MY THOUGHTS ON DND UNEARTH ARCANA

INTRODUCTION

I am going to be talking about DND UA, or Dungeons and Dragons Unearthed Arcana. If you are new around here, my name is Amber and I talk about games of all kinds, but my favorites have to be roleplaying games, specifically DND.

A little background on me. I have been playing DND for years and have been DMing (Dungeon Mastering or running the game) for almost as long. I love both playing and running games, but there is a special place in my heart for creating worlds for others to play in.

WHAT IS UNEARTHED ARCANA

If you are not familiar with Unearthed Arcana you may be very confused at this point, allow me to explain. If you are not familiar with DND at all there are classes (kind of like jobs or specialties) and races for players to use to create their character for the game. When the creators of DND Wizards of the Coast want to workshop and try out new potential content sometimes they release rough drafts of a new class or race (and sometimes other things) for players to use in games.

This is where some controversy begins.

MY THOUGHTS

Every time I bring a new player into a campaign I always get asked at some point, “do you allow UA?” The answer is yes, I do, at least most of the time. My thought process is its meant to be tested anyway so why not allow it. I am also a sucker for new and exciting content so without fail I will always let people, at the very least, explain it to me.

My process is simple, I allow a player to ask me and show me the UA they would like to use. I ask them why, because I am not a fan of power gaming, but I do want my players to be happy and excited for their characters. I just like to know where a player is coming from.

Using UA, especially in my homebrewed worlds comes with some rules, however. I do require they fully understand the restriction, rulings, etc. for their character and be able to explain anything I may not be familiar with. I as the DM also hold the right of refusal at any time. This just means if we have had a couple of sessions and I deem the UA to make your character to over-powered, or just not enjoyable for the rest of the players, I will make you change your character. Whether that’s trying to rework the UA to be more user friendly or changing it to something completely different.

CONCLUSION

I do think more DMs should allow UA in their worlds. It’s a fun and easy way to spicy things up while also getting to playtest things that might be included in future books. While it does involve some planning and ground rules, I think it’s well worth the effort.

If you are interested in DND official UA, check out the Wizards of the Coast site for more info. Happy gaming!

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