Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana is Here - and it's all about EBERRON!

Pretty awesome that this series has started

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/unearthed-arcana-eberron

Will Greyhawk or Dragonlance be next??

Probably Dragonlance. Does Greyhawk have any particular crunchy player bits that aren't covered by the PHB already?

 

[Parmandur]

Mike Mearls has clarified on Twitter that Changelings can only change into individuals that they have seen: no original remixing, he drew a comparison between Changlings and the MM Dopplegangers having a parasite like nature, not creative. Creepy stuff!

 

[Leatherhead]

Changelings are a bit oddly restricted, not being able to do a "generic" or custom face is quite a departure from how they used to be.

Shifters are interesting, although I have to wonder how well they interact with bonus action scarcity, and that Wildhunt bonus on wisdom saves stands out because all of the other changes are physical rather than mental ones (even if normal lycanthropes do have mental changes it raises many questions).

Warforged have been evened out a bit, no healing weirdness, and they have to "trance" now. Speeds up combat, slows down downtime activities.

And I just noticed there are no age rules. They are mostly fluff, but it's important fluff and it only takes a sentence or two and minimum time to transpose.

The artificer is what disappoints me though. Not just the lack of mechanical skills. But I would have liked to see elemental damage, resistances, special movement types, and other infusion powers rather than simple +1 or +2 bonuses.

I expected Dragonmarks to be a background. Just so that everyone could get in on them at first level. I suppose feats are more akin to their real power though.

 

[Minigiant]

With the changeling's restriction.

It's only a restriction if the race is race or a race has regional aspects (darker skinned humans in hot climates, red dragonborn near mountains, etc).

I see hundreds of humans everyday. I could easily pick one as my "generic".

 

[Henry]

Im a HUGE fan of Eberron, and so Im VERY excited about this... However, I have some notes...

Changlings - the use of the word polymorph is a strange one, it implies that the changling takes on physical characteristics of the creature it changed into... in the past it was a physical change only, more akin to the Warlock ability that gives you "at will" use of disguise self.

Actually, Races of Eberron said they could even take on full gender changes, to the extent a male Changeling could get pregnant as a female, and be "stuck" as a female until they give birth. So much more complete than just a disguise self spell, probably where the "polymorph" idea comes from. I think it does go against the rules as intended to start swapping in ability score mods, though, since as noted part of the 5e philosophy is keeping ability score tweaks to a minimum.

 

[guachi]

Wow... that is one heck of a bland document.
I understand the lack of art, but they could have at least given it a background or some pagination.

Maybe if they had an editor? Oh, wait...

 

[Vael]

Mike Mearls has clarified on Twitter that Changelings can only change into individuals that they have seen: no original remixing, he drew a comparison between Changlings and the MM Dopplegangers having a parasite like nature, not creative. Creepy stuff!

....

I'd like that more if that wasn't a change from how they'd been previously explained. It is creepy and cool, but ... it's not how I'd use Changelings in Eberron.

 

[Zaran]

The Warforged needs a +2 Stat. It's a very weak race as it stands.

 

[Jester David]

Maybe if they had an editor? Oh, wait...

Oh SNAP!

 

[Minigiant]

....

I'd like that more if that wasn't a change from how they'd been previously explained. It is creepy and cool, but ... it's not how I'd use Changelings in Eberron.

Can't your generic be some random traveller or random passerby no one would recognize?

Only issue is if the race is race at which point, few can tell the difference'
or
if you never met the race, then you have a 100% chance of falling in the Uncanny Valley as you'd have no base.

Quite frankly, original mix made no sense.
You can't see say "it's magic" because they don't cast spells. No disguise self was casted.

The doppelganger or changeling is altering their body with their own mind. No arcane magic cheats to hacks it.

I'd rule

"If one turned into an original form, all onlookers have advantage on checks to see you are a bit off."

 

[Zaran]

I would even give Warforged a third +1, that can be put in any stat including one of the two they already have. This gives the effect of some warforged made for specific tasks.