Unearthed Arcana: Travelers of the Multiverse

[Arkhios]

Man, it'd be a DREAM if they went as far as including some races from STAR FRONTIERS - like the Drasalite, Vrusk and Yarzarians.

EDIT -


Just saw your post. Glad to see others who haven't forgotten STAR FRONTIERS.

I must admit I'm young enough to not have heard of Star Frontiers until today for the first time.

[Yakmala]

So, it just occurred to me that a Thri-Kreen fighter, once they hit level 5, could, using Action Surge, Grapple up to four creatures on the same turn.

[Millstone85]

So, it just occurred to me that a Thri-Kreen fighter, once they hit level 5, could, using Action Surge, Grapple up to four creatures on the same turn.

I believe that the grapple attempt can only replace one attack per Attack action, so bring that number down to two creatures.

[stoutstien]

I believe that the grapple attempt can only replace one attack per Attack action, so bring that number down to two creatures.

No such limit exists.

[Millstone85]

No such limit exists.

The text says:

When you want to grab a creature or wrestle with it, you can use the Attack action to make a special melee attack, a grapple. If you're able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them.

I am reading that "one" as limitative.

Edit: Turns out Crawford disagrees with me, in this tweet. I am surprised that wasn't judged worthy of the compendium.

[stoutstien]

The text says:
I am reading that "one" as limitative.

Exactly. The grapple replaced one attack rather the whole action it does not say you can only replace one per action because if that was the case they have different wording for such mechanics. See the net weapon or most of the rerolling options.

[Millstone85]

Exactly. The grapple replaced one attack rather the whole action it does not say you can only replace one per action because if that was the case they have different wording for such mechanics. See the net weapon or most of the rerolling options.

Wait, how are you interpreting attacks with a net?

When you use an action, bonus action, or reaction to attack with a net, you can make only one attack regardless of the number of attacks you can normally make.

That's a complete cancellation of Extra Attack, isn't it? Which isn't how I was reading the grappling rules.

I was saying you could "grapple + sword" but not "grapple + grapple".

[stoutstien]

Wait, how are you interpreting attacks with a net?

Strictly RaW the net would eat all your attacks available in the same action you used to make that attack with it.

[EggKookoo]

I don't think there are rules for this, but many (most?) monsters with a grapple ability specify they can only grapple one creature at a time. I suppose that's down to interpretation.

[stoutstien]

I don't think there are rules for this, but many (most?) monsters with a grapple ability specify they can only grapple one creature at a time. I suppose that's down to interpretation.

It's usually one target per limb or weapon that has the grapple/restrain rider. So if it's a bite it's one, crab claws is two, octopus is 8, and so on.

[togapika]

I'm trying to think if there's a race I was waiting for more then the Giff (There's never been an official raccoon race in any edition, right?) and yet this is just so disappointing. How often do Str saves actually come up in a game, and what Giff worth their salt would want to use a melee weapon over guns or explosives? Carrying capacity is nice enough at first, but by the point anyone has access to magical carrying i.e. bag of holding, handy haversack, etc. usually GM's don't worry about that stuff unless you're really trying to pull one over on them.

I've been in a game that meets regularly for maybe a year or longer and I can't remember the last time a character of mine had to make a strength saving throw.

[Tawmis]

I must admit I'm young enough to not have heard of Star Frontiers until today for the first time.

Oh, that's all right. Enjoy thy youth! :)

STAR FRONTIERS was quite fun back then. It had it's limits (not much for races), a lot of monsters had to be home brewed if you went outside the modules, etc.

But loved it!

[sambojin]

Excuse me, DM Sir/Mam, how much of the Plasmoid's abilities carry over to wildshape? Is it a lot? Because if it is, I'm going to be a Plasmoid Moon Druid this campaign, thankyou, please 😎


Mmmm, tool using, 1" gap squeezing, possibly talking Giant Spider form at lvl2. Or poison resistant, 10' caltrop throwing, Spike Growth grapple mastering, bird flipping-offing Warhorses for non-Moon Druids by lvl4.

(Even just the Spider Climb spell makes this look like "well, you broke the fortress I designed, didn't you?" with this race, no wildshape needed.)

Oh, and Giff are great for this too. Why shouldn't Hippo Build carry over? There's big beasts and small. Damage dealer looks a bit better too, when you can use it on d10's whenever you want, to try and eke every last bit of +DPR from it with the correct wildshape forms. Grapples ahoy!

[Hytheter]

Excuse me, DM Sir/Mam, how much of the Plasmoid's abilities carry over to wildshape? Is it a lot? Because if it is, I'm going to be a Plasmoid Moon Druid this campaign, thankyou, please 😎


Mmmm, tool using, 1" gap squeezing, possibly talking Giant Spider form at lvl2. Or poison resistant, 10' caltrop throwing, Spike Growth grapple mastering, bird flipping-offing Warhorses for non-Moon Druids by lvl4.

"You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them if the new form is physically capable of doing so."

I'm guessing most wild shape forms can do approximately 0% of what you describe.

[Telwar]

I'm trying to think if there's a race I was waiting for more then the Giff (There's never been an official raccoon race in any edition, right?) and yet this is just so disappointing. How often do Str saves actually come up in a game, and what Giff worth their salt would want to use a melee weapon over guns or explosives? Carrying capacity is nice enough at first, but by the point anyone has access to magical carrying i.e. bag of holding, handy haversack, etc. usually GM's don't worry about that stuff unless you're really trying to pull one over on them.

I've been in a game that meets regularly for maybe a year or longer and I can't remember the last time a character of mine had to make a strength saving throw.

While I don't have a particular love for giff, aside from loving hippos, they do seem, frankly, underwhelming, with two abilities and a swim speed. The "reroll a single 1 on a melee damage die" ability is frankly strong, but if you don't melee, then there's no mileage out of it.

I'm hoping it'll be buffed somewhat after feedback.


I'm also vaguely curious if, since they're removing racial abilities that are "cultural" in nature, if there's going to be a culture layer to character creation added in, in addition to background and class proficiencies.

Now, I suspect not, since that might require more work on their part that can be more easily outsourced to literally anyone else, and it's easier to just say "use your class proficiencies to represent your cultural background," but I could be wrong.

[Hytheter]

The "reroll a single 1 on a melee damage die" ability is frankly strong

Really? It seems pretty piddly to me.

[EggKookoo]

I'm also vaguely curious if, since they're removing racial abilities that are "cultural" in nature, if there's going to be a culture layer to character creation added in, in addition to background and class proficiencies.

Now, I suspect not, since that might require more work on their part that can be more easily outsourced to literally anyone else, and it's easier to just say "use your class proficiencies to represent your cultural background," but I could be wrong.

I fully expect the 2024/5.5 update to include a cultural layer to PCs. Didn't someone say they were thinking of expanding Backgrounds, or making them more relevant? That would be the place to do it. A bonus is it lets them tailor these by setting. So FR high elves are a certain thing but Eberron high elves are a different thing. I mean on your character sheet, with cultural features, and not just in the descriptive text. And it opens the door to a variety of backgrounds for a given race in a given setting, so we end up with not one "FR high elf" culture but a few of them.

An additional benefit is that they can be mix-and-matched. Want your dwarf PC raised among humans? Give him the human cultural background. Maybe some races don't even have a cultural background of their own and always borrow another's.

Honestly most of this is where the stuff we normally think of as "race" goes. A lot of the personality of a race comes from its culture.

[Millstone85]

I fully expect the 2024/5.5 update to include a cultural layer to PCs. Didn't someone say they were thinking of expanding Backgrounds, or making them more relevant? That would be the place to do it.

I think of backgrounds as being more personal. Your profession, a defining life event, that kind of thing. So I hope the cultural layer becomes its own thing. A character would now have a race, culture, background and class.

[Joe the Rat]

4-piece character development? That would work well.

The fact this is landing when I am laying plans to crack the sphere on one of my game worlds is quite serendipitous.

As well as a couple direct nods to Star Frontiers. It would have been cool to see some vrusk in there, but I guess they're thematically (and somewhat physically) similar to the thri-kreen.

They did incorporate Dralasites and Yazarians (Hadozee) into Spelljammer at one point. I too am tickled by the inclusions, though a bit disappointed they defaulted plasmoids to 1-2 arms & legs. Pentapodal Dralasites were the art standard. The pseudopod kind of fills that spot, but it isn't quite the same.

[EggKookoo]

Yeah, I don't really have a position on the specifics of how they break it out. I just expect culture to become the new race, in terms of the narrative themes of your PC's background (not necessarily Background).

Race will become much more about unambiguous physiological properties, like lifespan, size, darkvision, etc.

[stoutstien]

Really? It seems pretty piddly to me.

It is. Like ~.5 damage per turn piddly. Rerolls do have a big psychological boost/power so it's not nothing but by the math it's a actually weaker than the half orcs added crit die and we all know how bad that is.

It's going to fall on the same category as a protection fighting style where occasionally a player might think it made a difference.

It's all about the advantage on str checks. Would open the door for grappling monk's once they combine it with expertise so they can consistently land them even with a 10-12 strength.

[Sigreid]

I must admit I'm young enough to not have heard of Star Frontiers until today for the first time.

Star Frontiers was a fun game and setting. Not sure it would fly today though. The advanced rule book was about 100 pages with almost everything left up to the group playing to decide how to handle it. Now days it seems most players want everything spelled out.

[Arkhios]

Star Frontiers was a fun game and setting. Not sure it would fly today though. The advanced rule book was about 100 pages with almost everything left up to the group playing to decide how to handle it. Now days it seems most players want everything spelled out.

From what I read about it, it used percentile dice system rather than the standard d20-system, so it probably won't get much spotlight anytime soon, at least not in 5e. Maybe someone gets inspired to update it on their own, but really, I doubt WotC has any plans to do so.

[EggKookoo]

From what I read about it, it used percentile dice system rather than the standard d20-system, so it probably won't get much spotlight anytime soon, at least not in 5e. Maybe someone gets inspired to update it on their own, but really, I doubt WotC has any plans to do so.

While SF was meant to be harder than (what would later come as) Spelljammer, thematically they overlap enough that I can see WotC just folding them into the same package. "Star Frontiers" as a brand could just become a sourcebook/location/adventure within a larger Spelljammer setting. Which, in turn, is probably just going to be absorbed into some expansive "Multiverse" setting that will likely incorporate places like Sigil.

[Sigreid]

From what I read about it, it used percentile dice system rather than the standard d20-system, so it probably won't get much spotlight anytime soon, at least not in 5e. Maybe someone gets inspired to update it on their own, but really, I doubt WotC has any plans to do so.

It was percentile dice, but really, D20 is just percentile based hidden behind dividing by 5.

[Arkhios]

It was percentile dice, but really, D20 is just percentile based hidden behind dividing by 5.

True, if we're cutting corners, it certainly comes to that.

Heck, one could theoretically roll almost everything with just one die, if they really tried.

[RustyArcana]

I love that they brought all of the old Star Frontier races back.

I played a Hadozee Dragon Shaman in 3.5, he was a blast. I am looking forward to porting him over to 5E with the new Hadozee race and the new Dragon Monk subclass.

[togapika]

It's all about the advantage on str checks. Would open the door for grappling monk's once they combine it with expertise so they can consistently land them even with a 10-12 strength.

Grappling Monk, eh? I smell a Kensai Monk Gun-Fu build in the works....

[Ralanr]

Grappling Monk, eh? I smell a Kensai Monk Gun-Fu build in the works....

A hippo sumo specializing in gun-fu is not what I expected to think of today, but it works.

[diplomancer]

It is. Like ~.5 damage per turn piddly. Rerolls do have a big psychological boost/power so it's not nothing but by the math it's a actually weaker than the half orcs added crit die and we all know how bad that is.

It's going to fall on the same category as a protection fighting style where occasionally a player might think it made a difference.

It's all about the advantage on str checks. Would open the door for grappling monk's once they combine it with expertise so they can consistently land them even with a 10-12 strength.

It's better the more dies you roll in an attack; so pretty good for Rogues and smiting Paladins, not so good for other martials.