May Unearthed Arcana: Dungeon Masters Guild

[treecko]

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/may-dungeon-masters-guild-review

Another DM guild recommendation, at least this time they chose all free articles. 3 druid circles and more options for curses if your strahd character dies.

[Arkhios]

Wow! Simple and honest "Wow!"

All those druidic circles hit their spots for me at least.
And that Circle of the Beast animal companion surely is a lot better than the Beast Master's. One I'll likely adopt to rangers as is.

[Gort]

All those circles have got strong flavour, without being especially powerful.
I quite like the fountain druid which will make an effective alternative to a life cleric

[Dr. Cliché]

And that Circle of the Beast animal companion surely is a lot better than the Beast Master's. One I'll likely adopt to rangers as is.

I was thinking the same. It's like Beast Master: Good Version.

[Mordrigar]

I really liked the idea behind circles. Especially Circle of the Fountain.

Now, I can create "Lady of the Fountain"

An Elven Maid, immortal Good-Witch of the lake, heals and inspires the creatures around her. Legends say she can not be killed (Well, HP regen helps a lot :p ) in her own domain. But there is an evil (N)PC who wants her hearth.

[Millstone85]

I really liked the idea behind circles. Especially Circle of the Fountain.

Now, I can create "Lady of the Fountain"

An Elven Maid, immortal Good-Witch of the lake, heals and inspires the creatures around her. Legends say she can not be killed (Well, HP regen helps a lot :p ) in her own domain. But there is an evil (N)PC who wants her hearth.Dragon#393 had the Lady of the White Well, a patron for 4e warlocks of the fey pact / hexblade persuasion.
Very arthurian, very cool.

http://timeoffire.wdfiles.com/local--files/the-lady-of-the-white-well/Lady-of-the-White-Well.jpg

[DanyBallon]

The druid circles are interesting. What I don't like is that WotC is promoting homebrew stuff that is tiping the balance. The druid companion is better than the ranger's companion (the original companion HD + 4x druid level is a nice modification though) and breaks action economy by allowing the companion to be commanded with a bonus action.

I fear that if WotC is starting to promote material that overshadow existing class and features, we'll soon end up with the same power creep we had in earlier editions.

The druid companion would have been fine following the same rules as the ranger's companion. The addition of this sentence "If you are incapacitated, the beast will do its best to defend you and itself from hostile creatures, but otherwise takes no actions." is a nice way to remove the automaton feel the ranger companion have, without needing to overhaul the mechanics. The 14th level feature allow the druid and it's companion to attack on the same round the same as rangers can with extra attack, but at a much later level, which I believe is fine. The boost to HD is good and should be applied to the ranger's companion as well.

[Dr. Cliché]

I disagree. The Beast Master companion was a worthless, lazy lump. It broke gameplay with its crap mechanics, and broke verisimilitude by stopping every 6 seconds and refusing to continue attacking until its master filled out the requisite B37 form.

Future classes should aim to learn from and address the mistakes of older classes, not wallow in bad design choices so that they don't risk overshadowing badly-designed classes.

[DanyBallon]

I disagree. The Beast Master companion was a worthless, lazy lump. It broke gameplay with its crap mechanics, and broke verisimilitude by stopping every 6 seconds and refusing to continue attacking until its master filled out the requisite B37 form.

Future classes should aim to learn from and address the mistakes of older classes, not wallow in bad design choices so that they don't risk overshadowing badly-designed classes.

We definitaly don't see the ranger's companion the same way. In my perspective, except for the fact that it feel a bit like an automaton if strictly played as written (which could easily be covered with a bit of roleplaying) the companion is balanced and do not break the action economy. The design and intent is well done, what is lacking is a bit of fluff like the extra sentence the author of the Circle of the Beast added and that I quoted.

[Smorgonoffz]

UA is A.L legal?

[Spacehamster]

The druid circles are interesting. What I don't like is that WotC is promoting homebrew stuff that is tiping the balance. The druid companion is better than the ranger's companion (the original companion HD + 4x druid level is a nice modification though) and breaks action economy by allowing the companion to be commanded with a bonus action.

I fear that if WotC is starting to promote material that overshadow existing class and features, we'll soon end up with the same power creep we had in earlier editions.

The druid companion would have been fine following the same rules as the ranger's companion. The addition of this sentence "If you are incapacitated, the beast will do its best to defend you and itself from hostile creatures, but otherwise takes no actions." is a nice way to remove the automaton feel the ranger companion have, without needing to overhaul the mechanics. The 14th level feature allow the druid and it's companion to attack on the same round the same as rangers can with extra attack, but at a much later level, which I believe is fine. The boost to HD is good and should be applied to the ranger's companion as well.

Well they made it as the beastmasters companion should have been to start with, if they made same power every "companion" based class would be ****e like the beastmaster
so rather they up the scales a bit and edit the beastmaster later to compare. :)

[Spacehamster]

We definitaly don't see the ranger's companion the same way. In my perspective, except for the fact that it feel a bit like an automaton if strictly played as written (which could easily be covered with a bit of roleplaying) the companion is balanced and do not break the action economy. The design and intent is well done, what is lacking is a bit of fluff like the extra sentence the author of the Circle of the Beast added and that I quoted.

Would say a Necromancer first calling down a meteor swarm followed by using bonus action to command a couple dozen skeletons/zombies breaks action economy more then
a super weak beast nibbling at stuff with a bonus action. ;)

[DanyBallon]

Would say a Necromancer first calling down a meteor swarm followed by using bonus action to command a couple dozen skeletons/zombies breaks action economy more then
a super weak beast nibbling at stuff with a bonus action. ;)

You can't get Animated Dead until 5th at which point the ranger and its companion can both attack. Companion are much stronger that skeletons and Zombies, and at last, controlling a dozen undead requires the expenditures of much needed spell slots, so there's a drawback to balance things out.


Well they made it as the beastmasters companion should have been to start with, if they made same power every "companion" based class would be ****e like the beastmaster
so rather they up the scales a bit and edit the beastmaster later to compare. :)

Again, it's all relative to your gameplay, once we came up with an explanation for the behavior of the companion between commands, our table didn't had any issue with it anymore. Sure it could be improved, the boost to HP is nice, as the feature to give the companion an additionnal trait later on. Could allowing the companion to act on a bonus action as a replacement for 7th level ability? yeah it could improved the companion and keep it on par with the new powers other classes gets, but allowing the companion to act on a bonus action as soon as you get it tips the balance far too much. It will just creat an arm race that will bring the infamous power creep we all want to avoid.

[SharkForce]

i would have to say the deathbloom or whatever is probably stronger than core druids. if nothing else, you can do some pretty ridiculous stuff with myconid wild shape.

[Arkhios]

UA is A.L legal?

Short answer to short question: No.

Longer answer, only those supplementary rules published by WotC officials are legal in AL, and only if WotC/AL officials say so.
For now, as I have gathered, Elemental Evil Player's Companion and Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide are the only legal resources outside of Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual.

[treecko]

Fungus circle is fun, I love the idea of summoning plants out of bodies.

The druid of water is really fun. I love how they could carry around a barrel and just sit in it to get up to 1/2 health, which allows them to spend more hit points on allies. It's great flavor stuff, great healing, and it's not too strong.

[Giant2005]

The druid circles are interesting. What I don't like is that WotC is promoting homebrew stuff that is tiping the balance. The druid companion is better than the ranger's companion (the original companion HD + 4x druid level is a nice modification though) and breaks action economy by allowing the companion to be commanded with a bonus action.

I fear that if WotC is starting to promote material that overshadow existing class and features, we'll soon end up with the same power creep we had in earlier editions.

I don't think their choice of what things to showcase has much correlation with what WotC will do themselves. I'd even be willing to bet that they barely even looked at the classes that they showcased - they simply chose them because they were druids, read enough of the fluff to have a gist on what they were about, and then wrote a few lines explaining that fluff. The mechanics weren't part of the equation.

[DanyBallon]

I don't think their choice of what things to showcase has much correlation with what WotC will do themselves. I'd even be willing to bet that they barely even looked at the classes that they showcased - they simply chose them because they were druids, read enough of the fluff to have a gist on what they were about, and then wrote a few lines explaining that fluff. The mechanics weren't part of the equation.

I hope you're right :)

[Dralnu]

Wow, these responses are a stark difference from the reaction on Reddit, where anything not published by a Wizards employee is immediately dismissed without even being looked at.

[Sigreid]

Wonder if UA is moving towards being just a DM Guild thing.

I think it's pretty certain that none of these things will be in an official release. Unless there is language in the DM Guild EULA that says they get IP rights to anything released through the Guild, they aren't going to want to get into a legal battle over home brew content.

[EvanescentHero]

Wonder if UA is moving towards being just a DM Guild thing.

I think it's pretty certain that none of these things will be in an official release. Unless there is language in the DM Guild EULA that says they get IP rights to anything released through the Guild, they aren't going to want to get into a legal battle over home brew content.

The first time they did this in March they explicitly stated that they might work with the authors on making some of this stuff official.

[Belac93]

I like everything on here, but the Circle of the Beast is explicitly better than beastmasters. I love the other 2 circles however, so I may actually include these in my games as UA material.

[Markoff Chainey]

I like everything on here, but the Circle of the Beast is explicitly better than beastmasters. I love the other 2 circles however, so I may actually include these in my games as UA material.

Belac93, I like your version of the beastmaster that you posted here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?481541-Beastmaster-Tweak)better... though some of the druids abilities are awesome (especially the wild shaping your companion)... I think I will look into those in detail and make a mix.

[Belac93]

I think I will look into those in detail and make a mix.

Looking forward to seeing it! :smallsmile:

[MaxWilson]

The druid circles are interesting. What I don't like is that WotC is promoting homebrew stuff that is tiping the balance. The druid companion is better than the ranger's companion (the original companion HD + 4x druid level is a nice modification though) and breaks action economy by allowing the companion to be commanded with a bonus action.

Or maybe they are fighting back against the notion that there is or should be a "the balance" instead of "your balance at your table." After all, 5E has a DMG that is already chock-full of optional rules modules and ways to alter balance, plus advice on creating your own classes/races/etc. UA is and always has been full of (highly!) optional stuff that bears more resemblance to DMG modules than to PHB material.

Instead of seeing this as WotC promoting specific homebrew, maybe it would be useful to view it as promoting homebrewing.

Personally I don't like homebrew content but I do like variant rules. For example, I've rewritten the initiative system to be more fluid and interesting, and I've rewritten magic resistance and legendary resistance to be more like AD&D Magic Resistance in flavor and in effect while still remaining within the 5E idiom.

[DanyBallon]

Instead of seeing this as WotC promoting specific homebrew, maybe it would be useful to view it as promoting homebrewing.


You're right, I might be seeing too much into their DM's Guild article :)

[Markoff Chainey]

Looking forward to seeing it! :smallsmile:

Here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?487730-Wild-Shape-Animal-Companion-redesign&p=20767383#post20767383) it is, I am interested about your thoughts! :smallsmile: