D&D 5E Xanathar's Guide to Everything -- new mechanical expansion/UA book! -- November 10 with a limited-edition cover by Hydro74

[happyhermit]

They have clearly realized by now that enough gamers give them a free pass on a glacial release schedule.
...

It's worse than that even, a free pass is one thing but many even applaud this "Glacial" release schedule. Heck, some even went back in time to before 5e was released and told Wotc that they wanted this type of release schedule. How's that for a free pass. I just don't get where these people summon the nerve to disagree with you...

 

[GarrettKP]

So we have 14 of the 25+ subclasses confirmed for Xanathar's Guide:

Path of the Ancestral Guardian (Barbarian)
College of Swords (Bard)
Forge Domain (Cleric)
Circle of the Shepherd (Druid)
Arcane Archer (Fighter)
Cavalier (Fighter)
Way of the Kensei (Monk)
Oath of Conquest (Paladin)
Horizon Walker (Ranger)
Inquisitive (Rogue)
Scout (Rogue)
Favored Soul (Sorcerer)
Celestial (Warlock)
Hexblade (Warlock)

What are some of the others we expect/hope to see?

I fully expect Theurgy for the Wizard class, and I expect Sorcerer, Ranger and possible Bard to get more than 2 each.

Other subclasses I feel are very likely in include are Deep Stalker (Ranger), Phoenix (Sorcerer), and Way of the Drunken Fist (Monk)

 

[gyor]

So we have 14 of the 25+ subclasses confirmed for Xanathar's Guide:

Path of the Ancestral Guardian (Barbarian)
College of Swords (Bard)
Forge Domain (Cleric)
Circle of the Shepherd (Druid)
Arcane Archer (Fighter)
Cavalier (Fighter)
Way of the Kensei (Monk)
Oath of Conquest (Paladin)
Horizon Walker (Ranger)
Inquisitive (Rogue)
Scout (Rogue)
Favored Soul (Sorcerer)
Celestial (Warlock)
Hexblade (Warlock)

What are some of the others we expect/hope to see?

I fully expect Theurgy for the Wizard class, and I expect Sorcerer, Ranger and possible Bard to get more than 2 each.

Other subclasses I feel are very likely in include are Deep Stalker (Ranger), Phoenix (Sorcerer), and Way of the Drunken Fist (Monk)

I agree, but I think Barbarian will get three as well, and maybe Warlock and Fighter.

 

[GarrettKP]

I agree, but I think Barbarian will get three as well, and maybe Warlock and Fighter.

I'd like the Raven Queen Patron to make it but based on the new UA it seems her invocations got cut, so I am assuming she did also.

Barbarian may indeed get his 3, but something tells me Fighter won't get a 3rd. We know Sharpshooter isn't in it, and Knight seems unlikely considering it had some (though admittedly not much) overlap with the Cavalier. Samurai may make it but I don't remember it being particularly well liked so who knows?

 

[gyor]

BTW I think the reason why it says +20 in one place, and +25 in another, and Nearly thought it was 3 per class except wizard, before corrected by Jeremy, is that for many classes the exact number isn't locked down yet. Just a hypothesis.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Updated. Mearls definitely said 3 on-stream, but apparently that figure was incorrect.

Personally, I'm a little surprised that this book includes both player options and DMing tools like traps and downtime tables. Volo's Guide was strange enough, combining player races with monster stat blocks as it did, but this seems even stranger to me. I've never really cared if players were familiar with monster stat blocks, because they'll figure those things out after playing long enough anyways. But traps and downtime are definitely behind-the-screen stuff that I'd want to keep out of the hands of players.

I've never seen a single group in my life where none of the players had that kind of info. It's just not practical to put out separate player and dm books, unless you're putting out so much material that two books are required, like the phb and DMG

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I'd like the Raven Queen Patron to make it but based on the new UA it seems her invocations got cut, so I am assuming she did also.

Barbarian may indeed get his 3, but something tells me Fighter won't get a 3rd. We know Sharpshooter isn't in it, and Knight seems unlikely considering it had some (though admittedly not much) overlap with the Cavalier. Samurai may make it but I don't remember it being particularly well liked so who knows?

They cut patron specific Invocations, according to the article.

 

[GarrettKP]

They cut patron specific Invocations, according to the article.

Yes, but they left in the ones that refer back to the Hexblade. Seems strange they would cut the ones that reference the Raven Queen but not the ones that reference the Hexblade.

 

[gyor]

I'd like the Raven Queen Patron to make it but based on the new UA it seems her invocations got cut, so I am assuming she did also.

Barbarian may indeed get his 3, but something tells me Fighter won't get a 3rd. We know Sharpshooter isn't in it, and Knight seems unlikely considering it had some (though admittedly not much) overlap with the Cavalier. Samurai may make it but I don't remember it being particularly well liked so who knows?

Or radically changed like Undying Light, perhaps the Pyscomp Patron I suggested. I could be wrong, fair chance of that in this case honestly.

Fighter had a whole whack of playtest Subclasses so I would be surprised if something made it beyond the Cavalier and Arcane Archer.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Or radically changed like Undying Light, perhaps the Pyscomp Patron I suggested. I could be wrong, fair chance of that in this case honestly.

Fighter had a whole whack of playtest Subclasses so I would be surprised if something made it beyond the Cavalier and Arcane Archer.

Which would be really disappointing, since the Knight and Samurai had some really solid things going for them.

I actually have a player who has been chomping at the bit to multi-class into knight. I held back because I needed to rebalance it (he's a swashbuckler and already one of the most powerful characters in the group, free sneak attacks were not something I wanted to give him) and I was really looking forward to a more polished version of the Knight to compare with one day.