Unearthed Arcana WotC Removes Latest Unearthed Arcana

WotC has removed this week's Unearthed Arcana from its website. Not only has the article's web page itself been removed, the actual PDF has been replaced with last month's "Subclasses, Part 1" PDF (although it's URL still reads... /UA2020-Subclasses02.pdf).

The article included three new subclasses, the bardic College of Creation, the cleric's Love Domain, and the sorcerer's Clockwork Soul.

[NOTE - NSFW language follows].

I don't know if it's linked, but WotC came under criticism on Twitter for its treatment of the Love Domain. The main argument isn't that mind-control magic has no place in the game, but rather that coercive powers should not be described as "love", and that the domain might be poorly named.

People like game designer Emmy Allen commented: "It seems WotC have tried to create a 'Love' domain for clerics in 5e. By some sheer coincidence they seem to have accidentally created a 'roofie' domain instead. Nothing says 'love' like overriding your target's free will to bring them under your power."


That domain was introduced as follows: "Love exists in many forms—compassion, infatuation, friendly affection, and passionate love as a few facets. Whatever form these feelings take, the gods of love deepen the bonds between individuals."

The powers were Eboldening Bond, Impulsive Infatuation ("Overwhelm a creature with a flash of short-lived by intense admiration for you, driving them to rash action in your defense”), Protective Bond, and Enduring Unity.

Whether the criticism was a factor in the article's withdrawal, I don't know. It might be that it just wasn't ready for prime-time yet. It seems the domain itself would be better named a "control" or "charm" domain than a "love" domain, which seems to be the main thrust of the criticism on Twitter.

WotC's Jeremy Crawford commented: "The official version of the Unearthed Arcana article “Subclasses, Part 2” is still ahead of us, later this week or sometime next week. Our team will hold off on answering questions until you’ve seen the real deal!"

 

[JiffyPopTart]

If we assume the content was pulled because of the backlash...or even if shows back up with a different name and we assume it's because of the backlash....

Does this mean that future reprints of the DMG are going to have a renamed Philter of Love, which basically does the same thing people are upset about?

 

[CleverNickName]

A quick recap for those who are just now tuning in.

Earlier, a copy of Unearthed Arcana appeared on the Internet. It had some new subclasses in it for 5E D&D, and it quickly received some backlash on social media. Soon thereafter, WotC pulled the article. We weren't told why they pulled it, except that it wasn't finished yet. Some are speculating that it was pulled down in response to the aforementioned backlash on social media.

Some folks are discussing the article, and the things they liked or didn't like about it. The Clockwork Soul subclass for sorcerers seems fairly popular, and the Love Domain for clerics seems fairly unpopular. And despite its lack of popularity, it has led to some pretty cool topics being discussed, like:

• Love in mythology, especially Greek mythology.
• What love is, and what it is not.
• How love has been portrayed in fantasy literature and pop culture.
• The moral implications of "making" someone fall in love with you.
• Loss of agency and free will, both in the game and in real-life situations
• Sexual assault and rape culture. The responsibility (if any) that gamers and game developers have to address them.

A small handful of readers are also getting angry with each other, calling each other names, etc. But the moderators have a good handle on the situation; don't let that squelch the rest of the discussion.

If you managed to read the UA article before it was pulled, chime in and let us know what you thought of it. We've heard a lot about Love (tis the season, after all), but I want to know more about this Clockwork Soul or the College of Creation. I don't remember much; I only read the article once and didn't save a copy of it.

EDIT: The original article has been pulled down, but the rad folks over at Tribality.com wrote a pretty good review about it on their blog yesterday. In case you wanted to read the high points.

 

[ad_hoc]

If we assume the content was pulled because of the backlash...or even if shows back up with a different name and we assume it's because of the backlash....

Does this mean that future reprints of the DMG are going to have a renamed Philter of Love, which basically does the same thing people are upset about?

Quite possibly. Would be a good change.

They've done it before.

 

[gyor]

Wait until people find out 'Eros' isn't really well translated as 'love'.

Also, cupid arrows were rather defined by their power to overrule reason, so I'm really feeling like the problem here is people have never really seriously considered what a of a God(dess) of Eros actually implies, and are now shocked by the notion.

Strange how pendulums swing back and forth. At one time these opinions would have seemed "square" and prudish.

Eros (concept) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[gyor]

A quick recap for those who are just now tuning in.

Earlier, a copy of Unearthed Arcana appeared on the Internet. It had some new subclasses in it for 5E D&D, and it quickly received some backlash on social media. Soon thereafter, WotC pulled the article. We weren't told why they pulled it, except that it wasn't finished yet. Some are speculating that it was pulled down in response to the aforementioned backlash on social media.

Some folks are discussing the article, and the things they liked or didn't like about it. The Clockwork Soul subclass for sorcerers seems fairly popular, and the Love Domain for clerics seems fairly unpopular. This led to some pretty cool topics being discussed, like:

• Love in mythology, especially Greek mythology.
• What love is, and what it is not.
• How love has been portrayed in fantasy literature and pop culture.
• The moral implications of "making" someone fall in love with you.
• Loss of agency and free will, both in the game and in real-life situations
• Sexual assault and rape culture. The responsibility (if any) that gamers and game developers have to address them.

A small handful of readers are also getting angry with each other, calling each other names, etc. But the moderators have a good handle on the situation; don't let that squelch the rest of the discussion.

If you managed to read the UA article before it was pulled, chime in and let us know what you thought of it. We've heard a lot about Love (tis the season, after all), but I want to know more about this Clockwork Soul or the College of Creation. I don't remember much; I only read the article once and didn't save a copy of it.

EDIT: The original article has been pulled down. However, the rad folks over at Tribality.com wrote a pretty good review about it on their blog yesterday. In case you wanted to read the high points.

History lesson, Rape Culture when first coined was a term that referred to men's prisons and had NOTHING to with women outside of the prison. Now it's used to horribly smear millions of innocent men, which just so wrong.

 

[Celebrim]

Does this mean that future reprints of the DMG are going to have a renamed Philter of Love, which basically does the same thing people are upset about?

I wouldn't be surprised, and people are always going to be upset about something...

But if I had to guess, the real uncomfortable notion that shook people was the idea that a deity of "love" something that people think of as being "good" would promote values that just don't seem good. Which in my opinion should cause people to do more thinking about the word "love".

Still, there is a part of me that can't help but smirk at the idea of suddenly and just now being offended by a "love charm" or a "love potion". What are they going to call these things now? And do they really think that the people making and marketing these things are going to call them "rape drugs" in their marketing?

Unless you think this is new territory for me, go back and do some searching on EnWorld of my posts and you'll find that I have been saying for over a decade now that in my games the spell "Charm Person" is considered the crime of "mind rape", and people that cast it are prosecuted as rapists (whether or not they have that as the explicit intent). As I have long said, if mind control magic were real, societies would abhor it, fear it, and not take a positive attitude to those that practiced it.

 

[Panda-s1]

If we assume the content was pulled because of the backlash...or even if shows back up with a different name and we assume it's because of the backlash....

Does this mean that future reprints of the DMG are going to have a renamed Philter of Love, which basically does the same thing people are upset about?

that's a magic item in the DMG, not a player option. for similar reasons the Death domain and Oathbreaker paladin are also in the DMG (also they're not named the Second Life domain and Mid-life Crisis paladin).

History lesson, Rape Culture when first coined was a term that referred to men's prisons and had NOTHING to with women outside of the prison. Now it's used to horribly smear millions of innocent men, which just so wrong.

thanks for providing an example of what people nowadays mean by "rape culture".

 

[Weiley31]

As I mentioned before: The Love Domain Cleric is Sailor Moon(Divine Love and Justice.

The Love Domain Cleric is also the Cleric who is the lover or has a fellow Party Member that is their lover. The abilities would allow them to be a Battle Couple. (In Neverwinter Nights 1, Aeribith the Paladin is the lover of a Cleric.)

The Evil Love Domain Cleric focuses on the negative aspects of the concept of love: Domination and controlling.(One could reflavor it as Obsession or Desire in a negative aspect.)

I'll admit, a Love Domain never crossed my mind, but it's a pretty interesting concept.

 

[Salthorae]

This it's abilities would allow them to be a Battle Couple

This would be super fun to play in the right group/with the right table.

 

[CleverNickName]

''History,'' ''lesson''

The dictionary defines rape culture as "a society or environment whose prevailing social attitudes have the effect of normalizing or trivializing sexual assault and abuse." And that is exactly what I meant.