D&D (2024) Any Word on the Next Playtest?

[Charlaquin]

Yes. There are supposed to be at least a couple of playtests on monsters and DMG stuff. All we've seen is the bonus playtest packet on bastions.

That could conceivably be all the DM stuff we’ll get in the playtest. Hopefully not, but it is a real possibility. Still hoping for one more packet with some Monster Manual stuff though, and maybe a bit more DMG stuff alongside it. At least a second pass at Bastions if nothing else.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I think they may be taking the approach that the books will be completed and released when they are satisfied with them and they are ready, so the playtests will come when they are needed. I don't think they are holding themselves to a strict timeline. I hope that's the case and they aren't trying to rush them out to meet a meaningless deadline. As others have said I think the PHB will be out by years end and the DMG & MM will come later.

One well-known observation in project management is that tasks expand to fill the time allocated to them. If you don't have any deadline, then the work will never be completed. Something like a rulebook is never fully "ready", there's always going to be something that can be improved.

Also, stuff like printing for such a huge number of books will have to be booked months in advance, they're not going to wait for the manuscript to be finished before booking a print run.

 

[Mistwell]

Did they say there was going to be another Playtest? Crawford sounded like the next step would be to review all of the Playtests and smooth out things for the release of the new PHB this coming May.

Well the map they laid out for us originally (that @Remathilis kindly re-posted to this thread earlier) did show a couple more. And they do seem to have followed that map up until now. So it seems likely we will still get one or two on the topics of "Revised encounter-building rules" and "New and revised monsters"

 

[bedir than]

I bet we see a new UA next week.

Bastion revisit or some of the DM facing things like new Monster stuff

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

I bet we see a new UA next week.

Bastion revisit or some of the DM facing things like new Monster stuff

We got the UA8 follow up, which had to wrap up that conversation before they could release the next UA. It does seem like they may slow-roll the cadence, maybe every month and a half?

I agree that we'll see an early-mid February UA that focuses on some DM stuff, and then the next one will likely be late March/early April.

A Bastion revisit is likely going to be one of them.

They haven't shown us a complete rules framework for Stealth/Perception/Surprise/Initiative, and how they all interact. I think that needs a clarification.

If they release a UA for Encounter Building and it is decent, people will actually start using it before the PH release.

I admit that I want to see if they are changing anything about Treasure (and ways to spend it), Magic Items, and other Rewards, and how such an Economy can work. Will they also revisit Epic Boons as rewards?

They said the PH UAs are done, but I do want more spells. They are the secret power-level scaler for all casting classes. Changing what the spells do can completely change the effectiveness of casters. We may see old builds and combos disappear, and new ones appear. I always find it fascinating that every time a new good combo appears, the world changes to reflect it. The Counterspell change is an example of one spell impacting spell duels overall. Will spells like Simulacrum still be a world-changer? Will they follow in the footsteps of BG3 and not limit Bonus Action spellcasting?

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

Was there ever any word of how the Bastions did in its playtest?

If it got 50 percent approval I could easily see them dumping that feature and using that DMG space for any number of other things rather than iterate something that the community was mixed on.

 

[mellored]

Was there ever any word of how the Bastions did in its playtest?

If it got 50 percent approval I could easily see them dumping that feature and using that DMG space for any number of other things rather than iterate something that the community was mixed on.

Here's the video

 

[bedir than]

Here's the video

That's the announcement, not the fan response numbers