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.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Did cure spells really need a buff?

Yes. If there was a way to make in combat healing better and out of combat healing weaker, it would be even better.

I just wish they would make the level 20 capstone of every class "increase these two ability scores by four (maximum 26)." If you are going to break the ceiling for single classed Monks and Barbarians, break it for everyone who forgoes multiclassing and sticks to 20 levels of their class.

I’d be really unhappy if they did that. The classes should have very different capstone features.

They completely redid the Conjure spells, and they're now more like Spiritual Weapon. No more flooding the field with extra bodies to slow the game to a crawl! That's a very good thing.

A good goal, but IMO the worst execution I could imagine.

I have no interest in conjuring vague “fey spirits” that do the same thing no matter what they’re supposed to be, and are basically worthless outside of combat.

There are other ways to solve the “too many turns” issue, like putting them all on one turn, they act together, and usually have to all take the same type of action. I’ve done so in my games, and 6 extra turns becomes one turn.

 

[Kurotowa]

A good goal, but IMO the worst execution I could imagine.

I have no interest in conjuring vague “fey spirits” that do the same thing no matter what they’re supposed to be, and are basically worthless outside of combat.

There are other ways to solve the “too many turns” issue, like putting them all on one turn, they act together, and usually have to all take the same type of action. I’ve done so in my games, and 6 extra turns becomes one turn.

As has been discussed, that's what Summon Fey is for instead. Originally appearing in Tasha's Cauldron and confirmed for promotion to the PHB '24, the Summon spells tick all your boxes. One turn per round, different possible modes, can act out of combat, and better yet doesn't require the player to go hunting in the MM for stat blocks.

The Summon spells replace the old Conjure spells, and the new Conjure spells do something completely different.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

As has been discussed, that's what Summon Fey is for instead. Originally appearing in Tasha's Cauldron and confirmed for promotion to the PHB '24, the Summon spells tick all your boxes. One turn per round, different possible modes, can act out of combat, and better yet doesn't require the player to go hunting in the MM for stat blocks.

Again, good goal, crap execution.

Neither the Tasha’s spells or these UA spells do what was most valuable about the existing conjure spells. They don’t put a physical creature on the board that can operate pretty freely as a creature of its type.

The Summon spells replace the old Conjure spells, and the new Conjure spells do something completely different.

Yes I’m aware of the intention, thank you.

 

[OB1]

Just finished a re-read of the entire playtest 8 packet, and I noticed a few changes to Movement that aren't called out but that I don't remember from a previous Rules Glossary in the playtest. I think both of these changes are terrible, and I'd certainly house rule them back to their 2014 versions.

Breaking up your Move - No longer allows you to move between attacks taken with a single action (so if you drop a creature with your 1st attack, other attacks are wasted?)
Moving around other creatures - Hostile creatures now only count as difficult terrain, allies spaces can be moved thru normally. (no setting up a defensive line to protect others?)

Going to look thru some previous packets to see when these changes appeared, but does anyone else remember survey questions about them?

Edit: Looks like the change was introduced in the 2nd packet 'Expert Classes'. Can't remember if there were survey questions around it or not, but def something I'll be noting in feedback this UA.

 

[Kurotowa]

Speaking of new bits in UA 8, here's a catch courtesy of Reddit. In the "Parts of a Feat" section, this has been added. It's brand new and wasn't in UA 7.

"Category. A feat is a member of a category, which is noted in the feat. If you are instructed to choose a feat from a specific category, such as the Background category, that category must appear under the feat’s name."

Which tells us both that feats can have a Category tag, and that "Background" is one of them.

 

[Vikingkingq]

Breaking up your Move - No longer allows you to move between attacks taken with a single action (so if you drop a creature with your 1st attack, other attacks are wasted?)

"If you Move on your turn, you can use some or all of that movement to move between the attacks of this action if you have a feature, such as Extra Attack, that gives you more than one attack as part of the Attack action."

Does that not let you move between attacks taken with a single action, because it reads to me like it does?

 

[Nightfly]

Are there any pregen characters online that use the playtest rules? I can't find any with Google, but I thought someone here might have a lead.

Apparently not. Too bad.

Okay then -- does anyone know of a blank character sheet that's good for playtest characters? I think every character sheet I know of only has one line for melee attacks, which doesn't really work with weapon masteries. Surely someone has done up a char sheet which is more suitable?

I could do it myself, but EW, effort.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Breaking up your Move - No longer allows you to move between attacks

That's under the Attack action.

Moving around other creatures - Hostile creatures now only count as difficult terrain

And you cannot move through them unless they are tiny, 2 sizes smaller or 2 sizes bigger than you, same as before.

 

[bedir than]

They don’t put a physical creature on the board that can operate pretty freely as a creature of its type.

Summon Beast puts a corpereal spirit, which means that it is physical at the time it exists.

 

[Azzy]

Apparently not. Too bad.

Okay then -- does anyone know of a blank character sheet that's good for playtest characters? I think every character sheet I know of only has one line for melee attacks, which doesn't really work with weapon masteries. Surely someone has done up a char sheet which is more suitable?

I could do it myself, but EW, effort.

Honestly, I think any existing 5e character sheet will work. I think it's just a matter of finding one that fits your tastes.