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.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I like Maztica as a Mayincatec fantasy setting. I really like that vibe and I feel like it hasn't been explored a lot.

I'm not a fan of, basically, the expy conquistadors.

Too close to real-world horrors for my make believe elf game.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I like Maztica as a Mayincatec fantasy setting. I really like that vibe and I feel like it hasn't been explored a lot.

I'm not a fan of, basically, the expy conquistadors.

Too close to real-world horrors for my make believe elf game.

This is one reason--among many--that I really want to see Maztica, Al-Qadim*, and the other "non-Western" lands brought back and treated as totally separate from Forgotten Realms. Let them thrive, develop, and expand as their own thing, not as a subset or afterthought.

*(To this day one of my favorite D&D settings, and to those who argue it's harder to do in today's political climate--an argument I've heard put forth more than once--I would say that just makes it more important to do, and do well.)

 

[Sword of Spirit]

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.

I buy it. I've never found any statements by the developers in the entire Next/5e run so far to be disingenuous. And it's not that I don't have a BS detector here, it's just that it isn't going off. Now, there definitely are diplomatic statements made. Often times I think, "Just say X!", but I know that they won't (and I wouldn't either if I were on Hasbro's payroll), because it's just not advisable to tick off your customers to make a point, especially when your job might be on the line.

With that said, I actually find the part about not fitting with the overall structure to be interesting--because it hints at a structure that they have possibly already defined (probably after the UA articles, but possibly before and just testing for alternatives), but which I don't know. Is it an idea that bonus spells is meant to be a divine thing? Who knows, but there's something there to know.

I think the most encouraging thing I saw though is that he diplomatically hinted that, "people don't always want what they think they want." Which is 100% true, and I'm glad the D&D crew is aware of it and taking it into account.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

This is one reason--among many--that I really want to see Maztica, Al-Qadim*, and the other "non-Western" lands brought back and treated as totally separate from Forgotten Realms. Let them thrive, develop, and expand as their own thing, not as a subset or afterthought.

*(To this day one of my favorite D&D settings, and to those who argue it's harder to do in today's political climate--an argument I've heard put forth more than once--I would say that just makes it more important to do, and do well.)

Im a big fan of Maztica and Al Qadim (probably the latter more) and am glad we are seeng elements of that in the SCAG.

THe Invasion of Maztica was driven by Helm which I always found an interesting Deity choice for such a 'crusade'. It didnt exactly help the popularity of the God (not that Time of troubles helped much either).

I always thought a reverse style of invasion (ie a Group of Mazticans invading Faerun proper) would of been more awesome and original.

 

[Zardnaar]

Im a big fan of Maztica and Al Qadim (probably the latter more) and am glad we are seeng elements of that in the SCAG.

THe Invasion of Maztica was driven by Helm which I always found an interesting Deity choice for such a 'crusade'. It didnt exactly help the popularity of the God (not that Time of troubles helped much either).

I always thought a reverse style of invasion (ie a Group of Mazticans invading Faerun proper) would of been more awesome and original.

THe game Crusader Kings II has a DLC where the Aztecs invade Europe. They teched up via a shipwreck and invaded Europe.

 

[Tyranthraxus]

Nice.

I can understand why the designers felt invading Maztica was the right idea too. You can better detail a new setting location if you have your characters THERE and not characters FROM there.

 

[I'm A Banana]

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.

But if the PHB origins are "fine" as they are (which is what the feedback is showing them), adding bonus spells would've made 'em too potent. The only class with issues in the feedback is the Ranger. Sorcerer doesn't need a fix, judging by the feedback.

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.

Weirdly, my wild mage is more reliable, thanks to bending luck and the like. Wild surges are fluff, not power. The power comes from forcing something to have a -1d4 penalty on my heightened Polymorph. The chump.

And yeah, as a player of a wild mage, I think the reputation they have for being weak largely disappears in practice. I would say they seem a bit more DM dependent than others thanks to a repeat class feature hinging on the surge, but that's not a weakness, it's just a thing you need to chat with a human being about before you go and assume it'll be fun for you.

 

[Celtavian]

I buy it. I've never found any statements by the developers in the entire Next/5e run so far to be disingenuous. And it's not that I don't have a BS detector here, it's just that it isn't going off. Now, there definitely are diplomatic statements made. Often times I think, "Just say X!", but I know that they won't (and I wouldn't either if I were on Hasbro's payroll), because it's just not advisable to tick off your customers to make a point, especially when your job might be on the line.

With that said, I actually find the part about not fitting with the overall structure to be interesting--because it hints at a structure that they have possibly already defined (probably after the UA articles, but possibly before and just testing for alternatives), but which I don't know. Is it an idea that bonus spells is meant to be a divine thing? Who knows, but there's something there to know.

I think the most encouraging thing I saw though is that he diplomatically hinted that, "people don't always want what they think they want." Which is 100% true, and I'm glad the D&D crew is aware of it and taking it into account.

All the structure statement means is, "We already made sorcerers without bonus spells. We don't feel like adding them to PHB sorcerers this early, so we're taking away the bonus spells from the other sorcerers." I don't believe the feedback said sorcerers were fine without bonus spells. I think internally, regardless of feedback, they decided not to retrofit sorcerers with bonus spells. Not enough people play them or care what they have at the moment. Same reason we likely won't see a ranger change any time soon even with the talk of changing the class. They don't want to retrofit classes when the PHB hasn't been out for very long.

 

[JohnLynch]

With that said, I actually find the part about not fitting with the overall structure to be interesting--because it hints at a structure that they have possibly already defined (probably after the UA articles, but possibly before and just testing for alternatives), but which I don't know. Is it an idea that bonus spells is meant to be a divine thing? Who knows, but there's something there to know.

My reading of it was everyone loved the extra spells, yet most agreed it was significantly better than the PHB subclasses. WotC looked over the power (rather than the enjoyability) and found that the PHB Sorcerer wasn't underpowered. So they decided not to devalue the existing subclasses. The option of issuing errata to improve the PHB subclasses is certainly there. But one WotC is avoiding like the plague. Given there is no mechanical problem they're not going to errata the sorcerer.

I always thought a reverse style of invasion (ie a Group of Mazticans invading Faerun proper) would of been more awesome and original.

I do like that idea. It would be the perfect way to reintroduce Maztica, yet keep the focus on the Sword Coast, and avoid rehashing the 2nd edition Maztica metaplot.

But if the PHB origins are "fine" as they are (which is what the feedback is showing them), adding bonus spells would've made 'em too potent.

While versatility does result in increased power, is it 5-10 bonus spells really going to make it more powerful than say the Wizard (arguably one of the most versatile classes).

 

[I'm A Banana]

While versatility does result in increased power, is it 5-10 bonus spells really going to make it more powerful than say the Wizard (arguably one of the most versatile classes).

....but if they don't need the power boost, there's no point in giving it to them. The people who like playing the class aren't really asking for it.