How Good is Arcana Evolved?

[ColorBlindNinja]

Continuing the theme of the last couple threads I've made, this time I'm curious about Arcana Evolved.


How good is the system? How balanced are the classes, races, spells, ect.

How compatible is Arcana Evolved with D&D 3.5?

EDIT: Is there anything worth stealing from the system to bring back to 3.5?


I eagerly await your responses.

Thank you!

[Tainted_Scholar]

EDIT: Is there anything worth stealing from the system to bring back to 3.5?

Not really, all the classes than their 3.5 equivalents. There's no reason to play as them compared to D&D's classes.

[ColorBlindNinja]

Not really, all the classes than their 3.5 equivalents. There's no reason to play as them compared to D&D's classes.

Well that's a shame, I thought the system had a lot of interesting concepts for its classes. :smallfrown:

[Bavarian itP]

EDIT: Is there anything worth stealing from the system to bring back to 3.5?



There's no alignment. That's definitely worth stealing :smalltongue:

What's the 3.5 equivalent to a witch or a runethane?

And the Akashik is way better than the Factotum. In design, in fluff, and even in power level.

I like the possibility of designating a spell as "favorite" for a spellcaster through the signature spell, spell afinity and spell artist talents.

Dividing the spells in simple, complex and exotic is also a good idea, at least in theory.

[ColorBlindNinja]

There's no alignment. That's definitely worth stealing :smalltongue:

I'm pretty indifferent on alignment.


What's the 3.5 equivalent to a witch or a runethane?

That's what I was talking about when I said Arcana Evolved had interesting classes.


And the Akashik is way better than the Factotum. In design, in fluff, and even in power level.

:smallconfused:

Are you sure we're talking about the same classes?


I like the possibility of designating a spell as "favorite" for a spellcaster through the signature spell, spell afinity and spell artist talents.

Dividing the spells in simple, complex and exotic is also a good idea, at least in theory.

It's one of the better d20 magic systems I've seen. Not that there's much competition. :smalltongue:

[Bavarian itP]

:smallconfused:

Are you sure we're talking about the same classes?





I like skills. And the Factotum is :smallyuk:

[ColorBlindNinja]

I like skills. And the Factotum is :smallyuk:

Really? I could understand what you mean from fluff perspective, but mechanically?

I feel pretty confident in stating that the Factotum is better than the Akashik in virtually every meaningful single way.

[Pex]

I'm not thrilled with the Oathsworn. The rules make your oath a straightjacket ready to penalize you for any infraction. It's as bad if not worse than the stereotypical ye olde make a paladin fall by tricking him into evil. You also need to make an oath that can't be completed because if you do complete one you can't do anything until you make another one, opening up space to rushing an ill-advised oath you'll more easily break by accident.

Except for one thing I like the magic system. It's an interesting mechanic to have Simple and Complex spells as well letting you lower or add a level to a spell to have a diminished or enhanced effect respectively. I quibble a bit on what level they make the base spell for a few spells, but I can get over it. All the spellcasting classes get fun class features. What I don't like about the magic system is certain spells can only be learned by a feat, and it's one spell only for the feat. A feat is too high a cost to learn a spell. It was enough to gate spell access with Complex spells. It was not needed to gate them further by feat. If they had to be gated further I would have preferred it be done by having spell knowledge prerequisites.

[Vizzerdrix]

I`m a fan of the faen race. Sprytes in particular.

[ColorBlindNinja]

I'm not thrilled with the Oathsworn. The rules make your oath a straightjacket ready to penalize you for any infraction. It's as bad if not worse than the stereotypical ye olde make a paladin fall by tricking him into evil. You also need to make an oath that can't be completed because if you do complete one you can't do anything until you make another one, opening up space to rushing an ill-advised oath you'll more easily break by accident.

Bonus points for being a lot like the Monk, but arguably even worse.


Except for one thing I like the magic system. It's an interesting mechanic to have Simple and Complex spells as well letting you lower or add a level to a spell to have a diminished or enhanced effect respectively. I quibble a bit on what level they make the base spell for a few spells, but I can get over it. All the spellcasting classes get fun class features. What I don't like about the magic system is certain spells can only be learned by a feat, and it's one spell only for the feat. A feat is too high a cost to learn a spell. It was enough to gate spell access with Complex spells. It was not needed to gate them further by feat. If they had to be gated further I would have preferred it be done by having spell knowledge prerequisites.

I'm mostly indifferent to Arcana Evolved's magic system.


I`m a fan of the faen race. Sprytes in particular.

I did like that most of the races were different from the traditional D&D fare.

I was less thrilled by the fluff behind some of them (mostly Giants) and the Diamond Throne setting as a whole.