D&D General New Villainous Options UA video from WOTC

[LaTia J]

(Is this shameless self-promotion? Maybe.)

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let everyone know that our UA video series is returning! Today's video expands on the designer insights from the announcement article about the current Villainous Options Revised UA, talking about the feedback received from the previous ones and how it shaped the current one! To clarify, this is not going over feedback from the survey currently in progress. (BTW, that ends Thursday, so don't forget to get your feedback in!)

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Delighted to see the video returning. It not a UA that I am particularly interested in but hearing from the Devs.

 

[Scribe]

Cool.

 

[bedir than]

First time to feature Carl?

 

[JusticeArman]

First time to feature Carl?

I think it might be! We are big fans of Carl and happy that more folks get to meet him. He's a wonderful designer and an all-around sweetie.

 

[Liongo]

The Hell Knight Fighter is shaping up well.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I am more interested into PC species. What about the spiker/bladeling and the hellbred? They look bad-guys but not too creepy for action-figures to be played by preteens.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Looks like a bladeling to me.

Edit: added art and brief info.

LE outsiders from Acheron, first appearing in 2nd edition. Most notable appearance was in NWN2. I guess they could be a PC species. They would have rather a lot of resistances though: acid, ice, fire, S&P.

Is this going to be a "player options" type book though? It occurs to me that it could be a Blood Wars campaign adventure.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Looks like a bladeling to me.

Edit: added art and brief info.

Spikers were an attempt in 3e to make a "low Level Adjustment" version of a Bladeling.

Much like how Nerraphim could be seen as a "low Level Adjustment" version of a Slaad

I feel that Xeph were also another Temu version of something, Githzerai in fact

I think the 3.5e era Temu versions should just be ignored for the thing they're supposed to represent, and just say "well the PC versions of these monsters are different'

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Yes, we could say 3e spikers were the nerferd version of bladelings. I imagine spikers like cousins of tielflings. If tielflings are "lone wolves" and thugs the spikers are the children of a military family, with a lot of discipline at home. If tielflings are like Jack Dawkins (from Charles Dickens' novel "Oliver Twist") spikers would be like the officer Harry Feversham (from the novel "the four feathers"). Spikers would be infernal planetouched but their way of home would be different. They are born from families with a great military tradition and this means a great difference comparing with tielflings.
The change I would add for spikers is their "natural spikes" should be retractile or can be hidden if the spiker wishes it. They couldn't wear heavy armour (at least without some penalty) but they could sleep in an ordinary bed without causing holes. The bladelings were a playable race in 4e. They had got acid resistance, barbed body and "razor storm".
My idea of bladeling/spikers as a planar specie is the spikes they produce aren't "organic" but more like "solid ectoplasm" created by psionic/spirit magic. Then they can grow spikes on their bodies, armours, shields and weapons.

Do you remember the mutant Evan "Spike" Daniels from the cartoon "X-Men: Evolution"?

And why this change or retcon? Maybe they are from a subrace created intentionally for infiltration operations. Maybe even thanks special racial feat they could produce a special spike to be used as a pick to open some lock.