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.

 

[Zubatcarteira]

Ironically, you can still wear Plate with 8 STR, you'll just get a -10 to your speed for it. Get a longstrider spell, and you're even.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

You know what isn't a house rule? Characters with 8 strength having a 120lb carrying capacity and not having to worry about anything less than that other than a couple of types of heavy armour. That's not even a variant rule, it's just the default.

I did not say that this is a house rule. So?
And I think it is funny how much you all jump on this. Str is balanced even if you ignore this little rule. All the other things pro str are once again conveniently ignored or shoved away for reasons.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Ironically, you can still wear Plate with 8 STR, you'll just get a -10 to your speed for it. Get a longstrider spell, and you're even.

Yeah. A spell cast every hour just to be baseline competent in walking? Sounds reasonable.
Oh, I forget. You just need to be competent for 5 mins. After that, you can long rest.

 

[Zubatcarteira]

Yeah. A spell cast every hour just to be baseline competent in walking? Sounds reasonable.
Oh, I forget. You just need to be competent for 5 mins. After that, you can long rest.

Just be a Sorcerer and make it two hours.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Just be a Sorcerer and make it two hours.

Ok. That is way better!

 

[Chaosmancer]

The game is gated behind charisma for persuasion and deception and intimidation. The game is gated behind intelligence for history and arcana and investigation and similar checks. The game is gated behind wisdom for perception checks. That's just how the game works.

Actually, no, it isn't.

If you fail a perception check, you can still progress, simply with challenges. If you fail an investigation check you are supposed to still be able to progress, albeit through other means. It is in fact the #1 most common advice to NOT gate important evidence behind a single check, to prevent the game from being gated by these skills. If you cannot persuade someone, you can still usually find other ways around the situation.

But if you put a literal boulder in the path, which can only be moved by strength, that is a problem, just like gating a mystery behind finding a specific clue with a specific investigation or arcana roll. This is not how the game works, this is how we advise people to NOT run the game, to ensure the game works.

 

[Mistwell]

Actually, no, it isn't.

Actually, yes it is.

You're persuaded now, right?

If you fail a perception check, you can still progress, simply with challenges.

Yeah that's how those strength challenges work too.

This is not how the game works, this is how we advise people to NOT run the game, to ensure the game works.

We? You're WOTC now? If so, I got some complaints.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Again?

Not a lot. Versimilitude a bit. You just can't dump it if you want to carry something (or jump far or high).

I am not the one who goes around telling how unblanaced str vs dex is. And then conveniently ignores rules.

Opposite of oberoni fallacy? The game is unbalanced, because I can just ignore some rules?

Edit: I perfectly know that I introduced a house rule and used a variant in some of my games. This has less to do with str vs dex but melee vs ranged. And versimitilitude (how do you dodge if you are unconscious).

You keep saying that I am declaring the game unbalanced because I am ignoring rules, then declaring that the rules in question do not balance the game. If they do not balance anything, then my ignoring them should mean nothing to my perceptions. In fact, I did not bring up Encumbrance to begin with. It is simply when it is pointed out that strength is lacking for out-of-combat utility, due to the nature of the rules, that people constantly do one of two things.

1) They misapply and misunderstand the jumping, climbing and swimming rules. For example, a high jump for a strength 10 character who is 5 ft 6 inches with no rolling whatsoever, would allow them to reach and climb a ledge 11 ft and 3 inches. This means that the vast majority of character can trivially jump and climb up to the roof of a single story building with zero rolls. A strength 8 character would be able to reach something 10 ft and 3 inches up, which is a little less, but still likely a story in height.

2) They bring up Encumbrance and bemoan that by not using it we are denying strength characters their due. However, you just said that there is nothing that Encumbrance does except maybe mildly assist in Verisimilitude. Which is absolutely useless in terms of any sort of game balance.


Please get this straight. I never declared the game unbalanced because I don't use encumbrance. I stated that forcing small races to focus on dex builds and spellcasting builds does nothing to help strength builds, because dex builds and spellcasting builds ALREADY dominate the game as superior options to strength builds. Call it ranged vs melee, call is fighter vs Wizard, call it strength vs Dexterity, I don't care. The point is that even if you let Halflings wield Greatswords, you are going to see more halflings dual-wielding pistols, or making Palalocks than you ever will see a halfling barbarian.

 

[Chaosmancer]

You also have some points there.

Just a few comments.
1. I strongly believe those old schoolers (like tenser) were powergamers to the heart. This is why Gygax wrote unfun rules like spell failure chance and spell learn percentage and forbidden schools. And encumbrance. To keep the players from taking always the best options.

You may be right. But then the game has been designed with power gamers in mind since the very beginning.

2. What you say about str challenges can equally said for wis (don't find a secret door, passive perception), int (miss a piece of knowledge), dex (can't sneak at the right time), cha (can't convince someone), con (can't endure some hardship like weather).

No, it is no the same. The only way it is the same is that if you have the entire adventure gated behind using wisdom to find a secret door then everyone tells you you designed a bad adventure. But things like passive perception or enduring harsh weather are BOONS, they are not gates. And yet when faced with strength challenges... where are the boons? Where are the non-combat boons that make a character's journey easier for having high strength, when the only thing we are presented with time and time again is... block their way with a heavy thing, haha, that will show those people who made low strength characters that they are required to have a high strength.

3. I don't want taxes and there is none. For all the different challenges above there is one important rule in 5e: group checks: to sneak around, only halve the group needs to pass. Or sometimes it is even sufficient if one person can do it (maybe with the help of another one).

And yet Encumbrance does not work this way. It is not a group check. Very, very often climbing and swimming checks are not group checks. The very way we approach discussing strength in the game is about how to punish characters who choose to not have a high strength, but never about rewards for high strength characters. Their reward is avoiding the punishment we enact on the others.

4. I guess what greatly helps is to have a balanced group with all attributes and skills higher and lower on different characters. And maybe the missing ones replaced with a bit of magic or tools.

Sure, but this misses the point. The high strength characters are the easiest to replace, out of combat, because the only way we can make them useful to the party is to punish the party for not having them. Compare to other attributes, and it is far easier to make those set up to offer boons and new paths to the party, instead of penalizing them.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Actually, yes it is.

You're persuaded now, right?

The paragraph break was for emphasis. I put forth argumentation below that.

Yeah that's how those strength challenges work too.

Every strength challenge you described, albeit briefly, was an impassible object blocking forward progress of the adventure without a proper strength check. So, if that is not what those are, please explain how you provide a non-combat strength challenge that both does not prevent the adventure from progressing, but cannot be overcome through non-strength means or offers greater boons for passing via strength.

After all, we don't say that lockpicking if the only way through a locked door, you can always use strength. But lockpicking is superior to strength, in general, because it carries the boon of being subtle. Strength is often presented as "if we can't do it the better way, we can use brute force" option, which makes it inherently presented as the inferior option. And to present it without another option, it must inevitably block progress.

We? You're WOTC now? If so, I got some complaints.

There are more than WoTC covered under the pronoun "we". In this instance I meant "We, the Experienced Dungeon Masters who discuss proper adventure design to offer guidance to less experienced Dungeon Masters". Or are you saying you have never once heard the advice that progress through an adventure should not be gated behind a single check? Because, if you haven't, I have about a dozen creators I should point you to.