It appears that Jeremy Crawford confirmed in an interview that they are not moving forward with this UA.
Strixhaven will introduce the Owlin race (Owlfolk from the Feywild UA,) new feats, spells, and magic items. But no new subclasses.
This is shame, but foreseeable. I still think they could salvage some of the subclasses if they tailored them down to one class and did some balance work.
Tasha's was good, but the rest published since Xanathar's have been pretty light IMO. That and too many interesting and popular options from UA have been dropped and never picked back up.
Tasha's was good, but the rest published since Xanathar's have been pretty light IMO. That and too many interesting and popular options from UA have been dropped and never picked back up.
To be fair, if they were popular they would have been picked up. The fact that they were dropped and not modified and resubmitted via UA show that the feedback was overwhelmingly negative.
Stone sorcerer and and phoenix were both called out as being popular and were cut due to page count and not brought back out. I'm sure there were others as well.
Stone sorcerer and and phoenix were both called out as being popular and were cut due to page count and not brought back out. I'm sure there were others as well.
"The Unearthed Arcana playtest did the job we asked it to do," Crawford said. "Occasionally, we put some very experimental things in front of D&D fans and ask them if they want to see more of it. In this case, the very simple answer was 'No.' "We learned two really important things from this playtest that reinforced something we've been seeing from the D&D community going back to D&D Next (the original playtest for Fifth Edition rules)" Crawford continued. "People love for D&D subclasses to speak to the distinctiveness of a particular class. 5E fans also want subclasses to be usable in as many settings as possible, since so many DMs homebrew their own settings. In this case, there was a bit of an uphill climb since the subclasses were so tied to a particular setting, that being the magical college of Strixhaven."
They weren't cut for pages, but because they were VERY unpopular.
Strixhaven will introduce the Owlin race (Owlfolk from the Feywild UA,) new feats, spells, and magic items. But no new subclasses.
Are we sure on that?
Instead, Strixhaven is going in a different direction, one that Crawford says is “going to support even more character types than those hybrid subclasses were going to.”
Maybe that's just generic hype talk, but it sounded to me like something else is going in to replace those subclasses. Maybe they got enough feedback to split a few of these into single-class subclasses? I'd like to hold out a bit of hope because I really liked Lorehold.
I also have to wonder how much DDB influences this kind of stuff. Them just being like, "yeah... nah, we're not doing that" probably didn't help to generate positive feedback.
Crawford said no new subclasses. Instead the each "House" or what ever it is called will be represented by a Feat.
Crawford noted that they were prepared for the fanbase to reject the subclasses and had prepared "contingency plans" in case they didn't work out. The subclasses will be replaced with other character options, such as feats tied to each specific college, which will support even more character types than the subclasses would have. We could also see some design elements appear in future D&D products in another capacity. Various new magic items (including magic textbooks) will also appear in the book to help players feel tied to their chosen Strixhaven college.
Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos will feature some material seen in other playtests, though, as the book also contains the owlin playable race, which first appeared as the "Owlfolk" in a separate playtest released earlier this year.
4 pages into this thread and I am disappointed at how many people are criticizing Strixhaven without really understanding the point of it. It is a story. It is a school for wizarding folk. My friend plays a homebrew pokemon summoner because he is into that, some folk like the gunslinger- some folk don’t allow firearms in their campaign setting. This is just a way to roleplay a harry potter campaign… if you are into that. Oh no, they left out the cleric…. Like that time dumbledoor channeled his divinity? Go homebrew a school for clerics and paly’s… oh wait, the patrons don’t mix well.
No ranger options!? Because we let the muggles in so they feel included too. This is not a school for that either.
The abilities are a little off balance but it is only to compensate for no clerics and no martial classes. Harry potter never had to hire soldiers to complete his quest. If you do not own Ravnica then you have no right to judge this on content. Rate the mechanics, playtest the colleges in an all caster setting and leave some constructive criticism before you go. This book may not be for everyone, my group is excited about the idea and looking forward to trying it, will these characters be allowed to leave campus and mingle with a standard group? That remains to be seen.
My 2 cents on the UA, though I have not tested it in real play, Quandrix abilities do not seem to match the flavor, was really hoping for a fractal and an exponential equation.
In that regard, we could have put an inkling to use also… find familiar option? And the occasional limited availability of medium statues puts a restriction on loreholds primary ability until they are high enough to stoneshape one. Standard campaign= the party struggles to avoid captivity by the local watch for the theft of their beloved founding fathers statue from the town square. “So sorry guys, we needed the heals though”
I believe adding a few custom spells, college restricted of course, would resolve most of it. Perhaps a few custom feats… feels like this will already be in the book when it comes out. 2nd level spell conjure inkling, 8th level spell blot out the sky?
4 pages into this thread and I am disappointed at how many people are criticizing Strixhaven without really understanding the point of it. It is a story. It is a school for wizarding folk. My friend plays a homebrew pokemon summoner because he is into that, some folk like the gunslinger- some folk don’t allow firearms in their campaign setting. This is just a way to roleplay a harry potter campaign… if you are into that. Oh no, they left out the cleric…. Like that time dumbledoor channeled his divinity? Go homebrew a school for clerics and paly’s… oh wait, the patrons don’t mix well.
No ranger options!? Because we let the muggles in so they feel included too. This is not a school for that either.
The abilities are a little off balance but it is only to compensate for no clerics and no martial classes. Harry potter never had to hire soldiers to complete his quest. If you do not own Ravnica then you have no right to judge this on content. Rate the mechanics, playtest the colleges in an all caster setting and leave some constructive criticism before you go. This book may not be for everyone, my group is excited about the idea and looking forward to trying it, will these characters be allowed to leave campus and mingle with a standard group? That remains to be seen.
My 2 cents on the UA, though I have not tested it in real play, Quandrix abilities do not seem to match the flavor, was really hoping for a fractal and an exponential equation.
In that regard, we could have put an inkling to use also… find familiar option? And the occasional limited availability of medium statues puts a restriction on loreholds primary ability until they are high enough to stoneshape one. Standard campaign= the party struggles to avoid captivity by the local watch for the theft of their beloved founding fathers statue from the town square. “So sorry guys, we needed the heals though”
I believe adding a few custom spells, college restricted of course, would resolve most of it. Perhaps a few custom feats… feels like this will already be in the book when it comes out. 2nd level spell conjure inkling, 8th level spell blot out the sky?
Kinda moot at this point as the UA subclasses are dead.
Yeah, i should have read the whole thread first. I still got the book on preorder and we will try whatever they are publishing. Hopefully the it will be interesting regardless
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It appears that Jeremy Crawford confirmed in an interview that they are not moving forward with this UA.
Strixhaven will introduce the Owlin race (Owlfolk from the Feywild UA,) new feats, spells, and magic items. But no new subclasses.
This is shame, but foreseeable. I still think they could salvage some of the subclasses if they tailored them down to one class and did some balance work.
Hmm…
…perhaps it’s for the best.
Shame, though…there were some fun features embedded in these subclasses.
I would “pocket” some of these ideas for future subclasses…
Silverquill, for example…that “Inky Shroud” might work for a “College of Art” subclass for a Bard…with a sprinkle of some of those Prismari features.
Likewise, the teleportation feature from the Quandrix subclass would be interesting for, say, a “Travel Domain” Cleric.
Unless the spells and feats are awesome I'll be skipping this book then.
Yeah I'm real bummed about this.
I've been pretty bummed about the content being released for about the last year. Too light on character options per book.
See I thought character options per book had actually been going up. And we just had Tasha, which was like 80% character options
Tasha's was good, but the rest published since Xanathar's have been pretty light IMO. That and too many interesting and popular options from UA have been dropped and never picked back up.
To be fair, if they were popular they would have been picked up. The fact that they were dropped and not modified and resubmitted via UA show that the feedback was overwhelmingly negative.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Stone sorcerer and and phoenix were both called out as being popular and were cut due to page count and not brought back out. I'm sure there were others as well.
Do you have a WotC source that says that?
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
As far as Strixhaven is concerned...
"The Unearthed Arcana playtest did the job we asked it to do," Crawford said. "Occasionally, we put some very experimental things in front of D&D fans and ask them if they want to see more of it. In this case, the very simple answer was 'No.' "We learned two really important things from this playtest that reinforced something we've been seeing from the D&D community going back to D&D Next (the original playtest for Fifth Edition rules)" Crawford continued. "People love for D&D subclasses to speak to the distinctiveness of a particular class. 5E fans also want subclasses to be usable in as many settings as possible, since so many DMs homebrew their own settings. In this case, there was a bit of an uphill climb since the subclasses were so tied to a particular setting, that being the magical college of Strixhaven."
They weren't cut for pages, but because they were VERY unpopular.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Oh yeah for this one, no question they were unpopular. The others it was in a dragon talk episode, I'll figure out which one later and post it.
Cool thanks :)
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Are we sure on that?
Maybe that's just generic hype talk, but it sounded to me like something else is going in to replace those subclasses. Maybe they got enough feedback to split a few of these into single-class subclasses? I'd like to hold out a bit of hope because I really liked Lorehold.
I also have to wonder how much DDB influences this kind of stuff. Them just being like, "yeah... nah, we're not doing that" probably didn't help to generate positive feedback.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Crawford said no new subclasses. Instead the each "House" or what ever it is called will be represented by a Feat.
Crawford noted that they were prepared for the fanbase to reject the subclasses and had prepared "contingency plans" in case they didn't work out. The subclasses will be replaced with other character options, such as feats tied to each specific college, which will support even more character types than the subclasses would have. We could also see some design elements appear in future D&D products in another capacity. Various new magic items (including magic textbooks) will also appear in the book to help players feel tied to their chosen Strixhaven college.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
4 pages into this thread and I am disappointed at how many people are criticizing Strixhaven without really understanding the point of it. It is a story. It is a school for wizarding folk. My friend plays a homebrew pokemon summoner because he is into that, some folk like the gunslinger- some folk don’t allow firearms in their campaign setting. This is just a way to roleplay a harry potter campaign… if you are into that.
Oh no, they left out the cleric…. Like that time dumbledoor channeled his divinity? Go homebrew a school for clerics and paly’s… oh wait, the patrons don’t mix well.
No ranger options!? Because we let the muggles in so they feel included too. This is not a school for that either.
The abilities are a little off balance but it is only to compensate for no clerics and no martial classes. Harry potter never had to hire soldiers to complete his quest. If you do not own Ravnica then you have no right to judge this on content. Rate the mechanics, playtest the colleges in an all caster setting and leave some constructive criticism before you go. This book may not be for everyone, my group is excited about the idea and looking forward to trying it, will these characters be allowed to leave campus and mingle with a standard group? That remains to be seen.
My 2 cents on the UA, though I have not tested it in real play, Quandrix abilities do not seem to match the flavor, was really hoping for a fractal and an exponential equation.
In that regard, we could have put an inkling to use also… find familiar option? And the occasional limited availability of medium statues puts a restriction on loreholds primary ability until they are high enough to stoneshape one. Standard campaign= the party struggles to avoid captivity by the local watch for the theft of their beloved founding fathers statue from the town square. “So sorry guys, we needed the heals though”
I believe adding a few custom spells, college restricted of course, would resolve most of it. Perhaps a few custom feats… feels like this will already be in the book when it comes out. 2nd level spell conjure inkling, 8th level spell blot out the sky?
Kinda moot at this point as the UA subclasses are dead.
Sadly. I was very into the idea.
Yeah, i should have read the whole thread first. I still got the book on preorder and we will try whatever they are publishing. Hopefully the it will be interesting regardless