D&D 5E xanathar's guide to everything class options thread

[tuxedoraptor]

This is a thread to discuss your first impressions and thoughts on the new archetypes in the newest book.

Personally, looking over the cavalier I am floored by how well they pulled it off, they somehow managed to NOT focus solely on mounted combat and instead a class that just works wonders for anyone looking for a more defensive fighter. The samurai is like an inverted barbarian and the arcane archer is awesome.

I also must give props to the little bits of fluff in each class. Bravo WotC, bravo.

Also, xanathar seems eerily similiar to the president of the united states and his political party. I doubt he actually is our president though, because beholders can't use twitter.

 

[Parmandur]

This is a thread to discuss your first impressions and thoughts on the new archetypes in the newest book.

Personally, looking over the cavalier I am floored by how well they pulled it off, they somehow managed to NOT focus solely on mounted combat and instead a class that just works wonders for anyone looking for a more defensive fighter. The samurai is like an inverted barbarian and the arcane archer is awesome.

I also must give props to the little bits of fluff in each class. Bravo WotC, bravo.

Also, xanathar seems eerily similiar to the president of the united states and his political party. I doubt he actually is our president though, because beholders can't use twitter.

They can build and fly Spelljammers, certainly a Beholder could make a magical Twitter interface if it can write a book...

 

[Ogre Mage]

This is a thread to discuss your first impressions and thoughts on the new archetypes in the newest book.

Personally, looking over the cavalier I am floored by how well they pulled it off, they somehow managed to NOT focus solely on mounted combat and instead a class that just works wonders for anyone looking for a more defensive fighter. The samurai is like an inverted barbarian and the arcane archer is awesome.

I also must give props to the little bits of fluff in each class. Bravo WotC, bravo.

Also, xanathar seems eerily similiar to the president of the united states and his political party. I doubt he actually is our president though, because beholders can't use twitter.

My first Xanthar's PC will be a Divine Soul. I think they did a good job with this subclass and the arcane/divine blend reminds me of a light domain cleric, which was my favorite subclass in the 5E PHB. I'm also very interested in the Shadow Sorcerer, Circle of the Shepard Druid and some of the warlock options.

I am normally a dedicated caster player, but the Scout may be the thing to finally make me try something else.

A more plausible theory is that the so-called president is the (charmed?) puppet of Xanathar the beholder. Beholders are Int 17 and Wis 15, whereas the so-called president would be lucky to muster an 8 in both ability scores.

 

[guachi]

I don't have a copy because one of the local shops was having supply problems. But I looked at a friend's copy and if I saw it correctly this book has a whopper of an error that shows some very poor editing.

Page 9 - Spirit Shield does 2d8, 3d8, 4d8 protection.
Page 10 - Spirit Shield does 2d6, 3d6, 4d6 protection.

How does someone not catch this?

 

[Azzy]

I don't have a copy because one of the local shops was having supply problems. But I looked at a friend's copy and if I saw it correctly this book has a whopper of an error that shows some very poor editing.

Page 9 - Spirit Shield does 2d8, 3d8, 4d8 protection.
Page 10 - Spirit Shield does 2d6, 3d6, 4d6 protection.

How does someone not catch this?

Discrepancies between tables and main text are actually common screw-ups in gaming books (so common, that the 3e errata had a special note about such things and said that the text always takes precedence over tables). This isn't the first, and certainly won't be the last.

 

[tuxedoraptor]

also bear in mind, the book just came out yesterday. Things like this happen, I am still not sure HOW they still happen since WotC should have a literal army of proofreaders/loyal fans who are OCD about this stuff to fix these errors but oh well.

One thing I like quite a bit is that the hexblade and cavalier only have ONE class feature related to their area of concern and its right at the beginning. Our fiend warlock switched to hexblade and she never plans on really hitting anyone with a weapon. She just wants the curse and the spectre.The spells kinda sorta suck though. Not sure why they didn't just say: add all paladin smite spells to your list, then pick a few new ones for the expanded options. So when she does need to fight someone where shooting magic death rays is frown apon, she just uses a quarterstaff.

Also, word of radiance I feel is lacking, not sure why.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I like it, I think that the arcane archer is very cool and I also like the ranger subclasses.

I am not sure about the Scout as I feel it is threading on the Ranger's toes and that the Ranger is already a weak class.

Over all, though a thumbs up

 

[Fanaelialae]

also bear in mind, the book just came out yesterday. Things like this happen, I am still not sure HOW they still happen since WotC should have a literal army of proofreaders/loyal fans who are OCD about this stuff to fix these errors but oh well.

Having worked professionally as a proofreader in the past (unfortunately, not for the gaming industry), I can tell you that things get tweaked even potentially late into the game. While the brain is sharp the first time you proof something, by the second or third time it starts to get lazy and take short cuts no matter how hard you try to focus.

You can try it yourself. Read a book. Wait a day or two, pick it up again, and reread it without glossing over any of the contents. Don't let your mind wander. Focus on every word. It's isn't easy. Now imagine if someone had gone into that book and changed a few words here and a few words there, and expected you to catch any discrepancies that might arise from them on the reread.

What would be ideal would be bringing in a fresh pair of eyes late in the editorial process, but it isn't done as far as I'm aware. Admittedly, it would be an added expense as well as potential complication (NDAs have to be signed, concepts may need to be explained to this proofreader who was intentionally kept out of the loop, all while the team is running up against a deadline).

 

[DEFCON 1]

I believe that this table and at least one other thing that was a pretty big error which got through both prompted Jeremy Crawford to post (I think to Twitter) that they were immediately doing a reprint of the book (with the corrections made). I'm guessing that these errors were large enough for them to bite the bullet on the profit loss because of how bad it looked. That being said... I do not know if this means they are going to pull all of this first printing from the shelves and replace them with the second, or if they are just going to have a corrected 2nd printing ready to go when the first is sold out (my guess is it will be the former, otherwise there's no need to rush the 2nd printing). So with that in mind... if you haven't yet bought the book, or if you just did and still have the receipt... you might want to wait a little while just in case so you can get the new version.

It sucks for them that these big errors fell through, but if indeed they are rectifying it immediately, good for them for swallowing the loss just to make sure their quality level meets minimum standards.

EDIT: Here's the tweet: https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/929077825881088000

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

I personally love Zealot Barbarian.

Anything that lets me survive beyond death, even if only for a little while, is awesome in my book. The War Cry thing and the extra damage is also really cool to me.