Looks like no new subclasses based on the description. Nor are there any races listed (what's the new term? ancestry? Species?) so this feels lacking in the character options as well. Maybe that bodes well for the setting materials?

• Discover 2 new backgrounds, the Gate Warden & the Planar Philosopher, to build planar characters in the D&D Beyond character builder
• Channel 7 otherworldly feats, new intriguing magic spells & more powered by planar energies

I play with 2 groups and one group does a main campaign and then smaller campaigns every n weeks so that way the DM has time to prep, adjust plans, and it's lower stakes if someone misses. Add in the occasional one shot or two and you churn through the interesting subclasses quickly.

I think subclasses are more inline with variant classes in 3.5. You had a cloistered cleric vs cleric and they had 2 domains. You had the totem barbarians, the divine bard vs the normal bard. Prestige classes were far more transformative than subclasses and subclasses don't feel the same to me in 5e.

@MartyMart I think that's the reasoning. I do think the issue tends to be overblown though, and in lieu of a new edition, I'd rather see more options for multiclassing or prestige classes since you can only play a pure class so many times before it feels very same-y.

I agree. I would like to have seen this be pure martial exclusive with maybe something like the fighting styles given to pal/ranger

Really sounds like they're backtracking on a lot of the changes. In some ways I like that, but some of what they're keeping are not my favorite, like the subclass choice at level 3.

For me I would rather see every subclass at 1 as many change the way you play enough that it feels abrupt from a level 1 and up campaign.

I believe that it's the dndbeyond copy based of the product description here https://dndstore.wizards.com/us/product/820931/phandelver-and-below-the-shattered-obelisk-digital-plus-physical-bundle

I don't think the prices increased for the core book bundle or the PHB/DMG but I haven't kept a close eye on those.

It's also worth noting that this shop is run via scalefast and I had some issues when I did the dragonlance preorder of getting my product on time due to scalefast.

I'm in a group with a bunch of folks that are professionals in their field in their late 20s to late 50s and it's the exact same reasoning. It's all in fun and isn't thought about too much

It's a very sometimes thing for me. Especially with EDH decks, it can take a game that would already take a chunk of time to play and makes it take longer.

I know my DM uses /r/ghostsofsaltmarsh for our campaign there. I think having a sub like that with resources and suggestions would be helpful kind of like a more specific DM academy page that would keep "spoilers" contained

I would love to see some discussion threads about official content/news. I am vaguely aware of the books coming out, but it's hard to find full threads and discussions on the Giants book or the Book of Many Things with speculation based on the UA and what we've heard (or even leaks if allowed)

I'm skeptical, but hopeful that it will be somewhat like the Outer Wolds, but maybe with slightly better combat? I'm just hoping the space combat isn't a large focus of the game. Not a huge fan of vehicle controls usually.