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Unearthed Arcana:

Waterborne Adventures

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing—

absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as

simply messing about in boats.”

—Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

The following new character options showcase a

simple design approach to adventure on the high

seas. These rules were created to be specifically

useful for nautical D&D campaigns, but they are

general enough that they can be useful in any

campaign.

The Dungeon Master’s Guide contains the rules

for managing ships at sea, along with encounter

tables, rules for weather, and other useful tools.

By combining those rules with these new

options, your campaign will be ready to set sail.

What Is Unearthed Arcana? You can think of

the material presented in Unearthed Arcana as

similar to the first wave of the fifth edition D&D

playtest. These game mechanics are in draft

form, usable in your campaign but not fully

tempered by playtests and design iterations.

They are highly volatile and might be unstable; if

you use them, be ready to rule on any issues that

come up. They’re written in pencil, not ink. For

these reasons, material in this column is not

legal in D&D Organized Play events.

most powerful race on Krynn. They believe their

destiny is to rule the world, and that their

dominion will be one of conquest and military

might. To that end, all minotaurs are trained in

weapons, armor, and tactics from a young age.

The minotaurs’ arrogance stems from a

combination of strength, cunning, and intellect—

three virtues they hold dear, and which they

deem the foundation of their greatness. They

believe that this combination of traits is what

sets them apart from their rivals.

Trial by Combat

Minotaur society is built on the principle that

might makes right, and that considerations of

justice are unnecessary. The minotaurs are led

by an emperor served by a council of eight

minotaurs called the Supreme Circle. All posts

within the government, including the emperor’s,

are won by the strongest and cleverest

minotaurs, as proved by combat in the Circus.

The Circus is the only means by which a

minotaur can rise in society. It is a grand, annual

display of single combat in which minotaurs

battle each other for supremacy. Minotaur

youths must prove themselves in the Circus to

earn their passage to adulthood.

Participation in the Circus is yet another

reason why minotaurs look down on other folk.

To the minotaurs, death and glory in battle are a

natural process. Combat is the key to ensuring

that the strong survive, and that the weak are set

aside before they can undermine their superiors’

grand schemes of conquest.

Minotaur (Krynn)

In the world of Krynn, the setting of the

Dragonlance saga, minotaurs live in an honor‐

based society where strength determines power

in both the gladiatorial arenas and in daily life.

At home on both land and sea, the minotaurs of

Krynn are ferocious sea raiders who rank as the

ablest and most dangerous sailors in the world.

Honor above All

For all their cruelty, minotaurs are bound by a

powerful sense of honor. Each victory brings

greater honor to both individual minotaurs and

their families. Defeat invokes a stain that only

death can fully wash away.

Arrogant Conquerors

Minotaurs embrace the notion that the weak

should perish and that the strong must rule—

and that they themselves are the strongest and

Honor demands that minotaurs keep their

word once it is offered, and each minotaur

remains faithful to friends and clan above all

else. Minotaurs rarely befriend folk of other

races, as they all too often encounter them only

in battle. If a minotaur does strike up a

friendship, it is typically with other creatures

that display the minotaurs’ virtues and love of

battle. To such friends, a minotaur becomes an

ally whose support will never waver.

Sea Reavers

In the world of Krynn, the minotaurs rule a chain

of islands dominated by the isles of Mithas and

Kothas. Bound by the sea on all sides, the

minotaurs focused their tenacity, strength, and

cunning to become some of the most skilled and

ferocious mariners in the world. They range

across the water in their ships, raiding and

pillaging as they wish. Minotaurs sometimes

engage in trade, but they much prefer to take

what they want by force. After all, as the

strongest of all folk, they deserve the treasures

and goods that lesser creatures have gathered.

Minotaur Names

Minotaur clan names originate with a great hero

whose descendants take on that name as their

own, doing their best to live up to the ideals of

their ancestor. On Krynn, clan names are always

preceded by the prefix “es‐” for minotaurs from

lands controlled by the island of Mithas, or “de‐”

for minotaurs from areas under the sway of

Kothas.

Male Names: Beliminorgath, Cinmac, Dastrun,

Edder, Galdar, Ganthirogani, Hecariverani, Kyris,

Tosher, Zurgas

Female Names: Ayasha, Calina, Fliara, Helati,

Keeli, Kyri, Mogara, Sekra, Tariki, Telia

Clan Names: Athak, Bregan, Entragath,

Kaziganthi, Lagrangli, Mascun, Orilg, Sumarr,

Teskos, Zhakan

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score

increases by 1.

Conqueror’s Virtue. From a young age, you

focused on one of the three virtues of strength,

cunning, or intellect. Your choice of your

Strength, Intelligence, or Wisdom score

increases by 1.

Age. Minotaurs enter adulthood at around the

age of 17 and can live up to 150 years.

Alignment. Minotaurs believe in a strict code

of honor, and thus tend toward law. They are

loyal to the death and make implacable enemies,

even as their brutal culture and disdain for

weakness push them toward evil.

Size. Minotaurs typically stand well over 6 feet

tall and weigh an average of 300 pounds. Your

size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Horns. You are never unarmed. You are

proficient with your horns, which are a melee

weapon that deals 1d10 piercing damage. Your

horns grant you advantage on all checks made to

shove a creature, but not to avoid being shoved

yourself.

Goring Rush. When you use the Dash action

during your turn, you can make a melee attack

with your horns as a bonus action.

Hammering Horns. When you use the Attack

action during your turn to make a melee attack,

you can attempt to shove a creature with your

horns as a bonus action. You cannot use this

shove attempt to knock a creature prone.

Labyrinthine Recall. You can perfectly recall

any path you have traveled.

Sea Reaver. You gain proficiency with

navigator’s tools and vehicles (water).

Languages. You can speak, read, and write

Common.

Minotaur Bonds

When creating a minotaur character rooted in

Krynn (or in any campaign that draws on the

backstory presented here), you can use the

following table of bonds to help flesh out your

character. Use this table in addition to or in place

of your background’s bond or a bond of your

creation.

Minotaur Traits

Your minotaur character possesses a number of

traits that reflect the power and superiority of

your kind.

d6 Bond

My opponent in the Circus for my trial of

adulthood was chosen years ago. Though we

sparred only once, I fell deeply in love. Rather than

fight my beloved to the death, I fled from home

and have been branded a coward.

I’m the last of my clan. If I die without achieving

great deeds, the hero who is my clan’s patron will

be forgotten.

I was part of a raiding party that was defeated and

enslaved. I’ve escaped and sworn revenge.

I never shared my people’s love of violence. I’m

part of a conspiracy to topple the emperor’s

violent regime.

I claim that I am an exile from my people, but in

truth I have been sent to serve as a spy. I’m

expected to leave secret messages telling my folk

of villages and towns that are ripe targets for

conquest.

I’m the last survivor of a ship wrecked in a storm.

Occasionally, the spirits of my shipmates appear in

my dreams and ask me to complete tasks they left

unfinished in life.

Remember that the story we provide is only a starting

point. Modifying this minotaur to move it away from its

roots in Krynn is as easy as swapping the proficiencies

provided by Sea Reaver for some other option that

better reflects your setting. As a guideline, consider

swapping the tool proficiencies for proficiency in any

one skill, for proficiency with thieves’ tools, or for

proficiency with two tools other than thieves’ tools.

Fighting Style: Mariner

The following new option can be selected by

fighters, paladins, and rangers for the Fighting

Style class feature.

Whether a buccaneer, an experienced sailor, or

a specially trained marine, a mariner can scale a

ship’s rigging and swim through choppy water

with ease. Adapted to wearing light and medium

armor, mariners can defend themselves without

relying on heavy armor or bulky shields. Most of

them thus wield two‐handed weapons or fight

with a pair of blades.

Minotaurs in Your Campaign

We chose the minotaurs of Krynn as the model for our

depiction of this race for a very specific reason. Tying

them to the sea and a distinct culture helps give

minotaurs more flavor than serving as just another big,

brutish monster race. After all, we already have half‐

orcs in the Player’s Handbook and the goliath in our

Elemental Evil Player’s Companion. As an added bonus,

these minotaurs are Medium (as opposed to Large for

the monstrous version) and are thus much easier to

balance against the Player’s Handbook races.

Casting minotaurs as conquest‐minded, honorable

pirates gives them a distinct flavor while providing many

roleplaying hooks for players. When adding a new race

to your own campaign, it’s always a good idea to think

about its culture, its relationship to other folk, and how

the two can combine to give it a unique place in your

world. Creating a table of bonds such as the one

provided for minotaurs can be a good place to start.

Casting minotaurs as mariners has some interesting

implications for a setting. The Labyrinthine Recall ability

makes minotaurs perfect sailors, as they can travel the

seas with little fear of becoming lost or losing their way.

A minotaur navigator is an unmatched master of the

sea. When adapting races to your campaign, look for

similar hooks that might be buried in special abilities or

elements of a creature’s story that you might otherwise

overlook.

Mariner

As long as you are not wearing heavy armor or

using a shield, you have a swimming speed and a

climbing speed equal to your normal speed, and

you gain a +1 bonus to AC.

Mariner Design Notes

Fighting Style is a good way to introduce a specific flavor

of game play for multiple characters at once. In a sea‐

based campaign, you can expect lots of battles in the

water and on board ships. Swimming and climbing

speeds are very handy in such environments, but they

can also prove useful in other areas.

The mariner’s AC bonus comes with conditions, but it

plays into the restrictions a mariner must observe to

gain a swimming or climbing speed. In addition, a ship‐

based campaign lends itself to fighters who wield

scimitars (representing a cutlass) and a dagger, and who

wear light armor. This specific AC bonus helps support

that character option.

Roguish Archetype:

Swashbuckler

You focus your training on the art of the blade,

relying on speed, elegance, and charisma in

equal parts. While other warriors are brutes clad

in heavy armor, your method of fighting looks

more like performance. Rakes, duelists, and

pirates typically follow this archetype.

A swashbuckler excels in single combat, and

can fight with two weapons while safely darting

away from an opponent. Swashbucklers are

especially talented at making difficult maneuvers

to escape enemies or attack from an unexpected

direction.

(Acrobatics) or Strength (Athletics) check you

make on your turn.

Master Duelist

Fancy Footwork

At 17th level your mastery of the blade lets you

turn failure to success in combat. If you miss

with an attack, you can choose to roll the attack

again with advantage. Once you use this ability,

you cannot use it again until you finish a short or

long rest.

Starting at 3rd level, you are a continuous blur of

motion in battle as you dart in, attack, and slip

away to safety. During your turn, if you make a

melee attack against a creature, that creature

cannot make opportunity attacks against you for

the rest of your turn.

Swashbucklers and Two‐Weapon

Fighting

The swashbuckler relies on a good understanding of the

D&D rules to realize its potential, specifically when it

comes to fighting with two weapons. Other characters

must use a bonus action to Disengage if they want to

escape a melee, but a swashbuckler’s Fancy Footwork

ability bundles a more limited version of Disengage

within your attack. This allows you to use your bonus

action to fight with two weapons, and then safely evade

each foe you attacked.

Toujours l’Audace

At 3rd level, your unmistakable confidence

propels you into battle. You add your Charisma

modifier to your initiative rolls.

In addition, you can use Sneak Attack with any

melee attack made against a target that has none

of your allies adjacent to it.

Sorcerous Origin: Storm

Your innate magic comes from the power of

elemental air. Perhaps you were born during a

howling gale so powerful that folk still tell

stories of it. Your lineage might include the

influence of potent air creatures such as vaati or

djinni. Whatever the case, the magic of the storm

permeates your soul.

Storm sorcerers are invaluable members of a

ship’s crew. Their magic allows them to exert

control over wind and weather in their

immediate area. Their abilities also prove useful

in repelling attacks by sahuagin, pirates, and

other waterborne threats.

Panache

At 9th level, your charm becomes as sharp and

dangerous as your blade. As an action, you can

make a Charisma (Persuasion) check contested

by a creature’s Wisdom (Insight) check. The

creature must be able to hear you, and the two of

you must share a language.

If you succeed on the check and the creature is

hostile, it must target you with any attacks it

makes and cannot willingly move farther away

from you. This effect lasts for 1 minute or until

you move more than 60 feet away from the

target.

If you succeed on the check and the creature is

not hostile, it is charmed by you for 1 minute.

While charmed, it regards you as a friendly

acquaintance.

Stormborn

Elegant Maneuver

You complete difficult maneuvers with practiced

ease. Starting at 13th level, you can use a bonus

action to gain advantage on the next Dexterity

The arcane magic you command is infused with

elemental air. You can speak, read, and write

Primordial. In addition, you gain the following

spells at the listed sorcerer level. These spells do

not count against the number of sorcerer spells

you know.

Storm Sorcerer Bonus Spells

Sorcerer

Level Spells

1st

Fog cloud, thunderwave

3rd

Gust of wind, levitate

5th

Call lightning, sleet storm

7th

Conjure minor elementals,* ice storm

9th

Conjure elemental**

* Unless you gain this spell from another source, you

can summon only smoke mephits, steam mephits, ice

mephits, or dust mephits with it.

**Unless you gain this spell from another source, you

can summon only air elementals with it.

a great example of a ribbon ability, and Storm Guide

also falls into this category.

We don’t weigh ribbons when balancing one class or

option against another. For example, Heart of the Storm

carries the power load at 6th level for the storm

sorcerer, while Storm Guide is here only to show how

these sorcerers can excel as sailors. It isn’t meant to

help in combat, but it’s potentially very useful in

maneuvering a ship.

Storm’s Fury

Tempestuous Magic

At 1st level, you are attuned to elemental air

magic. Whenever you cast a spell other than a

cantrip during your turn, whirling gusts of

elemental air surround you. You can use a bonus

action to fly 10 feet without provoking

opportunity attacks.

At 14th level, the storm energy you channel

through your magic seethes within your soul.

When you are hit by a melee attack, you can use

your reaction to deal lightning damage to the

attacker equal to your sorcerer level. The

attacker must also make a Strength saving

throw, with a DC equal to 8 + your Charisma

bonus + your proficiency bonus. On a failed save,

the attacker is pushed in a straight line 20 feet

away from you.

Heart of the Storm

Wind Soul

At 6th level, you gain resistance to lightning and

thunder damage. Whenever you cast a spell

other than a cantrip that deals lightning or

thunder damage, a stormy aura surrounds you.

In addition to the spell’s effects, creatures of

your choice within 10 feet of you take lightning

or thunder damage (choose each time this ability

activates) equal to half your sorcerer level.

At 18th level, you gain a flying speed of 60 feet

and immunity to lightning and thunder damage.

As an action, you can reduce your flying speed

to 30 feet for one hour and choose a number of

creatures within 30 feet of you equal to 3 + your

Charisma modifier. The chosen creatures gain a

flying speed of 30 feet for 1 hour.

Storm Guide

At 6th level, you gain the ability to subtly control

the weather around you.

If it is raining, you can use an action to cause

the rain to stop falling in a 20‐foot radius

centered on you. You can end this effect as a

bonus action.

If it is windy, you can use a bonus action each

round to choose the direction that the wind

blows in a 100‐foot radius around you. The wind

blows in that direction until the end of your next

turn. You have no ability to alter the speed of the

wind.

Ribbons

On the R&D team, any ability meant to convey flavor

rather than a mechanical advantage is referred to as a

ribbon—a thing that’s mostly for show. Thieves’ Cant is

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Inne pliki z tego folderu:

UA01 - Eberron.pdf (269 KB)
UA02 - When Armies Clash (Battlesystem).pdf (266 KB)
UA03 - Modifying Classes.pdf (185 KB)
UA04 - Waterborne Adventures.pdf (250 KB)
UA05 - Variant Rules.pdf (176 KB)

UA04 - Waterborne Adventures.pdf

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