Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jack Daniel 02-20-04, 10:03 PM	I just got my copy of Unearthed Arcana today, and yes, it rocks. It’s great because I’ve been using wounds & vitality, action points, and similar systems for a long while, and this book has presented a number of ways to really streamline the cobbled mess I call a campaign into something a little more neat and packaged. Something like this: Wounds & Vitality I use the UA system, with the following changes: Hovering at Death’s Door is reinstated. You’re disabled at 0 WP, dying at -1 to -9 WP, and dead at -10 WP. NPCs get vitality points. On the other hand, 1st-level commoners, warriors, etc. are automatically killed by a critical hit. Being wounded doesn’t make you fatigued. Instead, you’re fatigued at 0 VP. Nonlethal attacks are brought back, and they can’t deal wound damage. Instead, they deal vitality damage in all cases. On a crit, a nonlethal attack calls for a save vs. stunning, just as if the damage had been wounding. If a nonlethal attack can bring a character below 0 VP, the character falls to negative VP and becomes staggered. Anything “not multiplied by a critical hit,” like a sneak attack, does not become WP damage on a crit. Spells that can critically hit only deal so much damage to WP – using the spell’s caster level as the maximum amount of damage that converts. Attacking a regenerative creature with a fire or acid spell works just like critically hitting – instead of all the damage becoming wound damage, an amount of damage up to the spell’s caster level is WP damage. Armor DR Armor DR rules are exactly as they appear in UA, with two important exceptions: first, DR from armor is never negated by a critical hit; second, it only reduces WP damage, never VP damage. Defense Bonus Thanks to the reduced armor bonuses of the Armor as DR rules, defense bonuses now stack with armor bonuses. Defense bonus improves your touch AC, but not your flat-footed AC. The progressions from d20 Modern are used instead of the ones from UA. Classes with the good base attack bonus use the good defense bonus (1/2/2/3/4/4…), classes with the medium attack bonus use the medium defense bonus (1/1/2/2/3/3…), and classes with the poor attack bonus use the poor defense bonus (0/1/1/1/2/2….). Unarmored monks use the fast hero’s special “medium bonus plus two” (3/3/4/4/5/5…). Action Points Thanks to a more complete and D&D-friendly action point system in UA, this rule just got a whole lot more useful: I used action points to eliminate XP penalties for multiclassing! All characters receive a base of 3 + 1/2 their character level in action points at every level. For most races, when you advance in your favored class, you get a +2 bonus to action points at that level. Humans get +2 action points at every level, regardless of class. Half-humans get a +1 action point bonus at every level, which rises to +2 if it’s their nonhuman parent’s favored class (mage for half-elves, barbarian for half-orcs). Prestige classes always grant +2 action points at every level.
aldymnor 02-20-04, 10:13 PM	Spectacular. I'd love to play in your campaign; that sounds fun. I'm using Spell points though. I've played D&D for 13 years without them so I figure it's time for a change. I like your fixes more than the WotC setup. That's a compliment, as I'm a WotC proxy. I pronounce WotC "wot-see," so do try and imagine "wotc proxy" rhyming. I put in sheer seconds of pure thought.
Jack Daniel 02-20-04, 10:20 PM	I'm using a sort of spell-point system myself, but one that's more level-point based (like bards and sorcerers) that point-pool based like UA. I wanted to keep magic-users distinct from psionicists, and besides, I'm a sucker for Final Fantasy I. If you want to take a look at it, it's in the yellow link in my sig, the house rules compendium. Yup, we all know how to pronounce "WotC." Thanks for the compliment!
aldymnor 02-20-04, 10:56 PM	Hehee. I love Final Fantasy. God, except Final Fantasy X and.. anything after, so far. I'll take a look. Sounds like I'd love your campaign, rules-wise. I'm about to join one of my old friends' campaign tomorrow. He's going to use guns. :twitch: I don't wanna.
Jack Daniel 02-21-04, 01:29 AM	There's always swords. :) Now me, I'm a gun fanatic when it comes to D&D. Swashbuckling & Steampunk, all the way. There's just something darn cool about an elf wizard with a clockwork chaingun... :devil:
Elrond's Dad 02-21-04, 11:15 AM	Re: Jack's Ranger thing... I dunno. I think Aragorn was a multi-class Ranger/Paladin... using him for why the 3.5 Ranger is out of whack proibably isn't a terribly great example.
Jack Daniel 02-21-04, 01:22 PM	Hey, it's not my only source. I grew up with 2nd edition rangers like Drizzt and Minsc. They're why I find the 3.5 ranger to be out of whack.