Arcana Unearthed: Way of the Staff

Game: Arcana Unearthed: Way of the Staff
Publisher: Malhavoc Press
Series: Arcana Unearthed: d20
Reviewer: Wyrdmaster
Review Dated: 24th, August 2003
Reviewer’s Rating: 4/10   [ Just shy of the mark ]
Total Score: 4
Average Score: 4.00

I’ve not yet read Arcana Unearthed but the PDF trilogy of Way of the Sword, Way of the Staff and Grimoire are there to give poor people like me the core chunks of the book.

I read Way of the Sword first (it has the lower publisher number) and although the missing links into the full version of Arcana Unearthed were clear, I could see it would be easily possible to use the PDF as an individual entity.

This isn’t the case for Way of the Staff. Way of the Staff has races, the magic-using classes and feats but the magic system, different from the core rules, is missing.

Buy either the hardback Arcana Unearthed (which seems unlikely if you’re using the PDFs) or the Grimoire. You’re supposed to buy the Grimoire, of course, and by purchasing the combo value pack you’re only paying about 2/3rds of the price of the full book. The combo pack doesn’t give you everything from the full book though.

Way of the Staff is incomplete. Is this wrong? I don’t believe that every d20 product must only one step removed from the core rules. It wouldn’t make sense to demand a Babylon 5 supplement stand independently from the modifications made in the RPG’s main rules. Way of the Staff isn’t a supplement though; it is the RPG’s main rules. If you could use it as a supplement then there wouldn’t be this debate, but you can’t.

If Way of the Staff and Grimoire were one PDF then there wouldn’t be this debate either. Malhavoc has done 110+ page PDFs before and given a bit of trimming, I think it would have been possible and advisable here.

The main call made in any review I cobble together is “does the product achieve what it promises to do?” In this case, the answer is clearly No. So the overall rating reflects that. Another reviewer, someone who compares the product to some industry average (determined somehow), is likely to be kinder.

As with Way of the Sword the PDF begins by quickly describing some of the new terms used. Racial levels allow characters to mature into the full benefits of their race. Talents are feats that can only be taken at first level because they represent natural ability and not training. Ceremonial feats are those gained ritually.

There’s a whole whack of feats in Way of the Staff. These are feats from Arcana Unearthed that assist and empower spell casters. There are plenty of them, pages in fact and the summary chart is all the more useful for that. There’s also a slight overlap with a few of the feats in Way of the Sword.

There are three character races in the PDF: Faen, Mojh and Verrik.

I didn’t skim over the Faen since I knew Way of the Sword only detailed two of the three. Just as well I didn’t. The entry here looks very similar, it begins and ends in the same way, but at the right places, the description of the Loresong is there as are the racial traits. The evolved Faen, the Spryte, is fully described again.

It’s this overlapping with Way of the Sword that convinced me not to make an exception with my tried and tested ranking system. If the PDFs had been designed to be bought together (as is cheapest) then they shouldn’t overlap at all. They overlap and repeat but need to be used in combination. Badness.

The Mojh are interesting. In the background to the Diamond Throne setting, the one used by Arcana Unearthed, the Giants saved mankind from the evil, half-dragon, dramojh. The mojh re-appeared many years after the dramojh became extinct.

The mojh were once humans but, as individuals, they’ve successfully transformed themselves into the dragon-humanoid mojh. The mojh don’t reproduce, they don’t have sex – in both senses of that phrase. These genderless creatures are able to asexually produce a sterile offspring known as a kobold. No fooling; a kobold. Crazy? A little… but I love it.

The further Arcana Unearthed pulls away from typical cheese fantasy while retaining a high fantasy setting, the more pleased I am.

The Verrik would look pretty much like mankind if it weren’t for their red skin. The race, as a whole, is known for its wisdom – even if it’s rather alien wisdom. They’re the type of people who do things for the greater good. I always find that sinister.

There are five classes in the PDF: the Akashic, Greenbond, Magister, Runethane and Witch.

I’m a little confused by the presence of the Akashic. The class is one that teaches mastery of memory. They can tap into an uber-racial memory. It’s a neat idea, another hit for Arcana Unearthed. I’m just not sure why it’s in the Way of the Staff given that the Mage Blade, a magic-user, is stuck in Way of the Sword. It would have been better if it had been the other way around.

The Greenbond is what the D&D’s Druid wants to be; a magic user who draws his power from nature itself. The druids had very little to do with that and were often more concerned with looking after the local population. The Greenbond understand The Green, a force that is life itself – let us call it Positive Energy as some people do.

There’s The Dark too, it’s not death but something unnatural and wrong – let’s call that Negative Energy. Excellent. This works nicely and the class is bound to be popular.

The Magisters are capable of casting complex spells (go check the Grimoire) where other magic users are not. If you’re looking for a straight-up class (if such a class exists in the setting) then it’s the Magister.

Way of the Staff does well to ensure there’s a wide range of different flavoured spell casters, different shticks since this really increases the chances of a player finding a favourite class.

The Runethane, a name steeped in traditional occultism, is a spell caster with a special emphasis on runes. Once again the class is magical enough to be practical and different enough to be noteworthy.

The class section for the Runethane is huge. There’s a long list of different rune and their associated powers that come attached. Lists are finite and so the key in this section is the sidebar note on how to create your own runes. It’s touches like that this that will help to ensure Malhavoc and Monte remain favourites of so many fans.

The final class is more like a combination of classes. There’s no such thing as a mundane witch; there’s the Iron Witch, Mind Witch (who doesn’t use magic, they say, but psionics), Sea Witch, Wind Witch, Winter Witch and Wood Witch.

All six draw their power from the magic inherent in themselves and in everything around them but have a particular focus in the area suggested. This magic power, witchery, manifests in different forms; Blade, Fire, Song, Storm and Word.

The classes all look great but with the exception of the Akashic require more work (the Grimoire) before they’re playable. I thought the Way of the Sword offered rules you wanted to use and could use.

The Way of the Staff offers rules you want to use but can’t. This isn’t a fatal flaw, it’s more of an annoying flaw (solved with additional purchase) and the PDF isn’t entirely useless on its own.