Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: Variant Rules

Not the most useful of articles for me... I won't use any of it. Nothing wrong with it, but I've tried all the ideas in prior editions and determined they were not my cup of tea. I see nothing in 5E that would make the player rolling, Vitality or their version of alignment an improvement for my games.

 

[Eric V]

That was a pretty disappointing UA... :/

I hope this is not a sign of things to come.

 

[Klaus]

That seems awkward and clunky, wouldn't something like

Your defense is equal to 1d20 + your AC bonus

be a better statement?

There is no such thing as an "AC bonus" in 5e (barring the occasional shield). Armors and other effects grant a formula that already includes a base AC. Mage Armor grants AC "13 + you Dexterity modifier", so you need to calculate your AC, and then subtract 10, which is what the article said.

 

[Paraxis]

Very disappointing, the only thing remotely new is this version of vitality but that is underwhelming. But ehh free is free, they all can't be winners.

 

[Ashrym]

The vitality rules are very similar to a set I posted in the WotC forums earlier in the playtesting. I also included an equal drop in another ability score of the player's choice to simulate a mechanical impact to the PC with the injuries as bonuses dropped and penalties increased, with any ability score hitting 0 making the PC helpless.

Players who thought it increased realism liked it but it was a lot of bookkeeping for simply playing a game, which is the opposite of one of the 5e game philosophies of simplifying.

 

[phantomK9]

There is no such thing as an "AC bonus" in 5e (barring the occasional shield). Armors and other effects grant a formula that already includes a base AC. Mage Armor grants AC "13 + you Dexterity modifier", so you need to calculate your AC, and then subtract 10, which is what the article said.

That's a good point. Mentally I'm doing AC as 10 + armor bonus, I haven't messed with enough characters/builds yet to make that mental switch.

 

[Minigiant]

Sure it is mostly guidelines but I personally have 7+ alternate alignment systems ready for use.

You haven't lived until you've seen a Fire Neutral Paladin and Air Water Sorcerer busting head.

 

[JackOfAllTirades]

I've already seen these variants elsewhere.

I don't care for "players make all the rolls" one bit.

The "Constitution as Vitality" has been done better, simpler, and easier to use elsewhere. I used the system in T20 (d20 Traveller) and rather liked it, but I'll never use the Rube Goldberg disaster presented in this month's UA article. What a mess.

And my preferred variant on the alignment system is "no alignment system."

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Blech. Worthless to me. I sure hope that the "converting other editions" thing they are working on is going to include the meaningful rules I'm looking for like gestalt multiclassing, modest natural healing (and nixing the HD mechanic), learning cantrips, etc. Optimistically, I could say the fact that they went with these real stinkers of variant rules (has anyone ever used these regularly in a campaign?) is a sign that the important stuff is being included elsewhere. Pessimistically I could say that it's a sign that they are bound and determined to not give us rules for the important "feel changing" rules.

I'm being uncharacteristically snarky about my favorite edition today, but I usually really like the UA articles, and find them good signs of the kinds of materials that are coming out.

Or they should just give us the darn alpha DMG.

(Yeah, it put me in a mood )

 

[TerraDave]

The other UAs had a lot in them.

This is probably a little more inline with a series on variant rules. Still, I agree I would like to see something along the lines of the past UAs more often and these less often.

 

[Zaran]

Wow, this is what get UA-wise for the entire month?