D&D 5E New Unearthed Arcana: Heroes of Krynn Revisited

WotC's Jeremy Crawford has announced a new Unearthed Arcana article today with redesigns from the prior Heroes of Krynn UA based on feedback, and in the following video he discusses that feedback and what's in the article:

• New iteration of Kender based on feedback survey, due to mixed response. This time is a back to basics, aiming to capture 1E AD&D fearlessness, curiosity and taunting skills. Delve into their origins from Gnomes in deep history.
• Kender are no longer fey creatures who grab objects from the Feywild
• Tweaked Feats from prior article
• Tweaked Backgrounds from prior article
• Brand new rule giving a list of free Feats for ANY Background
• Free Feat rule for Level 4 for all characters that doesn't take the ASI away, based on a curated list
• Reveals that in the Adventure, healing magic is already back.

Heroes of Krynn Revisited | Unearthed Arcana | Dungeons & Dragons

Explore updated character options from the Dragonlance setting! This playtest document presents revised races, subclasses, backgrounds, and feats.

dnd.wizards.com

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Yes you do. Kender sit down, dump out their pouches and start sorting between themselves. It's written down.

yet they don't wait for others to dump it out... they TAKE it they STEAL it... they never randomly put things IN TO pockects... if you had an example of 'handling' items giving them away you would share it but you don't

and while some things they find they are surprised about other things they justify to themselves "Well obviously this was misplaced, I should hold onto it to keep it safe until I can find the owner." It's all very innocent.

that isn't innocent it is EVIL and ANTISOCIAL behavior...

But dont take my word for it, its in the novels.

I only read teh first few... but even in those the kender was not trusted most times, and my first memory is someone telling him to turn out his pockets before he leaves her house (I want to say it was 5th or 6th novel though)

 

[Faolyn]

I wasn't diagnosed until 10 years ago and didn't seek out medication until this month.

I didn't read a lot of Dragons, but I don't consider anything written in one to be canon.

A lot of the info from the Dragon article was also in the kender entry in the Dragonlance Monstrous Compendium Appendix. The bit about them lying even when caught is repeated verbatim.

 

[Faolyn]

Yes you do. Kender sit down, dump out their pouches and start sorting between themselves. It's written down.

and while some things they find they are surprised about other things they justify to themselves "Well obviously this was misplaced, I should hold onto it to keep it safe until I can find the owner." It's all very innocent.

But dont take my word for it, its in the novels.

How about in the actual game books, that gamers use. Not every gamer--not even most gamers--are going to read the novels before playing the game. (Nor should one have to.)

 

[Parmandur]

I have to admit, the strain of ableism in Dragonlance is pretty cringe: Kender, Tinker Gnomes, and Gully Dwarves could be...better.

 

[Azzy]

No, they were a proto race called the Smiths. The smiths chased down the Graygem of Gargath, and they were split into Dwarves, Gnomes, and Kender.

Damnit, Morrissey!

 

[Remathilis]

Damnit, Morrissey!

To be fair, he probably would be a black robe.

 

[Mad_Jack]

I'm betting balance was behind the decision. That's a LOT of Superiority Dice coming back on short rests with a LOT of maneuvers to pick from. It's probably a good thing that I don't care about balance as much as WotC does.

Definitely - if all those dice could be used for any maneuvers and reset on a short rest, if you're willing to blow all your dice in one fight you could pull some 3.5-style shenanigans...

 

[Hussar]

Huh...isn't that what people had a problem with before? This version, mechanically, is no different than their 1st/2nd edition incarnations.

So, it's bad/wrong to remove problematic language, but good/fun to add an ability that was never in any of the lore and completely throws out the origin of the species. Got it...

Yup, I agree. I just think it's a shame that the only way forward was to make kender basically just a halfling when kender were originally unique and distinct from halflings.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I've also had really severe ADHD all my life, although I was only diagnosed relatively recently (pro tip: don't be a girl with ADHD in the 80s; you will not be diagnosed), and I can't be medicated for it because of other health reasons. It's not an excuse. And honestly, a race of ADHD people isn't any cooler than a race of intellectually disabled people like the gully dwarfs.

I also have really severe ADHD, and Kender are in no way "ADHD kids". ADHD kids are not known for the fearlessness. ADHD kids are not known for taunting people or being rude - if anything the opposite is an issue - stuff slips out by accident due to impulsivity. ADHD kids certainly do not pick up stuff that doesn't belong to them and wander off with it - I know kids who did do that when I was young, and they were not kids with any symptoms. I might forget I had the safety scissors or something but that's very different, and I wouldn't just pick them up for no reason. "Oooh shiny" is a real ADHD thing but you look/get hypnotized by, you don't take.

So this is insulting on two levels - not only, as you say, is making a race "ADHD kids" pretty awful to start with, but on top of that it's not even a correct claim!

PS - Sorry you can't be medicated I'd honestly not be able to hold down a job without my meds, whereas with them I do great. I was diagnosed around 20-odd years ago myself, only because my dad read a book which discussed ADHD and was like "Omg that's what Ruin has!", and dragged me to clinic.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

naughty word

People who play for years, and have dozens of characters with not a problem (or in some case just no major ones) turn into jerks trying to duplicate the kender personality because they aren't good gamers... and no other race causes the same issues with the same players... but lets pretend that kender ISNT the common factor

Eh, that's kind of an issue with self-reported anecdotes. You don't hear about the kender that aren't a problem.

I wouldn't mind an opt-in thing that cuts both ways. Swap one item for another of similar value, but once in the same session the DM gets to do do the same. So you pull some antivenom out of your hat but then maybe your grappling hook was swapped for a kazoo. Give em inspiration if they use it instead!