D&D (2024) Video previews for 2024 Players Handbook begin 6/18~

[Shardstone]

My guess is that the DMG is gonna get a number of villainous subclasses, like how the 2014 PHB had death cleric and oathbreaker, and that assassin will be among them this time (as well as necromancer).

Man that's a sick idea.

Reframing the DMG with a focus on villains is just nifty.

 

[Charlaquin]

Man that's a sick idea.

Reframing the DMG with a focus on villains is just nifty.

Just for fun, I’m gonna speculate on a possible villainous subclass for each class…

Bard: Whispers
Barbarian: Something new?
Cleric: Death
Druid: Spores?
Fighter: Something new?
Monk: Long Death
Paladin: Blackguard
Ranger: Swarmkeeper?
Rogue: Assassin
Sorcerer: Shadow
Warlock: Undying, or maybe Hexblade
Wizard: Necromancer

 

[Sulicius]

My guess is that the DMG is gonna get a number of villainous subclasses, like how the 2014 PHB had death cleric and oathbreaker, and that assassin will be among them this time (as well as necromancer).

I think there's no chance for that, though I'd love a villainous supplement that had this, plus guidance on playing and running an "evil" campaign. I like the idea, but we won't see it.

1. There has been no UA document released with such subclasses.
2. There has been no talk about them from the designers.
3. The Oathbreaker and Death Cleric were originally intended for NPC's built like PC's. There has been very little support for that kind of design ever since.

 

[Charlaquin]

There has been no UA document released with such subclasses.

Yeah, but there was no UA document for Psi Knight or Soul Knife either.

There has been no talk about them from the designers.

But there has been talk about there being some things in the book they’ve specifically held back as surprises. There was also talk from Jeremy Crawford of the Necromancer being among the revised wizard subclasses, but that they decided to do Abjurer in the PHB instead.

The Oathbreaker and Death Cleric were originally intended for NPC's built like PC's. There has been very little support for that kind of design ever since.

And I don’t think they’re going to bring that back. Rather, I think the DMG will provide them as “villainous PC options,” in keeping with the stated theme of the DMG focusing on villains, in contrast to the PHB focusing on heroes.

 

[Sulicius]

I imagine the UA ones where the spells that where drastically changed.

Conjure Animals turning into a zone is basically a new spell.

So is True Stike using your spell modifier to make a weapon attack.

You don't need UA to reduce 8d6 to 7d6 or to clean up some wording.

Oh man, I would kill for control water being a usable spell. Whenever I pull up 4 paragraphs of text I lose the will to live.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I think moving Assassin to the DMG would be a smart idea... merely because I don't think it's really possible to satisfy the class fantasy of the Assassin from within the balancing design capabilities of both the Rogue and party-based play.

The original Assassin class had their "insta-death" chart that players got to use, but they had to have their PC go through so many hoops to set themselves up for it... and those hoops were not generally about "walking around with the rest of the party out in the open". But as that is what the baseline foundation of D&D is... an Assassin doesn't particular fit that paradigm. You'd want the Assassin to be able to have combat skills capable of insta-kill "assassinating" people... but you can't balance that sort of overpowered combat ability to other Rogues without creating all those hoops-- and for the class fantasy that usually means the Assassin going out on their own to sneak up on their target and kill them with surprise (at barest minimum). But how many tables want to sit on their hands while the Assassin player goes out ahead and kills every single target on their own while the party sits back and waits? Not many.

But the Assassin being a "morally iffy" subclass in the DMG alongside the Blackguard, Necromancer, and Death Cleric? Fits a bit better in the long run.

 

[mellored]

Just for fun, I’m gonna speculate on a possible villainous subclass for each class…

Bard: Whispers
Barbarian: Something new?
Cleric: Death
Druid: Spores?
Fighter: Something new?
Monk: Long Death
Paladin: Blackguard
Ranger: Swarmkeeper?
Rogue: Assassin
Sorcerer: Shadow
Warlock: Undying, or maybe Hexblade
Wizard: Necromancer

I doubt there will be any subclasses in the DMG. But to continue..

Bard: College of Menace
Barbarian: Blood Drinker
Cleric: Famine
Druid: Pestilence
Fighter: Amputation

 

[Kurotowa]

Small data point, the D&D Discord announcement for the Tuesday video adds that it's an hour long. Which means they're really digging into things. So plan accordingly.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Small data point, the D&D Discord announcement for the Tuesday video adds that it's an hour long. Which means they're really digging into things. So plan accordingly.

Which is to say: the ENworld thread will be fifteen pages long before it's even done...

 

[Remathilis]

Gnomes, halflings and kender arguably should be subraces of a single ancestry ...

No no no, if we put dwarves in there too, then we have lots of room for the animalfolk race (which contains every animal headed race in the game from aarakroca to tabaxi), the planestouched race (which has every plane-themed race in it) the goblinoid race (which has hobgoblins, bugbears, and we can probably toss in a few more humanoids like orcs in there), the scaly race (kobolds, lizardfolk and dragonborn) and the elfin race (all 300 elf and fey-themed races put together). There, now we have the majority of the D&D races squashed into a half-dozen options. Isn't simplicity grand?