New SCAG Info: Someone Got The Book

Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide hits preferred stores tomorrow (and everywhere else in a couple of weeks). However, some stores have jumped the gun - which only benefits us, as folks on social media are telling us all about it! Below is a compilation of that information. I'm sure come tomorrow, the amount of information on the book will increase dramatically.

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[h=4]Original Post[/h]
Thread is here, Gnunn and others are answering questions about it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/3pot39/call_your_local_stores_scag/

The info:

I'am trying to compile the answers here by those who have new information. The answers do not represent me in anyway I'am just passing on the information.

Q: Name all the subclasses (submitted by me)

A:

Not really interested in spoiling all of the specifics, but here's what I noticed to be new at first glance:
Races:
Gray Dwaves (Duergar)
Ghostwise Halflings
Deep Gnomes (Svirfneblin) -- also provides a new feat "Svirfneblin Magic" (same as EE)
Half-Elf Variants
Tiefling Variants


Classes (only new class options, not new classes):
Barbarian - Path of the Battlerager, new Totem Spirits
Bard - New musical instruments
Cleric - Arcana Domain
Fighter - Purple Dragon Knight
Monk - Way of the Long Death, Way of the Sun Soul
Paladin - Oath of the Crown
Ranger - Several paragraphs that amount to nothing
Rogue - Mastermind Swashbuckler
Sorcerer - Storm Sorcery
Warlock - The Undying
Wizard - Bladesinging


New cantrips for sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards
Booming blade, green-flame blade, lightning lure, sword burst.

Backgrounds:
City Watch
Clan Crafter
Cloistered Scholar
Courtier
Faction Agent
Far Traveler
Inheritor
Knight of the Order
Mercenary Veteran
Urban Bounty Hunter
Uthgardt Tribe Member
Waterdhavian Noble
This only covers about 50 pages of the almost 160 page book. There's a TON of info on the Sword Coast itself. I'm sure DMs who already have the book are salivating at the moment.



Q: No Bard, Ranger or Druid subclasses?

A: There are new bard colleges. I only listed non-flavor changes (in my opinion at least each one is paired with an existing class option so nothing new in terms of mechanics.

-Q2: Wait WHAT? So the Bard Colleges AND Druid Circles don't list fully new subclasses that offer new mechanics to that class? And no "spell-less" Ranger variant or anything?

-A2: Correct on all accounts.



Q: Monk Subclasses specifics

A: Sun Soul gives the monk methods of dealing radiant damage. Burning hands makes an appearance as well.It seems almost too obvious, but all of the Long Death abilities are triggered by death in some way - either yours or an enemy.



Q: Warlock the Undying

A: Hard to explain. It's Lich-like, but not undead it seems.



Q: Paladin Oath of the Crown

A: The new paladin oath is a straight up tank. They seem to have added a ton more detail for the paladin codes. Too much to go into here.



Q: Fighter Purple Dragon Knight

A:Party buffs/heals. Would be a good party leader out of combat as well.




Q: How do the Half elf and tiefling variants work?

A: Tiefling variants are pretty different. I'm not next to my book currently, but I believe there were three options. Half elf replaced the half elf skill dealy with a selection from the elf half. Like Drow magic replacing the skill selection for example.


Q: What does it say about Aasimar?

A: It basically just says, "See the DMG.

(I guess that makes Eldarin valid as well)

Edit 1: Did some cleaning, added cantrips and explanation that is not me giving the answers.

 

[Celtavian]

I find it quite functional. If it's underpowered, it's underpowered within an acceptable range, unlike the Ranger which is pretty much awful.

The Hunter Ranger seems to hammer for a lot of damage and seems very effective. I'm surprised you find it awful. I find it more boring and irritating than awful. Natural Explorer is annoying as a DM since it effectively eliminates difficult terrain for the group in certain common areas even in combat, even thought it seems meant for overland travel. Since it doesn't specify, difficult terrain is worthless against a group with a ranger in the right terrain. It doesn't have very interesting abilities as you level, effective and boring ranger abilities.

 

[Tia Nadiezja]

The Hunter Ranger seems to hammer for a lot of damage and seems very effective. I'm surprised you find it awful. I find it more boring and irritating than awful. Natural Explorer is annoying as a DM since it effectively eliminates difficult terrain for the group in certain common areas even in combat, even thought it seems meant for overland travel. Since it doesn't specify, difficult terrain is worthless against a group with a ranger in the right terrain. It doesn't have very interesting abilities as you level, effective and boring ranger abilities.

The Ranger I have the most experience with is the Beastmaster.

 

[CapnZapp]

Apart from the Beastmaster (which is dead on arrival simply because having to give up your own action to let your pet play is the worst design decision of all in the entire PHB), the Ranger is more plagued by irritating and avoidable missteps than being outright weak.

Hunter's Mark interacts badly with two-weapon fighting. And Concentration interacts badly with a character that expects to take damage. Etc.

---

And this is where the Sorcerer is too. Getting 9th level spells means the class will never be considered bad, but the Draconic subclass is decidedly better than the woefully underdeveloped Wild Mage, and still I can't choose it when I can choose so much more fun arcane caster alternatives.

As a sorcerer I will always feel constricted by the harsh limits, rather than feeling empowered to explore my strengths like how a Wizard feels.

Getting metamagics is not a weak choice but a dry and colorless one. It is really a shame they could not find a stronger niche for the 5E sorcerer than "the one with metamagics", partly because that tells me nothing about my character, partly because metamagics feels "brainy" (and thus a better fit for psionics), and partly because now wizards can't have metamagics!

 

[Tia Nadiezja]

Apart from the Beastmaster (which is dead on arrival simply because having to give up your own action to let your pet play is the worst design decision of all in the entire PHB), the Ranger is more plagued by irritating and avoidable missteps than being outright weak.

Hunter's Mark interacts badly with two-weapon fighting. And Concentration interacts badly with a character that expects to take damage. Etc.

---

And this is where the Sorcerer is too. Getting 9th level spells means the class will never be considered bad, but the Draconic subclass is decidedly better than the woefully underdeveloped Wild Mage, and still I can't choose it when I can choose so much more fun arcane caster alternatives.

As a sorcerer I will always feel constricted by the harsh limits, rather than feeling empowered to explore my strengths like how a Wizard feels.

Getting metamagics is not a weak choice but a dry and colorless one. It is really a shame they could not find a stronger niche for the 5E sorcerer than "the one with metamagics", partly because that tells me nothing about my character, partly because metamagics feels "brainy" (and thus a better fit for psionics), and partly because now wizards can't have metamagics!

Yeah. My biggest issue with the Sorc is that, in the PHB, it basically ended up with one usable subclass. The Wild Mage looks kind of fun to play, but reliability beats randomness basically every time in D&D - especially when "randomness" can easily mean "accidentally wiped the party in a single spell" when at low levels.

 

[Queer Venger]

What about Maztica? Is it mentioned as well?

Oh thank the gods no. IMO the whole maztica thing was a low period in FR history.

 

[Mistwell]

I don't buy the "don't fit with the games overall structure." I don't buy the feedback other than feedback saying, "It makes them more powerful than PHB origins." The only part that I buy is the makes the PHB sorcerous origins look weaker, which was likely in the feedback. Which could have been fixed by adding bonus spells to both the PHB origins.

Would you buy it if we threw in a second Shamwow! free of charge (just pay additional shipping and processing fee)?

 

[ad_hoc]

Yeah. My biggest issue with the Sorc is that, in the PHB, it basically ended up with one usable subclass. The Wild Mage looks kind of fun to play, but reliability beats randomness basically every time in D&D - especially when "randomness" can easily mean "accidentally wiped the party in a single spell" when at low levels.

The Wild Mage is one of my favourite subclasses. Tides of Chaos is quite good. So is Bend Luck.

The non-scaling 1 in 50 chance for a Fireball is a bit unfortunate. It would be nice to see it scale. It's not too hard to work around for the early levels which don't last very long. The main feature is the advantage that you get from Tides of Chaos. The Wild Magic surge creates interesting situations but it is not where the power of the subclass comes from.

I am glad that we get a third option as I would never play a Draconic Sorcerer and neither would my players. I like the Wild Sorcerer but it is a commitment to add a bit of zanyness to the game.

 

[Mirtek]

Oh thank the gods no. IMO the whole maztica thing was a low period in FR history.

it might not be mentioned in the SCAG but iirc it's confirmed to be back

 

[Irennan]

it might not be mentioned in the SCAG but iirc it's confirmed to be back

It's in the DMG, but IIRC it doesn't explicitly confirm its return.

 

[Z. H. Darkstar]

Just got my copy last night. I've already noted a few builds that I need to watch out for as a DM: GFB/Boom Blade Swashbucklers, Arcana Domain gishes, and variant Tieflings/Half-elves.

As a player, I'm most looking forward to playing a Sun Soul Monk. Hadoukens and Kamehamehas are the order of the day. I'm also working on an Arcana Cleric as an homage to the Final Fantasy Red Mages. The thread for that build is in the CharOp forum.

Bladesingers look like they can fill the gish role, but I am concerned about their survivability with Wizard HD. One good whack, and pretty boy elf gish is dead. It might be worth taking two levels of Rogue to get Cunning Action, so you can use your bonus actions to dodge.

Battleragers are nice subclass that give dwarf Barbarians a useful bonus action with the spiked armor attack. The new totems aren't that good except for the 14th level ones.

Purple Dragon Knight is the Warlord reincarnated. Please remove the temp forum now.

Oath of the Crown makes for a decent battlefield controller and damage sponge. However, the tenets are very goody-two-shoes and not really compatible with any alignment other than LG.

Masterminds are dirty in pairs. However, there's little of use to the subclass beyond 3rd level, so its utility is more for being useful as a dip.

Storm Sorcerer is okay, finally giving an option that will see play other than Draconic. While I cannot ban Dragonborn Draconic Sorcerers at my AL table, I can refuse to help create any more of them. I mourn the loss of bonus spells, but the subclass doesn't suffer too much for it. Fortunately, that means that Favored Soul might become its own class, instead of being the divine caster on an arcane class that the UA version was.

Undying Warlocks seem kind of weak. Nothing about it really screams "must play," even in a test setting. Might be useful in an undead-heavy campaign, but otherwise a bit of a situational subclass choice. I would rather have had a new pact choice and some new invocations, instead of a patron. Hopefully, the next release of new Warlock materials will include them.