D&D 5E Unearthed Arcana: Draconic Options

The latest Unearthed Arcana from WotC is called Draconic Options. It includes three variant Dragonborn races and a new kobold race, as well as a handful of new spells and feats. Dragonlance fans might do a double-take when they see Fizban's platinum shield (two Forgotten Realms dragons are referenced in the spells, too -- Icingdeath and Raulothim -- as is the FR god of fey dragons, Nathair).

Harness the power of dragons in this installment of Unearthed Arcana! This playtest document presents race, feat, and spell options related to dragons in Dungeons & Dragons.

First is a trio of draconic race options presented as an alternative to the dragonborn race in the Player’s Handbook, as well as a fresh look at the kobold race. Then comes a handful of feat options that reflect a connection to draconic power. Finally, an assortment of spells—many of them bearing the names of famous or infamous dragons—offer a variety of approaches to manifesting dragon magic.

News Archive | Dungeons and Dragons

Read the full archives of Dungeons & Dragons news, Sage Advice, Unearthed Arcana, and D&D Studio Blogs.

dnd.wizards.com

 

[Chaosmancer]

But Charm Monster and Dominate Monster don't. Because the game saddles the line between sim and abstract
The flavour of this feature is that you're doing something that mentally affects the monster. It feels like an oversight that it can mentally affect an ooze

Which is the whole dang point of these play tests. For people to point out weird stuff they may have missed or that don't feel right
If you're just gonna shrug and say "it's an abstraction" and making excuses then why are they bothering?

I think the point is that saying that "constructs and undead are immune to this effect" doesn't fit either. After all, undead aren't immune to fear. Golems are, but what about Warforged? And maybe it isn't a fear effect, maybe it is a sub-sonic thrum that draws attention to the enemies weak points.

I think this isn't a case of them overlooking this, and more of them not tying it directly to any one thing and writing in a dozen exceptions to the ability.

 

[Hohige]

I look forward to seeing my Dragon Sorcerer, launching Distant Empowered Elemental Afinity Fireball flying at a RED DRAGON (Extended Summon Dragon Spirit).
Epic and devastating.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Wonder what the kobold's roar looks like in the game world? Like, why do other heroes get advantage?

It gives the hearer disadvantage on it's defence rolls...

But, since D&D 5e doesn't have defence rolls, it has to be modelled by giving advantage to the person attacking them instead.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The flavour of this feature is that you're doing something that mentally affects the monster. It feels like an oversight that it can mentally affect an ooze

It says the affected creature must be able to hear the roar. The DM is free to rule that oozes are deaf.

But it doesn't say the effect is mental. You could just as well rule that it is a subsonic wave that destabilises the molecules in armour/flesh.

Because you can do anything you like with technobabble.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

This is the other part of the persistent urban legend.

In the actual 3e Monster Manual entry for kobolds, the only reference of any kind to dragons is that they speak Draconic. Which is the same language the other reptilian humanoids -- lizard folk, troglodytes, and yuan-ti -- spoke. The same is true in the 3.5 Monster Manual entry. Kobolds at this point are no more linked to dragons than lizard folk are. (Oh, yes, the sorcerer class writeup in the 3/3.5 PHB says kobold sorcerers are proponents of the theory that sorcerers get their power from the blood of dragons. This does not imply kobolds as a race are any more closely linked to dragons than dwarves as a race, given the existence of dwarven sorcerers.)/

The kobold-dragon link is initially presented as myth/propaganda/a joke in 3rd edition. Over time it starts to be accepted as fact, so that by the time Neverwinter Nights - Shadows of Undrentide is released in 2003 it has a kobold character - Deekin Scalesinger - who is very firmly connected to dragons.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

In Dragon Magic 3.5 there were variant PCs linked to dragons, for example drows with deep dragons.

This retcon about kobolds is because the idea has become very popular and accepted or tolerated by the fandom. And we know chromatic dragons are willing to use transgenic magic with kobolds and other minions

 

[Mind of tempest]

In Dragon Magic 3.5 there were variant PCs linked to dragons, for example drows with deep dragons.

This retcon about kobolds is because the idea has become very popular and accepted or tolerated by the fandom. And we know chromatic dragons are willing to use transgenic magic with kobolds and other minions

also, it give kobolds a point and real place other than xp speed bump flavour twelve.

 

[Aldarc]

The kobold-dragon link is initially presented as myth/propaganda/a joke in 3rd edition. Over time it starts to be accepted as fact, so that by the time Neverwinter Nights - Shadows of Undrentide is released in 2003 it has a kobold character - Deekin Scalesinger - who is very firmly connected to dragons.

Yeah, but it proved popular and fun to imagine that these little dungeon fodder creatures were kin to epic dragons that a joke myth turned into fact. It wasn't just Deekin though. There was also Meepo in Sunless Citadel.

Rule of Fun often does wonders for the acceptance of foes. For example, it was Rob Pardo's humorous voice work for the orc units in Warcraft 2 that led to Blizzard deciding to give the orcs a redemption arc in Warcraft 3.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Yeah, but it proved popular and fun to imagine that these little dungeon fodder creatures were kin to epic dragons that a joke myth turned into fact. It wasn't just Deekin though. There was also Meepo in Sunless Citadel.

Rule of Fun often does wonders for the acceptance of foes. For example, it was Rob Pardo's humorous voice work for the orc units in Warcraft 2 that led to Blizzard deciding to give the orcs a redemption arc in Warcraft 3.

"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Is it weird I want people to have the history straight? Fine, I'm weird. The history is that D&D kobolds were written as reptiles, but not draconic, from 1977-2005. There was all sorts of table variation, yes, but the books still say what they say.

I don't think that it's weird that you want to discuss it; that kind of thing is what these boards are for. I do, however, think that you're wrong. Prior to 3.x the books said that they were dog-like, with scaly skin. You may think that scaly-skin can only belong to reptiles, and so have seen them that way (as clearly many people did, including 3e designers as they went that way). But it's clear that a lot of other people put the accent, if you will, on the dog-like, and the goblin-related folklore origins (including many D&D designers up to and including 2e) and they had very little lizard-like qualities.

The books may "say what they say" but they objectively don't say that kobolds were little lizard-folk.