Welcome to the Support thread for the January 2021 Unearthed Arcana content, "Gothic Lineages"

If you find any issues/bugs with this content, please post in this thread.

The Unearthed Arcana article, "Gothic Lineages" is on the Wizards of the Coast website HERE

There are a few things to be aware of the D&D Beyond implementation of this content, which are noted below.

Using Unearthed Arcana content on D&D Beyond

Please ensure that you enable Playtest Content - this can be accomplished in two places:

On the HOME tab of the Character Builder.	In the preferences sidebar of the character sheet.

SELECTING A LINEAGE (it replaces your character's race)

First off - selecting a lineage is a replacement for the character having a race. Whilst your character may have started play as a Wood Elf, if they were to gain the Dhampir lineage, this would replace Elf (and Wood Elf subrace), including all of the racial traits for being an Elf.

This document features three new race options to playtest for player characters in D&D:

• Dhampir
• Hexblood
• Reborn

These options are special; you can choose one at character creation or at an appropriate time later in a campaign, transforming your character.

If you choose a lineage, you might have once been a member of another race, but you aren’t any longer. You now possess only your lineage’s racial traits.

To select a lineage for a character, you do so from the RACE tab of the character builder.

LINEAGE - Dhampir (UA)

Poised between the worlds of the living and the dead, dhampirs retain their grip on life yet are endlessly tested by vicious hungers. Their ties to the undead grant dhampirs a taste of a vampire’s deathless prowess in the form of increased speed, darkvision, and a life-draining bite. With unique insights into the nature of the undead, many dhampirs turn to the lives of adventurers and monster hunters. Their reasons are often deeply personal. Some seek danger, imagining monsters as personifications of their own hungers. Others pursue revenge against whatever turned them into a dhampir. And still others embrace the solitude of the hunt, striving to distance themselves from those who’d tempt their hunger.

Notes:

Vampiric Bite

This feature is an anomaly, in that it's the first time that official content has included an attack that potentially combines two ability scores for either (and in this case both) of attack bonus or damage. The published rules in this UA state both of the following

• "Your fanged bite is a natural weapon, which counts as a simple melee weapon with which you are proficient."
• "You add your Constitution modifier to the attack and damage rolls when you attack with your bite."

This means that the correct calculation for the attack could be taken as proficiency bonus + strength ability bonus + constitution ability bonus and similarly, the damage as 1d4 + strength ability bonus + constitution ability bonus. It can also be interpreted as CON replacing STR in the attack and damage calculation. We're aware of numerous discussions about this in the community.

This has caused us a problem, as our action system is set-up to follow the rules, which up until now have only ever used a single ability score for an attack.

You'll see the action for the Dhampir Vampiric Bite set-up on the character sheet.

HOWEVER!!! There is a workaround available via the character sheet customisation options. 😊

1. Click on the "Vampiric Bite" snippet in the actions area of the sheet - the side panel will display.
2. Click on the "Customize" header at the top of the side panel.
3. Add in a to hit bonus and damage bonus equal to your STR bonus.

We're aware that this isn't ideal and, should this content make it to officially published sourcebooks, we'll ensure that we support it fully without such measures being necessary!

LINEAGE - Hexblood (UA)

Where wishing fails, ancient magic can offer a heart’s desire—at least, for a time. Hexbloods are individuals infused with eldritch magic, fey energy, or mysterious witchcraft. Some who enter into bargains with hags gain their deepest wishes but eventually find themselves transformed. These changes evidence a hag’s influence: ears that split in forked points, skin in wild shades, lengthy hair that regrows if cut, and an irremovable living crown. Along with these marks, hexbloods manifest hag-like traits, such as long life, darkvision, and a variety of magical methods to beguile the senses and avoid the same.

While many hexbloods gain their lineage after making a deal with a hag, others reveal their nature as they age—particularly if a hag influenced them early in life or even before their birth. Many hexbloods turn to lives of adventure, seeking to discover the mysteries of their magic, to forge a connection with their fey natures, or to avoid a hag that obsesses over them.

Notes:

Hex Magic

This feature adds two spells: disguise self and hex, both of which can be used once per long rest, but can also be case using any spell slots you have from your class.

We've had a reasonable amount of requests over the last few months, asking that when a feature grants a spell in this way, that it be added both as a "use" to track the number of uses and also as a "cast" so that it can be quickly clicked to use a spell slot and will show up on higher levels for up-casting.

So, for this lineage, we have done exactly that. Sample screenshot below (I haven't learned other spells yet on that character - it's a multiclass wizard/sorcerer for test purposes).

We'd like your feedback on this please! Is it better, worse, more accurate, unclear?

For clarity, some features were set-up this way during the very early days of D&D Beyond and, at the time, user feedback was very clear that this was confusing and not wanted. With this being playtest rules, we figured it's a good time to test things out! 

LINEAGE - Reborn (UA)

Death isn’t always the end. The reborn exemplify this, being individuals who have died yet, somehow, still live. Some reborn exhibit the scars of fatal fates, their ashen flesh, missing limbs, or bloodless veins making it clear that they’ve been touched by death. Other reborn are marvels of magic or science, being stitched together from disparate beings or bearing mysterious minds in manufactured bodies. Whatever their origins, reborn know a new life and seek experiences and answers all their own.

Notes:

All functional as detailed.

Quote from GTRK >>

The preview text over at https://www.dndbeyond.com/races has the Dhampir text for Hexblood as well.

Thanks! All fixed. 

Quote from DulgorKnapp >>

I'm not seeing hex appear on my spell tab- is this a known bug? 
On racial features, I am seeing disguise self  appear twice. 

Looking forward to playtesting this soon though :D 

The hex spell is from the Player's Handbook, so isn't available for free.