I'll be shocked if it's not a Xanathar's style deal. At least until a 5.5E, if there ever is one. Nothing else really adds up. Some people play with RL books so a PDF isn't great for them. I don't see the PHB being updated in the short term. So I suspect UA until a Xanathar's.
A setting book could work but it would be a weird place to put them as there is no thematic connection to any setting in the material.
I'll be shocked if it's not a Xanathar's style deal. At least until a 5.5E, if there ever is one. Nothing else really adds up. Some people play with RL books so a PDF isn't great for them. I don't see the PHB being updated in the short term. So I suspect UA until a Xanathar's.
A setting book could work but it would be a weird place to put them as there is no thematic connection to any setting in the material.
My thought is these changes are so core to the overall experience that they have to be widely available. And with so many users on D&DB, a PDF change would flow automatically into the rule set for everyone who had bought the PHB.
This only applies if you see them as non-optional and the UA seems keen to have them be optional, which makes sense. If they remain optional I think Xanathar's makes sense. If they became actual rules a free PDF would be the only way.
So far, we have 34 pages of material tested in the latest rounds of UA. That's 10-15% of a book. What fills the vast remainder of the book is the real question.