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:

 

[Paul Farquhar]

True, but rules can help express the theme. That's what supplements are for.

If you design rules to express a theme, then it becomes less generally useful. Broadly, the 5e approach is to design content in such a way that is can be easily ported to whatever setting people happen to be using.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I inconveniently used Ottoman as an umbrella for various Turkic and Arab peoples who roasted and distributed coffee in the 13th century while trading and connecting with modern southern Italy and SE Europe.
You are correct there were disparate kingdoms. I regret that shorthand.
I remain confident that there are indications of coffeehouses existing at the time.
While France and England (their modern spaces) had people unaware of coffee, that's not true for all of Europe. Coffee culture itself did exist in parts of Europe.

I really shouldn't have raised coffee and started a very off-topic argument! I'm sure there is a History PhD thesis in exactly when and how coffee came to Europe. The point is a coffee drinking culture only requires the availability of the raw material, not any particular time period or tech level. The same goes for tea, chocolate and any other plant based beverage. If they can't be grown locally then they can be expensive luxury items. You can replace the Eurocentric "you meet in a tavern" with "you meet in a café" without saying anything else about the technology or culture of your setting.

Unlike Ravnica's skyscrapers, which require the invention of steel-reinforced concrete, or some magical alternative.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

History of coffee - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Now my opinion is we should wonder why WotC wants to create a new mini-sitting mixing giants, vickings and prehistoric beasts when they have appeared in the past. Hasbro wants to sell merchandising products with original ideas, because the rest of toys companys can produce dinosaurs. Maybe this mini-setting will be used for a future survival videogame, the new wave after the battle royal.

Goliaths and firbolgs are perfect for this. I guess this is the reason we haven't seen new PC races, because it is not necessary.

Sometimes I try to imagine a new class mixing the summoner by Paizo's Pathfinder, the Vestige Binder from 3.5 Tome of Magic and the Tomemist Shaman from "Magic of Incarnum". The shamman would summon a "monster pet", and using "incarnum game mechanic" to unlock special attacks or monster traits. Some powers would work as martial maneuvers in the sense being in the middle of at-will and once-encounter, reloaded after to be spent thanks special actions.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It's odd to have feats gated at 8th level, when Fighters would be on their 3rd or 4th feat at that point. Also odd to have these giant-based superpowers not manifest earlier in an adventurer's life.

Indeed. Those feats aren't any stronger than some existing feats without level requirements, and I would rather not see a trip down the stronger feats at higher levels rabbit hole anyway.

I can see justification for level 4, to avoid giving too big an advantage to vumans and other "feat at 1st level" character creation options, but not level 8.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

You can replace the Eurocentric "you meet in a tavern" with "you meet in a café" without saying anything else about the technology or culture of your setting.

Arent's cafés just as eurocentric as taverns?

 

[Demetrios1453]

Arent's cafés just as eurocentric as taverns?

The whole discussion up thread was that coffeehouses started in the Middle East, and thus could be used as a non-Eurocentric alternative.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If you design rules to express a theme, then it becomes less generally useful. Broadly, the 5e approach is to design content in such a way that is can be easily ported to whatever setting people happen to be using.

Oh sure. I just don't see a problem with rules designed with a specific purpose occasionally.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Arent's cafés just as eurocentric as taverns?

You meet in a [culturally appropriate location where people gather to consume beverages, narcotics or simulants].

 

[Maxperson]

You meet in a [culturally appropriate location where people gather to consume beverages, narcotics or simulants].

So an alley.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

The whole discussion up thread was that coffeehouses started in the Middle East, and thus could be used as a non-Eurocentric alternative.

But a café is a European coffeehouse...