D&D (2024) New Unearthed Arcana Playtest Includes Barbarian, Druid, and Monk

The latest Unearthed Arcana playtest packet is now live with new barbarian, druid, and monk versions, as well as new spells and weapons, and a revised Ability Score Improvement feat.

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WHATS INSIDE

Here are the new and revised elements in this article:

Classes. Three classes are here: Barbarian, Druid, and Monk. Each one includes one subclass: Path of the World Tree (Barbarian), Circle of the Moon (Druid), and Warrior of the Hand (Monk).

Spells. New and revised spells are included.

The following sections were introduced in a previous article and are provided here for reference:

Weapons. Weapon revisions are included.

Feats. This includes a revised version of Ability Score Improvement.

Rules Glossary. The rules glossary includes the few rules that have revised definitions in the playtest. In this document, any underlined term in the body text appears in the glossary.

 

[Bolares]

Hmm, I wonder if Brutal Critical sacrifices all Advantage, or if you also get it from a secondary source you still have it?

As I understand it, you can forgo the first advantage, but still have it for other attacks.

 

[DaedalusX51]

Good news. Those are in there too. They are called Summon X.

While that’s good, I’m perplexed why they would make these spells at all. They don’t actually conjure a creature as their names imply (and all of their older version have done). I feel like this is 5e but with disassociated mechanics. It’s like chill touch but worse.

 

[Bolares]

Ugh I hate the new conjure spells. I would rather it be limited to summoning a single creature with a template.

That is still possible, the Tasha's summon spells will be in the PHB

 

[Kurotowa]

Rather that than to be an inflatable punching bop bag spending every round going "I didn't hear no bell".

That said, I don't imagine it will match incoming damage even with the boost.

Well, maybe... The base healing is better, and also the scaling is a lot better if you upcast it. So an upcast Cure Wound is no longer a worthless waste of a higher level spell slot. If a Tier 2 Bard or Cleric wants to drop a 3rd level spell slot to heal 6d8+4, that's a good amount of HP for your front line melee buddy. You can't keep it up for long, but in the short term yes, you might be matching incoming damage.

 

[Parmandur]

While that’s good, I’m perplexed why they would make these spells at all. They don’t actually conjure a creature as their names imply (and all of their older version have done). I feel like this is 5e but with disassociated mechanics. It’s like chill touch but worse.

Because the Tasha's Summoning Spells are being put in the PHB, and do conjuration better, but they also want to keep all the Spells in the PHB by name at least, I guess. So they are rewriting these to not be just worse versions of the Summon Spells.

 

[Kurotowa]

As I understand it, you can forgo the first advantage, but still have it for other attacks.

That's a very good point. It does say, "On your next attack". So you're limited to one Brutal Strike attempt per turn, hit or miss, and the second attack from Extra Attack would be as normal. Good catch.

 

[Scribe]

They didnt delete the Groot Roots.

Sad.

 

[Bolares]

About healing...

I think they hit a good sweet spot. Healing was really bad in 5e, even when you were at 0, the enemy would just drop you again in their next turn, and sometimes that happened before you even took your turn.

It was so bad that even after being doubled I don't think healing is always the best use of your spell slots, and it's at most on par with an attack, so we souldn't see a resurgeance of healbot clerics

 

[Bolares]

Because the Tasha's Summoning Spells are being put in the PHB, and do conjuration better, but they also want to keep all the Spells in the PHB by name at least, I guess. So they are rewriting these to not be just worse versions of the Summon Spells.

and they are actually fun and interesting designs. If you don't bring with you the bagage of what "conjure" means in D&D the spell descriptions and effects represent well you calling spiritual forms of the creatures to help you in battle.

 

[Bolares]

I think there is an error in the moon druid design note. It mentions "lunar swipes" but the term is nowhere else in the document. Am I missing something?