D&D (2024) WotC Fireside Chat: Revised 2024 Player’s Handbook

In this video about the upcoming revised Player’s Handnook, WotC’s Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins reveal a few new tidbits.

• The books are near final and almost ready to go to print
• Psionic subclasses such as the Soulknife and Psi Warrior will appear in the core books
• Named spells have art depicting their creators.
• There are new species in the PHB.

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[Remathilis]

I suspect you will find both of these still exist, but we'll have to see the final product. The P7 Warlock is actually more suitable for "Hexadin" than it was before, as now you don't even need to be a Warlock to get it--Eldritch Adept lets anyone pick up Pact of the Blade for just a feat (it's a Warlock invocation with no level prerequisites), and that means you can now get Blade Pact + Agonizing Blast for the price of a single Warlock dip.

God's I hope not. Almost half my hatred of pact magic is tied to the poor interactions between pact magic and other casters, especially smite and spell point conversion. They let me down on removing pact magic, so the very least they can do is seal the SR cheese with these combos.

 

[Kobold Stew]

It wasn't because they asked for fanbase input. It's because they asked for fanbase input without doing proper surveying. 5e's design has been controlled by a highly motivated unrepresentative sample from the very beginning, and the crap-awful survey design and push-polling did not help in the slightest.

Also: it isn't even a majority. You only need 40% of feedback to be negative for them to scrap concepts entirely, never to be revisited. That's why we've never gotten a Psion, despite a clear desire to produce one. The tyranny of "every option must always achieve at least 70% approval or it's gone" was the death of most great things 5e attempted.

I agree with you here, but they are not obliged to be scientifically rigorous. Their motive is generating sales, and I presume they got the sort of information they wanted or could deal with, given corporate variables we don't have access to. Sure, they could have been more transparent about how they would use data, etc., but they aren't obliged to.

The fan base spoke clearly, throughout the playtest, on almost every substantial innovation they proposed. The conservatism ran deep. We cannot absolve ourselves.

 

[Charlaquin]

As I've said before, I hold the fanbase responsible for this.

Once they made the decision to be consultative with the public (in theory, a good thing), they became trapped by a fundamentally conservative bunch who didn't want or were afraid of change. They offered us lots, and most of it was rejected, time and again, by the majority.

To be fair… If the majority of the fanbase doesn’t want big change, maybe it’s for the best that WotC learned that through the playtest process.

 

[Thommy H-H]

Speaking of which, it would be nice to have rules for the hp of structures. There are a number of creatures, at least in 5.0, with the Siege Monster ability that lets them do double damage to structures, but nothing about how much damage it takes to say, break a door or wall.

Pages 246-7 of the DMG.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I've always felt that the swashbuckler should be a fighter subclass, rather than a rogue. Rogue can't use a scimitar or cutlass, and can't use a buckler, leading to the subclass not able to do anything which people picture it doing.

Counterpoint: Most people think of swashbucklers as the heroes from the Princess Bride and their cinematic ancestors.

Very few people know what a buckler is or care.

 

[Charlaquin]

Counterpoint: Most people think of swashbucklers as the heroes from the Princess Bride and their cinematic ancestors.

Very few people know what a buckler is or care.

Hence why people say “buckle some swashes” instead of “swash some bucklers.”

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Fey Wanderer (Ranger) and Warrior of Mercy (monk) were advised as being the fourth subclasses for each in the UAs.

Fey Wanderer was the single most pleasant surprise in terms of unexpected class update as its not one of the more iconic Ranger subclasses, unlike say Gloomstalker or Hunter, but it was my FAVOURITE Ranger subclass so I was thrilled. This and Oath of Glory helped make up for no Divine Soul sorcerer, well that and I came up with a cool concept for a Clockwork Soul that is tied to Hell or Archron instead of Mechanus, basically the character is a son of a mother who made a deal with a fiend, and her son was born as a living contract, he's a living infernal contract for his Warlock mom. When he summons constructs they look like Infernal Warmachines.

Anyways now that we know know the logic of how the subclasses were picked, opposites in some way, it makes sense because Fey Wanderer is the opposite of the Gloomstalker and Oath of Glory (Chaos) is the opposite of Oath of Devotion (Order).

 

[Kurotowa]

Just to emphasize this for people who (for whatever reason) aren't taking the time to actually watch the video: What we saw from UA was not the final draft. It was a targeted information gathering phase. Internal playtesting of the classes and subclasses continued after the UA phase, and further changes were made.

Subclasses that were still rough in their one UA appearance? Healing abilities that seem a bit lackluster in light of the UA8 buffs to healing spells? Balance issues where power levels were too high or too low? Maybe not everything you feel is a problem will get addressed, or will be changed in a way you find satisfactory, but this isn't like the Xanathar's and Tasha's playtests where they're circulating what are nearly final drafts.

So expect changes in the final release, and don't set your opinions too hard until we see it.

 

[Charlaquin]

Fey Wanderer was the single most pleasant surprise in terms of unexpected class update as its not one of the more iconic Ranger subclasses, unlike say Gloomstalker or Hunter, but it was my FAVOURITE Ranger subclass so I was thrilled. This and Oath of Glory helped make up for no Divine Soul sorcerer, well that and I came up with a cool concept for a Clockwork Soul that is tied to Hell or Archron instead of Mechanus, basically the character is a son of a mother who made a deal with a fiend, and her son was born as a living contract, he's a living infernal contract for his Warlock mom. When he summons constructs they look like Infernal Warmachines.

Anyways now that we know know the logic of how the subclasses were picked, opposites in some way, it makes sense because Fey Wanderer is the opposite of the Gloomstalker and Oath of Glory (Chaos) is the opposite of Oath of Devotion (Order).

A lot of them are sets of paired opposites, but I think there are a few that you kind of have to stretch to reach that interpretation, and make more sense when viewed as a holistic quatrain.

 

[Stormonu]

Pages 246-7 of the DMG.

But we get back to the point "no one reads the DMG."

There's really no reason not to have that information in the PHB instead of tucked away where you have to deal with 5E's indexes to find it.