Unearthed Arcana New Year Unearthed Arcana Brings Back Those Old 2E Kits

The scout fighter looks like yet another take at a ranger, but one I'm personally more likely to use. For the Cavalier I might want some more feature related to social interaction, not just the horse part and a proficiency. Something along the lines of what the Banneret/Purple Dragon Knight got in SCAG or a new use of superiority dice.

The bard colleges seem nice, but "Tumble" might have a bit too many benefits compared to Rogue Cunning Action.

 

[JPL]

Personally when I tried to convert Riddlemaster I found the "when you fail it was just a dream and you try again" perspective of the original kit to be off-putting, but if you re-interpret it in terms of front-end investigation it becomes less problematic:

* 3rd - Bonus Proficiencies: One game set, one language, Blowgun, Whip.
* 3rd - Probable Path: Inspiration may be spent and rolled on own Investigation / Insight checks when it helps to decide between multiple options (paths, doors, targets).
* 6th - Riddles / Puzzles: Spend inspiration to ask DM a yes / no question about an encountered riddle or puzzle (i.e. "Is eggs the correct answer?", "should I lift the blue stone first?").
* 14th - Bardic Luck (Common Sense): Spend inspiration as Luck Points as per the Lucky feat (these can't however be used on your own attack rolls).

Not bad at all. Needs some ability tying in to a high Intelligence or Wisdom score, since that's the core concept.

Let's call it "Riddle of Steel" . . . boost to AC = Int or Wis modifier, and maybe limit it to when he's taking the Full Defense option and/or when he's facing only a single opponent? In combat, the Riddlemaster can read an opponent's body language, analyze trajectory and force, and thereby stay out of the way of anything stabby.

The high Charisma score probably comes from some combination of a sphinx-like aura of mystery; the self-confidence of being the smartest guy in the room; or an ability to pick up on the subtleties of communication and respond accordingly.

 

[Mephista]

I'm not really sure how I'd go about converting ideas like the Sha'ir to 5e, honestly. It would almost require a completely new class.

Aren't the Sha'ir basically Elemental Patrons for the warlock? What would a Sha'ir do that a warlock couldn't with the right Patron benefits, Invocations, and maybe a new Pact Form?

 

[jodyjohnson]

Regarding Two Weapon Fighting Issues perhaps another standard combat option in addition to Two Weapon Fighting might fit the bill:

Optional Combat attack: Twin Strike - when using a light melee weapon in each hand you strike as a single melee attack. Combine the dice and add modifiers once. This can be used any time you are allowed an attack. May not be combined with Two Weapon Fighting, this is either/or but you can switch from round to round. (Dual Wielding feat allows the use of non-Light weapons).

Two Weapon Fighting is free as an option and Twin Strike could also be free - kind of 2 sides of the same coin.

Also add Longsword/Dagger and Rapier/Dagger as valid options for Two Weapon Fighting and Twin Strike while we're at it.

 

[Ath-kethin]

Aren't the Sha'ir basically Elemental Patrons for the warlock? What would a Sha'ir do that a warlock couldn't with the right Patron benefits, Invocations, and maybe a new Pact Form?

I suppose you could approach the conversion that way, and a few of us have. Like many of the kits, though, the issue comes into play where 5e class features don't seriously kick in until 2nd or 3rd level, when in order to be true to the kit the features would need to be present from the get-go.

In some cases (like the Sha'ir, or Mystic of Nog from the Complete Sha'ir's Handbook), the solution is to use a class other than the Wizard to recreate the idea - even though the Sha'ir still needs a modification to the way the Warlock works in order to function properly. Others, though (like the Clockwork Mage, also from the CSHB), I don't think the decision is quite so clear-cut.

We see a similar problem in converting old variant classes to 5e, like the Artificer from Eberron or the Runecaster from the 2e Vikings sourcebook. Anything, really, that had its own subsystem in an earlier edition is more challenging to convincingly convert to 5e.

 

[Horwath]

Is it me or is Fighter:Scout subclass, another spit in rangers face?

 

[Ryuutakeshi]

Is it me or is Fighter:Scout subclass, another spit in rangers face?

I think it is, to an extent, but it also is the most simple way to have a woodsy fighter without magic casting. But yeah, the subclass is a good replacement for a ranger and still has the survivability and potential for hitting hard

 

[Remathilis]

Is it me or is Fighter:Scout subclass, another spit in rangers face?

Personally, I hope they publish this to appease the spell-less ranger fans and then get back to giving the current ranger more love via spells and subclasses rather than re-inventing the class every few months.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Next up, the College of Therapists...

...and then they multiclassed with the Analyst....

[video=youtube;UrIpPqcln6Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrIpPqcln6Y[/video]

 

[Orlax]

I really like the tumbling fool ability. It is kind of insane. Double your move speed, provoke no opportunity attacks, and run up walls.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

...even though the Sha'ir still needs a modification to the way the Warlock works in order to function properly.

Not really. 5e conversions are conceptual. They port over mechanics if they can, but in ways that make sense.

The sha'ir doesn't have to have a long casting time and get their spells by sending an elemental familiar to go fetch them from the multiverse. It just needs to be an arcane caster who has dealing with genies, probably an option for a gen familiar, and perhaps the ability to grab some non standard spells.

A 5e version would probably be a warlock (and follow all the normal warlock rules--subclasses never take anything away from base classes, they only add to them). They would likely introduce a gen as a familiar option for Pact of the Chain at the same time as they introduced the sub-class. They would fit as much sha'ir flavor as they could into the normal patron features. They might include the benefits of the Book of Ancient Secrets invocation as a patron feature, so that they could take both that and have a gen familiar from Pact of the Chain. Or not. Their high level patron feature might allow them to select some known spells from any spell list. But all of it would be done via the normal structure.