Unearthed Arcana Cheeselist.
Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2004 7:42 pm
OK, here's chapter by chapter how things get cheesy if you use things from Unearthed Arcana:
Chapter 1: Races
Alternate Player Races
The more alternate races you put it, the more characters can get custom crafted to the class and party role they are supposed to have. With a standard Elf, for example, the only classes which benefit from all of their abilities are the Cleric and Druid - while many of their skill bonuses (such as Search) are of little use. By being an Arctic Elf you can trade that Search skill (which a Druid can't make a lot of use with) for Craft and Survival - which are much more helpful. The Gnome gets a bonus to Alchemy, but if you are a rogue, you'd rather be Arctic and trade that bonus for Sense Motive. In total, there's little reason to ever play a "standard" race, since with the number of variants they brought in there's almost certainly a cultural polyp which better fits your party role and style of play with its bonuses.
But worse, some of these races trade powers for other powers - some of them just get more swag for free. All of the people from hot and cold places get bonuses to resist extreme temperatures, and most of the other bonuses/penalties cancel out. A Desert Halfling gets bonuses to Hide and Sleight of Hand instead of Climb and Jump - which is pretty much a wash. However, they also get resistance to heat fatigue. That's a minor ability, but it is free.
On the more extreme case, being a creature of water gives you +2 Con, +1 to-hit creatures with the fire subtype, and a swim speed. At the cost of -2 to your saves against Fire Spells. That's hugely beneficial, for those keeping track at home.
Reducing Level Adjustments
If we pretend for a moment that creatures with a +1 LA actually deserve it, this is broken. However, they don't - so this is not a big deal. When a creature reduces their LA from +1 to zero, they spend 3000 XP at "level four" and become "level three". At that point you begin to collect XP faster than the rest of the party because you are lower level. So you'll catch up by about level 8 or 9.
However, a higher LA character will never catch up. So I guess the problem here is that it acts like this is making Half Celestial characters viable but it's really not. That and because it doesn't count Monster Levels, it makes Tieflings palayable at high levels, but doesn't give the same considerations to Gnolls, who never become playable under these rules.
Blood Lines
Send in the Cheese!
Simple Cheese: If you take a minor bloodline you don't pay a level into it until level 12 - but you start getting bonuses at level 4. If your game is never going to get to level 12 (most don't), this is free money.
Complex Cheese: A level of Bloodline increases all of your class levels for purposes of level-based abiltiies. All of them. So if you are an 11th level Paladin with a Bloodline level, you get +1 level of Mount bonuses. If you are a 5th level Paladin/6th level Halfling Outrider with a bloodline level you get +2 levels of mount bonuses. If you are a 5th level Paladin/ 5th level Halfling Outrider / 1st level Cavalier, you get +3 levels of Mount Bonuses.
It also increases your caster level for purposes of level based effects and your turn undead - once again of each class separately. So a Cleric 11 with a blood line level gets +1 level of turn undead and casts her spells with a caster level of 12. A Cleric 8/ Sacred Exorcist 3 gets +2 levels of Turn Undead and casts spells with a caster level of 13.
With enough multiclassing and PrCs in the right places - taking that level of Bloodline can be better than taking a level of any class. And you still pocket the stat bonuses and the bonus feats and the dumb powers and everything.
Paragon Classes
They are three level PrCs with what are essentially no prerequisites. What exactly did you think would happen?
Most of these are inept (especially those poor suckers who get 2 levels of spellcasting in 3 levels) - but the Fighting ones are pretty decent.
Chapter 2: Classes
Alternate Classes
Like all alternate core classes, most of these are completely ass. All of the Totems let you trade your Fast Movement for Skill Focus. WTF?
Good ones: Horse Totem Barbarians trade Uncanny Dodge (which is good) and Trap Sense (which is not) for some bonus feats of Run, Skill Focus, and Endurance. Those are crap bonus feats, but if you are intending to go into a PrC which requires them it saves you time. Lion Totem Barbarians get more power at first level and less power later - so if you intend to take a level for the Fast Movement, the Rage, and the hit die and then bug out to a PrC - you may as well get the Run Feat for free on top of that. Wolf Totem is two levels long and gives you Improved Trip as a bonus feat.
The Bardic Sage is crap.
The Divine Bard is a straight power-up of the Bard. You staple the word "Divine" on your spells and it becomes better because it doesn't have ACP or require rest to get spell slots back. It's still a Bard - so it's still on the weak side.
The Savage Bard is really weak.
The Cloistered Cleric trades the Cleric's Martial Ability for having all of the relevent abilties of a Bard - and thus easily and contemptuously blows the Bard out of the Water. In the long run, the Cloistered Cleric can still cast Divine Power and will be just as Martial as the normal Cleric and have a lot more skills and abilities.
The Druidic Avenger is horrendously over powered. You are just like a Druid except that you have all of the Barbarian abilities for free and you get to use them in Animal Form. Whoever thought this was a good idea should be shot.
The Thug appears to be an NPC class, as it is weaker than the fighter of all people.
Fighting Styles are a straight power-up of the Monk. The Monk pays nothing and gets some minor abilities. They are still Monks, so they still SUCK.
The Variant Paladins are inane, but not actually broken.
The Planar Ranger is better than the Ranger. Whooptedo.
The Urban Ranger gains the special ability to use Gather Information to do what the Gather Information skill normally does instead of getting Tracking. If you are as confused by that as I am - I am not terribly surpised.
The Wilderness Rogue is in no way different from the normal Rogue.
The Battle Sorcerer is still a Sorcerer and still sucks. In fact, the Battle Sorcerer is even worse than a normal Sorcerer. Since Wizards are already better, the Battle Sorcerer is a jest.
The Domain Wizard is very much like a specialist wizard who doesn't have to give up any schools and learns an extra spell every other level.
The minor variants are impressively easy to cheese, because the abilities they remove don't always come at the same level as the abilities they add. What do you care if you lose a Ranger's Combat Style at level two if you gain Fast Movement at level 1? You are probably going to take only a single level or you wouldn't have made the trade. And so on. Impressive min/max fodder here.
Note: Unearthed Arcana seems to have bought completely the idea that early levels should give more than late levels. To an extent, having 30 extra Core Classes just means that Fighters get a boost. Why not be a Wild Planar Ranger/ Lion Barbarian/ Wild Urban Ranger? You get to be a 3rd level character with a move of 60 and the run feat.
Specialist Wizard Variants:
You give up either familiars, or the bonus feat every 5 levels, or the bonus spells. The familiar and the bonus spells hurt, but the bonus feats really don't - especially because you'd only see one of them ever (as you intend to PrC out at 6th level regardless). Pick the right bonuses and you'll be a very happy person. Lots of min/max potential here. Lots of it. Note that many of the Familiar replacing benefits continue to acrue swag based on your Caster Level instead of your class level - so you can be getting bonuses after you would have stopped gaining bonuses to your familiar after you PrCed out of the class.
Cleric stuff
The Spontaneous Cleric is a joke, and brutal effectiveness of the spontaneous domain caster cleric with trickery and illusion domains is difficult to overstate.
Variant Abilities
The Favored Terrain is almsot impossible to adjudicate. Go look through Shadowrun for long philosophical tirades about what terrain takes precedence where - this is just a paragraph and in practice would be maddening to use.
Whirling Frenzy is better than Rage in most ways, except that unlike Rage it doesn't stack with other forms of Rage so from a min/max standpoint it is the suck in the long run.
Turn Undead Level Check variant is extremely complicated, but makes Sun Clerics even more fearsome (The base chance to affect creatures of your hit dice is lower, but turn modifiers count in a 1 for 1 instead of 1 for 4 - so a specialized turner is much more effective),
Planar Banishment is far more powerful than Turn Undead, because Undead have lots of extra hit dice for their CR and Turn Resistance - and Outsiders have very few hit dice for their CR and no Turn Resistance.
Wild Shape Variant: Aspect of Nature is crappy and underpowered.
Druids getting Domains for free is madness.
Core Classes as Prestige Classes
This was done so poorly that I don't want to talk about it.
More later - where I talk about Gestalt Characters.
-Username17
Chapter 1: Races
Alternate Player Races
The more alternate races you put it, the more characters can get custom crafted to the class and party role they are supposed to have. With a standard Elf, for example, the only classes which benefit from all of their abilities are the Cleric and Druid - while many of their skill bonuses (such as Search) are of little use. By being an Arctic Elf you can trade that Search skill (which a Druid can't make a lot of use with) for Craft and Survival - which are much more helpful. The Gnome gets a bonus to Alchemy, but if you are a rogue, you'd rather be Arctic and trade that bonus for Sense Motive. In total, there's little reason to ever play a "standard" race, since with the number of variants they brought in there's almost certainly a cultural polyp which better fits your party role and style of play with its bonuses.
But worse, some of these races trade powers for other powers - some of them just get more swag for free. All of the people from hot and cold places get bonuses to resist extreme temperatures, and most of the other bonuses/penalties cancel out. A Desert Halfling gets bonuses to Hide and Sleight of Hand instead of Climb and Jump - which is pretty much a wash. However, they also get resistance to heat fatigue. That's a minor ability, but it is free.
On the more extreme case, being a creature of water gives you +2 Con, +1 to-hit creatures with the fire subtype, and a swim speed. At the cost of -2 to your saves against Fire Spells. That's hugely beneficial, for those keeping track at home.
Reducing Level Adjustments
If we pretend for a moment that creatures with a +1 LA actually deserve it, this is broken. However, they don't - so this is not a big deal. When a creature reduces their LA from +1 to zero, they spend 3000 XP at "level four" and become "level three". At that point you begin to collect XP faster than the rest of the party because you are lower level. So you'll catch up by about level 8 or 9.
However, a higher LA character will never catch up. So I guess the problem here is that it acts like this is making Half Celestial characters viable but it's really not. That and because it doesn't count Monster Levels, it makes Tieflings palayable at high levels, but doesn't give the same considerations to Gnolls, who never become playable under these rules.
Blood Lines
Send in the Cheese!
Simple Cheese: If you take a minor bloodline you don't pay a level into it until level 12 - but you start getting bonuses at level 4. If your game is never going to get to level 12 (most don't), this is free money.
Complex Cheese: A level of Bloodline increases all of your class levels for purposes of level-based abiltiies. All of them. So if you are an 11th level Paladin with a Bloodline level, you get +1 level of Mount bonuses. If you are a 5th level Paladin/6th level Halfling Outrider with a bloodline level you get +2 levels of mount bonuses. If you are a 5th level Paladin/ 5th level Halfling Outrider / 1st level Cavalier, you get +3 levels of Mount Bonuses.
It also increases your caster level for purposes of level based effects and your turn undead - once again of each class separately. So a Cleric 11 with a blood line level gets +1 level of turn undead and casts her spells with a caster level of 12. A Cleric 8/ Sacred Exorcist 3 gets +2 levels of Turn Undead and casts spells with a caster level of 13.
With enough multiclassing and PrCs in the right places - taking that level of Bloodline can be better than taking a level of any class. And you still pocket the stat bonuses and the bonus feats and the dumb powers and everything.
Paragon Classes
They are three level PrCs with what are essentially no prerequisites. What exactly did you think would happen?
Most of these are inept (especially those poor suckers who get 2 levels of spellcasting in 3 levels) - but the Fighting ones are pretty decent.
Chapter 2: Classes
Alternate Classes
Like all alternate core classes, most of these are completely ass. All of the Totems let you trade your Fast Movement for Skill Focus. WTF?
Good ones: Horse Totem Barbarians trade Uncanny Dodge (which is good) and Trap Sense (which is not) for some bonus feats of Run, Skill Focus, and Endurance. Those are crap bonus feats, but if you are intending to go into a PrC which requires them it saves you time. Lion Totem Barbarians get more power at first level and less power later - so if you intend to take a level for the Fast Movement, the Rage, and the hit die and then bug out to a PrC - you may as well get the Run Feat for free on top of that. Wolf Totem is two levels long and gives you Improved Trip as a bonus feat.
The Bardic Sage is crap.
The Divine Bard is a straight power-up of the Bard. You staple the word "Divine" on your spells and it becomes better because it doesn't have ACP or require rest to get spell slots back. It's still a Bard - so it's still on the weak side.
The Savage Bard is really weak.
The Cloistered Cleric trades the Cleric's Martial Ability for having all of the relevent abilties of a Bard - and thus easily and contemptuously blows the Bard out of the Water. In the long run, the Cloistered Cleric can still cast Divine Power and will be just as Martial as the normal Cleric and have a lot more skills and abilities.
The Druidic Avenger is horrendously over powered. You are just like a Druid except that you have all of the Barbarian abilities for free and you get to use them in Animal Form. Whoever thought this was a good idea should be shot.
The Thug appears to be an NPC class, as it is weaker than the fighter of all people.
Fighting Styles are a straight power-up of the Monk. The Monk pays nothing and gets some minor abilities. They are still Monks, so they still SUCK.
The Variant Paladins are inane, but not actually broken.
The Planar Ranger is better than the Ranger. Whooptedo.
The Urban Ranger gains the special ability to use Gather Information to do what the Gather Information skill normally does instead of getting Tracking. If you are as confused by that as I am - I am not terribly surpised.
The Wilderness Rogue is in no way different from the normal Rogue.
The Battle Sorcerer is still a Sorcerer and still sucks. In fact, the Battle Sorcerer is even worse than a normal Sorcerer. Since Wizards are already better, the Battle Sorcerer is a jest.
The Domain Wizard is very much like a specialist wizard who doesn't have to give up any schools and learns an extra spell every other level.
The minor variants are impressively easy to cheese, because the abilities they remove don't always come at the same level as the abilities they add. What do you care if you lose a Ranger's Combat Style at level two if you gain Fast Movement at level 1? You are probably going to take only a single level or you wouldn't have made the trade. And so on. Impressive min/max fodder here.
Note: Unearthed Arcana seems to have bought completely the idea that early levels should give more than late levels. To an extent, having 30 extra Core Classes just means that Fighters get a boost. Why not be a Wild Planar Ranger/ Lion Barbarian/ Wild Urban Ranger? You get to be a 3rd level character with a move of 60 and the run feat.
Specialist Wizard Variants:
You give up either familiars, or the bonus feat every 5 levels, or the bonus spells. The familiar and the bonus spells hurt, but the bonus feats really don't - especially because you'd only see one of them ever (as you intend to PrC out at 6th level regardless). Pick the right bonuses and you'll be a very happy person. Lots of min/max potential here. Lots of it. Note that many of the Familiar replacing benefits continue to acrue swag based on your Caster Level instead of your class level - so you can be getting bonuses after you would have stopped gaining bonuses to your familiar after you PrCed out of the class.
Cleric stuff
The Spontaneous Cleric is a joke, and brutal effectiveness of the spontaneous domain caster cleric with trickery and illusion domains is difficult to overstate.
Variant Abilities
The Favored Terrain is almsot impossible to adjudicate. Go look through Shadowrun for long philosophical tirades about what terrain takes precedence where - this is just a paragraph and in practice would be maddening to use.
Whirling Frenzy is better than Rage in most ways, except that unlike Rage it doesn't stack with other forms of Rage so from a min/max standpoint it is the suck in the long run.
Turn Undead Level Check variant is extremely complicated, but makes Sun Clerics even more fearsome (The base chance to affect creatures of your hit dice is lower, but turn modifiers count in a 1 for 1 instead of 1 for 4 - so a specialized turner is much more effective),
Planar Banishment is far more powerful than Turn Undead, because Undead have lots of extra hit dice for their CR and Turn Resistance - and Outsiders have very few hit dice for their CR and no Turn Resistance.
Wild Shape Variant: Aspect of Nature is crappy and underpowered.
Druids getting Domains for free is madness.
Core Classes as Prestige Classes
This was done so poorly that I don't want to talk about it.
More later - where I talk about Gestalt Characters.
-Username17