Hello my Pun-Puns, this week’s Unearthed Arcana review sees one of the more obvious patches in the history of UA, three feats, and some new dragon-themed spells (kinda?). See, in Dungeons & Dragons, there are two draconic-themed races – the Dragonborn, which is shit, and the Kobold, which is actually good but people were mad that their “funny and unique” kobold barbarian wasn’t actually as strong as a 7′ 250lb. half-orc. This is the fix.
Usual post-Tasha’s changes – chose your attribute bonuses, languages, etc.
We get three new subtypes of Dragonborn. Chromatics and Metallics are split, while we get another sign that the Gem dragons are coming to 5e, filling out the rest of the damage types – force, radiant, psychic, thunder and necrotic.
All three kinds get a breath weapon, which now replace attacks rather than full Actions. All Chromatic and Metallics use Constitution saves, while Gems are dexterity, which feels backwards to me – Save vs. (elemental) breath weapon was the original Reflex/Dexterity save, while a blast of Force, Psychic, Thunder, or Necrotic damage feels more like something you just have to endure and power through than jump out of the way of- especially necrotic and psychic – not even sure how you dodge a psychic “breath.” The damage scaling issue is only slightly fixed here, using d8s rather than d6s, but the huge boost is that, rather than once per short rest, you can use this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest, which pulls ahead at high levels.
Next come your standard Draconic Resistance, which is the same as the normal dragonborn, and expected.
Next up comes the fun add-on. Chromatic dragons, once per long rest, can shift from Resistance to Immunity for ten minutes. This isn’t usually that useful, as resistance is usually enough, but very good for niche exploration in, say, acidic bogs or lava filled areas. A Red Chromatic could possibly speed run the Plane of Fire with this. It also has strong interactions with AOE spells, especially ones that linger like Incendiary Cloud, Stinking Cloud, and Cloudkill.
Metallics get a secondary breath weapon, which replaces one attack per long rest (and does not count towards base breath weapon uses). These can be either a Save vs. 20 foot push and knock prone effect or a Con save vs. becoming incapacitated until the start of your next turn.
Gem dragons are given two features here- 30 ft., one-way telepathy, and Gem flight at 3rd level, allowing you to summon gem-wings as a bonus action. For a minute, you gain a fly (hover) speed equal to your walking speed. Once per long rest.
Over all, a nice patch. Gem dragons might be a bit ahead of the pack though, but Fire and Poison immunity are quite nice.
Kobolds are no longer pathetic and are instead badass fearless warriors or sorcerers, but in exchange for all their flavor and uniqueness. They are small 30ft. speed creatures with standard darkvision rather than sunlight sensitivity.
You then get to chose a Draconic Legacy: your choice between Advantage vs. Frightened condition, OR one cantrip of your choice from the Sorcerer spell list – your choice of spellcasting ability, OR the ability to make tail attacks at 1d6+ Strength bludgeoning damage.
Finally, they get a Draconic Roar, a bonus action (proficiency bonus/long rest) that gives you and allies advantage on attack rolls against creatures within 10 feet of you.
This feels like an overcorrection that doesn’t feel like a D&D kobold (I especially hate the Frightened condition advantage, which make you wonder why this species gets it and not, say, Goliaths, Orcs, Hobgoblins, etc.). But, mechanically, it’s incredibly strong as a rogue – a small creature with medium speed (like the goblin), dark vision, the ability to pick up Booming or Green-Flame Blade (potentially as a wisdom cantrip), and a source of on-demand party advantage. Booming Blade as a wisdom cantrip also makes this a solid choice for a Tempest Cleric, of all things.
Finally, Feats, which are dragon themed, but not actually restricted by race.
Gift of the Chromatic Dragons. Lets you use a bonus action once per long rest to add an extra 1d4 (chromatic damage type) for one minute. Also, when you take acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison damage, you can gain resistance as a reaction, proficiency/long rest. What’s good here is that you are not locked in to a damage type when you chose this – say, you’re not getting a Gift from a Green Dragon and stuck with poison – so this is a nice Absorb Elements like effect, very useful as a high level Feat choice when you start fighting dragons. It’s actually better as a Dragonslayer-flavored feat, actually.
Gift of the Metallic Dragon is a bit stranger as it gives you access to Cure Wounds once per long rest, and with any spell slots you have, and your choice of Spellcasting Ability. Which isn’t something Metallics have, even with the variant caster rules. You also gain a defensive reaction – add a d4 Shield-like AC Bonus to an attack against a creature with 5’ of you, Proficiency/long rest.
This is really, really bad. Cure Wounds is easy to get through other spell-granting feats, and not that great of a healing spell - Wizards who want it should take the superior Artificer Adept feat, while everyone else has better options than a precious ASI. And shield is a must have spell, but it’s good because a guaranteed +5 AC lets you intuit AC values and the worth of your spell slots vs. the hit. A d4’s randomness is terrible, and only really useful for situations where your AC is beaten by 1 or 2. And likewise, that 5’ range is horrible, especially on what’s supposed to be a magical effect. At 15’ or so, this could be mediocre party support, or if it could be added to Saving Throws. Here, it’s trash.
Gift of the Gem Dragons starts with an Int, Wis, Cha ability score bonus of 1. Its defensive reaction is a telekenetic 10’ push that deals 2d8 force damage when you are hit by a creature within 10’ of you (proficiency/long rest). Pretty bad, to be honest. The damage doesn’t scale, it doesn’t actually effect the hit (so most spellcasters would probably prefer a Shield here if they have spell slots open), Strength is the worst save vs. most melee monsters, and 10’ isn’t that great of a clearance affect, basically a little disengage. Pass on this one too.
Finally, the Spells. Draconic transformation is a 7th level spell with a one time 500gp cost and a bonus action casting time and concentration. For this, you get 30’ of blind sense, 40 ft. fly speed, and a bonus action 30’ cone breath weapon, 3d8 force damage on a Dexterity save (half on a success). This is OK bonus action damage and some OK effects, but this is a 7th level concentration spell, when something like this should be a bit more of a game changer. Especially when compared to the concentration free, bonus action damage of Crown of Stars. Paired with flight, though, might push it into competition.
Fizban’s Plantinum Shield is a 6th level abjuration spell, 1 minute of concentration for a shield you can move to another character as a bonus action. It sheds 5’ of dim light, provides half-cover, resistance to elemental damage, and an evasion effect on Dexterity saving throws. This is a decent abjuration spell, especially in that underpopulated school, but I wish it was a bit more party friendly and worked against Constitution saves, as this is definitely supposed to be a dragon-fighting spell, and, say, the Green Dragon breath is a Con save. Still, evasion is one of the best defensive features in the game.
Flame Stride is very cool. A bonus action spell that adds 20 feet to your movement, prevents opportunity attacks against you, and burns any creature within 5’ feet of you when you move (once per turn), which both scale with spell slot. The problem is that as a 5th level transmutation spell, it directly competes with Haste. And it only has a range of Self. But the burn effect could be cool on something like a Tabaxi or Bladesinger. Shame about that range, because it would be a fun gift for a monk or grappler barbarian.
Icingdeath’s Frost, named after the dragon Ingeloakastimizilian, whose name has a stupid translation, rather than Drizzt’s scimitar with a stupid name. In any case, think baby 3d8 Cone of Cold at 2nd level, but with an interesting rider that a failed save also covers the target in ice, dropping speed to 0 unless you use an action to break it. Pretty cool for a 2nd level evocation.
Nathair’s Mischief is interesting, a 2nd level illusion spell that requires an apple pie crust component that fills a 20ft cube with draconic and fey magic, randomly determined by a chart. And you can move the cube a bit, as you concentrate for a minute. These random effects are a Wisdom vs. Charm, Dex vs. Blind, Wisdom vs. incapacitation, or Difficult terrain. Not particularly strong, but certainly appealing to fans of random magic and fey flavor. One thing I don’t get is that “draconic” flavor – this is pure quirky fey, and trying to tie it to a fairie dragon seems pretty weak.
Raulothim’s Psychic Lance is either a bog standard blast of psychic force, but you can of the creature’s name. If you know the creature’s name, the target gains no benefit from cover or invisibility from the following damage – the target then succeeds on an Int save or takes 10d6 psychic damage and is incapacitated until the start of your next turn.. Mediocre damage for a 4th level single target attack, but it’s the best save and one of the better damage types. The naming rider is fascinating, and seems like another go at True Name magic.
Summon Draconic Spirit fills in a conspicuous gap in Tasha’s Summoning Spells, coming in at 5th level and allowing for a Chromatic, Gem, or Metallic dragon. It is a large creature, with 14+ Spell level AC, 50+10 HP per level above 5th, and 80 feet of fly speed. At 19 Strength and 17 Con, this thing is a beast, and they resist all of the Chromatic/Metallic damage times or all the Gem types, once of which is shared with you upon summoning and is used for its 2d6 breath weapon. It can use its breath weapon and attack, starting with 2 melee attacks that deal 1d6+spell level piercing damage. Which is fine, but seems a bit low for a dragon. The rather interesting alternative is using the Strength 19 and large size to grapple and then fly an opponent 80 feet into the air for a drop.
