D&D (2024) Upcoming One D&D: Unearthed Arcana 'Expert' Classes (Bard, Ranger, Rogue)

WotC has posted a video describing the upcoming Unearthed Arcana playtest document which will feature three of the core character classes, each with a single subclass.

This document is the second in a series of Unearthed Arcana articles that present material designed for the next version of the Player's Handbook. The material here uses the rules in the

2014 Player's Handbook, except where noted. Providing feedback on this document is one way you can help shape the next generation of D&D!

Inside you'll find the following content:

Expert Classes. Three Classes appear in this document, each one a member of the Expert Group: the Bard, the Ranger, and the Rogue. Each Class appears with one Subclass. More Subclasses will appear in Unearthed Arcana in the months ahead.

Feats. Feats follow the Class descriptions, particularly feats available to the classes in this document.

Spell Lists. Three Spell lists-the Arcane, Divine, and Primal lists-are featured here. The Ranger uses the Primal list, and the Bard potentially uses all three, thanks to the Magical Secrets feature.

Rules Glossary. In this document, any term in the body text that is underlined appears in a glossary at the end. The glossary defines game terms that have been clarified or redefined for this playtest or that don't appear in the 2014 Player's Handbook.

 

[Wandersails]

all looks pretty exciting but so sad that no artificer in the phb, everyone please mention it in the survey so they have to add it

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

A nice consequence of the new Ritual Casting rule is that the Forest Gnome's Speak with Animals ability is effectively unlimited as long as you have 10 minutes to chit-chat. You'd only need to burn a use-per-day if you needed time sensitive information.

"I'd love hear about the new shiney you added to your nest, but we really need to know which direction that Bugbear went!"

 

[Digdude]

My guess on class groups:

Experts: Rogue, Bard, Ranger
Warriors: monk, fighter, barbarian
Mages: sorcerer, wizard, warlock
Priests: cleric, druid, paladin

4 subclasses each, that’s 48 as he said

And the warriors “thing” will be maneuvers, but that’s kind of a big change, so maybe their “thing” will be Extra Attacks?

I like, but switch monk with paladin imo.

 

[Maxperson]

• 40k people did the survey.

On the one hand it's great to have this much engagement/feedback. On the other hand, I doubt the D&D team has the resources to meaningfully consider written answers for this many surveys, and in many cases, I feel like the reasoning presented there is more important than the approval ratings.

I'm sure considerably less than 40k people gave written answers. I bet that a lot of people just click the options and that's it.

• There'll be feats and magic items that'll have class groups as requirements.

I hope they don't go overboard with this. I'm sure there are some cases where it makes sense, but I like having feats function as a largely class-independent form of customization.

I don't mind if as many as 25% of feats are group dependent. It makes sense for the warrior group to get some sort of weapon master feat, but not any of the other groups. If they were class dependent, I'd want a much lower percentage, since individual classes are very narrow, where the groups are very broad.

• There'll be a list of suggested spells from level 1 to 20, to make it simpler for players.

This seems like an excellent addition. It's great to have the option of longer spell lists, but for newer players, spell choice can be a pretty overwhelming part of character creation. Feats were an optional rule for a reason, but a first level spellcaster has to make a similarly complicated choice half a dozen times.

I'm mixed. On the one hand it's good for the new people. On the other hand it takes up space that could be used on say the Artificer being in the PHB.

• Every caster can use rituals, don't need the specific ritual casting feature.

This makes a lot of conceptual sense, though in practice, it seems like a major buff to half-casters that could leave non-casters further behind.

I like this one a lot.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Nice to see they are trying with different options with crits and inspiration. In this new packet they want to go back to original crits and now you gain inspiration from rolling a 1 instead of 20.

While they changed stuff around here, they appearntly have not fully checked the results of the first survey yet. They want to compare results.

 

[darjr]

Huh? So if I get a spell as part of a background can I ritual cast?

 

[bedir than]

Rangers having access to rituals is what I wished for a long time. It was even impossoble tontake the ritual caster feat to get ranger rituals... which actually were a nice combination of spells.

Alarm and Snare should definitely be Ranger rituals.

 

[Remathilis]

Worth noting that the 2014 PHB has 40 Subclasses, so this is enough for repeating every single one and 8 new options, though I suspect some won't be returning.

Most classes have 2 or 3, save wizard and cleric who have them to represent the common divine domains and the eight schools of magic. I don't know which ones you cut.

 

[Parmandur]

Most classes have 2 or 3, save wizard and cleric who have them to represent the common divine domains and the eight schools of magic. I don't know which ones you cut.

Beastmaster Ranger and Four Elements Monk, I would wager. Or significantly, significantly redesigned.

 

[Remathilis]

Beastmaster Ranger and Four Elements Monk, I would wager. Or significantly, significantly redesigned.

Significantly redesigned I can see, but I wager both archetypes will still be in the PHB.