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:

 

[darjr]

The survey is live.

D&D UA Survey 61 (Giant Options)

D&D UA Survey 61 (Giant Options).

survey.alchemer.com

 

[darjr]

I made a new thread

D&D 5E - Unearthed Arcana: Giants survey is up

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6879299/D-D-UA-Survey-61-Giant-Options

www.enworld.org

 

[dave2008]

Rolling is desired in sufficient numbers that it won't be going away or even diminished. It will remain one of the default options, which is as it should be. Choices are a good thing.

So the satisfaction is not really the %, but your belief that it represents enough people that it will not go away as an option.

 

[Maxperson]

So the satisfaction is not really the %, but your belief that it represents enough people that it will not go away as an option.

Yeah. A very large portion of D&D players roll for stats and I don't want to see that go away or rendered an optional rule.

 

[Faolyn]

Exclusivity is not relevant. And you do not get 56% point buy and 43% rolling. There is an X factor in the "other category" that changes both. If you want to dig through that thread to figure out what that percentage is for both point buy and rolling, feel free. That's too much effort. I'm satisfied just knowing that higher than 43% and likely around 50% roll.

So I did indeed decide to go through that thread. Here's what I found:

Seven people said they used standard array, a modified standard array, or gave multiple arrays for the player's to choose from.

Three people said they used either standard array or point buy.

One person said they used the Redrick Roller, which is randomized point buy,

One person used a method called "stat draft," but I wasn't sure how the numbers were generated for that.

One person used a method called "Holy Grail method," which used playing cards in a method described on an interesting looking graphic.

One person just used playing cards with no redraws or replacement.

One person said that they do 4d6-L, but if the sum of the ability modifiers is under certain numbers, they get a free magic item. Another person said that they do 4d6-L eight times. I don't know if either of them voted "roll" or "other."

You said you used a method of 3d6 for two stats, 4d6-L for two stats, and 5d6-2L for two stats. Which is kind of interesting, I admit. I might propose it to my group.

There were probably a few I missed--there was a lot of argument and debate in that thread--but I think I found most of them.

So, by my reading, there is no "wild card" in that thread that gives a boost to the number of people who roll for stats, whereas there was a small boost to the number of people who use point buy.

Edit: AFAICT, nobody said that they used rolling and/or point buy or stat array.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah. A very large portion of D&D players roll for stats and I don't want to see that go away or rendered an optional rule.

Particularly since they designed a game where it fundamentally doesn't matter.

Casting lots and letting the dice reveal a character is just so much fun for me: I wish more games used more random elements. The Xanathar's Guide lifepath, or the Wildemount Guide Background generator, is pretty awesome and how I like to discover a character.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Yeah. A very large portion of D&D players roll for stats and I don't want to see that go away or rendered an optional rule.

Isn't it already an optional rule?

Hasn't it been an optional rule fore like a decade now?

 

[jmartkdr2]

Isn't it already an optional rule?

Hasn't it been an optional rule fore like a decade now?

Akchually, it's the default, with array as an alternative (RAW) and point buy as an optional rule. But, like other optional rules in the PHB, a lot of people use point buy. Possibly a majority, although I can't say I've seen convincing data.

I doubt Maxperson's fears of deleting rolling will come to pass. If you can't roll for stats, is it really Dungeons & Dragons? (No matter how silly an idea it is)

 

[Parmandur]

Akchually, it's the default, with array as an alternative (RAW) and point buy as an optional rule. But, like other optional rules in the PHB, a lot of people use point buy. Possibly a majority, although I can't say I've seen convincing data.

I doubt Maxperson's fears of deleting rolling will come to pass. If you can't roll for stats, is it really Dungeons & Dragons? (No matter how silly an idea it is)

It does seem that the variant methods for character generation are more popular than the other variant rules, like Feats, tend to be.

 

[dave2008]

Yeah. A very large portion of D&D players roll for stats and I don't want to see that go away or rendered an optional rule.

Was there a threat of it going away? That seems very unlikely for D&D.