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.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

You are both making good points, but the point of comparison isn't the USA in the 1920's, it's Italy, (a Monarchy tending towards Fascism) or Belgium (a Monarchy) which didn't have the same industrial development.

There isn't a point of comparison, is my point. It isn't a psuedo-XYZ setting, it's a setting with elements pulled from various fictional ideals of different points in history, and the fantasy tropes of dnd.

Socially more like 1920's Belgium than 1920-'s New York.

Socially, it's not much like either, but Sharn in particular is more like London than either.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Nothong wrong with a generic Dwarf: as Baker says, if it's in D&D it can be in Eberron.

The actually was meant to support your statement.

Actually is one of those words that changes on a 180 degree scale based on inflection. Fair enough.

As for the generic dwarf, sure, you can play one in Eberron, but the DM doesn't have to accomodate a society of classic dwarves for you. There are going to be differenced based on how different the history of the people is, and how different the world is.

Elves especially, tbh. I have a player who wanted to play a classic wood elf druid with no hangups whatsoever about losing people/death, and I had to put my foot down (rare for me in this kind of stuff), and say, "No, if you are playing an elf in Eberron, your people have some degree of of cultural preocupation with dealing with the loss of valuable members of the group. It may be "healthier" from an IRL perspective than the Aerenal elves, but an elf culture in Eberron isn't going to just go 'well, death is part of life. So be it.', Also, if your society is closed to non elves but is in Khorvaire, folk are going to view your people as xenophobic weirdos. Ethnostates are by far not the norm."
And maybe some of that isn't necessarily canon, but it is part of the feel of Eberron. An enclave of super-phb standard wood elves in the middle of The Eldeen is just going to be weird as hell.
So, we settled on an enclave of mostly elves and half-elves, with friendly ties to the Greensingers and some to the Eladrin of the Fey Spire, who impart the memories of their dead into the consciousness of semi-awakened trees in their groves. They can thus seek guidance and knowledge from their ancestors, without unnaturally extending life or binding spirits to younger generations, or stifling growth by never letting younger generations take their turn at running the show.

The dwarf was easier, because the player wasn't resistant to tying the history of their people to the dwarves of the Mror Holds. They were kicked out long ago for reasons unknown, and have ties to a group of dwarven "heroes" who sometimes manifested draconic powers, and eventually wound up in southern Xendrik.

Contrary to opinion, America isn't most of the planet.

I expect there are particularly wealthy parts of Eberron where personal magical convinces are available to all.

You could certainly decide that as a DM, but it isn't written into the setting at all.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Sorry if someone has already posted this, but at The Astral Arms aren’t expressly melee weapon attacks, this means it doesn’t work with Stunning Strike. Can you Flurry with them?, Dan Dillon says the arms are melee weapons, but that means that no flurry with them.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

They aren't ranged weapons, they aren't unarmed strikes and they aren't spell attacks, so melee weapons is all that they can be. The wording needs tidying up, but the intent is clear.

 

[Seramus]

Necro. The Astral Arms are monk weapons, but how much damage do they actually do?

 

[Olrox17]

Necro. The Astral Arms are monk weapons, but how much damage do they actually do?

Dude, I thought a new UA was out. Imagine my disappointment.

 

[jgsugden]

It is implied that they use the same damage as your unarmed strike - your martials arts die size.

 

[Seramus]

It is implied that they use the same damage as your unarmed strike - your martials arts die size.

So if an Astral Self monk wears armor, she would still use her martial arts die as the damage for her arms?

 

[jgsugden]

So if an Astral Self monk wears armor, she would still use her martial arts die as the damage for her arms?

As you generally lose monk abilities, including specifically martial ars dice, I would not allow you to use the martial arts dice in armor. Instead, I'd likely make them deal improvised weapon damage.

 

[Seramus]

As you generally lose monk abilities, including specifically martial ars dice

Interestingly, you don't lose your martial arts value when you wear armor, just the ability to substitute the value over the damage of your unarmed strike or monk weapon. That's how I ran into the question of how much the arms actually do by themselves.