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.

 

[Prism]

[MENTION=9501]Prism[/MENTION] May I know if Moander appears in the book?

As a great old one warlock patron. Gets a short paragraph but that's all.

 

[Prism]

As a question to those with the book:

How useful will this be to someone running Princes of the Apocalypse? My players don't appear hugely interested with straying outside of the map boundaries, except perhaps to find something to spend money on, so I don't /need/ the wider world information at the moment, beyond my hazy memories of the 3e book. I'm just debating whether to buy this (for background stuffs for my PotA game) or Out of the Abyss (for underdark chat for my homebrew game). Thanks!

Well you get quite a bit of detail on Longsaddle, Yartar and Waterdeep which are near (but not that near). It best use is probably during character creation as the players can get a good amount of information on possible homelands which tie nicely into the localised backgrounds. Then of course you have the alternate character builds. Not sure you will get much from it during play of one of the adventure modules unless the party heads off course.

 

[Irennan]

As a great old one warlock patron. Gets a short paragraph but that's all.

Thanks. So I take that entities like Ghaunadaur and Moander, going by the book, may no longer grant divine spells, but have cults, warlock ''agents'' and so on?

 

[Prism]

Thanks. So I take that entities like Ghaunadaur and Moander, going by the book, may no longer grant divine spells, but have cults, warlock ''agents'' and so on?

It doesn't say so up to the DM. The list of gods is not complete, for example Tiamat is missing as are all of the Mulhorand dieties (they are referred to as demigods). Moander is a dead god though so its up to you to decide if priests can still get divine magic from him. Did he grant spells in earlier editions? I thought he was killed off in 1e

 

[Irennan]

It doesn't say so up to the DM. The list of gods is not complete, for example Tiamat is missing as are all of the Mulhorand dieties (they are referred to as demigods). Moander is a dead god though so its up to you to decide if priests can still get divine magic from him. Did he grant spells in earlier editions? I thought he was killed off in 1e

He could have returned with the Sundering. He lost his divinity, but he has one avatar, out there. However, since he is included, but not even mentioned as a god, I assume that ''by default'' he doesn't have divinity.

Since, according to what I've gathered, the section presents a general picture of who is currently worshipped/active (I know that it's up to DMs, it always is, but I mean as ''default/canon/official''), the fact that Ghaunadaur is included, but only as a Great Old One (repeating the PHB), without even hinting him as a possible deity, is what made me wonder if he lost his divine status during the Sundering (so, priests no longer receving spells, as default). There's also the fact that a few months ago, Ed Greenwood said in his thread over Candlekeep that the gamble for power that all deities took with the chosen ended badly or even for basically everyone, save for those gods who managed to re-emerge and be worshipped again. So this could point towards Ghaunadaur being one of those deities who lost something in the process.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I love the class, I could even be the N1 fan of the class in the whole omniverse, and I think the class really needed it. Was the Favored souls simple PR? I don't know I'm starting to seriously reconsider giving up on 5e at all, not buying a ny single book and focus my energy into something else.

But the other subclasses were born obsolete! Unflattering flavor, ultra focus on blasting. ugh.

There's no reason you can't houserule the Storm Sorcerer's spells back into effect. I've been using a houserule wherein all sorcerers get bonus spells just like a Favored Soul/Storm Sorcerer (Dragon Sorcerers get spells related to communication and fear, for empire-building like a dragon; Wild Sorcerers roll their bonus spells completely randomly leading to odd-but-surprisingly-non-useless picks like Jump). Now that the final version of Storm Sorcerer nixes those spells, I need to decide whether to nix my houserule as well or to houserule the Storm Sorcerer's bonus spells back in. I haven't decided which I'll do but it could go either way.

If you like the bonus spells, what harm does it do to keep the domain spells in your game? WotC won't object.

 

[Duan'duliir]

There's no reason you can't houserule the Storm Sorcerer's spells back into effect. I've been using a houserule wherein all sorcerers get bonus spells just like a Favored Soul/Storm Sorcerer (Dragon Sorcerers get spells related to communication and fear, for empire-building like a dragon; Wild Sorcerers roll their bonus spells completely randomly leading to odd-but-surprisingly-non-useless picks like Jump). Now that the final version of Storm Sorcerer nixes those spells, I need to decide whether to nix my houserule as well or to houserule the Storm Sorcerer's bonus spells back in. I haven't decided which I'll do but it could go either way.

If you like the bonus spells, what harm does it do to keep the domain spells in your game? WotC won't object.

Out of interest, could you post the bonus spells you used for Dragon Sorcerers and and Wild Sorcerers (or in the case of the Wild, how they roll their bonus spells)? A player of mine is probably going to play a sorcerer soon, and he might like some extra spells.

 

[pukunui]

Out of interest, could you post the bonus spells you used for Dragon Sorcerers and and Wild Sorcerers (or in the case of the Wild, how they roll their bonus spells)? A player of mine is probably going to play a sorcerer soon, and he might like some extra spells.

I'd be interested in seeing that too. Even if you just PM us rather than post it here for all to see.

 

[MoonSong]

There's no reason you can't houserule the Storm Sorcerer's spells back into effect. I've been using a houserule wherein all sorcerers get bonus spells just like a Favored Soul/Storm Sorcerer (Dragon Sorcerers get spells related to communication and fear, for empire-building like a dragon; Wild Sorcerers roll their bonus spells completely randomly leading to odd-but-surprisingly-non-useless picks like Jump). Now that the final version of Storm Sorcerer nixes those spells, I need to decide whether to nix my houserule as well or to houserule the Storm Sorcerer's bonus spells back in. I haven't decided which I'll do but it could go either way.

If you like the bonus spells, what harm does it do to keep the domain spells in your game? WotC won't object.

The bonus spells were an improvised solution to begin with. They don't really solve the underlying problems. And again I don't know anybody who can be the DM and the player at the same time. When I DM I accept lots of stuff, and like to say yes. The problem is when I want to play. Unless I could somehow clone myself to play and DM at the same time, "Houserule it" is no solution.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

The bonus spells were an improvised solution to begin with. They don't really solve the underlying problems. And again I don't know anybody who can be the DM and the player at the same time. When I DM I accept lots of stuff, and like to say yes. The problem is when I want to play. Unless I could somehow clone myself to play and DM at the same time, "Houserule it" is no solution.

I'm really flexible as a player. I'll play just about anything, and I'll abide by whatever parameters the GM sets. But sometimes, you just want to play something specific, in a certain context, and you know the only way you would ever be able to do it is if you were the DM.

Here's a possibility (and it's one that I'm going to be doing.) Start up a sandboxy campaign. Set it up with house rules and everything, making as close to possible the environment in which you want to play your character. Create your PC too. Then, invite any of your players who are interested to be guest DMs (even those who haven't DMed before). With a sandbox setup, you can provide basic guidelines about the parameters, and let them create whatever adventures they want to run within those parameters, without you knowing exactly what they will be. When you are DMing, you can either have your PC be absent, or put them on more passive mode. When others are DMing, you can enjoy the parameters you want as a player.