D&D (2024) New One D&D Playtest Document: 77 Pages, 7 Classes, & More!

There's a brand new playtest document for the new (version/edition/update) of Dungeons of Dragons available for download! This one is an enormous 77 pages and includes classes, spells, feats, and weapons.

Unearthed Arcana Playtest

Unearthed Arcana Playtest Materials Get Unearthed Arcana playtest content, try it out in your game, and provide feedback! Check back regularly for ...

www.dndbeyond.com

In this new Unearthed Arcana document for the 2024 Core Rulebooks, we explore material designed for the next version of the Player’s Handbook. This playtest document presents updated rules on seven classes: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, and Rogue. This document also presents multiple subclasses for each of those classes, new Spells, revisions to existing Spells and Spell Lists, and several revised Feats. You will also find an updated rules glossary that supercedes the glossary of any previous playtest document.

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[CapnZapp]

No one? Really? I'd say that there are a hell of a lot of people asking for the update. Some folks wouldn't mind if the update went further than it does, but, I've pretty much never heard anyone who claims that this update is unnecessary at all.

Of course people are asking for an update. But do they really ask for such an underwhelming update that doesn't really fix anything significant? Did they ask to get meaningful rule changes proposed only to get rolled back before release?

And couldn't most of it have been supplied - for free - as errata? And couldn't most of that have been resolved years ago?

The fact that a "hell of a lot" of people is asking for the update maybe isn't as significant as you make it out to be? Maybe it even obscures the fact WotC could have done a "hell of a lot" more but chose not to because, let's face it, there's no need to fix your issues if people buy your stuff anyway.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The difference is semantics. The end result is this update that no one asked for.

This is a pretty extreme case of extrapolating your own perspective onto a larger community.

 

[DEFCON 1]

5E24 not going "far enough" with their rules changes is a complaint only due to people not getting their own personal bugaboos with the rules system "fixed" and then printed up and bound in hardcover so that everyone else has to use them too.

It doesn't matter if both WotC and 70+% of the surveyor-base disagree with (general) you... (general) you know what needs to be changed to make this update worthwhile. And you've gotta fight for it and make those people understand what they're missing! Right? Right?!?

 

[Hussar]

Umm wasn’t Next like the largest open play test ever? Which is mostly why we got the apology edition with all the 4e cooties either scrubbed off or buried just deeply enough to pass the sniff test.

Never minding that 4e was based around the tens of thousands playing organized play and the Living games. There’s a reason to call 4e the RPGA edition.

This idea that new editions and innovations come when they don’t listen to fans is frankly laughable.

 

[TwoSix]

For every one of him, there are those like me and my group that bought almost every book during 3.5.

I mean, it's certainly a "takes all types" sort of thing; I bought almost every rules addition book for 3.5. Late 3.5 was a treasure trove of innovation.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Yeah, most D&D fans have made it real clear they hate innovation. See also why WotC now whimpers and hides under the bed when someone says 'edition'.

 

[TwoSix]

Yeah, most D&D fans have made it real clear they hate innovation. See also why WotC now whimpers and hides under the bed when someone says 'edition'.

Honestly, the real "problem" is that far too many D&D fans aren't TTRPG fans. There's a ton of innovation within the TTRPG space, it's the fact that a lot of people can't get any TTRPG game going without it being D&D that causes the desire to push desired change into D&D instead of leaving it to be evergreen.

Ideally, D&D would be like Monopoly, where you can pull it out for nostalgia, or for longer games if it fits your playstyle, but most of the innovation would be in the greater TTRPG space.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Ideally, D&D would be like Monopoly, where you can pull it out for nostalgia, or for longer games if it fits your playstyle, but most of the innovation would be in the greater TTRPG space.

I don't think Ohio State Buckeyes and Costco Edition D&D that changes the Fighter to the Linebacker or Hotdog guy as is sole, desperate flailing to not be stale and aggravating would be an 'ideal'.

Evergreen was a shady corporate move to make an undead IP farm and a mistake. If a miracle concordance of events hadn't turned up, D&D would be dead as a developed product by now.

 

[Hatmatter]

Honestly, the real "problem" is that far too many D&D fans aren't TTRPG fans. There's a ton of innovation within the TTRPG space, it's the fact that a lot of people can't get any TTRPG game going without it being D&D that causes the desire to push desired change into D&D instead of leaving it to be evergreen.

Ideally, D&D would be like Monopoly, where you can pull it out for nostalgia, or for longer games if it fits your playstyle, but most of the innovation would be in the greater TTRPG space.

Well said. As someone who has been playing for forty years, it is annoying to have the rules constantly tinkered with. Once in a while there is a genuine great innovation, for sure. But I like the evergreen approach and I like how the editors have approached One D&D with a commitment to keeping the adventures and campaign books from the last nine years in print.

 

[TwoSix]

I don't think Ohio State Buckeyes and Costco Edition D&D that changes the Fighter to the Linebacker or Hotdog guy as is sole, desperate flailing to not be stale and aggravating would be an 'ideal'.

Evergreen was a shady corporate move to make an undead IP farm and a mistake. If a miracle concordance of events hadn't turned up, D&D would be dead as a developed product by now.

If your argument is that D&D should change and updates its rules regularly like a live service, that's fine, but I don't agree with you. Every edition of D&D has its charms, but in a healthier TTRPG space, they each would been sold as their own game. Or at least as a separate line that borrows from its predecessors but is obviously intended as a fork.