D&D (2024) New One D&D Playtest Document: 77 Pages, 7 Classes, & More!

There's a brand new playtest document for the new (version/edition/update) of Dungeons of Dragons available for download! This one is an enormous 77 pages and includes classes, spells, feats, and weapons.

Unearthed Arcana Playtest

Unearthed Arcana Playtest Materials Get Unearthed Arcana playtest content, try it out in your game, and provide feedback! Check back regularly for ...

www.dndbeyond.com

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 updated rules on seven classes: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, and Rogue. This document also presents multiple subclasses for each of those classes, new Spells, revisions to existing Spells and Spell Lists, and several revised Feats. You will also find an updated rules glossary that supercedes the glossary of any previous playtest document.

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[FitzTheRuke]

Which is ironic given some folks are not comfortable with the narrative of a fighter being able to prone a target every round.

Well, it would be really hard to do successfully unless you're fighting a lot of incompetent combatants. They just wouldn't let you. It's far too dangerous a place to find yourself. You'd also get yourself killed if you kept trying to do the things YOU want to do, and didn't do the things that naturally came up during the course of the combat that would lead to your victory (which doesn't often have much to do with what you'd like it to).

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, I do remember being surprised at first that martials had dailies when I first read the books. Eventually I chalked it up to more along the lines of, "The opportunity to best use this trained-technique does not come up all the time". After all, a daily is not actually used every day. Some days you'll rest having not used it, and some days you won't even get into combat - ultimately it'll be pretty random. Twice a week? Essentially "now and then".

Ultimately it boiled down to narrative, dramatic concerns rather than simulation. And D&D is not a simulation, but the exact cocktail of simulation versus narrative versus game balance ..it's rough.

 

[Incenjucar]

Well, it would be really hard to do successfully unless you're fighting a lot of incompetent combatants. They just wouldn't let you. It's far too dangerous a place to find yourself. You'd also get yourself killed if you kept trying to do the things YOU want to do, and didn't do the things that naturally came up during the course of the combat that would lead to your victory (which doesn't often have much to do with what you'd like it to).

In real life, this is true of any repeated attack and extended combat with an individual or fighting style - hell it comes up in anime all the time. It's weird to make it apply only to good fighter abilities.

There are also a ton of different ways to prone someone, and doing so is a major goal of many fighting styles.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Ultimately it boiled down to narrative, dramatic concerns rather than simulation. Ans D&D is not a simulation, but the exact cocktail of simulation versus narrative versus game valance ..it's rough.

One of the biggest bones of contention here is the mix of that cocktail, for sure. It's no wonder that I have an easier time with it than some people do - when I'm asked what my "favorite" food is, for example, I answer "food". I like a little bit of everything, and I don't like to pick favorites. That would limit my experience of new experiences. When it comes to food, I even like things that I don't like (in that I'd rather try something new that I don't like than eat the same things all the time).

This informs my perspective on gaming as well. I really don't need any of it to be "perfect".

 

[Parmandur]

One of the biggest bones of contention here is the mix of that cocktail, for sure. It's no wonder that I have an easier time with it than some people do - when I'm asked what my "favorite" food is, for example, I answer "food". I like a little bit of everything, and I don't like to pick favorites. That would limit my experience of new experiences. When it comes to food, I even like things that I don't like (in that I'd rather try something new that I don't like than eat the same things all the time).

This informs my perspective on gaming as well. I really don't need any of it to be "perfect".

General enthusiasm for games of all sorts probably helps in your line of work.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

In real life, this is true of any repeated attack and extended combat with an individual or fighting style - hell it comes up in anime all the time. It's weird to make it apply only to good fighter abilities.

There are also a ton of different ways to prone someone, and doing so is a major goal of many fighting styles.

Agreed. The martial art that I've trained in is ALL about trying to stay up as often as possible while knocking your opponent down. You wouldn't find me singling out "trip" as an OP ability while leaving "disarm" (or something) alone.

I'm honestly happy either way (whether you can spam a martial ability or are limited in its uses) as long as the game isn't bogged down by the attempt. I can narrate martial combat either way.

My bigger issue when it comes to martial abilities in D&D is how the game often makes basic things very hard to do (like, for example, hitting someone with a shield - if you can't hit someone with your shield, you don't know how to use a shield; OR using a rapier with an off-hand dagger - how is that missing from 5e?) OR how often things that people can actually do in real life can't be done unless "magic" is involved. Have you ever seen Cirque? It's amazing what people can do when they practice!

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think it's worse than that. D&D eats up too much of the market for certain kinds of game to exist at all if they aren't D&D. Not by subject matter, but the slow expanding Multiverse of rules for everything kind of game we had during the late 3e and PF1 eras (taking PF as a fluke scenario that basically started D&D's unique position for a while) can't happen if D&D isn't doing it. Certainly not as a new game, though you see some classic examples from earlier periods in the basket holding on.

"Play other TTRPGs" is a nice thought, but there's stuff there that can only happen if D&D does it, simply because no other game has the resources or mind share to pull it off.

There are whole TTRPG ecosystems that are unrelated to D&D, and the OSR isn’t waiting on D&D to do new stuff, they’re just doing it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Agreed. The martial art that I've trained in is ALL about trying to stay up as often as possible while knocking your opponent down. You wouldn't find me singling out "trip" as an OP ability while leaving "disarm" (or something) alone.

I'm honestly happy either way (whether you can spam a martial ability or are limited in its uses) as long as the game isn't bogged down by the attempt. I can narrate martial combat either way.

My bigger issue when it comes to martial abilities in D&D is how the game often makes basic things very hard to do (like, for example, hitting someone with a shield - if you can't hit someone with your shield, you don't know how to use a shield; OR using a rapier with an off-hand dagger - how is that missing from 5e?) OR how often things that people can actually do in real life can't be done unless "magic" is involved. Have you ever seen Cirque? It's amazing what people can do when they practice!

That's true. I would support any rules changes that more accurately model what real human beings are capable of doing with training and practice, with no change in the narrative required for such.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Well, it would be really hard to do successfully unless you're fighting a lot of incompetent combatants. They just wouldn't let you. It's far too dangerous a place to find yourself. You'd also get yourself killed if you kept trying to do the things YOU want to do, and didn't do the things that naturally came up during the course of the combat that would lead to your victory (which doesn't often have much to do with what you'd like it to).

'Incompetent combatant' seems appropriate to describe most of the monsters and stuff the fighters goes after.

A squad of goblins with the morningstars their people cannot possibly make according to the narrative around them are going to go down like green bowling pins against a dude who's training with the weighted chain for years on end.

Which reminds me: fighters and combatant tier monsters should absolutely have some sort of martial resistance. Which would be a lot easier if we as a fandom hadn't flipped our lids over properly labeling things. (Make no mistake. This is all our faults. We taught WotC to be like this.)

 

[TwoSix]

I do enjoy the use of the loaded term 'live service' as opposed to 'how it's worked fairly well for fifty years'

Me too! Seems fitting as we move into the D&D Beyond era.