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.

 

[Queer Venger]

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

Then lets hope its forgotten, I grew a bit tired of the whole real Earth history/FR history analogues, (except for the Tuigan, I really like those horse barbarians, very much like the Dothraki).

 

[Irennan]

Then lets hope its forgotten, I grew a bit tired of the whole real Earth history/FR history analogues, (except for the Tuigan, I really like those horse barbarians, very much like the Dothraki).

Why? I'm not really a fan of Maztica, but there are people who like it, and would be happy to see something about it, probably even a small update. It wouldn't be game-breaking, as people who don't like that land could easily ignore it in their campaign, while those who like it would know that one of their favourite parts of the FR hasn't been forgotten/thrown into the trash bin/destined to not see any support ever. Also, since every single swapped land is back (including those countries that some people like to call FR-Egypt), letting Maztica out seems rather pointless...

 

[Prism]

It hints at Maztica existing or having once existed, but that's all. Specifically it says that over the seas to the west, in previous generations, explorers have encountered people wearing feathered clothes. But it also says land masses have appeared and disappeared.

They seem to be leaving it open ended to allow for groups to play whatever they want

 

[Mirtek]

Mulhorand and Unther are back, so the return of Maztica should be the logical conclusion, as all Land exchanged with Aber is re-exchanged

Edit: looks linke its back
http://community.wizards.com/forum/forgotten-realms/threads/4163201

 

[UngeheuerLich]

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!

In my opinion the ranger i easy to fix:

remove beastmaster.
Add ritual spells, maybe general or by favoured terrain.
Allow retraining/training of favoured enemy/terrain and improve level 20 feature
rewrite level 11 attack options of the hunter class to not badly work with two weapon fighting.

 

[Irennan]

Mulhorand and Unther are back, so the return of Maztica should be the logical conclusion, as all Land exchanged with Aber is re-exchanged

Edit: looks linke its back
http://community.wizards.com/forum/f...hreads/4163201

Yes, that's the quote from the DMG that I was talking about.

 

[Klaus]

I haven't seen any mention of converting some of the rules to the Greyhawk setting. I imagine alot of it can be used as is. But what does a Purple Dragon Knight become in Greyhawk?

There several knightly orders that fit the bill. You can use the Knights of the Watch, the Knights of the Dispatch, or any of the three branches of the Knights of the Hart.

 

[Jiggawatts]

Another tidbit regarding the timeline discussion from earlier, when describing the Shieldmeet holiday the book says "The next Shieldmeet will be observed in 1492 DR". So we know for a fact the "official year" is somewhere between 1489 and 1492.

Someone asked about Amaunator earlier, he is in here, along with Lathander, they are separate deities. Amaunator is LN, Lathander is NG.

 

[Irennan]

Someone asked about Amaunator earlier, he is in here, along with Lathander, they are separate deities.

So, it lists Amaunator and Lathander, and it says nothing about the fact that they're two faces of the same god?

 

[pukunui]

Another tidbit regarding the timeline discussion from earlier, when describing the Shieldmeet holiday the book says "The next Shieldmeet will be observed in 1492 DR". So we know for a fact the "official year" is somewhere between 1489 and 1492.

Cool. I like how that makes the book neutral in terms of the storylines they've released so far. That is, it can be used with Tyranny of Dragons, Elemental Evil, and Rage of Demons (plus any future stories) without the DM needing to worry about plot spoilers and the like. I'll be happy to show this to my ToD players and let them have a read through it.

Someone asked about Amaunator earlier, he is in here, along with Lathander, they are separate deities. Amaunator is LN, Lathander is NG.

Really? That's odd. They're supposed to be two faces of the same god.