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Arcana
Unearthed is a d20 system-styled book. Built from parts of the [d20]
System Reference Document and some oustanding original material, Arcana
Unearthed wants to be your campaign's alternative Player's Handbook.
Can it be, though? That depends on your campaign.
In striving
to escape the clutches of Tolkien, Cook creates a compelling fantasy
set. Races set beyond the standard, seen as tried-and-true, dwarves,
elves and smaller-folk (gnomes and "halflings"). Cook also
creates outstanding culture roles (character classes, folks). Cook tries
so hard to make this change in the fantasy set fully concrete by changing
the role of magic and how each character interacts with it (spell slots,
new spells by types instead of by class).
Arcana
Unearthed begins by defining what it is not and what it is. Though it's
touted as stand alone, it is not, requiring the player (and referee)
look at the other d20 system books for further explanations (like damage
reduction). It also point to other books in the Sword & Sorcery
Studios fold for more monsters and variety.
Don't
expect this book to carry a new player for their first few sessions,
as it's not designed for brand-new players, though those who have gamed
for several sessions shouldn't be intimidated by the book's "difficulties"
or it being an "advanced" rulebook.
Arcana
Unearthed does features new races, character classes plus the third-party
publisher standards of new feats, skills, spells and weapons. What Cook
does change is how to approach the design of the character. By having
several races with "racial levels," Cook makes character choice
more intriguing. Though by not having all the races with the three level
advancement, Cook sets-up a great premise that falls flat when it could
have made this book more outstanding than it is.
Also,
while on the topic of races, the book fails to deliver a fair amount
reasoning why certain races appear in the "player's book"
as opposed to making them available for referee fiat in support material.
The spryte and runechildren, in my opinion weaken the "player's"
aspect about the book, though Cook does claim that this book is more
for referees. Both of these races are not available at first character
level, runechild being an option at 5th level, and sprytes available
at 4th level. Character classes are treated to the same workbench feeling
that the new races present. The standard archetypes are broken into
usage of weapon versus magic, with a range of "betweeners."
On the magic-users side, we have the magister (a very Gandalf-sque wizard
that stores their spells in their staff), the greenbond (a nature-based
spellcaster, has the feel of paganism and Wicca), the runethane (a rune-based
spellcaster) and the witch (a revised sorcerer or psion, whose power
is innate). The weapon-users (er, fighters, if you will) present the
warmain (sturdy, armored warriors), the unfettered (a swashbuckling,
daring-do), and the champion (a person that gains strength from their
cause). The "betweener" character classes are the akashic
(the skill-based character that is tied to the collective unconscious),
the mage blade (a mix of warmain and magister that uses their bladed
weapon as the foci of their spells), the oathsworn (an unarmed, but
not weaponless monk-like character that forgoes tools in pursuit of
their goals, they eventually break free of the limitations of their
body following their goal) and the totem warrior (a native warrior that
communicates with the spirits and takes their power and form).
Arcana
Unearthed showcases new types of feats (those being ceremonial and talent)
for characters to select from. Talents are 1st level only feats that
represent how a character is different via "inborn gifts"
that indicate "a character from the outset." Ceremonial feats
require that a character have a truename, and these feats require ceremonies
or rituals for the character to participate in. Arcana Unearthed characters
begin play with one ceremonial feat and either a talent or regular feat,
unless they are Unbound (characters without truenames), then they may
take a regular feat or talent feat plus an additional talent feat.
"Blessed
Mage (Ceremonial Feat): After a ritual involving a daylong invocation
to angelic spirits, you gain special benefits with blessed magic. Prerequisite:
Truename. Benefit: A character with this feat may apply the blessed
template to her spells as described in Chapter Eight: Magic. Further,
she casts any spell that cures hit points at +1 caster level."
"Night
Owl (Talent Feat): You are more active at night. Prerequisite: Character
level 1st only. Benefit: The character gains a +1 competence bonus to
attack rolls, saving throws, and checks made after the sun goes down.
(This ability only takes effect above ground, and when the character
can verify that it is indeed night.)"
Arcana
Unearthed, being a Player's Handbook, also covers equipment and combat,
most familiar with the way the d20 system combat unfolds, should have
no surprises once the dice get rolling. The main changes from the core
rules come when the character is wounded and hovering on death's door.
The core system says you have until -10 hit points before the character
is dead, Arcana Unearthed allows your character to bleed until they
reach their negative Constitution score. Also, where the main rules
say at zero hit points your character drops into unconsciousness, this
book has characters fighting until their negative Constitution modifier
(ex: a warmain with an 18 Con, bleeds until -18 hit points and is still
fighting at -4 hit points).
Magic
in the book is broken into simple, complex and exotic spell types. These
types take the place of the standard rule's character class break down
of spells, so there's no magister spell list or witch spell list-each
character type has access to different types of spells (witches have
simple spells, the magister has simple and complex spells). Exotic spells
are the rarest of spells, a so-called signature spell for those spellcasters
that create them.
Magic
use in Arcana Unearthed comes in the form of spell slots, a mildly confusing
section (after looking at the bonus spells chart and the spell slot
chart for each character). A spellcaster has a number of slots which
they use to ready a set number of spells, spells remain in those slots
until the character studies and meditates to change them out. With spells
in the slots, a character can use the spell a number of times, their
spells slots that they can use per day. Personally, I got confused about
this aspect of Arcana Unearthed. I stopped after reading the greenbond
and flipped to Chapter Eight: Magic to clarify what I was confused on,
but it still isn't clear.
Ex: a
1st level greenbond has a base of two 0-level and one 1st-level spell
slots per day. The same character can have five 0-level and 3 1st-level
spells readied at one time. Both of these charts are modified by the
spellcasters key ability (greenbond's spell bonuses are based on their
Wisdom score).
"All
casters must ready spells before they can cast them. This simply means
choosing the spells they will be able to access when the time comes
to use their spell slots to cast them." (Readying spells, p. 164)
"A spellcaster has a limited amount of spell energy at his disposal
to power the spells he knows and has readied. This power is represented
by spell slots. Each caster has a number of slots for each level of
spells he can cast." (Using spell slots, p. 165)
Does this
mean that a character has a barrage of spells that they have readied,
but can use it only so much before their power fails (and they need
to recover them by rest)? This is a great idea, but a little unclear
in the text of the book. Added to the idea of spell slots is the idea
of weaving and unthreading spell slots together to power a spell of
another level. A spellcaster may use three slots to power a one-level
higher spell. One higher-level spell slot may be unthreaded to fuel
two one-level lower spells. I liked the idea of spell slot weaving,
but put together with an unclear section on spell slots (probably a
cognitive issue) slightly weakens the magical aspect of the game.
The chapter
on magic ends with a listing of spell templates that characters can
add to most their spells to change "their parameters or requirements."
This is a neat idea for those wanting a more personalized vision on
magic as opposed to the Big Named Spells (Bigby's Crushing Hand).
"Blessed
(Spell Template): As a gift of angelic beings from the higher realms,
characters learn to cast benevolent spells on their friends with greater
ability. Tainted individuals (see 'Special Descriptor Rules,' page 171)
cannot use this template. Characters can add this template to spells
that have beneficial effects, such as healing spells, ability boost,
and so on. A caster who knows the truename of the target can double
the range of the spell. Further, the caster can use this template to
affect allies (whose truename she knows) within 25 feet with touch-only
spells. Spells with this template gain the positive energy descriptor.
If the spell already has the positive energy descriptor, its range triples
or it affects allies within 50 feet instead of 25 feet. Cost: Verbal
component (specific beautiful and pleasant sounds, which cannot be modified).
Gained: From the Blessed Mage feat."
Overall,
I look forward to using aspects of Arcana Unearthed in my games. It
has a different feel than my other Player's Handbook, which is a good
thing. While I do have some issues over the spell slot thing, but I
think, as I get deeper into the book, that it'll become more concrete
in my mind. Right now, it's a bewildering item on a list of outstanding
values. Arcana Unearthed is a lovely campaign option book, but I feel
that maybe it shouldn't have been called a Player's Handbook, but rather
a Referee's Campaign Toolkit.
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