Unearthed Arcana Beyond D&D: Replacements and Enhancements for the Ranger and Fighter

[gyor]

This is more focused on just the Ranger and Fighter.

 

[Salthorae]

Thanks for this specific thread.

I like what he says about multiclass dip prevention in the next round of development if it makes it past this round of development around 3 minutes in.

 

[gyor]

One think I found interesting is that they are planning two more Beast Companion choices. I suspect one will be able to swim and breath air and water, and the other will be venomous. Just a guess.

 

[Salthorae]

One think I found interesting is that they are planning two more Beast Companion choices. I suspect one will be able to swim and breath air and water, and the other will be venomous. Just a guess.

Interesting to me that he said that this style of pets/stats was something they'd done in the Next playtests.

I don't remember that version of the Druid's wildshape. I'll have to go back and look at my old playtest documents.

 

[pukunui]

Interesting to me that he said that this style of pets/stats was something they'd done in the Next playtests.

I don't remember that version of the Druid's wildshape. I'll have to go back and look at my old playtest documents.

I remember that, and I wish they'd been able to incorporate it into the PHB. I've never liked the whole "Just use the monster stats, except for this bit and that other bit". Too fiddly.

I really liked the druid's Shapeshifter variant from 3.5's PHB2.

 

[Gladius Legis]

One think I found interesting is that they are planning two more Beast Companion choices. I suspect one will be able to swim and breath air and water, and the other will be venomous. Just a guess.

I think one will be water-based and the other fire-based in some way. Going just straight off Aristotle's four elements.

 

[Salthorae]

I think one will be water-based and the other fire-based in some way. Going just straight off Aristotle's four elements.

That would be interesting given that they already put out the Wildfire Spirit in that Druidic Circle.

I'm sure they'd throw at least one more option out with a swim speed though.

 

[MarkB]

I like the suggestion that they're considering using a similar approach to the new Beastmaster companion for Druids' wildshape. There was a thread here recently about giving druids greater access to wildshape, and for me, giving druids access to a few curated stat blocks in return for more frequent / unlimited usages of wildshape per day could be a reasonable exchange - especially if those stat blocks were flavourful and offered a range of utility options.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I like what he says about multiclass dip prevention in the next round of development if it makes it past this round of development around 3 minutes in.

The trouble is I'm just terrified that Jeremy Crawford will wimp out yet again. I mean, with Sidekicks, he talked an amazing game - he was like "You don't like powerful Sidekicks, you can just not use them!" and so on. And the UA looked good.

Then the actual product came out and everything he'd been saying was reversed, and Sidekicks were instead this ultra-generic-ass terrible boring thing that could be much better done by simply having a PC-style NPC who was a level or two behind the PCs. Like literally better.

EDIT - The way he's talking this pretty much 100% is not going to be a PHB revision, and sounds like it's going to be in an actual book.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The trouble is I'm just terrified that Jeremy Crawford will wimp out yet again. I mean, with Sidekicks, he talked an amazing game - he was like "You don't like powerful Sidekicks, you can just not use them!" and so on. And the UA looked good.

Then the actual product came out and everything he'd been saying was reversed, and Sidekicks were instead this ultra-generic-ass terrible boring thing that could be much better done by simply having a PC-style NPC who was a level or two behind the PCs. Like literally better.

EDIT - The way he's talking this pretty much 100% is not going to be a PHB revision, and sounds like it's going to be in an actual book.

Well, yeah. He wasn’t worried about the balance of them, because they weren’t actually unbalanced. They probably simplified them simply to keep them very simple.

 

[Mistwell]

EDIT - The way he's talking this pretty much 100% is not going to be a PHB revision, and sounds like it's going to be in an actual book.

It is unquestionably not a PHB replacement and I thought it was highly silly to think it was. He emphasizes over and over these are OPTIONAL alternative rules for particular tables with some needs for these kinds of things.

 

[Salthorae]

The trouble is I'm just terrified that Jeremy Crawford will wimp out yet again. I mean, with Sidekicks, he talked an amazing game - he was like "You don't like powerful Sidekicks, you can just not use them!" and so on. And the UA looked good.

Then the actual product came out and everything he'd been saying was reversed, and Sidekicks were instead this ultra-generic-ass terrible boring thing

Heh, I never bought the Essentials Kit, so I'm not sure what the sidekick rules they settled on are and how they differ from the UA. Generic and boring sounds perfectly fine to me as someone who's just along to support my PC in solo play though.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Heh, I never bought the Essentials Kit, so I'm not sure what the sidekick rules they settled on are and how they differ from the UA. Generic and boring sounds perfectly fine to me as someone who's just along to support my PC in solo play though.

They're just bad and have literally no reason to exist, that's the problem. You can achieve the same thing, but better, by simply using the Basic-set PC class/subclass combos. It's like someone went back to 3.XE and went "Oh NPC generic classes, that's a good idea!" (which it NEVER was, let's be clear - it's a terrible idea that makes a weird and very meta distinction - except possibly Expert - which isn't one of the ones they brought forward!), and dragged them kicking and screaming into 5E, where they do not fit, at all.

 

[Parmandur]

Thanks for this specific thread.

I like what he says about multiclass dip prevention in the next round of development if it makes it past this round of development around 3 minutes in.

Yeah, multiclass balance has long been the final drafting step well after UA. I'm sure they'll appreciate any feedback on that when the survey comes.

 

[Parmandur]

The way he's talking this pretty much 100% is not going to be a PHB revision, and sounds like it's going to be in an actual book

Also interesting to note that in one of today's videos he said that one of their goals in this go-around was to limit the number of Subclasses tested through having these variant features do most of the lifting instead, and it sounded like it was due to limitations of the product in development. Given that the Subclass and Variant features in the recent batch add up to about 10-15% of a book, I'm doubling down on my hunch that this is not for a Xanathar's Guide style book.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Also interesting to note that in one of today's videos he said that one of their goals in this go-around was to limit the number of Subclasses tested through having these variant features do most of the lifting instead, and it sounded like it was due to limitations of the product in development. Given that the Subclass and Variant features in titaycp r to about 10-15% of a book, I'm doubling down on my hunch that this is not for a Xanathar's Guide style book.

Guide To The Planes!!!!!

Lol I mean, maybe. Who knows.

It’s definitely a hopeful guess.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Also interesting to note that in one of today's videos he said that one of their goals in this go-around was to limit the number of Subclasses tested through having these variant features do most of the lifting instead, and it sounded like it was due to limitations of the product in development. Given that the Subclass and Variant features in titaycp r to about 10-15% of a book, I'm doubling down on my hunch that this is not for a Xanathar's Guide style book.

I think that's kind of dubious logic, but I do think a Planes/Planescape book is a decent place for these (almost no groups would object to it, as almost every D&D setting uses the planes and Planescape is basically canon, though in the sadly "Monte Cook took a giant crap all over it" format rather than the beautiful thing Zeb Cook - no relation - gave us). Whereas putting them in some book full of Greyhawk stuff would be enraging.

I'd be unsurprised to see WotC split the difference, actually and have "X's guide to the Planes", with a sort of Xanathar-style personality guiding us through the Planes. Just so long as it's not some GOOGLY-MOOGLY has-been Forgotten Realms "celeb" like Volo. He can go back into retirement. Bring us a REAL NPC from Planescape. Someone who says "berk" non-ironically.

(Note: portions of this post may not be intended seriously - adding this before someone decides to defend Volo's "honour" or something equally mad!)

You’ve been here long enough and have been warned quite recently about profane language to know that’s not OK. ENJOY YOUR VACATION.

 

[Charlaquin]

Guide To The Planes!!!!!

Lol I mean, maybe. Who knows.

It’s definitely a hopeful guess.

This was already my prediction and it’s only looking more and more likely the more we find out.

 

[Parmandur]

Guide To The Planes!!!!!

Lol I mean, maybe. Who knows.

It’s definitely a hopeful guess.

At ~34 pages (plus art, minus anything that doesn't pass muster with the public: I checked, the words per page and style match the printed book parameters), it is significantly less player material than XGtE, less than half. And Xanathar's is one of the shortest books for 5E. Unless they are going to throw a few full Classes out there (Psion, Warlord...Blood Hunter), it doesn't seem like XGtE 2: Eldritch Bugaloo. A total surprise (which they are well capable of) or a Setting book, I think. But the options range too much from straight weird (Rune Knight, Swarm Ranger, Firebug Druid) to relatively mundane ("I throw things!", Heroism Paladin) without a strong flavor of an old school setting: my guesses in that case remain the catch-all meta-settings Magic: the Gathering or Planescape, or as a wild card Greyhawk (OG Setting with room for anything, including weird or down to Earth, original rules supplement introducing new Classes was Greyhawk...Greyhawk wouldn't really have Race options screaming to be added, for that matter, unlike the meta-settings).

 

[Parmandur]

I think that's kind of dubious logic, but I do think a Planes/Planescape book is a decent place for these (almost no groups would object to it, as almost every D&D setting uses the planes and Planescape is basically canon, though in the sadly "Monte Cook took a giant crap all over it" format rather than the beautiful thing Zeb Cook - no relation - gave us). Whereas putting them in some book full of Greyhawk stuff would be enraging.

I'd be unsurprised to see WotC split the difference, actually and have "X's guide to the Planes", with a sort of Xanathar-style personality guiding us through the Planes. Just so long as it's not some GOOGLY-MOOGLY has-been Forgotten Realms "celeb" like Volo. He can go back into retirement. Bring us a REAL NPC from Planescape. Someone who says "berk" non-ironically.

(Note: portions of this post may not be intended seriously - adding this before someone decides to defend Volo's "honour" or something equally mad!)

Dubious speculation is fun, for my part. It does sound like we are not getting any more Subclasses, based on what Crawford said, which deepens the mystery of the mystery product (or products).