20...

You are a drow (LA +2). At 6th level (ECL 8, 28k xp), you pay 7k xp, leaving you at 21k xp and LA +1. You just fell to ECL 7, but you still have 6 class levels. At 9th level (ECL 10, 45k xp), you pay 9k xp, leaving you at 36k and no LA. You are now an ECL 9 character with 9 character levels, much like a human (who are probably level 10 guys halfway to 11 by now). Note that you never really "lose a level" here: you lag 2 levels behind the party until level 6, then 1 level behind until level 9.

From level 10 onward, you are in pretty good shape. You still have all your racial abilities, and you aren't going on those inflated XP scales anymore. If the DM awards XP by individual levels rather than average party level, you should catch up somewhat as play progresses.

 

[drnuncheon]

Having rules for handling contacts is great, but getting them should be part of the roleplay, not just an arbitrary benefit of killing Orcs...

Considering that they are defined at the time of use, I don't think these are supposed to replace contacts that you gain from roleplaying. Rather, they are to represent people that you happen to have met in your 'offstage time' - between adventures, before the campaign started, etc.

They're the equivalent of Indiana Jones heading to Egypt and just happening to know the best digger in Cairo.

J