Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: Starter Spells; Plus UA Returning To Monthly & Sage Advice Returning

Chaos Bolt is the first Sorcerer-only spell. Interesting.

What I've read so far looks really good. I like the idea of Ceremony quite a bit, but some of the effects (Investiture!) might be a little overpowered.

 

[Lanliss]

I could see it being awkward at some tables, but it could cute and narratively satisfying at others. The Eve of the Final Battle "if not now, when?" marriage is a solid trope, and a plausible development for party members who were romantically involved during a campaign. It would only be awkward if the parties involved were just getting married for the buff.

It's just a shame the casting time is 1 hour, because it keeps you from pulling a Pirates of the Caribbean style mid-battle marriage.

Another funny thought is comparing it to Pirates of the Carribean. Barbosa married Will and Swan in the middle of a battle, with that exact reasoning.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I like the idea of healing elixer just for the material component of alchemy supplies.

Yes! In one of my campaign worlds, warlocks and alchemists are very closely tied together, and this set of new spells for the warlock will really help make that fit.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

"Marriage" that only lasts 24 hours? I think that's usually called something else...

It says nothing about how long the marriage last, just the buff.

 

[cbwjm]

Hand of Radiance is an example of what I do with spells all the time, take one spell, in this case sword burst, and alter it to fit another purpose. I have different elemental versions of a few spells, makes it really easy for sorcerers to get spells of their related element... or at least it would if I had players who picked sorcerer.

I don't like the ceremony spell. I don't think those things should be a spell. I think they should include things like marriage in an expanded version of the Performing Sacred Rites downtime activity. That would make more sense to me.

Pretty sure this one has been grandfathered in from 1st edition. Personally, I wouldn't find much use for it and agree that it should probably just be a downtime activity, but I'm sure there are some that will make use of (ie. abuse) its different effects.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Great List. And Marriage doesn't even specify gender or number of participants. Very inclusive, I love it.

It does, however, rule out the possibility of divorce and remarriage. Clearly WotC are reactionary dinosaurs after all.

 

[Henry]

Awesome! The return of the Ceremony spell to D&D. Funny enough, first place I saw it was Unearthed Arcana in 1985. in particuluar I've been looking for something like Last rites for a while now, though I wish it were permanent instead of 24 hours.

 

[TerraDave]

Definitely the most useful of these they have done for a while.

Awesome! The return of the Ceremony spell to D&D. Funny enough, first place I saw it was Unearthed Arcana in 1985. in particuluar I've been looking for something like Last rites for a while now, though I wish it were permanent instead of 24 hours.

I think several, most?, of these are coming from past editions.

Ceremony was originally in Dragon with a set of then new cleric spells (declared official at the time) before UA. Probably because in B/X & AD&D they got so few. Will look up the details tomorrow.

 

[pukunui]

Awesome! The return of the Ceremony spell to D&D. Funny enough, first place I saw it was Unearthed Arcana in 1985.

Looking at that original version, I'm even more convinced that it should be a downtime activity (or something similar) rather than a spell.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

There are some new cantrips and 1st level spells in this week's UA: http://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UA-Starter-Spells.pdf.

Also:

The Final Month of the Current UA Series
For a while now, we’ve been releasing Unearthed Arcana multiple times a month as part of a special series of articles. That series wraps up at the end of April 2017. After that, we’ll return to releasing Unearthed Arcana once, sometimes twice, a month, and the Sage Advice column will return. In the meantime, Jeremy Crawford will continue to provide official rules answers on Twitter (@JeremyECrawford), as well as in the Sage Advice segment in the Dragon Talk podcast.

Does anyone else besides me find it extremely funny that in D&D-land, apparently the primary benefit of marriage is a temporary +2 bonus to your AC and saving throws? At least in 5E.

What a messed-up world that implies.

 

[Lanliss]

Does anyone else besides me find it extremely funny that in D&D-land, apparently the primary benefit of marriage is a temporary +2 bonus to your AC and saving throws? At least in 5E.

What a messed-up world that implies.

The power of love empowers us to fight harder for the one we love than we ever could alone.