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D&D (2024) When are we getting the second playtest document?


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I expect those will be mostly left alone. I’d bet the remaining packets are tweaks to the classes, and additional passes at things that polled poorly the first time. And I’m confident the new MM will update all the stat blocks to MMotM standard, but that those changes won’t be presented for public playtesting in UA.
I'd be surprised if literally all they do for the entire rest of the playtest is go over classes/subclasses and stuff that didn't play well from this playtest, I really would.
 


The dungeonpunk aesthetic from 3E makes a lot more sense for D&D than the 2E style of art, much of it inspired by 19th century illustrators. Lovely art, but not believable adventurers, much of the time.
I can't say I agree.

Dungeonpunk is a dreadful and totally "unrealistic" aesthetic, as in, it doesn't make sense even in the context of the setting, as it lacks "internal logic". There's no way people would be able to operate in half of the outfits 3E had them in, let alone do stuff like load up treasure and trudge around and so on.

Your main critique of 2E's art seems to be "people were too thin", which doesn't really hold up historically/archaeologically, or even logically. 2E's art was certainly closer in terms of internal logic to the implied setting 2E was presenting than 3E's dungeonpunk was.

I assume most of Larry Elmore's heroes starved to death in the dark in their first dungeon, other than the female adventurers, who likely died of pneumonia on the way in.
I mean, the famous "dead baby dragon" picture is Elmore, and none of that really holds up for it, does it? It's one of the most "D&D" paintings ever painted. Also personally I wouldn't say Elmore was "the" 2E artist. Just one of. I think Keith Parkinson did more, and Jeff Easley did the covers.

People are moaning about Wayne Reynolds (aka WAR) in the context of 3E. He didn't very much 3E art. He did a ton of 4E and Pathfinder art.

The real "dungeonpunk" guy is Todd Lockwood. He's THE 3E artist. His style is THE 3E style.
 

I'd be surprised if literally all they do for the entire rest of the playtest is go over classes/subclasses and stuff that didn't play well from this playtest, I really would.
We'll see, but that fits the tineline and what Crawford has intimated on the public aspect of the playtest.
They didn't give a date AFAIK. People were just assuming from when the feedback closed.
Yeah, total assumption on our part. Not necessarily connected, though I do not believe they have dropped any UA while an active survey is posted in the past.
 

that fits the tineline
My problem is that that is the entire basis for the assumption. It's not logical. It doesn't make sense. It's just kind of neat. But these things are rarely that neat, and you couldn't do a proper playtest unless there was significant flex time, because you can't do each class once, for one month. Some classes will instantly have accepted changes, but others they may need to bring back. So it's too neat of an assumption. I will genuinely be shocked if it's anything that neat - and if it is, it proves the entire thing is kind of a sham, like they already know what they want to do, because of the lack of flex time.
 

Big fan of pouches, huh?
Pouches are awesome.
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My problem is that that is the entire basis for the assumption. It's not logical. It doesn't make sense. It's just kind of neat. But these things are rarely that neat, and you couldn't do a proper playtest unless there was significant flex time, because you can't do each class once, for one month. Some classes will instantly have accepted changes, but others they may need to bring back. So it's too neat of an assumption. I will genuinely be shocked if it's anything that neat - and if it is, it proves the entire thing is kind of a sham, like they already know what they want to do, because of the lack of flex time.
Itless be ause it is "neat," and more that it mirrors exactly what they did with Xanathar's and Tasha's UA runs, which are more of a precedent than Next for what they seem to be doing.

Note that Crawford said the plan was for a year long (about 12 month) test, with up to 18 months for flex time. That would line up with the primary focus being Classes, with half a year to reiterate if needed, which would still give over half a year for publication. Very reasonable, given the 2 month turnaround for WotC from the printer.
 


Into the Woods

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