D&D 5E New Unearthed Arcana Today: Giant Themed Class Options and Feats

A new Unearthed Arcana dropped today, focusing on giant-themed player options. "In today’s Unearthed Arcana, we explore character options related to the magic and majesty of giants. This playtest document presents the Path of the Giant barbarian subclass, the Circle of the Primeval druid subclass, the Runecrafter wizard subclass, and a collection of new feats, all for use in Dungeons & Dragons."

Giant Options | Unearthed Arcana | Dungeons & Dragons

Explore character options related to the magic and majesty of giants! This playtest document presents new subclasses for the barbarian, druid, and wizard, and a collection of new feats, all for use in Dungeons & Dragons.

dnd.wizards.com

New Class options:

• Barbarian: Path of the Giant
• Druid: Circle of the Primeval
• Wizard: Runecrafter Tradition

New Feats:

• Elemental Touched
• Ember of the Fire Giant
• Fury of the Frost Giant
• Guile of the Cloud Giant
• Keeness of the Stone Giant
• Outsized Might
• Rune Carver Apprentice
• Rune Carvwr Adept
• Soul of the Storm Giant
• Vigor of the Hill Giant

WotC's Jeremy Crawford talks Barbarian Path of the Giant here:

 

[Parmandur]

Regarding the First World - I was under the impression that the First World is a world from which most or all of the main settings (Toril, Oerth, Krynn, Eberron) were descended - acting as an explanation of why so many settings have elves, and dwarves, and dragons, and orcs, and..., and..., etc.

Did I misunderstand?

Assuming I did not misunderstand, that does not imply that the FIrst World is necessarily a primeval setting. OTOH, a primeval setting would imply the FIrst World (or a separate setting, or a regression), since the similarities between the extant setting imply a divergance point later than that.

The "First World" is the subject of a poem that is given a brief commentary providing multiple mutually incompatible interpretations. It is not a "Setting" it is a framing device that allows them to explain that Eberron Dragons can behave like Forgotten Realms Dragons because they are connected...somehow. Defining the how takes away from the utility as a vague unifying explanation that can be taken however a DM wants, and allows WotC to have coherent IP across worlds. I think they will keep using the concept, but if anything I expect it to get less clear and more open to interpretation.

 

[Parmandur]

Overall, I do like this UA. I do think that things can be tuned up a little bit, but we have a good start.

As far as what kind of book the contents will be in...a giant book or a new campaign setting are both good options at this point. A Kaldheim release isn't outside of the realm of possibility, though I would absolutely love a First World setting.

My first thought was Dark Sun just reading the title. Like, "Oh, this is how they'll do half-giants, just make a goliath barbarian with this path!" Circle of the Primeval could just be a druid channeling the Spirit of the Land into a companion. The Runecrafter Wizard I'm iffy on, but Dark Sun wizards have been known to use non-standard spellbooks. The elemental options will fit quite well too!

I doubt this leads to Dark Sun, but I wouldn't be surprised. Almost anything that gets there, I will be very pleased by!

Main reason to dismiss a Magic Setting: the D&D Giants are not a Thing in Magic.

 

[vecna00]

Main reason to dismiss a Magic Setting: the D&D Giants are not a Thing in Magic.

For the time being, yes. I wouldn't be surprised to see giants similar to D&D giants to pop up in various planes, particularly Dominaria or Kaldheim.

Edited because brain moves faster than fingers.

 

[Parmandur]

For the time being, yes. I wouldn't be surprised to see giants similar to D&D giants to pop up in various planes, particularly Dominaria or Kaldheim.

Edited because brain moves faster than fingers.

Eeeeeh, Magic has it's own identity for Giants in the Color Wheel, kind of.douvt it outside of D&D Sets.

 

[vecna00]

Eeeeeh, Magic has it's own identity for Giants in the Color Wheel, kind of.douvt it outside of D&D Sets.

That's fair, it's definitely not a certainty by any stretch of the imagination. It's just something I can see happening and I personally wouldn't see it as shoehorning.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yeah. It's absolutely possible, and it can be done well if they make multiple stat blocks for the same creature like they do with dragons. They wouldn't have to reach deeply into the obscure trolls and such that way. However, I don't think that there would be anywhere near as much excitement for giants as there are for dragons.

They'd be better off making a new setting with some sort of Norse feel to it and add new giants, ogres and trolls there, as well as the rune/giant/elemental subclasses and feats.

Wouldn't mind seeing some proper Jotens in 5e. Maybe they can come up something similar to the video game Valheim, if any of you are familiar with it.

 

[cbwjm]

Main reason to dismiss a Magic Setting: the D&D Giants are not a Thing in Magic.

That's true, but they do still have giants and this wouldn't be the first time that they've used a little bit of subterfuge with UA.

 

[Parmandur]

That's true, but they do still have giants and this wouldn't be the first time that they've used a little bit of subterfuge with UA.

Oh, there is definite subterfuge at play here, that's for sure. I don't think a Magic product would tie do much into Orduning lore, but we'll see.

 

[teitan]

I think we have a hint of the “new setting” that is in development. This is kind of exciting to me.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Feats with level pre-reqs definitely solidifies that they're looking at feats as a major axis of character definition for the revision.

YES! YES! YES!