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:

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Bad coffee, bad breakfast food, but open 24 hours and often in the middle of nowhere with no options if you are, say, a trucker.

I’ve had decent coffee and excellent breakfast food at diners, to be fair.

Honestly, I don't see how the game could be broken if you just said "ok folks, you start with all 15's" and called it a day.

Broken, no. Boring, though.

 

[Maxperson]

Chult has been done. Hollow World is a much better and more likely idea than "First World" that doesn't come with a bunch of problems, or rely entirely on dinosaurs, which are frankly rather dull opponents.

Not that I think the UA relates to Hollow World, because it has nothing to do with any setting book.

Yeah. I'm not saying they should redo Chult. I'm merely pointing out that a setting that includes or is even centered around dinosaurs is doable. And I agree, there would need to be more than just dinosaurs. Saurials(or the equivalent) and other interesting addons.

 

[Maxperson]

Although I still remember when I played the Isle of Dread, and there was a random encounter with a dragon. "Dragons?! How can dinosaurs stand up to dragons!?"

Even in Caspak, you can't get away from those pesky dragons.

They can't. The dragons would eat well!

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Dinosaurs and prehistoric beasts are cool, but they need a separate bioma to avoid being the favorite preys of dragons. Today in the internet age the people worries about about ecological impact of invader species from a different ecosystem.

And to sell miniatures or toys D&D dinosaurs should have got some special touch as digimon or pokemon creatures of players will buy cheaper proxy figures. Why not optional chairs for monster riders?

* Some times I have imagined the "runecaster" class using the game mechanics of incarnum soulmelds. Points of essence would be "spent" to unlock special metamagic feats. Some powers would be like martial maneuvers, in the sense of the middle step between at will and once-encounter. After being spent these can be reloaded with some special action. Some powers would be more buff-breaker than nerfing enemies, for simpler combats.

Other idea is a "beast brother", where the player would use two PCs linked by a telepatic link, one of them would be a "monster tamer", and the other the "monste class", a semisentient creature with traits as the shifter class by Pathfinder. Then you could play something Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur by Marvel Comics. This "beast" would be a mixture of vestige binder class and incarnum totemist shaman. A "evolution" is chosen, and this gives a list of "upgrades", spending essence slots to unlock metamagic feats. If you want, then you change the evolution with other.

How would be the "minidragon" from Dragon Magazine rebooted to be a monster class?

 

[Parmandur]

I’ve had decent coffee and excellent breakfast food at diners, to be fair.

Ah, yeah, sorry, I meant Dennys specifically.

Broken, no. Boring, though.

Yeah, the variance between characters abilities adds spice to the game. If everyone us the same, why have a party?

 

[Weiley31]

Wooley rhino.

Giant Snapping Turtle for a Tortle, IMO.

Shadar-Kai on a huge Raven/Deep Crow (Aquisition Incorporated).

 

[Weiley31]

Pachyrhinosaur

MY MOTHER WAS A SAINT!!!

 

[Weiley31]

Predacons TERRORIZE!

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Ah, yeah, sorry, I meant Dennys specifically.

Ah yeah fair.

Yeah, the variance between characters abilities adds spice to the game. If everyone us the same, why have a party?

Yeah and tbh I want my PCs from game to game to have different stats, as well. I might not care if skills were more granular, but between skills and ability scores and things like tools, you can make two swashbuckler rogues feel quite different.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Honestly, I don't see how the game could be broken if you just said "ok folks, you start with all 15's" and called it a day.

The craziest idea I've hear is: "players, just pick whatever numbers you think best represent the character you want to play and/or enable the build you're trying to pull off."

And frankly I would use that with any of my current groups. We're not munchkins. Even the powergamers would be inclined to truly dump the off-stats to make the character more fun to play.