I think UA for the next two years will largely be revisions to PHB/DMG/MM material. We know new versions of those books are coming in 2024, and I believe one of the events they held mentioned that a lot of revisions would be dependent on community feedback. That sounds like UA and surveys to me.
While I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some UA for material for the core book revisions, we are also suppose to be getting two more older campaign setting revised for 5e this year, (three were announce and Ravenloft was the first), as well as one returning setting book from a setting that was already touched on in 5e (so Forgotten Realms, Eberron, and Exandria as those are the big three), as well as two whole new campaign settings. While it was mentioned that not every single one of these might pan out, some of them at least should.
We already have the races of the multiverse UA that heavily implies Spelljammer, though also has potential elements of Planescape (Astral Elves) and Dark Sun (Thri-kreen). It isn’t even a stretch that this could be for multiple books. The Feywild races UA ended up covering three books (Fairy and Harengon for Beyond the Witchlight, Owlin for Strixhaven, and Hobgoblin for Multiverse of Monsters).
So I think that they will sprinkle UA for the revised core books among UA for the new setting books (and other potential books such as more player option heavy books similar to Tasha’s or Xanathar’s).
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"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Critically, I think it's worth pointing out that Thri-Kreen were also an option in Spelljammer. I believe the only races in the Multiverse UA that weren't were Astral Elves, or more critically, their obvious antecedents, Star Elves. However, with a name like that, they could easily slide in thematically.
Now that said, I still think we aren't getting Spelljammer or Planescape, but rather a hybrid. A Spellscape or Planejammer. Something where your ship travels within the wildspace of a Crystal Sphere (or similar concept), then the phlogiston connects not only Crystal Spheres containing other worlds of the Material Plane (Krynn, Toril, Athas, etc) but other planes as well, and Sigil is a sort of hub station or spaceport within the phlogiston, something like Knowhere in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
I know that'll cheese off the grogs, but I think if nothing else, Ravenloft proved that's not a huge concern of WotC's.
I actually picture not so much a merger of literal planescape and spelljammer; but rather a 'setting' book that's more a guide to getting around to different prime material worlds and planes. So you can keep the crystal sphere phlogiston cosmology, but scrap Sigil and the Factions and instead introduce Spelljamming ships, Dream of the Blue Veil, gates, the Infinite Staircase, the River Styx etc. Planescape is dense even with just its core book and I see a product that more about facilitating planar travel and intra prime material travel with some reference to inter planar or inter world markets and society and conspiracies and the like, but remove any sense of canonical governanance or structure. It'd ultimately be more a toolkit for travel among worlds than a defined setting.
I also don't believe the Thri-Kreen were brought in as a race for Dark Sun. They're already a monster in the MM as setting agnostic setting and savana dwellers. With the plasmoid and hadozeen, you got the core races of Star Frontiers so I'm picturing more races that travel amongst the phlogiston than a race bound to a specific setting (especially since it's already been unbound as a monster).
I also don't believe the Thri-Kreen were brought in as a race for Dark Sun. They're already a monster in the MM as setting agnostic setting and savana dwellers.
They were originally introduced as a playable race for Dark Sun forever ago. However, I doubt their inclusion in the UA heralds Dark Sun for all the reasons most people don’t think we’ll be getting DS as a supported setting anytime soon.
Right, I meant the Thri Kreen weren't brought into the UA for DS, but as a Vrusk stand in alongisde the Plasmoid and Yazireans whose D&D name I keep forgetting Hazwhateveree.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
It gives everyone Pack Tactics and makes everyone a Rogue, which essentially devalues both those things. My concern is less that it's overpowered (it is, but not really a lot) so much as that it steps on toes and makes existing choices less impactful.
One way to incorporate it but not make it overtly crazy is instead of ADV its a +2 to hit....kind of like reverse cover.
You know that mathematically, advantage is only a +3.5ish bonus, right? I worked it out when the Avenger came out for 4e. Yeah just double checked, +3.325
It gives everyone Pack Tactics and makes everyone a Rogue, which essentially devalues both those things. My concern is less that it's overpowered (it is, but not really a lot) so much as that it steps on toes and makes existing choices less impactful.
One way to incorporate it but not make it overtly crazy is instead of ADV its a +2 to hit....kind of like reverse cover.
You know that mathematically, advantage is only a +3.5ish bonus, right? I worked it out when the Avenger came out for 4e.
The PHB (or maybe its the DMG) states that advantage/disadvantage is closer to a +5/-5 to the roll
That's for simplicity's sake, it doesn't represent any accurate math.
I suppose thats fair. I havent seen the math in either case, so I really dont know.
That being said, with respect to Charwoman_Gene's original comment advantage/disadvantage is still stronger than a +/- 3.5 bonus because rolling an additional die gives you another chance to crit/crit fail that a flat bonus does not, which is big for characters like rogues and paladins
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I do admit that the increased crits and situational bonuses do make advantage better than just the increased average die results. There is also the factor of the possibility different target numbers might show ranges where advantage is better or worse than a flat bonus. I’m not somewhere I can easily do the math but there is a lot to consider.
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Coriana - Company of the Grey Chain Wagner - Dragon Heist: Bards. DM - The Old Keep
That's for simplicity's sake, it doesn't represent any accurate math.
I suppose thats fair. I havent seen the math in either case, so I really dont know.
That being said, with respect to Charwoman_Gene's original comment advantage/disadvantage is still stronger than a +/- 3.5 bonus because rolling an additional die gives you another chance to crit/crit fail that a flat bonus does not, which is big for characters like rogues and paladins
Yeah it's highly dependent on the check DC too...
Overall you have to look at it in a range than a static bonus
Alright. Back to the drawing board on what to expect next.
I remember hearing rumors about WotC playing around with new mechanics for existing things (like new ways to use Hit Dice), so I would be super intrigued to see a UA about that.
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Alright. Back to the drawing board on what to expect next.
I remember hearing rumors about WotC playing around with new mechanics for existing things (like new ways to use Hit Dice), so I would be super intrigued to see a UA about that.
There's already some out there. The Wither and Bloom spell, a buncha stuff in the DragonLance UA. They're working on it.
(because they're going to remove short rests entirely, removing the primary use for hit dice)
Alright. Back to the drawing board on what to expect next.
I remember hearing rumors about WotC playing around with new mechanics for existing things (like new ways to use Hit Dice), so I would be super intrigued to see a UA about that.
There's already some out there. The Wither and Bloom spell, a buncha stuff in the DragonLance UA. They're working on it.
(because they're going to remove short rests entirely, removing the primary use for hit dice)
The fact that they're "playing with new ways to use hit dice," which otherwise get the only use they need via short rests, the fact that a lot of the new races in Multiverse have prof/LR abilities in place of their prior versions (the word "short" legitimately only appears once in the chapter on PC races and its in reference to your height when using Firbolg's casting of disguise self), and the fact that surveys and online discussion consistently show that most tables who engage with those things don't use them. Which is also a big part of why everyone dogpiles on Monk all the time.
It just generally feels like they're looking into ways to remove short rests completely without just utterly upending the game. Things like second wind will become prof/LR. I'm thinking Warlocks will have the same spell slots but get an Arcane Recovery-like action they can use to replenish them prof/LR. Etc.
The fact that they're "playing with new ways to use hit dice," which otherwise get the only use they need via short rests, the fact that a lot of the new races in Multiverse have prof/LR abilities in place of their prior versions (the word "short" legitimately only appears once in the chapter on PC races and its in reference to your height when using Firbolg's casting of disguise self), and the fact that surveys and online discussion consistently show that most tables who engage with those things don't use them. Which is also a big part of why everyone dogpiles on Monk all the time.
It just generally feels like they're looking into ways to remove short rests completely without just utterly upending the game. Things like second wind will become prof/LR. I'm thinking Warlocks will have the same spell slots but get an Arcane Recovery-like action they can use to replenish them prof/LR. Etc.
I mean, how long was the totality of the D&DNext project?
It's a long time for the plebes waiting to see it, not remotely a long time for the people having to actually write and publish it.
Exactly
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
While I wouldn’t be surprised if we see some UA for material for the core book revisions, we are also suppose to be getting two more older campaign setting revised for 5e this year, (three were announce and Ravenloft was the first), as well as one returning setting book from a setting that was already touched on in 5e (so Forgotten Realms, Eberron, and Exandria as those are the big three), as well as two whole new campaign settings. While it was mentioned that not every single one of these might pan out, some of them at least should.
We already have the races of the multiverse UA that heavily implies Spelljammer, though also has potential elements of Planescape (Astral Elves) and Dark Sun (Thri-kreen). It isn’t even a stretch that this could be for multiple books. The Feywild races UA ended up covering three books (Fairy and Harengon for Beyond the Witchlight, Owlin for Strixhaven, and Hobgoblin for Multiverse of Monsters).
So I think that they will sprinkle UA for the revised core books among UA for the new setting books (and other potential books such as more player option heavy books similar to Tasha’s or Xanathar’s).
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Characters for Tenebris Sine Fine
RoughCoronet's Greater Wills
Critically, I think it's worth pointing out that Thri-Kreen were also an option in Spelljammer. I believe the only races in the Multiverse UA that weren't were Astral Elves, or more critically, their obvious antecedents, Star Elves. However, with a name like that, they could easily slide in thematically.
Now that said, I still think we aren't getting Spelljammer or Planescape, but rather a hybrid. A Spellscape or Planejammer. Something where your ship travels within the wildspace of a Crystal Sphere (or similar concept), then the phlogiston connects not only Crystal Spheres containing other worlds of the Material Plane (Krynn, Toril, Athas, etc) but other planes as well, and Sigil is a sort of hub station or spaceport within the phlogiston, something like Knowhere in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
I know that'll cheese off the grogs, but I think if nothing else, Ravenloft proved that's not a huge concern of WotC's.
I actually picture not so much a merger of literal planescape and spelljammer; but rather a 'setting' book that's more a guide to getting around to different prime material worlds and planes. So you can keep the crystal sphere phlogiston cosmology, but scrap Sigil and the Factions and instead introduce Spelljamming ships, Dream of the Blue Veil, gates, the Infinite Staircase, the River Styx etc. Planescape is dense even with just its core book and I see a product that more about facilitating planar travel and intra prime material travel with some reference to inter planar or inter world markets and society and conspiracies and the like, but remove any sense of canonical governanance or structure. It'd ultimately be more a toolkit for travel among worlds than a defined setting.
I also don't believe the Thri-Kreen were brought in as a race for Dark Sun. They're already a monster in the MM as setting agnostic setting and savana dwellers. With the plasmoid and hadozeen, you got the core races of Star Frontiers so I'm picturing more races that travel amongst the phlogiston than a race bound to a specific setting (especially since it's already been unbound as a monster).
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
They were originally introduced as a playable race for Dark Sun forever ago. However, I doubt their inclusion in the UA heralds Dark Sun for all the reasons most people don’t think we’ll be getting DS as a supported setting anytime soon.
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Right, I meant the Thri Kreen weren't brought into the UA for DS, but as a Vrusk stand in alongisde the Plasmoid and Yazireans whose D&D name I keep forgetting Hazwhateveree.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
You know that mathematically, advantage is only a +3.5ish bonus, right? I worked it out when the Avenger came out for 4e. Yeah just double checked, +3.325
Coriana - Company of the Grey Chain
Wagner - Dragon Heist: Bards.
DM - The Old Keep
The PHB (or maybe its the DMG) states that advantage/disadvantage is closer to a +5/-5 to the roll
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That's for simplicity's sake, it doesn't represent any accurate math.
I suppose thats fair. I havent seen the math in either case, so I really dont know.
That being said, with respect to Charwoman_Gene's original comment advantage/disadvantage is still stronger than a +/- 3.5 bonus because rolling an additional die gives you another chance to crit/crit fail that a flat bonus does not, which is big for characters like rogues and paladins
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I do admit that the increased crits and situational bonuses do make advantage better than just the increased average die results. There is also the factor of the possibility different target numbers might show ranges where advantage is better or worse than a flat bonus. I’m not somewhere I can easily do the math but there is a lot to consider.
Coriana - Company of the Grey Chain
Wagner - Dragon Heist: Bards.
DM - The Old Keep
Yeah it's highly dependent on the check DC too...
Overall you have to look at it in a range than a static bonus
Alright. Back to the drawing board on what to expect next.
I remember hearing rumors about WotC playing around with new mechanics for existing things (like new ways to use Hit Dice), so I would be super intrigued to see a UA about that.
Four-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I think we'll see more of the chained feats, coupled to a background or not.
I think that's going to become standardized, even across existing feats in backgrounds, come 5.5e in two years.
There's already some out there. The Wither and Bloom spell, a buncha stuff in the DragonLance UA. They're working on it.
(because they're going to remove short rests entirely, removing the primary use for hit dice)
I hope not. What makes you think that?
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The fact that they're "playing with new ways to use hit dice," which otherwise get the only use they need via short rests, the fact that a lot of the new races in Multiverse have prof/LR abilities in place of their prior versions (the word "short" legitimately only appears once in the chapter on PC races and its in reference to your height when using Firbolg's casting of disguise self), and the fact that surveys and online discussion consistently show that most tables who engage with those things don't use them. Which is also a big part of why everyone dogpiles on Monk all the time.
It just generally feels like they're looking into ways to remove short rests completely without just utterly upending the game. Things like second wind will become prof/LR. I'm thinking Warlocks will have the same spell slots but get an Arcane Recovery-like action they can use to replenish them prof/LR. Etc.
I hope you’re wrong, that would be disappointing.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
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Content Troubleshooting