D&D 5E New Unearthed Arcana Today: Giant Themed Class Options and Feats

A new Unearthed Arcana dropped today, focusing on giant-themed player options. "In today’s Unearthed Arcana, we explore character options related to the magic and majesty of giants. This playtest document presents the Path of the Giant barbarian subclass, the Circle of the Primeval druid subclass, the Runecrafter wizard subclass, and a collection of new feats, all for use in Dungeons & Dragons."

Giant Options | Unearthed Arcana | Dungeons & Dragons

Explore character options related to the magic and majesty of giants! This playtest document presents new subclasses for the barbarian, druid, and wizard, and a collection of new feats, all for use in Dungeons & Dragons.

dnd.wizards.com

New Class options:

• Barbarian: Path of the Giant
• Druid: Circle of the Primeval
• Wizard: Runecrafter Tradition

New Feats:

• Elemental Touched
• Ember of the Fire Giant
• Fury of the Frost Giant
• Guile of the Cloud Giant
• Keeness of the Stone Giant
• Outsized Might
• Rune Carver Apprentice
• Rune Carvwr Adept
• Soul of the Storm Giant
• Vigor of the Hill Giant

WotC's Jeremy Crawford talks Barbarian Path of the Giant here:

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I am thinking if the future sourcebook will add variants or subraces of goliaths and firbolgs, with some new racial feats. The saurian sifters also could be added.

I remember in Dragonlance talking about a potatoes in a tavern, and we know the potatoes weren't in the European middle age because they are from America. It is D&D and we allow a lot of licences, for example steampunk technology. With the spelljammers you can get species not only from other continents but also from other worlds, and the risk of ecological impact by invader species.

I miss the voadkyns as monster allies. Could they become a new PC race as the firbolgs? With a little touch of hair on their heads and those ears, they are perfect if you want a giant nekomimi ("cat ears", antropomorphic felines).

* Other idea is members of noble houses hiring spellcasters for special rituals, and then the kings and princes become "giantouched", larger and longer lives to rule. Some times it would be a divine blessing by elemental deities. With other words, the giants would the the VIP from their world.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Never seen anything other than rolled stats in play, but also never seen anyone take a Feat.

That's wild yo.

I've not seen rolled stats since early 4E. I have one player who regularly advocates for them but the rest are like "Ugh can we not?" in the 5E group I run, and all the other DMs I play with are fixed array or point buy. Looking at the 5E reddit rolled stats are extremely heavily disfavoured, to the point where some people basically consider them abusive (!!!).

 

[Li Shenron]

I liked the giants feats, except for the new "number of prof bonus per day" mechanic, which increases the bookkeeping, but not the runecasting feat which looks too flexible to me to be a single feat. I'd like more a small runecasting rules module, but it won't be possible in 5e.

The subclasses are as usual a mixed bag. I like the Barbarian subclass abilities with thrown weapons a lot, but I find the "size growth" abilities very goofy and comic-like. The Wizard subclass has a nice theme but fiddly rules. The Druid companion rules look like what probably the Beastmaster is going to look like the 50th anniversary edition, but then I always hate pets for PCs at the end.

 

[James Gasik]

You might need to get used to that "proficiency bonus uses per diem" formula, it looks like that's the next big thing.

 

[Minigiant]

I'm just grumpy so many people think Thor is blonde and has a brother named Loki.
Or that the Caduceus is getting conflated with the Asclepius!

I'm still mad people think Hades is evil.

He's neutral and doing a thankless job of running the underworld which wasn't even his original domain and patronage.
Lets not forget he is the oldest brother but let his sex maniac youngest brother be the leader of the pantheon.

 

[Seramus]

I've not seen rolled stats since early 4E. I have one player who regularly advocates for them but the rest are like "Ugh can we not?" in the 5E group I run, and all the other DMs I play with are fixed array or point buy. Looking at the 5E reddit rolled stats are extremely heavily disfavoured, to the point where some people basically consider them abusive (!!!).

I've become fond of "Everyone rolls, but you can pick ANY of the sets that are rolled." On average you have slightly stronger characters (which doesn't bother me). But it eliminates the hassle of someone having far higher/lower stats than another person, since everyone can pick whichever set they want.

 

[Parmandur]

That's wild yo.

I've not seen rolled stats since early 4E. I have one player who regularly advocates for them but the rest are like "Ugh can we not?" in the 5E group I run, and all the other DMs I play with are fixed array or point buy. Looking at the 5E reddit rolled stats are extremely heavily disfavoured, to the point where some people basically consider them abusive (!!!).

Yeah, some people don't like fun, lol? My friends and family like randomness in a game.

 

[Remathilis]

Yeah, some people don't like fun, lol? My friends and family like randomness in a game.

My players used to say they liked randomness too. Until they rolled a 1 on their hp rolls. Or didn't get above a 13 ability score. Or rolled 20 starting gold and had a sling, spear and leather while the other fighter has chainmail and a greatsword. Everyone loves randomness when it benefits them with higher scores, more gold, and high hit points. They are less favorable when it means they start out behind the 8-ball while their colleagues are exceptional. It used to lead to bitterness, cheating, and yolo un-aliving runts to get another shot at those sweet "random" high rolled PCs.

And before you say it: yes some people liked or at least didn't care about being on the low end of the standard deviation. But even some of them had their patience tested after several substandard characters while their buddies played godlike characters.

Once randomness was removed from my game, the urge to cheat dropped significantly. The only grousing I hear now are the occasional lamenting that their character isn't as OP as when we rolled and they had nearly max HP or no score below a 14.

Ymmv, and if it works for you then great.

 

[bedir than]

My players used to say they liked randomness too. Until they rolled a 1 on their hp rolls. Or didn't get above a 13 ability score. Or rolled 20 starting gold and had a sling, spear and leather while the other fighter has chainmail and a greatsword. Everyone loves randomness when it benefits them with higher scores, more gold, and high hit points. They are less favorable when it means they start out behind the 8-ball while their colleagues are exceptional. It used to lead to bitterness, cheating, and yolo un-aliving runts to get another shot at those sweet "random" high rolled PCs.

And before you say it: yes some people liked or at least didn't care about being on the low end of the standard deviation. But even some of them had their patience tested after several substandard characters while their buddies played godlike characters.

Once randomness was removed from my game, the urge to cheat dropped significantly. The only grousing I hear now are the occasional lamenting that their character isn't as OP as when we rolled and they had nearly max HP or no score below a 14.

Ymmv, and if it works for you then great.

Random point but for the win

 

[Parmandur]

My players used to say they liked randomness too. Until they rolled a 1 on their hp rolls. Or didn't get above a 13 ability score. Or rolled 20 starting gold and had a sling, spear and leather while the other fighter has chainmail and a greatsword. Everyone loves randomness when it benefits them with higher scores, more gold, and high hit points. They are less favorable when it means they start out behind the 8-ball while their colleagues are exceptional. It used to lead to bitterness, cheating, and yolo un-aliving runts to get another shot at those sweet "random" high rolled PCs.

And before you say it: yes some people liked or at least didn't care about being on the low end of the standard deviation. But even some of them had their patience tested after several substandard characters while their buddies played godlike characters.

Once randomness was removed from my game, the urge to cheat dropped significantly. The only grousing I hear now are the occasional lamenting that their character isn't as OP as when we rolled and they had nearly max HP or no score below a 14.

Ymmv, and if it works for you then great.

Never has an issue, across multiple editions.