Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 8699538" data-attributes="member: 50987">Okay, here goes!CleverNickName's Ten-Cent Review ofUnearthed Arcana 2022: Wonders of the MultiverseI.  Creating Your CharacterThese rules are almost identical to what I'm already using in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.  The biggest mechanical difference is the "or increase three different ability scores by 1 each," and the biggest flavor difference is that characters can be of any creature type...not just Humanoid.  Everything else I've seen before.It's fine, nothing to get excited about.II.  GlitchlingsExtraplanar warforged, eh?  Let's do this.Type:  Having a creature type of "Construct" could mess with certain spells and effects that only target Humanoids, but then they caveat around it with exceptions in their "living construct" ability, so it doesn't actually matter.  I'm not sure why they bothered, but whatever.  They're Constructs except when it's inconvenient, got it.Don't really have a problem with the armor plating.  Lots of people in this thread are really fixated on this, but I don't see any terrible issues with it.  Like the aforementioned "I'm a Construct except when I'm not," this only matters if you want it to.Balance Chaos is weird, but I prefer this "take ten" mechanic to the "roll again and again" mechanics of the Lucky feat.  I think I'm allergic to crit-fishing, it makes me itchy.Ordered Mind is excellent, no notes.Vestigal Wings.  The way it's written, it's just a weird jump check.  But it's fine.  It's probably not as useful as the average player is going to think it is, so get ready for lots of arguments about movement and what the devs meant by "at the end of your turn."All in all, it's more sci-fi flavor than I'm looking for in my D&D game...but a perfect fit for my Esper Genesis campaign.III.  Cleric Subclass: "Fate Domain" So this feels a lot like your garden-variety oracle or seer.   It looks like a very flavorful addition to just about any game setting.  It's a bit weak compared to, say, the Twilight cleric, but I'm not bad about that.    And special thanks to WotC, for resisting the urge to create new and unnecessary ways of rolling dice just because it has the word 'Fate' in the name.IV.  BackgroundsGiving a bonus feat at 1st level, selected from a curated list?  What a great idea!  Why didn't I think of that?  <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/does-your-dm-let-everyone-start-with-a-feat.689591/post-8679217" target="_blank">OH WAIT</a>.Gate Warden background, Giant Foundling background, Planar Philosopher background, they all look fine.  Nothing really exciting or evocative for me, but that's probably because I'm not a huge fan of Planescape.  The Rune Carver is my favorite, I like the idea of a rune archaeologist who studies ancient giants.  It dovetails nicely with the previous Unearthed Arcana's wizard subclass.V. FeatsOkay, so let's be honest:  this is the reason I downloaded the Unearthed Arcana in the first place.  Like I hinted at earlier, I'm going to be giving out feats at 1st level to the characters.The feats here are just fine, in my opinion.  I think the Scion feats are awesome; very similar to the Magic Initiate feat but with extra elemental/extraplanar flair.  I've already got a nice spot picked out for them in my campaign world.  I also like the Rune Carver feats (both of them) and I like that they make a sort of 'feat tree' together...I hope we get to see more like this in the future.Throughout the document (and most visibly in the Feats section), it looks like "you can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest" is the new hotness for game mechanics.  Not sure what effect this is going to have on the number of rests that the characters take after every battle, but I hope it helps.  Maybe the solution to the players constantly Going Nova is to let them do it even more often?Cartomancer feels weird in an 'extraplanar' themed release.  What does a deck of cards have to do with the universe?  I'm sure there's a reference I'm missing.  Planescape, maybe?  If I were going to go with a Cartomancer-style character, I'd base it around the Tarot and not the Multiverse, but anyway, there's nothing wrong with this feat (apart from not having a limit on the number of times per day you can 'put an ace in your deck,' in a manner of speaking.)I.  SpellsThe card-based spells feel a little out of place in this UA, but ah well.  The spells seem fine, the mechanics need to be adjusted and the bugs need to be worked out a bit, but I don't think I'll need to worry about it.  These spells aren't the sort that my players would reach for.Antagonize: like a 3rd-level Vicious Mockery.House of Cards:  great spell for temporary battlefield control and movement restriction.Spirit of Death: seems a bit underwhelming for a 4th level spell slot, but eh.  It's fine.Spray of Cards: reminds me of a higher-level Color Spray.Summon Warrior Spirit:  pretty good 'instant ally' spell.  In one of my adventures, the party might recover a ring of spell storing from a tomb.  If they do, I'm totally going to stuff Summon Warrior Spirit into it and see how it goes.</blockquote>

Verification