Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana Subclasses Part III: Artificer, Druid, and Ranger

The third in the recent spate of D&D subclasses from WotC! "Continuing our series of new D&D subclasses in 2020, Unearthed Arcana presents three more for you to playtest: the Armorer for the artificer, the Circle of the Stars for the druid, and the Fey Wanderer for the ranger. Today’s article also includes some new infusions for the artificer."

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Chaosmancer

Legend
Some points

The artificer can turn any heavy armor into power armor. This means that they can turn that Plate Mail of Acid Resistance into their armor, and with the level 9 ability they can put infusions into it. I don't know what shenanigans this opens, but I think it is really cool to think about.

I'm a little shocked there isn't more discussion about the force field temp hp. It doesn't start as a lot, but with no limit and a set amount I see it as pretty powerful. I mean, I've been playing an Artillerist, and that 6-11 temp hp every turn has been incredible, and adding that to a build that can easily get 21 AC (plate mail, magic shield), I see that as really nice.

I definitely see Infiltrator lacking in comparison to the Guardian, it needs something a little better. Though, I will note, this is the only ability in the game that removes stealth disadvantage from heavy armor.

I do like the infiltrator level 15 ability though. Advantage with a 1d6 damage rider. Comes really late though, so maybe increase the damage a little? I'm not sure.

Spell Refueling Ring is really funny, because on a party member it can give you a 3rd level spell slot. On an Artificer it can give you a 6th level spell slot, which you can't even use. I'd almost be tempted to let them create a 6th level slot for giggles, but it is there.

Star druid is dripping flavor and I love it. I think the chalice ability is a little weak, but I like healing on my druids a lot.

Dragon though, holy crap. For 10 minutes you will not fail a Concentration check. If you have a +2 or +3 con, you end up being unable to get lower than a 12 or 13, meaning you need to take over 24 damage to even have a chance to fail. Building for Concentration checks and you are going to be able to guarantee concentration saves. That is huge

Cosmic omen is a little... odd. I'm not a fan but I don't know why.

Star Flare is just too weak. The teleport is great, drop it on your allies and you can move them up to 60 ft from where they were, redistributing the entire battlefield. But, it is a con save versus 4d10 with no damage on a success. This is a daily ability for level 14, at a minimum it should be save for half. And while blind is powerful, blind for 1 round is not that powerful. So, I'd really jump the damage up and make it save for half. The teleport is awesome, but this should hit hard and be awesome when the druid pulls it out.


I agree the ranger should have a scale to their psychic smites. I'm not against Dreadful strikes, but it does have problems.

Beguiling Twist is cool, I'm not sure how often it will happen though. Fear and Charm just don't seem to happen at my table, so I don't have a good judge for this. It is unlimited and it can work if you succeed the save, so that's cool. I think it might be fine, but I'm just not sure what to think.

Also, in terms of single target, Misty Prescence is incredible. They cannot see or hear you which opens some possibilities. And they only get to repeat the save if you hit them or cause them to save, so you can essentially designate a target who will ignore you in a fight. It could be better, but I think it is interesting.
 

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gyor

Legend
So D&D Iron Man, a sentient mobile phone and a goth ranger. :cautious:

New content is welcome and I'm sure plenty will really dig these...but not I. Ugh.

Iron man I can see, but Goth Ranger makes no sense, this Ranger literally has magical butterflies flying around him on short and long rests, he is the least Goth Ranger of them all. He is practically a Disney cartoon, like we now know Snow White and Cinderella are Rangers now 😋
 

Whizbang Dustyboots

Gnometown Hero
The starry form gives me a very strong World of Warcraft feel, where there's a number of beings with that sort of appearance.

Antlered rangers using fey powers is pretty freaking cool, too.

The inclusion of the artificer here, in a non-particularly-planar way, makes me think this is just Xanathar's 2, rather than being a planar book, as is so often suggested.
 

Kurotowa

Legend
The artificer can turn any heavy armor into power armor. This means that they can turn that Plate Mail of Acid Resistance into their armor, and with the level 9 ability they can put infusions into it. I don't know what shenanigans this opens, but I think it is really cool to think about.

The thing is, you can't put infusions on a magic item. So even if you DM rules that the extra infusion slots from Armor Mods don't count as magical when the base armor is, you definitely still couldn't put any armor slot infusions on it. I haven't run all the permutations but I think that rules out any of the really abusive combinations. Certainly there's nothing that you couldn't already do with a Battle Smith, and I haven't seen anyone advertise any really powerful combinations there.
 

cbwjm

Seb-wejem
I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t there be ways to temporarily enchant a thing that are unique to a tradition, or new, or whatever?
It's not a case of there not being ways to temporarily enchant a thing, it's more that it takes a whole class to do it. Artificers themselves I see as less of a class and more something that any class could do. Alchemy to me would be a learnable skill that any class could pick up, the power armour to me should be some unique treasure, the old thunder cannon I believe should have also have been treasure that anyone could use, though I guess since that subclass has disappeared my objection to it is somewhat moot but I still feel the artillerist could instead be any class able to use the items.

I'm not saying the artificer shouldn't exist, people love the class and it's core to Eberron. I'm just saying that I don't like it as I think most of what it incorporates could be shared around to any class.
 

Chaosmancer

Legend
The thing is, you can't put infusions on a magic item. So even if you DM rules that the extra infusion slots from Armor Mods don't count as magical when the base armor is, you definitely still couldn't put any armor slot infusions on it. I haven't run all the permutations but I think that rules out any of the really abusive combinations. Certainly there's nothing that you couldn't already do with a Battle Smith, and I haven't seen anyone advertise any really powerful combinations there.

I think I would allow the specific "Each of those items can bear one of your infusions" to override the general inability to infuse enchanted items.

But, it is a thin line and I just would be interested to see what craziness they could cook up if I removed the limit rather than thinking it would be acceptable at all tables.
 


Leatherhead

Possibly a Idiot.
It's not a case of there not being ways to temporarily enchant a thing, it's more that it takes a whole class to do it. Artificers themselves I see as less of a class and more something that any class could do. Alchemy to me would be a learnable skill that any class could pick up, the power armour to me should be some unique treasure, the old thunder cannon I believe should have also have been treasure that anyone could use, though I guess since that subclass has disappeared my objection to it is somewhat moot but I still feel the artillerist could instead be any class able to use the items.

I'm not saying the artificer shouldn't exist, people love the class and it's core to Eberron. I'm just saying that I don't like it as I think most of what it incorporates could be shared around to any class.
The same could be said of Fighters tbh. Anyone could just pick up a sword and start swinging.
 

gyor

Legend
The starry form gives me a very strong World of Warcraft feel, where there's a number of beings with that sort of appearance.

Antlered rangers using fey powers is pretty freaking cool, too.

The inclusion of the artificer here, in a non-particularly-planar way, makes me think this is just Xanathar's 2, rather than being a planar book, as is so often suggested.

A Taxabi Ranger whose hair/fur changes with the season would be funny. A Green Tabaxi in Spring, Gold Tabaxi in Summer, a Red Tabaxi in Autumn, and Blue Tabaxi in Winter.
 


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