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Coming soon, 3750 pieces, supposedly for 18+. Includes adventurers, a tavern, and a Red Dragon. Here's a link!

How do you think the new books will change your game? We’ve been told there will be guidance on how previous materials are to be used, and that will shape how it works in practice. At the same time many popular ideas/subclasses are being spruced up, and it might not be practical to keep old...

For many builds over the past ten years, it has been useful in combat for martials to have a familiar. Playtest changes will alter that. Please help me think through how the changes will work for playing Rogues in 2024 (assuming things stay as we’ve seen them). In 2014, Find Familiar (which a...

The capstone ability of the World Tree Barbarian ("Travel along the Tree") was changed significantly from playtest 7 and playtest 8. tl;dr: I hope feedback encourages the designers to restore the plane-shifting ability to this ability. In playtest 7: you touch a tree or teleportation circle...

From the PHB: "High Jump. When you make a high jump, you leap into the air a number of feet equal to 3 + your Strength modifier if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing high jump, you can jump only half that distance. ... In some circumstances...

It has been just under a year before we saw the 4th level feats in the Expert Classes playtest (PT2), with first-level feats in Character Origins (PT1). Since that time, we’ve had the OGL scandal, a D&D movie, a promise to monetize the game until Hasbro owns our tears, as well as two versions of...

Well.... We're WAITING...

Initial thoughts on the Playtest 7 Barbarian. Danger sense (now level 2) is decoupled from Feral Instinct (level 7), giving advantage on Dex saving throws. This will stack with Evasion in multiclass builds effectively. Primal Knowledge is now bumped to level 3, with the subclass. This was a...

Assuming Weapon mastery stays as it is (playtest 6), as does Shillelagh (PHB 2014), then the Shillelagh should use the mastery effect from the base weapon: the spell specifies that the wood of the q'staff or club changes its nature; the weapon is unchanged). This means that a Shillelagh made...

There's a lot of changes to the Rogue, and it feels good. Weapon mastery at level 1. Steady Aim added at 3 (from Tasha's -- nice to have it mainstreamed this way.) Reliable Talent at level 7 is huge -- So pleased for this. Combine that with Barbarian 2's Primal Knowledge, though, and whew! A...

The Cleric was already in a good place. My thoughts are all relatively minor: The Divine Order choice is great. Clean design, though I wish the Thaumaturge option still gave the extra Channel Divinity. Divine Intervention (level 10) is much cleaner than before -- your god gives you a free...

The new Weapons rules allow some good ol' gladiatorial gaming, with everybody's favourite, the retiarius. Any character with Weapon Mastery and Extra Attack (so a level 5 fighter or barbarian) can now fight effectively with a Net and Trident in D&D. Let's assume level 5, 16 Str 14 Dex: a)...

One of the great advantages of establishing a standard progression for subclasses (abilities at level 3, 6, 10, and 14) is that in theory subclasses could be more flexible, and applied not only to the intended class but also used by others. Sure Life Clerics are the best healers, but what does...

There are a number of changes to the rules for pets and other animal friends, and it may make sense to keep conversation focused in a single thread. Here are some things I observe: FIND FAMILIAR 1. Familiars now use a template. That's probably good, and will create a wider range of creatures...

The changes to spellcasting with the Bard and Ranger are amazing in lots of ways, but respresent an implied erosion of the defining versatility of the Wizard. This represents a challenge designers will face, and thinking about it identifies some substantial changes in the understanding of...

The absence of Eldritch Blast from the spell lists would seem to indicate that Eldritch Blast will now be a Warlock class feature, rather than a spell. That's an improvement, and helps the warlock protect its niche, with no easy poaching through feats, etc.

There are a lot of proposed changes to the actions one can take. This isn’t a complete run-down, but it covers some of the big issues (and I'm giving out grades!) Dash, Attack, and Magic [sic; “cast a spell”] are still actions. Jump is now an action, not part of movement. The WOTC folk sure...

I am struck by the timing of the playtest announcement. I am very excited to see where One takes us, and I will be following that closely (or so I fully expect). But the initial release of the first playtest package came the same week as the release of Spelljammer and the announcement of five...

Reincarnate is an amazingly rich narrative idea, but it gets gummed up in the reality of play. In 8 years of regular play, I have yet to see the spell used in 5e. Even without seeing the spell in play, the existence of the spell has some cool implications for the overall game world. There are...

I've been re-watching action films -- ones notionally set in our world, where the primary audience appeal is intense action scenes. What do you love? "Best" is obviously subjective -- for me, it's based on the intensity of the action scenes and how the concept continues and develops after an...