4:42 Two quick product announcements
7:04 A terrible pun to segue into the Feats discussion
7:46 What are feats?
10:21 Why aren’t feats a required part of the game?
18:22 – Artificer Initiate feat
20:09 – Chef feat
25:31 – Crusher, Piercer, and Slasher feats
32:35 – Eldritch Adept feat
37:02 – Fey Touched feat
37:51 – Fighting Initiate feat
41:47 – Gunner feat
42:43 – Metamagic Adept feat
44:25 – Poisoner feat
46:28 – Practiced Expert feat
48:19 – Shadowtouched feat
48:39 – Shield Training feat
50:07 – Tandem Tactician feat
51:48 – Tracker feat
54:50 – Beginning of wrap-up and sign-offWe're LIVE on https://t.co/2KBortFoc5 with Dragon+… Design+ edition! The sage @JeremyECrawford joins host @bart_carroll to discuss the latest Unearthed Arcana's playtest FEATS! okay welcome back everyone it is thedragon plus a livestream I am your host
Bart Carroll and we have not had a
chance to get together in some time but
joining me as always
Jeremy Crawford lead the design of the
book and designer of Dungeons & Dragons
welcome back Urmi how are you I’m doing
well it’s good to be here yeah we were
just saying before the show started it
feels like it’s been a lifetime since we
had one of these episodes and several
lifetimes since we last did an episode
in the office yeah man yes I can’t even
remember when that would have been and
the last time we got together on a
livestream at all was before the most
recent unearthed Arcana which we will
get to shortly but before we do I know
there have been a few other things that
have been going on notably dandy live
20/20 took place a couple of weeks ago
and you were involved how was that it
was a ton of fun I got to DM as you know
for a group of WWE Superstars they were
all amazing players and it it just made
me want to get to DM for them many more
times and at least I will get to DM
again for Xavier woods that is WWE
Superstar Xavier woods in our next
episode of acquisitions incorporated
which we will be doing as a part of PAX
online yes and and we did want to
mention that with and right now with
social distance teens still very much in
place packs like many other conventions
and get-togethers has gone virtual and
that still gives us an opportunity to
tune in safely and remotely and enjoy
the games as an audience members so good
to hear that you’ll be dungeon master
aim for that pax this year I will
definitely miss the live audience
participation you know not having a
crowd they’re yelling out green
flame but well we’ll carry the green
flame in our hearts what I know I just
mentioned this before we went live but
as an avid sports fan I’ve been
following the major league sports and
what they’re doing to fill that role
with games without the audience and I
know for baseball that they’re going to
experiment with the laugh track style
version of acting in fan noise i watch a
lot of boxing and the other version or
take that they’re trying is you can log
into their app and kind of everyone
participates remotely they’re sort of
audience feedback and however they kind
of filter it together in a way that
still allows for the dump button I’m
sure but they’re they’re working on it
[Music]
so yeah before we get into the the most
recent on earth dark Anna other things
in your your area of the world in terms
of what you’re I always like to ask what
you’re reading watching playing yourself
so the last month and a half almost two
months what I have mostly been reading
is the D&D book we have not yet
announced so I had been in here in my in
my little-known workshop working very
hard along with the rest of the team on
our next major book which is coming
together very very well so most of what
I’ve been reading is the material we are
writing I also haven’t been playing much
although actually just last night after
we hit a pretty big milestone with the
book I was able to breathe a little bit
and finally start playing my copy of
persona 5 Royal I think I played persona
5 back when
originally came out I loved it and
personified royal if you’re not familiar
is the same game but even longer and
with all sorts of new features and I’m
only in like 90 minutes into it and I’m
already loving it you know speaking of
products I will say that there were two
announced today of interest and relation
to Dungeons and Dragons over on Hasbro
pulse and other online retailers you can
find adventure begins is one of the new
Dungeons & Dragons board games that was
announced today and also cutie marks and
Dragons which is the My Little Ponies
Dungeons & Dragons crossover set so if
you haven’t had a chance to take a look
at those you can head on over to has
repulse and both of those are now listed
ya see this this is me going like white
why do you know why don’t I have these
My Little Ponies they are as anticipated
Lee adorable there are five of them in
each one sort of you know represents a
Dungeons & Dragons class they are quite
adorable there thank you I am actually
searching for them right now
why I wasn’t kidding why do I know there
we go so I lost them it yes they are
they are so cute Pelham I should have
sent you an image of those knowing they
were gonna go alive but yeah for
everyone tuning in go ahead and hit
Hasbro pulse and you should in addition
I will mention we we haven’t had a
chance to get together on a stream in
some time I have always appreciated the
folks that have taken time out of their
day live to tune in we are running a
very quick
way I’m the winner is going to get a
copy of lost laboratory of Qualis which
Jeremy and I had discussed in depth a
couple of years ago oh my gosh at this
point so I’ll be glad to purchase the
winner a copy of that since the proceeds
still do benefit children Miracle
Network Hospitals so thanks as everyone
for tuning in and perhaps without
further ado let’s talk about one of my
favorite topics because I just got out
of my rehab boot and I am fiddling with
my rehab stretchy band because we are
going to talk about feats today oh so
you you just you just dealt 3d10 psychic
damage to me for a while but I don’t
think you’re gonna be talking about the
same feats that I am that’s why that’s
my segue what our feats in the context
of Dungeons & Dragons so-so feats in D&D
and that spelled a heavy eighty they
they are a way for people to customize
their character they are an optional
rule there in the players handbook in
the same chapter will you find the multi
classing optional rule and both of those
rules give you methods to take your
character you know it could be a member
of any class and tweak them in ways that
make your character unusual in some way
so I view feats and multi classing
together as a way to sort of go off the
grid and explore character concepts and
character capabilities that are not
confined to a particular class it’s also
important to point out that each of
these optional rules stands on its own
so you could have a
that uses multi classing but not feeds
you could have another group that uses
feats and not multi classing you could
have a group that uses neither of them
or you could have a group that uses both
I know it’s also true that in many D&D
groups you will have individual players
even though the DM might have given
everyone the option of using both multi
classic and feats individual players
will opt in or opt out on their own so
you might have you know one person at
the table who is multi classing another
maybe couple people who are using feats
and then maybe two people at the table
who aren’t using either the thing is we
designed fifth edition’ D&D to support
all of those combinations so if you’re
ever concerned as a group like well if
one person uses feats does everyone have
to use feet the answer isn’t no we made
it so that these two options are truly
modular in that you can sort of activate
them or deactivate them as you like on a
character by character basis and let
really each person pursue the kind of
character customization that matches
their tastes I get asked sometimes this
was something we got asked before fifth
edition was released and it’s a question
that has come up over the years since
and in fact it’s a question I’ve seen on
Twitter just within the last few days
and that is why not just make feats it
required part of the game hmm
and there’s a very good reason why we
don’t do that and that’s because we
discovered in our design of fifth
edition
there are many D&D players who don’t
want to use them that in fact many Danby
players like just the simple choice of I
have my class I get my class features
and that’s all I want
and they those players really lean into
role-playing choices how they use their
abilities their characters background
and other elements of the character
really dig into the distinctiveness of
who their character is that said we know
there are also players who love the
mechanical levers that things like feats
and multi classing give them which is
why we made sure these options are in
the game but we knew that there were
enough people who essentially wanted to
be able to just pick their class and be
done that we did not want to force feats
into the core game but yet we still
support them in the core so that those
who want them can have them which if
you’re coming from a different edition
or a different system entirely might
work a little bit differently in fifth
edition but it seems like it’s a an
approach that seems to be seems to be
working for for a lot of folks the
modularity absolutely we we know that in
terms of so player statistics there are
more players who don’t use feats than
who do yet again we know that the people
who use them really like using them
which is why we had this most recent on
there star Cano where we introduce some
more feats because even though even
though we’re not going to sort of open
the floodgates and you know fill the
game with feats we want to make sure we
are providing some really juicy options
for the people who who do like feats and
and again so enter enter this on art
Arcana and it’s been a number of years
since we’ve done an honor for Cano
focused on feats so I’ve you know I
thought this this is a good time for us
to explore some new options yes
so speaking of which for folks that
might not have had a chance the latest
unearthed Arcana is simply entitled
feats you can find it now in the
homepage of the DND website or in the
articles section in addition I’ll also
call out it’s been out for about a week
now I think we dropped it on July 13th
so there is a separate survey which is
also live
and ready for for user feedback if
you’ve had a chance to look at the beats
playthrough the faithless and have
thoughts please do take the time if you
if you have it to to fill out the survey
and let us know your your thoughts on
that on the material
yeah because those surveys that we post
with each under Turkana article usually
a a week or two after the article was
originally posted those surveys are the
best way for people to give us their
feedback we also of course when we have
time look at Twitter reddit and and
other locations on the internet to see
what people are saying but the place
where we go through all of the feedback
is in that survey so anyone watching if
you if you have thoughts you want to
make sure we see about these feeds or
really any under other uh North Arcana
the survey that gets posted about a
particular you a is the best way to
reach us because we we go through it
meticulously to make sure we are really
understanding what the DND community is
thinking about whatever new option it is
that we’ve presented now here in these
in this set of feats we really hit a
pretty broad range of of different
themes different game mechanics the
three line in these different feats is
that they’re all ways to customize your
character in a meaningful way and that
that’s the through line really for all
good feats in fifth edition they need to
customize your character in a way that
is meaningful and one of our design
goals is that a feat should have a
chance to manifest in play every session
not necessarily like if it’s a combat
oriented feat not necessarily every
single round in combat
we want to make sure that it has enough
heft that it’s likely to show up in play
at least you know once or twice every
time you play D&D we have that as a
North Star because we want to make sure
we don’t design feats that are so corner
case that you take this thing which
should be character defining and then go
session after session after session and
never actually see it manifest we also
have to make sure that feats are are
nice and chunky and have some heft
because if you take a feat it means
unless you’re a variant human in the
players handbook it means you’ve given
up an ability score increase to take it
and an ability score increase is
remarkably good and so a feat that you
take in its place also needs to be very
good I and you’ll see sometimes in these
feats not only the ones here but also
the ones in the players handbook as well
as in the feats that we published in
Zanna thar’s guide to everything
occasionally a fee will still give you
part of an ability score increase that’s
usually a sign that we felt the feats
effects on their own were not quite good
enough to justify taking the feet and so
we give the feet a lift in terms of its
game mechanics heft by putting into it
an ability at least a partial ability
score increase so you sort of get
halfway there when you take the
particular feat it is a careful choice
I’m tend to be one that goes with the
ability to score modifier most of the
time but if I do have a especially if I
have a particular character concept in
mind that I want to flesh out with feats
that’s nice to have that that option so
why don’t we take a look over at the
feats we’ve got the I’ve got the PDF
right here and Pelham’s got the pages up
as well so let’s see it looks like we
gave a quick count I believe it’s about
15 feet that appear in the on earth NAR
canna 16 I think 16 all right well where
should we begin should we leave it to
chat or do you want to start running
through them as far as where they came
from how they developed what their
intent was yeah yeah how about I do a
flyover and then we can take questions
from the audience yes a good point if
folks do have questions please do put it
into chat please do preface it with
question if we do not get to it this
time we do compile the questions and do
look to get to them in future live
streams so taking a look now at the
material let’s have at it
all right let’s start at the top with
artificer initiate so this feat is the
sibling to the magic initiate feat
that’s in the players handbook and this
is specifically for anyone who wants to
just get a little flavorful dip into the
artificer allowing you to learn a can
trip from the artificer spell list first
level spell and you also gain
proficiency with type of artisans tools
of your choice and then you can use
those tools as a spell casting focus
which of course is a big part of the
artificers stick now one of the things
about this feat and this is true of
several of the feats in the players
handbook and it’s also true of several
other feats in this document you can
also take the speed if you’re an
artificer so let’s say you’re an
artificer and you’re just like I just
really want an extra can trip I want a
free casting each day of one of my
artificer first level spells and you
want you know even more proficiencies
you could also take this feat it’s been
tailored for the non artificer but I
just want to make it clear that even an
artificer could take
and again that’s gonna be a theme we’ll
come back to with several of the feats
in this document because feats remember
are mentally flexible they’re meant to
give people the ability to fine tune
their characters capabilities in ways
that classes don’t typically allow so
after the artifice our initiate we get
into chef which is a delightful feat
this one was designed by tamer Raymond
and I should say about the sort of
design process of this document what I
did is I designed five of the sixteen
feats as examples then went to some of
the designers on staff four of them and
said all right now please each of you
design a couple and so the group then
designed you know the other those four
people designed the other nine feats to
go with the five I had designed Taymor
so wrangled their work and we gathered
it together and so we ended up with this
bunch designed by me Taymor Dan Dylan
and Petra Soren Artie Levitch and then
we all work together as a group to
develop them into the state that you see
here and that’s typical for us that we
will often sort of have an initial
design gathering set a direction each of
us will then write our portion of it and
then we come back and develop it
together as a group and and as a part of
that process chef’s made it through
which I’m delighted about because who
doesn’t like being able to make tasty
treats I agree this one speaks to me
this is just a proposed a more did you I
ever tell you the story of how I met him
originally mm-hmm so I don’t know if you
know this but this was maybe three or
four years ago he would volunteer when
we were doing the extra life
live-streaming especially for the
all-day marathon streaming
he was I believe at university is well
was interested in in working at Wizards
of the coast and and just came all day
and volunteered his his efforts here as
part of extra life so I was super
excited when he sort of joined the
department yeah yeah well it quick oh
sorry go ahead oh no go ahead if we have
a question a question with you we have a
question on chef in particular so it
before you get into it and the details
might answer some of this it talks about
the work that a chef is doing during
short rest long rest is the work done by
the chef strenuous or light activity so
I II do they need to make cookies while
the rest of the party takes a short rest
or can they make the cookies during a
short rest
it does it does it cancel their short
rest or is it sort of you know at the
same time so the intent is that those
treats have to be made during a long
rest or as a part of an hour of work
that’s not a short rest because you’ll
see the previous option is the short
rest one and then the final option is
the long rest one or the hour of non
restful work and then that’s a great
example of the kind of thing we can make
clearer if this feat makes it through
the feedback process and you know makes
its way into a book we would definitely
want to clarify that of whether you
could do this during a short rest or not
the the intent of this version is no you
cannot and again you can that intent
becomes a little clearer when you
compare that final benefit to the one
right before it that talks about being
something you do as part of a short rest
until that short rest one is sort of
like the bard song of rest where you
make everyone’s healing during a rest
more beneficial because of the meal that
you make for
whereas that final bullet lets you make
portable goodies that people can munch
on to get temporary hit points and it’s
good to remember the temporary hit
points do not necessarily represent
health per se they they can represent
all sorts of things you know they can
represent strength of will they can
represent force fields in this case
we’re just imagining you feel great
because my goodness was that muffin
delicious and and I have I have eaten
pumpkin muffins that I swear have given
me temporary high points they were that
good
I mean maybe a few almond scones have
also given me temporary hit points ah
yes there are I will also call out I
don’t know if this is good or bad but
there is a number of bakeries that now
offer delivery and curbside pickup that
that’s pretty pretty dangerous I I do
not need that in this very sedentary
quarantine all right we also have in
this document three feats the first of
which is called crusher that each should
speak to a different damage type the
crusher feat speaks to bludgeoning
damage we have later in the document the
piercer feat that speaks to piercing
damage and then finally we have the
slasher feats that speaks to you guessed
it slashing damage I read this name by
the way and always think that no this is
not the Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees
effete it’s not that kind of slasher
these are each meant to speak to the
person who wants to be very good at one
of these three traditional types of
physical damage we know that people who
are in defeats often want there to be
weapon
oriented feats and in fact a number of
years ago we did an under Turkana that
had weapon oriented feats those feats
didn’t actually test particularly well
and one of the issues that they had is
that they were too specific they ended
up being sort of going so far down a
rabbit hole on a particular weapon or
type of weapon that they could very
easily result in a situation where you
pick the feet but it turned out in a
particular session you didn’t actually
want to use that type of weapon or
you’ve got a magic item from the Dragons
treasure trove that wasn’t that kind of
weapon but it was so good you wanted to
use it now suddenly your feet doesn’t
work with it with all of that in mind
and with with the desire to still create
something that would speak to weapon use
I urged the team to explore a set of
feats that would have broader utility
that would work with a variety of
weapons and so we landed on these feats
related to damage types because there
are many different types of piercing
weapons there are many different types
of bludgeoning weapons and there are
many different types of slashing weapons
so if you pick one of these feats let’s
say you pick the piercing weapon one
well that’s gonna work not only with the
arrows you fire from your bow but that’s
also going to work if you suddenly
decide to wield a spear so there’s still
going to be you know it’s not that it’s
not going to work with every weapon that
you pick up but it’s gonna work with a
broad range of weapons and so again you
have you have more options here and this
was also a chance to explore little sort
of add-on effects that that are nods
toward what it might feel like to get
clobbered by one of these damage types
you know this is why you know the
bludgeoning damage one can can move you
with this idea of you getting you know
crushed or smash
and hurled around the piercing damage
one lets you reroll one of the attacks
damage dice and this is speaking to you
know if you’re getting pierced by
something the odds are it’s really going
to hurt
and then the slashing damage one lets
you reduce the person’s speed the
thought here is this this is basically a
very distant nod at things like you know
hamstringing somebody slashing their
achilles tendon which is horrifying but
that’s that’s why there is this speed
reduction idea that if you get if you
were getting enough cuts you would very
likely be slowed down so these are just
some you know things were we’re
experimenting with here just fun add-on
effects for the person who picks one of
these feats but also because we know
even if let’s say you’re kidding out
with all sorts of things that will do
your piercing damage
you’re still gonna end up with
situations where this feat isn’t going
to help you which is why remember i
notice i mentioned earlier that some
feats get a little lift with the partial
ability score increase that’s why all
three of these feats have the ability
score increase in them as well because
we know as broad as these are you could
still end up in a situation where the
feat might not help you enough in a
particular session for you to feel good
about having taken that feat so here’s a
question that sort of came in regarding
all three slash uh pierce and crusher
chapel tonasket is it intended for those
feats to be missing the weapon keyword
or is the intent that no no these these
are still inherent feats to your weapon
use so we very intentionally did not use
the word weapon here in fact the word
appeared in at least one of the feats in
one of our earlier drafts and we cut it
because we want these to have broad use
what that means is if you happen to have
one of these feats
you cast a spell that deal let’s say you
appear sir and you cast a spell the
deals piercing damage this feat will
work with that spell and that’s an
that’s an intentional part of the feet
to to again reward you for making the
resource commitment in your character
building to a feat because again picking
a feat is a big deal because you’ve
given up you know your your fall ability
score increase for that level when you
choose a feat yeah a similar question
had come in if it applies to unarmed
attacks ranged weapons spell attacks
that do those kinds of damage types
absolutely yeah you this is one of those
cases where it it is intended to be as
generous as the wording implies you know
where it says you know if when you hit a
creature with an attack that deals
bloody bludgeoning damage you get this
benefit so if you hit somebody with an
unarmed strike that deals bludgeoning
damage you get this benefit and that’s
very intentional the only basically the
only requirements you have to meet for
like I’m looking at the crusher feed for
that second bullet is you have to hit a
creature with an attack that deals
bludgeoning damage full stop so that
could be a spell it could be your fist
it could be a club it could be a table
leg any of those things would work with
this yeah it’s any other fans of Street
Fighter 2 it reminds me a little bit of
a Honda and his you know hundred handed
punch yeah if you can find it with a
with a monk’s flurry of blows and a nice
way yeah so then so there we have
crusher piercer and slasher that’s right
so which takes us next to eldritch adept
this feat allows you to learn an
eldritch invocation option from the
Warlock class even if you’re not a
warlock and this this feat is in the
same family of feats that a few of the
feats in players hamburger in
have my players handbook open over here
feats like magic initiate martial adept
these are feats that let you snatch a
little bit of a class’s goodness and
enjoy it whether you are a member of
that class or not some people online
will refer to this as multi class in
light and that’s that’s an apt
description of it and that is an
intentional part of the design but with
this very important qualification
remember that a member of the class can
also take this so like you can’t multi
class into your own class a non warlock
can take this Eldridge of depth feet and
gain an Eldridge M invocation from the
Warlock but a warlock can also take this
to get an extra eldritch invocation and
that that is very much an intentional
part of this design because this is a
great way in this feat for some some
character who where you want them to
just have some little magical ability
and we design eldritch invocations in
the warlock almost like so little
magical superpowers and this feat is a
way for any spell casting character to
gain access to those abilities but again
it’s also a way for the warlock who
might be having a hard time squeezing
all of the eldritch invocations they
want you know into the limited number of
eldritch invocations they get from the
class well this feat gives you a way to
get another one and also this feat gives
you flexibility because this feat lets
you every time you level up change which
Eldridge invocation you got from it so
if you have buyer’s remorse about the
Eldridge invocation you picked well when
you level up you can pick another one
the key to go ahead my players I’m just
saying I scrambled back to get my
players handbook to see the applications
for that as well but there are some
really not only useful
eldritch invocations but also very
flavorful eldritch invocations that you
can use to explore a variety of
different magical character concepts now
one thing I do want to point out in this
feat is the sentence that says if the
invocation has a prerequisite you can
choose that invocation only if you’re a
warlock and only if you meet the
prerequisite so that means if the elder
Jindra invocation has a prerequisite of
any conduct whether it’s a level
requirement or something else
only a warlock can pick that invocation
using this feat sorry
go ahead I’m gonna ask for example if
the requisite is that requires a
warlocks spell salat then in a case it
would require the warlock be able to use
it well again what this feed is saying
is it actually doesn’t matter what the
prerequisite is if an invocation has a
prerequisite of any kind only a warlock
can take that you can’t if you’re not a
warlock and you take this feed you can
only use this feat to pick an eldritch
invocation that has no prerequisite
otherwise in eldritch invocations with
prerequisites we designed only for
warlocks whereas the ones that lack
prerequisites are fine for non warlocks
to snatch I have a vested interest
because I play a lot of world mm-hmm
well this again if this feat makes it
into print this will this will give you
even more flexibility with how you build
your warlock as again as well as giving
flexibility to people who want a little
bit of warlock goodness in their non
warlock so next up we have fate touched
this feat gives you a partial ability
score increase and then it also to help
help create a character who has a little
bit of a Fame magic it gives you the
misty step spell because many many fake
creatures in D&D have some kind of
teleportation ability
or other transportation ability of some
kind and then you also get to pick a
first-level spell from the divination or
enchantment school so again this is just
a fun simple way to give a character
some Fae feeling if your characters race
or class isn’t already giving you that
feeling this then leads to the fighting
initiate so here we have another feat
that is about getting some of the
goodness that’s in a class this feat
lets you pick one of the fight fighting
style options in the fighter class
fighting styles are already basically
feat like in their design they are
they’re very chunky to use the word I
used earlier and when I say that by the
way that’s off but that’s a good thing
you know then again it has heft you know
this it has meat on its bones and just
like with eldritch adept not only can a
non fighter take this feat but a fighter
can also take this feat so this is again
one of those feats that is meant to give
you sort of light multi classing if
you’re not a member of the class but if
you are a member of the class it lets
you get some more of that good thing
that you already like and just like with
eldritch adept this feat lets you
whenever you gain a level change the
option you picked if you if you had
buyer’s remorse everyone watching if you
watch to our talk about the class
feature variant you way that we released
a number of months ago you remember that
buyer’s remorse was a design theme then
as well that a number of the variants
were about letting people change their
mind later to fit their character
concept better as their character grows
which it’s not only about avoiding
buyer’s remorse but there’s also a much
more so positive angle
and that is being able to model that
people change you none of us even in the
real world are the same you know you’re
you know year to year when I think back
you know just to myself you know 10
years ago 20 years ago 30 years ago I’ve
changed in many ways and giving people
the ability to change their DMV
character really gets at this that
people evolve that some things we were
good at in the past fall away like I
used to be able to play the piano if you
put me in front of a piano today and you
know that’s that’s why we are more and
more including this kind of thing where
if you want you can change certain
aspects of what your character is good
at your character’s decided to focus on
something else yeah I definitely concur
my high school trombone skills have
definitely decreased but I can now
complete my taxes on my own exactly oh
the playing a musical instrument would
be more fun I don’t know I kind of like
finding my all the you know things I can
get out of out of my texts my tax
returns plus it’s a much quieter hobby
for everyone else in the household
that’s the best truth although
art you might need professional help as
filling out your taxes is your hobby you
might want to explore this marvelous
hobby called Dungeons & Dragons instead
well I will say that the first edition a
D&D character sheets helped set me on
that path
those were a complex beast to say the
least Bo so so after fighting initiate
with the gunner
feat this this feat sort of in our minds
because of ever on coming out and D&D
has always had characters in it in
different settings that end up having
some gun like objects that they employ
whether it’s magical or non magical and
the Dungeon Master’s guide as this feat
points out has rules on firearms so this
is this feat is a way for your character
to get proficiency with using firearms
and then it gives you several other
benefits it’s pretty nice feet but for
the person who really wants to be a
gun-toting character
well this feat gives you very direct
access to that part of the rules we also
have meta magic adept here’s again one
of these feats that lets you dip a toe
into a particular class in this case the
class is the sorcerer and here the
person who takes this feat whether they
are a non sorcerer or a sorcerer gets to
learn to meta magic options from the
sorcerer class and then you also gain
so we use those meta magic options
selected and if you’re a sorcerer
picking this feat you get those two
extra sorcery points there is however
the specification that these two extra
sorcery points can be spent only on meta
magic so this as stated in the name of
this feat this is all about meta magic
and giving a little bit of that ability
to manipulate spells even to a non
sorcerer but because this feats sorcery
point pool of exactly two is so limited
there’s no risk of a non sorcerer taking
this feat and in any way outshining the
flexibility the sorcerer has because the
sorcerer has a much deeper pool of
points to spend on that meta magic and
can therefore manipulate their own magic
in ways that a non sorcerer could not
but again this is a way to get a taste
of it or to get more of it if you are a
sorcerer we I’m gonna skip over piercer
because we already talked about the
three damage type feats so we have
poisoner weasoner has several fun uses
one of them is it speaks to the fantasy
of the character and brews poisons but
there is also a very juicy part of this
feat even for somebody who has no
interest in having their character group
poisons and that is its very first
benefit when you make a damage role you
ignore resistance to poison damage so if
a person has a character who likes to
cast spells the deal poison damage or
who has class features that deal poison
damage you could take this feat and this
feat would allow all of those things to
bypass resistance to poison just meaning
you are just so good at poisoning things
that you just go right past the
resistance that they have to this
damage that was a question I was gonna
have was the story sort of take on that
I was assuming something along those
lines you might have a general
resistance to poison but I am so good I
can figure out exactly what you are
vulnerable against yep now it’s
important to see here though this does
not allow you to bypass immunity to
poison so if a creature just simply
cannot be damaged by poison this feat
does not allow you to bypass that but
again if a creature is resistant to
poison this feat just turns that right
off alright I can see a nice synergy
with this and the chef’s feat no don’t
eat those treats yeah they’ve been
sitting on the counter for too long so
we also have the practiced expert feet
now this is actually a nod to the skill
feeds that we released an unearthed
Arcana a few years ago those feats like
the weapon feats I mentioned struggle a
little bit in feedback partly again
because they were so specific and also
one of the challenges for us is anytime
we start making things like feats for
everything in a group so in this case
skills or you can also imagine tools it
then means they all have to be good and
be satisfactory to the audience or none
of them get published what’s the problem
with anytime we try to like create
coverage for an entire group as they all
rise and fall together because like
we’re not going to publish well we have
the medicine feet but none of the other
ones made it and it’s just not
satisfying but we know that people want
some way in the feet system to just make
themselves exceptionally
mmm-hmm at something and so we created
this feat that is much broader
it lets you pick any one skill or tool
so essentially it works with everything
and then you essentially get what we
call expertise with that proficiency and
expertise means simply you get to double
your proficiency bonus when you use the
chosen proficiency and we even throw in
half an ability score increased to boot
so this this is a tasty feat for
somebody for instance who just wants to
be outstanding at a particular skill or
with a particular tool we we also the
shadow touched feet which is the
companion to the Fate touched feet just
like that other feet this gives you some
magic that is themed to a particular
plane they touched was themed to the Fae
wild and this one is themed to the
shadow fell we then have shield training
the game already has one feed in the
players handbook that will give you
proficiency with shields it’s called
moderately armored but it doesn’t really
speak to some of the other things you
might want to be able to do with the
shield and even though we have a shield
master fee there are still things that
even that feat doesn’t speak to so we
have now the shield training fee this
gives you part of an ability score
increase your game proficiency with
fields you can Don or doff shields now
as part of your free object interaction
many people don’t realize that in the
game you actually need to spend your
action to kind of get a field situated
properly on your arm to use it to defend
yourself this feat lets you ignore that
basically you can you can Don or doff
that shield as part of your action or
your move and then finally we’ve also
made it so that if you’re a spell caster
and you have this feet you can channel
your spell’s through the field
this and this is for you no particular
character concepts where a person might
like to imagine you know they like you
can imagine and of juror wizard
abjuration is all about protecting
somebody who who blasts all of their
protective adoration magic through a
shield so we have we have two more we
have tandem tactician this to me I think
of this as the sneaky feat of the bunch
because it’s very subtle if you’re not
familiar with the ins and outs of our
action system reading a feat that says
you can use the help action as a bonus
action and then it you know it has some
further benefits might seem kind of
lackluster and a person might wonder
well should this also include the
partial ability score increase mm-hmm
anyone listening to me who knows what
the help action does though realizes
this feat is crazy good it might even be
too good and that’s why we’re sending a
how to play test because what the help
action allows you to do is to give your
buddies advantage on attack roles as
well as on other checks so a person who
has this can just as a bonus action
potentially every round basically be
like you get advantage and you get
advantage then you get advantage so this
we created for the person who really
wants to lean into being a tactical help
to their companions and we know there
are a number of people who really love
this kind of character concept and
that’s what this feat is all about
I’m looking at chat right now there are
a lot of folks finding the synergies
with tandem tactics oh it is crazy good
yeah yeah so finally a tracker and this
this is for the person who wants a
little bit of sort of taste of the
wilderness and a little bit of the
Ranger where you get a wisdom increase
you learn the hunter’s mark spell and
you also have advantage on all of your
wisdom survival checks to track
creatures now one thing that this feat
specifies and and in fact attentive
readers will see all of the feats in
this document that involves spell
casting specify this and that is if the
feat teaches you a spell you not only
get the free casting of that spell that
the fee gives you but you can also use
your spell slots if you have spell slots
to cast that spell as well meaning you
aren’t just getting that sort of raw
power bunk of I get a free spell each
day but you’re also getting an increase
in versatility because you now have
another option for what you spend your
spell slots on and that that’s one of
those things where if we were to you
know so turn back the clock and and dig
into a spell like magic initiate in the
players handbook we would have been
clearer about that and made that a part
of the design then as well and someone
listening might wonder well then why
give if that feat doesn’t have it you
know the hammock why give it to these
new feeds our philosophy is not to to
inhibit the good design of newer
material because of things we didn’t
think to do in the past in other words
the game needs to be able to evolve and
if we’ve thought of a better way of
doing something
we’re going to do it and and and just do
and we do that knowingly and we do our
best to keep it balanced so that it can
coexist with other options but again at
the same time we’re we don’t allow
basically well well because we didn’t
think of it and you know 2013 well we
can’t ever do it you know and that’s the
game the game has got to be able to move
forward and see that in things like this
on Earth Arcana oh well my goodness you
managed it we got through all the 15/16
feats in the most recent unearthed
Arkana
I am I am delighted I am even more
delighted that my internet did not crash
out yeah the entirety of this week’s
livestream as always a 50/50 shot so
that’s that’s great to hear
really quickly I know we’re getting
close to the top of the hour I did want
to give a quick congratulations it looks
like number 28 did win the giveaway so
if you can get in touch with the
moderators with your contact information
I’ll be glad to send across the the
prize as soon as possible and thanks to
everyone that has been sending in
questions throughout the entirety of
today’s livestream as well there’s quite
a few that we still need to touch upon
I’ll be compiling these and something
these over to to Jeremy’s attention
immediately and we we should try to have
an episode soon and answer those
questions yes so yes for folks that are
still listening here and you still have
some questions on your mind
we might be close to the top of the hour
but throw them into chat as soon as you
can so that we can get
compiled here yes that was the first
question that came in are you going to
answer questions and everyone please do
remember to fill out the survey on the
Wizards of the coast website to let us
know what you think about this
collection of feats all right well there
we have it yes we’ll compile these
questions we’ll schedule another
opportunity so that we can have Jeremy
back on so that we can go through the
questions this was our initial
opportunity to at least have him take a
look at the unearthed Arcana material
itself talked through the design
considerations and as always of course
encourage folks please do take a look at
the owner throw a can of material and
please do complete the survey as as you
mentioned very essential for us to get
feedback in that regard so thank you as
always before we tune out here Jeremy
it’s been a pleasure so thank you for
spending an hour out of your busy day
with us I know you were going back to
reading of potential future material as
you mentioned at the top of the hour
yes I’ll be very careful not to say what
it is thanks as always to our followers
subscribers of course to our moderators
thanks to Pelham for running the show
here he’s hidden in the back of the back
side of things he’s been listening to my
really bad dad jokes this whole time and
of course all of our viewers thank you
so much for tuning in alive it’s greatly
appreciated as always these days I will
certainly encourage everyone I continue
playing Dungeons & Dragons please do so
safely remotely if as need be there’s
plenty of tools and resources still
available if you go to the DMV website
the played home stay at home initiative
is earmarked there
with tools and resources and material
many of which is free or a low cost or
pay-what-you-want so please do take
advantage of the of that these these
days all right we are at about two
o’clock so we are going to say goodbye
and thanks again and we’ll be touched
shortly bye everyone thanks everyone
— Dungeons & Dragons (@Wizards_DnD) July 22, 2020
