Today we saw the release of another Unearthed Arcana - contained within is a veritable smorgasbord of features, including a new race, a new subclass, several backgrounds with associated feats, spells, and a lot of references to the Planescape setting that have set my heart aflutter.
Let's go down the list:
Glitchlings are, it seems, a somewhat more humanoid-like cousin of the Modron. Like Modrons, they are constructs, and use the same exceptions the Autognome gets in order to allow the most common healing spells to work on them (I'm still a little concerned that higher-level heals don't, but at least in this case the list has been expanded to include Mass Healing Word and Mass Cure Wounds, which means that in most tier 2 and likely tier 3 campaigns you're still almost always going to get the heals you need.
Glitchlings get a 14+Dex baseline armor class, which is actually really amazing - any Dex-based character is going to be able to get that to better-than-respectable levels and even medium-armor characters who only go in for +2 to Dex will still be able to skip over anything other than Half Plate to get their full AC potential. They also have small wings that can let them fly for a turn at a time, PB times per day.
The most Mechanus-related ability allows them to also turn attack rolls and saving throws where you roll a 9 or lower on the die into a 10 (before bonuses) PB times per day, which is quite good.
Glitchlings also get advantage on Insight checks as well as saving throws against the charmed condition.
Moving on, we come to the new Cleric Domain - Fate
Fate Domain is one of the elements of this UA that is somewhat themed around the Deck of Many Things, though this is more broadly interested in the concepts of fate and destiny, with a class feature called Omens and Portents.
The features here allow you to grant advantage and disadvantage, as well as adding damage or healing to particular targets. Its capstone allows you to cast Foresight once per day for free, though its duration is only a minute.
Backgrounds here present a lot more evidence that things are going in a Planescape direction. One thing that I think is quite wise is that they suggest that if players take these new backgrounds, which come with a level 1 feat, all other characters who don't take such a background can pick up feats from a curated list that are thematically linked - including new feats like Scion of Elemental Air (or Earth, Fire, or Water) as well as pretty solid catch-all feats, Skilled and Tough.
The Gate Warden background is for characters who spent a lot of time near or influenced by a planar portal - such a characters is unfazed by planar beings coming and going, and might, for instance, treat a demon or an angel as just another passer-through or potential customer.
Gate Wardens get the Scion of the Outer Planes feat, which we'll get to, linking them to a particular plane (categorized by alignment).
Giant Foundlings are fairly straightforward - you're a humanoid (or fey or construct or ooze or whatever) that was raised by giants, and have inherited some of their culture and essence. This background grants the Strike of the Giants feat, which lets you add damage (themed on whichever giants you're linked to) to your attacks a number of times a day, and is a prerequisite for other feats.
Planar Philosopher is the clearest indication that things are going in a Planescape direction - you're an adherent of a distinct philosophy about the planes of existence or the deep mysteries of the multiverse. It's implied you're a member of an organization of like-minded individuals, who are clearly meant to be the Factions of Sigil, such as the Sensates, Harmonium, Indeps, Dustmen, etc. This background also gives you the Scion of the Outer Planes feat, as well as lodging and food at the holdings of your faction.
The suggested Planar Philosopher Traits here each seem to line up with one of Sigil's factions:
"I don't venerate any gods; we can be as powerful or greater than them" is probably the Athar.
"Experience is everything, live in the moment" is clearly the Sensates.
"When things crumble, I find meaning in the ashes" seems to be the Doomguard.
"Life thrives through order; I won't tolerate disruptions" is likely the Guvners, or possibly the Harmonium.
"When other make plans, the multiverse laughs, and so do I" is probably the Revolutionary League, or could potentially be the Xaositects.
"I know what's right, and no one will stand in my way" is... ok, this one's probably the Harmonium.
Anyway - very clearly Planescape-y.
The final background is the Rune Carver, which links the character to the art of runes, granting the Rune Carver Apprentice feat.
Some of the Feats here are revisions of the various giant-themed options found in the previous UA. The minimum level for any feat is now 4. Several include prerequisites - for example, "Cohort of Chaos" requires that you have the Scion of the Outer Planes feat, and specifically that the plane to which you are tied is a chaotic one (which could be anything from Carceri to Limbo to the Beastlands).
Typically, the 4th level feats grant a single ability score bump of 1. As usual with feats, I'm torn between my love of the concept of feats and my impulse to want to max out any numbers on my character sheet that I can, so this softens the blow a little.
Broadly speaking, Strike of the Giants, one of the starter feats, gives you the ability to add elemental damage to a weapon attack a limited number of times per day. Depending on the giant lineage you choose, the damage type changes and there are potentially secondary effects (Fire Giants simply get a d8 added rather than a d6).
Then, the giant-themed feats this unlocks give a half-ASI and some other reaction or passive effect.
Scion of the Outer Planes gives you access to a cantrip and a damage resistance based on the alignment of your plane. Lawful planes grant radiant resistance and Guidance. Good planes give radiant resistance and Sacred Flame. Chaotic planes give necrotic resistance and Minor Illusion. Evil planes grant necrotic resistance and Chill Touch. The Astral Plane grants psychic resistance and Message. The Outlands grants psychic resistance and Mage Hand.
Of course, given that most planes are some mixture of alignments, this means that if your planar influence comes from, say, the Nine Hells, you could choose to emphasize its Lawful or its Evil side.
Like the giant feats, the choice you make when picking up this primary feat also determines which of the subsequent feats you can take, like the aforementioned Cohort of Chaos.
There are also four Scion of the Elemental Plane feats - options for if your character's planar influence is from one of the elemental planes (I guess that Fey Touched and Shadow Touched sort of already cover the Feywild and Shadowfell). These are presented as alternatives, along with Skilled and Tough, if someone else in the party takes one of the backgrounds here that give level 1 feats.
Rune Carver Apprentice has been scaled down a bit - you can only pick two spells from its list rather than just getting all of them. The subsequent Rune Carver Adept lets you use various bonus effects when you cast a spell associated with one of the runes you have active.
Also, there's a feat called Cartomancer, which requires you be a 4th level wizard, warlock, or sorcerer. You can use a deck of cards as a spell focus, and you can add a d4 to one damage roll against one creature hurt by a spell you cast, PB times per long rest. You can also cast Prestidigitation and conceal the verbal and somatic components as mundane conversation and card-handling. Finally, when you finish a long rest, you can imbue a spell of a level less than or equal to your proficiency bonus, and you can use a bonus action to cast the spell (for free, I think? Or maybe the bonus action is the main benefit?) after which the card loses its magic.
Finally, we come to the spells!
The spells here are inspired by the Deck of Many Things - both just the nature of cards and also the effects of some of them.
Spray of Cards is a 2nd level 15-foot cone that will either blind targets who fail a con save or deal 2d10 slashing damage to creatures that fail a dex save (or half on a success). The damage here is a little worse than an up-cast Burning Hands, but the option to blind rather than damage is pretty cool and worth considering.
Antagonize lets you force a wisdom save from a creature within 30 feet of your choice, and if they fail, they take 4d4 psychic damage and must use their reaction to make a melee attack against another creature within range that you can see (if there isn't a good target, the initial target had disadvantage on its next attack roll). This spell could be very funny, but I wonder if it's good enough to be 3rd level.
House of Cards lets you build a moderately sized tower made of giant playing cards that rises up out of the ground with you on top of it. The walls are pitifully weak - AC 10 and 1 HP, with the usual immunity to poison or psychic damage. When a card/wall is destroyed, there's a 1/3 chance that the whole thing collapses and the spell ends, potentially dropping you 30 feet, but it's still pretty hilarious and awesome.
Finally, Spirit of Death and Summon Warrior Spirit function similarly to the "Summon" spells found in Tasha's. Spirit of Death will focus in on a target of your choice and only attack them, with attacks that deal 1d10+3+the spell's level (at base, 4) and a number of attacks equal to half the spell's level rounded down. The Reaper Spirit can hover and has incorporeal movement, and it always knows the direction and distance to the haunted target. It can also, once a day, potentially reduce the target's movement to 0 with a fear effect.
While flavorfully this is very cool, I don't really see it being much better than Summon Undead. The damage might be slightly higher, but the limit to only one target and the duration of only a minute (versus an hour) feels quite restrictive.
Summon Warrior Spirit allows you to choose between Barbarian, Fighter, or Monk. The Barbarian basically only makes reckless Greataxe attacks, while the Monk makes Unarmed Strikes with a Strength save against being knocked prone, and a third strike as a bonus action. The Fighter can make either ranged or melee attacks and gives 1d6 temporary hit points to an ally after it hits with its attacks.
As usual, with spells like these, I think the only downside is that the damage here is all bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing, and while the magic that conjured this spirit is... magical, I believe that the rules would suggest the creature itself does not inherently have magical attacks (otherwise, what would be the point of the Circle of Shepherds Druid's ability?)
Anyway, with that this massive grab-bag of playtest content is there for your perusal. I'm very excited for Planescape stuff - though again, I find myself torn as I want to run a Ravenloft campaign, a Spelljammer campaign, and one in my homebrew setting as well, but Planescape also draws me in (though I'd likely put less focus on the Sigil factions given that I've been running a campaign set in a massive city controlled by philosophically bizarre guilds for the past couple years already).
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