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Merged content from DnDWiki page Unearthed Arcana (1985)
This, the latest of the AD&D® game books, further defines and describes the game system. Inside are new spells, character classes, magic items, weapons, and much more for both players and Dungeon Masters.
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This was the first (A)D&D book to contain variant rules ([[home rule]]s) and make them official. It was intended to be used with [[AD&D1|AD&D]] first edition rule books, claiming to expand [[AD&D1 DMG|Dungeon Master's Guide]] and [[AD&D1 PHB|Player's Handbook]]. Divided into two sections (one for [[player]]s and one for [[Dungeon Master]]s), this 128-page book provided new [[race]]s, [[character class]]es, [[magic item]]s and [[spell]]s, [[weapon]] types, [[deity|deities]], as well as some other expansion material.
Much of the material in Unearthed Arcana had previously appeared in Dragon magazine, and was later (in [[AD&D2|second edition]]) incorporated directly into [[AD&D2 PHB|Player's Handbook]] and [[AD&D2 DMG|Dungeon Master's Guide]]. Some other additions, like [[Comeliness]] attribute, were not included in the core, but were used almost everywhere. The new classes and character [[race]]s presented in Unearthed Arcana were left out of the next version of the [[AD&D2 PHB|Player's Handbook]], as they were considered unbalanced by the AD&D 2nd Edition's designers (the book's author, [[Gary Gygax]], has left the team by that time), but were revitalised anyway in the following supplements.
== The most important additions ==
* The idea of [[prestige class]] was presented by means of '''thief-acrobat'''.
* The [[barbarian]] class appeared for the first time.
* [[Weapon Specialization]].
* [[Cantrip]]s.
* [[Hierophant Druid]] was the first [[epic]] class.
* [[Gray dwarves]] in addition to [[hill dwarves]] and [[mountain dwarves]].
* [[Gray elf|Gray]], [[wild elf|wild]], '''valley''' and [[dark elves]] in addition to [[high elves]].
* [[Deep gnomes]] (svirfneblin).
* Non-human deities.
* A lot of [[pole arm]]s, which were so abundant in the [[AD&D2|Second Edition]].
* Lots of magic items still encountered in the modern rulebooks.
== Table of Contents ==
| T || The Nomenclature of Pole Arms || 123
|}
== See also ==
* [[Publication:Unearthed Arcana|Unearthed Arcana]] - 3rd edition, for [[DM]]s only
* [[Arcana Unearthed]] - a similarly named setting
* [http://www.pen-paper.net/rpgdb.php?op=showbook&bookid=701 Book's webpage in Pen&Paper RPG Database]
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