D&D (2024) New One D&D Playtest Includes 5 Classes & New Weapon Mastery System

The latest playtest packet for One D&D has just landed, and features five classes (Barbarian, Fighter, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard) and the new Weapon Mastery system.

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 the rules on the Weapon Mastery property, updates to weapons, new and revised spells, several new feats, and five classes: Barbarian, Fighter, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard. You will also find an updated rules glossary that supercedes the glossary of any previous playtest documents.

Claim Unearthed Arcana now! - D&D Beyond

www.dndbeyond.com

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[TwoSix]

To the best-designed edition of D&D to date?

Shh! They'll hear you!

 

[kenmarable]

That's in the description......

Funny how reading the document helps answer some questions.

 

[Zaukrie]

Funny how reading the document helps answer some questions.

Admittedly, that's the only description I read, because it's usually only the rules that actually matter....but I figured this would be in there.

 

[TwoSix]

Okay: not gonna lie.....

I'll keep the old Pact Boon/Maximized spell slot from before and add it on top of the UA 2023 half-caster Warlock with the 15 Spellslots.

I actually think this is a pretty good approach.

 

[billd91]

Possibly, but it's also been that way for 9 years with 5e. Current PHB has always had the Attack action allowing you to make an attack. They are also consistent in being "Attack action" as a whole phrase, not just "Attack" and "attack." I just mentioned the capitalization to make it clearer. But throughout 5e, there have always been rules that applied to the Attack action that did not apply to every attack. I don't recall ever seeing confusion whether the Extra Attack class feature allowed you to make additional attacks with the offhand bonus attacks, but that has the exact same terminology issues. This is nothing new to this playtest document.

There have been - but the issue of drawing/putting away weapons with each attack (small a) IS new with the 1D&D play test documents, while it had been pretty much just the free object interaction on your turn. Anything more than just drawing/putting away once was taking your whole action. And how that interacts with things is going to be new and potentially convoluted depending on the wording of other things (like the Light weapon property). And the understanding of it all is going to take time for people to absorb. So it's STILL better to be explicit with some of these differences rather than just imply them.

 

[Weiley31]

I think it's more that you're a dabbler gaining power by small deals with one or more potential patrons at first and second level, and then by third you've become powerful enough for them to take notice of you as someone worth making a more exclusive deal with.

I.E. Levels 1 and 2 are you auditioning for a patron. Level 3+ is when you're actually under contract with one.

Level 3 is where *"You have a collect call from Shub-Niggurath incoming, do you except the Charge?" starts happening.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Imagine DMing a 2E game and a player says they are playing a 1E Elf Fighter/Wizard because he can wear ANY armor while casting spells. Backwards compatible! Sure technically.

That's a change in spellcasting rules not class rules.

That said... would it make the character nonfunctional if you allowed it? Especially with the worse magic user and race limits?

 

[Horwath]

Warlocks choose their patron at 3rd level? So what exactly is a first level warlock? Where does their magic come from? Why do they need a patron at all?

Don't you know?
Designers think that new players are too stupid to pick a subclass at 1st level.

 

[Charlaquin]

Warlocks choose their patron at 3rd level? So what exactly is a first level warlock? Where does their magic come from? Why do they need a patron at all?

To quote the packet:

Warlocks are defined by pacts with otherworldly beings. Most Warlocks begin their search for magical power by delving into tomes of forbidden lore, dabbling in invocations meant to attract the power of extraplanar beings, or seeking out places of power where the influence of these beings can be felt. They typically learn their initial spells and boons through bargains with lesser entities or contacting distant planes.
Soon enough, though, they are drawn into a binding pact with a more powerful patron. (Some Warlocks discover, sooner or later, that this patron was pulling strings all along, using lesser beings as pawns in their schemes.)

In simple terms, Warlocks don’t necessarily get all their power from a single patron. A 1st level warlock is someone who acquired magic by seeking it out from ancient, secret, forgotten, and/or forbidden sources. At 3rd level, they find a particularly powerful source for such magic, which becomes their patron. It’s up to the player if that patron is the same entity from which they acquired their magic initially, or if they get different abilities from different sources. Maybe your warlock plays the field, and has lots of deals with lots of different entities, and the 3rd level patron is just the most powerful such entity they’ve indebted themselves to. Or maybe they discovered a magical artifact - a tome, weapon, or creature, and simply didn’t know of the source of its power at the time. Or maybe they knew it all along. Those are all valid Warlock narratives now.

 

[Charlaquin]

Gonna take an opportunity to point out that you can have a relationship with your players so that you aren't screwing over the intended function of the short rest classes (like the warlock) while still having specific situations in which a short rest is difficult or even impossible to take (without taking significant measures to enable it) - like a riled up goblin stronghold.

Oh, yeah, to be clear, I don’t disagree with that at all!