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

 

[Maxperson]

But who wrote the description? Biased narrators, doncha know. Maybe the Black Robes would describe themselves and Nuitsri differently.

I'm going with the 5e designers.

The whole thing would have worked much better if they were Lawful/Neutral/Chaotic aligned, but I guess that ship sailed nearly 40 years ago.

I don't know if that's better or worse. It's certainly different. Good vs. Evil is a trope that is in virtually every fantasy story, game, book, etc. Representing that with the moons and magic made sense. What made less sense was the black robes mingling just fine with the other two. It would have made more sense if each of the orders was separate, with the black robes being hidden in out of the way places, because eeeeeeeebil.

I'll also note how much better the Colleges of Strixhaven capture orders of Wizards in cooperative tension within a larger institution...

Yeah. I agree.

 

[Maxperson]

What if their evil acts really are making the world a better place? Or they can at the very least make a really convincing argument to that effect? Who makes the determination to kick them out? What if they have numbers on their side?

Wouldn't matter. Being a white robed member isn't as simple as deciding what color robes to don in the morning. There is a hierarchy and the leadership would quickly give out warnings and then boot a member who was engaging in evil acts. At that point they would need a new club to join, and balance wouldn't be it. If they didn't join a club, they'd be a renegade wizard of power and would be hunted down and killed.

Obviously this doesn't mesh up with the way the Towers of High Sorcery were portrayed in the past (or so I assume, given the discussion - I'm very much not a Dragonlance expert, myself), but under a new paradigm where the White/Red/Black Robes dynamic is built upon something other than Good/Neutral/Evil alignment, I could absolutely see it working.

That would require another re-write of what the towers stand for. And a re-write what the gods you are pledging loyalty stand for. As long as Solinari is the god of good magic, the white robes will be good. Same with Nuitari and evil magic.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm going with the 5e designers.

Well, can't trust those guys, clearly.

I don't know if that's better or worse. It's certainly different. Good vs. Evil is a trope that is in virtually every fantasy story, game, book, etc. Representing that with the moons and magic made sense. What made less sense was the black robes mingling just fine with the other two. It would have made more sense if each of the orders was separate, with the black robes being hidden in out of the way places, because eeeeeeeebil.

The value if a Chaotic approach idle that it makes more sense to work with the Chaos Mages because they can be helpful even if dangerous, than it does the Evil Mages.

Yeah. I agree.

I'll qlso throw in the Ajahs of the Wheel of Time: plenty of better ways to have conflicts in a complex organization.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

No matter how much WotC wants to jigsaw around black robes being evil in this recent UA, the black robes choose Nuitari, the god of evil magic to draw their power from and be loyal to. He/she(can't remember the gender) isn't the god of ambition.

He’s not the god of evil magic. He is the evil god of magic and also Ambition.

He is the patron of wizards who use magic for greed, revenge, hatred, and ambition. He uses the laws of High Sorcery, but only in an attempt to strengthen his own power. He is representative of the godly force of ambition, but he left the Abyss and housed his essence in the black moon of Krynn. He moved to the black moon when it became apparent to him that magic needed to be brought under control, to prevent it from falling into the hands of wild mages.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

What the heck?! They took away the Mage Order alignment requirements!?

Alignment is a legacy of D&D that never should be messed with. EVER! Ugh. Hate this so much. So now you can have a Lawful Evil White Robe?! Actually, it's just more proof they're phasing Alignment out the game entirely, we won't have it in 6e for sure.

The heck is wrong with this world? If I had a wish, it'd definitely be me owning this company and fixing everything back to pre-4E.

I hope you are joking. Also we already know how Alignment is going to work in the future.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Fearless . . . sure, that's kind of interesting. Slightly more interesting than Halfling's Bravery feature. Their taunt feature is kind of funny, but I don't think that it's anywhere as good of a feature as the magical portal pockets idea was.

Given that the entire magic pockets idea was a ribbon ability at best, just add it back in if you like it.

 

[Maxperson]

He’s not the god of evil magic. He is the evil god of magic and also Ambition.

From the 5e PHB page 295

Nuitari, god of evil magic

From 1e Dragonlance Adventures.

Nuitari is the god of Black or Evil Magic.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Then I'd like for alignment to have much greater mechanical oomph. I like alignment in AD&D (sue me ), but I don't like it as mere descriptor.

Preach. Alignment in AD&D was just where I wanted it.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

From the 5e PHB page 295

Nuitari, god of evil magic

From 1e Dragonlance Adventures.

Nuitari is the god of Black or Evil Magic.

Huh odd, given that I think the magic he is responsible for does the exact same thing good and neutral magic does. He’s still the god of ambition as well.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Heh, read through the thread now.

So, being a fey-adjacent race with the quasi-magical ability to pull random stuff from your pockets was totally unacceptable as a new version of Kender, but, a Kender with no mention of one of their most defining features - not understanding personal property - and specifically calling them out as "professional thieves", something no kender would ever call themselves previously - is perfectly fine.

People are strange. I get those who fight to maintain tradition and the past. I might disagree with it, fair enough, but, at least I can understand it. But, just accepting this? This is a HUGE change to how Kender were presented in the game and the books. A far larger change than giving them a fey ancestry. And that's no problems at all.

I missed the "professional thieves" aspect of the description and don't agree with it. For the rest...culture is dead in 5e. Too controversial. We have have to make it up ourselves now anyway.

And I really hated the fey connection.