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Title: Unearthed Arcana (Dungeons & Dragons) by Andy Collins, Jesse Decker, David Noonan, Rich Redman ISBN: 0-7869-3131-0 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 25 February, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.67 (9 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Some Decent Material
Comment: Overall, I'm pleased that I bought this one, though it is far from perfect. Perhaps the Hit-or-Miss quality of the text, though, is derived not so much from poor conception or execution, but rather from the opposite; after all, this text attempts to collect some of the more interesting "house rules" variants out there, and by definition, different variants would seem to appeal to different gamer-geeks.
Cool Things:
--sections on "reducing level adjustments" (buying off LA with XP later on) and "bloodlines" (adding a touch of bizarre ancestry to a PC) are well thought out.
--in terms of class variants, some of the wizards are decent, but the paladin (i.e. of any alignment) really shines.
--the "character traits" (personal quirks added at generation, a la *Fallout*) and "character flaws" (taking penalties at generation to add bonus feats, a la White Wolf) are long overdue to this system; the "spelltouched feats" (adding event-specific magical abilities) are also fertile.
--the "defense bonus" variant (a level-contingent statistic like attack bonus), "armor as damage reduction" (self-explanatory?), and "damage conversion" (armor changes lethal damage to non-lethal) are all great; the "variable modifiers" variant (instead of BAB +4, say, one would instead add d8 to the standard d20 roll) is also smart.
--many of the magic variants are useful, such as "summon monster variants" (individualized or themed lists), "metamagic components" (such feats have costs in this case), "item familiars" (why not? there's tons of intelligent constructs otherwise), and "incantations" (complex magickes that can be cast by anyone).
--the final section, about campaigns, really delivers; here, we get rules for "contacts" (a la White Wolf), "Reputation" (yeah, like in *Baldur's Gate*), "Honor" (which would seem to be self-explanatory), "Taint" (evil corrupts, after all), and "sanity" (yes, that nearly perfect stat from *Call of Cthulhu*).
Holistically, the text displays the same sub-par attention to editing as other WotC releases, and the artwork varies considerably in quality (compare the "Paladin of Tyranny" on 53 to the gamer-geek group on 134, for instance). I tend to consider the rest of the text uninteresting for my purposes, though others will surely, and with good reason, find such items useful. And that diversity is precisely the value of the text overall. (It is fair to note in this connection that nothing is particularly badly done, though the "racial paragon classes" are a bit too ubermenschy for my political taste--the game already suffers from a tolkienesque proto-fascistic racialism as it stands; no need to make it even more arriere garde.) The text might be a bit pricey, however, if one ends up using merely one third of the rules contained herein. That said, I'd note that the rules for sanity alone justify the (reduced amazon.com) expense for me.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great guide for those who are low on time or creativity
Comment: This book basically serves two types of DMs very well:
1) Those who do not have enough time to devote to plotting an entire game from scratch and can use this guide as a jumping board to get them right into the action. This doubles as being great for on the fly games with little warning or time to prepare (for those people who don't have a stack of preconstructed adventures just in case the need arises).
2) Those DMs who are really great strategists, timekeepers, and narators, but who aren't the most creative when it comes to building an interesting story from scratch. This includes DMs who are very new at the job and don't have a lot of experience with adventures 100% their own. This book will be a useful tool to show a new DM the way to create a story that will fit nicely with the complex strategies. For someone who is great at coordinating battles, this book can be used to create a story as to why the battle is going on (rather than just battle for battle's sake).
Note: This book will not be well suited for someone who likes to manage every detail of the entire adventure, because you will end up changing 90% of what the book says anyway. It is also not well suited for someone who has tons of time on their hands, as some with a lot of tme could probably come up with their own adventure that will suit their needs and fit the characters involved much better than a cookie cutter tale from a mass produced D&D book.
Rating: 4
Summary: Good resource
Comment: It is just a compendium of alternate rules/house rules/ect., but it is a very good one. I went through it and found more useful rules in this book than in any other book I've found, so far. Not everything will be for everyone, but that's the nature and purpose of this kind of book - present the reader with options and ideas, lots and lots and lots of options. Everything from alternative magic rules: a spell point system, incantations that anyone, even non-spellcasters can cast...but at a price, new ways of thinking about classes, racial bloodlines so that your character can have some giant blood, or troll blood in his ancestry. Just about anything else you can think of. I will be using a lot of new ideas from this book for my next campaign.
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Title: Complete Warrior (Dungeons & Dragons Accessory) by Andy Collins, David Noonan, Ed Stark ISBN: 0786928808 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 03 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: The Draconomicon (Dungeons & Dragons) by Andy Collins, James Wyatt, Skip Williams ISBN: 0786928840 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 14 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: Book of Exalted Deeds (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) by James Wyatt, Darrin Drader, Christopher Perkins ISBN: 0786931361 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 29 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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Title: Expanded Psionics Handbook (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) by Bruce R. Cordell ISBN: 0786933011 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 09 April, 2004 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Player's Guide to Faerun (Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms Campaign Accessory) by Richard Baker, James Wyatt ISBN: 0786931345 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: 17 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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