This week's Unearthed Arcana is jam-packed with new playtest options. In the video below, @ToddKenreck and I chat about the new goodies …
THIS IS A AN AUTOMATIC CAPTION TEXT from YouTube, so it’s not “perfect”.
My advice is to use it just to help people like me that are not english speaking, to understand the Video/Podcast
– You come out with anew Unearthed Arcana.
This is very unique and
changes a lot about the game.
So tell me how this came about,
what is this is new Unearthed Arcana?
– A few years ago, I publicly brought up
that we were going to start exploring
the possibility of introducing
variant class features
for the classes in the player’s handbook.
At the time there was a
lot of interest in that,
also curiosity, what might that look like.
Well this most recent Unearthed
Arcana is exactly that.
That is that thing I
brought up several years ago
that we were going to
explore, and now we finally
have been able to reveal the
fruit of that exploration.
Technically, these variants don’t change
anything about the game because first off,
like all Unearthed Arcana
material it’s play test,
it’s not officially part of the game.
But even if we were to make
these a part of the game.
Let’s say everyone
loves them and we decide
to take them to the next step.
Like the options we
introduced in our other books,
there are subclasses in Guild
Master’s Guide to Ravnica,
there are options in Sword
Coast Adventurer’s Guide,
there are options in
Xanathar’s Guide to Everything,
races in Volo’s Guide, in
Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes.
All of those things are
optional, and that fact
of being optional is true
about these variants as well.
We state right up front a DM decides
if these variants are going to be used
in a particular campaign,
and a DM might decide
to say yes to some of the
variants and no to others.
This is a tool that we
would love to see groups
having the option of
implementing in their games
and deciding how much of
this tool they want to use.
This is really meant to
be in a way a buffet.
For people to come to and look and see
is there something here that’s going
to help enhance their enjoyment
of the classes that they’ve been playing
potentially for the last five years.
So really at the heart of it this is
all about hey, you like this thing?
Here’s a way for you to
see a new side to it.
Here’s a way to maybe smooth away
a piece of this thing that
you liked, smooth away
a piece of it that was
maybe a pain point for you.
So a lot of our work when coming up
with these class features, and this work
was done by Dan Dillon,
Ben Petrisor, and myself,
then getting some editorial
support from Wes Schneider.
Our goal was where there
are pain points, how can we
address those, and then
also where are there
some chances for just some fun new spice?
Where is there a feature in a class
that maybe is really
just there for flavor,
it’s not a load-bearing
element of the class,
where we can provide an
alternative, or an enhancement,
that would give people a new experience?
It’s why I also now just touched on
another important aspect
of this Unearthed Arcana.
That is some of these variants
replace features, and
some of them enhance.
When we first started this project,
all of the variants were
going to be about replacement.
But we realized that our classes
actually have very few features
that we would want to replace.
Now that’s more true for some classes
and less true for others.
The ranger, because of
feedback we’ve received
over the years, we knew
had a number of features
where people would love
to see some alternatives.
– [Todd] Right.
– So that’s why when
you look at this article
you’ll see there are a lot
of replacement options.
But we have other classes
where the core of the class,
the rogue is a fine
example of this, is solid.
– [Todd] Yeah.
– And each of the pieces
of the core class has
an important purpose in
how that class functions
not only mechanically,
but also narratively.
So as we did this exploration we realized
for some classes we don’t
have any replacements
necessarily that we want to offer,
but we do have some enhancements
we want to make available to people.
Now an enhancement basically snaps into
a feature you already
have and gives it a twist.
– [Todd] Right.
– And it’s important
when a person is reading
these enhancements and replacements
to realize that unless the enhancement
explicitly turns something
off in the feature
it’s enhancing, the feature it’s enhancing
continues to work exactly
the way it’s written
in the player’s handbook, but again,
now with a little extra.
– Hence enhancement.
– [Jeremy] Exactly.
– (laughs) It’s taking something
that exists and making it better.
– [Jeremy] Exactly.
– If it’s better for you.
You don’t have to do it.
– You don’t have to do it.
And again, it is each group’s choice
whether they want to
engage with these or not.
Now some people might think
well if these things enhance,
why wouldn’t every group do it?
And here’s why.
There are some groups that love
the simplicity of we just play
with what’s in the player’s handbook.
Which is one of the reasons why we’re not
gonna take these and suddenly say
everyone must apply them to their game.
– [Todd] Right.
– Because a big part of our game is people
getting to calibrate it
to their group’s taste.
So these enhancements
and these replacements,
again it’s a buffet,
and the group can decide
how many of these things they
would like to engage with.
Many of these things,
especially when it comes
to the enhancements, are also ultimately
about providing greater versatility.
If you look at the UA,
the word versatility
in fact shows up over and over again.
– [Todd] Quite often.
(laughs)
– And one of the reasons for that
is I wanted us to provide
an official answer
to the desire in many
groups, which we have
observed over the last
five years, to be able
to have a bit more flexibility
with their character.
For when they make a choice,
not be trapped by that choice.
– [Todd] Right.
– Because we have provided
in the player’s handbook
various ways to, say if you’re a sorcerer,
when you level up, swap out a spell.
– [Todd] Yes, that is
remarkable by the way.
– But that’s in the player’s handbook.
– [Todd] Yeah.
– In this, we provide you the ability
to swap out a spell at
the end of the long rest.
– [Todd] Yeah.
– The reason for that is we actually
have no control over, as game designers,
over how long a level lasts.
And in some groups it has become clear
as we’ve observed different patterns
of play over the last five years,
having to wait ’til that next level
to swap out a spell you
decide you don’t like.
In one group that might just
be a session or two from now.
– [Todd] Right.
– Another group, if another group likes
to just stay the same
level for a long time,
that could be six to 12 months.
– [Todd] Yes.
– Which was not a part
of our original design.
So in a way, us providing this versatility
is signaling to people the game can handle
a sorcerer for instance swapping out
one spell at the end of a short rest.
I mean I’m sorry, a long rest.
Because also ultimately we want people
to be happy with their characters.
To me there is no merit in
the design to make people
eat their vegetables with their character.
– [Todd] Yeah, it’s a game.
– It’s a game.
(Todd laughs)
Now someone might then
ask Jeremy, why don’t you
just let people change
everything all the time?
Now the reason why the rules don’t–
– [Todd] Identity is an important thing.
– Exactly.
The reason why the rules don’t
do that, it’s really twofold.
One, it’s a narrative reason.
We want there to be at least some stable
identity to a person’s character.
But also B, we don’t want the potential
slowdown of reconsidering everything
in your character all the time.
Now there are a few characters where,
like the wizard for
instance, where actually
a deep consideration
daily of their spells,
and all their spells, is a
core part of their identity.
But with wizards we address
that by it’s a spell book,
so the spell book
doesn’t have every single
wizard spell in existence,
it’s a curated list
and then you’re choosing
from that curated list.
– [Todd] And that’s kinda
the charm of being a wizard.
– Yes, yeah, I mean that is
a big part of their identity.
And they still have that identity.
Even now, let’s say a group decides
to use some of these versatility options
in the sorcerer, the bard, the ranger.
They get to swap out one spell every day.
The cleric, the druid, and
the wizard still get to,
if they want to, prepare an entirely
different list of spells every day.
– [Todd] Right.
– So their identity, their versatility,
is still unmatched in the game.
I’m saying this because sometimes
there’s anxiety among players about
one class encroaching upon
another class’s identity.
I’m bringing this up to let people
know the identity is intact.
– [Todd] Not even close.
(Todd laughs)
– One spell versus an entire list
is a very different play experience.
Because you’re still also
going to see stability.
This also, some of these
enhancements, let us…
Bring not only that versatility
that I’m mentioning,
but also address indirectly
pain points in some subclasses.
Here’s a great example of this.
In the monk, some people
might be a little puzzled
by the chi-fueled strike enhancement.
– [Todd] Right.
– Because they’ll realize wait a second,
this enhancement allows a monk,
if in the campaign this enhancement
is basically turned on,
to use their bonus action
to make an unarmed strike
if they used their action,
and as a part of that
action they spent chi.
And people will think
well the monk can already
make unarmed strikes as a bonus action.
What this is doing is this is making it
so that subclasses like the Way of Shadow
and the Way of the Four Elements,
which have certain features that consume
their entire action, spending chi
and often casting a spell, this feature
now allows subclasses like that
to still get their unarmed strike in.
Addressing a piece of
feedback we’ve gotten
about those subclasses sometimes feeling
like they’re falling behind.
So this was also a chance for us to do
some fun rules options that in many cases
killed multiple birds with one stone.
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) November 7, 2019