D&D 5E What do you think of Fizban's races, subclasses feats and spells?

[ECMO3]

Here is my take S/A/B/C/D/F:

Races
Chromatic: C
Metallic: B
Gem: C

Subclasses (as compared to other subclasses for that class)
Monk: Ascendant Dragon: A
Ranger: Drakewarden: C

Feats (with ASI being a B)
Gift of the Chromatic Dragon: D
Gift of the Gem Dragon: B
Gift of the Metallic Draggon: C

Spells:
Nathair's mischief: D
Rime's Binding Ice: A
Ashardalon's Stride: B (S for a Ranger or EK)
Raulothm's Psychic Lance: A
Summon Draconic Spirit: B
Fizban's Platinum Shield: D
Draconic Transformation: A

Of note I have not played these, so this is largely a guess based on the descriptions and analysis without any empirical data. It is possible Ashardalon's stride causes problems in play with damaging allies but on paper it looks managable.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

My quick glance is:

Monk subclass is fun and does some stuff monks weren’t doing (well) before.

Ranger sub fails to deliver on what IMO the vast majority of ppl who would want it actually want from it, which is flying on the back of a dragon at a level lower than when the campaign ends. Might as well just play a Paladin and choose a drake and then dragonell as your steed/greater steed.

Just let the Ranger have cool things, wotc. You managed it with the Gloomstalker and then just…stopped.

The spells are fun but don’t do anything I’m losing my mind to get my hands on.

The feats bore me but I can see where others will love them.

The new race variants are solid. I’ll allow my Dragonborn PCs to change over if they want.

The magic items and supernatural gifts are where the book really shines for players. Just excellent work.

 

[Weiley31]

The Dragonborn of Fizban's are waaaay better than the PHB version. The idea behind the Draconic Gifts/Feats are pretty cool and simple enough to give DMs an idea how to basically kitbash their own. And although items weren't mentioned in the title, a number of them are pretty cool ranging from a Dragon gun that can Disintegrate/render crap to ashes if reduced to zero HP to even a really snazzy belt for Monks that has the potential of answering Ki complaints.

Spells are pretty dope but I have to compare them more to their UA versions before deciding which version of the spells that are allowed to be picked.

 

[jgsugden]

Rime's Binding Ice is a Cone with a Con Save or lock someone down until an action is spent to free them (with a bit of damage). That could be real good, but a bit situational. I'm considering swapping a spell out for it with my Aberrant Mind Sorcerer ...

Raulothm's Psychic Lance, however, is a must add for that Sorcerer as a swap out for one of his 4th level class spells. The real question there is whether you can use the lance with the named enemy casting when there are obstructions between you and the target. If you can cast this from behind walls it becomes an insanely effective way to just kill something. An aberrant mind sorcerer could just sit at the cafe, safely a block away from the victim, and drop 9 of these (at 7th level) on that target - and have it be mostly undetectable.

 

[Yaarel]

@ECMO3

I am understanding your thread title and original post to mean: how powerful do you think the Fizbans options are, from an optimization point of view?

 

[el-remmen]

What does "S" mean in your grading scale?

 

[Seramus]

What does "S" mean in your grading scale?

Superb/Superior.

First time I saw it was old eastern video games. Seems to exist purely for the hype of having something higher than A.

 

[Yaarel]

Superb/Superior.

First time I saw it was old eastern video games. Seems to exist purely for the hype of having something higher than A.

In a char-op context S seems equivalent to the "gold" color. Hence, it is an option that is so much better than other options (perhaps even broken), it is virtually a must-have.

 

[Seramus]

In a char-op context S seems equivalent to the "gold" color. Hence, it is an option that is so much better than other options (perhaps even broken), it is virtually a must-have.

Managed to dig this up:

S stands for "shuu" (秀), which is Japanese for "excellent". It comes from the Japanese grading system. Just like how we have A+, A, B, etc. They have their own system which is the same as ours except that instead of A+ they write "S".

 

[embee]

I've got a player right now who's playing a Monk of the Ascendant Dragon (since the UA) and is enjoying it.

His "problem" with it is the same problem with a lot of 5e subclasses: so many feats and powers that suboptimal play happens through forgetting just how much the character can do.

On paper, he is theoretically pretty OP. In real play, the wealth of options can get a little overwhelming, especially when a GM puts a time constraint on things (no, I don't let players mull over their next action).