Krynn War II: The Revised Boogaloo.
It's interesting (and a bit foreboding) to hear that the Moon Sorcerer is getting in, mostly because the feedback on it was "What are you actually trying to say here?" I suppose they cleaned up the language and decided to roll with it, but what they actually meant will still be a mystery until the book comes out.
Kender, the non-fay kind.
The highlights:
30' movement speed is still faster than most halfings.
Fearless makes them immune to fear, which is handy for anyone who isn't a paladin, particularly melee types without wisdom proficiencies.
Kender Curiosity gives a free skill proficiency, in some of the best skills, and doesn't imply an inherent racial kleptomania.
Taunt. This is the feeling you get when someone puts a fly in your soup. An otherwise acceptable entry totally ruined by the inclusion of a tiny thing. Instead of an innate Vicious Mockery, it works as an aggro tool. I disapprove wholeheartedly. No wait. The pick your own casting stat is fine, as is the "This is totally not magical, wink wink" line. Just delete the part where they don't receive disadvantage on attacking the Kender. Otherwise it's going to lead to people thinking you have to play a Kender to be "a tank", and lets just swerve on that before it gets really printed.
Going back to Backgrounds.
Backgrounds are largely fluid, and I can't imagine a Dragonlance game where you couldn't emulate Sturm by being starting off as a knight who isn't actually a knight, so there isn't much to discuss about them again. On the other hand, there is something else that was included with this playtest that is just crazy: Everyone (in the setting) gets a free feat at level 1, and again at level 4. Is this a preview for 5.5? Probably not. At any rate, two feats is about all most people will ever have access too, so these war-torn peoples are already a leg up on their piers from other worlds.
The selection of freebie feats is worth looking over. If you aren't going for one of the new feats, you get your pick of Skilled or Tough. While I can see a case for Tough, I can't imagine that Skilled is something your players are chomping at the bit for. Passing up on free spells or free Battle Master maneuvers is a hard pill to swallow. Now if they feats like Inspiring Leader, and Healer or even half feats including the ones from Tasha's, it would be a veritable buffet of options. I know there are some people who would trip over themselves to pick up the Chef Feat here. The PHB feats available at level 4, on the other hand, are feats that people go out of their way to get normally, so it's just pure gravy at that point.
The agony of the Feats.
As for the new feats themselves, I will start off with the level 1 feats then go to the level 4 feats, for context.
Divinely Favored.
Basically Magic Initiate, with more flavor and flexibility. You are stuck with a Cleric cantrip, but can use your alignment to pick a 1st level spell from multiple different lists. Instead of a second cantrip, you get Augury. This is way more powerful than Skilled, so I don't feel bad about the recommendations to expand the list of free feats at all. Of note: the Divine Communications feat no longer exists, so there isn't any follow up to this one anymore.
Initiate of High Sorcery.
Also basically Magic Initiate, but this time with a more restricted spell list, and you get two first level spells instead of two cantrips.
Squire of Solamnia.
Right out of the way, this is interesting. We know that WotC is exploring taking a step back from Short Rest recharge powers for 5.5, so this might be a preview of how the new Battle Master is going to work. Instead of getting their dice back on a short rest, they get PB/LR dice. How does this work with backwards compatibility? Do the dice stack like with Martial Adept and Superior Technique? Do the dice scale if you are already a Battle Master? We just don't know. Otherwise, it's kind of a half-feat where the other half of the feat is split up into being able to mount up faster. I get the feeling that if mounts are so important to knights, Animal Handling should also be granted by this feat.
Adept of the Black Robes.
Not sure if this is a weird way of acknowledging that enchantment magic is often moraly dubious.
A free level 2 Enchantment or Necromancy spell. While there are some interesting spells in that list, none of the spells from the PHB synergize with the second part of this feat, which is Life Channel. The worst one of the "Use your HD for something other than healing yourself" powers out of the last attempt of this UA. So this feat still sucks when it comes to that, but also got technically worse from a thematic synergy point of view.
Adept of the Red Robes.
Illusion and Transmutation spells this time, and those lists are quite the catch. Magical Balance no longer works on saving throws, but it's still the best secondary effect out of all these adept feats, allowing you to treat a 9 or bellow rolled on a d20 for attacks or skills to be a 10. I can see why Raistlin took the red robes first.
Adept of the White Robes.
While there are a few spells of abjuration and divination I would totally want on any spellcaster, I just don't think the return on investment for Protective Ward is worth it, even when they bumped up the damage dice. It's the trap of combat healing, without actually being able to heal. At least it stacks with other sources of damage mitigation including temporary hit points, resistances, and things like the Clockwork Soul's Bastion of Law power. But the concept is just flawed. Look at Cure Wounds. Look at Healing Word. See how people use those spells, after the target goes down, in order to actually make the spells worth casting. Now look back to this, it's in-between those without the ability to exploit the whack-a-mole factor. Just think of anything else to put here.
Knight of the Crown.
It's a half-feat, but You get another maneuver, two more dice, and your dice jump up to a d8. The maneuvers listed here aren't two I would normally pick.
Knight of the Sword.
Just like the Crown, but with mental stats and better maneuvers.
Knight of the Rose.
In an effort to avoid repetition, I would like to point out you can potentially take all three of these knight feats.
But I have to ask how these dice work with other sources of Superiority Dice, because that needs to be addressed.
Thoughts.
The feats are no longer strictly worse than other feats you would have access to at any given level, and you get them for free from a limited list. While I would love to see that level 1 list expanded, (and the powers of the adept feats reworked) this alleviates most of my previous concerns with getting background feats in general.
dnd.wizards.com
