D&D 5E Unearthed Arcana: Travelers of the Multiverse

New free content from WotC - the latest 4-page Unearthed Arcana introduces six new races: astral elf, autognome, giff, hadozee, plasmoid, and thri-kreen.

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dnd.wizards.com

Looks like Spelljammer and/or Planescape is back on the menu!

 

[Maxperson]

If they were mixing Planescape in, then we would also be seeing rogue modron and briaur races as well. As they haven't, and all the other races fit Spelljammer perfectly...

This isn't a Phlogiston Elf. It's an Astral Elf. While you can assume that you would also see Rogue Modrons and Briaur as races if Plansecape were a part of this, that isn't necessarily true. What is true is that Astral Elf doesn't fit Spelljammer at all. Like not even a little bit. The existence of that race in this UA is pretty strong evidence that there's more than just Spelljammer going on.

 

[OB1]

Well...Spelljammer confirmed.

Now the question is: Spelljammer Setting, or an Adventute with player options?

I'm betting this will be an Adventure, similar to WBtW.

 

[Kurotowa]

This isn't a Phlogiston Elf. It's an Astral Elf. While you can assume that you would also see Rogue Modrons and Briaur as races if Plansecape were a part of this, that isn't necessarily true. What is true is that Astral Elf doesn't fit Spelljammer at all. Like not even a little bit. The existence of that race in this UA is pretty strong evidence that there's more than just Spelljammer going on.

That, or that Spelljammer is getting a significant rework for 5e instead of just a rules port. Say, one where guns aren't commonplace (thus the Giff changes) and where much of the phlogiston and crystal sphere business has been cut and replaced by astral spelljamming that fits more neatly with the existing material.

 

[overgeeked]

• This makes me wonder if Hadozee is actually a stealth test for pterrans. That would explain the lack of climb speed.

Download it again. There's a climb speed listed in the one I have.

 

[Maxperson]

That, or that Spelljammer is getting a significant rework for 5e instead of just a rules port. Say, one where guns aren't commonplace (thus the Giff changes) and where much of the phlogiston and crystal sphere business has been cut and replaced by astral spelljamming that fits more neatly with the existing material.

Theoretically it might just be a sail to other worlds theme and you can get there through space and phlogiston or the astral sea, or maybe they are ditching the phlogiston entirely and just linking worlds through the astral. There's still going to be something planar involved, though. The Astral Elves kinda clinch that.

 

[ReshiIRE]

So how are Thri-Kreen going to interact with Dual Wielding? They seem to be very, very prime candidates for it, along with using shields in their main hands...

Or are there other rules that prevent them using that?

I can certainly see them being very powerful if unusual Paladins...

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I'm talking more in general. I don't see how a single UA somehow limits the scope of what they plan going forward, or how they'll treat the planes/multiverse in general. I mean, this isn't the last UA, and they don't share absolutely everything.

That's true, however I think if they were doing a single "Multiversal Product" they probably would have thrown in a couple of Planescape races too, and probably fewer races so Spelljammer focused. That doesn't mean there won't be a Planescape-Race UA coming next, but I do think if this was all getting shoved into one book, they'd probably come in the same UA as well (a Races UA). Seems more likely than another races UA coming later.

More likely IMO, that they've decided to separate Spelljammer and Planescape into separate products. It makes sense to do that for a couple reason; more products to sell! And they do fill different niches thematically in many ways, as Spelljammer is more swashbuckling, Buck Rogers style fantasy, while Planescape a bit more cerebral, almost Sandman-like fantasy.

I definitely feel that the Boo alternative cover is for this Spelljammer book, and that with this many races, it could well be a hybrid setting-adventure (instead of firmly one-or-the-other).

I'm still very much expecting Planescape to come, it seems like a homerun winner of a product, but I think this UA points to it releasing separately from Spelljammer.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Theoretically it might just be a sail to other worlds theme and you can get there through space and phlogiston or the astral sea, or maybe they are ditching the phlogiston entirely and just linking worlds through the astral. There's still going to be something planar involved, though. The Astral Elves kinda clinch that.

I'm leaning on them ditching Phlogiston and just saying you can sail through the Astral through specific routes or something (they may just call the paths "phlogiston paths" or something). The Astral Elves do seem to be elves from the Imperial Elven Navy.

 

[Weiley31]

So how are Thri-Kreen going to interact with Dual Wielding? They seem to be very, very prime candidates for it, along with using shields in their main hands...

Or are there other rules that prevent them using that?

I can certainly see them being very powerful if unusual Paladins...

I'm more wondering about Quad-Wielding since they can technically use Short Swords or any light weapon in both their main arms and their secondary arms.

 

[Mercurius]

If they were mixing Planescape in, then we would also be seeing rogue modron and briaur races as well. As they haven't, and all the other races fit Spelljammer perfectly...

See my response to Urriah above. I think people put too much stock on singular UAs, is if they tell us everything they're working on or will publish in the near future.

That's true, however I think if they were doing a single "Multiversal Product" they probably would have thrown in a couple of Planescape races too, and probably fewer races so Spelljammer focused. That doesn't mean there won't be a Planescape-Race UA coming next, but I do think if this was all getting shoved into one book, they'd probably come in the same UA as well (a Races UA). Seems more likely than another races UA coming later.

More likely IMO, that they've decided to separate Spelljammer and Planescape into separate products. It makes sense to do that for a couple reason; more products to sell! And they do fill different niches thematically in many ways, as Spelljammer is more swashbuckling, Buck Rogers style fantasy, while Planescape a bit more cerebral, almost Sandman-like fantasy.

I definitely feel that the Boo alternative cover is for this Spelljammer book, and that with this many races, it could well be a hybrid setting-adventure (instead of firmly one-or-the-other).

I'm still very much expecting Planescape to come, it seems like a homerun winner of a product, but I think this UA points to it releasing separately from Spelljammer.

My takeways from this UA are:

A) Spelljammer will probably be more than just a "cameo," or if a "cameo," a significant one.

B) This could be for an adventure with a strong Spelljammer element (the oft-mentioned "Lantan/Spelljammer" story), and not necessarily a setting book.

C) It doesn't tell us how they're going to cover the planes/space D&D as a whole.

That said, this could be for a SJ setting book, but I still think it more llikely that they fold SJ and PS together, that they don't take up two "classic setting slots." But I could be wrong! And certainly, when they say "two classic settings in 2022," they don't really tell us how many books or what sort of products.