Ok. What is the difference between Arcana Unearthed and Arcana Evloved? Also, what do you think of thses books? Thanks for the info!
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Arcana Evolved is the newer edition of Arcana Unearthed.
I have the first of the two, and it's pretty decent stuff.
It was essentially an all new PHB with a reimagining of the core races and classes. No elves, no dwarves. No fighters or wizards, but different races and classes.
(edit) and I think it was the first example of racial class levels.
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Arcana Evolved is the newer edition of Arcana Unearthed.
I have the first of the two, and it's pretty decent stuff.
It was essentially an all new PHB with a reimagining of the core races and classes. No elves, no dwarves. No fighters or wizards, but different races and classes.
(edit) and I think it was the first example of racial class levels.
I'm pleased with my copy's. Go ahead and pick them up.
Thoth-Amon
Thanks. I wiil pick it up.
Arcana Evolved does three things, primarily. First, it removes alignment from the game. That requires some adjustments to the core classes and also spellcasting. Second, it alters magic. There is no distinction between divine and arcane magic, and all casters are spontaneous casters. It's an improvement, I think, on a 3.5 system that is needlessly complex. Finally, the new classes are specifically built to correct the power imbalances between classes, especially with multiclass characters. For example, a fighter/wizard will be weaker, in the long run, than a straight fighter or straight wizard -- but AE has a core class, the mage blade, that is a spellcasting warrior with a competitive power curve.
That said, I'm not a fan of everything about AE. For example, the totem warrior is a class that is a hybrid between rangers and barbarians, but I'll take rangers and barbarians over totem warriors any day (not a problem, since nearly every PHB class could be used in AE with minimal adjustment). I like none of the alternate races. Nor do I like the default campaign world (entirely unnecessary because AE is simply a ruleset that can be used in any world, even Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms).
If you buy Arcana Evolved, you'll also need the Spell Treasury (which basically converts most PHB spells into their AE versions). And I'd recommend buying The Banewarrens, a 96 page mega-adventure which was written for 3.0 D&D, not AE, but is just about the best adventure I've ever seen. Players start at 6th level and rise to 10th by the end.
Arcana Evolved is certainly worth a look.
Arcana Evolved is the newer edition of Arcana Unearthed.
I have the first of the two, and it's pretty decent stuff.
It was essentially an all new PHB with a reimagining of the core races and classes. No elves, no dwarves. No fighters or wizards, but different races and classes.
(edit) and I think it was the first example of racial class levels.
There is a LOT of stuff first introduced in AE that WotC has ripped off. The entire Book of Nine Swords is a lift of an AE concept called "combat rites."
I'd have to agree - Arcana Evolved is pretty awesome. They also add a new class - the Ritual Warrior, and add in Combat Rites (different effects that warrior types can perform in combat).
Personally, I think all the races are pretty awesome with exception of the Sibeccai, which I've replaced with Dwarves. One furry race, Litorians, are enough unless you're running a furry world, in which case their shouldn't be any "humans."
Overall, I think it's better than D & D. I only wish it had the support (in terms of modules, adventure paths & settings) that D & D has/does receive.
I've only had a chance to skim through AE, but I very much like what I see. I showed it to a buddy I play D&D w/ occasionally, and he got jazzed enough to order his own copy, and we're getting ready to start playing w/ it. I've already bought all the accessories.
You don't have to use the Diamond Throne campaign setting, as has been noted, but I'm going to try it out. If it doesn't grab me, or is too much work to convert adventures to the setting, I'll just find a way to move the characters to another setting. Like Greyhawk (not in the Flanaess, though) or--gasp--Paizo's new world.
To the OP: AE has been called by Monte the "director's cut" of AU, and updates the history of the setting as well. If you can score a copy--I had to go to a Canadian website to get it--I'd recommend you do so. Just in case you're having troubles, try: www.levalet.com (hope I remembered that correctly).
There's also a chance it will be reprinted later this year.
Arcana Unearthed was, I believe, all black & white. Arcana Evolved is like the "director's cut" version - it's all color, includes extra artwork (most of which is very good), includes errata, and also includes material originally published as "The Diamond Throne" (this is the default campaign setting).
Check out http://www.montecook.com for more info.
There is a LOT of stuff first introduced in AE that WotC has ripped off. The entire Book of Nine Swords is a lift of an AE concept called "combat rites."
It's not all that much a ripoff. Some of the ideas presented in AE are generic things that just hadn't been published yet in a WotC book, that any thoughtful writer examining the game for potential improvements would have hit upon; Monte Cook just beat Wizards to it.
As for Nine Swords, I suspect it owes more to the author's previous material, Book of Iron Might, than to Arcana Evolved, although that book does derive from the same source as Arcana Evolved, in that Monte Cook published a lot of stuff that Mike Mearls wrote and Mearls did write for Arcana Evolved before penning his own variant Player's Handbook. That's a long-winded explanation, but the general idea is that Wizards didn't so much steal the concept as the writer simply imported it.
As others have said, Arcana Evolved is an updated and expanded version of Arcana Unearthed.
Also remember not to confuse Arcana Unearthed (Monte's book) with Unearthed Arcana (the WotC book full of variant rules). When Monte updated Arcana Unearthed to Arcana Evolved he changed the name partly to avoid people confusing the WotC book with his.
Personally I like a lot of the concepts that Monte introduces in AU/AE. My favourite concept would probably be the heightened/diminished spell option.
Olaf the Stout
I do like many of the changes in Arcana Unearthed/Evolved. Combining or dividing spell slots is nice, although I think I prefer psionics' points based approach since it's more flexible than D&D's Vancian casting. I like how it manages to do away with a lot of things that D&D couldn't have because it's too integral to the game: the arcane/divine divide, races, insta-kill spells, and certain magics that make a lot of things to easy.
There is a LOT of stuff first introduced in AE that WotC has ripped off. The entire Book of Nine Swords is a lift of an AE concept called "combat rites."It's not all that much a ripoff. Some of the ideas presented in AE are generic things that just hadn't been published yet in a WotC book, that any thoughtful writer examining the game for potential improvements would have hit upon; Monte Cook just beat Wizards to it.
As for Nine Swords, I suspect it owes more to the author's previous material, Book of Iron Might, than to Arcana Evolved, although that book does derive from the same source as Arcana Evolved, in that Monte Cook published a lot of stuff that Mike Mearls wrote and Mearls did write for Arcana Evolved before penning his own variant Player's Handbook. That's a long-winded explanation, but the general idea is that Wizards didn't so much steal the concept as the writer simply imported it.
I defer to you. Despite my earlier post, I haven't read the Book of Nine Swords, so I don't actually know what I'm talking about. That happens some times.
Anybody did any converts to Pathfinder :)
