Happy Birthday to Me: UA Today!

[the_brazenburn]

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday dear Brazenburn
Happy birthday to me!

Coincidentally, my birthday also falls on the day that a new UA comes out! Wonder what it is?

Speculate here.

[hymer]

Happy birthday, indeed!

Speculate here.
A Brazenburn themed group of warlock subclasses and elf subraces, naturally.

[Mortis_Elrod]

happy Birthday!

I'm hoping for rules on celebrating birthdays.

[jaappleton]

Happy Birthday, my friend.

Coincidentally, the Artificer was dropped on my birthday when it was released. So I'm hoping we get a big update to coincide with your birthday!

[Regitnui]

Happy level-up day. Spend your ASI/feat wisely.

I personally would place by bets on a tease for the next setting, even if it isn't used or marketed as such.

[Amdy_vill]

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday dear Brazenburn
Happy birthday to me!

Coincidentally, my birthday also falls on the day that a new UA comes out! Wonder what it is?

Speculate here.

have a wonderful birthday

[mephnick]

A DC table for every possible DM call in the game. We lose a few posters due to heads exploding.

[Blackbando]

I'm gonna predict something psionic. Maybe some of the "psionic spells" Mearls mentioned once or twice.

[Xihirli]

Rules for playing a Medium-Sized Hill Giant!

[sightlessrealit]

Congrats on cheating death for another year.

Hoping for more psionics.

[EvilAnagram]

I believe it's going to be an article titled "Grung: The Most Erotic Monster"

[jaappleton]

I believe it's going to be an article titled "Grung: The Most Erotic Monster"

Well, I don't know about you guys, but it seems like I'm getting what I hoped for.

[samcifer]

Happy birthday! :)

[RazDelacroix]

Happy Birthday!

And in the spirit of such celebration, I hope the UA for today is all about bringing back Ghostwalk! That way, all of your dearly (and undearly) departed ancestors will rise up from their graves and make a great wail of well wishes! Just think of all the presents of the afterlife you can get!

[DizzyWood]

Happy birth-date.

No why isn't it up yet?!?!?!?1

[xen]

It's up. Giant Soul Sorcerer

[xen]

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/giant-soul-sorcerer

[xen]

Have to say several of these look interesting. Frost Giant will have the best Armor if Agathys in the game. That's poorly worded cause i guarantee people are gonna want to say the AoA increase stacks. Just spam ray of frost.

[xen]

Wow, at 20th level you can be Huge with 15 foot reach, 40 foot speed and +5 hp per level. With a 22 con giving you +11 total hp extra per level. Be frost giant and spam ray of frost to jack up AoA while you're at it. New king of Sorcadins.

[Scripten]

Rules for playing a Medium-Sized Hill Giant!

How did you know?!

[DracoKnight]

Wow, at 20th level you can be Huge with 15 foot reach, 40 foot speed and +5 hp per level. With a 22 con giving you +11 total hp extra per level. Be frost giant and spam ray of frost to jack up AoA while you're at it. New king of Sorcadins.

Casting Enlarge to trigger the first size increase allows you to hit Gargantuan.

Happy Birthday, Brazenburn!! :smallbiggrin:

[Beechgnome]

Casting Enlarge to trigger the first size increase allows you to hit Gargantuan.

Happy Birthday, Brazenburn!! :smallbiggrin:

Yeah, Hill giants getting both shillelagh and enlarge/reduce weirdly makes them the King Kong of giants. There, uh, might be a few balance issues with this (cloud giants!) But I like what they are trying.

[xen]

Casting Enlarge to trigger the first size increase allows you to hit Gargantuan.

Happy Birthday, Brazenburn!! :smallbiggrin:

Heck be a Bugbear and GET ALL THE REACH!!!

[KOLE]

Happy birthday!

This option actually makes me want to try a Sorcerer- which was the only 5e class I wasn’t interested in ever trying.

EDIT: Level 18- Enlarge + Rage of Fallen Ostoria x2 = Holy Crap
EDIT 2: Ninja’d... But still cool!

[robbie374]

Of all the subclasses I have seen, this looks like the most fun. I want a party of sorcerers, each with a different variety!

[DanyBallon]

Have to say several of these look interesting. Frost Giant will have the best Armor if Agathys in the game. That's poorly worded cause i guarantee people are gonna want to say the AoA increase stacks. Just spam ray of frost.

How? The temp HP applies either to you or are added to the 5 from Armor of Aghatys


Frost Giant. Immediately after you cast any of your Mark of the Ordning spells, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1). But if the spell is Armor of Agathys, you instead increase its temporary hit points by an amount equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1).

The bold sections shows that in the case of AoA, the temporary HP applies to AoA. Also, you can't get temporary HP from more than one source. So if you got the temp HP from AoA then cast Ray of Frost you'll need to pick which temp HP you want to use.


Healing can't restore temporary hit points, and they can't be added together. If you have temporary hit points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones. For example, if a spell grants you 12 temporary hit points when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22.

[Grod_The_Giant]

We have another one-level-Cha-to-attack dip with the Hill Giant, I see. But the part that jumps out most is that Soul of Lost Ostoria is not restricted to spells of 1st level or higher. Hello at-will short range teleport (Cloud Giant)! Hello infinitely-recharging Armor of Agathys (Frost). Hello bonus-action knockback on MULTIPLE guys (Hill)...

...I guess only the AoA recharging is real bad, though the Hill Giant Sorcerer re-casting Shillelagh to bowl people around is impressive-- Booming Blade as an action, Shillelagh as a bonus action, laugh as a free action, and walk away with whatever movement you have left. The fact that it'll usually be pushing people, like, 8 feet is a bit awkward for anyone using a grid.

[DracoKnight]

Hello infinitely-recharging Armor of Agathys (Frost). Hello bonus-action knockback on MULTIPLE guys (Hill)... ...I guess only the AoA recharging is real bad

AoA isn't infinitely recharging though, as already pointed out upthread by DannyBallon.

[Grod_The_Giant]

AoA isn't infinitely recharging though, as already pointed out upthread by DannyBallon.
I saw after I posted, but I'm not convinced. This ability is clearly supposed to be an exception to the general temp HP stacking rule, because otherwise it makes no sense. AoA grants x temp HP; you cast Ray of Frost, and now you "increase its temporary HP." You cast it again next turn; AoA is still active and still giving you temp HP, so it increases again. It's an instantaneous boost, so the general rules about not stacking identical effects shouldn't apply--otherwise you couldn't get, oh, Healing Word cast on you twice.

[robbie374]

I saw after I posted, but I'm not convinced. This ability is clearly supposed to be an exception to the general temp HP stacking rule, because otherwise it makes no sense. AoA grants x temp HP; you cast Ray of Frost, and now you "increase its temporary HP." You cast it again next turn; AoA is still active and still giving you temp HP, so it increases again. It's an instantaneous boost, so the general rules about not stacking identical effects shouldn't apply--otherwise you couldn't get, oh, Healing Word cast on you twice.

It may be spammable, but not stackable. Remember that any time you gain temp HP, it has to replace any other temp HP you already have:

"Frost Giant. Immediately after you cast any of your Mark of the Ordning spells, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1)."

This replaces any temp HP you already have, including from Armor of Agathys.

"But if the spell is Armor of Agathys, you instead increase its temporary hit points by an amount equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1)."

If you are casting Armor of Agathys, you replace you temp HP with that of the spell, which in this case is the normal spell + 5. "Its" clearly refers only to the spell being cast, as there is no reference to the source of any prior temporary HP.

[Grod_The_Giant]

It may be spammable, but not stackable. Remember that any time you gain temp HP, it has to replace any other temp HP you already have:

"Frost Giant. Immediately after you cast any of your Mark of the Ordning spells, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1)."

This replaces any temp HP you already have, including from Armor of Agathys.

"But if the spell is Armor of Agathys, you instead increase its temporary hit points by an amount equal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1)."

If you are casting Armor of Agathys, you replace you temp HP with that of the spell, which in this case is the normal spell + 5. "Its" clearly refers only to the spell being cast, as there is no reference to the source of any prior temporary HP.
I think I see what you're saying-- the second clause is triggering when AoA is the spell you cast, not the source of temp HP.

[mephnick]

I like this a lot.

The AoA thing seems pretty clear.

Non-AoA spell: temp hp =Con mod

AoA spell: temp hp = AoA+ Con mod

[Shining Wrath]

Interesting that Hill Giants, which are pretty much the epitome of "walking pile of hit points" monsters, can still be ancestors to mighty Sorcerers.

[the_brazenburn]

Best birthday present EVER! :smallbiggrin:

In all seriousness, though, this is really cool. I'm not particularly surprised at anything, except the stacking size buffs. Seems like that would lead to some massive shenanigans.

Not bad at all.

[DracoKnight]

In all seriousness, though, this is really cool. I'm not particularly surprised at anything, except the stacking size buffs. Seems like that would lead to some massive shenanigans.

Not bad at all.

Emphasis mine.

Why yes, yes it does. It has pretty huge, potentially even gargantuan implications for the game :smallcool:

On a more serious note, you have to get up to 14th level to get any size-stacking (Rage of Ostoria + enlarge), so to mesh that with a class that gets Extra Attack you end up at 19th level (at least) before you can make the Warrior Mage who's Huge.

[Unoriginal]

It makes me happy that they included the Hill Giant in this version.

[Daithi]

Pretty cool UA this month. Now I need to contemplate a STR based grappling Sorcerer... and Happy Birthday!

[No brains]

Interesting that Hill Giants, which are pretty much the epitome of "walking pile of hit points" monsters, can still be ancestors to mighty Sorcerers.

Maybe it's less that the sorcerer had a hill giant schlub ancestor and more that the sorcerer and hill giants had a common ancestor who was actually good at something.

[Xanvyr_Yyndryth]

Happy birthday!
Mine's tomorrow.
:smallsmile:

[Beechgnome]

Maybe it's less that the sorcerer had a hill giant schlub ancestor and more that the sorcerer and hill giants had a common ancestor who was actually good at something.

Eating? It's gotta be eating, right?

They need Goodberry instead of heroism, then. Or maybe Animal friendship ('Here piggie piggie').

[Grod_The_Giant]

Emphasis mine.

Why yes, yes it does. It has pretty huge, potentially even gargantuan implications for the game :smallcool:

On a more serious note, you have to get up to 14th level to get any size-stacking (Rage of Ostoria + enlarge), so to mesh that with a class that gets Extra Attack you end up at 19th level (at least) before you can make the Warrior Mage who's Huge.
Make those 5 levels Primeval Guardian Ranger and you can use Guardian Soul to start the chain at Large size.

[Joe the Rat]

See, and here I was thinking about going Halfling with it.
Invoke the power of your bloodline and grow to fearsome heights, reaching almost a whole Six Feet of height! Watch the villagers tremble as you reach the cookie jar on the top shelf...

...with 10' reach, because you get 10' reach as a Medium Halfling.

[Ivellius]

Happy birthday!
Mine's tomorrow.
:smallsmile:

Hey, mine too.

I like this UA, though I do think it needs a bit of tweaking here and there. I'm not sold on all of the 6th level options being equal to one another, but they're not far off, and they're pretty solid, it would seem. It really makes me want to play the class, even if the fluff seems a little strange.

[Moredhel24]

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!

Interesting that Hill Giants, which are pretty much the epitome of "walking pile of hit points" monsters, can still be ancestors to mighty Sorcerers.

Hill giants remind me of some family that I have in the backwoods of Kentucky, so maybe there's a recessive trait that got passed on to the sorceror. Allthough I really don't want to think of the events that took place in order to have a Hill Giant ancestor. To quote Xanathar:
"So ancestors are people who did the procreation thing to make more people before you were born? Like how many people? That's a lot of the procreation thing. Ew. You're disgusting."


Eating? It's gotta be eating, right?

They need Goodberry instead of heroism, then. Or maybe Animal friendship ('Here piggie piggie').

Lmao

[Derpaligtr]

Interesting that Hill Giants, which are pretty much the epitome of "walking pile of hit points" monsters, can still be ancestors to mighty Sorcerers.

It was a magical night.

[DracoKnight]

It was a magical night.

I'm going to go bleach that image out of my brain now.

[Derpaligtr]

I'm going to go bleach that image out of my brain now.

reddit's r/Eyebleach will help with that.

[Grod_The_Giant]

reddit's r/Eyebleach will help with that.
I googled that without thinking and got very concerned for a minute.

[Derpaligtr]

I googled that without thinking and got very concerned for a minute.

Most people are pleasantly surprised.

[Finback]

Invoke the power of your bloodline and grow to fearsome heights, reaching almost a whole Six Feet of height! Watch the villagers tremble as you reach the cookie jar on the top shelf...

...with 10' reach, because you get 10' reach as a Medium Halfling.

Just an oversized halfling, a la the DnD Movie dwarf, only the arms are like an orangutan - just, as long as the entire individual is. They just trail behind on the ground as they walk.

Worse than having an ear so big you can wrap it around you like a shroud.

[vicente408]

I have the sudden urge to roll up a Hill Giant Sorcerer gourmand, adventuring to find the finest, rarest of ingredients to satisfy his incredibly refined pallet. He can cast shillelagh on a wooden spoon (also acts as a wand).

[Beechgnome]

I have the sudden urge to roll up a Hill Giant Sorcerer gourmand, adventuring to find the finest, rarest of ingredients to satisfy his incredibly refined pallet. He can cast shillelagh on a wooden spoon (also acts as a wand).

This is inspired. Four stars!

When he/she gets animate objects at 9th level, it's time to open the restaurant.

[Derpaligtr]

I have the sudden urge to roll up a Hill Giant Sorcerer gourmand, adventuring to find the finest, rarest of ingredients to satisfy his incredibly refined pallet. He can cast shillelagh on a wooden spoon (also acts as a wand).

Name it Quina, please.

Though, I'm partial to Blue Mages who eat their enemies (Quina and I always had Quistis have the devour ability in VIII)

[vicente408]

This is inspired. Four stars!

When he/she gets animate objects at 9th level, it's time to open the restaurant.

Is a rat familiar living under my hat too much? ...no, of course it isn’t.

[Naanomi]

I have the sudden urge to roll up a Hill Giant Sorcerer gourmand, adventuring to find the finest, rarest of ingredients to satisfy his incredibly refined pallet. He can cast shillelagh on a wooden spoon (also acts as a wand).
Hermit Background for the secret 11 herbs and spices?

[vicente408]

Hermit Background for the secret 11 herbs and spices?

I was thinking guild artisan but you might be on to something.

[Naanomi]

I was thinking guild artisan but you might be on to something.
SCAG inheritor might also work... keeper of the ancient cook book

Look into Games Workshop’s Ogre Butchers for minis

[vicente408]

On a different note, I also noticed that the Cloud Giant options, barring the size increase thing, works really well as a traditional illusionist/trickster mage character archetype, which has been conspicuously missing from existing Sorcerer subclass options.

[Naanomi]

I’m surprised no bonus language

[Beechgnome]

On a different note, I also noticed that the Cloud Giant options, barring the size increase thing, works really well as a traditional illusionist/trickster mage character archetype, which has been conspicuously missing from existing Sorcerer subclass options.

Yeah casting fog cloud or invisibility and then teleporting is really good synergy for both spells.

I wish stone giants got magic stone instead of resistance. But I guess it fits their passive nature.

[Temperjoke]

One thing that I really like about this is that they're experimenting with giving sorcerers more spells beyond their base limit. That addresses one of the common criticisms that people have. That aside, I have to say that this seems really solid on the surface of things.

Oh, and happy birthday!

[Vessyra]

I think of the sorcerer's lack of spells known is one of the drawbacks, but it's necessary for game balance. Still, an extra spell here and there isn't game-breaking.

What is fairly powerful, however, is the ability to become nigh-unkillable. With all of the hit point increases they get from the 1st, 14th and 18th levels abilities, they have an effective d12 hit die while also having the shield and mage armour spells. By going frost giant and casting and ordning spell each round, you can become pretty unkillable. Apart from that, however, I really do like the fluff on it, and I also enjoy the fact that you can now become gargantuan. Having a gargantuan spell casting really is something that I've been wanting to do for a long, long time

[Naanomi]

Hard to make work they way I’d want to with point buy but... a tortle Hill-Giant Sorcerer with good rolled stats would be brutal. Gamera, friend to all children!

[Temperjoke]

I think of the sorcerer's lack of spells known is one of the drawbacks, but it's necessary for game balance. Still, an extra spell here and there isn't game-breaking.

What is fairly powerful, however, is the ability to become nigh-unkillable. With all of the hit point increases they get from the 1st, 14th and 18th levels abilities, they have an effective d12 hit die while also having the shield and mage armour spells. By going frost giant and casting and ordning spell each round, you can become pretty unkillable. Apart from that, however, I really do like the fluff on it, and I also enjoy the fact that you can now become gargantuan. Having a gargantuan spell casting really is something that I've been wanting to do for a long, long time

I don't think it's a huge problem, especially as the levels go up, since you start seeing enemies with escalating damage output as well. A sorcerer who is focusing all their spellcasting on spells that bolster their defense is putting a lot of limits on themselves. It's really just like any build made around subclass feature, only a problem if the DM doesn't adapt to it. A sorcerer with high health and high armor class? Sounds like you deal with them like you'd deal with a paladin, barbarian, or wild-shaped druid, instead of like you'd normally deal with a spellcaster.

[vicente408]

While working on this exact subclass on his livestream, Mike Mearls discussed the issue of Sorcerer spells known. He said that players have expressed dissatisfaction with the number of spells known, especially at low levels, but that he suspects the real underlying issue might not just be the number spells the sorcerer gets but also he thinks they may have given the Wizard too many spells known. It is by design that the Sorcerer has fewer spells known, but the gap seems even wider because while the Wizard can’t prepare any more spells per day than an equivalent Cleric or whatever, the sheer number of known spells they get per level up is more than twice what you get as a Sorcerer, making that disparity seem even larger than it actually is.

The bonus spells granted by some of the more recent Sorcerer subclasses is an intentional push to try to help close that gap a little in the early levels, where the spell crunch is felt the hardest. As you get higher in levels the disparity means less and less as the increased selection is throttled by the number of spell slots you have to spend. This is how Mearls described his personal perspective on the issue, to the best of my recollection anyway. I’d have to go back to the archived stream videos and find where he was working on the Giant Soul to check.

[Beechgnome]

While working on this exact subclass on his livestream, Mike Mearls discussed the issue of Sorcerer spells known. He said that players have expressed dissatisfaction with the number of spells known, especially at low levels, but that he suspects the real underlying issue might not just be the number spells the sorcerer gets but also he thinks they may have given the Wizard too many spells known. It is by design that the Sorcerer has fewer spells known, but the gap seems even wider because while the Wizard can’t prepare any more spells per day than an equivalent Cleric or whatever, the sheer number of known spells they get per level up is more than twice what you get as a Sorcerer, making that disparity seem even larger than it actually is.

The bonus spells granted by some of the more recent Sorcerer subclasses is an intentional push to try to help close that gap a little in the early levels, where the spell crunch is felt the hardest. As you get higher in levels the disparity means less and less as the increased selection is throttled by the number of spell slots you have to spend. This is how Mearls described his personal perspective on the issue, to the best of my recollection anyway. I’d have to go back to the archived stream videos and find where he was working on the Giant Soul to check.

That makes sense. Right now at 4th level a sorcerer knows only 5 spells, while a wizard with, say, 18 intelligence would have 8 memorized and have, at minimum, 11 spells in their spellbook, some of which may be rituals.

If they had used the same principle for Draconic (choice based on element for cantrip, chromatic orb, dragon's breath) and Wild Mage (minor illusion, chaos bolt, uh, enlarge/reduce) there would be far fewer complaints.

[EvilAnagram]

While working on this exact subclass on his livestream, Mike Mearls discussed the issue of Sorcerer spells known. He said that players have expressed dissatisfaction with the number of spells known, especially at low levels, but that he suspects the real underlying issue might not just be the number spells the sorcerer gets but also he thinks they may have given the Wizard too many spells known. It is by design that the Sorcerer has fewer spells known, but the gap seems even wider because while the Wizard can’t prepare any more spells per day than an equivalent Cleric or whatever, the sheer number of known spells they get per level up is more than twice what you get as a Sorcerer, making that disparity seem even larger than it actually is.

The bonus spells granted by some of the more recent Sorcerer subclasses is an intentional push to try to help close that gap a little in the early levels, where the spell crunch is felt the hardest. As you get higher in levels the disparity means less and less as the increased selection is throttled by the number of spell slots you have to spend. This is how Mearls described his personal perspective on the issue, to the best of my recollection anyway. I’d have to go back to the archived stream videos and find where he was working on the Giant Soul to check.

That's pretty sensible. Hell, one of the reasons I rate tieflings, drow, and dragonborn sp highly in my guide is that their spells (and spell-like breath weapon) make a huge difference early on.

[samcifer]

I really don't care for the new subclass. It's like they're trying to make sorcerers wade into melee while giving them very little to compensate for it. I prefer Stone sorcerer over this.

[Ivellius]

While working on this exact subclass on his livestream, Mike Mearls discussed the issue of Sorcerer spells known. He said that players have expressed dissatisfaction with the number of spells known, especially at low levels, but that he suspects the real underlying issue might not just be the number spells the sorcerer gets but also he thinks they may have given the Wizard too many spells known. It is by design that the Sorcerer has fewer spells known, but the gap seems even wider because while the Wizard can’t prepare any more spells per day than an equivalent Cleric or whatever, the sheer number of known spells they get per level up is more than twice what you get as a Sorcerer, making that disparity seem even larger than it actually is.

The bonus spells granted by some of the more recent Sorcerer subclasses is an intentional push to try to help close that gap a little in the early levels, where the spell crunch is felt the hardest. As you get higher in levels the disparity means less and less as the increased selection is throttled by the number of spell slots you have to spend. This is how Mearls described his personal perspective on the issue, to the best of my recollection anyway. I’d have to go back to the archived stream videos and find where he was working on the Giant Soul to check.

Yeah, you can look at it from either end, but if the Wizard had fewer spells the Sorcerer would feel a lot better.

Recently I had a player wanting to pick up a Charisma-based fullcaster, and I ultimately recommended Bard over Sorcerer mainly just so he'd have more options in the spellcasting department--he wanted to enchant people but also needed some defensive options.