As usual, the UA rounding out the Priest classes (hey, we're halfway through the PHB classes!) has more than just the classes themselves. Let's take a stroll through these things:
Epic Boons Get More Epic:
With class features now capping out at level 18, all classes now get a special Epic Boon feat at level 20. However, what has been added to this is that, in addition, you now get a +2 to any ability score, and rather than capping at 20 in that score, it now caps at 30, meaning that everyone can get a +6 in their primary ability. (We'll have to see if Barbarians still get the +4 to Strength and Con, but if they do, a level 20 Barbarian could potentially have a 26 in Strength at level 20, which is pretty sweet.)
Additionally, Epic Boons now, like 4th level feats, come with an ability score increase (though just one point,) meaning you're actually getting a total of three extra points to your scores. This is also capped at 30, so if you have a really extended max-level campaign in which you get multiple epic boons, you could potentially get a +10 to a score. Unlikely, but cool.
We only got three feats, which have gotten the following revisions:
Epic Boon of Fate is actually worded in a funny way that might be an error - if a creature within 60 feet of you fails a d20 test, you can roll 2d4 and apply the total as a bonus or a penalty to the roll once per turn, with 8 charges and regaining 2d4 charge when you finish a long rest. I have to imagine that it is meant to also work on successes, because otherwise applying a penalty to a check already failed could only help if there's a more severe effect for failing by 5 or more - which players tend not to impose. Additionally, you get a 1-point bonus to your choice of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (max of 30).
Epic Boon of Spell Recall also buffs Int, Wis, or Cha by 1 and each time you cast a spell with a spell slot of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th level, you roll a d4, and if the number you roll is the spell's level, you don't expend the spell slot. I actually like this a lot, though I worry it might not be popular because anecdotally you'll have a lot of times where it doesn't help at all. By 20th level, getting more 4th level spells isn't going to be game-breaking. In the long run, this should give you an average of 25% more low-level spell slots, which could be really nice to free up some utility, though I can imagine it being very sad when you don't get any free slots in a day. (We'll have to wait and see how Warlocks look in One D&D, because in theory, while this is available to Priests and Mages, a Warlock won't have any spell slots this low by level 20).
Epic Boon of Truesight is very simple: you get a +1 to Int, Wis, or Charisma, and you get Truesight out to 60 feet. This is identical to the previous version in the Cleric UA other than the ability score bump. I think this is actually a very cool and simple feature, so all good.
Spell Changes:
First off, as a reminder, most healing spells are now considered Abjuration, which is important for Circle of the Moon Druids, who can now cast Abjuration spells in their Wild Shape forms (without having to wait for Beast Spells at high level).
Paladins are going to be looking at a very big and welcome change to Smite spells. The casting time now is officially a "bonus action which you take immediately after hitting a creature with a weapon or unarmed strike." In the current system, Smite spells are odd in that they're concentration spells that you have to cast before you attack, meaning that if you miss, you can actually potentially lose concentration if you get hit before you hit with your attack. Likewise, they don't get the benefit Divine Strike has by letting you wait for a critical hit. But all of that has changed! Now, you basically make the decision the same way you would a Divine Strike, though of course you can't stack them now.
I actually think this is a great change. Divine Smite will remain the highest damage option, but now the only penalty for picking one of these spells instead is lower damage (and preparing the spell, though I expect a lot of Oaths to have these as oath spells). These thus become more reasonable tactical choices, and allow you to make the decision when it's most pertinent.
Now, Spare the Dying has potentially gotten a huge buff, though that depends a bit on interpretation. The cantrip (which, remember, Paladins can now take) now restores 1 hit point to a creature with the Dying condition. We're going to have to unpack that. If this works as it would by current rules, that's freaking enormous. However, we need to look at the way the new Dying condition works, though I think it's still open to interpretation:
When you hit 0 hit points, you have the Dying Condition. If you regain any Hit Points while Dying, this condition ends (seems straightforward). While Dying, you are "knocked out" and have the Unconscious condition (which we'll unpack below). At the start of each of your turns, you make a Death saving throw. These work the same as they did, except: when you succeed at a total of 3 death saves, you regain 1 hit point, ending the Dying condition, but you remain Unconscious and begin a Short Rest. You remain Unconscious until you regain any Hit Points or another creature uses an action to administer first aid to you, which requires a DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check. If you take any damage while Dying, you suffer a failure of a death save, or two if it's a critical hit.
Now, let's look at Unconscious: You have the Incapacitated and Prone conditions and drop whatever you are holding. Your speed is 0 and can't change. Attack rolls against you have advantage. You automatically fail Dex and Strength saving throws. Any attack against you that hits is a critical hit if the attacker is within 5 feet of you. And you are unaware of your surroundings.
So, backing things up: I think you only remain unconscious if you regain the 1 hit point by succeeding at Death saves. Thus, Spare the Dying now fully wakes you up, allowing you to get back into the fight. This makes this cantrip way, way, way, way more powerful. Essentially, the 2014 version is only really useful if the healer is completely out of spell slots and the fight's almost over (or is over,) unless you're a Grave cleric and can cast it at range as a bonus action. This, though, is basically the old "1 point of Lay on Hands to wake up an ally" that a lot of Paladins use, but as a cantrip that never runs out. This spell got a lot better, and might now be a go-to.
I made a whole post about Find Familiar and Find Steed, so we'll skip that one.
This UA includes a changelog for the Rules Glossary, which is really useful for this kind of review, even giving us some insights into the actual changes.
First off, we have new definitions for the Dying Condition (as seen in the Spare the Dying discussion,) Knocking a Creature Out, Short Rests, Telepathy, and the Unconscious Condition (likewise discussed above).
Knocking a Creature Out is now an option for any melee attack (which would seem to include spell attacks that are melee-based, so have fun Inflict Wounds-ing someone to sleep). When you do this, you can choose to reduce the creature to 1 hit point instead of 0, and then give them the Unconscious condition, during which they begin a Short Rest. They remain unconscious until they regain any hit points or someone administers 1st aid to it with a DC 10 Medicine check.
The gist here is that 1 hit point is kind of standing in for "stable at 0 hit points" as it was in the 2014 rules, but seems to more or less work the same.
A Short Rest looks pretty similar to its current iteration, but we get the following things to officially interrupt it: rolling initiative, casting a spell that's not a cantrip, or taking any damage, and unlike a Long Rest, which can take a short interruption lasting less than an hour, and interruption to a Short rest will require you to start it over.
Telepathy gets cleared up a little: you don't need to share a language to speak telepathically, and even if only one member of the conversation is telepathic, you can both communicate to one another. Only a telepath can initiate the conversation, though. If a creature is not telepathic itself, it needs to understand at least one language for you to have conversation with it. Seems pretty straightforward.
Now, a few entries have been revised:
On D20 Tests, you no longer automatically get Heroic Inspiration (now renamed Heroic Advantage) for rolling a 1 - it's back to being DM's discretion or a Human racial trait.
This one's huge: your allies are no longer Difficult Terrain. No more leapfrog nightmares in narrow corridors! Also, furniture is difficult terrain if it's a size smaller than you or larger.
The rules on Equipping weapons have been clarified: this can mean drawing it from a sheathe, picking it up, or retrieving it from a container, and you can do this before or after each attack you make as part of the attack action (you can also unequip it, meaning sheathing, stowing, or dropping). Basically, the rules get out of the way here, which is great.
Fly Speed has had the circumstances in which you fall defined as being, when you lack the Hover trait, getting Incapacitated, being Prone, or having your speed reduced to 0. I'm not sure I remember how this differs from the previous version, but I'd assume it's the 0 speed thing. Makes logical sense.
The Grappled Condition has been somewhat reverted in that you once again need to make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to escape a grapple as an action, though this happens automatically if the grappler is incapacitated or if the distance between you and the grappler exceeds the grapple's reach. The "save at the end of your turn" version of this made being grappled less scary, so this might be for the best. A lot of the other new changes (like imposing disadvantage on attacks against those other than the grappler) are still there. The grappler no longer gets the "Slowed" condition (which has been removed) and instead expends an extra foot of movement for each foot they move while grappling you unless you're Tiny or at least two sizes smaller than the grappler.
The Help Action now also allows you to help if you have a relevant Tool Proficiency, in addition to Skill Proficiencies.
Heroic Advantage is the new name for Heroic Inspiration, and is now back to being primarily awarded at DM's discretion, with no automatic gain for rolling a natural 1.
The Incapacitated condition now clarifies that you also don't get Bonus Actions.
The Long Rest has gotten a lot of little tweaks. In specifies that if you're sleeping (which you need to do for 6 hours of the 8) you have the Unconscious condition. You cannot benefit from a Long Rest until you've spent 16 hours since your last one (which comes around to meaning no more than one in 24 hours). Interruptions include rolling initiative, casting a spell higher than 0th-level, taking any damage, or 1 hour of walking or other physical exertion. If the rest lasted at least 1 hour before the interruption, you can take the benefits of a Short Rest, and if the Long Rest is interrupted, you can resume the rest immediately, taking one extra hour per interruption.
Notably, this means that you don't have to start over entirely if your interruption lasts more than 1 hour, as it did in previous UAs. None of this stuff is particularly mindblowing, but it's good to get it all clearly delineated.
Moving has gotten a couple changes: as before, your allies are no longer Difficult Terrain - neither are Tiny or smaller creatures. So yeah, that's massive and really great for when your party is stuck in a narrow corridor and the melee folks are in the back. Also specified is that any changes to your move speed are also applied to your other speeds.
Finally, Unarmed Strikes only use an attack roll when you're trying to do damage to them. If you want to Grapple or Shove a target, the target makes a Strength or Dexterity saving throw (their choice) against a DC equal to 8 + your Strength modifier + your Proficiency bonus. You also can't grapple or shove a target that is more than one size larger than you, and you need a free hand to grab a target if you want to grapple.
We're still of course waiting to see the One D&D Monk, but I hope that they get to change this DC to be based on their Dexterity so that they can use these maneuvers effectively.
Finally, we've seen the following entries removed from the Rules Glossary. Naturally, some of these are still in the game (remember that anything not listed here is assumed to be the same as in the 2014 PHB) but some of the new concepts are gone. These include:
Ability Check (obviously still a thing, but ignore what was written before).
Attack Roll (ditto)
Climbing and Swimming (the oddness of using these speeds for walking is probably getting reworded)
Dash (curious to see what was wrong with the previous One D&D version, which I thought was just an action to Move again)
Hidden (yeah, this had issues. The surprising thing is that the Hide action having a flat DC of 15 is still there)
Jump (this one I'm happy to see go, as it prevented attacking after you jumped across a crevasse, which seems wrong)
Slowed (I actually thought this was cool, though condition bloat is a real thing - holy crap there are so many conditions in Starfinder)
Special Speeds (I imagine they're working out new wording to get the nuances of Climbing, Swimming, and Flying speeds clear).
Anyway, a lot of stuff to chew on in this UA. And I'm very happy to have more to look at. We're kind of in a moment where a ton of companies are working on their own RPG systems - I've seen Kobold Press' Project Black Flag, which has a conservative approach that looks very similar to 5E, but then MCDM just officially announced what they'd already been talking about, which is an RPG system that they want to make from scratch that will probably feel very different. And while I'm eager to try new things, I'm also very excited to see this refinement of 5E D&D that is about 95% stuff I'm very happy about.
While we've now done the exhaustive deep-dive on this UA, I'm sure that new nuances and thoughts I have will pop up. I'm still ravenous to get the Warrior and Mage classes in hand (and I'm particularly curious about the tantalizing Design Note that says "the Shortsword (Simple) and the Scimitar (Martial) will have different roles to play in the game," and the way that weapons appear to have clearer distinctions in their functionality moving forward - right now a Longsword and a Battleaxe are functionally identical other than weight and cost, but that might change). I think it'll probably be a bit before we get those, but hopefully not too long.
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