Here's a bit more discussion of some of the general issues I faced as I began designing Arcana Unearthed. If you haven't read part one yet, take a look.

Balance
While I've no one to blame but myself (and the other 3rd Edition designers, I suppose), there are some things that I think are simply unbalanced in the core rules. After years of further play, I just don't like how they work anymore. The feat Rapid Shot, for example, is too good. Giving a character an extra attack per round is a huge benefit, and the cost (that the foe must be within 30 feet and all your attacks are at -2) is too small. So Arcana Unearthed doesn't have a feat like that. Instead, I've created a Rapid Reload feat and a Rapid Strike feat (for melee attacks) that gives the same sort of benefit but at a higher cost (the extra attack is only usable in limited situations and isn't at your highest attack bonus).

That means, however, that the Rapid Reload feat is basically inferior to Rapid Shot. DMs using Rapid Shot in their games won't even want to consider it (unless they allowed a character to have both -- which makes me shudder). I've had to make a few decisions in my design of this variant player's handbook that are just good for the game overall, if mixed liberally with the standard core material, will just seem weak. That's intentional. I know I'll see plenty of emails or letters that ask, "Why would I ever want to use X out of your book when Y in the PH is so much better?" The answer, of course, is that I don't think you should use Y.

And so what is Y? Lots of spells -- harm, haste, true resurrection, find the path, and more. A few feats, like the aforementioned Rapid Shot. Some of the stuff you can get with summon monster or planar ally. And more. You won't find them in Arcana Unearthed, at least not in the forms you're used to.

Does that mean that compared to standard characters, Arcana Unearthed characters are going to just suck for the sake of balance? No. Then they wouldn't be balanced, would they? No, I've just had to find new ways to make characters balanced in different ways. For one thing, you'll find that characters are more flexible. More classes get more skill points and more opportunities to choose feats. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Basically, I've seen the min-maxers at work, and I'm trimming out of the game system the worst violations and adding in more flexibility and customization to make up for it.

Using the DM
To try to explain some of the things I'm attempting to do with Arcana Unearthed (and the books that follow it), I'll occasionally have to back up a bit and explain some things that we did with the core rules. One thing, for example, that we tried to do was to "take the DM out of the equation" as much as possible. Now this has caused its own share of problems, but the reason we did it was to make the game as easy as we could for new players. If the DM has to make a lot of judgment calls, the game is more difficult to learn. However, it's my belief that it's also more satisfying. So with Arcana Unearthed, I've intentionally backed away from that approach a bit. The champion of freedom, to use him as an example again, might get a bonus on attack rolls, saves, and checks in all situations pertaining to freeing captives or struggling against an oppressor. Although the book does provides guidance on how to judge such situations, it's ultimately up to the DM to decide when the champion gets the bonus.

I've made this decision because Arcana Unearthed isn't for new players. It assumes at least a moderate level of experience and maturity. My philosophy is, "You don't need me to tell you how to play -- I'll just provide some rules and ideas to use and get out of your way."

That's it for this time. Next I think I'll talk a bit about magic... and psionics.

 

DESIGN DIARY PAST ENTRIES

* Design Decisions, Part One -- December 19, 2002
"Before jumping into another big area of Arcana Unearthed's design, like classes or the magic system, I thought I'd discuss some of the general issues I faced as a designer starting the book...."

* Arcana Unearthed Races -- December 5, 2002
"I started with the races. While I knew that the game needed humans as a basis, I wanted all the other races to be new. I didn't want to just create dwarf and elf analogs with different names...."