D&D 5E Favoured Soul was meant to be in the SCAG

[gyor]

The below was from the SCAG on in the intro to Sorcerors in the Forgotten Realms.

"Some inherit this ability from a magical ancestor such as a dragon or an angel, others gain it by accident from exposure to wild magical power, and others manifest this power by chance or the hand of fate, perhaps portended by events at their con-ception or birth."

The below comes from the latest description of the Favoured, Soul.

"Some times the spark of magic that fuels a sorcerer comes from a divine source that glimmers within the soul. Having such a favored soul, your innate magic might come from a distant but powerful familial connection to a divine being. Perhaps your ancestor was an angel, transformed into a mortal and sent to fight in a god’s name. Or your birth might align with an ancient prophecy, marking you as a servant of the gods or a chosen vessel of celestial magic."

Notice that it mentions both Angel ancestor and basically destiny, just like the Favoured Soul, but unlike Storm, Wild, or Dragon Sorcerors.

I suspect that they wanted to put the Favoured Soul into the, SCAG, but the version at the time violated key design principles for the Sorceror, and wasn't the more popular current incarnation, so they held it back.

Agree or disagree?

 

[Jester David]

Its a big stretch. I think if they wanted the favoured soul, they would have just worked harder on it.

Don't forget that the SCAG was written by two different groups. A good chunk of the book was written by Green Ronin, but some of the content - like the subclasses - came from WotC. As seen by how some of them were playtested through Unearthed Arcana. I wouldn't be surprised if the fluff was done by Green Ronin without knowing the details of the subclasses being included.

 

[gyor]

Doubtful, there would be no reason not to tell them in advance, especially who ever was writing the sorceror fluff.

It just seems like it was too much of a coiniendence.

We do know that if WotC isn't happy with an UA subclass they will hold it back from the latest book and publish it later in another book, they have already said they are doing that to the UA subclasses for XGE, the ones they feel need more work, but don't need to be scrapped completely will be held back and published later in another book, when the wrinkles are ironed out.

I mean the SCAG meaned the Favoured Soul, in all but name, no way that is an accident.

 

[pukunui]

Disagree. There were some things that didn't make the cut, but the favored soul wasn't one of them.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

If you read the phb the impressiln is that the storm sorcerer should have been there already... so maybe the favoured soul should have been in scag... i think the first playtest was early enough....

 

[gyor]

Disagree. There were some things that didn't make the cut, but the favored soul wasn't one of them.

Why do you disagree, is it so implausible?

 

[gyor]

If you read the phb the impressiln is that the storm sorcerer should have been there already... so maybe the favoured soul should have been in scag... i think the first playtest was early enough....

Yeah, the Favoured Soul was one of the first Subclasses UA explored, I even remember some talk of Favoured Soul being a Sorceror subclass during 5e's development phase, although ath the time it never moved beyond talk, so this has been an WotC ambition for along time.

But they were caught between 2e Priest/Mystic (unarmed priest class) fans and those who were more interested in seeing the class resemble the 3.5e Favoured Soul's more winged martial warrior aspect.

And another division between those who wanted domain spells instead of the ability to choose cleric spells.

What we ended up with is a compromise between the first two groups, winged mystic basically instead winged warrior (which we kind of have in the Avenger Paladin anyways).

The second division was settled more by design rules for the Sorceror then by compromise,, giving so many more spells know to the Favoured Soul unbalanced it with the other subclasses.

But they did get one small bone in the Favoured Soul getting Cure Wounds known free.

So these provided design challenges that put off the Favoured Soul being published, and made it be the only Subclass to get 3 major revisions in UA.

Still given the Cavalier is now diceless and the Undying Warlock Light Warlock got turned into a nearly brand new subclass Celestial Patron, who knows what the final Favoured Soul looks like, perhaps you can choose between extra attack and empowered healing and divine countenance at level 6, and simple weapon prof and Chosen of the Gods at level 1, and Angelic Form and Divine Health at level 14.

 

[pukunui]

Why do you disagree, is it so implausible?

I am an alpha playtester. The favored soul was originally going to be in the DMG as an example of a custom class, along with the spell-less ranger. In fact, a number of the early UA articles (not the Eberron one) contained material cut from the DMG.

 

[gyor]

I am an alpha playtester. The favored soul was originally going to be in the DMG as an example of a custom class, along with the spell-less ranger. In fact, a number of the early UA articles (not the Eberron one) contained material cut from the DMG.

That actually gives more credence to my point, they wanted to use the favoured soul for along time, so it's not outrageous to think that when the SCAG was being written, they wanted to put the Favoured Soul in, but couldn't for some reason, the same way it was cut from the DMG.

Just out of curiosity, why was the Favoured Soul cut from the DMG, was it for space?

 

[pukunui]

That actually gives more credence to my point, they wanted to use the favoured soul for along time, so it's not outrageous to think that when the SCAG was being written, they wanted to put the Favoured Soul in, but couldn't for some reason, the same way it was cut from the DMG.

It wasn't in the SCAG draft.

Just out of curiosity, why was the Favoured Soul cut from the DMG, was it for space?

Most likely. They don't generally tell us why something hasn't made the cut.