Unearthed Arcana (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying) (Hardcover)

~ Andy Collins (Author), Jesse Decker (Author), (Author), Rich Redman (Author) "In many ways, a character's race provides a foundation for defining his place in the game world..." (more)
Key Phrases: roleplaying ideas, dragon affinity, bardic sage, Player's Handbook, Sense Motive, Move Silently (more...)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andy Collins's most recent credits include the Epic Level Handbook, Draconomicon, Complete Warrior, and contributing to the D&D Player's Handbook v.3.5.

Jesse Decker has written numerous articles in relation to the D&D game, and his most recent credit is the D&D Arms and Equipment Guide.

David Noonan's most recent credits include the D&D accessories Stronghold Builder's Guidebook, Hero Builder's Guidebook, Complete Warrior, and the Urban Arcanaª Campaign Setting.

Rich Redman's most recent credits include contributing to Deities and Demigods, Defenders of the Faith, Monster Manual II, Savage Species, and the D&D Arms and Equipment Guide.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast (February 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786931310
• ISBN-13: 978-0786931316
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #151,815 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some Decent Material, April 28, 2004

By A Customer

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.

75 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a bad rescource for the DM on the go, February 27, 2004

By	SCSIwuzzy (Oaklyn, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews

I'll agree with a few other reviewers that the price can seem high, and much of the content is available elsewhere. However, if you're no longer a HS/university student long on time, short on money, I think the book is well worth it. With a personal life, career, family and home, I don't have the time I used to have, so having this nice little compilation of options (some are very similar to ones already in use by my group) is worth the $20some I spent on it. I'd rather spend my precious free time creating a good adventure for my players than on creating optional systems for everything, and that also goes for scouring the web and bookshelves for the tweaks and options in this one book. It's like going to Jiffy Lube; sure I can change my own oil, but for $20 I'll go across the street and hit the bank, get a coffee and otherwise enjoy my free time while they handle it :)
I'm sure someone will flame me for being lazy or uncreative, but hey, my time, my money, my game. But if you're like me and struggle to find the time to do the big stuff (adventures, plots, maps, NPCs, backstory) as it is, this book is likely going to work for you.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Creative, interesting, far too brief, and the price has come down..., October 20, 2005

By	Marcus Roof "marcus roof" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

- First: Don't buy at full price. Some Amazon marketplace sellers are selling this as low as $9. I was expecting disappointment based on the low-balled price, but I was wrong!

- Second: Don't confuse this with TSR AD&D 1st Ed Unearthed Arcana or Sword & Sorcery Arcana Unearthed. Both cool books.

- Third: Don't read the Amazon description. It makes you think this book is all about strongholds for some reason...

- A minor annoyance is that WOTC already have a DMG2 released and a Player's Handbook 2 planned, and the material herein would be better placed/organized into a larger 500+ page Player's Handbook and larger 500+ page DMG respectively or just merge all these things entirely. Monte Cook did it with a huge Arcana Evolved. Why can't WOTC do this? Why all the individual books (this one is barely 200+ pages)? It's stupid to flip through 100 different books to see all the different classes and races available, make 1 race book, 1 class book and so on...Everyone else is doing it (Moongoose, Green Ronin) but WOTC. I think Hasbro has enough money.

- Its variants, house rules, and draws from a variety of sources and influences old and new as others have suggested. You have race variants (desert elf, aquatic gnome, etc. not terribly exciting), class variants (new paladins, etc., cool), Gestalt classes vs. multi-classes (nice), many "Bloodline" race-types (a succubus mates with a human creating a human with some demon bonuses - very interesting), Character traits and flaws, item familiars (very cool), insanity (which goes back to the original AD&D DMG 1st Ed), Rep and Honor (goes back to original AD&D Oriental Adventures 1st ED), Spell points instead of Spell memorization (fire and forget method) (many people use this spell pt house rule), the racial Paragon (sort of like a Prestige Race). On and on. Very neat stuff...

Criticism that this book has contradictory rules or not-well-thought-out cohesiveness is missing the point. I like this book more than the regular DMG or PHB.