NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 8739222" data-attributes="member: 2067">I'm getting "5.5" vibes from this. Significant changes, but trying to keep old stuff usable. Lukewarm takes of mine include:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I personally like the new half-elf / half-orc / half-everything guidance. I do like that it exists in a game that already has mechanical meat for half-elves and half-orcs, if that's important to the player.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I'm not a fan of Inspiration as a racial trait. I am on board the "Inspiration should be reliably expected" train. It is a cool mechanic and is really under-utilized. One element of Inspiration I like is that it is agnostic to your character choices - everyone has equal opportunity to get it (or not get it, which is more often the case). So I don't like it becoming an element of your "build."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ardlings are a mechanic in search of a story. Listen, it's fine to make a Planetouched race and say tieflings are one example of them who might have some dark history and aasimar are another example of them who have some light history. You don't need to reinvent that wheel. We don't need a new race for every subdivision of the planes (Did you miss the Zenythri? I mean, I did, but I'm a Weird Dude).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I kind of want dwarven lineages and halfling lineages to be more than just proficiency differences and fluff. I'd rather that choice be meaningful rather than be removed. I know dwarves have a rep for being all the same, but the dwarfiest dwarf may be an isolated clan deep below the earth with the wisdom of ancient kingdoms OR a feral Scotsman, and that difference should be meaningful! For the same reason, the halfling-est halfling may be a sneaky adventurer or a cottagecore homemaker or a feral predator.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I welcome the return of Life Span. It's such a good way to immediately consider "how old am I and how much have I seen?" I've missed you since Tasha's, you weird fantasy staple, you.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Dragonborn seem a bit like rearranging furniture. Maybe it's worth it to give them darkvision and reshuffle their breath weapon, but I can't see a lot of value. I kind of like the "recharge on a short rest" thing that dragonborn have now, and I'd wager moving to Proficiency Bonus until Long Rest will mean that they're less inclined to use it as the encounters get closer to the climax.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I like pre-made backgrounds. Please don't stop creating new, interesting, pre-made backgrounds! </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I miss the bonds / flaws / traits / ideals. I wonder if they just didn't include them in this UA or if they're thinking about retiring them as they refresh the way Inspiration works. I like these random charts! They are like tossing a coin: even if you don't like the result, it tells you more about who your character is. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I kind of like the old feats better so far. Until we have a few more points of comparison, it's hard to tell what a 1st-level feat does that a 4th-level feat does not and vice versa, but overall I like the benefits for the older feats a little better than the newer ones. Old Alert had a bit of a broader application which meant that being "alert" had a bigger overall effect on your character. New Alert is very focused on "make your initiative roll better." OK, sure, but  not being able to be surprised and being able to defend yourself against invisible creatures is more about "being alert" as a character trait, which I like better. "Good at initiative rolls" isn't about my character's story as much as it is about their mechanical performance. And you still have a big gap in power between something liker Alert and something like Crafter or something like Skilled or even Healer. There's still good feats and bad feats (that will never truly be chosen).</li> </ul></blockquote>

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