New underdark UA

For those who don’t look at the front page  

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/2243-designer-insights-from-unearthed-arcana-underdark

They're really looking at just tossing it all out there for PC species, aren't they?

First blush on the species

Deep Imaskari

• Radiant Resistance- never hurts to have a resistance, but this is a fairly situational one
• Refresh Heroic Inspiration at dawn- One reroll a day is nice, though I don't know how good people are at remembering they have Heroic Inspiration
• 5ft radius Bright Light- pretty much pointless
• Aura of Unlight- a nice toolkit, but once per LR is disappointing
• Overall assement- cool species concept, but only offers one or two extra things per day 3/5

Drider

• Monstrosity creature type- gives protection against a few spells Hold/Charm Person, etc.
• Large size carrying capacity- very situational depending on type of adventure, access to Bags of Holding, and how much the DM enforces inventory management
• 120 ft Darkvision- a solid passive
• Spells- Dancing Lights is one of the weakest utility spells- can have some fun with it, but very low utility; Faerie Fire and Web are decent though- even a non-caster likely won't mind trying to open a fight or hit a group of enemies that clump up with them
• Spider climb- very good mobility, especially with going hands free at 3rd level; might be a bit much on top of the spellcasting
• Ignore and sense creatures on webs- a bit situational, although having their own cast helps. Keep in mind that the spell has a 1 hour duration, so has some potential for traps/ambushes when circumstances allow
• Overall assessment- 1 strong passive, 1 mid passive, 2 situational passives, and 2 of 3 solid spells. Honestly, might be best not to get too attached, because this seems a bit overloaded on goodies atm. Lore-wise, the "curse" element is rather significantly undercut as a PC race with no hard handicaps. 4.5/5 mechanically, 2/5 lorewise

Illithidkin

• 120 ft Darkvision- solid passive
• Spells- the usual psionic invisible Mage Hand, Command, and Levitate- Mage Hand is always nice and Levitate allows for some traversal stuff, but Command is meh as a single target all or nothing save- pretty dead if you don't have a dedicated casting stat
• Psychic damage resistance and advantage on Charm saves- a less common resistance but a very common condition, overall solid
• 30 ft Telepathy- situational, but handy when you find a chance to use it
• Overall assessment- much better cantrip than the Drider, but the other two are more limited for non-casters; decent suite of passive effects 4/5

Kuo-Toa

• Amphibious- situational
• Slippery- advantage against two conditions lots of monsters like to use, a solid passive
• Deific manifestation- gives a pet; the build-a-bear element is interesting and myconid sprout allows for group telepathy, but otherwise the additional picks are a bit underwhelming. Sprout also has the sunlight issue unless DM is willing to handwave it
• Overall assessment- good if you want a little buddy, there's probably a few fun combos that can be found for the familiar, but otherwise it has little mechanical play distinctiveness, particularly if you prefer active features 3.5/5

Myconid

• Plant creature type- gives protection against a few spells Hold/Charm Person, etc.
• 120 ft Darkvision- solid passive
• 30 ft Telepathy- situational, but handy when you find a chance to use it
• Shared 30ft Telepathy for 1 hour- sharing with the whole party is nice, but disappointing to see another one per LR feature
• Give 5 other party members one prof another has for the day- sounds good at first, but honestly kinda underwhelming given it's a single skill being shared around; facilitates group stealth if the DM is of the "if one person fails then effectively the whole party failed" school of thought, but in general seems like it'll mostly be camped on something like Perception, Insight, Persuasion/Deception, or Stealth most of the time, and enabling brute force attempts at skill checks just doesn't sound fun
• Overall assessment- wants to be a supporter, but as I outlined the big ability falls flat for me. 2/5

Very disappointed by the complete absence of mid-power PB/LR features- those do a lot for giving players something they can actively do that doesn't get locked behind the "what if I need to do it even more later?" door as badly as 1/LR features.

Personally, not a fan of Drider and Kuo Toa as PC species- much of the point of Drider has either been that they're specially chosen for a boon from Lolth in prior lore or that it's a major curse she drops. The former isn't a great basis for a PC backstory, and the latter is massively undercut by the fact that as a PC race there's no handicaps and the character can have any personality rather than say be grappling a fight to retain a humanoid identity. For Kuo Toa... honestly, it's mostly just a bit of grognard "do the players really need to get their hands on every single race they see?" grouchiness, but I also think it doesn't hurt a setting to have one or two humanoid races that were so strongly affected by some fantastic experience in the backstory that their mentality is no longer compatible with the typical humanoid/player one. I dunno, it doesn't deeply offend me, but it seems a bit gratuitous, especially since the species block didn't really impress me.

This is honestly the one I am excited for but I will probably pick up Unearthed for the leveling weapons because one of my players is a fighter and he decided to name his greatsword. It was a nice touch and I think those weapons are a great way to reward a player like that. My current group is one of the best online groups I've had. I just wish I still had Lancaster's Discord name from the first time I ran the campaign online. He would be so perfect for this group. Man, I miss that player. He was like a gigachad.

Quote from The_Ace_of_Rogues >>

For Kuo Toa... honestly, it's mostly just a bit of grognard "do the players really need to get their hands on every single race they see?" grouchiness, but I also think it doesn't hurt a setting to have one or two humanoid races that were so strongly affected by some fantastic experience in the backstory that their mentality is no longer compatible with the typical humanoid/player one. I dunno, it doesn't deeply offend me, but it seems a bit gratuitous, especially since the species block didn't really impress me.

I feel that this can sort of be justified with them becoming more sane when not under the influence of other Kuo-Toa. I do think that every new playable species needs to bring something unique with them, and Squat Nimbleness + Find Familiar is not it. Also, as written in the UA, the ability doesn't even work on escaping grapples, since that's a check rather than a save.

I have to agree a bit about making every darn thing in the monster manual into a playable species. But then, hey, I’m not going to tell someone else what they should want. I doubt it will see much use at my tables personally, but if it makes someone happy, they should have at it.

I am a bit annoyed about the spores Druid, just because I played with someone who had one in a level 1-9 campaign, and they never once got to make a spore zombie. We didn’t have many humanoid enemies, and maybe no beasts. And she never happened to be within 10 feet when we did have one who died. Seems like a pretty unnecessary restriction, like why couldn’t it work on a fey? If a PC can be a monstrosity or an ooze now, why can’t the spore zombie?

Quote from Xalthu >>

I have to agree a bit about making every darn thing in the monster manual into a playable species. But then, hey, I’m not going to tell someone else what they should want. I doubt it will see much use at my tables personally, but if it makes someone happy, they should have at it.

I am a bit annoyed about the spores Druid, just because I played with someone who had one in a level 1-9 campaign, and they never once got to make a spore zombie. We didn’t have many humanoid enemies, and maybe no beasts. And she never happened to be within 10 feet when we did have one who died. Seems like a pretty unnecessary restriction, like why couldn’t it work on a fey? If a PC can be a monstrosity or an ooze now, why can’t the spore zombie?

 That was how 3.5e was. The MM had rules for player characters but most of them were level adjusted so like if I remember correctly a fairy was level adjusted to level 4 meaning you couldn't play one unless the campaign started at level 4 and then you would be like a level 1 character in a level 4 party which was a drag but there were some cool benefits like they came with enchanted arrows. My fairy Hym Si'il was originally a 3.5e character and I still use him for One Shots but I cannot play him in the Adventurers' League. I can play other characters but not Hym Si'il. He was permanently banned from AL due to causing too much mischief. True story.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/class-forums/bard/211701-trick-or-treat-this-faerie-demands-your-candies

Edit: I bought AU. I couldn't help it it just looks soild for me to include as a DM. 

I am most interested into the PC species.

I imagine deep imaskari like underdark biopunnk/biomancers with a little touch of Lovecraftian horror. Likes the D&D Underdark version of the yuuzhan vong (Star Wars legends).

Can ridders climb rope up or ladders? Some sadistic DMs could place them to mock or troll dridders or centaur-like PCs. Perhaps poisonous or acid spit could be added with a racial feat.

Half-illithid was a monster template in 3e. I guess illithidkin will be wellcome.

Kuo-toa are more interesting as antagonists than PCs. Can now all kuo-toas to summon a familiar? What if this is used to explore zones with traps? If they fall they can return later. 

Can kuo-toa's slipery work when these are wearing armor or clothing?

* The myconid seems to have designed to give a potential family-friendly look. I don't say this to be bad.

* I miss other PC species like the vrils (antropomorphic bats created by drows), gloaming (moth-like faeries), slyths (these can't be only partial-time plasmoids).

Now I am thinking, what if the slyths were created intentionally like no-sentient slaves using some mind-controlling parasite ooze infected humanoids? However, an earth deity was outraged by the sacrilege of having the bodies of its clerics used as mindless slaves as well, and thus granted the slyths the opportunity to recover their consciences and rebel against their oppressors. Then these glyths would be like earth or mud genasies with a no-hostile ooze symbiont. 

The sapromnemes or fungal ghosts from Dragon Magazine #267 also could be right for underdark campaigns. These were dead corpses reanimated by special fungus with memory partially recovered. 

Other than the species, which look genuinely interesting, whatever book this Underdark stuff is going to end up in so far looks pretty mid, the SCAG of 5.5e.

Honestly, while there's a few good bits, I found the species pretty mid too. The humanoids with the rocks growing out of them and myconids are a cool aesthetic but limited design; the other three feel like rather gratuitous ports from the MM.

Am I missing something? I didn’t even see this thread in the forums? 

When is this going to be released?

By the way, I honestly don't understand why there are people complaining about getting certain playable races. I mean, is there anyone forcing you to play them? That kind of behaviour reminds me of Samuel L. Jackson in Django ("Look, master, that one has a horse." "And do you want a horse, Stephen? "What do I want a horse for? What I want is for him not to have one!").

Quote from cergonian123 >>

Am I missing something? I didn’t even see this thread in the forums? 

 For some reason, they seem to have stopped posting news threads about UA in the forums. 

Quote from JaimeVonCarstein >>

When is this going to be released?

By the way, I honestly don't understand why there are people complaining about getting certain playable races. I mean, is there anyone forcing you to play them? That kind of behaviour reminds me of Samuel L. Jackson in Django ("Look, master, that one has a horse. "And do you want a horse, Stephen? "What do I want a horse for? What I want is for him not to have one!").

 There is no release date, publicly. Which is typical. They put out a bunch of UA, see what sticks and what doesn’t, put out a book when it’s ready. But, as this is not on the roadmap they released at gen con, it’s safe to say it will come out some time after gen con (usually late august) next year — if the stick with the strategy of announcing new products at gen con.

Quote from Xalthu >>

Quote from cergonian123 >>

Am I missing something? I didn’t even see this thread in the forums? 

 For some reason, they seem to have stopped posting news threads about UA in the forums. 

Quote from JaimeVonCarstein >>

When is this going to be released?

By the way, I honestly don't understand why there are people complaining about getting certain playable races. I mean, is there anyone forcing you to play them? That kind of behaviour reminds me of Samuel L. Jackson in Django ("Look, master, that one has a horse. "And do you want a horse, Stephen? "What do I want a horse for? What I want is for him not to have one!").

 There is no release date, publicly. Which is typical. They put out a bunch of UA, see what sticks and what doesn’t, put out a book when it’s ready. But, as this is not on the roadmap they released at gen con, it’s safe to say it will come out some time after gen con (usually late august) next year — if the stick with the strategy of announcing new products at gen con.

Thank you! ❤️

What I’m finding surprising about this UA and the other recent ones of how meh most of them have been. Perkins and Crawford used to say about how UA was the hit for the fences and then you dialled it back based on feedback whilst the current crew seem to be doing it in the other direction, giving us the bare minimum and seeing who complains. I’m not sure if that’s a better or worse way to create an end product but it certainly does little to get my excitement going 

I guess the counterpoint is there's less complaints about cool features being gutted from the final draft.

Sure, but I believe the people who care about UA are a fairly small minority of the D&D playerbase.

Doesn’t mean they have to look like that. I use mechanics but change the appearances quite often. For instance, a Minotaur flavor texted to be a tiefling that uses their horns a lot. Or a Goliath flavored to be a half-elf of some sort. I think that’s one of the greatest parts about D&D. 

So, how do you get to them, such as this one? I only found this one because someone posted a link in the thread I made. I’d like to be part of the conversations but I can’t ever find them. Same for the last few UAs. 

Not sure how I feel about the Freedom Domain Cleric. It just kinda feels like Freedom of Movement the subclass. Id definitely like it more if Invoke Liberty allowed the Cleric to end Possession affecting allies (either at level 3 or at level 9), as exorcising controlling spirits seems on theme for this subclass and Clerics in general. Overall, it feels like this subclass is mechanically designed around increased movement, but is themed to fight against evils of things like starvation, poverty, tyranny, etc. which doesnt quite mesh.

No real comments on Circle of Spores rehash. Was a pretty good subclass in Tashas and seems like a pretty good subclass now. 

I love the flavor of Faerzress sorcerer. I hope that the details of Faerzress end up getting added to the Rules Glossary and isn't relegated to only this subclass in the book.