D&D 5E (2014) Preview of Eberron Rising!

[TarionzCousin]

"Note to self: employ half orc sidekick called Igor."

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That’s...a whole thing. Okay.

What does the base class get in place? Or did they just decide that good cantrips were enough?

The base class is very reworked.

At level 5, when the Battlesmith gets Extra Attack the other subclasses get a spell damage boosting ability, significantly buffed from the previous version. There is no reason an Alchemist or Artillerist would prefer to use a weapon attack to a spell attack now, so losing Extra Attack isn't something they would even notice.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

View attachment 115750

"That's no hump, that's where I stow the cannon."

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Revamped Aberrant Dragonmark: You can now cast your sorcerer spell on a long or short rest!

Rather than upcasting (which rather limited your spell selection) When you cast the spell you can roll a hit die and gain [roll] temp hp on an even role, or do [roll] force damage to a random target within 30' on an odd roll.

This seems like a good option for a variant human barbarian - pick Shield, charge into a group of foes, use your reaction to gain +5 AC and either 1d12 temp hp or do 1d12 force damage to (hopefully) an enemy.

And you still get +1 con and a cantrip.

It looks like Advanced Dragonmarks my have been removed.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Bear in mind that the only "Random" potions are the ones that you get for free, and that they are determined when created.
So you can't guarantee a potion of Boldness from your free ones, but you do know what potions you have available to use after you create them. If you really want a potion of Boldness, you can see if you get one for free, and then just choose to make one with a 1st level slot if you didn't.

As 1st level spells, those potions are pretty good considering you can break the action economy a little. You can stack all those buffs with no concentration, and pass the potions to your party beforehand so they are taking the actions to "cast" them.
Possibly pretty solid for a character wanting more party support options rather than more personal power.

It would have been nice if a higher slot would change something. It would also be nice if the 5th level ability worked on the potions too.
But I found some hidden saving graces:
The spell list has 2 very useful bonus action spells: flaming sphere at level 5 and healing word, that other artificers don´t have by default. So if you want a little bit more damage, you can do it.
Also if the homunculus can be commanded with a bonus action, the alchemist is the only one really benefitting from that. So maybe due to the limited preview, we might miss something.