Given the impact a successful intimidate or persuasion check can have on adventures and even entire campaigns, being able to choose advantage on pivotal checks might be low key, but has the potential to be game changing for the campaign in ways a damage resist is not.
You can find more info on the Pallid elves on page 70 in EGtW under “Pallid Grove” and more info on the Lotusden Halflings on page 140 in EGtW under “Lotusden Greenwood”
Yeah but...Crawford has said that the draconic ancestor for Dragonborn and the draconic ancestor for Draconic Sorcerer can be different. Meaning you could get fire resistance for being a red Dragonborn and ice resistance for having a blue draconic ancestor from being a sorcerer.
@@MasterLycan844 Yeah but, let's be real, most people want to fulfill the theme by going all in on for example the red dragon ancestry. I for one tend to just offer dragonborn an extra and thematic resistance if there's ever an overlap of elemental resistance. I had a blue dragonborn storm barbarian for a campaign of mine so I gave him the choice of cold resistance. in addition to his lightning resistance to reflect a chilling storm (I considered thunder too because it's more rare but, outside its name, its far more tied to sound damage than the damage from a storm). I could also easily see myself give cold resistance to your classic red dragonborn fire sorcerer. They simply use their inner heat to shrug off the cold.
@@oOPPHOo True. But that's also fun. No one has to be super optimized for their character to work. Power gaming can be fun but sometimes you just want to play that orc wizard.
IMO dragonborn base should should get buffed. And buffed in the sense of having their breath weapon progress to recharge 6@3 (or 5) and then just be always avaliable as a action @5(or 10) while making the resist work like the dragon mask resistance for stacking. Expanding and buffing the feats also wouldnt be bad (dragon hide AC use con instead of dex like their breath, given a level 12 locked 30ft fly if not encumbered dragon wings feat and at same level a dragon sight for +1 cha or con, 30 ft blindsight and 60 ft darkvision).
Well I dont think that. you know what I think? **Spoilers** Matt always alude to some people eating bits of a dead Ucutuwa like creature and they become husks for it to see the world. I feel thats one of them.
@@optimus2200 yeah but that creature is buried in eiselcross way north of where they met jamedi and blight shore where hollow ones come from is alot closer
@@tristananderson8165 what says that he isnt from the north ? he isnt local that much is known. and he is a dungeoner and someone who guide people to new places. that creature DO want to acclimate knowledge. It make much sense to me. AT least thats how I would run him in my wild mount
@@optimus2200 true but he specifically came up as undead under cads eyes of the grave as a hollow one would, I don't know if that creatures minions would actually be considered undead rather than just insane people, and you can always rule it an run it however you want.
@@tristananderson8165 Maybe he is both "GASPS" XD XD XD. well I felt that because of the nature of the creature ... that he somehow lives and take controle of the host just by getting eaten that sounded undead to me.
On one hand the reprints take up quite a bit but on the other hand it’s good for those who play in adventures league as some of those races were never put in actual books
K Vid honestly I don’t know much about adventurers league as far as I was aware the rule was players could bring the players handbook, sword coasts guide, and one other WotC 5e book. But I can’t say I’ve ever been part of it to know if they have some policies against certain books.
SRautaro So they all the sudden just look like a dead guy? He even has a sword sticking into him. Anyway I like the undead look better than “oh he looks like a normal dude lul”.
Late to the party but "helps darkvisionless party" while 9/10 races has dark vision means it's a throw away cantrip. No idea why they keep giving light to races that have darkvision
@@carpedm9846 Think you're playing a different game. "In a lightly obscured area, such as dim light, patchy fog, or moderate foliage, creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight." It's heavily obscured areas, such as darkness make you essentially blind aka disadvantage on hits and advantage on being hit. And with darkvision you're essentially never in darkness unless you're doing some weird distant spell+eldritch spear 360 noscopes or shooting long range which almost never happens in places where darkness can happen (aka "dungeons")
My brother made an INT dwarf subrace called the Forge Dwarf who function as the smiths and architects of dwarf cities, they get a +1 int and like 2 extra tool proficiencies, there might be more to it but i'd have to ask him again.
@@mrcatface6860 there's lots of homebrew races or subraces like that, it's easy to hombrew something like that oneself even, the thing is wildemount is an official book and most tables don't allow homebrew content. it's a bit arbitrary because official content is itself all over the place in terms of balance.
I feel like the reprint of races kinda makes sense for this specific book. A lot of people got to know D&D through CR and don’t want to buy a lot of other materials. This way they can stick to PHB, DMG and CR content and get a bit of extra races. And I do get that a lot of stuff in this book can be considered broken beyond belief. To me it is just very clear that this is written by someone that has a lot of experience with very roleplay heavy players and doesn’t really think about the power gaming options.
I think another big reason the races were all reprinted is because the societies of every race would be structured differently then in Faerun, the elf-dwarf city Uthodurn being a perfect example of that
Nani? New races? I didn’t know Wildemount was gonna have that, my local game store doesn’t open yet so I haven’t gotten my copy. Not gonna watch this so I don’t get spoiled, I wanna see it for myself.
I will have to disagree with you on the Pallid Elf comparison to Drow. Statwise they are much more similar to Wood Elves (+1 Wis, and regular darkvision). The only thing over Wood elves they have is the spellcasting, but less movement speed and no mask of the wild. So im not so sure about power creep for that one. Granted spells are a bit more useful, but i would say they are not stronger than the other elf subraces.
"Why wouldn't you errata the Volo's orc?" Because they _don't_, in fact, like the Eberron orc more. The Eberron orc is useful for setting where orcs can live equal to humans. In other settings, where the orc is associated with a savage nature, the Volo's orc is the best fit. Most published and probably also most homebrew settings probably have a vision for the orc that matches more with the Volo's/Realms orc than the Eberron orc.
I mean the Volo's Orc has everything this orc has, except it only gives one skill that you're locked into and it gives a negative to Intelligence. It also being one of the only 2 races with a negative ability score seems off
@@NerdImmersion Why does it seem off? Is it not fitting of how we view a savage orc in for example the Forgotten Realms? That's the consideration here more than balance. Frankly, I like it. If people want to play a monstrous race in a setting where the orcs are truly monstrous, I want it to be a choice made by someone who doesn't care about the down sides of playing an orc. I also just genuinely like that half-orcs are superior to to regular orcs. It's already established in the lore that half-orcs tend to be smarter than the full-blooded orcs of an orc tribe and therefor often rise to the top as leaders. I like that a mixed race isn't seen as some hybrid that's only half of each parent but rather the best parts added together.
@@oOPPHOo off because with 40+ races in all of 5e, only 2 have negative ability scores. This orc (which is reprinted in 2 books as a version without out) and kobolds.
@@NerdImmersion Negatives ASI should be a thing, just balanced out with feature power. What is off is how orcs are somehow less combat/savagery focused than half orcs (ability not to have intimidate prof and lacking savage attacks).
The reprint in brilliant if only for the way the section is layed out in the book, detailing how the race is seen in the world. This book is a new standard for new players and DMs.
what do you think about just adding these subrace traits to the PHB Dagonborn w/o stripping it of the Damage Resistance? them Dragon bois need all the help they can get.
While i agree that dragonborn should just have darkvision, substituting damage resistance for it seems like a decent trade when you look at the fact that these types will lean towards those classes that will need it (spellcasters and melee combatants).
I like matt mercer sharing some love with halflings and dragonborn, they are kinda left behind in terms of new stuff. Hollow one seems cool, always thought playing a sentient undead was a neat character concept.
There has been a pretty clear shift in design philosophy in recent years, so honestly we kind of are already in 5.5 and it just hasn't been officially stated yet.
@@jgr7487 depends on how you look at it i guess. I see it more as they're finally attempting to give some much needed support to higher levels of play.
@@cyberpunkalphamale If you look at how race and subclass design has progressed, UAs as of late further emphasizes the direction they are gradually leaning toward for future releases. An embrace of things that previously weren't very common or present at all. Etc. Generally if you compare 5e when it first came out and how it is now, 5e is definitely becoming a different creature and it's clear more changes are to come pretty soon down the pipeline.
The palid elf seems like it would make an amazing rogue inquisitive. Advantage on investigation drives up passive check to match or beat perception checks. Advantage on insight further adds to the reliability of insightful fighting. The light cantrip could help to get rid of disadvantage on investigation/perception checks in darkness, like always having a flashlight. Sleep would be useful for commoners or low level NPCs that find you checking a place out that you may not have permission to be in. Invisibility would work wonders for the rogue too.
Sometimes reprints are useful to place races/subraces/classes/subclasses previously only available in a PDF in a physical form, especially if you don't have a smartphone/tablet that can hold the PDF and you have a DM who wants proof that something is "Official" and not "Third-party material". Heck, the fact that the Tortle is included means that someone could make someone like Master Oogway or one of the TMNT (or some other turtle/tortoise character) for their story. Heck, the Hollow One will come in handy as the group I'm playing with has a guy who just made a deal with the God of Death and has become an undead thrall. This will just make things more interesting.
I really want to see a siren race because I love sirens as a concept. Although I prefer the more mermaid like siren depiction rather than the bird like one
Subscribed! Find your station a while ago but only really started watching in succession like 2 weeks ago and I really appreciate the depth of your consideration for the content. Immersion is the right term.
The DND Beyond page for the Draconblood Dragonborn still shows the resistance to damage and the advantage on intimidation. Is possible that it’s just an error on the website?
The most important feature of the Draconblood is that you now get a tail, whereas D&D really didn't want you to have a tail before for some reason. TOtally worth the resistance loss.
An area of dim light is lightly obscured, so a pc without darkvision has disadvantage on sight-based attack rolls and perception checks in dim light and a pc with darkvision has disadvantage in darkness. Dancing Lights only creates dim light while Light creates bright light, making it an overall better cantrip. Point, Pallid elves.
Lotusden halfling seems like it would make a good rogue scout. Maybe a good fighter samurai too. There’s some overlap with druid but free spellcasting is always good. Perhaps a nature themed monk too.
I am a new subscriber to your channel, and also, new to D&D. I just want to say your breakdown is very helpful to someone who's only gaming experience in Tomb Raider and Mario Party series.
At first I thought it was saying that the pallid elves were from the moon and then I thought, "Welp, I'm playing this setting for sure now. They have literal moon elves!" 😂
In my game i have more trouble. There is atleast a hundred possible sub races... Only if you are Irradiated from Magical Radiation. I have two deerfolk PCs. Brother and Sister... One is a deer taur. The other one has another pair of arms. Not to mention one is a Tracker Bard. Also known as Bloodhound Bards. Their god is an Bard. And has several subclasses. A little over powered... But she recently lost her brothers' scent. Their chieftain was exiled after realizing they exiled The Chosen. Jack was Chosen. Meaning his god would appear for him alone. And would grant questions answered of six. Their goal is to get a relic to let their gods walk the earth once more. Her sister now has to follow her brother around to make sure he doesnt die. Also Teacup Tarrasques are my parties favorite race. Kobold/Tarrasque hybrids after the first tarrasque died. Their pacifistic and keep their defenses. The first time they attack, magically 2/3's of their natural defenses are cut. They know this and only one is known to have attacked. To keep the party alive. His only friends at the time. Mr Chirps, dressed as a banker... Is now about to marry. His Albino Gnoll Sweetheart.
I feel like the Pallid Elf is just a renamed Albino Drow (Szarkai), lots of similarity with the moon weaver and Eilistraee, a good pro of this one compared to the Szarkai is the lack of Sunlight sensitivity issues.
It pleases me to see Aarakocra in an official book. Both my characters are Aarakocra. My first one is a Chaotic good owl Druid, who I love very much. They share the party’s three brain cells with the bard. The second character is a Lawful Neutral monk who looks like a falcon. I didn’t plan on having more than one Aarakocra, but I wanted to make a monk for my backup if my Druid died... Then I got invited to another campaign, and my DM from the 1st campaign suggested making another Aarakocra since the race works extremely well for Monk, (bonuses to Dex & Wis, and a 60ft flight speed). I hadn’t decided on race yet for my new character so I went with it and now I have two birbs.
I'm a little underwhelmed by the Hollow One, tbh. I think the abilities fit the theme really well but I miss the 4e Revenant's "Undying Vitality" ability. I'll admit that it's more powerful than "Cling to Life" and essentially covers the same ground, but Undying Vitality was just so much fun! To dust off a very old chestnut, it was the undead energizer bunny.
It's weird that they used the standard image for furbolgs even though they look slightly different on the show. They basically became cow people because of how Matt described Pumat I think. The fan artists ran with that theme and now it's basically Critical Role cannon. They changed the whole stat block for dragonborn, even though the only real difference from the rest of 5e was some of them have tails. Until now obviously.
Our DM started up a campaign last week, winging it until the book came in...that is, until the store we game at closed down their gaming section due to the pandemic. I'm eventually planning on a Monster Hunter ranger combined with a Drunken Master monk, along with the Haunted One background. Since I'm playing her as a valley girl teen movie version of Buffy, the Hollow One option would just fit right in if the DM wanted a dramatic 5th season like critical turn of events with her death and eventual return.
Idk, I think the Draconblood should have it's bonuses reversed (Charisma +2, Intelligence +1), idk. But tbh, a revised Dragonborn seems like a must have (for example, swap the breath modifier to Charisma, and give them cantrips to their associated element).
While I like your content and it gives a very nice brief overview the one thing I dislike is that you always look at the purely mechanical effect of the abilities. For example the DB with Tails and their Advantage on Persuasion/Intimidate. That can come up surprisingly often in a game in my personal experience to do it some credit. I do however agree it can be jumped up to × times = to Modifier to get a little more use out it then the once.
I think something Matt does well is consider the role play aspect of a game, not just the mechanical effects. He makes subraces and other things that aren't solely for the purpose of being strong, but so that they make an interesting and unique character spin. I really enjoy his incorporation of little things like the stuff you mentioned, because as someone who enjoys a mix of combat and role play it's so much better for the campaign as a whole.
@@intoHeck1964 yes and no, some aspect yes but it would be better to just give base Dragonborn darkvision a better breath weapon that scaled appropriately and a +2str and +1 to either Con or Cha imo.
I'm kinda sad that the Hollow one feels like it is just a pure upgrade to any other race. I mean sure the Undead-status can be bad in certain situations, but other than that it's just straight up better. Kinda hoped to see a proper Undead-PC-race/modifier that wouldn't just end up feeling like you give a boost to a player character.
The guide describes it as a supernatural gift, so it's probably a boon / curse you'd receive during a campaign, or have if you're starting as a high level character (i.e. instead of a starting magic item, as some DMs do). If you were to have it as a starting 'race', I'd work with your DM to choose traits to replace those from your chosen actual race.
spoilers... djemaini cosco, the guy taht was with Avantica, the explorer guy, caduceus made a detect undead and this guy light up, maybe he is a Hollow one?
i mean with the dragon born instead of the resistance being tossed i'd home rule the less used breath weapon goes or give players the option to chose which one goes or add it a second way to customize their dragon born choosing whether their dragon born has a tail or not and id say that pallid elves are a MORE FOCUSED moon elf even tho i know that some what falls into the high elf's domain
Yeah it hurt me to tell someone new in my group and new to dnd that dragonborns don't get as much stuff as you would think.They asked me how useful the breath weapon was and i had to brake it to em hard. I we both worked with the dm and gave him the option to have the breath come back one a short rest and to get the ability to gain a tougher hide,claws,a roar,or wings.i forget the specifics of how it worked but i i really liked what he came up with.
Hey man, love the vid, subbed for more. Might I suggest adding some quiet background music to your vids? It might help keep people’s attention more, sometimes listening to just a straight video with no other audio can be difficult or a little too monotone
Given the impact a successful intimidate or persuasion check can have on adventures and even entire campaigns, being able to choose advantage on pivotal checks might be low key, but has the potential to be game changing for the campaign in ways a damage resist is not.
I know, and you are 100 percent right, but god just looking at Dragonborn stats, make them seem a bit boring.
And darkvision!
True on the intimidation thing, I can't wait to test drive these in the new campaign.
I agree with this it's so much easier if you NEED to make the check
I also agree, this can be extremely important and really helps out those who want to make a character that isn't as inclined to be a fighter.
Pallid Elf Inquisitive Rogue! Advantage on Insight, the skill that the main class features hinge off of? YES PLEASE!
And investigate
the possibilities are worth investigating.
Put expertise in Insight and you'll be a walking lie detector
@@eveescastle5866 My middle name is "Paranoia". XD
@@sowatome849 You already get advantage on investigation
You can find more info on the Pallid elves on page 70 in EGtW under “Pallid Grove” and more info on the Lotusden Halflings on page 140 in EGtW under “Lotusden Greenwood”
Keep in mind that Mercer worked with WotC on this so there was likely some compromise on both ends for both story and balance purposes
Well, at least the Draconic Sorcerers Dragonborn are less redundant, since you can get resistance from the whole being a Sorcerer too.
Yeah but...Crawford has said that the draconic ancestor for Dragonborn and the draconic ancestor for Draconic Sorcerer can be different. Meaning you could get fire resistance for being a red Dragonborn and ice resistance for having a blue draconic ancestor from being a sorcerer.
@@MasterLycan844 Yeah but, let's be real, most people want to fulfill the theme by going all in on for example the red dragon ancestry.
I for one tend to just offer dragonborn an extra and thematic resistance if there's ever an overlap of elemental resistance. I had a blue dragonborn storm barbarian for a campaign of mine so I gave him the choice of cold resistance. in addition to his lightning resistance to reflect a chilling storm (I considered thunder too because it's more rare but, outside its name, its far more tied to sound damage than the damage from a storm). I could also easily see myself give cold resistance to your classic red dragonborn fire sorcerer. They simply use their inner heat to shrug off the cold.
@@oOPPHOo True. But that's also fun. No one has to be super optimized for their character to work. Power gaming can be fun but sometimes you just want to play that orc wizard.
IMO dragonborn base should should get buffed. And buffed in the sense of having their breath weapon progress to recharge 6@3 (or 5) and then just be always avaliable as a action @5(or 10) while making the resist work like the dragon mask resistance for stacking.
Expanding and buffing the feats also wouldnt be bad (dragon hide AC use con instead of dex like their breath, given a level 12 locked 30ft fly if not encumbered dragon wings feat and at same level a dragon sight for +1 cha or con, 30 ft blindsight and 60 ft darkvision).
@@oOPPHOo draconic sorcerers officially have scales, imagine a blue Dragonborn with some red scales and fire damage. I think that's pretty badass
"Powercreep" Like the halfling doesn't have a built in reroll mechanic in the PHB
I like that they made this book where you can buy this alone and just play dnd mostly with this and the dmg
it's the PHB+1 philosophy
@@jgr7487 Yeah! and for what its purpose is, which to me is to get people from critical role to actually play dnd, this is perfect.
Jamedi Costco! Hallowed one that's why he kept coming up on Cads radar!
Well I dont think that. you know what I think?
**Spoilers**
Matt always alude to some people eating bits of a dead Ucutuwa like creature and they become husks for it to see the world.
I feel thats one of them.
@@optimus2200 yeah but that creature is buried in eiselcross way north of where they met jamedi and blight shore where hollow ones come from is alot closer
@@tristananderson8165 what says that he isnt from the north ? he isnt local that much is known. and he is a dungeoner and someone who guide people to new places. that creature DO want to acclimate knowledge.
It make much sense to me. AT least thats how I would run him in my wild mount
@@optimus2200 true but he specifically came up as undead under cads eyes of the grave as a hollow one would, I don't know if that creatures minions would actually be considered undead rather than just insane people, and you can always rule it an run it however you want.
@@tristananderson8165 Maybe he is both "GASPS" XD XD XD.
well I felt that because of the nature of the creature ... that he somehow lives and take controle of the host just by getting eaten that sounded undead to me.
On one hand the reprints take up quite a bit but on the other hand it’s good for those who play in adventures league as some of those races were never put in actual books
It's fine anyway it's there in case you are a new player or dm and dont own any other books
Omar Y true if someone is only a player it makes Volos almost unnecessary
I thought this book wasn't going to be an accepted source for AL.
K Vid honestly I don’t know much about adventurers league as far as I was aware the rule was players could bring the players handbook, sword coasts guide, and one other WotC 5e book. But I can’t say I’ve ever been part of it to know if they have some policies against certain books.
don't underestimate the bonus of not having to carry around quite so many books.
Hollow one would had helped me a lot when i homebrewed a "revenant" like race for my player cleric during curse of strahd.
Danothyus1 “Holliw ones are indistinguishable from living creatures”
Meanwhile the art looks like a zombie 🤦🏻♂️
@@lebanemcarl68 Maybe it's a depiction of a Hollow One using its Unsettling Presence
SRautaro So they all the sudden just look like a dead guy? He even has a sword sticking into him.
Anyway I like the undead look better than “oh he looks like a normal dude lul”.
Danothyus1 I did the same thing for one of my players!
I’m gonna use it in my dark souls campaign
Light isn’t a throwaway cantrip, helps a darkvisionless party without concentration
Late to the party but "helps darkvisionless party" while 9/10 races has dark vision means it's a throw away cantrip. No idea why they keep giving light to races that have darkvision
@@The_Yukki because even with darkvision you cant see in the dark.
You treat it as dim light.
You have disadvantage at everything sight based still.
@@carpedm9846 Literally just perception and it doesn't matter since "help" action is a thing that's free
@@The_Yukki attacks as well.
Which, is kind of important.
@@carpedm9846 Think you're playing a different game.
"In a lightly obscured area, such as dim light, patchy fog, or moderate foliage, creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight."
It's heavily obscured areas, such as darkness make you essentially blind aka disadvantage on hits and advantage on being hit.
And with darkvision you're essentially never in darkness unless you're doing some weird distant spell+eldritch spear 360 noscopes or shooting long range which almost never happens in places where darkness can happen (aka "dungeons")
no +INT dwarf race? despite dwarves always being master artificers in most settings? *sad ale drinking*
My brother made an INT dwarf subrace called the Forge Dwarf who function as the smiths and architects of dwarf cities, they get a +1 int and like 2 extra tool proficiencies, there might be more to it but i'd have to ask him again.
@@mrcatface6860 there's lots of homebrew races or subraces like that, it's easy to hombrew something like that oneself even, the thing is wildemount is an official book and most tables don't allow homebrew content.
it's a bit arbitrary because official content is itself all over the place in terms of balance.
Actually surprises me there was no new Dwarf Subrace considering Matt's favorite race in 5e is Dwarf
Kobold Press did that.
Duergar are the + Int Dwarf tho I know they're normally don't fit a game
I feel like the reprint of races kinda makes sense for this specific book. A lot of people got to know D&D through CR and don’t want to buy a lot of other materials. This way they can stick to PHB, DMG and CR content and get a bit of extra races.
And I do get that a lot of stuff in this book can be considered broken beyond belief. To me it is just very clear that this is written by someone that has a lot of experience with very roleplay heavy players and doesn’t really think about the power gaming options.
Aquila009 I bought it just for the reprinted races. The extra classes and campaign are a bonus!
I think another big reason the races were all reprinted is because the societies of every race would be structured differently then in Faerun, the elf-dwarf city Uthodurn being a perfect example of that
Tortles came in a separate pdf file that goes with xanathar's, so this is the first version of the tortle in an official, printed hardcover book.
I think the idea for the reprint is to have a collection of races that actually exist in this setting, because there are a few that dont.
So Jamedi was definitely a hollow one right?
Oh man, I forgot about Jamedi!
Finally we know what Costco was!!!!!
Oh, shit!
Shiiiiiiiit you right
immediately thought of that as well! i was still so confused about that to this day haha
The first thing i thought with the new elf was that would make a great inquisitive rogue alway advantage on insite checks
Abuse the crap our of Insightful Fighting
Kinda feels like you're viewing it from a min/max standpoint. Surely it's just cool that there are now alternate races?
@Marco Loco I would say to some extant, but at the same time I think somethings do need to be viewed from a mechanical speaking view.
If you’re starting out all you need is the PhB, XGtE, and Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount
The Pallid Elf would make for a great Shadow Monk. 👍
I really appreciate the time stamps in the description. It really helps when I'm rewatching and trying to find something.
Nani? New races? I didn’t know Wildemount was gonna have that, my local game store doesn’t open yet so I haven’t gotten my copy. Not gonna watch this so I don’t get spoiled, I wanna see it for myself.
I saw it in barnes and noble
I will have to disagree with you on the Pallid Elf comparison to Drow. Statwise they are much more similar to Wood Elves (+1 Wis, and regular darkvision). The only thing over Wood elves they have is the spellcasting, but less movement speed and no mask of the wild. So im not so sure about power creep for that one. Granted spells are a bit more useful, but i would say they are not stronger than the other elf subraces.
"Why wouldn't you errata the Volo's orc?"
Because they _don't_, in fact, like the Eberron orc more. The Eberron orc is useful for setting where orcs can live equal to humans. In other settings, where the orc is associated with a savage nature, the Volo's orc is the best fit. Most published and probably also most homebrew settings probably have a vision for the orc that matches more with the Volo's/Realms orc than the Eberron orc.
All Volos orc needs to be on par/at least a solid pick is the orc half of the half orc trait pool, aka savage attacks.
I mean the Volo's Orc has everything this orc has, except it only gives one skill that you're locked into and it gives a negative to Intelligence. It also being one of the only 2 races with a negative ability score seems off
@@NerdImmersion Why does it seem off? Is it not fitting of how we view a savage orc in for example the Forgotten Realms?
That's the consideration here more than balance. Frankly, I like it. If people want to play a monstrous race in a setting where the orcs are truly monstrous, I want it to be a choice made by someone who doesn't care about the down sides of playing an orc. I also just genuinely like that half-orcs are superior to to regular orcs. It's already established in the lore that half-orcs tend to be smarter than the full-blooded orcs of an orc tribe and therefor often rise to the top as leaders. I like that a mixed race isn't seen as some hybrid that's only half of each parent but rather the best parts added together.
@@oOPPHOo off because with 40+ races in all of 5e, only 2 have negative ability scores. This orc (which is reprinted in 2 books as a version without out) and kobolds.
@@NerdImmersion Negatives ASI should be a thing, just balanced out with feature power. What is off is how orcs are somehow less combat/savagery focused than half orcs (ability not to have intimidate prof and lacking savage attacks).
Dark vision and advantage on clutch moment for intimidation or persuasion seems way more useful to me than a simple resistance
The reprint in brilliant if only for the way the section is layed out in the book, detailing how the race is seen in the world.
This book is a new standard for new players and DMs.
what do you think about just adding these subrace traits to the PHB Dagonborn w/o stripping it of the Damage Resistance?
them Dragon bois need all the help they can get.
That'd actually be a solid fix
Totally doing this for my players.
I'm down for doing this for my players as well.
While i agree that dragonborn should just have darkvision, substituting damage resistance for it seems like a decent trade when you look at the fact that these types will lean towards those classes that will need it (spellcasters and melee combatants).
@@intoHeck1964 why not both? just leave Humans & Small Human w/o Darkvision
I really appreciate that these videos are not as exhausted as it was over the summer.
I like matt mercer sharing some love with halflings and dragonborn, they are kinda left behind in terms of new stuff. Hollow one seems cool, always thought playing a sentient undead was a neat character concept.
"Mom's Jamhedi"... "Jamhedi Costco..." You remember him?
That dude's a Hollow One.
the hollow one is absolutely fantastic! its so good for a bunch of characters ive wanted to play, i love it!
the power creep we've been seeing since Volo's is something that might point at a 5.5 Edition.
There has been a pretty clear shift in design philosophy in recent years, so honestly we kind of are already in 5.5 and it just hasn't been officially stated yet.
Incorrect. They have stated time and again 5e is here for a long while.
@@Jawn15 but wouldn't 5.5 be just an expansion of 5E?
@@jgr7487 depends on how you look at it i guess. I see it more as they're finally attempting to give some much needed support to higher levels of play.
@@cyberpunkalphamale If you look at how race and subclass design has progressed, UAs as of late further emphasizes the direction they are gradually leaning toward for future releases. An embrace of things that previously weren't very common or present at all. Etc.
Generally if you compare 5e when it first came out and how it is now, 5e is definitely becoming a different creature and it's clear more changes are to come pretty soon down the pipeline.
The palid elf seems like it would make an amazing rogue inquisitive. Advantage on investigation drives up passive check to match or beat perception checks.
Advantage on insight further adds to the reliability of insightful fighting.
The light cantrip could help to get rid of disadvantage on investigation/perception checks in darkness, like always having a flashlight.
Sleep would be useful for commoners or low level NPCs that find you checking a place out that you may not have permission to be in.
Invisibility would work wonders for the rogue too.
I think I remember hearing that tortles, having only been published in a charity module, weren't AL legal before now. Now they're OFFICIAL official.
So the goblin race is in FOUR FUCKING BOOKS
A Hollow One Othbreaker Paladin sounds so cool
A hollow one devotion paladin who became one after commiting suicide
It'd be really powerful too. At 6th level you add you charisma to death saving throws, meaning about a 25-50 percent chance of just getting up at 1 hp
@@mitchellwade1355 I believe that it only applies to the number rolled on the die (like the champions improved critical)
@@intoHeck1964 Even so, it's just vague enough to be left to dm's discretion.
Sometimes reprints are useful to place races/subraces/classes/subclasses previously only available in a PDF in a physical form, especially if you don't have a smartphone/tablet that can hold the PDF and you have a DM who wants proof that something is "Official" and not "Third-party material". Heck, the fact that the Tortle is included means that someone could make someone like Master Oogway or one of the TMNT (or some other turtle/tortoise character) for their story.
Heck, the Hollow One will come in handy as the group I'm playing with has a guy who just made a deal with the God of Death and has become an undead thrall. This will just make things more interesting.
With Dragonborn you can choose your scale colour which in return gives you a permanent resistance type
I really want to see a siren race because I love sirens as a concept. Although I prefer the more mermaid like siren depiction rather than the bird like one
I'm with you on the dragonborn. Had those new versions replaced the ability score bonuses and the breath weapon, I'd have been 100% on board.
I like that the reprints also give the size modifier stuff they made in Rising from the Last War which is really nice
Subscribed! Find your station a while ago but only really started watching in succession like 2 weeks ago and I really appreciate the depth of your consideration for the content. Immersion is the right term.
Guess I have to created a Homebrew seat that I use to apply this to what ever I play.
Also the New Dragon type + Echo Knight sound fun
All the attacks!
@@NerdImmersion Yep and pick War pick since I then can add +2 to every attack and second attack gets +3 (4 if DM allows those glove) from Str
This is cool thanks. I got the book on dndbeyond and didnt know it had races yet, including some I haven't used that were previously printed
Chronurgist is quite overpowered with its 10th level feature. Find Familiar for the entire party, for example.
The DND Beyond page for the Draconblood Dragonborn still shows the resistance to damage and the advantage on intimidation. Is possible that it’s just
an error on the website?
The most important feature of the Draconblood is that you now get a tail, whereas D&D really didn't want you to have a tail before for some reason. TOtally worth the resistance loss.
You should never be surprised about there being yet another elf subrace. It's 5e's fetish
3:25 this would be great choice for a monk. +2 dex /+1 wisdom
An area of dim light is lightly obscured, so a pc without darkvision has disadvantage on sight-based attack rolls and perception checks in dim light and a pc with darkvision has disadvantage in darkness.
Dancing Lights only creates dim light while Light creates bright light, making it an overall better cantrip. Point, Pallid elves.
Hollow Ones seem cool as hell. I can finally use it to build Sylvanas Windrunner and be an Elven Ranger.
Re the Matt Mercer details... he probably has it, but they had to cut stuff out. *shrug*
Lotusden halfling seems like it would make a good rogue scout. Maybe a good fighter samurai too. There’s some overlap with druid but free spellcasting is always good. Perhaps a nature themed monk too.
So the new elf if a snow elf from Skyrim? I love it, I want to play one
Looking forward to playing the new halfling. As well looking over all the reprinted races.
So excited for all the content in this book, it seems like it's going to be a good one!
Hallowed one Undying warlock. That's rad.
I am a new subscriber to your channel, and also, new to D&D. I just want to say your breakdown is very helpful to someone who's only gaming experience in Tomb Raider and Mario Party series.
I'm glad tortle is getting printed, hard to pay 10 for just a race.
Except here that the 10$ is not for the race, but for a charity cause in support of children hospitals.
Not a lot of races with +2 to INT, so I really like the new Dragonborn for that alone.
At first I thought it was saying that the pallid elves were from the moon and then I thought, "Welp, I'm playing this setting for sure now. They have literal moon elves!" 😂
In my game i have more trouble. There is atleast a hundred possible sub races... Only if you are Irradiated from Magical Radiation. I have two deerfolk PCs. Brother and Sister... One is a deer taur. The other one has another pair of arms. Not to mention one is a Tracker Bard. Also known as Bloodhound Bards. Their god is an Bard. And has several subclasses. A little over powered... But she recently lost her brothers' scent. Their chieftain was exiled after realizing they exiled The Chosen.
Jack was Chosen. Meaning his god would appear for him alone. And would grant questions answered of six. Their goal is to get a relic to let their gods walk the earth once more. Her sister now has to follow her brother around to make sure he doesnt die.
Also Teacup Tarrasques are my parties favorite race. Kobold/Tarrasque hybrids after the first tarrasque died. Their pacifistic and keep their defenses. The first time they attack, magically 2/3's of their natural defenses are cut. They know this and only one is known to have attacked. To keep the party alive. His only friends at the time. Mr Chirps, dressed as a banker... Is now about to marry.
His Albino Gnoll Sweetheart.
It would have been nice to see a Dex variant for the Dragonborn, but just getting Darkvision is already a big step up.
So jemeity was a hollow one ! THAT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE NOW!
In the gods section they do mention arcana, order, grave domains and point you to the other books though, but yah they did try the book+1 philosophy
Welp finally happened theirs a template for races (hallowed one) welcome back 3rd edition
I feel like the Pallid Elf is just a renamed Albino Drow (Szarkai), lots of similarity with the moon weaver and Eilistraee, a good pro of this one compared to the Szarkai is the lack of Sunlight sensitivity issues.
7:00 it's called a ROLE PLAYING game for a reason, you meta gamer.
Kinda surprised they didn't include the Minotaur in the races section...oh well, we still have GGTR
Its gonna be reprinted in Mythic Odysseys of Theros
Hollowed one barbarian with cling to life will never die lol
It pleases me to see Aarakocra in an official book. Both my characters are Aarakocra.
My first one is a Chaotic good owl Druid, who I love very much. They share the party’s three brain cells with the bard.
The second character is a Lawful Neutral monk who looks like a falcon.
I didn’t plan on having more than one Aarakocra, but I wanted to make a monk for my backup if my Druid died... Then I got invited to another campaign, and my DM from the 1st campaign suggested making another Aarakocra since the race works extremely well for Monk, (bonuses to Dex & Wis, and a 60ft flight speed). I hadn’t decided on race yet for my new character so I went with it and now I have two birbs.
I am sad that the Dranassar race was not added, I really want to see what the precursor race to goblinkin are like.
Hollow One reminds me of something done with Ghostwalk in 3e
I'm a little underwhelmed by the Hollow One, tbh. I think the abilities fit the theme really well but I miss the 4e Revenant's "Undying Vitality" ability. I'll admit that it's more powerful than "Cling to Life" and essentially covers the same ground, but Undying Vitality was just so much fun! To dust off a very old chestnut, it was the undead energizer bunny.
It's weird that they used the standard image for furbolgs even though they look slightly different on the show. They basically became cow people because of how Matt described Pumat I think. The fan artists ran with that theme and now it's basically Critical Role cannon. They changed the whole stat block for dragonborn, even though the only real difference from the rest of 5e was some of them have tails. Until now obviously.
there IS a lot more lore about pallid elves its just not included for some reason, matt explained more in a QnA
i can’t wait to receive this on Thursday :)
Our DM started up a campaign last week, winging it until the book came in...that is, until the store we game at closed down their gaming section due to the pandemic. I'm eventually planning on a Monster Hunter ranger combined with a Drunken Master monk, along with the Haunted One background. Since I'm playing her as a valley girl teen movie version of Buffy, the Hollow One option would just fit right in if the DM wanted a dramatic 5th season like critical turn of events with her death and eventual return.
I want nothing more than to play a half orc hallow one zealot barbarian
Genasi was in Elemental Evil. It was just a pain in the butt to find.
the Hollow One kinda sounds like the official version of that old Halloween UA that gave rules to plays as a Revenant
I hope they make something similar to the class feature variants but with races.
Idk, I think the Draconblood should have it's bonuses reversed (Charisma +2, Intelligence +1), idk.
But tbh, a revised Dragonborn seems like a must have (for example, swap the breath modifier to Charisma, and give them cantrips to their associated element).
Yup, that's why I did this video: ua-cam.com/video/RFm085aWwK4/v-deo.html
Yeah yeah, hollow knight, Nordic elf, dragonborn class struggles, whatever.
I'm only here for the new CRUNCHY halfling!
While I like your content and it gives a very nice brief overview the one thing I dislike is that you always look at the purely mechanical effect of the abilities.
For example the DB with Tails and their Advantage on Persuasion/Intimidate.
That can come up surprisingly often in a game in my personal experience to do it some credit. I do however agree it can be jumped up to × times = to Modifier to get a little more use out it then the once.
I am aware that I cited what many others have as well, so I do apologize for beating a dead horse so to speak.
I think something Matt does well is consider the role play aspect of a game, not just the mechanical effects. He makes subraces and other things that aren't solely for the purpose of being strong, but so that they make an interesting and unique character spin. I really enjoy his incorporation of little things like the stuff you mentioned, because as someone who enjoys a mix of combat and role play it's so much better for the campaign as a whole.
The hollow one is basically an organization 13 member.
The elf one reminded me of Galadriel
Damn it mercer. We didnt need another damned elf.
Not just another elf, an ultra white elf. Hail victory
yea but they did improve the dragonborn which was the worst race in 5e imo
@@intoHeck1964 yes and no, some aspect yes but it would be better to just give base Dragonborn darkvision a better breath weapon that scaled appropriately and a +2str and +1 to either Con or Cha imo.
that halfling is from LotusDen Greenwood. i see what they did there... (Ed Greenwood) ;)
I'm kinda sad that the Hollow one feels like it is just a pure upgrade to any other race. I mean sure the Undead-status can be bad in certain situations, but other than that it's just straight up better. Kinda hoped to see a proper Undead-PC-race/modifier that wouldn't just end up feeling like you give a boost to a player character.
They took unsettling visage away from changelings and gave it to the hollowed one.
Am I the only one that world like subraces for the kobold based off the kobold dragon shield or better yet inverter to honor the short life of Spurt.
Draconblood dragonborn, chronurgy wizard is dreamy
So hollow one is like a subrace for every race? Or what is it?
Seems really strong to just be any race but buffed.
The guide describes it as a supernatural gift, so it's probably a boon / curse you'd receive during a campaign, or have if you're starting as a high level character (i.e. instead of a starting magic item, as some DMs do). If you were to have it as a starting 'race', I'd work with your DM to choose traits to replace those from your chosen actual race.
It seems like it could be connected to the Raven Queen. I think in campaign 1 Vax became a Hollow One, I think.
Yes, but you're also undead which has it's own repercussions mechanically and RPwise
It's like lyncathrope, a template/boon/curse to add to a character. But DndBeyond isnt competent enough design to implement that
spoilers...
djemaini cosco, the guy taht was with Avantica, the explorer guy, caduceus made a detect undead and this guy light up, maybe he is a Hollow one?
Dragonborn's abilities should scale with PC level. 2 at 6,3 at 11,4 at 16 maybe?
7:25 Somebody has never played Sorcerer before...
Pallid Elf reminds me of Other Mother from Coraline...
i mean with the dragon born instead of the resistance being tossed i'd home rule the less used breath weapon goes or give players the option to chose which one goes or add it a second way to customize their dragon born choosing whether their dragon born has a tail or not and id say that pallid elves are a MORE FOCUSED moon elf even tho i know that some what falls into the high elf's domain
Yeah it hurt me to tell someone new in my group and new to dnd that dragonborns don't get as much stuff as you would think.They asked me how useful the breath weapon was and i had to brake it to em hard. I we both worked with the dm and gave him the option to have the breath come back one a short rest and to get the ability to gain a tougher hide,claws,a roar,or wings.i forget the specifics of how it worked but i i really liked what he came up with.
COSTCO IS A HOLLOW ONE!!!
Hey man, love the vid, subbed for more. Might I suggest adding some quiet background music to your vids? It might help keep people’s attention more, sometimes listening to just a straight video with no other audio can be difficult or a little too monotone