Post/Author/DateTime	Post
markheus 02-24-04, 11:06 PM	I was just curious as to how many people are using the new Unearthed Arcana supplement in the Forgotten Realms. I just got my copy a few days ago but some definites are going to be. Sanity rules esp for spellcasting Wound Points/Vitality Armor as DR Definitely would like to use the spell point system. I also like the idea of turning the Bard, Paladin, and Ranger into PrC as they should be. Probably won't do much with the Enviromental races or racial paragons. Some of the PrC look interesting.
J. Grenemyer 02-25-04, 02:26 AM	Hello, I'm using the variant power components rule in my game, but that's it so far (as I haven't gotten more of a chance to review the book). :D
Cunning Linguist 02-25-04, 03:28 AM	In my next camp, ill be using sanity points, wound points and some other nifty stuff in that book. My players have allready thrown themselves into paying of there EL with xp, so that rule is now a perm. rule.
J Swinbourne 02-25-04, 06:58 AM	Well, I'll be using the differently aligned paladin variants in my next campaign, maybe even drawing up some variants for NG and NE paladins... Paladins of Compassion and Cruelty have a nice ring to them, do they not? Power components are already implemented in my games, and I'll most probably use the racial paragon classes for interesting NPCs, and may allow them for the PCs.
kgiggles 02-25-04, 11:41 AM	Racial Paragon-NPC only Sanity Points- My next campaign is going to be really dark. Ala BoVD. The new XP system- I don`t allow powerful races and most of my players are the same level so no big deal. It`s just easier for me at the end of the night. Variant Paladins, Urban Ranger, Widerness Rogue Legendary Weapons- in a very limited amount. Bloodlines-Not sure about this one yet, my first reaction is if I do go with it, it would be NPC only. I might consider Pcs using the minor bloodlines but I really have to research a little bit more. If someone would like to measure the pro and cons of this for me I would appreciate it. I enjoyed some of the stuff in the UA, and some I`ll never touch. Overall I am happy with my purchase, killer artwork. :) Keith
Lashan 02-25-04, 12:05 PM	It came out? Darn! I need to get on the ball!
markheus 02-25-04, 12:24 PM	I think Unearthed Arcana is really an awesome book as well. ITs taken some things that I've been working on myself (or wanted to work on) and done it for me. (lazy) I especially like the sanity rules - now it makes sense that all these old mages running around the realms are loopy. And some of the new combat rules really make combat a lot more realistic, which is always something that's bugged me about the D&D system.
Mystery Man 02-25-04, 01:00 PM	Put the alternate XP method into practice just this last weekend. It rocks. Makes things much easier. I'm running a campaign in the north so I'll definitely be using the totem barbarians. I would like to use at some point: Contacts Reputation Honor points I may or may not try: Sanity Vitality and wound points.
trentlanthier 02-25-04, 01:18 PM	Well for my next campaign I want to run a bit more evil I may look into the Sanity points. But for sure we're going to be putting in Action Points. I don't like Wounds and Vitality.... its okay for Star Wars, but still a really lucky roll can kill the BBEG, or a really unlucky roll for the PC's means a deadly encounter. I think that some luck is good, but the Wound/Vitality system just doesn't work for me when it comes to Fantasy.
conanb1 02-25-04, 08:31 PM	Definitely adding Action points too. I like the idea the players can save their characters from bad dice when need be. (As has been the case with some of my players in the last session. Dice against them, and nearly died.) Would also like to add the spell point system with the fatigue rules, as I always imagined spellcasters becoming fatigued from throwing all that magic around.
Thrudjelmer 02-25-04, 10:21 PM	I'm going to put a number of different UA ideas to my group and we'll decide which ones everyone wants implemented, and which ones are unnecessary to the game. As it stands, racial variants, racial paragons, bloodlines, class variants, power components, recharge magic, craft points, item familiars/legendary weapons, reputation/honor points, and sanity are likely candidates to get implemented quickly. I'm probably going to just go ahead and implement a handful of the house rules scattered amongst the pages, too.
azoun 06-09-04, 07:52 AM	hey folks, i'll be starting a new FR campaign this month, and one of my players will be using the UA recharge magic system (for his wizard). NPCs and other players will be using the classic system, so there's a problem of game balance.... here's my solution : access to the recharge magic system is granted via a feat (i still have no name for it !), which creates a bond between the character and the forces of nature. It is this bond which gives the power to tap into a quasi infinite magic source. But the bond comes with a cost : a definitive -3 penalty to the STR/DEX/CON scores. Sylvanus is the deity granting the feat in my campaign (in a way as the nature deity in the Ghostwalk setting) as i see it, recharge magic is really powerful since a spellcaster can cast his spells all day long. But it makes spellcasters less powerful during a fight, since he can't cast his best spells all in a row (as with a classic spellcaster) ; fights in DND are often really short (3-6 rounds), so the spellcaster becomes less effective in a fight. with all these elements in mind, i think my feat sets a fair game balance... what do you think about it ? azoun
Mystery Man 06-09-04, 08:05 AM	I would use it as it's written rather than make him burn a feat.
azoun 06-09-04, 08:17 AM	Originally posted by Mystery Man I would use it as it's written rather than make him burn a feat. i guess it means you don't find it unbalancing as it is written, right ?
Mystery Man 06-09-04, 09:22 AM	Originally posted by azoun i guess it means you don't find it unbalancing as it is written, right ? Yeah, I really don't have a problem with the way its written. But that's just what I would do. You'll need to work it out so that its fits your campaign. If you make him burn a feat, several levels down the road it may turn out that it was pointless and he may feel gipped. Or not. Just look at the big picture and keep in mind how far you plan to go in your campaign. :) As far as UA and FR goes, I wish they would have put down a system on created totem variants rather than just making them. Those would go great in a North/Silver Marches campaign if you could make one for every Uthgardt tribe. I've introduced the Favored Environment into my campaign for the ranger to use if he wishes. I'm using the alternate XP/Level progression and I love it. Thinking about paragon classes (for my use only) and elemental bloodlines.
azoun 06-09-04, 10:17 AM	elemental bloodlines can be really cool, mostly in calimshan with its history heavy with geniekind.....
Dawnspeaker 06-09-04, 10:48 AM	Well I use the variant classes (Paladin of Tyranny instead of Blackguard for warriors of Bane is great. Also doesn't require me puling out Dragon for the Despot alternate paladin class) -the racial paragons -been using wound/vitality points since I saw it in Star Wars -Weapon Group proficiencys -Sanity Points -bloodlines -Reputation -Honor I think that is it at present but gotta say I very much enjoyed UA.
Lancelot3679 06-09-04, 02:18 PM	So far it's just been some of the character changes. Used Geshtalt (sp?) characters for a three person campaign, with some modifications because I thougth that it could be used unreasonably. Mostly though that was my multi-class hold over from 2nd Ed. where I made both classes gain exp to advance. At the same time I liked the battle sorceror and the possible magical modifications. Did some tweaking to the elemental masters. I really want to do the legendary weapons concept, had something similar before with an ice sword from a game, but I think that there needs to be more modification. I'm sure I will have the chance if and when a character asks about it. Experience was the big thing. I really do not like the way that the system works on CR and ECL and such, and I really dislike that you get nothing from smaller creatures. So, modified the table using the equasion that it seems Wizards tried to use, but didn't do the rounding up at each level to work towards the next. Essentially, I did the statistics math the right way... and then changed the awards for the creatures based on their CR to make it slightly more equitable. Here's my table, hope it shows up right. Experience Table 1ST 0 CR 2nd 1000 CR1 300 0 3rd 3000 CR 2 600 300 4th 6000 CR 3 900 300 5th 10000 CR 4 1200 300 6th 16000 CR 5 1600 400 7th 24000 CR 6 2200 600 8th 36000 CR 7 3100 900 9th 52000 CR 8 4300 1200 10th 76000 CR 9 6100 1800 11th 108000 CR 10 8500 2400 12th 156000 CR 11 12100 3600 13th 220000 CR 12 16900 4800 14th 316000 CR 13 24100 7200 15th 444000 CR 14 33700 9600 16th 628000 CR 15 48100 14400 17th 884000 CR 16 67300 19200 18th 1252000 CR 17 96100 28800 19th 1764000 CR 18 134500 38400 20th 2500000 CR 19 195100 57600 21st 3524000 CR 20 271900 76800 22nd 4996000 CR 21 387100 115200 23rd 7044000 CR 22 540700 153600 24th 9988000 CR 23 771100 230400 25th 14084000 CR 24 1078300 307200 26th 19972000 CR 25 1539100 460800 27th 28164000 CR 26 2153500 614400 28th 39940000 CR 27 3075100 921600 29th 56324000 CR 28 4303900 1228800 30th 79876000 CR 29 6147100 1843200 CR 30 8604700 2457600 Well, that kinda came out. Though I couldn't show the whole thing, you can see the growth patern of the CR versus the levels and the experience needed to level up. You need almost 7x the CR of a level that you are set to inorder to get to the next level. At one point on the table in the U.A. it showed a jump from I think level 5 to 6 or something where you needed the same amount of experience to level. Essentially hitting the level twice would allow you to reach a higher level or whatever, and it just didn't work out right.
Ruler of All Beer Mugs 06-09-04, 10:58 PM	Originally posted by markheus Definitely would like to use the spell point system. BE CAREFUL. I only played with one DM who used an alternate home-brewed spell point system, back in the 2e days. He also created "spell point batteries" which allowed spell points to be stored for future use. The end result was that whenever the party battled against a NPC who used spells, everyone in the party died ... except our own wizard (although we called 'em magic users back in the day). The combination of these two variant rules made mages at least twice as powerful as they were under the standard 2e rules. At higher levels, things got even worse. Spell point systems can easily turn a campaign world into a de facto magocracy ... because the wizards/sorcerers are too powerful and can kill off everything else on the planet.
Chosen Of Bhaal 06-09-04, 11:52 PM	I used the wound point variant when it appeared in the star wars RPG, and it ended up making the PC's die left right and centre! I wouldnt use it again :(
Jhalad 06-10-04, 04:53 PM	My group is using the mana point system. I find it much more balanced than mine was (mine was made with 2nd ed in mind), but I don't force it on the players, as I have some players who are purist, and feel that if the information is not cannon CORE 3.5 (the 3 main books), then they don't want to taint themselves with it. Very strange people, those gaming few... I just beat them over the head with the "tainted" stuff, as DM, and tell them they can use it any time they wish...
saethar 06-11-04, 01:28 AM	Our group is using the Gestalt and a modified version of the generic classes, as well as weapon group proficincies... LA buy off... That's all I can think of right off the top of my head. Saethar :b:
The Simbul 06-11-04, 01:47 AM	Magic Rating! Magic Rating!! Magic Rating!!! IMO that should have been a Core Rule, given that multiclassed spellcasters are utterly worthless in 3rd edition since they cant beat Dispel, SR, or other opposed Caster Level checks without it. Plus given the fact that the 3rd edition realms is full of multiclassed characters, and especially multiclassed spellcasters, it seemed an easy and worthwhile fit, rather than having to go through and re-write all the Cleric/Wizards as Mystic Theurges and all Fighter/Mages as Eldrtich Knights, and yes it does also help mitigate my fury of the class/level blocks for the Seven Sisters as well.
Mumm-Ra 06-11-04, 09:39 AM	Yes I heard of this magic rating...how does it work? Bear in mind there is a nice feat, practiced spellcaster, which gives +4 caster levels, up to a maximum of your HD. Nice for pl like elminster, which brings his caster level from 29 to 33! :)
The Simbul 06-12-04, 10:17 PM	Magic Rating is basically like a stacking BAB which replaces your Caster Level for all uses of it (Dispel checks, SR checks, opposed CL checks). Primary spellcasters, like Sorcerers, Wizards, Clerics, and Druids, get +1 Magic Rating per level, Secondary Spellcasters like Paladins and Rangers get slightly less, and non spellcasters get +1 every four levels. At least I think, I generally only play category 1 spellcasters so I am not sure of the specifics for the rest. I dont actually have UA, but IIRC almost everything in it is Open Gaming Content, which IRRC you can reference and post stuff in it without seriously violating copyrights. But I am pretty sure it works similar to the way I have described it above. The end result however is that you can multiclass as a spellcaster, without making your character worthless at epic levels. P.S. Where is this practiced spellcaster feat your mentioned?
Wizardman 06-15-04, 05:22 PM	Practised Spellcaster comes from Complete Divine.
manistar 07-12-04, 08:32 PM	I have been using The Item familiar feat. I think it is great. So far I have been able to beef up my dagger toa +6 weapon (i am 13 level) also Im saving to give it the true ressurection specilal ability, 200,000 gp mind you. I think its a great idea though, it adds a lot of role playing fun to have a sentient weapon with you.