So, if there was any doubt about it (which I know there wasn't, but for the sake of argument) I am a geek. A hardcore one. And I can prove it.

First off, my collection of almost every single 3.5 and 3.0 edition Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) books would put me up there, but having read them all, cover to cover, and actually retained a great amount of information from each one, well, that just takes the cake.

But I didn't stop there, oh no. I went ahead and trolled the Wizards of the Coast forums (before they ruined everything and released 4th edition, but I suppose the 3.5 forums are still there, kind of...), reading up on house rules, collecting player-made monsters, collecting player-made classes, both prestige and non, and actually trying my hand at a few of them as well. I created many campaign settings, ranging from fairly traditional ones, to kitchen-sink style settings, to truly strange settings, to post apocalyptic settings.

However, I didn't stop there. I decided that games involving a level based system just didn't do it for me anymore, so I searched for alternatives. But, when I couldn't find any to fit my tastes, I made my own. It's gone through several revisions, but Soliloquy is now fairly balanced, and perfect for my Pokemon roleplay.

Yet, somehow, I still have a soft spot for D&D. Maybe it's the many years I spent playing it, maybe it's the hundreds of dollars I spent on the books, maybe it's because I still have friends who play it (and I do myself, on occasion), or maybe it's just because D&D is such a standard in the roleplaying world. Whatever the case, I continue to get pulled back into the system, but I have long since grown bored with the core. With so much exposure to variants, including my own, the core actually seems silly at this point. Particularly the classes.

But, while I have several favored unofficial sources (Tome of Necromancy, Tome of Fiends, the Dungeonomicon, and Races of War, mostly), possibly my all-time favorite are the Ultimate Classes (look at the bottom of the journal for links to all of these).

The Ultimate Classes were originally made by a regular of the Wizards of the Coast forums who went by Szatany. He began to make the Ultimate Classes because he felt that the canon classes weren't good enough, didn't have enough oomph. So, he started his hand at creating his own classes, and he did damned good. When his work started to get noticed, he started getting help, and at one point he even tried to make some money off of the classes.

In the end, though, he quit the hobby, and thus making the classes. But, he gave free reign to use them, and even alter and update them, and I believe that they did continue for a little while past his leaving. Unfortunately, as so many things do, without the leader, the people fell apart, and the Ultimate Classes became stagnant. Still amazing, but they no longer get updated, as no one is working on them.

However, they can still be found, and they are still extraordinary in their own right. But, as I said earlier, I am a super geek, and one of the things I grew to intensely dislike about D&D was the spell system. Vancian spellcasting a very unique system, and it does its job well, but I don't like it. I like the fast-paced, variable type of magic, the kind where every spell is a little different, and wholly dependent on the situation.

For a long time, I was stuck with what I was given (although things such as the Expanded Psionics Handbook, the Magic of Incarnum, and the Tome of Magic gave me variants to play with). Then I discovered Mutants and Masterminds, a superhero roleplaying game based on the d20 system. It's interesting in its own right, but it introduced me to the 3rd party publishing company Green Ronin. From there I discovered their True20 series, which put D&D back into more generic terms and made it somewhat more simpler. I didn't really enjoy it.

And then I found the True Sorcery Magic Sourcebook.

True Sorcery puts magic into the terms I like. There are no spells; rather, there are spell seeds which you use to build more powerful spells. The spell seeds themselves can be used as is, but they can be augmented and advanced, made into truly terrifying things. Some of the mechanics of the system I disliked, like how it is supposed to take a very long time to cast spells on the fly, and how some of the spell seeds worked, such as the Summon seed, but overall it was what I wanted. Now, it's inherently more difficult to use than other forms of spellcasting, but the rewards are enormous. You can literally make nearly any spell you can think of.

So, I made some variants of the rules and finally had a magic system I was happy with. And then I rediscovered the Ultimate Classes. And that's when all hell broke loose.

The Ultimate Classes allow for huge customization in the characters created, so no two characters are the same, but they still use the vancian spellcasting. If I was to have a good D&D game to run, I couldn't have that. So, I changed them. I went through, picked out all of the Ultimate Classes I liked (Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Deceiver, Druid, Fighter, Incarnate, Knight, Magus, Mentalist, Monk, Necromancer, Paladin, Psion, Psycker, Ranger, Rogue, Scourge, Skirmisher, Sorcerer, Wilder, & Wizard), and I altered them to use the True Sorcery system. Of course, I altered them to use my variants, and I was happy. I had an amazing system to use, and though complex, it allowed for such huge customization.

And then I realized no one wanted to play with me. It was too complex, and I didn't have enough people who wanted to play. So, I put them on the back burner and went about my life. Eventually I got to college and started playing D&D more frequently, then started my Pokemon roleplay, and the Ultimate Classes were mostly forgotten. Until last week.

Suddenly, someone was asking me about the classes (actually, he was asking the general population of an online site, but I was among them and well versed in them, so I added my two sense). I got back into them, and suddenly I realized: there were some classes I had too hastily ruled out. The first was the Ultimate Vortex, a class combining spellcasting, sigils and fighting. It was perfect for any game I'm likely to run, so I altered it to use True Sorcery and made it my own.

Next was the Ultimate Vessel, a class revolving around your character sharing their body with another soul that can come out and give you great power. It was also a very good class, but worded and organized poorly. So, I took the class, rearranged it, reworded some sections, and made it my own. Because it has no spellcasting ability, it needed no altering to use True Sorcery.

Finally, I discovered the Ultimate Gadgeteer. A wondrous class, technically not finished, but so damn close that it doesn't matter. Basically, the class emulates a steampunk (also known as gaslamp) character, the kind who make devices rather than use spells. In truth, it reminds me most of Girl Genius, a gaslamp fantasy series that I quite enjoy. Once I realized that about the class, it was in. It needed a bit of altering, but not too much. Honestly, I took out more than I added.

But, my voracious appetite could not be satisfied by only that. When I first discovered the Ultimate Classes I realized that they didn't have an Ultimate Artificer class, something I felt was dreadfully needed. So, I took it upon myself to make it. Unfortunately, I didn't realize how much work it takes to make an Ultimate Class (or a normal class, but especially an Ultimate Class), so I sputtered out after only getting into it a little bit.

But, rediscovering the Ultimate Classes has led me to want an Ultimate Artificer, so I have started making one. Already, the basic structure is completed; now only the specific details need be added.

However, in my creating of the the class, I came to find some of my ideas were a bit unbalanced. Notably, a 20th level Artificer following the Binder Path (which revolves around creating magic items that produce additional effects by being used in conjunction) can have a suit of 11 magic items that have a total of 1,023 magical effects, all creatable by the Artificer. An epic Artificer, probably 40th level, could have a 20 piece suit, which would result in a possible 1,048,575 magical effects, all activated concurrently.

Needless to say, actually accomplishing that is easier said than done, requiring massive amounts of experience points (XP) and gold to accomplish, but it's possible. I've put in limits on some aspects of the class, though, so it shouldn't be too taken advantage of. Though, seeing someone make a fully made 40th level Artificer would be something I would pay to see. Over a million different magical effects... it's insane.

Onto another point, though: I don't think I'm going to stop at Ultimate Artificer. I've also always wanted an Elementalist class (a class dealing with characters who focus on elemental powers), and I figure that making an Ultimate Class version of it would be fun. The idea of an Ultimate Binder (Tome of Magic 7) is also possible, though how to make that class more varied is intriguing. I'm not sure I could make an Ultimate Binder by myself, if it's even possible to make a quality version of it.

And... that's about it. I call my variant Ultimate Classes that use the True Sorcery Magic Sourcebook the True Ultimate Classes (original, I know), and I really want to run a campaign with them. I even have the perfect setting, one of my more favorite campaign settings. ^^

You can be sure that when I finish my Pokemon roleplay (which may not happen for a while) I will run a True Ultimate campaign. I might even run a short one before that.

I guess I should try to get some sleep now, though my insomnia seems to have kicked in again. But, practice makes perfect. Or, so they say...



And, for all you who might want to check them out:

Dungeonomicon - [link]

Races of War - [link]

Tome of Fiends - [link]

Tome of Necromancy - [link]

Ultimate Classes - [link]

Girl Genius - [link]