A new Unearthed Arcana article has arrived, titled Heroes of Krynn Revisited!

Let’s compare this UA to its predecessor, the original Heroes of Krynn UA we looked at earlier.

Lunar Magic is not updated here, though it is noted that it has proceeded to another phase of the development process. Hopefully we’ll get to see it in a published product!

Kender

Kender are now immune to the frightened condition, instead of just having advantage against it.

Kender Ace has been discarded. This is a bit of a bummer—I liked the random aspect of it. In its place is Kender Curiosity, which gives proficiency in one of five skills.

Kender Taunt was tweaked, and now the creature specifically has disadvantage on attack rolls that aren’t against you. This makes more sense as a “taunt” ability (though the previous disadvantage on all attack rolls looked nice).

Backgrounds and Feats

This document notes that any character participating in the War of the Lance gets a feat at 1st level. If you choose one of the two backgrounds presented here, that feat will be whatever the background gives you. But if your background does not give you a feat, then you can pick from Divinely Favored (presented in these UAs), Skilled, or Tough.

Furthermore, at 4th level, you automatically gain a feat. These feats can be any of the new magic or knight-related feats in this article, or the Alert, Mobile, Sentinel, or War Caster feat.

The Divinely Favored feat has been expanded to include more spell options based on the alignment of your character. Divine Communications does not appear in the updated UA document.

The Knight of Solamnia background no longer gives a musical instrument proficiency, replacing that with a bonus language proficiency.

The Squire of Solamnia feat prerequisites now include any fighter or paladin, not just ones with the Knight of Solamnia background. The feat has been reworked. Now, it is easier for characters with this feat to mount or dismount. You also get access to superiority dice and certain Battle Master fighter maneuvers.  

The other knight-related feats have also been reworked to give access to other maneuvers that use superiority dice.

The Mage of High Sorcery background looks relatively the same.

The Initiate of High Sorcery feat is slightly different in execution, and your spell options have changed. You can also take this feat as a sorcerer or wizard.

Adept of the Black Robes uses enchantment instead of evocation as its first school option (necromancy remains the same) for Ambitious Magic. Additionally, Life Channel allows you to use the total Hit Dice expended instead of halving them.

Adept of the Red Robes swaps illusion for divination. Magical Balance can no longer be used for saving throws.

Adept of the White Robes replaces conjuration with divination. Protective Ward now uses a d6 instead of a d4.

Additionally, these feats no longer have alignment prerequisites. Instead, you must already have the Initiate of High Sorcery feat and have selected the corresponding moon.

I’m interested to see if feats will play more into standard D&D like we see here. Traditionally, feats have been an optional part of play (though every table I’ve played at has used feats). What do you think about this approach to feats? Any other thoughts on the updated Dragonlance options here?