Unearthed Arcana Cast your guess for upcoming Unearthed Arcana

[pukunui]

[MENTION=6695890]ccooke[/MENTION]: I seem to recall one of the devs - possibly Rodney - addressing a question about prestige classes in 5e. His answer amounted to something like "we know people want them, but we're not sure how best to fit them into the game yet, so while we're not ruling them out entirely, don't expect to see them anytime soon."

That being said, we've already got several 3e-era prestige classes represented by base class archetypes (eg. arcane trickster and eldritch knight), and the "belonging to an organization" aspect seems pretty well handled by the factions/renown mechanics.

I could see them releasing some high-level-only feat packages similar to the Arcane Archer one that was in the playtest, though.

 

[pukunui]

FYI: Mearls says the next UA article should be up tomorrow.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Hmm. What do you see prestige classes giving to 5e that the base classes don't? That is, I'm curious what you think a 3e-style prestige class would give that - say - new options for a base class would not. IIRC, you have quite a different preferred style to me, though, so maybe it's a taste thing I don't get?

The design space for prestige classes in 3e seemed to exist to fill two different goals - to make for more flexible character design (that is, to allow 3e character building to reach a larger proportion of the notional many-dimensional space that is "Possible character ideas") and to allow for personal character growth by tying them in to the world, into some organisation, or into a particular character arc.

what I am looking for is mostly right there in your thing, a way to make a specialist class that isn't just a class that builds on the world...

IN my perfect world where mike Mearls took my orders, I would say take 5-10 really flavorful prestige classes and burn them down into 5 level dip classes.

lets just look at how I would recreate my 4e warlord... I would take 3 levels of fighter then pick my subclass as battle master, then take a few levels of bard for inspiration and some spells to refluff but I really don't want the music fluff... then I would when I hit 4th level in a class (most likely at level 7) pick up the feat that lets you inspire.

now imagine, if I could take 4 levels of fighter, be a battle master and take that feat, then at level 5 take 5 level prestige class that gives me some manuvers and inspire like a bard.... I can play that concept 2 levels earlier already...

they had originally hinted at RP stuff for the world... imagine if at level 2 of most prestige classes you got the equivalent of a background bonus... does your rogue give up a sneak attack die to join the guild that gives him safe houses??



the best reason is design space... by making 10-12 5 level classes that are the equivalent of levels 5-10 of a class you eat up less resources then making 4 new 1-20 classes....

* 5e already has a better way to tie people in to the world, organisations, character arcs, etc. I've been handing out bonds and background features to characters at appropriate points. In general, I'm allowing any character to create a new bond for themselves to some organisation, concept, people, whatever. I will then (if the situation warrants it) give the character a relevant background feature. Sometimes I work it the other way around - for instance, the entire party in one game are about to be knighted for services rendered. They will (if they don't already have it (none of this party do)) gain the Noble background feature. They will then have the option to add a bond to their character.

that does sound cool..



the other big benfit though is modularity... "Hey I don't want inspired healing", "Hey I don't want big SoD spells", "Hey that is too fluffy" well great, with prestige classes they can make a 5 level inspired healing class that is optional and you can use it or not... or a 5 level dread necromancer that can kill with a word...or a dragon mage that becomes a dragon...

 

[Uchawi]

I would guess anything that was cut from the playtest, PHB, or DMG on the initial release would be fair game for unearthed arcana. But if I had any hopes, it would be a well defined psionic system that played well with magic and the mundane. I don't want a psionic system that uses a different sub-system, just for the sake of being unique. To many other RPGs have fell into the same trap, and produced something that was easily abused, or did not mesh well.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

OK, just to try to type up an example...

Lets go with the bad allies my PCs have now in my game... In the south there empire is allied with a Mummy/Lich thing that rules the southern dessert. He is Lawful Evil and the PCs hate dealing with him, but he is better then the villain of the story. He has an order of knights that lead his military that are soldiers who have gotten rank and voulantierd to be hit by mummy rot... if they survive Horris Kahn (think Mumra) 'blesses' them and they become his "Living Death Knights"

I have these guys stated as monsters, but there is a big reason no PC could easily play one, they aren't really made for a class. However in theory a new player (or if a character died) could come in and play one if I made a class for it, but I think a prestige class would be way better...

Level 1 you gain resistance/advantage against diseases, access to there spells, and like a warlock you regain your 1 spell per short rest, you get a modified smite attack (drop the spell and add a mummy rot to your strike)
Level 2 you get the ability to command undead, and a 2nd spell per short rest
Level 3 you gain the ability to command any people of your land with the lords voice
Level 4 you get to double your prof on intimidation checks
Level 5 you gain an imp familiar

spells Hex, Compel duel, DIvine favor, Magic missile, Healing words, some of the smites, bestow curse, remove curse, fireball, dispel magic,



Level 3

 

[Kobold Stew]

For me, the best UA so far (most usable, instantly, for players and DMs) was the seafaring one. I'd like more like that, based on different environments: arctic, desert, underwater.

 

[MoonSong]

I guess we are long overdue for an update on the Eberron stuff?

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I guess we are long overdue for an update on the Eberron stuff?

As much as I'ld like PrC I would also geek out over a redo of ANY of them.

 

[IchneumonWasp]

For me, the best UA so far (most usable, instantly, for players and DMs) was the seafaring one. I'd like more like that, based on different environments: arctic, desert, underwater.

I would like that very much. The book Frostburn from 3.5 was one of my favorite Dungeons and Dragons book ever.

 

[Li Shenron]

Hmm. What do you see prestige classes giving to 5e that the base classes don't?

Sure we have already a lot of mechanics for representing character concepts: classes, subclasses, backgrounds, feats. But this doesn't mean it has to end with these. Each of the existing mechanical option comes with limitations:

- base classes always start from level 1, so you can't use them to represent something that is already meant to start at high level

- subclasses are tied to a single class, so you can't use them to represent training that is available to anyone or maybe not everyone but at least across many classes

- backgrounds are not acquired later in the game and are anyway very limited in what they can grant you, so you can't use them either for "prestigious" or unique concepts

- feats are small and don't represent a progression, so you can't use them to represent concepts that don't fit the value of a feat (unless you introduce feats chains) and even there it is difficult to fit larger mechanics (e.g. spellcasting) in a feat chain

This is not to say that we need prestige classes. If you look back at 3e prestige classes, you can find that at least 80% of them can be converted very well into subclasses or feats or feats chains (I have done a preliminary study myself on converting Rokugan prestige classes).

But I would not close the door to prestige classes in 5e. They could be just another tool in your toolbox, which nobody is ever forced to use.

But if I had any hopes, it would be a well defined psionic system that played well with magic and the mundane.

I guess we are long overdue for an update on the Eberron stuff?

Regarding updating previous UA articles, it would be really interesting to know what is WotC's plan...

We already know that some UA material is making its way into the upcomig Adventurer's Guide. So it's very possible that really they are using UA as a playtest ground (i.e. "beta versions"), and then they collect feedback, update stuff, and sell the final version with a book. Only if the beta version proved too shaky and the update needed was major they will probably show the update on UA again. And in this case, it might depend on whether they have a plan for publishing it in a book any soon, otherwise it'll take time before seeing version 2 because probably a lot of people would rather see something totally new in UA.

As for your two examples, my guess is that Psionics are such a huge thing that we will likely see version 2 and maybe version 3 in UA before they publish the final version in a book, while Eberron material was probably near-ready and we'll see the final update only in the book itself.