D&D 3.5 - Unearthed Arcana [OEF].pdf

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Unearthed Arcana
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UNEARTHED ARCANA
A NDY C OLLINS , J ESSE D ECKER , D AVID N OONAN , R ICH R EDMAN
ART DIRECTOR
D AWN M URIN
COVER ARTIST
M ATT C AVOTTA
INTERIOR ARTISTS
S TEVEN B ELLEDIN , E D C OX , W AYNE E NGLAND ,
E MILY F IEGENSCHUH , D AVID H UDNUT ,
J EREMY J ARVIS , D OUG K OVACS , J OHN AND
L AURA L AKEY , D AVID M ARTIN , D ENNIS
C RABAPPLE M C C LAIN , M ARK N ELSON , J AMES
P AVELEC , S TEVE P RESCOTT , D AVID R OACH ,
R ICHARD S ARDINHA , R ON S PENCER , S TEPHEN
T APPIN , J OEL T HOMAS , B EN T HOMPSON
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
D AWN M URIN
GRAPHIC PRODUCTION SPECIALIST
E RIN D ORRIES
CARTOGRAPHER
T ODD G AMBLE
This d20™ System game utilizes mechanics developed for the new D UNGEONS & D RAGONS ® game by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook,
Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison.
Resources for this product include Psionics Handbook by Bruce Cordell, Swords of Our Fathers by JD Wiker (Game Mechanics),
Mutants & Masterminds by Steve Kenson (Green Ronin Publishing), Call of Cthulhu by Monte Cook and John Tynes, d20 Mod-
ern Roleplaying Game by Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, and Charles Ryan, Oriental Adventures by James Wyatt, Star
Wars Roleplaying Game by Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, and JD Wiker, Player’s Option: Combat & Tactics by L. Richard Baker III
and Skip Williams, Alternity Player’s Handbook by Bill Slavicsek and Richard Baker, and the University of Notre Dame’s Latin
parser at http://www.nd.edu/~archives/latgramm.htm.
Valuable advice provided by Bruce Cordell and James Wyatt
Playtesters: Richard Baker, Greg Collins, Dale Donovan, Chris Galvin, Joe Hauck, Kevin Kukas, Viet Nguyen, Brent Pearson, Tim
Rhoades, Marc Russell, Scott Smith, Dennis Worrell, Warren Wyman, James Wyatt
E
DI
T
O
R
S
M ICHELE C ARTER , G WENDOLYN F.M.
K ESTREL , C HARLES R YAN
MANAGING EDITOR
K IM M OHAN
DESIGN MANAGER
E D S TARK
DIRECTOR OF RPG R&D
B ILL S LAVICSEK
IMAGE TECHNICIAN
J AY S AKAMOTO
PRODUCTION MANAGER
J OSH F ISCHER
U.S., CANADA, ASIA, PACIFIC,
& LATIN AMERICA
Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
P.O. Box 707
Renton WA 98057-0707
Questions? 1-800-324-6496
620-88156-001-EN
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
F IRST P RINTING : February 2004
EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS
Wizards of the Coast, Belgium
T Hofveld 6d
1702 Groot-Bijgaarden
Belgium
+322-467-3360
Product Identity: The following items are hereby identifi ed as Product Identity, as defi ned in the Open Gaming License version 1.0a, Section 1(e), and are not Open Content: All
trademarks, registered trademarks, proper names (characters, deities, artifacts, places, etc.), artwork, trade dress, and the names and game statistics for the following monsters:
beholder, displacer beast, gauth, githyanki, githzerai, mind fl ayer, slaad, umber hulk, and yuan-ti.
Open Content : Except for material designated as Product Identity (see above) and the githyanki/githzerai, slaad, and yuan-ti bloodlines in Chapter 1, the contents of this W IZARDS
OF THE C OAST ® game product are Open Game Content, as defi ned in the Open Gaming License version 1.0a Section 1(d). No portion of this work other than the material designated
as Open Game Content may be reproduced in any form without written permission. To learn more about the Open Gaming License and the d20 System License, please visit
www.wizards.com/d20 .
D UNGEONS & D RAGONS , D&D, D UNGEON M ASTER , d20, d20 M ODERN , d20 System, W IZARDS OF THE C OAST , Player’s Handbook , Dungeon Master’s Guide , Monster Manual , Unearthed
Arcana , and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., in the U.S.A. and other countries. Distributed to the hobby, toy, and comic trade in the United
States and Canada by regional distributors. Distributed in the United States to the book trade by Holtzbrinck Publishing. Distributed in Canada to the book trade by Fenn
Ltd. Distributed worldwide by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., and regional distributors. This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any
reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This product is a
work of fi ction. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places, or events is purely coincidental. Printed in the U.S.A. ©2004 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
Visit our website at www.wizards.com/dnd
ADDITIONAL DESIGN
A NDREW F INCH , S TEVE K ENSON , C HARLES
R YAN , B ILL S LAVICSEK , E D S TARK , J ONATHAN
T WEET , JD W IKER , J AMES W YATT
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Contents
Introduction ................................................... 4
Chapter 1: Races............................................. 5
Environmental Racial Variants . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Elemental Racial Variants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Reducing Level Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Bloodlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Racial Paragon Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Chapter 2: Classes .......................................47
Variant Character Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Specialist Wizard Variants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Spontaneous Divine Casters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Class Feature Variants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Prestigious Character Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Gestalt Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Generic Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Chapter 3: Building Characters ............79
Alternative Skill Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Complex Skill Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Character Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Character Flaws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Spelltouched Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Weapon Group Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Craft Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Character Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Chapter 4: Adventuring......................... 109
Defense Bonus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Armor as Damage Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Damage Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Injury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Vitality and Wound Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Reserve Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Massive Damage Thresholds
and Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Death and Dying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Action Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Combat Facing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Hex Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Var iable Modi fi ers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Bell Curve Rolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Players Roll All the Dice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Chapter 5: Magic........................................135
Magic Rating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Summon Monster Variants. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Metamagic Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Spontaneous Metamagic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Spell Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Recharge Magic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Legendary Weapons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Item Familiars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Incantations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Chapter 6: Campaigns ............................ 179
Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Reputation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Honor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Taint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Tainted Prestige Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Sanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
Test-Based Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Level-Independent XP Awards. . . . . . . . . . . 213
Afterword:
When Worlds Collide . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Variant Checklist ..................................... 219
Sidebars
(BtC = Behind the Curtain;
HR = House Rule)
Aquatic Race Level Adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Subraces and Paragon Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
HR: Skilled Half-Elves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Paragon Classes in Your Game . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Multiclassing and Variant Classes. . . . . . . . . 48
Urban Tracking [General] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
HR: Spontaneous Domain Casting. . . . . . . . 64
BtC: Spontaneous Casting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
HR: Druid Domains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Unique Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
HR: Fractional Base Bonuses . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Skill Knowledge [General] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Why Complex Checks? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
BtC: How Many Successes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
BtC: Designing Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
BtC: Creating Flaws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
BtC: Spelltouched Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
HR: Adding a Favored Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Additional Favored Class [General] . . . . . . 100
BtC: Class Defense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
BtC: Armor as DR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Combo: Defense Bonus and
Damage Reduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
BtC: Damage Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
BtC: Injury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
HR: Slower Magical Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
BtC: Vitality and Wounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
HR: Out-of-Turn Dodge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
BtC: Reserve Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
BtC: Massive Damage Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
BtC: Death and Dying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
BtC: Action Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
HR: Luck Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Combat Awareness [General] . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
HR: Enhancement and Touch AC . . . . . . . . 128
BtC: Variable Modifi ers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
BtC: The Bell Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
BtC: Players Rolling Dice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
BtC: Summoning Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
HR: Metamagic and Sorcerers I . . . . . . . . . . 140
BtC: Metamagic Components. . . . . . . . . . . . 150
HR: Metamagic and Sorcerers II . . . . . . . . . 151
BtC: Spontaneous Metamagic. . . . . . . . . . . . 152
HR: Daily Spell List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
BtC: Spell Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
HR: Simplifi ed NPC Spellcasters . . . . . . . . 156
HR: Recharging Magic Items . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
BtC: Recharge Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
HR: No Spell Resistance against
Energy Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
BtC: Creating Incantations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
BtC: Who’s Affected by Reputation? . . . . . 182
BtC: Honor and Alignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
BtC: Taint. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
It Came from Cthulhu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Sanity Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Forbidden Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Variant Rule: Insane Insight . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
The Heal Skill and Mental Treatment . . . . 202
HR: Puzzles and Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
BtC: Sanity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
BtC: Test-Based Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
HR: XP Bonus Pool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
BtC: Level-Independent XP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Numbered Tables
1–1: Reducing Level Adjustments . . . . . . . . . 18
1–2: Bloodline Levels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
1–3: Bloodline Strength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
1–4: Minor Bloodlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
1–5: Intermediate Bloodlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
1–6: Major Bloodlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
1–7: Bloodline Trait Distribution . . . . . . . . . 31
1–8: The Drow Paragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
1–9: The Dwarf Paragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
1–10: The Elf Paragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
1–11: The Gnome Paragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
1–12: The Half-Dragon Paragon . . . . . . . . . . . 39
1–13: The Half-Elf Paragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
1–14: The Half-Orc Paragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
1–15: The Halfl ing Paragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
1–16: The Human Paragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
1–17: The Orc Paragon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
1–18: The Tiefl ing Paragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
2–1: Variant Paladin Class Features . . . . . . . 54
2–2: Spells Known . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
2–3: Ranger Favored Environments . . . . . . . 66
2–4: The Prestige Bard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
2–5: The Prestige Paladin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
2–6: The Prestige Ranger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
2–7: The Expert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
2–8: The Spellcaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
2–9: Spellcaster Spells Known . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
2–10: The Warrior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
3–1: Skills by Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
3–2: Example Complex Skill Checks . . . . . . 81
3–3: Character Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
3–4: Spelltouched Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
3–5: Sample Crafted Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
3–6: Craft Points Gained by Level . . . . . . . . . 99
3–7: Item Creation Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
4–1: Defense Bonus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
4–2: Defense Bonus for Other Classes . . . . 110
4–3: Creature Defense Bonuses . . . . . . . . . . 110
4–4: Armor and Damage Reduction. . . . . . 111
4–5: Natural Armor and Damage
Reduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5–1: Magic Rating by Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
5–2: Metamagic Components . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
5–3: Spell Points per Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
5–4: Bonus Spell Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
5–5: Spell Point Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
5–6: General Recharge Times . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
5–7: Spell Recharge Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
5–8: The Battle Scion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
5–9: The Faith Scion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
5–10: The Spell Scion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
5–11: The Swift Scion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
5–12: Item Familiar Abilities . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
6–1: Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
6–2: Reputation Scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
6–3: The Tainted Sorcerer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
6–4: The Tainted Warrior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
6–5: Sanity Loss from Creatures . . . . . . . . . 196
6–6: Sanity Loss from Spellcasting. . . . . . . 196
6–7: Example Forbidden Tomes . . . . . . . . . . 198
6–8: Duration of Temporary Insanity . . . . 200
6 – 9 : Shor t-Ter m Tempora r y Insa n it y
Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
6–10: Long-Term Temporary Insanity
Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
6–11: Random Indefi nite Insanity . . . . . . . 201
6–12: Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
6–13: Alternative Experience Point
Progression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
6–14: Experience Award
(Single Monster) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
3
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Introduction
Wa r n i n g : Get ready to drink from the fi re hose.
Unearthed Arcana exposes you to more variant rules and alterna-
tive methods of gaming than anyone can hope to use in a single
campaign. On top of those, a bunch of House Rule sidebars written
by various members of the Wizards of the Coast R&D department
describe personal variants they’ve used in their home campaigns.
In fact, there’s probably more in here than you could reasonably use
in a dozen campaigns, and some of it you probably won’t ever get
around to actually introducing to your game.
Take a deep breath—it’s okay.
Just as no player actually casts all the new spells in the latest
rulebook, and no DM actually uses all the new creatures in the
latest manual of monstrosities, you shouldn’t feel any compul-
sion to use all these variants, even in a lifetime of gaming.
Instead, pick and choose the ones that feel right for your style of
gaming, your players, and your campaign. Some groups may latch
on to a specifi c variant—whether the taint rules, Sanity checks,
spell points, or legendary weapons—in a hear tbeat, making it a cen-
tral feature of their game world. Others fi nd a few smaller changes
to incorporate, such as a variant class or class feature, reputation
checks, or alternative massive damage thresholds. Use the checklist
at the back of the book to track what you’re using, and what changes
you make to the variants you use.
The“trick” behind getting your money’s worth from this book
is an attitude of curiosity and experimentation. Some groups may
have a conservative outlook: “We like the way our game works and
don’t want to wreck it.” It’s okay to think that way—but nothing
in this book can wreck your game unless you let it. If you try out a
variant and it doesn’t work for you after a session or three, go back
to the way you were playing, or just start over from where you were
before you tried out the new rules. No harm, no foul.
The adventurous groups, though—the ones willing to learn
new ways to play their familiar game—stand to reap the biggest
rewards from Unearthed Arcana . In a way, this book perfectly rep-
resents the game itself: Adventurous characters get rewarded,
though it takes work to reap those rewards.
When you turn to the next page, the inundation begins. Just
remember to take small sips at fi rst—try out a small number of
variants for starters, gradually increasing the level of change until
you reach your comfort level. Don’t worry that you’re not using all
the new stuff at once. After all, there’s always another campaign
waiting to be born, and maybe in that one you fi nally try out the
new metamagic components, or the spelltouched feats, or . . .
—Andy Collins
it presents paragon classes that enable characters to develop into
quintessential examples of their race.
Chapter 2: Classes is full of ways to tailor the standard D&D
character classes. It provides a system allowing divine spellcast-
ers to cast their spells spontaneously, as well as some variant
class features. You can replace the standard bard, paladin, and
ranger classes with prestige versions of those classes, or you can
create gestalt characters who gain levels in two classes at the
same time. For a simpler approach to class selection, try out the
generic classes at the end of this chapter.
Chapter 3: Building Characters offers options for detailing
a character—a new way of determining which skills a character
knows, a system for complex skill checks, and selections of traits
and fl aws that make characters more distinctive. Spelltouched feats
and weapon group feats add even more variety to what characters
can do. Instead of using the standard rules for the Craft skill, you
can give characters craft points that they spend to create alchemical
substances and magic items. The largest section of this chapter deals
with character background, a way to create a character of higher
than 1st level who has a unique personal history.
Chapter 4: Adventuring is a treasure trove of ideas for chang-
ing basic aspects of the way the game works. If you want to try
out a new system for how Armor Class is determined, or the
benefi t that armor provides, or how characters are affected by
damage, you’ll fi nd options here. You can give characters action
points, which they use to improve their chances of succeeding
at a task. You can change the way combat works by keeping track
of a creature’s facing, or by using a hexagonal grid rather than a
square grid. You can even modify the most fundamental concept
in the d20 System rules by getting rid of the d20 altogether!
Chapter 5: Magic is in many ways a counterpart to Chapter
4, except that the variants here are all related to the effects of
magic on the game. You can give each character and creature a
magic rating, which determines its caster level. You can gener-
ate individualized lists of summon spells related to each caster’s
world view or goals. Metamagic components allow spellcasters
to use spells with the effect of a metamagic feat already built in.
The spontaneous metamagic variant gives casters the opportu-
nity to assign metamagic effects to a spell just as it is cast. The
spell point system gives casters more fl exibility in their daily
spell choices. Rather than limiting casters to a certain number
of spells per day, you can use the recharge magic system to de-
termine how often a character can cast a particular spell or a
spell of a certain level. You can change the role of magic in the
game without altering any other rules by using the material on
legendary weapons, item familiars, and incantations.
Chapter 6: Campaigns takes a look at concepts that can fl esh
out characters and affect (for good or ill) the way they interact
with their world. Contacts are NPCs who can provide various
forms of aid to player characters. Reputation and honor help
to determine how the other residents of the campaign world
perceive the PCs. For a darker and grittier campaign world, one
in which characters are up against perils they can’t control, you
can incorporate the rules for taint or insanity (or both). Finally,
for a different way of determining how characters fullfi ll the
requirements for feats and prestige classes, check out the variant
on test-based prerequisites.
Afterword: When Worlds Collide offers some brief advice
for DMs on how to use a wide variety of variant rules during
play without necessarily creating different campaign worlds for
different combinations of variants.
4
WHAT’S INSIDE?
It’s usually true that you don’t need to read a D&D rulebook
from front to back to get the most out of it—and that’s never
been more true than in the case of Unearthed Arcana. Using the
table of contents as a guide, you can simply fl ip to a part of the
book that looks interesting and start reading. That said, here’s a
summary of what each chapter contains.
Chapter 1: Races introduces the concept of racial variants,
keyed either to a particular environment or a certain elemental
type. It offers a way to reduce a character’s level adjustment, which
can pay off in more rapid advancement at higher levels. Much of
the chapter is devoted to bloodlines—a way to make characters
distinctive by giving them a hint of monstrous ancestry. Finally,
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n many ways, a character’s race provides a foundation
for defi ning his place in the game world. Whether elf
or dwarf, half-orc or half-dragon, a character’s race is the
cornerstone upon which the character crafts an identity.
The races in the Player’s Handbook provide a variety of
interesting roles. Add in the options presented in the Monster
Manual or various campaign settings, and the variety becomes
impressive indeed. But what if that variety isn’t enough?
That’s where this chapter comes in. The four variant sys-
tems presented here throw open the doors of racial options.
You can play a troll-blooded human or a jungle-born halfl ing,
a fi re-touched elf or a paragon of dwarvenkind. These variants
can be used individually or alongside one another, depending
on the whims of the DM.
So dig in! You may never look at gnomes the same way
again. . . .
Alternatively, these variants could coexist with the stan-
dard races (or even with other variants) in your world. For
example, you can use them as world-building tools—the
existence of racial offshoots may constitute living proof of
an ancient racial migration in response to some disaster.
Each racial variant modifi es the race to which it is
applied (hereafter called the standard race) in minor
ways. All racial traits of the standard race—racial skill
bonuses, bonus feats, special sensory capabilities (such
as darkvision and low-light vision), ability modifi ers,
combat bonuses against specifi c foes, and racial weapon
profi ciencies—are retained unless the variant specifi es
otherwise. For instance, a human retains his extra skill
points and extra feat at 1st level, a dwarf retains his
stonecunning ability, and an elf retains her ability
to spot secret doors, unless the variant description
specifi cally indicates otherwise.
Many of the variant races described in this sec-
tion provide alternate ability score adjustments. In
these cases, the adjustments given here supersede
the standard race’s adjustments. For example, the
aquatic goblin’s ability score adjustments are –2
Strength, +2 Constitution, and –2 Charisma. These
adjustments take the place of the goblin’s normal –2
Strength, +2 Dexterity, and –2 Charisma.
Because humans are, by nature, the most adaptable
of races, environmental variants are generally not
included for humans. The exception is aquatic
humans, which, due to their ability to live and
RACIAL VARIANTS
Racial variants are a great way add diversity to your game
without drastically changing the ecology of your world. One
method of altering the existing races is to introduce environ-
mental variants, a number of which are presented here.
You may decide that one or more of these variants represent
the “standard” version of a given race in your world. For in-
stance, in a desert-based campaign the desert races presented
below could replace the normal versions of the races described
in the Player’s Handbook and Monster Manual .
5
ENVIRONMENTAL
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