Unearthed Arcana Part 1: Character Origins

<h1> </h1><p>Welcome back to How to Be a Better DM. I’m your host, Tanner Weyland, here with my cohort Justin Lewis. We’re here to help you tell better stories as you DM sessions of D&amp;D.&nbsp;</p><p>As you might have heard, Wizards of the Coast has announced that they will be releasing the next non-edition edition of Dungeons and Dragons. Rather than being a specific edition, this will instead be a constantly changing iteration of D&amp;D called One D&amp;D. We’ve talked about this on <a href="https://betterdungeonmaster.com/episode/wizards-presents-onedd-updates-in-the-world-of-dd" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Episode 61</strong></a> of the show if you want more in depth-information and opinion on the release. As part of OneD&amp;D, Wizards of the Coast has decided that they will release bits and pieces of the new system from time to time, allowing us all to playtest and give feedback on the material. Well, a month or so ago they released the first grouping of this new content and today, we’re going to talk about it.</p><h1>Main Topic: Unearthed Arcana: Character Origins</h1><p>So today we’re going to talk about the first installment of OneD&amp;D Playtest materials. You can get this by going to <a href="https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/one-dnd/character-origins/CSWCVV0M4B6vX6E1/UA2022-CharacterOrigins.pdf?icid_source=house-ads&amp;icid_medium=crosspromo&amp;icid_campaign=playtest1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">DNDBeyond</a>. You’ll have to login and enable OneD&amp;D playtest material but that’s free so no worries there. We’re going to mention certain points and then give our opinions about them after each point.&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Choose Class First</li><li>Choose Your Origin</li><li>Origin is broken down into your race, background.</li><li>Racial Traits:</li><li>Size</li><li>Speed</li><li>Creature Type</li><li>Life Span Special Traits</li><li>Background Traits:</li><li>Ability Score Bonus</li><li>Skill Proficiencies</li><li>Tool Proficiencies</li><li>Language</li><li>Feat</li><li>Equipment</li><li>Considered Starting Races</li><li>Human</li><li>Ardling</li><li>Dragonborn</li><li>Dwarf</li><li>Elf</li><li>Gnome</li><li>Halfling</li><li>Orc</li><li>Tiefling</li><li>New Racial Legacy Trait</li><li>Applies currently to Tieflings and Ardlings</li><li>Rules for Creating a Background</li><li>“<strong>Background Features Ability Scores</strong>. When you determine your character’s ability scores, choose two of them, and increase one by 2 and the other one by 1. Alternatively, choose three ability scores, and increase each of them by 1.</li><li><strong>Skill Proficiencies</strong>. Choose two Skills. Your character gains Proficiency in them.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Tool Proficiency</strong>. Choose one tool. Your character gains Tool Proficiency* with it.</li><li>&nbsp;<strong>Language</strong>. Choose one language from the Standard Languages and Rare Languages tables (these appear later in the document). Your character knows that language.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Feat</strong>. Choose one 1st-level Feat. Your character gains that Feat.&nbsp;</li><li><strong>Equipment</strong>. Your character gains 50 GP to spend on starting equipment. The character keeps any unspent GP as spare coin.</li><li>Current Sample Backgrounds:</li><li>Acolyte</li><li>Artisan</li><li>Charlatan</li><li>Criminal</li><li>Cultist</li><li>Entertainer</li><li>Farmer*</li><li>Gladiator</li><li>Guard*</li><li>Guide*</li><li>Hermit</li><li>Laborer*</li><li>Noble</li><li>Pilgrim*</li><li>Sage</li><li>Sailor</li><li>Soldier</li><li>Urchin</li><li>Feats&nbsp;</li><li>Feats have levels, prerequisites and repeatable tags on their descriptions</li><li><br /></li></ul><br /><h1>Conclusion</h1><h1>Announcements:</h1><p>To finish today’s show off, we just want to share a few housekeeping items.</p><p><br /></p><p>First is that if you want to watch the upcoming October One-shot being hosted by none other than Bone Daddy Rob from <em>This Dungeon is Occupied</em>, then make sure to get on our email list. We’re going to send out a calendar invite with the date and time for that. I’ve gotten a glimpse of the storyline and let me tell you that Bone Daddy knows his stuff. Sign up for our email list by going to <a href="https://betterdungeonmaster.com/email" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://betterdungeonmaster.com/email</a> and input your email and Name.</p><p><br /></p><p>Next thing is that we are looking for feedback on the show. You can help us get you even more resources for creating amazing stories by going to <a href="https://betterdungeonmaster.com/feedback" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://betterdungeonmaster.com/feedback</a> and telling us what you think. It’s completely anonymous and you can answer as many or as few questions as you like.&nbsp;</p><p><br /></p><p>betterdungeonmaster.com/discord</p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks for listening to today’s show. We are deeply grateful for your support and for the opportunity to support your love of Dungeons and Dragons. If the small sample of those of you who’ve joined our one-shots is a good indicator of the type of people you are, we are the luckiest podcasters in the world because you are awesome and fun. We look forward to building an even deeper relationship with you.</p><p>We’ll be back next thursday with another episode of How to Be a Better DM.</p><p>Thanks for joining us in the tavern today. Until next time, let’s go ahead and roll initiative.</p><p>Mentioned in this episode:</p><p><strong>Brought to you by Session 0 Studios</strong></p><p>Visit session0studios.com for more information.</p><p><strong>Why Listen to Ads?</strong></p><p>Ugh, another ad break.