Elemental Evil Player's Companion PDF released, for free

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

Grab it here: http://www.dndclassics.com/product/145542/Elemental-Evil-Players-Companion-5e?filters=0_0_45190


New races: Aarakocra, Deep Gnome, 4 types of Genasi, and Goliaths.
40+ New Spells

Also, a player's guide has been added to the Adventure's league info: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/even...ague-resources

[Forrestfire]

I think the most interesting part of this is that the aarakocra have flight at level 1. Also, I really like that there are element-bending cantrips

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

I think the most interesting part of this is that the aarakocra have flight at level 1. Also, I really like that there are element-bending cantrips

Yeah, it's neat, but I foresee that particular player race being banned at a lot of tables. Heck, even the Adventurer's league won't allow it.

[Giant2005]

This is awesome! I love the new spells - especially the likes of Beast Bond. Spells that buff a Ranger's Animal Companion were sorely lacking in the Player's Handbook.

[Gritmonger]

On the Aarakocra, this was interesting to note:

Flight. You have a flying speed of 50 feet. To use this
speed, you can’t be wearing medium or heavy armor.

...add to this that the base walking speed is 25', and there are no additional proficiencies except unarmed in natural weapon. The armor use versus flying movement prohibition is a potentially very serious one, but I suppose offsets the flight ability at level 1.

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

On the Aarakocra, this was interesting to note:

...add to this that the base walking speed is 25', and there are no additional proficiencies except unarmed in natural weapon. The armor use versus flying movement prohibition is a potentially very serious one, but I suppose offsets the flight ability at level 1.

So play a monk or barbarian who greatly benefit from increased mobility, or any full caster or a rogue who would absolutely love to be able to keep themselves out of reach of melee attackers.

Really it only limits you in terms of str-based, melee attackers other than barbarian. So fighter, paladin and some clerics.

[obryn]

40+ New Spells

[Giant2005]

I think the most interesting part of this is that the aarakocra have flight at level 1. Also, I really like that there are element-bending cantrips

The Goliaths are pretty cool too. A level 6 Goliath, Bear Totem Barbarian can lift over a ton!

[M Placeholder]

So play a monk or barbarian who greatly benefit from increased mobility, or any full caster or a rogue who would absolutely love to be able to keep themselves out of reach of melee attackers.

Really it only limits you in terms of str-based, melee attackers other than barbarian. So fighter, paladin and some clerics.

There is also the issue of enclosed spaces, so a campaign with a lot of dungeon delving and adventure in cities will not be very friendly to an Aarakocra.

For the rest of the book, its got some good spells, and the thunderclap cantrip looks nice, cannot wait to test that out

[Finieous]

A bunch of cool new spells my tempest cleric can't cast! Awesome.

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

A bunch of cool new spells my tempest cleric can't cast! Awesome.

Huh, I didn't notice that in my first skim-through. Not a single Cleric or Paladin spell. Few bard spells. Tons of Druid, Sorcerer and Wizard spells.

[silveralen]

I'm enjoying the fact dark sun got a shout out in the gensai section. It bodes well when they remember to mention background details like that for other settings.

In a more critical review, the races aren't too bad. Not really sure why water/fire gensai seem to have such a leg up on earth/air, but it isn't the worst thing ever. Goliaths could have had more as well, at least counting as large for say the purposes of tripping/shoving people. Still, not awful.

Spells.... the thing this supplement actually could have used in the way of spells is somewhat lacking. Mainly, ways for dragon sorcerers to be effective without going fire. You have a little bit here and there, so now cold and lightning are decent enough choices, but still though it could do more. Some of the others seemed meh, and I dislike the fact it looks like they used spells as an easy page filler.

The complete lack of archetypes has somewhat surprised me. I enjoy the current class selection, but I hope they don't plan to completely ignore additional material of this variety.

Huh, I didn't notice that in my first skim-through. Not a single Cleric or Paladin spell. Few bard spells. Tons of Druid, Sorcerer and Wizard spells.

At least ranger got adsorb elements. Rather wish paladin could get it as well, but I guess ranger+EK fighter is enough for the gishes.

[DireSickFish]

Urgh can't download at work. Can someone go over what the Genesai and Goliaths get? Or talk about why they like/dislike them?

[obryn]

Urgh can't download at work. Can someone go over what the Genesai and Goliaths get? Or talk about why they like/dislike them?

Goliaths get bonuses to Str and Con, and can resist some damage as a reaction. They are proficient in Athletics and carry more stuff.

Genasi get a bonus to Con and a floater based on subrace. Subraces get to cast a spell 1/day along with some flavor stuff. Fire seems top of the heap, with added Darkvision and extra spellcasting.

[Bubzors]

Disclaimer: For safe utilization of elemental magic, remember the following guidelines. You can drink water but not fire. You can breathe air but not earth. You can walk on earth but not on water (unless you have the right pair of boots or spell). You can do a lot of things with fire, but almost all of them are bad ideas.

Ha. God I love the disclaimers in the beginning.

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

Urgh can't download at work. Can someone go over what the Genesai and Goliaths get? Or talk about why they like/dislike them?

Genasi:
Air: +Dex, don't need to breath, cast levitate 1/day
Earth: +Str, no difficult terrain on earth/stone, cast pass without a trace 1/day
Fire: +Int, darkvision, fire resist, cast produce flame and burning hands (at lvl 3) 1/day
Water: +Wis, acid resistance, waterbreathing, 30' swim speed, cast shape water (new spell) and create/destroy water (lvl 3) 1/day

Fire and Water get extra bits, and are set up to be casters. I guess the rational is Fire gets nice bonuses, but a not nice bonus stat, unless you're going wizard.

[pwykersotz]

I'm thinking of letting Agnazzar's Scorcher be doable by any caster who finds a red dragon scale and expends a second level slot. Makes them a bit more special.

[Yorrin]

Aarakocra are definitely the new go-to Dex race for many classes. Goliath is a pretty decent bruiser, and Fire/Water Genasi seem pretty nice for a handful of builds. The rest are all just... okay.

Melf’s Minute Meteors seems to me to be the star spell of this release. Bonus action damage ftw. And I'm always a fan of new cantrips, which we get plenty of.

[Giant2005]

Aarakocra are definitely the new go-to Dex race for many classes. Goliath is a pretty decent bruiser, and Fire/Water Genasi seem pretty nice for a handful of builds. The rest are all just... okay.

Melf’s Minute Meteors seems to me to be the star spell of this release. Bonus action damage ftw. And I'm always a fan of new cantrips, which we get plenty of.

I don't think the Akaroa are all that great really. Other than the Flight, the race provides nothing. You really have to be planning on exploiting the hell out of that Flight to make it worthwhile, otherwise you are just a weaker version of everything else. I would have preferred them to have had the race offer a little more and make all ranged attacks from flight strike with disadvantage (Which really should be the case anyway - I know I'd rule it that way if anyone did so - physics and all that).
As for Melf's Minute Meteors, they just seem to be a more limited version of Flaming Sphere which is kind of strange considering Flaming Sphere is a level lower.
The spell which I think is the star is Absorb Elements. It is powerful both offensively and defensively, casts as a reaction, has an effect that couldn't be achieved with PHB spells, and uses a low level spell slot. It is perfect.

[DireSickFish]

Here's the WoTC link for those that don't want to download from other sites: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/feat...%99s-companion

[GWJ_DanyBoy]

As for Melf's Minute Meteors, they just seem to be a more limited version of Flaming Sphere which is kind of strange considering Flaming Sphere is a level lower.

Melf's Meteors has a lot of advantages over flaming sphere. Flaming sphere's range is 30 feet per turn, and can ram only one creature. Yes, you can place it among many creatures, but if those creatures move away before the end of their turn they don't take any damage.

Melf's Meteors on the other hand has a 120 foot range, and can be fired off twice a turn, and each shot explodes, hitting everything within 5' of the point of impact. It is however limited to being shot 6 times total.

Flaming sphere can output more damage, if it lasts a full 10 rounds, hitting 1 target every round. But Melf's can do it's full effect in 3 rounds, and will hit 6 targets minimum.

[DireSickFish]

The spell which I think is the star is Absorb Elements. It is powerful both offensively and defensively, casts as a reaction, has an effect that couldn't be achieved with PHB spells, and uses a low level spell slot. It is perfect.

Absorb elements is nice because its resistance on a reaction to every element but the damage it deals is often not going to be very effective. Things with fire attacks tend to resist or be immune to fire ect. It also can't absorb poison damage unfortunately.

Also: Why the heck don't Sorcerers get Elemental Bane? It seems perfect for the pidgin hole they are putting Sorcerers into as blasters.

[pwykersotz]

I think Skywrite is a pretty big star. It's a PC spell through and through.

"Mordenkainen is an idiot"
"No u Agnazzar"
"Great comeback, 11 Int fake Wizard"
"Your mother likes my comebacks"
*clouds form a picture*
"Seriously Agnazzar? A phallic symbol? That's real mature."
"Hahaha, mature enough for your grandma."
All skywritten over a kingdom.

Years later:
"But mom, I don't want to join the kings guard and take the mageslayer feat. Why do we have to?"
"Well dear, let me tell you about skywriting..."

[Gritmonger]

Transmute Rock - rock to mud or mud to rock - but this troubles me:

Nonmagical rock of any
sort in the area becomes an equal volume of thick and
flowing mud that remains for the spell’s duration.

...but the duration is listed as "instantaneous" - which means...what?

Is the effect only there for the instant of casting, in which case any movement or immobilization discussed is purely hypothetical?
Is the effect permanent, and you've permanently modified the terrain?

Erupting Earth:

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a
spell slot of 3rd level or higher, the damage increases by
1d12 for each slot level above 2nd.

...except that it's a 3rd level spell to start with, so casting at the level at which you can cast it means it actually does 4d12 bludgeoning...and can never do 3d12 bludgeoning...

[Dralnu]

I'm cautious about the Arakocra race but I'd allow them to see how they work out in playtests. The other races look sweet.

I like a lot of the new spells.

It's a little disappointing that there's no new spells for Clerics / Paladins and few for Bard.

Also the Fire element has more than enough support through spells. It would be nice to see more love for other elements such as lightning. Or better yet, introduce a feat that lets you substitute elemental damage, so you can make Fireball into Lightningball. It would solve all problems.

[pwykersotz]

Also the Fire element has more than enough support through spells. It would be nice to see more love for other elements such as lightning. Or better yet, introduce a feat that lets you substitute elemental damage, so you can make Fireball into Lightningball. It would solve all problems.

I'd rather it not be a feat, rather a variant. If it was a feat that would be a tax that I'm not a fan of, just to play your archetype.

[obryn]

Transmute Rock - rock to mud or mud to rock - but this troubles me:

...but the duration is listed as "instantaneous" - which means...what?

Is the effect only there for the instant of casting, in which case any movement or immobilization discussed is purely hypothetical?
Is the effect permanent, and you've permanently modified the terrain?

If it's Permanent, it can be dispelled. Instantaneous means it works and it's that way forever.

I will just say that I am both completely unsurprised yet nevertheless disappointed that the "Player's Guide" amounts to "more stuff for wizards".

[aceynn88]

Absorb elements is nice because its resistance on a reaction to every element but the damage it deals is often not going to be very effective. Things with fire attacks tend to resist or be immune to fire ect. It also can't absorb poison damage unfortunately.

As someone playing a melee ranger, this spell is amazing. It scales with every spell level, and doesn't expire if you whiff an attack. Being able to use a 3rd level slot to half damage from a spell is amazing, and then I can deal an extra 3d6 of that element on my next attack. You're right that it will sometimes not be as great because of resistance, however a the cost is only one reaction, and was something that rangers did not have access to.

It's a fantastic defensive spell that has a scaling offensive property. Will be a bread an butter spell in some encounters.

[pwykersotz]

Here's the WoTC link for those that don't want to download from other sites: http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/feat...%99s-companion

It's worth noting that this one allows copy/paste, the others that I got did not.

[DireSickFish]

A lot of the elemental spells seem to do physical damage, which i find surprising. I don't think it's bad, don't want fireball for every element and its a nice way to add versatility. Does physical resistance always apply to weapons for monsters so the damage from spells will go through?

A lot of the earth elemental spells create or leave behind difficult terrain which makes the earth genasi feature a lot more valuable as you can control the terrain by making more of it with spells. I agree that earth and air are a bit weaker than water and fire but I really -really- like the fact that Air genasi don't need to breath. I could see some setup with spells that I'd normally avoid because the AoE of a poison gas, makes them immune to Cloudkill as long as they hold there breath right?