Canonfire! Forums-viewtopic-Arcana UnOerthed?

Thu Aug 12, 2004 3:50 pm Arcana UnOerthed?

Well, being initially reluctant to make the conversion to 3e (and even more so to 3.5) I've always pretty much avoided dumping more money into the edition save the core books.

Some non-WotC works have managed to woork their way into my collection however and I've just recently broke down and purchased Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed.

Well, I'll admit, I'm glad I made the purchase. It's got some interesting stuff in it. As a Greyhawk fan it's a bit limited as to what I might use from it but I've gotten some ideas.

I'm toying with using some of the classes from the book as classes in my campaigns unique to certain races (Kirt's articles on the 2e elven classes had me thinking about the concept).

Right now the Runethanes are obvious additions for my dwarven magic users arising from the recovery of Radruundar. Mage Blades would be ideal for elven Bladesingers. And I'm looking at the Totem Warrior as a possible addition for humans of certain regions (Amedio, Hepmonaland, Wolf Nomads, Northern Barbarians etc.)

My main question is for any who might have used these additions in their campaigns is about the magic. Runethanes and Mage Blades both make use of AU classified "Simple Spells". Before I sit down and do it I was curious if anyone else has sat down and compared the AU spells and D&D spells and developed a "simple spell" list for these classes using the ones form the PHB?

As a side note, I'm fairly sure cwslyclgh's dwarven spells will make my list as far as the Runethane is concerned Smile

Fri Aug 13, 2004 4:29 pm

As someone who has made the jump to 3.5.

I only allow the Big Three books (PHB, DMG, MM) as primary source material, and only allow the PHB in the players' hands at the gaming table. I have bought a few others, but the only ones that are worth full price are the non-WotC Tome of Horrors and the WotC Unearthed Arcana (alternate rules).

Sorry if this doesn't help the question, but it may at a future date.

Telas

Sat Aug 14, 2004 5:48 am

Scroll down to about halfway until you get to "AUGH"

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=134630

Also, you might want to check out Monte's forums at www.montecook.com as this issue has been covered, ad nauseum, so they've probably got a list done up by now, or it might be finally up on the AU fansite (forget the address).
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In more modern times, only Delglath of Rinloru is known to have crafted any items from the stone of this atrocious place. Even masters of the dark arts such as Xaene and Karoolck would hesitate to follow.

Sat Aug 14, 2004 4:29 pm

Sat Aug 14, 2004 9:22 pm

Well, I've added the Runethanes to my house rules with some modifications, so now my players will have that option available to them.

I made a slight change in the class skills, swapping Gather Information with Diplomacy to better reflect part of their duties in my campaign.

As for the spells, I've decided to allow the Runethane to use the simple spells from AU as their spell list instead of compiling a PHB list. I mainly did this because in my campaign, the dwarves are moving towards a new age of high kings and the rediscovery of this "dwarven magic" is part of what signifies this coming era for dwarf kind. I did not want the re-awakening of dwarven magic to simply be a variant of a wizard and the spell list from AU being used by them helps in setting them apart from the wicked magic users of those tall folks.

Their magic will work much like a sorcerers does except Int will remain their prime requisite in that regards. They will have a number of spells which they can cast per day and a number of spells which they know and cast from. I primarily did it this way because of the central location for the awakeing of dwarven magic is Radruundar and for any Runethane wandering to far it would be difficult for them to learn new spells without traveling back to the runehall and scribing them from there. So, a Runethane's will still have a "spellbook" but it differs from the norm. It is a single book entitled "the Runimral" and is a copy of the runic etchings in Radruundar. It is not so much a book of spells as it is a book on runic theory. As the Runethane advances in level he better understands runic theory and grasps the concepts behind new spells. SHould he lose his book he does not learn any new spells when advancing a level without recovering it or obtaining a new copy to study the theories.

I'll be keeping the Runethane an exclusively dwarven class. I'm curious to see how well it will work in my campaign and one of my players has jumped at the opportunity to play one so it'll give me a chance and see it in the field and if it needs tweaked any.

Still looking at the maghe blades now...heh