CapnZapp
Legend
I get it, Unearthed Arcana has mostly been about providing more character archetypes. Diversity. I call this breadth of complexity. And it's fine.
But what about more crunch for existing characters?
Both as in existing character archetypes, and as in actual characters you have built and play. I mean, publishing the Path of the Zealot does nothing for your existing Path of the Berserker Barbarian. And finding out that Bladesinging has been published in SCAG doesn't provide any new options for the Wizard player that just has chosen to play a Diviner, say.
And neither Barbarian nor Wizard can make use of the existence of a new class, such as the UA Artificer.
No, those are all either-or propositions. (Sure there's multiclassing, but still)
Instead I'm thinking of depth of complexity, crunch that actually adds decision points to existing character archetypes and your current player character.
The obvious example is the feat subsystem. It adds crunch opportunities to every character.
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What do you think will be the next UA that addresses depth (and not breadth) of complexity?
I'm thinking back on previous editions, and trying to come up with possible candidates.
Kits? Specialities? Prestige classes? Feat chains?
One area that could be mined for possibilities is existing subsystems that currently are hardcoded to a single class only.
I'm thinking mainly about maneuvers and metamagic. Both could be decoupled from the Battlemaster and Sorcerer, respectively, and then offered to every character instead.
What are your ideas for how the next UA could add crunch for existing character archetypes instead of merely adding more of them?
But what about more crunch for existing characters?
Both as in existing character archetypes, and as in actual characters you have built and play. I mean, publishing the Path of the Zealot does nothing for your existing Path of the Berserker Barbarian. And finding out that Bladesinging has been published in SCAG doesn't provide any new options for the Wizard player that just has chosen to play a Diviner, say.
And neither Barbarian nor Wizard can make use of the existence of a new class, such as the UA Artificer.
No, those are all either-or propositions. (Sure there's multiclassing, but still)
Instead I'm thinking of depth of complexity, crunch that actually adds decision points to existing character archetypes and your current player character.
The obvious example is the feat subsystem. It adds crunch opportunities to every character.
---
What do you think will be the next UA that addresses depth (and not breadth) of complexity?
I'm thinking back on previous editions, and trying to come up with possible candidates.
Kits? Specialities? Prestige classes? Feat chains?
One area that could be mined for possibilities is existing subsystems that currently are hardcoded to a single class only.
I'm thinking mainly about maneuvers and metamagic. Both could be decoupled from the Battlemaster and Sorcerer, respectively, and then offered to every character instead.
What are your ideas for how the next UA could add crunch for existing character archetypes instead of merely adding more of them?