Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Steelgryphon 06-22-04, 05:42 PM	See topic, Id appreicate it because $60 is alot for an unemployed teen lol I also have the Players Handbook Dungeon Masters Guide Monster Manual Complete Warrior & Expanded Psionics handbook
Riznar 06-22-04, 06:30 PM	$60?! Where do you live?! I hope those aren't US Dollars. The book is bigger on the inside I swear. And it has added a lot to my campaigns. I consider it very worth it.
Moonstonedragon 06-22-04, 06:49 PM	Its pretty good, theres alot I dont agree with but theres things I like. I home made an honor system before the book came out and think its better then theres I dont use The insanity thing is awsome The variant chars are great, awsome way to customize your char. Traits and flaws are cool. I wouldnt say its 60 bucks worth though.
Steelgryphon 06-22-04, 07:08 PM	I live in Canada, darn $.68 to $1 USD and 15% sales tax and 89.9 cents gas
Contrast 06-22-04, 07:22 PM	If you want the ability to customize your campaigns and not spend a long time recording or explaining your houserules... Yes. Very much. Personally, I think it is the best non-core book.
Khaibit_Ema_Neteru 06-22-04, 09:22 PM	Here, amongst my gaming group, we refer to it as "Core Book #5" (#4 is the XPH) It's incredibly good. I wouldn't try to use EVERYTHING in one game, but it's remarkably handy.
infusco 06-23-04, 12:59 PM	It is the GOD book, I swear it! :) Honestly, its precisely what I wanted to see in a sourcebook ... alternate rules, variant classes, merits and flaws, etc ... It was well worth the purchase and my GM is pouring over the book now to determine what he would like to implement. By the way, I'm in Canada too and it only cost me 47 with the tax :P
TwinBahamut 06-23-04, 02:25 PM	I consider it the most valuable book for D&D I have purchased since the Core Rulebooks. And this is coming from a person who bought his Core Rulebooks at first printing of 3rd Edition, and bought a large number of the rulebooks in between. This is the book that lets you change things to how you want them to be. It is a great collection of variants and ideas. I recommend it.
GoodTeletubby 06-23-04, 04:07 PM	Originally posted by Steelgryphon I live in Canada, darn $.68 to $1 USD and 15% sales tax and 89.9 cents gas actually it's .73 USD to 1 CAD so 34.95/.73 =47.8767 47.8767x1.15=55.0582 so it should be about 55.05/.06 CAD ouch try an online bookstore, they usually offer well-discounted rates on books, and you can get some even cheaper used
Killgolli Knight 06-24-04, 04:55 AM	60 bucks! Dude go to walmart.com and stop gettin ripped off.
bahamut_0 06-24-04, 06:18 AM	Simple answer: yes, get it. But not at the shop where you saw it for that ridiculous amount.
Steelgryphon 06-24-04, 08:55 AM	Yea chapters is way to expensive im getting it from a DnD / Magic Store at about $40 before taxes
WhtKnt 06-24-04, 11:40 AM	Short answer: yes, but buy it through Amazon or someplace else. $60 is ridiculous! Long answer: Why not? There are a lot of great options therein. Some of them, I already use and have used from the beginning. Others are a nice touch and just the tweak I was looking for. For an in-depth look, see my review at d20 Magazine Rack (http://www.d20zines.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1031).
Xychotic 06-24-04, 12:37 PM	I must be honest. Everyone here seems to like it, but I rarely notice someone that doesn't like a book and is hanging around that book's forum. A lot of the things in the book are ripped from other existing systems. Although I own the book, as far as I know, I think it was not worth nearly as much money as I paid, and I live in the US. I do use the book, if only because I haven't got a text version of the Sanity rules. However, your collection of books will very likely be complimented by Unearthed Arcana considering you have only 10% of my collection. If you're open-minded, and willing to actually fix rules that you don't like, then Unearthed Arcana is an okay buy. Understand that Unearthed Arcana is by no means a great book. The materials within might offer some minor inspiration, but ultimately, you'll only find yourself using a small portion of it at a time.
Contrast 06-24-04, 06:29 PM	Originally posted by Xychotic The materials within might offer some minor inspiration, but ultimately, you'll only find yourself using a small portion of it at a time.[/font][/size] Does it not say exactly that in the introduction?
Xychotic 06-24-04, 09:31 PM	I guess I didn't stress enough the minute-ness of the inspiration or materials. But, Steelgryphon (and everyone else who cares to reply to my post), you must understand that I write from the perspective of a person that already owned most of the materials from which the contents of the book were "stolen." If you don't already own this array of books, Unearthed Arcana is a good purchase. Otherwise, its greatest convenience is that it has all of those disparate rules crammed into one book.
sciborg2 06-24-04, 10:55 PM	^^I agree, and having owned not even the core books when I bought UA, I still hold it as my best 3e purchase. There's something about it that just makes your mind churn with ideas.
Ath'kethin 06-24-04, 11:44 PM	Hmm . . . I'm kind of surprised to see the responses here; I personally felt that this book was in no way shape or form worth the money. There is very little in it that one couldn't come up with on one's own, and I thought that even the stuff that was OK was pretty sloppily handled. On the other hand, I also do a LOT of house-ruling in my game, and I try to accomodate my players' ideas in adapting classes, etc. to more directly fit their ideas for their characters. The only part of the book I really liked was the sanity rules, and I already have the book they first appeared in. And while there are some cool feats and such, none of it is anything I'd miss, and my group agrees (I have one player who seems to make a point of purchasing only the books I refuse to, the 'Complete Blank' book, Savage Species, etc., and even he admits that there isn't a lot of directly useful stuff in UA. It reminds me stronly of the "Player's Oprion" book that came out at the tail end of 2e; quite a few good ideas, that if actually put into use serve mainly to bog down the game and its mechanics. That being said, the person above who mentioned that the book will fill you with inspiration and cool ideas is more or less correct; a read-through of the book did give me lots of ideas. So if you can, read through the book before you buy it and decide for yourself how much of it you can use. I personally feel it isn't worth the cover price for only a page or two of usable material. This is, by the way, why I didn't get the 'Complete' books either; they have some good ideas, but not enough to justify the cost.
Ranger REG 06-25-04, 03:59 AM	Is this book worth it? Only if you like to experiment with variant rules. Perhaps you don't like what is being offered in the standard core rules, so you're seeking an alternative. Unearthed Arcana offers you optional alternatives. You don't want the hit point system, try the VP/WP system or the Injury System. You think armor should do more than providing AC? Try armor as DR. Maybe you don't like the 11 specific classes. Try the Warrior, Expert, and Caster classes. Think of UA as "PowerToy" or "TweakUI" for D&D.
Killgolli Knight 06-25-04, 10:44 AM	Yes the UA has alot of rules taken from other systems, but dont they go out of their way to credit those other sources? Stolen is a strong word dont you think?
bahamut_0 06-25-04, 12:13 PM	Originally posted by Killgolli Knight Yes the UA has alot of rules taken from other systems, but dont they go out of their way to credit those other sources? Stolen is a strong word dont you think? Borrowed with no intention of giving back is much more fitting ;) :P
CrimsonRyoko 06-25-04, 08:54 PM	Only worth it if your the DM or if your DM has interest in allowing it. Otherwise its totally useless, since theyre all variant rules. On a personal note, i love the book, and my DM uses a good chunk from it - Traits, Flaws, 95% of the class variants, some of the other rules, and the races. Im about to play a Battle Sorcerer with 2 flaws, 2 traits, and a feat from it.
Killgolli Knight 06-26-04, 02:51 AM	The flaw system is really cool, I have written a ton of my own flaws to go into my own game.
bahamut_0 06-26-04, 12:50 PM	Originally posted by Killgolli Knight The flaw system is really cool, I have written a ton of my own flaws to go into my own game. Same here, the flaw/trait system is great, and really boosts rp.
Save_vs_DM 06-27-04, 12:08 AM	If you buy but one book this year, I would make it this one. Now, instead of pages and page sof house rules, all I have to do is list page numbers. I think I've used just about everything in the damn book (save for a few of the weird rules). Cheers, Save-vs-DM
trapspringer 06-28-04, 12:45 AM	That depends. Will your DM allow you to use varient classes and races? If so, this should probobly be your 2nd purchase, as it will add 4 terrain-based race varients per race, and an element-based race varient for each race. It also contains at least 2 class varients for each class, which basically adds new, balanced classes which fill the niche of the base class, but a little differently (or sometimes the niche of another base class). These features are the most visible in the game, but the most frequently used feature is the 'traits' and 'flaws' section. I don't think that is too difficult to figure out. I would buy the book again if I lost my copy.
St. Maelstrom 06-28-04, 12:59 AM	I own it. I don't regret it. I would recommend it. That's saying a lot given how picky I am. :)
Riznar 06-28-04, 02:10 AM	I feel that the splatbooks should offer more options, and that is exactly what UA does. While the other books give options within the normal rules, UA gives options for the rules. And yes, my games use different rules almost every time. =P
Derren S. 06-28-04, 02:46 PM	Personally I think the book is only a collection of half baked ideas sold for hard money to players who have to change the rules anyway because those idea in the books don't work together with the core rules unaltered. So you are basically buying ideas for houserules, something you can get on messageboards for free.
Riznar 06-28-04, 02:56 PM	You can also get new feats, classes, PrC, adventures, monsters and spells from message boards. And often times they are lucky to be 1/4 baked. People buy books from WotC for the same reasons they always do, because WotC has the people who have the time and experience to do a much better job than they can themselves.
Contrast 06-28-04, 06:22 PM	Originally posted by Open Eyes And often times they are lucky to be 1/4 baked. Especially all the eight-year-olds in the Monster Lair and Savage Species forums. Unearthed Arcana may have some ideas from other systems, but that was sort of the point. It shows you how to put that cool thing saw in the Star Wars RPG without needing to do a lot of work yourself. It's right there, ready to insert into your game with minimum difficulty. And what about Bloodlines? And Spelltouched Feats? And that interesting Background generator? Not everything in the book is a rehash, some of it is quite exotic.
Ranger REG 06-28-04, 07:30 PM	Originally posted by bahamut_0 Borrowed with no intention of giving back is much more fitting ;) :P You're going to have to offer concrete proof, but as far as the IP law is concerned, no one can copyright ideas, and if ideas are stolen, you can't sue them. Also, they made every effort to make the book's material comply with the Open Gaming License. Anything more, like attributing to other companies (whose name is a trademark) for example, would be in violation of that license, unless WotC have permission to use it in that fashion. Oh, as for the "borrowed with no intention of giving back" statement, just remember it is WotC who offered the System Reference Documents to have great game products like Mutants & Masterminds be created. Green Ronin can't attribute to WotC for the SRD outside of the Section 15 Copyright Notice, because it would be in violation of the OGL(!). And WotC will continue to give back to the d20 publishing network as more material make into both SRDs. So ... do you have concrete proof?
Steelgryphon 06-30-04, 11:50 AM	I picked up the books earlier his week and it is worht the $45 taxes in i paid for it, i also got the arms and equipment guide
darkbard3 07-06-04, 07:15 PM	For a player... I wouldn't really bother unless your DM is using some of the variants, or you plan on using some of the race/class variants. For the DM... There is no question in my mind. I picked up the book when it was released, expecting to find a couple of things to throw in so I wouldn't have to think as much (yes, I'm lazy when I can find the time!), but I also found several ideas to use in other potential campaigns or mini-game sessions. Invaluable resource. Yes, you could probably come up with much of it yourself, and likely do it better, but it sure is nice to have a good collection of variants handy to use, either as is or as a basis for your own.
Jaerom Darkwind 07-06-04, 07:27 PM	I don't actually have it, but it's next on my list. I've read through it and I think it's a much better buy than a lot of other books, which never add more than more PrCs, feats, and spells to the game. UA adds variant rules on tons of other aspects of the game, allowing you to "tweak" things without screwing up game balance (and it's far more balanced than most of the stuff we get off the boards). I don't use everything as written, but, as many have said, it's gotten my mind working in dozens of directions it never would have otherwise. Like my Racial Paragon revisions, for example. Or Action Points, which I love (even more w/ the AP stuff in Eberron).
Steelgryphon 07-07-04, 09:10 AM	"I picked up the books earlier his week" This post is as Thread as dead
Quarion Silverfrond 07-07-04, 07:00 PM	The racial variants alone are worth the money. I'm making a whole campaign around them.
schulerta 07-08-04, 12:20 AM	deleted
Quarion Silverfrond 07-08-04, 04:40 PM	Originally posted by schulerta deleted What?????