Why I Hate Unearthed Arcana

[MerricB]

Johnnie, all you need to do is get every copy of Unearthed Arcana from your players and lock them up in a box that you then throw into the ocean.

Repeat until they stop buying new copies.



Cheers!

 

[coyote6]

Don't do it, Johnny! Merric's advice will lead only to disaster!

Because, you see, by the time you and your players are done with your "buy, grab, sink" cycle, Wizards will have sold so many copies of UA that they'll release three sequels! Then your players will really have kewl options to pester you about!

Plus, you'll be arrested for dumping boxes full of books in the ocean, where they will inevitably bonk some poor endangered aquatic critter on its head (or head substitute)! The next thing you know, someone will be parking the Rainbow Warrior in your front yard!

And people will overuse exclamation points! See?!!

 

[PenguinX]

My daughter plays quite happily with post its too. The worst thing is that I think she makes better use of them than I do.

My best (most "fun") games are always played before the variants start appearing with each addition. I always feel stifled by options. Stupid I know. With 2nd edition it got so bad it could take me three weeks to make a new character. For me the best thing about 3rd ed. is the careful balancing work done.

 

[Derulbaskul]

I have the opposite problem. My players who are content with 3.5 as written, but I'm constantly harassing them to experiment with new class variants and magic systems. (snip)

This is a "me too". I would actually like my players to be more prepared to look around for new things or even to develop tactics that aren't based off a suggestion I have made.

 

[DragonLancer]

I don't actually like all these varient rules, and options. Its kinda the curse of 3rd edition and the OGL, that we are now flooded with new feats, spells, MI's, PrC's...etc, and the players want access to all of them.

I also say "no" to a lot of things. Its annoyed one of my players because he goes out and buys books before asking if he can use them.

 

[Psion]

What you might try, instead of just saying no, is having a quick roundtable to discuss what variants you and your players think would be fun, and make a decisioh on each one.

Some of the variants in UA are pretty extreme, so you might only find yourself with one or two variants, but still, it seems to me that the game is a communal exercise.

And you put all the random interjections to rest. Let them know that you don't think it's right to make major changes in the middle of a game, so once your decision is done, it's done.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Heh, "official" house rules - a ruleslawyer's worst nightmare!

Probably why I love it so much.

 

[Count Arioch the 28t]

eh?...what's core rules? Back in my day all we had was that handy dandy PHB and the DMG with the funky red guy with lightning bolts coming outa him. Oh and the MM with the cute red dragon. Ah! That was real art! Then that new fangled Fiend Folio came out with its fancy-shmancy blue cover and it all went to pot...or did Unearthed Arcana come first with its cavalier?..I cant remember. Anyway, those were the good ol days. When you rolled a d20 and asked the DM "Did I hit?". When the mind flayer had psionics and the DM spent all day trying to figure out WHAT the heck psionic is. When....

*crawls back into her criogenic chamber*

Bah, you young hippies and your multiple books!

In my day, we had one book with everything in it, and we liked it!

 

[Trainz]

We adopted a few UA variants, tested them, and kept the ones that work.

Basically, the new XP system, the Barbarian's whirling frenzy, and the spontaneous divine caster (for cohorts and NPC's mostly).

We're happy. The battle sorceror might also see some game time.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

ARGH...[begin old fart mode] In my day, we didn't have all these new-fangled variants! We had the core rules, and that was good enough for us! And all we needed was a 10-foot-pole and our THAC0!

[dry cough, takes breath from oxygen mask]

[Begin grumpy old man mode] Eh? Back in my day we didn't even have dice! We'd just hit each other with sticks until the combat was over!

There were bleeding, broken gamers all over the place!

And we liked it that way!

'Cause we were stupid! [/grumpy old man mode]

The Auld Grump