Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
New Unearthed Arcana Today: Giant Themed Class Options and Feats
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Leatherhead" data-source="post: 8646389" data-attributes="member: 53176"><p>UA Giants: Time to live Large and In Charge. Alternate tag line: Yet another reason why the Elemental Evil spells should be Core</p><p></p><p><strong><em><u>Barbarian Path of the Giant.</u></em></strong></p><p>Ask not for whom tosses the gnome, for the gnome is tossed by the. </p><p></p><p><strong>Giant Power</strong></p><p>Continuing in the tradition of D&D Giants being magical creatures (which is probably a good thing considering the Square-Cube Law) You can speak the language of Giants and do so with bluster thanks to your shiny new cantrip. I really like Prestidigitation style cantrips, and part of me is hoping that whatever book this class is in will also include the elemental evil cantrips, because giants do have a bit of an elemental theme as well. Either way, this power is a total ribbon.</p><p></p><p><strong>Giant’s Havoc</strong></p><p>So we finally see the Barbarian counterpart to the Rune Knight that a lot of people want. And as predicted it basically turns you into the Incredible Hulk. This power makes you and everything you are wearing Large, which gives you an extra 5’ of reach. Additionally, you can toss ranged weapons for extra damage while in a rage. Which mitigates what is perhaps the Barbarians greatest weakness in combat.</p><p></p><p>It's important to note that your weapons do not get larger with this power, it is worded in a way to avoid that entire messy bit of rules. The wording on the damage bonus likewise prevents you from hurting people with a net. Also of note, most thrown weapons have relatively short ranges compared to bows or the like, perhaps turning into a hulking hurler should give you extra range when you throw things, 60/120 feet would be a fine range to implement, given that Barbarians have extra movement to make up the gap. </p><p></p><p><strong>Elemental Cleaver</strong></p><p>Going back to giants having elemental powers: You get to deal elemental damage with your primary melee weapon, which also gains the throwing property, and have it return to your hand. This is really fun, mitigating almost all of the problems of using a thrown weapon (aside from the short range problem). Of note, putting Thrown on a melee weapon doesn’t make it into a Ranged Weapon, which prevents stacking GWM and Sharpshooter.</p><p></p><p><strong>Mighty Impel</strong></p><p>Tossing people around, while amazingly fun and a great tactical option, comes online FAR too late at level 10. This is the “Fun Bit” of this class that everyone is going to want, it should be level 6 at the latest. Unfortunately that means something else would have to go into the level 10 slot, as the current level 6 power also feels like it wouldn’t be powerful enough at this level. </p><p></p><p><strong>Demiurgic Colossus</strong></p><p>Dear WotC, I know you like taking random cool sounding words and appending them to creatures and powers where they don’t belong. But “Demiurgic?” for a Barbarian subclass? Barbarians are all about smashing, not creation or talking! At any rate, this capstone is in fact capstone worthy, making the barbarian bigger, giving more reach, and letting them deal extra damage. Though I would like to point out being huge can be quite the detriment in some situations, so it would be wize to make the extra size bonus optional.</p><p></p><p><u>Thoughts:</u> </p><p>More range on throwing weapons, toss people at level 6, Elemental Evil spells as core, optional size increase, did I forget anything? Oh yes, scaling the weapon size would avoid the situation where it looks like you are wielding a toothpick, free up some design space for level 6 (thanks to the damage scaling), and be cool in general. You could even use a “Specific VS general” rule here to prevent abuse.</p><p></p><p><strong>Druid Circle of the Primeval</strong></p><p><em></em></p><p><em>It was a night like this forty million years ago</em></p><p><em>I lit a cigarette, picked up a monkey skull to go</em></p><p><em>The sun was spitting fire, the sky was blue as ice</em></p><p><em>I felt a little tired, so I watched Miami Vice</em></p><p><em>And walked the dinosaur, I walked the dinosaur</em></p><p></p><p>Finally the Dinosaur Druid everyone has been wanting ever since they first saw a T-Rex as a little kid. Now, where is that Plant Druid? (And Mushrooms don’t count as plants!)</p><p></p><p><strong>Keeper of Old</strong></p><p>History proficiency and not-expertise. Instead opting for the +d4 treatment. Are we ever going to see a cap to the amount of dice you can stack on a roll? We should if they ever want to seriously explore this mechanic in-depth. But let’s face it, this power isn’t why you are here.</p><p></p><p><strong>Primeval Companion</strong></p><p></p><p>Taking the new creature companion rules and running with them, this creature is mechanically a beast instead of a spirit, but does the same summoning tricks. It is medium sized, allowing a small Druid to ride them and has a bodyguard ability to redirect half the damage from an attack on a nearby target to them. It’s worth noting you could also make this into any kind of animal that isn’t a Dinosaur, like say a big red puppy-dog, but that’s up to you.</p><p></p><p><strong>Prehistoric Conduit</strong></p><p>You can now cast spells from your Dinosaur. Your inner child is now beaming at the thought of a T-rex shooting lightning everywhere. Also they gain Evasion and have advantage on saving throws. </p><p></p><p><strong>Titanic Bond</strong></p><p>Your Dinosaur is now Large, and can Climb or Swim, making it better for a mount. Also when you hit with an attack or deal damage to a creature with a spell (can't that all just be compressed to “deal damage”? Why is that wording so clunky?) you can inflict fear on them.</p><p></p><p><strong>Scourge of the Ancients</strong></p><p>You can expend spell slots to buff your pet, Making them Huge, Deal more damage, or move faster. The buffs last for an hour each, and scale with level which is a decent return on investment, for the lower level spell slots you are going to use this with anyway. It’s interesting that Flight isn’t an option here.</p><p></p><p>Thoughts</p><p>Part of me thinks this is fine, the other part of me demands that it be stronger because Dinosaurs.</p><p></p><p><strong><em><u>Wizard: Runecafter</u></em></strong></p><p></p><p>Apparently this wizard didn’t go to any school. And apparently WotC hasn’t learned that the general populace really hates wizard subclasses, especially ones that mimic other classes' features.</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Runes of Understanding</strong></p><p>Instead of casting Comprehend Languages as a ritual, you can cast it for free as an action, for ever and ever.</p><p></p><p><strong>Runic Empowerment</strong></p><p>Oh boy. Metamagic, again. I can predict this subclass to bomb, again.</p><p></p><p>Life Rune. Temp HP, it would be ok, if the populace let it happen.</p><p>War Rune. Everyone gets a +x bonus to attacking a target of your choice until the end of your next turn. Throwing out another way to break bounded accuracy too? Well, it’s not like this subclass is going to see print, so whatever.</p><p>Wind Rune. A free disengage is great for getting away from whatever you had to be within 30’ of in order to hit your other runes. </p><p></p><p></p><p><strong>Sigils of warding.</strong></p><p>You can auto-save a Con Saving throw, which includes Concentration Saving throws, as a reaction. That would be amazing by itself. You can also auto-save a STR or DEX save, should you really need to not fall off a cliff or something.</p><p></p><p><strong>Rune Maven</strong></p><p>Extra uses of your Runes of Understanding, but tied to a clunky mechanic that triggers when you use Arcane Recovery.</p><p></p><p><strong>Engraved Enmity</strong></p><p></p><p>Bonus action debuffs, that use your concentration, and also require you to be within 60’ of the target.</p><p></p><p>Runecraft’s Bane. So they have disadvantage to save against your spells now, just make sure you aren’t casting a spell that requires concentration or that will instantly drop your debuff.</p><p>Unveiled Enemy. If you have See Invisibility going, you can make a creature visible to everyone.</p><p>Woeful Curse. Mark a creature for extra damage , which causes them to take a total of 1d8 extra damage.</p><p></p><p>So underwhelming for a capstone. There are some tricks to use with Runecraft’s Bane, but otherwise it’s not worth it in most encounters. </p><p></p><p></p><p><strong><em><u>Feats</u></em></strong></p><p></p><p>Now with Prerequisites, and trees, hinting that they are going forward with the Dragonlance changes.</p><p></p><p><strong>Elemental Touched</strong></p><p>Oh hey, do you remember the Elemental Evil cantrips that let you bend the elements? I do, they would be great here. Anyway, you get Druidcraft or Thaumaturgy. All other powers of this feat follow the new PB/LR standard., and require a bonus action. Additionally you can only pick one of these per day.</p><p></p><p>Air: Fly speed for one round. </p><p>Earth: Difficult Terrain within 30’ of you for 60 seconds that doesn’t hinder you.</p><p>Fire: Disengage, and possibly obscurement depending on your DM.</p><p>Water: a 10’ push with a save based on your Save DC.</p><p></p><p>I cannot stress how much this feat needs the Elemental Evil cantrips, they are absolutely perfect for eachother, especially if you can swap the cantrip out with your elemental attunement.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ember of the Fire Giant</strong></p><p>Resistance to fire, at level 8? </p><p>Also you can throw a mini-fireball instead of making a weapon attack. That second one should just be a spell attack you can do whatever instead of a pb/lr power. You could even drop the blind part to keep it at level 4.</p><p></p><p><strong>Fury of the Frost Giant</strong></p><p>Cold resistance, and a reaction to fear when someone hits you pb/lr.</p><p>I don’t see the connection between ice and fear to be honest, you would think it would be some kind of slow effect instead.</p><p></p><p><strong>Guile of the Cloud Giant</strong></p><p>No resistance this time, instead you just get free blur without any concentration 1/lr, which is added to your spell list. Also expertise in your choice of Deception or Persuasion.</p><p></p><p><strong>Keenness of the Stone Giant</strong></p><p>Again, no resistance. Instead you get darkvision. At 4th level.</p><p></p><p>You get Detect Thoughts and one additional spell, basically another variant on the same “spellcaster initiate” theme.</p><p></p><p><strong>Outsized might</strong></p><p>Skill proficiency, Powerful Build, resistance on being moved or proned. This is exactly the kind of feat that is only taken when you get a bunch of feats to spread around for free.</p><p></p><p><strong>Rune Carver Apprentice.</strong></p><p>Pick one spell out of the long list, you can cast it for free and add it to your spells known. Then swap out the spell the following day if you feel like it. As a base level feat, it's worse than the other feats that just let you pick multiple spells to learn permanently.</p><p></p><p><strong>Rune Carver Adept</strong></p><p>This is what makes the previous feat worthwhile, you can instead pick PB number of runes to make each day. I would like to state that these kinds of feat trees are why I hate feat trees. Start off weaker than normal to end up stronger than normal, all the while locking you into a predetermined character progression. Feats should be for being different, not for being the same.</p><p></p><p><strong>Soul of the Storm Giant</strong></p><p>You get the divination spell as a ritual, and have a very small aura of control, both once per day. Not worth it at level 8 requirement.</p><p></p><p><strong>Vigor of the Hill Giant</strong></p><p>You can ignore a push or prone as a reaction.</p><p>You gain extra HP when you are healed with a spell, pb/lr. </p><p>Honestly not that great.</p><p></p><p></p><p><u>Closing Thoughts:</u></p><p>Where are the revisions to the elemental Sorcerers that got left out of previous books?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Leatherhead, post: 8646389, member: 53176"] UA Giants: Time to live Large and In Charge. Alternate tag line: Yet another reason why the Elemental Evil spells should be Core [B][I][U]Barbarian Path of the Giant.[/U][/I][/B] Ask not for whom tosses the gnome, for the gnome is tossed by the. [B]Giant Power[/B] Continuing in the tradition of D&D Giants being magical creatures (which is probably a good thing considering the Square-Cube Law) You can speak the language of Giants and do so with bluster thanks to your shiny new cantrip. I really like Prestidigitation style cantrips, and part of me is hoping that whatever book this class is in will also include the elemental evil cantrips, because giants do have a bit of an elemental theme as well. Either way, this power is a total ribbon. [B]Giant’s Havoc[/B] So we finally see the Barbarian counterpart to the Rune Knight that a lot of people want. And as predicted it basically turns you into the Incredible Hulk. This power makes you and everything you are wearing Large, which gives you an extra 5’ of reach. Additionally, you can toss ranged weapons for extra damage while in a rage. Which mitigates what is perhaps the Barbarians greatest weakness in combat. It's important to note that your weapons do not get larger with this power, it is worded in a way to avoid that entire messy bit of rules. The wording on the damage bonus likewise prevents you from hurting people with a net. Also of note, most thrown weapons have relatively short ranges compared to bows or the like, perhaps turning into a hulking hurler should give you extra range when you throw things, 60/120 feet would be a fine range to implement, given that Barbarians have extra movement to make up the gap. [B]Elemental Cleaver[/B] Going back to giants having elemental powers: You get to deal elemental damage with your primary melee weapon, which also gains the throwing property, and have it return to your hand. This is really fun, mitigating almost all of the problems of using a thrown weapon (aside from the short range problem). Of note, putting Thrown on a melee weapon doesn’t make it into a Ranged Weapon, which prevents stacking GWM and Sharpshooter. [B]Mighty Impel[/B] Tossing people around, while amazingly fun and a great tactical option, comes online FAR too late at level 10. This is the “Fun Bit” of this class that everyone is going to want, it should be level 6 at the latest. Unfortunately that means something else would have to go into the level 10 slot, as the current level 6 power also feels like it wouldn’t be powerful enough at this level. [B]Demiurgic Colossus[/B] Dear WotC, I know you like taking random cool sounding words and appending them to creatures and powers where they don’t belong. But “Demiurgic?” for a Barbarian subclass? Barbarians are all about smashing, not creation or talking! At any rate, this capstone is in fact capstone worthy, making the barbarian bigger, giving more reach, and letting them deal extra damage. Though I would like to point out being huge can be quite the detriment in some situations, so it would be wize to make the extra size bonus optional. [U]Thoughts:[/U] More range on throwing weapons, toss people at level 6, Elemental Evil spells as core, optional size increase, did I forget anything? Oh yes, scaling the weapon size would avoid the situation where it looks like you are wielding a toothpick, free up some design space for level 6 (thanks to the damage scaling), and be cool in general. You could even use a “Specific VS general” rule here to prevent abuse. [B]Druid Circle of the Primeval[/B] [I] It was a night like this forty million years ago I lit a cigarette, picked up a monkey skull to go The sun was spitting fire, the sky was blue as ice I felt a little tired, so I watched Miami Vice And walked the dinosaur, I walked the dinosaur[/I] Finally the Dinosaur Druid everyone has been wanting ever since they first saw a T-Rex as a little kid. Now, where is that Plant Druid? (And Mushrooms don’t count as plants!) [B]Keeper of Old[/B] History proficiency and not-expertise. Instead opting for the +d4 treatment. Are we ever going to see a cap to the amount of dice you can stack on a roll? We should if they ever want to seriously explore this mechanic in-depth. But let’s face it, this power isn’t why you are here. [B]Primeval Companion[/B] Taking the new creature companion rules and running with them, this creature is mechanically a beast instead of a spirit, but does the same summoning tricks. It is medium sized, allowing a small Druid to ride them and has a bodyguard ability to redirect half the damage from an attack on a nearby target to them. It’s worth noting you could also make this into any kind of animal that isn’t a Dinosaur, like say a big red puppy-dog, but that’s up to you. [B]Prehistoric Conduit[/B] You can now cast spells from your Dinosaur. Your inner child is now beaming at the thought of a T-rex shooting lightning everywhere. Also they gain Evasion and have advantage on saving throws. [B]Titanic Bond[/B] Your Dinosaur is now Large, and can Climb or Swim, making it better for a mount. Also when you hit with an attack or deal damage to a creature with a spell (can't that all just be compressed to “deal damage”? Why is that wording so clunky?) you can inflict fear on them. [B]Scourge of the Ancients[/B] You can expend spell slots to buff your pet, Making them Huge, Deal more damage, or move faster. The buffs last for an hour each, and scale with level which is a decent return on investment, for the lower level spell slots you are going to use this with anyway. It’s interesting that Flight isn’t an option here. Thoughts Part of me thinks this is fine, the other part of me demands that it be stronger because Dinosaurs. [B][I][U]Wizard: Runecafter[/U][/I][/B] Apparently this wizard didn’t go to any school. And apparently WotC hasn’t learned that the general populace really hates wizard subclasses, especially ones that mimic other classes' features. [B]Runes of Understanding[/B] Instead of casting Comprehend Languages as a ritual, you can cast it for free as an action, for ever and ever. [B]Runic Empowerment[/B] Oh boy. Metamagic, again. I can predict this subclass to bomb, again. Life Rune. Temp HP, it would be ok, if the populace let it happen. War Rune. Everyone gets a +x bonus to attacking a target of your choice until the end of your next turn. Throwing out another way to break bounded accuracy too? Well, it’s not like this subclass is going to see print, so whatever. Wind Rune. A free disengage is great for getting away from whatever you had to be within 30’ of in order to hit your other runes. [B]Sigils of warding.[/B] You can auto-save a Con Saving throw, which includes Concentration Saving throws, as a reaction. That would be amazing by itself. You can also auto-save a STR or DEX save, should you really need to not fall off a cliff or something. [B]Rune Maven[/B] Extra uses of your Runes of Understanding, but tied to a clunky mechanic that triggers when you use Arcane Recovery. [B]Engraved Enmity[/B] Bonus action debuffs, that use your concentration, and also require you to be within 60’ of the target. Runecraft’s Bane. So they have disadvantage to save against your spells now, just make sure you aren’t casting a spell that requires concentration or that will instantly drop your debuff. Unveiled Enemy. If you have See Invisibility going, you can make a creature visible to everyone. Woeful Curse. Mark a creature for extra damage , which causes them to take a total of 1d8 extra damage. So underwhelming for a capstone. There are some tricks to use with Runecraft’s Bane, but otherwise it’s not worth it in most encounters. [B][I][U]Feats[/U][/I][/B] Now with Prerequisites, and trees, hinting that they are going forward with the Dragonlance changes. [B]Elemental Touched[/B] Oh hey, do you remember the Elemental Evil cantrips that let you bend the elements? I do, they would be great here. Anyway, you get Druidcraft or Thaumaturgy. All other powers of this feat follow the new PB/LR standard., and require a bonus action. Additionally you can only pick one of these per day. Air: Fly speed for one round. Earth: Difficult Terrain within 30’ of you for 60 seconds that doesn’t hinder you. Fire: Disengage, and possibly obscurement depending on your DM. Water: a 10’ push with a save based on your Save DC. I cannot stress how much this feat needs the Elemental Evil cantrips, they are absolutely perfect for eachother, especially if you can swap the cantrip out with your elemental attunement. [B]Ember of the Fire Giant[/B] Resistance to fire, at level 8? Also you can throw a mini-fireball instead of making a weapon attack. That second one should just be a spell attack you can do whatever instead of a pb/lr power. You could even drop the blind part to keep it at level 4. [B]Fury of the Frost Giant[/B] Cold resistance, and a reaction to fear when someone hits you pb/lr. I don’t see the connection between ice and fear to be honest, you would think it would be some kind of slow effect instead. [B]Guile of the Cloud Giant[/B] No resistance this time, instead you just get free blur without any concentration 1/lr, which is added to your spell list. Also expertise in your choice of Deception or Persuasion. [B]Keenness of the Stone Giant[/B] Again, no resistance. Instead you get darkvision. At 4th level. You get Detect Thoughts and one additional spell, basically another variant on the same “spellcaster initiate” theme. [B]Outsized might[/B] Skill proficiency, Powerful Build, resistance on being moved or proned. This is exactly the kind of feat that is only taken when you get a bunch of feats to spread around for free. [B]Rune Carver Apprentice.[/B] Pick one spell out of the long list, you can cast it for free and add it to your spells known. Then swap out the spell the following day if you feel like it. As a base level feat, it's worse than the other feats that just let you pick multiple spells to learn permanently. [B]Rune Carver Adept[/B] This is what makes the previous feat worthwhile, you can instead pick PB number of runes to make each day. I would like to state that these kinds of feat trees are why I hate feat trees. Start off weaker than normal to end up stronger than normal, all the while locking you into a predetermined character progression. Feats should be for being different, not for being the same. [B]Soul of the Storm Giant[/B] You get the divination spell as a ritual, and have a very small aura of control, both once per day. Not worth it at level 8 requirement. [B]Vigor of the Hill Giant[/B] You can ignore a push or prone as a reaction. You gain extra HP when you are healed with a spell, pb/lr. Honestly not that great. [U]Closing Thoughts:[/U] Where are the revisions to the elemental Sorcerers that got left out of previous books? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
New Unearthed Arcana Today: Giant Themed Class Options and Feats
Top