D&D 5E New Unearthed Arcana: Heroes of Krynn Revisited

WotC's Jeremy Crawford has announced a new Unearthed Arcana article today with redesigns from the prior Heroes of Krynn UA based on feedback, and in the following video he discusses that feedback and what's in the article:

• New iteration of Kender based on feedback survey, due to mixed response. This time is a back to basics, aiming to capture 1E AD&D fearlessness, curiosity and taunting skills. Delve into their origins from Gnomes in deep history.
• Kender are no longer fey creatures who grab objects from the Feywild
• Tweaked Feats from prior article
• Tweaked Backgrounds from prior article
• Brand new rule giving a list of free Feats for ANY Background
• Free Feat rule for Level 4 for all characters that doesn't take the ASI away, based on a curated list
• Reveals that in the Adventure, healing magic is already back.

Heroes of Krynn Revisited | Unearthed Arcana | Dungeons & Dragons

Explore updated character options from the Dragonlance setting! This playtest document presents revised races, subclasses, backgrounds, and feats.

dnd.wizards.com

 

[Hussar]

I have to admit, that's one seriously bland kender. They're basically just halflings with taunt. One way to go I suppose. Does resolve all the problematic elements of Kender. Just leave it all out of the game.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I dunno. They're fearless and they annoy enemies into trying to kill them.

Without the racial kleptomania and being so dumb they can't even comprehend the idea of personal property, that actually makes them sound kinda neat.

Yeah, as someone who doesn't particularly care about Dragonlance I find them more appealing now. Both because the features are mechanically strong and because they are evocative. Literal fearlessness seems like an interesting trait to build a character around. Certainly more interesting than cutesy kleptomania.

I do think immunity to fear on a small creature would be more evocative in a system where small stature had more mechanical significance.

And they removed the alignment requirement? For the various Robes. "One Lawful Good Black Robe, coming up!"

Cowards.

Alignment restricted robes were, to my admittedly limited knowledge, literally the dumbest thing about the Dragonlance setting. The mistake was ever having them at all.

Yeah, they're watering down the setting because they're cowards about alignment restrictions, but in this particular instance I say hurray for cowardice.

 

[Scribe]

Yeah, they're watering down the setting because they're cowards about alignment restrictions, but in this particular instance I say hurray for cowardice.

I'm sure you are not alone, we will never agree, but rest easy there are people who clearly have no issue with a black robe being Lawful Good.

 

[Scribe]

A "culture" can be as small as ten people in a gang.

Yeah, I wouldnt do that, but we have disagreed on what culture is before.

 

[Yaarel]

Yeah, I could see a lot of potential here: as it stands in base 5E with Feats, my experience is that most newer players are confused what they are even supposed to be or represent. "An ability based on your Background, as distinct from your Class" is easier to get into, and adds character (go figure).

Heh, I only agree here because backgrounds themselves are customizable. So 50e should encourage the DM and player to agree on what proficiencies, assets, and backgrounds to swap around for a particular custom background concept.

 

[Neonchameleon]

A "culture" can be as small as ten people in a gang.

A "culture" can be something in a petri dish.

 

[Mistwell]

Because they just put out a UA that more or less gave them that as a feature and apparently enough people hated it that they decided to gib it entirely in this release.

Uh no, that's not what the issues with the prior one were about. I don't think anyone has an issue with Kender being more capable of manipulating objects. Do you? Theft WAS the issue people had.

 

[Weiley31]

A "culture" can be as small as ten people in a gang.

A "culture" can be something in a petri dish.

Or three Kobolds in a Trench Coat.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I'm sure you are not alone, we will never agree, but rest easy there are people who clearly have no issue with a black robe being Lawful Good.

The Black Robes would certainly love to recruit a few lawful goods into their ranks. It makes it vastly more likely that people in the world will trust them and not get in the way of their nefarious schemes than if their clothes shout "I'm definitely, beyond all doubt, EVIL! Whatever I'm trying to do is in service of EVIL!!!"

 

[Scribe]

The Black Robes would certainly love to recruit a few lawful goods into their ranks. It makes it vastly more likely that people in the world will trust them and not get in the way of their nefarious schemes than if their clothes shout "I'm definitely, beyond all doubt, EVIL! Whatever I'm trying to do is in service of EVIL!!!"

Yes, and there you go, that easy justification.

I'll pass.