Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana probably coming to D&D website (Reddit AMA)

[trentonjoe]

The player info is packaged with the player campaign info. So in order to get the Thri-Kreen race, I'd have to buy a $30 book on whatever BS Dark-Sun campaign they are running at cons that year, instead of a sourcebook on how to make my OWN campaign. That annoys me.

It's gonna be more than $30!

 

[DMZ2112]

Everybody knows this.

Well, did you know that potatoes can fruit?

OR...
You introduce a Campaign Setting in three stages: a GM world guide, a sourcebook/adventure guide for the world, and then an AP/module line. You could do this for Eberron, Dragonlance, Ravenloft, etc. One book gives you the world-down info, one book gives you the PC options and the "what the world is like" info, and the modules give you an ongoing storyline.
I don't expect ALL APs to be like this, but I can wager a few of them will be.

That was D&D4's approach. It involves the reprinting of a lot of information we've already bought. No sale. The only way this strategy would interest me is if it was an entirely new setting, and if that were the case it would need a hell of a hook.

Don't get me wrong, I want to see all of D&D's settings given printer time in D&D5. But I want all the material to be new -- an /addition/ to what has already been made available. Give me my Sigil boxed set with a real map that isn't lazily tiled, perhaps in support of urban campaign and combat rules. Give me an update on what's going on in the Moonshae Isles post-Sundering, perhaps in support of Feywild rules. Give me a cross-setting Spelljammer war in support of ship-to-ship combat rules!

 

[TerraDave]

"I'll give you an example of a theoretical expansion.

Let's say we wanted to do psionics. We'd tie that to a campaign you can play, maybe one centered on mind flayers or a similar foe.
The psionic sourcebook would be the player's companion to the DM's mind flayer campaign. The sourcebook would have all the info for creating psionic characters, along with world material for players who are creating characters for the mind flayer campaign. The player's book might also have a chapter written from an in-world perspective on psionics and psionic monsters, the kind of information that a character might have access to or have heard.

You can expect us to do one or two such products a year, to give people enough time to play through a campaign without overwhelming them with new options."

He says more on "getting out of the box" for player options:

That's the kind of stuff that will come in as we produce books to support specific campaigns and story arcs. For instance, you could imagine that the githzerai as a playable race would make a lot of sense in a psionics book that supported a mind flayer-based campaign.
Fey options would fit into a Feywild campaign, and so on.

 

[TerraDave]

He also notes in the context of "articles for the D&D website providing advice on topics such as Dungeon Mastering?" That yes, they will do that next year. So, just wait a few more months...

 

[Zaukrie]

Five months from launch before we get columns .....wow. that can't be marketing idea.

 

[am181d]

So it sounds like a couple of Adventure Paths a year, each with its own Player's Guide with new options -- and possibly with a rule about only using content from one such book at a time. (That sounds an awful lot like M:TG's deck construction rules.)

 

[TarionzCousin]

So it sounds like a couple of Adventure Paths a year, each with its own Player's Guide with new options -- and possibly with a rule about only using content from one such book at a time. (That sounds an awful lot like M:TG's deck construction rules.)

So... you only get to use the powers from a particular splatbook when it is face down on the table in front of you and you "tap" it during your turn.

 

[TerraDave]

A little on licensing and what they will do themselves (and he is very consistent)

We'll be working with partners, and focusing our efforts on bigger picture things we can do to keep the core rules functioning smoothly, working on ways to expand the D&D audience, and acting as caretakers or custodians of the game as it moves forward.
This approach lets us focus on what we do well - strategy, rules refinement, managing feedback and playtests - while letting our partners focus on the tactical execution of specific projects that are their area of expertise.

EDIT: So in terms of adventure paths and related player supplements...third parties will do 1 or 2 a year, under their supervision.

 

[Blue]

For starters:
Redesign several classes to get Archetypes and similar at first level
Redesign the cleric to be much closer to 2e specialty priests

In my opinion that would be a step back. 5e multiclassing is akin to 3.0 & 3.5, and the #1 problem with those was cherry-picking a level here and a level there from different classes for a load of good stuff. Having defining abilities starting at 2nd or 3rd means that not everyone steals the same cool abilities. Rules for not getting all proficiencies and skills for additional classes also helps.

Please browse the character builds board here and look for people talking about taking a level of cleric to get heavy armor proficiency, since that comes from a domain you get at 1st. This is an example of what you would get if all sorts of defining characteristics were given at 1st. But instead it would be the wolf totem blade pact valor thief of vengeance for the war god.

Now, with the XP chart it seems PCs are supposed to hit 5th rather quick. In your game if you want to say 1st & 2nd level are "pre-adventurer" and start PCs at 3rd you can have everyone defined as you like while having minimal impact on the grant scheme of advancement.

 

[Nellisir]

What I glean from Mearls' statements about future supplements is that they'll thematically fit with the "Adventure Path" being published in the same quarter, (e.g. the "Elemental Evil" adventure path will be published close to the supplement with Genasi Races, Elemental-powered Classes, and so on) but other than that the books can just be used as stand-alone character options and fluff books, with no connection to the story arc at all.

The sourcebook would have all the info for creating psionic characters, along with world material for players who are creating characters for the mind flayer campaign. The player's book might also have a chapter written from an in-world perspective....

Those are pretty significant connections.