Some of these options make me a bit nervous, but I'd have to see them in play. (I generally agree with the previous comments.)
(1) Locking Chromating/Metallic as either Line/Cone seems unfortunate to me. There are plenty of example of either as either, and I'd have preferred it remained that way. That said, I understand the decision from a design perspective.
(2) Flame Stride makes me uncomfortable. Combine this with a high speed flying form, or a magically augmented mount, and it's going to get interesting. Phantom Steed is a ritual with a 100ft movement speed. Fireball can hit 44 ground squares, whereas an unboosted Phantom Nightmare can hit up to 306 squares in an arbitrary pattern. A Hasted Phantom Nightmare could hit 606, and a Hasted Phantom Nightmare with Horseshoes of Speed could hit 786... Then it has the option of dashing.
It's not a lot of damage per target, but it's ALL of the targets... and doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity, so they could just ride in and out from random directions. However, the mount itself is likely subjected to this damage, so it probably wouldn't last the full duration without a little support. Not going to ruin the BBEG encounter, necessarily, but it's got a lot of potential to cause problems everywhere else.
(3) Psychic Lance is problematic. It allows you to bypass cover to target a named individual within 120, but doesn't consume the spell slot if the target isn't within range. This would let a player chant the name of a pursuer every few rounds and it would automatically hit the target as soon as they came into range. It allows for massive single-target damage through walls (through dungeons), without ever presenting a target. A Sorcerer could expend all of their Sorcery Points and spell slots harrying a BBEG from a ridiculous distance through a mountain.
Using Psychic Lance when the named target is not within range should carry some kind of drawback. Maybe minor psychic damage or exhaustion.
There is a lot of fun stuff in this release, but almost all of it needs heavy adjustment.
Fina-frickingly dragon stuff. Its only been, what, 7 years of being pointedly ignored.
The new breath weapon on them looks very much more fun. Though, not sure what that means for the dragon-monk subclass we had. I imagine tweaks to it will be forthcoming. And I'll have to think about that old Dragon Roar feat and how it'll work with the new style of dragon breaths.
Honestly, of the four options, kobold is hands down my favorite. Though, as much as I love the idea of a tail attack, its kinda silly on a Small race that's biased away from Strength classes. Well, natural weapons are kinda sucky in the first place. Still, those are some VERY nice abilities. I like. Gem dragons... nice and flavorful, with a wider spread of breath elements, nice.
Hmmm... those feats are very biased towards martial characters. Using weapons, acting a bit like a psuedo-paladin with healing and hanging out next to people to protect them with your aura/wings. ... okay, the gem one might be biased towards being a full caster. But then, the new dragon breaths are very biased towards martial characters as well - can't really make a breath attack as part of your Attack Action if you're always Casting A Spell instead of Attacking; decent as backup pseudo-spells at low levels, but at higher ones? Eh. Which leaves the Gem in a state where they're predisposed towards psionic sorcery or otherwise a caster type, but their breath weapon wants them to act as a front line warrior type... yay for being torn in multiple directions! Ironically, I suspect this leaves the kobold as the one best suited towards good, old fashioned Dragon Soul Sorcerer, though there might be some Quicken deal that makes make the breath better than I think.
Moving on to the spells. The first thing that strikes me is that the Wizard gets access to all of them. This is a bit of my bias coming out, but... EFF OFF WIZARDS. LET THE SORCERER GET UNIQUE SPELLS FOR ONCE. Grr... Sorcerer, bard, druid, ranger, all of them touch on dragon themes at one point or another. Never wizard. Wizard gets everything because they're special people that get everything.
My second thought is that I'm not really feeling the higher level spells - Draconic Transformation feels a bit underwhelming. Bonus action ~8 damage, with a bit of blind sight and flying. Nice, but worth 7th level spell? Not sure. Fizban's Platinum Shield gives you Evasion and almost all elemental resistance, which is nice - all but immunity to elemental spells plus half-cover, but again the question if its worth a level 6 slot, compared to a level 1 reaction spell that reduces elemental damage. Flame Stride, a level 3 spell, feels worse than using Haste or Misty Step to me.
Icingfrost Death is admittedly something I like; decent damage for a level 2 spell with a good control effect for said level. Summon Dragon is another good spell - its arguably just as powerful as the new Summon Fiend spell, but an entire level lower AND grants a resistance. Well, on average you'll deal less damage, but the fact its a level 5 spell and you can cast it far more frequently more than makes up for that little fact.
Nathair’s Mischief is NOT DRAGON MAGIC. Its fey trickery. Its something that Chaos Magic adores. Its randomness has some nice control effects, admittedly, and I think that it'll see plenty of use. But it is not, under any circumstance, something I'd call dragon magic. Don't get me wrong, I like the spell, but I'm just annoyed they're even trying to suggest that its dragon-themed.
Raulothim’s Psychic Lance deals 1d6 more damage than a fireball of the same level and its psychic damage, but its single target only. Which leaves me questioning its popularity; its best use is with an Abberant Mind gem dragon sorcerer that can just smirk at you and make your head split open without using any components. Again, not very dragon-y, but definitely psychic and kinda tied to gem dragons because they're psychics.
Well, I'm going to stalk my DM to allow flame stride for my Wildfire Druid. No worries, he gives everyone else in the party enough overpowered stuff that makes this viable to ask.
That and I know the draconic sorcerer in my party that wanted to be an elemental master is going to love the new spell options and/or feats
Okay, "quick" review (warning, this is going to be a big post, as this is a big UA, and I'm going to go down everything individually).
Let's start with the 4 "new" races, the three dragonborn races (which should just be subraces of a larger base race, IMO) and the Draco-Kobolds. I'll be grouping together the three Dragonborn, as they're very similar with very few differences.
These Dragonborn are pretty much the same as PHB Dragonborn with the race/lineage changes from the Fey Folk UA, better breath weapons, and a powerful race/subrace specific ability. The breath weapon changes are very welcome, especially being capable of being used as part of the Attack action (extremely useful for melee Monks, Fighters, Barbarians, and Paladins). The only thing I'm not on board with here is the race-dependent breath weapon shape, which I feel should still be tied to the Draconic Ancestry. Chromatic Warding is bonkers useful, but I don't know if it's too powerful. I would probably limit it to one minute, and possibly make it concentration. Immunity to a very common damage type at 3rd level (even if it is temporary) seems too potent, IMO. Metallic Breath Weapon is very useful, and I love that you can use it for different ways when you need to. Both are useful in a variety of circumstances, and I don't think either are too potent. Gem Flight seems fine, if not a bit strange to have a dragon wing made of gems. So, yeah, these changes are very welcome.
The Kobold is . . . strange. I'm not against redoing Kobolds, as they're quite strange and unbalanced in terms of mechanics in the Volo's version, but I don't think this is the way to do it. I like having a variety of draconic traits that you can choose from, but this just seems like a strange way to do it. I'd give the free Sorcerer Cantrip to the base race, and then move the Roar to an option from Draconic Legacy. The tail seems like a strange choice of natural weapon, I would have guessed claws or even a bite before a tail-whip. Anyway, something about this isn't working for me. I'm not sure what it is, though.
Next, the Feats. I don't have any comments on Gift of the Chromatic Dragon, it seems very potent and fun, other than possibly allowing it to work with natural weapons/unarmed strikes. Gift of the Metallic Dragon is . . . strange. I know Metallic Dragons are supposed to be good, but not "cure wounds", protect others, goody-two-shoes good. I'm not sure how I would change this . . . but I would change it. Maybe some minor shape-shifting ability? Metallic Dragons do have a Change Shape ability, so something like innate Alter Self could work. Gift of the Gem Dragon seems too psionic and not draconic enough. Gem Dragons are psionic, but not just psionic. They're also dragons, and nothing in the feat (other than the name) screams dragon to me.
Finally, the Spells. There are quite a lot of these, and I like that there's so many of them. I've been saying for quite awhile that we need more dragon-based spells. Draconic Bloodline Sorcerers are currently just elemental blasters with a touch of dragon theme, with barely any dragon-spells to choose from. This changes that a bit. I'm just going to touch on each spell a bit to keep this short and sweet.
Draconic Transformation seems too weak, especially when compared to Tasha's Otherworldly Guise. Both grant 40 feet flying speeds, are concentration (up to 1 minute), require 500 gp worth of material components that aren't consumed, and take a bonus action to cast. However, Draconic Transformation takes a 7th-level spell slot, instead of a 6th, doesn't grant any immunities or even resistances (while TOG grants 2), no condition immunities, no AC boost, no special magical weapon boost, or Extra Attack feature. In return for not having all of that stuff and requiring a higher level spell slot, this spell only gives the caster a mere 30 feet of Blindsight and a bit more powerful Dragon's Breath ability. This is just not enough for a concentration 7th-level spell. At the very least this spell should also let you add your Spellcasting Ability to your Armor Class in order to bump up its power and usefulness more, and maybe even give your resistance/immunity to some draconic damage types. I love the idea of this spell, it just needs more oomph in order to be worth taking.
Fizban's Platinum Shield, on the other hand, is probably too powerful. It gives you (and/or an ally) resistance to all the main draconic damage types, half-cover, and Evasion. That's really potent, even for a 6th level concentration spell. If you want to fight dragons/mages that force Dex Saves a lot, this is the spell to use. You will have a +2 to the saving throw, and take no damage on a success and half on a fail, and probably also have resistance to the damage that you do take. (This spell also perfectly demonstrates why I have banned the Order of the Scribes from my table. Being able to swap out those damage resistances for practically any others that you want is just way too crazy useful.) I'm not sure how I would change this, but it probably would involve making the spell be a higher level, or possibly add a reaction to either the resistances or Evasion feature.
Flame Stride is fun. Really fun. No real comments, other than maybe, possibly raising the damage a bit. 1d6 seems really low for a 3rd level spell, even if it affects anyone within 5 feet of you. Maybe change this to 2d6, or 1d10. This doesn't seem very draconic, but I don't really care. It's a cool, fun spell. Icingdeath's Frost is also fun. It's basically a more powerful Frost Fingers with a really potent debuff feature. We need more cold damaging spells in 5e, so this is also a welcome addition to the game.
**** Fairie Dragons. Seriously. **** Fairie Dragons. I hate those bastards. My Hexblade Warlock has an undying hatred for them, due to a particularly annoying encounter involving two of these rainbow cats with wings that almost annoyed him to death. Don't mistake their puny 1 damage bite attack for them being weak enemies. Trust me, if you throw a couple of these abominations at a low level party that can't see invisibility, you're going to give them the eternal hatred for them that I have for these glorified pseudodragons. Nathair's Mischief can go to the Nine Hells of Baator, for all I care. (In case you like fairie dragons, don't take offense. It's not your fault that they charmed you with their draco-feline behavior. Please seek help and recover as quickly as you can.)
Raulothim's Psychic Lance is really, really good. I would be concerned about how powerful it is, except for the fact that it is most potent when you know their name. I really like this spell, even if it is more psionic than draconic.
Summon Draconic Spirit is good. I don't have any real comments here. I would like a higher level spell that lets you summon a real dragon, though. It would probably have to be 8th or 9th level, but it would really be awesome to be a Draconic Sorcerer that summons a real adult/ancient dragon to aid them in combat instead of just a spirit of one. Otherwise, this looks good.
Overall, I like this UA. I really hope that this comes out in a Draconomicon, which seems likely at this point, as we really need more Dragon options in Dungeons & Dragons. I would love to see more subclasses, like a Draconic Warlock Patron, Dragonrage Barbarian, and Dragon Druid, but this is a step in the right direction. I also hope they make more spells than just these few, as Tasha's disappointed me with having less than 2 dozen spells in it (including the reprints).
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More draconic Kobolds were already a thing in previous editions. They were known as Dragonwrought kobold. They were a rarer subrace of Kobolds that were born from eggs that took on the color of the dragon the Kobold shared an ancestry with and were known to be larger, stronger, and longer lived then their smaller kin.
They should honestly just call these new Kobolds Dragonwrought Kobolds to separate them from normal Kobolds.
Lineage / Race options no longer reflect an entire racial group. Instead, they reflect exemplar individuals within the population that become adventurer types. There's no need to make a new title because these are already exceptions to the rule of what kobolds are like. We get average kobolds from the Monster Manual instead now,
(2) Flame Stride makes me uncomfortable. Combine this with a high speed flying form, or a magically augmented mount, and it's going to get interesting.
Can't. The spell specifically targets "Self," and mounts (including from Phantom Steed) count as separate critters. You'd need to be a level 15 Beastmaster Ranger to make it possible, and by that level? The extra 1d6 damage is a waste of a 3rd level Concentration spell. Combine that with how often mounts are utterly usless the majority of the time (ie in dungeons) its a minor consideration.
Honestly, I don't understand why people are gaga over this spell. Sure, running around with trails of fire on your feet is pretty fun from a story perspective. But, mechanically, it looks kinda trash to me. Is there something I missed?
So a couple of things worth mentioning that I've not seen anyone else bring up so far.
The Metallic Dragon feat would be nice with a half-ASI (But what feat wouldn't?), but the feat specifies that you choose the casting stat. Little surprised it isn't Con to match the breath weapons, but oh well!
Psychic Lance is very strong when it succeeds, especially that incapacitation effect. It's worth noting that it's scaling isn't spectacular at an extra d6 per level. Also, unless I'm misreading, it does absolutely nothing if the target succeeds their save. That's not much depending on the target, but I felt it was worth highlighting
The main thing that bothers me is this article mentions Bahamut, Tiamat, and (to a lesser extent) Sardior, but none of the spells are available to Paladins or Clerics. I guess there might be a Domain or Oath of Dragons, but still bothers me that the followers of the Draconic Pantheons currently get nothing from this. Kind of typical that Wizards get every option, but nice that the Sorcerers got some love. This will be nice for a Draconic Bloodline
Kobolds are odd, but more options are always nice, and it's good to see a player Kobold that isn't a joke character (Though losing the Grovel, Cower, and Beg is potentially a pretty big hit, mechanically)
Gaining twenty feet of movement, immunity to attacks of opportunity, and the ability to damage (and potentially ignite) both enemies and objects is a lot of zam for one spell. You're effectively getting most of Expeditious Retreat, Zephyr Strike, and a weakened Spirit Guardians going all at once. As a straight up Big Damaj spell it's useless, yes. As a combat mobility spell with built-in Bug Repellant it's pretty fantastic, especially since it doesn't eat your bonus action every turn the way Retreat does.
Can't. The spell specifically targets "Self," and mounts (including from Phantom Steed) count as separate critters. You'd need to be a level 15 Beastmaster Ranger to make it possible, and by that level? The extra 1d6 damage is a waste of a 3rd level Concentration spell. Combine that with how often mounts are utterly usless the majority of the time (ie in dungeons) its a minor consideration.
Yes, the mount is a separate critter, but the rider is not. A rider is still moving with the mount. The other party members can also participate in the game.
Is it just me, or does it seem odd that the gem associated with radiant damage is just "crystal" Its not really a specific gem, just a general term. Im not sure how deep the lore is on different types of gems associated with dragons up until now, but it maybe could be better if replaced with something more specific, like maybe quartz or citrine. Idk. Not a big gemstone guy
Crystal Dragons have always been one of the main 5 types for Gem Dragons. Should it have been something else, probably, but I don't really want them to change it now.
Yeah, at my table, Crystal Dragons are Diamond Dragons. Crystal is too big of a category.
I don't expect that they plan to change 40 years of lore, but who knows.
Dragon-touched feats are...a thing. Metallic references a half-ASI it doesn't actually give you, which is fun. Go Go Gadget UA Quality Control. <snip> The metallic feat is actually broken, as written. Not "imbalanced" broken, but "not functional" broken, since it requires a half-ASI it doesn't give you.
Either the UA document changed since your post or I'm getting really confused by your statement here.
The feat offers two things. The first:
"You learn the cure wounds spell. You can cast this spell without expending a spell slot. Once you cast this spell in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast this spell using spell slots you have. The spell’s spellcasting ability is Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma when you cast it with this feat (choose when you gain the feat)."
There's no half-ASI references and nothing relies on one. It says you choose Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma and that will be the spellcasting ability for this cure wounds spell it grants you. There's nothing about a half-ASI here and it works perfectly fine. So, if you picked Charisma and had a +3 cha mod, you can now do cure wounds which does 1d8+3 healing.
Not seeing anything wrong here, so let's move on to the second part of the feat.
"You can manifest protective wings that can shield you or others from attacks. When you or another creature you can see within 5 feet of you is hit by an attack roll, you can use your reaction to manifest spectral wings from your back for a moment. Roll a d4 and grant a bonus to the target’s AC equal to the number rolled against that attack roll, potentially causing it to miss. You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest."
This is basically like a Shield spell that can be used for you or somebody next to you and instead of +5 to AC it's +1d4. Number of uses is equal to proficiency bonus so it'll be anywhere from 2 to 6 uses a day.
Again, nothing here based on a half-ASI or reliant on one.
Has the document changed or am I missing something?
As far as I can see this is very good. You can protect and heal people. Seems spiffy to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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The wording of the version of the document I obtained is as follows:
"You’ve manifested some of the power of metallic dragons, granting you the following benefits:
• You learn the cure wounds spell. You can cast this spell without expending a spell slot. Once you cast this spell in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast this spell using spell slots you have. The spell’s spellcasting ability is the ability increased by this feat.
• You can manifest protective wings that can shield you or others from attacks. When you or another creature you can see within 5 feet of you is hit by an attack roll, you can use your reaction to manifest spectral wings from your back for a moment. Roll a d4 and grant a bonus to the target’s AC equal to the number rolled against that attack roll, potentially causing it to miss. You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest."
I'm kinda with Third on this one - metallic dragons are Good-aligned, but they're still dragons. They're still (generally) arrogant and certain of their own superiority, they just aren't destructive or tyrannical about it. Learning curative magic and selflessly shielding others with their EXTREMELY DELICATE AND FRAGILE WINGS THAT ARE BASICALLY LARGE SAILS FULL OF BLOOD AND SUPER VULNERABLE TO HARM is a bit too Selfless Martyr to really say dragon to me.
The wording of the version of the document I obtained is as follows:
"You’ve manifested some of the power of metallic dragons, granting you the following benefits:
• You learn the cure wounds spell. You can cast this spell without expending a spell slot. Once you cast this spell in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast this spell using spell slots you have. The spell’s spellcasting ability is the ability increased by this feat.
• You can manifest protective wings that can shield you or others from attacks. When you or another creature you can see within 5 feet of you is hit by an attack roll, you can use your reaction to manifest spectral wings from your back for a moment. Roll a d4 and grant a bonus to the target’s AC equal to the number rolled against that attack roll, potentially causing it to miss. You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest."
I'm kinda with Third on this one - metallic dragons are Good-aligned, but they're still dragons. They're still (generally) arrogant and certain of their own superiority, they just aren't destructive or tyrannical about it. Learning curative magic and selflessly shielding others with their EXTREMELY DELICATE AND FRAGILE WINGS THAT ARE BASICALLY LARGE SAILS FULL OF BLOOD AND SUPER VULNERABLE TO HARM is a bit too Selfless Martyr to really say dragon to me.
Ah., well you may be happy to know it has since been updated, then to what I put, which I copy and pasted from the version on WotC's site.
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That wording does indeed make more sense. Little sad, might've been more compelling as a half-ASI.
And yeah. Don't think I'll ever not be salty about people treating wings as shields just because they're big and flat. It's equivalent to telling someone you've learned how to block someone's punch by interposing your eyeballs, or your nether bits, or the soft and easily ruptured flesh of your gut. Wings are not for defending, they are for flying. Blugh.
Gaining twenty feet of movement, immunity to attacks of opportunity, and the ability to damage (and potentially ignite) both enemies and objects is a lot of zam for one spell. You're effectively getting most of Expeditious Retreat, Zephyr Strike, and a weakened Spirit Guardians going all at once. As a straight up Big Damaj spell it's useless, yes. As a combat mobility spell with built-in Bug Repellant it's pretty fantastic, especially since it doesn't eat your bonus action every turn the way Retreat does.
But you can do all that with lower level spell sots. That's the problem I have. Its not worth a level 3 spell. At best, its a level 2 spell.
Yes, the mount is a separate critter, but the rider is not. A rider is still moving with the mount. The other party members can also participate in the game.
Its when you move, not when someone moves you. The spell doesn't leave trails of fire when you're pushed/pulled/teleported either. Has to be you actually taking the movement yourself. Several other spells, like Booming Blade, that key off movement have had similar rulings in the past.
Yeah, you can do all of that with lower-level spell slots. You cannot do it all at the same time. Zephyr makes you immune to AoO but it doesn't increase your speed outside the one turn; Expeditious Retreat gives you the speed but it requires constant bonus actions and you're as vulnerable as ever while Retreating, and Spirit Guardians is fantastic damage but does nothing to improve your mobility.
I know it's not super impressive, but it's mad cool, and I'm a big proponent of the idea that mobility wins games in D&D. Spells that encourage folks to stop spamming Fireball and start thinking even slightly more strategically are winners in my book.
That wording does indeed make more sense. Little sad, might've been more compelling as a half-ASI.
And yeah. Don't think I'll ever not be salty about people treating wings as shields just because they're big and flat. It's equivalent to telling someone you've learned how to block someone's punch by interposing your eyeballs, or your nether bits, or the soft and easily ruptured flesh of your gut. Wings are not for defending, they are for flying. Blugh.
I kinda disagree on wing-shields, I enjoy that and we see it alot in pop culture. The fight scene in the movie Legion where the angel uses his wings as both shield and a weapon is a bit of visual badassery. I do agree that this feat is not super dragonlike and seems a better fit for Aasimar. I think including a half-ASI might be a bit much, though as the provided features are quite decent, mechanically.
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I'm kinda with Third on this one - metallic dragons are Good-aligned, but they're still dragons. They're still (generally) arrogant and certain of their own superiority, they just aren't destructive or tyrannical about it. Learning curative magic and selflessly shielding others with their EXTREMELY DELICATE AND FRAGILE WINGS THAT ARE BASICALLY LARGE SAILS FULL OF BLOOD AND SUPER VULNERABLE TO HARM is a bit too Selfless Martyr to really say dragon to me.
Metallic dragons are iconically known for being paladin-like; it, along with being a sorcerer, are what they're known for. A spell instead of Lay-on-Hands, and wings to fluff a limited Protective Fighting Style that fits within a paladin's aura range.
Its the Dragon Knight feat, basically. And the wings are specifically spectral and magical - something like:
Yes, the mount is a separate critter, but the rider is not. A rider is still moving with the mount. The other party members can also participate in the game.
Its when you move, not when someone moves you. The spell doesn't leave trails of fire when you're pushed/pulled/teleported either. Has to be you actually taking the movement yourself. Several other spells, like Booming Blade, that key off movement have had similar rulings in the past.
Mounted Combat is inherently different from other types of "forced movement", such as with triggering Attacks of Opportunity. Please share links to the relevant rulings for other movement based spells.
Gem Dragonborn are really cool but my favorite part in all of this is the fact that we might get to use the Breath Weapon as a replacement Attack in the Attack Action. Anything that acts like a buff for martials is nice. Spellcasters get thematic spells, martials get something fun. Unfortunately I can only see Wizards nerfing the daylights out of all the Dragonborn variants here.
If we consider absolutely nothing else, putting Fire Stride in a Ring of Spell Storing for a Druid would grant a 100ft fly speed easily. (Giant Eagle)
That's 606 ground squares with no other support. (An "average" battle map has 576 squares total (24"x24")). That's the area equivalent of ~14 fireballs.
A spell like this would probably be better off with "planar rift" flavor. 60-ft radius zone that has traits of a chosen elemental plane. All hostile creatures in the area take nominal elemental damage and a rider effect for the duration.
If upcast to 9th level, pretty much any caster could do 7d6 damage to the entire map for a minute.
Some of these options make me a bit nervous, but I'd have to see them in play. (I generally agree with the previous comments.)
(1) Locking Chromating/Metallic as either Line/Cone seems unfortunate to me. There are plenty of example of either as either, and I'd have preferred it remained that way. That said, I understand the decision from a design perspective.
(2) Flame Stride makes me uncomfortable. Combine this with a high speed flying form, or a magically augmented mount, and it's going to get interesting. Phantom Steed is a ritual with a 100ft movement speed. Fireball can hit 44 ground squares, whereas an unboosted Phantom Nightmare can hit up to 306 squares in an arbitrary pattern. A Hasted Phantom Nightmare could hit 606, and a Hasted Phantom Nightmare with Horseshoes of Speed could hit 786... Then it has the option of dashing.
It's not a lot of damage per target, but it's ALL of the targets... and doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity, so they could just ride in and out from random directions. However, the mount itself is likely subjected to this damage, so it probably wouldn't last the full duration without a little support. Not going to ruin the BBEG encounter, necessarily, but it's got a lot of potential to cause problems everywhere else.
(3) Psychic Lance is problematic. It allows you to bypass cover to target a named individual within 120, but doesn't consume the spell slot if the target isn't within range. This would let a player chant the name of a pursuer every few rounds and it would automatically hit the target as soon as they came into range. It allows for massive single-target damage through walls (through dungeons), without ever presenting a target. A Sorcerer could expend all of their Sorcery Points and spell slots harrying a BBEG from a ridiculous distance through a mountain.
Using Psychic Lance when the named target is not within range should carry some kind of drawback. Maybe minor psychic damage or exhaustion.
There is a lot of fun stuff in this release, but almost all of it needs heavy adjustment.
Hm...
Fina-frickingly dragon stuff. Its only been, what, 7 years of being pointedly ignored.
The new breath weapon on them looks very much more fun. Though, not sure what that means for the dragon-monk subclass we had. I imagine tweaks to it will be forthcoming. And I'll have to think about that old Dragon Roar feat and how it'll work with the new style of dragon breaths.
Honestly, of the four options, kobold is hands down my favorite. Though, as much as I love the idea of a tail attack, its kinda silly on a Small race that's biased away from Strength classes. Well, natural weapons are kinda sucky in the first place. Still, those are some VERY nice abilities. I like. Gem dragons... nice and flavorful, with a wider spread of breath elements, nice.
Hmmm... those feats are very biased towards martial characters. Using weapons, acting a bit like a psuedo-paladin with healing and hanging out next to people to protect them with your aura/wings. ... okay, the gem one might be biased towards being a full caster. But then, the new dragon breaths are very biased towards martial characters as well - can't really make a breath attack as part of your Attack Action if you're always Casting A Spell instead of Attacking; decent as backup pseudo-spells at low levels, but at higher ones? Eh. Which leaves the Gem in a state where they're predisposed towards psionic sorcery or otherwise a caster type, but their breath weapon wants them to act as a front line warrior type... yay for being torn in multiple directions! Ironically, I suspect this leaves the kobold as the one best suited towards good, old fashioned Dragon Soul Sorcerer, though there might be some Quicken deal that makes make the breath better than I think.
Moving on to the spells. The first thing that strikes me is that the Wizard gets access to all of them. This is a bit of my bias coming out, but... EFF OFF WIZARDS. LET THE SORCERER GET UNIQUE SPELLS FOR ONCE. Grr... Sorcerer, bard, druid, ranger, all of them touch on dragon themes at one point or another. Never wizard. Wizard gets everything because they're special people that get everything.
My second thought is that I'm not really feeling the higher level spells - Draconic Transformation feels a bit underwhelming. Bonus action ~8 damage, with a bit of blind sight and flying. Nice, but worth 7th level spell? Not sure. Fizban's Platinum Shield gives you Evasion and almost all elemental resistance, which is nice - all but immunity to elemental spells plus half-cover, but again the question if its worth a level 6 slot, compared to a level 1 reaction spell that reduces elemental damage. Flame Stride, a level 3 spell, feels worse than using Haste or Misty Step to me.
Icingfrost Death is admittedly something I like; decent damage for a level 2 spell with a good control effect for said level. Summon Dragon is another good spell - its arguably just as powerful as the new Summon Fiend spell, but an entire level lower AND grants a resistance. Well, on average you'll deal less damage, but the fact its a level 5 spell and you can cast it far more frequently more than makes up for that little fact.
Nathair’s Mischief is NOT DRAGON MAGIC. Its fey trickery. Its something that Chaos Magic adores. Its randomness has some nice control effects, admittedly, and I think that it'll see plenty of use. But it is not, under any circumstance, something I'd call dragon magic. Don't get me wrong, I like the spell, but I'm just annoyed they're even trying to suggest that its dragon-themed.
Raulothim’s Psychic Lance deals 1d6 more damage than a fireball of the same level and its psychic damage, but its single target only. Which leaves me questioning its popularity; its best use is with an Abberant Mind gem dragon sorcerer that can just smirk at you and make your head split open without using any components. Again, not very dragon-y, but definitely psychic and kinda tied to gem dragons because they're psychics.
Well, I'm going to stalk my DM to allow flame stride for my Wildfire Druid. No worries, he gives everyone else in the party enough overpowered stuff that makes this viable to ask.
That and I know the draconic sorcerer in my party that wanted to be an elemental master is going to love the new spell options and/or feats
Okay, "quick" review (warning, this is going to be a big post, as this is a big UA, and I'm going to go down everything individually).
Let's start with the 4 "new" races, the three dragonborn races (which should just be subraces of a larger base race, IMO) and the Draco-Kobolds. I'll be grouping together the three Dragonborn, as they're very similar with very few differences.
These Dragonborn are pretty much the same as PHB Dragonborn with the race/lineage changes from the Fey Folk UA, better breath weapons, and a powerful race/subrace specific ability. The breath weapon changes are very welcome, especially being capable of being used as part of the Attack action (extremely useful for melee Monks, Fighters, Barbarians, and Paladins). The only thing I'm not on board with here is the race-dependent breath weapon shape, which I feel should still be tied to the Draconic Ancestry. Chromatic Warding is bonkers useful, but I don't know if it's too powerful. I would probably limit it to one minute, and possibly make it concentration. Immunity to a very common damage type at 3rd level (even if it is temporary) seems too potent, IMO. Metallic Breath Weapon is very useful, and I love that you can use it for different ways when you need to. Both are useful in a variety of circumstances, and I don't think either are too potent. Gem Flight seems fine, if not a bit strange to have a dragon wing made of gems. So, yeah, these changes are very welcome.
The Kobold is . . . strange. I'm not against redoing Kobolds, as they're quite strange and unbalanced in terms of mechanics in the Volo's version, but I don't think this is the way to do it. I like having a variety of draconic traits that you can choose from, but this just seems like a strange way to do it. I'd give the free Sorcerer Cantrip to the base race, and then move the Roar to an option from Draconic Legacy. The tail seems like a strange choice of natural weapon, I would have guessed claws or even a bite before a tail-whip. Anyway, something about this isn't working for me. I'm not sure what it is, though.
Next, the Feats. I don't have any comments on Gift of the Chromatic Dragon, it seems very potent and fun, other than possibly allowing it to work with natural weapons/unarmed strikes. Gift of the Metallic Dragon is . . . strange. I know Metallic Dragons are supposed to be good, but not "cure wounds", protect others, goody-two-shoes good. I'm not sure how I would change this . . . but I would change it. Maybe some minor shape-shifting ability? Metallic Dragons do have a Change Shape ability, so something like innate Alter Self could work. Gift of the Gem Dragon seems too psionic and not draconic enough. Gem Dragons are psionic, but not just psionic. They're also dragons, and nothing in the feat (other than the name) screams dragon to me.
Finally, the Spells. There are quite a lot of these, and I like that there's so many of them. I've been saying for quite awhile that we need more dragon-based spells. Draconic Bloodline Sorcerers are currently just elemental blasters with a touch of dragon theme, with barely any dragon-spells to choose from. This changes that a bit. I'm just going to touch on each spell a bit to keep this short and sweet.
Draconic Transformation seems too weak, especially when compared to Tasha's Otherworldly Guise. Both grant 40 feet flying speeds, are concentration (up to 1 minute), require 500 gp worth of material components that aren't consumed, and take a bonus action to cast. However, Draconic Transformation takes a 7th-level spell slot, instead of a 6th, doesn't grant any immunities or even resistances (while TOG grants 2), no condition immunities, no AC boost, no special magical weapon boost, or Extra Attack feature. In return for not having all of that stuff and requiring a higher level spell slot, this spell only gives the caster a mere 30 feet of Blindsight and a bit more powerful Dragon's Breath ability. This is just not enough for a concentration 7th-level spell. At the very least this spell should also let you add your Spellcasting Ability to your Armor Class in order to bump up its power and usefulness more, and maybe even give your resistance/immunity to some draconic damage types. I love the idea of this spell, it just needs more oomph in order to be worth taking.
Fizban's Platinum Shield, on the other hand, is probably too powerful. It gives you (and/or an ally) resistance to all the main draconic damage types, half-cover, and Evasion. That's really potent, even for a 6th level concentration spell. If you want to fight dragons/mages that force Dex Saves a lot, this is the spell to use. You will have a +2 to the saving throw, and take no damage on a success and half on a fail, and probably also have resistance to the damage that you do take. (This spell also perfectly demonstrates why I have banned the Order of the Scribes from my table. Being able to swap out those damage resistances for practically any others that you want is just way too crazy useful.) I'm not sure how I would change this, but it probably would involve making the spell be a higher level, or possibly add a reaction to either the resistances or Evasion feature.
Flame Stride is fun. Really fun. No real comments, other than maybe, possibly raising the damage a bit. 1d6 seems really low for a 3rd level spell, even if it affects anyone within 5 feet of you. Maybe change this to 2d6, or 1d10. This doesn't seem very draconic, but I don't really care. It's a cool, fun spell. Icingdeath's Frost is also fun. It's basically a more powerful Frost Fingers with a really potent debuff feature. We need more cold damaging spells in 5e, so this is also a welcome addition to the game.
**** Fairie Dragons. Seriously. **** Fairie Dragons. I hate those bastards. My Hexblade Warlock has an undying hatred for them, due to a particularly annoying encounter involving two of these rainbow cats with wings that almost annoyed him to death. Don't mistake their puny 1 damage bite attack for them being weak enemies. Trust me, if you throw a couple of these abominations at a low level party that can't see invisibility, you're going to give them the eternal hatred for them that I have for these glorified pseudodragons. Nathair's Mischief can go to the Nine Hells of Baator, for all I care. (In case you like fairie dragons, don't take offense. It's not your fault that they charmed you with their draco-feline behavior. Please seek help and recover as quickly as you can.)
Raulothim's Psychic Lance is really, really good. I would be concerned about how powerful it is, except for the fact that it is most potent when you know their name. I really like this spell, even if it is more psionic than draconic.
Summon Draconic Spirit is good. I don't have any real comments here. I would like a higher level spell that lets you summon a real dragon, though. It would probably have to be 8th or 9th level, but it would really be awesome to be a Draconic Sorcerer that summons a real adult/ancient dragon to aid them in combat instead of just a spirit of one. Otherwise, this looks good.
Overall, I like this UA. I really hope that this comes out in a Draconomicon, which seems likely at this point, as we really need more Dragon options in Dungeons & Dragons. I would love to see more subclasses, like a Draconic Warlock Patron, Dragonrage Barbarian, and Dragon Druid, but this is a step in the right direction. I also hope they make more spells than just these few, as Tasha's disappointed me with having less than 2 dozen spells in it (including the reprints).
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Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
They've already been remaking old stuff with updated mechanics. I'm betting we'll see new elves, dwarves, orcs, tieflings, and more in the future.
Lineage / Race options no longer reflect an entire racial group. Instead, they reflect exemplar individuals within the population that become adventurer types. There's no need to make a new title because these are already exceptions to the rule of what kobolds are like. We get average kobolds from the Monster Manual instead now,
Can't. The spell specifically targets "Self," and mounts (including from Phantom Steed) count as separate critters. You'd need to be a level 15 Beastmaster Ranger to make it possible, and by that level? The extra 1d6 damage is a waste of a 3rd level Concentration spell. Combine that with how often mounts are utterly usless the majority of the time (ie in dungeons) its a minor consideration.
Honestly, I don't understand why people are gaga over this spell. Sure, running around with trails of fire on your feet is pretty fun from a story perspective. But, mechanically, it looks kinda trash to me. Is there something I missed?
So a couple of things worth mentioning that I've not seen anyone else bring up so far.
The Metallic Dragon feat would be nice with a half-ASI (But what feat wouldn't?), but the feat specifies that you choose the casting stat. Little surprised it isn't Con to match the breath weapons, but oh well!
Psychic Lance is very strong when it succeeds, especially that incapacitation effect. It's worth noting that it's scaling isn't spectacular at an extra d6 per level. Also, unless I'm misreading, it does absolutely nothing if the target succeeds their save. That's not much depending on the target, but I felt it was worth highlighting
The main thing that bothers me is this article mentions Bahamut, Tiamat, and (to a lesser extent) Sardior, but none of the spells are available to Paladins or Clerics. I guess there might be a Domain or Oath of Dragons, but still bothers me that the followers of the Draconic Pantheons currently get nothing from this. Kind of typical that Wizards get every option, but nice that the Sorcerers got some love. This will be nice for a Draconic Bloodline
Kobolds are odd, but more options are always nice, and it's good to see a player Kobold that isn't a joke character (Though losing the Grovel, Cower, and Beg is potentially a pretty big hit, mechanically)
Gaining twenty feet of movement, immunity to attacks of opportunity, and the ability to damage (and potentially ignite) both enemies and objects is a lot of zam for one spell. You're effectively getting most of Expeditious Retreat, Zephyr Strike, and a weakened Spirit Guardians going all at once. As a straight up Big Damaj spell it's useless, yes. As a combat mobility spell with built-in Bug Repellant it's pretty fantastic, especially since it doesn't eat your bonus action every turn the way Retreat does.
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Yes, the mount is a separate critter, but the rider is not. A rider is still moving with the mount. The other party members can also participate in the game.
I don't expect that they plan to change 40 years of lore, but who knows.
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Either the UA document changed since your post or I'm getting really confused by your statement here.
The feat offers two things. The first:
"You learn the cure wounds spell. You can cast this spell without expending a spell slot. Once you cast this spell in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast this spell using spell slots you have. The spell’s spellcasting ability is Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma when you cast it with this feat (choose when you gain the feat)."
There's no half-ASI references and nothing relies on one. It says you choose Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma and that will be the spellcasting ability for this cure wounds spell it grants you. There's nothing about a half-ASI here and it works perfectly fine. So, if you picked Charisma and had a +3 cha mod, you can now do cure wounds which does 1d8+3 healing.
Not seeing anything wrong here, so let's move on to the second part of the feat.
"You can manifest protective wings that can shield you or others from attacks. When you or another creature you can see within 5 feet of you is hit by an attack roll, you can use your reaction to manifest spectral wings from your back for a moment. Roll a d4 and grant a bonus to the target’s AC equal to the number rolled against that attack roll, potentially causing it to miss. You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest."
This is basically like a Shield spell that can be used for you or somebody next to you and instead of +5 to AC it's +1d4. Number of uses is equal to proficiency bonus so it'll be anywhere from 2 to 6 uses a day.
Again, nothing here based on a half-ASI or reliant on one.
Has the document changed or am I missing something?
As far as I can see this is very good. You can protect and heal people. Seems spiffy to me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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The wording of the version of the document I obtained is as follows:
"You’ve manifested some of the power of metallic dragons, granting you the following benefits:
• You learn the cure wounds spell. You can cast this spell without expending a spell slot. Once you cast this spell in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. You can also cast this spell using spell slots you have. The spell’s spellcasting ability is the ability increased by this feat.
• You can manifest protective wings that can shield you or others from attacks. When you or another creature you can see within 5 feet of you is hit by an attack roll, you can use your reaction to manifest spectral wings from your back for a moment. Roll a d4 and grant a bonus to the target’s AC equal to the number rolled against that attack roll, potentially causing it to miss. You can use this reaction a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest."
I'm kinda with Third on this one - metallic dragons are Good-aligned, but they're still dragons. They're still (generally) arrogant and certain of their own superiority, they just aren't destructive or tyrannical about it. Learning curative magic and selflessly shielding others with their EXTREMELY DELICATE AND FRAGILE WINGS THAT ARE BASICALLY LARGE SAILS FULL OF BLOOD AND SUPER VULNERABLE TO HARM is a bit too Selfless Martyr to really say dragon to me.
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Ah., well you may be happy to know it has since been updated, then to what I put, which I copy and pasted from the version on WotC's site.
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That wording does indeed make more sense. Little sad, might've been more compelling as a half-ASI.
And yeah. Don't think I'll ever not be salty about people treating wings as shields just because they're big and flat. It's equivalent to telling someone you've learned how to block someone's punch by interposing your eyeballs, or your nether bits, or the soft and easily ruptured flesh of your gut. Wings are not for defending, they are for flying. Blugh.
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But you can do all that with lower level spell sots. That's the problem I have. Its not worth a level 3 spell. At best, its a level 2 spell.
Its when you move, not when someone moves you. The spell doesn't leave trails of fire when you're pushed/pulled/teleported either. Has to be you actually taking the movement yourself. Several other spells, like Booming Blade, that key off movement have had similar rulings in the past.
Yeah, you can do all of that with lower-level spell slots. You cannot do it all at the same time. Zephyr makes you immune to AoO but it doesn't increase your speed outside the one turn; Expeditious Retreat gives you the speed but it requires constant bonus actions and you're as vulnerable as ever while Retreating, and Spirit Guardians is fantastic damage but does nothing to improve your mobility.
I know it's not super impressive, but it's mad cool, and I'm a big proponent of the idea that mobility wins games in D&D. Spells that encourage folks to stop spamming Fireball and start thinking even slightly more strategically are winners in my book.
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I kinda disagree on wing-shields, I enjoy that and we see it alot in pop culture. The fight scene in the movie Legion where the angel uses his wings as both shield and a weapon is a bit of visual badassery. I do agree that this feat is not super dragonlike and seems a better fit for Aasimar. I think including a half-ASI might be a bit much, though as the provided features are quite decent, mechanically.
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Metallic dragons are iconically known for being paladin-like; it, along with being a sorcerer, are what they're known for. A spell instead of Lay-on-Hands, and wings to fluff a limited Protective Fighting Style that fits within a paladin's aura range.
Its the Dragon Knight feat, basically. And the wings are specifically spectral and magical - something like:
Mounted Combat is inherently different from other types of "forced movement", such as with triggering Attacks of Opportunity. Please share links to the relevant rulings for other movement based spells.
Gem Dragonborn are really cool but my favorite part in all of this is the fact that we might get to use the Breath Weapon as a replacement Attack in the Attack Action. Anything that acts like a buff for martials is nice. Spellcasters get thematic spells, martials get something fun. Unfortunately I can only see Wizards nerfing the daylights out of all the Dragonborn variants here.
If we consider absolutely nothing else, putting Fire Stride in a Ring of Spell Storing for a Druid would grant a 100ft fly speed easily. (Giant Eagle)
That's 606 ground squares with no other support. (An "average" battle map has 576 squares total (24"x24")). That's the area equivalent of ~14 fireballs.
A spell like this would probably be better off with "planar rift" flavor. 60-ft radius zone that has traits of a chosen elemental plane. All hostile creatures in the area take nominal elemental damage and a rider effect for the duration.
If upcast to 9th level, pretty much any caster could do 7d6 damage to the entire map for a minute.