Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: Barbarian and Monk

Unearthed Arcana makes an unexpected return (the last one was back in May) with a three-page PDF containing two subclasses -- Path of the Wild Soul for the barbarian, and Way of the Astral Self for the monk.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Immaterial to the form of robota.

I that case robota are just a subset of golem. Golem in it's current understanding traces back to the 4th century. Robota is a 20th century neologism.

 

[Parmandur]

I that case robota are just a subset of golem. Golem in it's current understanding traces back to the 4th century. Robota is a 20th century neologism.

Well, no, the word robota goes back in Slavic languages for "forced labor," i.e. slavery. Applied to artificially created forms comes from the play R.U.R ("Rossum's Universal Robots") by Karel Čapek doing a modern take on the Golem legend with a touch of Marxism:

"The play begins in a factory that makes artificial people, called roboti (robots), from synthetic organic matter. They are not exactly robots by the current definition of the term: they are living flesh and blood creatures rather than machinery and are closer to the modern idea of androids or replicants. They may be mistaken for humans and can think for themselves. They seem happy to work for humans at first, but a robot rebellion leads to the extinction of the human race."

Obviously, the Warforged are not robots like the ones assembling cars in factories, but they are straight up literary robots.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Right, robots are science golems.

 

[Parmandur]

Right, robots are science golems.

And golems are magic robots. Exact identity for narrative fiction.

 

[Gradine]

If we're done pushing up our glasses and trying to out-semantisplain each other, you nerds;

1) The 99% of the population that are not Russian Literature majors know what people mean when they say "robot"
2) Eberron's Warforged are not that

 

[Parmandur]

If we're done pushing up our glasses and trying to out-semantisplain each other, you nerds;

1) The 99% of the population that are not Russian Literature majors know what people mean when they say "robot"
2) Eberron's Warforged are not that

Czech, please, different subfamily of Slavic languages, soudruh/soudružka.

What most people mean, when talking about robots in Science Fiction, is Čapek style golems. That's why people keep coming along saying Eberron has robots: that's what most people off the street mean.

 

[lkj]

What I think is kind of amusing here is that the thread has spawned two different interweaving debates. And both appear to center around differences in a (arguably subjective) definition.

The warforged being a robot or not is obvious. Just state your definition. Question answered. Then try to prove who has the best definition (a quixotic task but very entertaining, so I'm not knocking it).

Whether the UA Wild Soul should or should not be a barbarian seems (to me) to boil down to a difference of opinion about what the niches are that are being protected. If you think, for example, that barbarians should be a primarily physical class that has physical outbursts, then having them be magical is like getting salt in your tea (an awful experience, I assure you). If you think they represent a class that manifests its powers (be they physical or magical) through intense outbursts, then it won't bother you much.

I think the argument about whether class features should be bundled or not is kind of a separate question. I get the idea that if you are going to create lots of niche overlaps to fill in any gaps, then you might as well just unbundle things (but I'd argue that's way more complex to do than just to say it because the class expressions of powers are internally balanced within a class but not between classes). But I think there are fundamental advantages to bundling features into a class. I also think that having separate classes allows you to structure those features in different and interesting ways that an entirely granular system wouldn't. The granular system has to find a way to balance features across all types of features. Bundled (class) features let you express different progressions that result in different play styles and feels. A barbarian expressing magic feels a lot different than a wizard doing so. The structure of the class is different. Which I think is cool. (Not that I have any objection to other types of systems. Each has its own merits).

AD

 

[Jay Verkuilen]

Ok...the Wild Soul Barbarian...

WTAF??? What is this? This makes absolutely no sense to me. Granting allies an expended spell slot? Uh...no, don't like. It seems like they don't really have any clue as to what to do with this particular path.

The problem I have with it is not that I can't wrap my head around the concept, although I'm not sure I like it a ton, but I'm skeptical of the implementation. Having to roll on tables and do a bunch of damage to the rest of the party is frequently a source of irritation to other players.

 

[Wrathamon]

They are monk weapons. Which is a slightly obtuse way of saying they use the Martial Arts Damage die.

But, are not unarmed strikes which is an important distinction for things like Divine Smite.

 

[Wrathamon]

The problem I have with it is not that I can't wrap my head around the concept, although I'm not sure I like it a ton, but I'm skeptical of the implementation. Having to roll on tables and do a bunch of damage to the rest of the party is frequently a source of irritation to other players.

at the same time it creates great story moments that are memorable. The one ability I dont care for is the take damage to give someone their spell slots back. It seems ripe for some exploit.