Big Changes coming to 5e Character Origins | One D&D
Big Changes coming to 5e Character Origins | One D&D
Wizard’s has announced the next evolution of Dungeons and Dragons, and it isn’t a new Edition! Today we discuss the first of many pieces of playtest material for the 2024 update for the Player’s Handbook for the world’s greatest roleplaying game, Character Origins.
As always, the Unearthed Arcana material is playtest and is subject to change. Should mechanics and concepts pass onto the next steps of developing their strength with being rebalanced to have an appropriate level of power when compared to similar characteristics.
Alrighty, there is a lot to unpack here. First I want to preface this with the fact I am absolutely ecstatic of the changes coming to our favorite game. We constantly hear how there isn’t enough customization in D&D 5e when compared to other editions, while that has always been true, it never meant there wasn’t a near infinite possible ways to build out your character. Most of which weren’t completely worthless like dead-end feat builds, but I digress.
There are many big changes in the new Character Origins. Origins are comprised of several core aspects; Race, Background, and Language. Each of these is used to help you flesh out your character after deciding on the core class they will be. As always, Race comes first, which represents ancestry. The Background is a collection of experiences that represent the character’s livelihood. Lastly, you earn a Language, this is in addition to Common, and your Race language. This gives us excellent roleplay material to work out why the character knows the language. Giving us more building blocks for our story.
Character Origin Overview
Racial Trait
Each Race offers a set of traits unique to that creature. It even now includes creature type. I think this ties in more with the expanded content as some of the creatures, such as Fey Fairy or the Ooze Plasmoid. This is important as until recently most were humanoid and certain effects target specific creature types. Additionally, we get special traits, lineages, speed, size and life span details. The largest notable change is that Race no longer determines character stat bonuses. For me, this is a fantastic change. To think that there isn’t a feeble half-orc or goliath out there somewhere is just foolishness.
Background Trait
Backgrounds have seen the largest change. They now play a much bigger role in character attributes beyond the roleplay features they currently have. First, your character’s background determines the Ability score, not the race. Allowing you to allocate them as you see fit based on your character’s history. I’m cool with this. Some old grognards will probably be pissy about it. But..meh, who cares? D&D is more popular than ever. That happened because of the focus on inclusion, not exclusion.
Beyond the stat, as always background grants two skill proficiencies, a tool proficiency, a language, and of course starting equipment. The huge kicker though, each Background now provides a specific Feat at 1st level! This has a huge impact on character customization. I can hear the shouts of excitement coming from my power gamer friends right now. The chants of celebration and hallelujah fill the air. Below are some of the changes that we really took interest in. If you want to see for yourself, you can follow along by downloading the new Unearthed Arcana Character Origins here.
There are some significant changes to many of the Races and their features. As we can’t possibly cover the entire file in detail in our short 1-hour show. We will be highlighting some of the most notable feature changes.
Races
Human
Resourceful. You gain Inspiration whenever you finish a Long Rest.
Honestly, this is pretty cool. Though it certainly leans into a mechanic that was supposed to be a reward. I think it fits the theme well.
They still get an extra feat but is worded strangely. Skilled or another feat of your choice. Sort of feel like the second part semi-invalidates the first part. More like the first part is we suggest this. Or don’t we don’t care.
Ardling
The Ardling is a new race making its debut in the playtest material. They are essentially celestials with humanoid bodies and animal heads. Like many races, they follow the new linage format introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Exalted, Heavenly and Idyllic each come with access to a variety of spell options. Most of which are support such as lesser restoration, cure wounds, and guidance. In addition, they are granted resistance to radiant damage.
No more Half-Orc!
We now play full orcs, and I’m cool with that. It’s a sad day…we lost savage attacks. But, we gained some new hotness in its place. Powerful Build, which lets the orc be counted as one size larger when determining carrying capacity. And Adrenaline Rush. This allows the orc to dash as a bonus action and while doing so, gain Temporary Hitpoints equal to your proficiency bonus. I don’t hate it. You can use it a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. That’s pretty cool. It pairs well with relentless endurance and that overall aggressive feel. Because it is a trigger, and not passive, it makes the Race more engaging as a player.
Dragonborn
They seemed to have walked back on using Breath Weapon as part of an attack as presented in Fizbans and Gem Dragons are no longer present as an option. This is likely a balancing issue. It’s a shame, I kinda liked throwing a punch then delivering bad breath. However, they now have Darkvision.
Build your Background
The first thing I noticed, the new rules lend themselves to easily building your own background. Which is fantastic. This allows the player to truly decide what the background of their character is. No longer left to a select few options, or being told you can’t use the existing rules to create your own by your DM.
First, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Thieves’ Cant is now considered a language. Now it can be decoded and read with magic like comprehend languages or similar.
Background Features
As it stands, the One D&D playtest comes with over 15 new backgrounds, but as stated, most will probably make their own.
Ability Scores. When you determine your character’s ability scores, choose two of them, and increase one by 2 and the other one by 1. Alternatively, choose three ability scores, and increase each of them by 1.
Skill Proficiencies. Choose two Skills. Your character gains Proficiency in them.
Tool Proficiency. Choose one tool. Your character gains Tool Proficiency* with it.
Language. Choose one language from the Standard Languages and Rare Languages tables. Your character knows that language.
Feat. Choose one 1st-level Feat. Your character gains that Feat.
Equipment. Your character gains 50 GP to spend on starting equipment. The character keeps any unspent GP as spare coin.
Feat Descriptions
Feats now appear to have levels? Or perhaps just particular ones are considered for 1st level choices. In either case, they now detail whether they are repeatable or not in addition to their prerequisites. A notable change comes to one of the most popular feats in 5e, Lucky. Now it grants advantage to you, or disadvantage to enemy. The amount of luck points also matches the proficiency modifier. This drops it in power from rerolls but is still something very appealing. Lots of good stuff here, but I was very sad not to see an updated Grappler feat. But, on the other hand, Alert got swatted down in power. Now you get to add your proficiency bonus to Initiative rolls and you can swap positions in the initiative with willing allies.
New Condition!
We have our first new condition, Slowed. Grapplers like myself cry in pain. What a great effect that should have been included for all those frosty spells. This addition was greatly needed…but why make it a part of the grapple? Any who, looking forward to seeing what, if any, beyond spells can cause this effect.
Limited Movement. You must spend 1 extra foot of movement for every foot you move using your Speed.
Attacks Affected. Attack rolls against you have Advantage.
Dexterity Saves Affected. You have Disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws.
Roll a 20 Eww!
Currently, natural 20s mean an automatic hit and double damage and that’s pretty much it. With the new playtest rules this now extends to d20 Tests (Saving throws, Ability Checks and Attack Rolls). In addition, it now grants the character Inspiration. This is one of the things I disagree with. I believe that, while it states that a nat 20 doesn’t bypass limitations (like you can’t jump to the moon). It does add the concept that ANY character can succeed on a task, regardless of skill. Not sure I’m a fan of this to be honest. I find that setting really high DCs encourages group collaboration.
What do I mean? For instance, a rogue trying to sneak by a dragon to grab a single item out of its horde should be exceptionally difficult. If we set the DC to 28, that is extremely difficult. A wizard with a nat 20 shouldn’t be able to obtain that level. The new playtest rules push the concept that there is a chance. Instead, at a DC 28, most will shy away from even trying. But, the rogue may reach to their allies for support. Features such as expertise, guidance, bardic inspiration or Pass without Trace all make this far more likely. More importantly, it encourages a collaborative experience on the challenge. This really offers a feeling of teamwork and a group success. Much more so than just the barbarian shouting “I GOT A NAT 20!” and stealing the spotlight from the characters trained in that particular skill.
Lastly, they appear to be categorizing spells into three categories. Arcane, Divine, and Primal. I hope this means we will see class features and feats that will allow access to categories of spells instead of just class spell lists. This is just wishful thinking though. We can only hope.
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Unearthed Tips and Tricks
Monster: Root Sliver
Origin: Vrock
Lost Stats: Fly, Fire resistance, telepathy, talons become root claws, beak.
Damage Vulnerability: Fire
New Features:
Entangling Vines. The assassin vine can animate normal vines and roots on the ground in a 15-foot square within 30 feet of it. These plants turn the ground in that area into difficult terrain. A creature in that area when the effect begins must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be restrained by entangling vines and roots. A creature restrained by the plants can use its action to make a DC 13 Strength (Athletics) check, freeing itself on a successful check. The effect ends after 1 minute or when the assassin vine dies or uses Entangling Vines again.
Constrict. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 20 ft., one creature. Hit: The target takes 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and it is grappled (escape DC 14). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and it takes 21 (6d6) poison damage at the start of each of its turns. The vine can constrict only one target at a time.
Encounter: Egg Harvesting
Essan, a halfling alchemist with messy copper hair is seeking the aid of any adventures who will hunt, and harvest special eggs for her. A core focus of her studies is toxins and poisons. In deep caverns and dusty plateaus are the giant insect-like creatures. Essan has attempted to gather the samples, but every time she gets within even a few dozen feet of a nest, she is attacked. She isn’t strong enough to fend them off. Thus, she asks the characters to retrieve at least three healthy eggs from the nests. Each nest usually has no more than two eggs, so they will have to visit multiple nests. If asked, she describes the insects to the best of her ability. With a successful DC 18 Intelligence (Nature) check, the character concludes that the description matches an ankheg. If the character fails the check by 5 or more, they misidentify it as an ettercap. This mistake can lead to improper preparation, and most notably, an ambush by the burrowing ankheg.
The characters must succeed on 4 skill checks before obtaining 3 failures to locate the nest. If they fail, they stumble into a patch of hazardous green slime (DMG) before locating the nests. Once at the camp, ankheg are burrowed and attempt to ambush the characters from below. The entire nest community contains 3d6 ankheg. The characters can attempt to defeat them all, or try and sneak into nests to gather the eggs. This is difficult, but not impossible, for the ankhegs have Tremorsense. So the characters must get creative. The eggs are attached by a membrain to the nest, a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Medicine) or Wisdom (Survival) check is necessary to harvest them. If the character fails the check, they harvest the egg, but the embryo is killed in the process. A character who succeeds on a DC 15 Intelligence (Medicine) or Intelligence (Nature) check can identify the egg as no longer being healthy.
Should the characters return with three healthy eggs, Essan celebrates and offers them a number of poisons and potions at half their normal rate. In addition, she will be happy to offer brewing services for some of the rarest mixtures, so long as they provide the more expensive materials.
Magic Item: Angel’s Tear
Potion, legendary by Savage Warden
The tear glows a bright white light. When you drink this tear outside of combat, you gain the benefits of a long rest. If you drink it while fighting, you instead gain the effects of the spells Heroism (using your highest ability modifier as your spellcasting ability modifier) and Haste for 1 minute (no concentration required).
Dungeon Master Tip: Stop and Listen
As DMs, we can often find ourselves interjecting into conversations between players. This tends to happen often, especially when they are arguing. The reality of it is, we should use this opportunity to listen to what the players and their characters are trying to say. Let the players talk. It’s roleplay after all. So long as they aren’t going in circles, let them fill out the session with their interactions.
There are two very specific places where we really need to listen. The first is during problem-solving puzzles, mazes, or even diplomatic situations. Listen to what they say, their ideas and concepts that they come up with may very well be better than what you designed. If it isn’t, even if it makes sense, just roll with it. Let them feel their success. Once again, only if they aren’t spinning their wheels.
Second, after you set the scene with narrative descriptions, listen to their responses, let them narrate their character’s actions, and most importantly don’t interrupt unless you need to ask for a specific detail or for clarification on their action. As a DM it is easy to want to interject with our own thoughts and details in every session, but sometimes we just need to take a back seat and enjoy the ride.
Player Tip: Acid Slinger
For this build to work, you want to have at least two levels into Artificer. At first level, you’re going to take glassblower tools with magical tinkering. Next, we will want to choose a very specific Infusion. Now, there are some great choices here, but at least one has to be Replicate Magic Item. This will allow us to craft some simple magical items, specifically Alchemy Jug. Now, the jug can produce a number of different liquids. The one we are most interested in is the 8 ounces of Acid. Now, during a long rest you create two 4-ounce glass vials, filling them each with the Acid created from the jug. Poof, instant Acid Vial. Feel free to stockpile these. Each vial weighing 1 lb.
Acid Vials on their own say:
“As an action, you can splash the contents of this vial onto a creature within 5 feet of you or throw the vial up to 20 feet, shattering it on impact. In either case, make a ranged attack against a creature or object, treating the acid as an improvised weapon. On a hit, the target takes 2d6 acid damage.”
Now, that’s not bad, but as artificers, we can do better! Now, for our spell selection, we want to take the Catapult spell so we can send our vials slamming into our targets in a 60-foot line. At first level, the spell does 3d8 bludgeoning damage, and of course, breaking the vial for an additional 2d6 acid damage. Not bad right out the gate eh? A little bit of prep, means melted foes. But wait, the vial only weighs one pound…why not tie up to five of them together forming a single object, or a fine net? Now we can Yeet at Vial of Acid dealing 3d8 bludgeoning plus 10d6 acid damage…at level two. Sure it takes several days of prep, but damn if your enemy isn’t going turn into a slimy pile of goo.
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Keep your blades sharp and spells prepared heroes!
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