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

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

It would be hard for white robes to be evil.

"You chose the moon Solinari to influence your magic, and your oath to use magic to make the world a better place..."

Changing the black moon to ambition instead of evil was silly and if I ever run Dragonlance, will be changing it back.

Are you, by chance, familiar with the concept of a Well-Intentioned Extremist? Perhaps the saying "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions"?

It is absolutely possible to have an evil character motivated by a desire to make the world a better place.

 

[darjr]

I dunno. Some very strident folks can believe in "Balance" in real life sans any alignment mechanics, why cant such things exist in the game?

Just seems like a lot of vexing over a mechanic that seems kinda constraining anyway. I mean I prefer fewer "social" rules in an RPG anyway.

 

[DarkCrisis]

So is Tahkesis now the Dark Queen of Ambition?

 

[DarkCrisis]

Are you, by chance, familiar with the concept of a Well-Intentioned Extremist? Perhaps the saying "The road to Hell is pave with good intentions"?

It is absolutely possible to have an evil character motivated by a desire to make the world a better place.

See also The King Priest

 

[Yaarel]

I like the color coding:

White compassion
Red justice
Black pragmatism
... knowledge

 

[Benjamin Olson]

So is Tahkesis now the Dark Queen of Ambition?

That would be a more compelling big bad to me.

 

[Scribe]

That would be a more compelling big bad to me.

Isnt that just a facet of what Evil would be? Selfish ambition to the exclusion of others? It certainly is at my table, same with selfishness.

Or does literally everyone else think that Evil can only be ax-crazy lunatics stabbing people at random?

 

[Maxperson]

Are you, by chance, familiar with the concept of a Well-Intentioned Extremist? Perhaps the saying "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions"?

It is absolutely possible to have an evil character motivated by a desire to make the world a better place.

Sure, but if they aren't actually making it a better place, then they are violating their oath and would probably lose their spot in the white tower. They'd end up wearing the black robes of "ambition," trying and failing to make the world a better place through evil acts.

 

[Maxperson]

See also The King Priest

See also the result of his evil acts. He didn't stay in white.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

So is Tahkesis now the Dark Queen of Ambition?

Nah she would still be evil. But the Black Robes were never her servants to start with, beyond any that decided to align with her.