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.