D&D 5E Let's Read the D&D Next Playtest

[Iosue]

So I was kicking this idea around for a while, as part of my own personal retrospective on the 5e design process, and since a couple people have expressed interest in what the playtest was like, I thought I'd go ahead and do it.

So this is going to be broad strokes, since there are a lot of small differences, but I hope some others might pick up the smaller details they remember or notice in the playtest packets.

So, the first playtest was released on May 24th, 2012, about 5 and a half months after 5e and the playtest was announced. It contained 9 files: How to Play, DM Guidelines, 5 pregens, a Bestiary, and a Caves of Chaos conversion. There was no chargen section, and the pregens only went up to 3rd level. The original plan was to slowly increase the advancement of the pregens up to 10th level through a number of packets, testing out the core rules, and then introduce chargen and slowly bring that up to 10th level. That plan was abandoned almost immediately -- the 2nd playtest packet included chargen.

[sblock=How to Play]
The essential core rules of the game were quite stable right from the beginning. You had Checks and Contests, Attacks, and Saving Throws, as well as Advantage and Disadvantage. None of this ever changed, and is pretty much (and at times word for word) in Published 5e as it was in the first packet. Ability scores and related checks/saves were essentially the same. Climbing, swimming and crawling cost double movement as it does now (though written "every 5 feet costs and extra 5 feet" rather than the current rules' "every foot costs two feet"). Standing up only cost 5 feet of your move, instead of the half-movement it costs now.

The stealth rules are really not all that different -- relying heavily on DM judgment, and fulfilling of "not-being-seen" and "not-being-heard" conditions. The big difference is that in the playtest, if you were successfully hidden, you could not be targeted, except by area effects. In 5e, attackers get disadvantage on targets they can't see, but can still target a space where they think the enemy is. Perception is still pretty much the same.

In combat, surprise was determined entirely by the DM, and it meant a -20 to your initiative. Movement is much the same, except that Published 5e lets you move through the space of a creature 2 Sizes larger than you, while hostile spaces are entirely unpassable in the first playtest. Reactions exist, but bonus actions and opportunity attacks do not. There were initially a few more different Actions available: Attack, Cast a Spell, Coup de Grace (drop unconscious characters to 0 HP; kill characters at 0 HP outright -- replaced by crit rules in finished 5e), Dodge, Help, Hide, Hustle (currently Dash), Improvise (now a sidebar rather than a distinct action), Ready an Action (currently Ready), Search, and Use an Item (currently Use an Object). With no Opportunity Attacks, there was no need for Disengage.

Crits dealt maximum damage. Otherwise melee attacks, ranged attacks, damage, resistance, and vulnerability are the same. Death Saves were DC 10 Constitution saving throws, and so subject to any Con bonuses. Three successes stabilized you, while a failure made you take 1d6 damage that could not be reduced. Negative HP equal to your CON score plus level meant death. This was simulate "bleeding out". It took 2d6 hours to wake up after being stabilized, rather than 1d4.

Short rests were 10 minutes long, although at this point there were hardly any features that refreshed on a short rest. Long rests were 8 hours (limit to 1 per 24-hour period), and you needed 1 HP to take one. Long rests restored all HP and all HD.

There were fewer conditions, even though some didn't make the final cut: Blinded, Charmed, Deafened, Ethereal, Frightened, Invisible, Intoxicated, Paralyzed, Prone, Restrained, Stunned, and Unconscious.

Equipment is similar, but slightly different. The lists would be slightly revised throughout the playtest, and the early lists were largely there just to be there than carefully designed and written. Armor was Light, Medium, and Heavy. Heavy armor imparted a -5 feet movement penalty, and all medium and heavy armored imposed disadvantage on stealth checks. For weapons, you had Basic, Finesse, Martial, and Heavy Weapon Categories. There was no versatile property. However, one of the special weapons was the Bastard Sword, which acted like the current Longsword.

For magic, cantrips were called "Minor Spells", which were called Cantrips for Wizards, and Orisons for Clerics. Magic worked pretty much as now: each spell had a level, casters had spells slots, and spells could be cast with higher level spell slots. Rituals also worked pretty much the same. Lip service was paid to the idea of verbal, somatic, and material components, but these weren't spelled out, except in isolated spell descriptions (e.g., fanning the fingers for Burning Hands). Spell DCs were 10 + spell casting ability mod. No proficiency in the game at this time.[/sblock]

[sblock=DM Guidelines]The DM Guidelines contained advice for when to use checks and saves. The DCs were similar, but a bit different. Trivial was DC 10 or lower, Moderate was DC 11-14, Advanced was DC 15-18, Extreme was DC 19-22, Master was DC 23-26, and Immortal was DC 27 and Higher. I like the way they do it now. Much smoother and easier.

Skills were not really skills per se, but rather typical actions categorized as either Exploration or Interaction. They were Exploration: Balance, Climb, Escape Bonds, Find and Disarm Traps, Notice a Hiding Creature, Open a Door, Pick a Lock, Recall Lore, Search, Swim and Track; and Interaction: Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Gather Information. Many of the write-ups of these actions included typical DCs of varying difficulty.

Note that these were listed in the DM Guidelines, not the How to Play section, and while the character sheets would note bonuses for these actions, they were not explained. Further, they were not tied to any ability score. Certain ability scores were suggested, but it was up to the DM to make the call. The idea was that this was a DM side mechanic -- he would just note what the action was, which any player could attempt, and if a player happened to have a bonus for that, they could add it to the roll. Very similar to what we have now, but presented very differently.

Because the first playtest was meant to be used with Caves of Chaos, no DM encounter building guidelines were included.[/sblock]

[sblock=Characters]
The pre-gens consisted of a Human Cleric of Pelor (representing the "laser cleric"), a Mountain Dwarf Cleric of Moradin (representing the "bash-y cleric"), a Hill Dwarf Fighter, a Lightfoot Halfling Rogue, and a High Elf Wizard.

In the original conception, characters would have a Background and a Theme. Your Background would give you bonuses to certain of those "typical exploration/interaction actions" mentioned above (+3 in this case) due to "training". It would also provide a non-mechanical feature, much like now. Themes were how you got Feats. You would start off with one specific feat, and gain another specific feat at 3rd level, similar to how class features work. The playtest included the Healer, Lurker, Slayer, Magic-user, and Guardian.

The Pelor Cleric got light and medium armor, and basic and simple missile weapons, while the Moradin Cleric got heavy armor and the warhammer. They both got divine magic and channel divinity (which could be used to cast a free Turn Undead spell, or at level 2 used for another thematic feature. Both also got a +2 bonus when making a magical attack.

The Fighter was pretty light. Their lone starting feature was a +2 bonus to damage, and a twice per day "Fighter's Surge" at 2nd level. There were some complaints about the lack of features, so Mearls suggested giving them an extra theme.

Rogues got a Rogue Scheme -- essentially like an extra Rogue-themed Background. Since Backgrounds were intended to be optional, this provided Rogues with the necessary Thief Skills. This Rogue's Scheme was Thief, which meant they got Open Locks, Find/Remove Traps, and Stealth at +3, Thieves' Cant, and Thief Hiding (a combination of the Mask of the Wild and Naturally Stealthy features). They also got Skill Mastery (like Reliable Talent in the current rules), and Sneak Attack (extra damage when attacking with advantage).

Wizards were similar in basic structure to what they are now. Like clerics, they got a +2 to Magical Attack rolls, no doubt representing the Magical Attack Bonus that was present in the game until it was folded into proficiency.

Advancement was set at 2,000 XP for Level 2, and 6,000 XP for Level 3.
[/sblock]

[sblock=Bestiary]The Bestiary is only for monsters that are in the Caves of Chaos adventure, so there were only 32 monsters. Most took up a page, with some taking up two. The entries were made up of statblock section (economical at 13 lines), then a unique trait, a combat section that suggested tactics, a habitat and society section (the ecology, so to speak), and a legends and lore section, with interesting fluff. The lowest XP value was 25 for Cave Rat and Giant Centipede, while the highest was 550 for a Gnoll Pack Lord.[/sblock]

 

[Jeff Albertson]

The Bestiary is only for monsters that are in the Caves of Chaos adventure, so there were only 32 monsters. Most took up a page, with some taking up two. The entries were made up of statblock section (economical at 13 lines), then a unique trait, a combat section that suggested tactics, a habitat and society section (the ecology, so to speak), and a legends and lore section, with interesting fluff.

Yeah, it mentioned goblins originating on Faerie.

 

[pemerton]

The stealth rules are really not all that different -- relying heavily on DM judgment, and fulfilling of "not-being-seen" and "not-being-heard" conditions. The big difference is that in the playtest, if you were successfully hidden, you could not be targeted, except by area effects.

I think these original stealth rules are much better written! They are very clear about the conditions for stealth (roughly, half cover or complete obscurement). They also frame this in terms of "if the creature might see you" rather than "if a creature can see you".

I think if they had stuck to this language there would have been many fewer stealth threads!

 

[phantomK9]

I was able to get in on the first round of play testing, but life got in the way and I wasn't able to continue through more rounds. It will be interesting to see exactly how those early ideas morphed into what eventually became the finished product. Of note are the themes, our group was very interested in them getting fleshed out further down the road. I'm assuming these simply became the paths in each class.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I really liked the Rogue schemes in the first play test, and wish they had been kept. I even kept hope that it would return, and that instead of having extra skills, rogues would get a second background (possibly chosen from a shorter list: thug, criminal, orphan, charlatan, etc.).

It would have been a cleaner, quicker solution (I feel), and would have allowed rogues to retain a skill focus (rather than being quickly eclipsed by the Bard).

 

[CapnZapp]

Excellent! Subscribed

 

[meomwt]

One interesting point (and there was a note about it, I think in the Read Me attachment) was that the Dwarf Fighter had a different damage dice for his weapon than noted in the Equipment section, due to racial affiliation with the thing. It was an interesting mechanical bonus to encourage a racial trait (e.g. all dwarves are good with warhammers, train night and day, and can therefore hit well with them). It vanished from later packets, never to return.

We played a couple of sessions with this packet, and one guy was impressed with the Fighter's "Shield Another" reaction, which made it into the PHB (Protection fighting style). He is presently playing a Fighter with this style (and kept the party cleric up an extra couple of rounds during last week's disastrous encounter with a Gnoll hunting party (Moathouse dungeon, T1).

 

[Kobold Stew]

I'm pleased they didn't keep the bonus damage with racial weapon specializations: as a mechanic it reduces diversity of character choice (why would a dwarf fighter not use an axe if it objectively did more damage than every other 1-h weapon?), rather than increase it.

As it is, for many characters the weapon proficiencies are a "ribbon" (as we've recently found out they call it). What we've got isn't perfect, but it is an improvement, imo.

 

[the Jester]

I'm pleased they didn't keep the bonus damage with racial weapon specializations: as a mechanic it reduces diversity of character choice (why would a dwarf fighter not use an axe if it objectively did more damage than every other 1-h weapon?), rather than increase it.

I quite liked the mechanic, but you're right. It would lead to more homogenization of pcs.

 

[Iosue]

So packet two dropped on August 13th, 2012. Actually, I don’t have this packet. It was updated on the 17th, before I had a chance to download it. The only differences in the packet of the 17th are the Classes document and the Reclaiming Blingdenstone adventure. I don’t recall what was changed, but I believe it was just fixing some editing errors in the 13th packet.

Mearls reflected on the first packet four times in Legends and Lore, linked to below. The response to the core rules was positive, but the three main issues were lack of Opportunity Attacks making combat too fluid, dissatisfaction with healing (some people said HP and HD recovery was too nice, others said that the cleric didn’t have enough healing), and more than anything dissatisfaction with the fighter as being too limited.

Playtest: First Round Overview
Playtest: DM Packet Overview
Playtest Update
Playtest Update, Part 2

Despite initially saying that the playtest would proceed until Level 10 using pre-gens, the outcry for chargen (and people reverse engineering chargen from the pregens) led to character generation being included in this packet. IMO, I believe here the playtest went from a planned slow, deliberative, structured playtest process, to half-playtest, half-marketing event. The public playtest was simply too big and unwieldy for proper playtesting, which would have been far too boring for most participants. So they used it as a rough guide for problem points in feel, and relied on the internal playtest for the heavy work.

Packet 2 contained 19 files. How to Play, DM Guidelines, the Bestiary, and 5 pre-gens were joined by a new adventure (Reclaiming Blingdenstone), Equipment and Spells being kicked out into their own files, Character Generation, Races, Classes, Backgrounds, Specialties (formerly Themes), and a packet summary, which listed major (but not all minor) changes. A warning, this packet was perhaps the greatest jump in the playtest, with character generation rules, two new classes, and a new adventure. So this will be a loooong post. Happily, future packets were not quite so different from each other, so future posts probably won’t be quite so long.

[sblock=How to Play]No changes to the basic rules of checks, contests, attacks, saves, advantage and disadvantage. The first change comes in Combat, where being surprised means not being able to act until after one’s first turn in the battle. Next is the introduction of Opportunity Attacks, with the same rules that exist in Published 5e. Disengage is thus added to the list of Actions in Combat. Slower Recover variants are added to the Short/Long Rest rules. There were a lot of small changes to the Conditions, but no new Conditions, or removal of old ones.

In the Magic section, Spell Disruption was added, presaging Concentration. This basically involved making a DC 10 DEX check to cast a spell in melee (unless that spell targeted enemies within 5 feet of you), and DC 10 CON check if there were any environmental disruptions (DM discretion). Disruption did not make spells fizzle, it simply ate your action for that round, and you could try again your next turn.[/sblock]

[sblock=DM Guidelines]DC categories were revised and made slightly easier. Instead of listing a range, each category was given a single representative DC, which went up by threes. Trivial was DC 7, Easy was DC 10, Moderate was DC 13, Hard was DC 16, Very Hard was DC 19, Formidable was DC 22, and Nearly Impossible was DC 25. A sidebar was added telling DM’s not to get too picky about DCs, and to feel free to wing it with just easy, moderate, and hard DCs. It also suggested not even setting a DC ahead of time, just letting the player roll a die and going by gut feeling. Needless to say, that was quite controversial on discussion boards, but apparently it bare registered in the official feedback, because the sidebar survived throughout the playtest. I thought it was in the DMG, too, but a quick check just now did not find it.

While the first packet’s DM Guidelines had a few suggested DCs for each “common task”, those tasks were kicked out to the skill section of the Background file, so they were replaced in the Guidelines by lists of tasks at each DC level for each ability score. It also added a section for Holding Your Breath and Drowning. A big addition was rules for building encounters. The form of these rules was essentially the same as now: each level has an XP value for Easy, Average, and Tough encounters. You multiply that value for the party’s level by the number of characters in the party to find the budget for that party at that difficulty. However there were no multipliers for being outnumbered. Rather, if monsters were 3 or more levels lower than the party level (monsters didn’t have CR then), then the XP value was halved for the purpose of filling the budget. Players still received the full XP value.

Finally, an interesting addition is old schoolish random tables for determining the look and value of Gems and Art Objects.[/sblock]

[sblock=Equipment]A lot small, fiddly changes here, and I’m not exactly sure why. The time for removing Heavy Armor went from 1d4+1 minutes to a flat 5 minutes. Studded Leather got moved up to Medium Armor, while Ringmail and Splint were moved up to Heavy, and the Heavy Shield was removed. Medium Armor was given the max 2 DEX modifier it currently enjoys in the published rules. Heavy Armor was generally bumped up 1 AC, and is now the only armor that causes disadvantage on Stealth.

The bastard sword’s unique versatile property was removed – now it’s a 1d10 two-handed weapon, right between the 1d8 one handed sword and the 1d12 two-handed Great Sword. Some new weapons were added, like the scythe and the katana, while others moved to different groups, e.g., the morningstar went from a Basic Weapon to a Martial Weapon. The adventuring gear list had a lot of micro changes to price and weight that I’m not going to list here. Just as an example, though, the Adventurer’s Kit went from 10 gp and 40 lb. to 4 gp and 38 lb. So…okay?[/sblock]

[sblock=Bestiary]The number of monsters in the Bestiary is roughly the same: 35. There are some additions, though, possibly to fit with Blingdenstone (which I never played or looked at). Drow are added. The monster entries now are quite bare, with no tactics, ecology, or lore fluff. Just stat blocks and special abilities and traits.[/sblock]

Now for the new stuff!

[sblock=Character Generation]Not much to say about this document. In content it’s roughly the same as what’s in the finished game: just a step by step guide for building a character. Perhaps the most notable thing is that Backgrounds and Specialties are explicitly noted as optional. XP for leveling up is much, much reduced: 650 for level 2; 1,825 for Level 3; 3,525 for Level 4, and 7,975 for Level 5. You get a background and a specialty feat at level 1. At Level 2, you get “skill training (you can increase one of your skill bonuses by 1), Level 3 brings another feat, and Level 4 brings another skill bonus increase and an ability score bonus of 1. The idea was skills would improve on even levels, and feats would be gained on odd levels. Note that skill training applies to one skill at a time! This would last until December, when all skilled bonuses were unified under a skill die that went up with level. Skill dice would remain until the August 2013 packet, when skills were replaced by various kinds of Lore and equipment proficiencies. In the September 2013 packet, we’d finally see the unified proficiency bonus. In this packet, the standard array is the same as in the final game, but point buy is not yet an option.[/sblock]

[sblock=Races]The playtest races packet was very much like the current Basic rules. Four races (Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Human), with two subraces for each the non-humans (Hill Dwarf, Mountain Dwarf, High Elf, Wood Elf, Lightfoot Halfling, Stout Halfling). Each race is written up with cultural details, relations with other races, sample names and such. They lack the references to D&D settings, though.

Dwarves – Instead of Darkvision, 60’, dwarves have low-light vision at 30’. The function is essentially the same. Dwarven Resilience is blanket immunity to poison, rather than advantage on saves and resistance to damage. Stonecunning is a flat ability to know one’s position underground, retrace one’s steps, and identify age and providence of stonework. In the published rules, it is double proficiency applied to History checks on stonework, with no reference to knowing one’s position underground or the like. As mentioned earlier in the thread, Dwarves get Dwarven Weapon training for axes and hammers, letting them increasing the damage die of that weapon by one step. Published dwarves all get a +2 to CON, but this is absent from the playtest. Hill Dwarves get a +1 to CON, instead of WIS, and Mountain Dwarves get a +1 to WIS instead of STR. In the playtest, Hill Dwarves’ Dwarven Toughness increases their Hit Dice by one step and gives them one extra hit point at 1st level. Mountain Dwarves’ Armor Mastery is largely the same, except it also gives a +1 to AC in the playtest.

Elves – Much like Dwarves, Elves have Low-light vision 30’ instead of Darkvision 60’, and the playtest version lacks the +2 to Dexterity. They get Elven Weapon Training for longswords, and short and long bows. Keen Senses gives advantage on checks to listen, search, or notice, rather than simply providing proficiency in Perception. Fey Ancestry was originally Free Spirit, and was a flat immunity to sleep and charm effects. The High Elf is same as in published 5e, except without the extra language. Wood Elves are almost the same with increased speed and Wood Elf Grace (now called Mask of the Wild). However they get a bonus of +1 DEX rather than WIS.

Halflings – Like the others, no +2 to DEX for the base race, and Halfling Weapon training for dagger, short sword, and sling. Lucky was usable on any roll you didn’t like, but only twice per day. Lightfoots gave a +1 to DEX instead of CHA. Stouts gave a +1 to CHA instead of CON, and their special trait was Fearless – the ability to take an action to automatically end a frightened condition.

Humans – Like the published version, no bells and whistles. In addition to the blanket +1 to all ability scores that made the published version of the rules, playtest humans could add another +1 to one ability.

These are all relatively minor differences, some of which came about due to changes in the core rules. One thing that that’s noticeable is the tendency for race features to be unchained to any mechanics or die rolls. Dwarves don’t have a chance of knowing the info about stonework, they just know it. Elves don’t get advantage on charm saves, they are just immune. [/sblock]

[sblock=Classes]Classes only go up to 5th level. The Core Fore are presented, along with the Sorceror and the Warlock. Of the Core Fore, Clerics and Wizards are very much like their current versions. People were largely happy with their design, and the playtest process was very much one of tweaking, adjusting, and creating the domain/school subclasses. Fighters and Rogues, OTOH, would go through several quite different iterations over the course of the playtest. One aspect of the playtest classes is that they are front loaded. They hadn’t yet developed the process of spreading out the features over the first three levels. Also, while somewhat underdeveloped Sun and War domains existed for the Cleric, and Rogues had the Thief and Thug Rogue Schemes, they hadn’t really developed the concept of sub-classes.

Cleric – So, at level 1, Clerics got Channel Divinity, Divine Magic, a Domain, Orisons, and training in an extra lore skill to represent their Religious training. The available domains were Sun (for a laser cleric) and War (for a mix-it-up-in-melee cleric). The class provided a +1 to the player’s choice of WIS, STR, or CON. Armor and shield profs depended on Domain. Weapon profs were basic weapons and simple missile weapons. The Cleric’s HP and HD are the same as in the published rules. Spell DCs were simply 10 + WIS mod. For attacks Clerics had a Weapon Attack bonus and a Magic Attack bonus. Both of these were +2 from levels 1 to 5. Like published clerics, at 2nd level they got access to a special domain feature. Spell slot progression was not quite as good as the published rules.

Fighter – The fighter in playtest 2 is already quite different from the version in playtest 1. HD, HP, and armor and weapon profs are the same as the published rules. The fighter’s Weapon Attack was the best in the game, starting out at +3 and increasing to +4 at 4th level. For features there were two. One was Combat Superiority, which is similar to that of the Battlemaster, except that you only got one superiority die (2 at 5th level), and it refreshed at the start of your turn! I loved this, personally, but apparently some folks thought that it was over-powered, because it was steadily nerfed throughout the playtest. First you needed to spend a turn resting to refresh a die, and ultimately you needed a short or long rest. (Then short rests became an hour instead of 10 minutes!) To be fair, the starting number of superiority die was increased to compensate.

So, what can you do with your superiority die? You spend them on maneuvers. How do you get maneuvers? You choose a fighting style. Each fighting style gave you a new maneuver to use at levels 1, 3, and 5. The available fighting styles were Duelist, Protector, Sharpshooter, and Slayer. The fighting styles also provided you with a suggested equipment package. The available maneuvers were Cleave (spend a die to attack another creature in reach after you kill a foe with a melee attack), Deadly Strike (spend a die to add to the damage of an attack), Glancing Blow (spend a die and add the result to your attack roll if you miss but roll over a 10; this was revised into Precision Strike), Jab (when doing something other than attack, spend a die to make a melee attack, using only the superiority die’s result for damage), Knock Down (spend a die to knock a creature prone with a weapon attack), Parry (much the same as current parry), Precise Shot (like Precision Strike but only for ranged weapons), Protect (spend a die on reaction to reduce damage on an ally), Push (spend a die to push a creature away from you), Shift (spend a die to move 10 feet after an attack without receiving OA), Snap Shot (like Jab for ranged weapons), Tumble (spend a die to move through hostile creature spaces). One key difference between these maneuvers and the Battlemaster’s is that most of these maneuvers do not add the die’s result to damage).

Other than this, the fighter got…nothing. No skills like the Cleric’s religion. No other special class features. Just a single superiority die, a single maneuver at level 1, and then another at levels 3 and 5. Needless to say, this was not a version of the fighter people would be happy with.

Rogue – The rogue was not much changed from the previous playtest. The class provided a +1 to STR, DEX, or INT. d6 for HD, with profs in light armor, basic and finesse weapons and simple and martial missile weapons. Sneak Attack was a little improved, providing 2d6 extra damage at 1st level. At Level 3, the Thief scheme got Night Vision, which worked like Darkvision. At Level 5, they got free movement after a sneak attack. In addition to the Thief scheme introduced with the first playtest, the Thug scheme was also provided. The Thug scheme got to deal sneak attack damage if the target was in the reach of two or more of the Thug’s allies. At level two they couldn’t be surprised. At level three, their sneak attack also stopped the target’s movement for a turn. It’s made clear here that there are regular backgrounds for each of the schemes, and taking the scheme gives the Rogue that background as well. At Level 2, all Rogues also got Knack, which let them give themselves advantage on a check twice a day (3 times at 5th level, and 4 times 9th).

Wizards – Wizards provided a +1 to either INT or CON. Their HD was d4, rather than d6. Unlike Clerics, their Spell DC started at 11 + INT mod, and increased to 12 + INT mod at 4th level. Their Magic Attack bonus was also more potent, mimicking the fighter’s Weapon Attack bonus. Spellbooks contained 5 first level spells instead of the 6 of the published rules. Wizards also got Arcane Knowledge, which was bonus training in a Lore skill. Spell slots for levels 3-5 were the same as the published rules, but playtest wizards got 1 more 1st level spell slot at 1st and 2nd levels. The playtest wizard was originally envisioned to be a generalist, and there were no other schools available in the playtest.

Surprisingly, they also offered two non-standard classes in this playtest. The Sorcerer and the Warlock. These were quite different in mechanical function than they would end up, and they were pulled from the playtest at the end of the year so the designers could, in the words of Bono from the end of the Rattle and Hum tour, “go away and dream it all up again.” They never returned to the playtest, even as the Barbarian, Bard, Druid, Monk, Paladin, and Ranger all joined it.

Sorcerer – Sorcerers were CHA based, the class giving a +1 to CHA or CON. It’s class features were cantrips, sorcery, and sorcerous origin. Sorcery was essentially a spellpoint system, with the spellpoints being called Willpower. The sorcerer could spend points to cast an equivalent level of spell, e.g., 1 willpower for a 1st level spell, 2 willpower for a 2nd level spell. Accordingly, they had a Spells Known and Max Spell Level entry for each character level. The amount of Willpower per level was the same amount as Wizard spellslots converted into spellpoints. So, 3 willpower at level 1, 4 at level 2, 8 at level 3, and so on. A short list of sorcerer spells and cantrips was provided. Willpower refreshed at a daily rate.

The base class had no armor profs and only basic and simple missile weapon profs, but more could be gained with sorcerous origins. Only one sorcerous origin was in the playtest: Draconic Heritage. This got d8 Hit Dice and proficiencies in all armor and marital weapons. Sorcerer’s could also spend Willpower points to activate certain sorcerous powers associated with their origin. In this case, they started with Dragon Strength. For 1 Willpower, the Sorcerer could channel Dragon Strength for extra damage for one minute. At Level 4 they could use 2 Willpower to create Dragon Scales with a reaction, which reduced damage from a the triggering attack by 10 and provided 1 turn of damage resistance (determined by the type of dragon in your heritage). A Dragon Breath power was also listed in the rules, but this was apparently a higher level power. These sorcerous powers were the first example of what are essentially encounter powers in the new edition.

Warlock – In broad strokes, the Warlock concept is the same as appeared in the published rules. Encounter-based powers, you’ve got your pacts, your invocations, your pact bonds. Unlike the published version, though, playtest Warlocks were INT based, and everything worked a little differently. At first level they got Eldritch Lore (an extra Lore skill), their Pact (in the playtest there was only the Fey Pact), Invocations, and Ritual Magic. The Pact gave you two favors, with which you used Pact Bonds and Invocations, and which refreshed with a short rest. Invocations were simple Warlock spells, such as Eldritch Blast and Baleful Utterance.

You got a new Pact Bond every odd level – Level 1 was an hour’s worth of advantage on CHA checks when influencing one creature with HP lower than yours. Level 3 was a reaction to impose disadvantage on a melee attack against you. Level 5 was a 30 foot teleport as an action. In the case of the Fey Pact, every time you gained a Pact Bond, your patron would take some aspect of beauty away from you. In the case of Level 1, it’s a wart that appears on your face. For Level 3 your irises turn bright gold. For Level 5, it’s a spider-web of thin white scars on your neck and arms.[/sblock]

[sblock=Backgrounds]Backgrounds are to an extent surprisingly similar to what we have now, especially considering the changes they went over the playtest. You start with a +3 in trained skills, and you could improve one skill +1 every even level, up to a maximum of +7. Each background provided you with Skills, Traits (the background feature), and Equipment packages. The backgrounds available in this playtest packet were Artisan (trait – craft a non-magical item related to your profession using raw materials equal to half the market price of the item), Bounty Hunter (trait – ability to find and take on legal bounties, use network of contacts to locate your quarry), Charlatan (trait – false identity), Commoner (trait – own your own home and business), Knight (trait – free accommodation and food at a location that recognizes your knight’s station), Noble (trait – three retainers), Priest (trait – a temple where you work and which you can call on for (non-hazardous) help, and the ability to get free healing and care from other temples of your faith), Sage (trait – know where to find any information you cannot recall yourself), Soldier (trait - military rank that other soldiers will recognize, access to friendly military encampments), Spy (trait – a contact for information exchange, even over great distances), Thief Signs (trait – able to make contact with the local thieves guild), Thug (trait – bad reputation that lets you get away with minor offenses in places of civilization).

Skills were much more developed than the simple list of common tasks in the DM Guidelines of the first packet. The list included Animal Handling, Bluff, Diplomacy, Find and Remove Traps, Forbidden Lore, Geographical Lore, Heraldic Lore, Historical Lore, Insight, Intimidate, Local Lore, Magical Lore, Natural Lore, Open Locks, Planar Lore, Professional Lore, Religious Lore, Sleight of Hand, Societal Lore, Spot, Stealth, Streetwise, Survival, Underdark Lore, and Undead Lore. For a long time, the playtest had a thing for a wide variety of Lores.[/sblock]

[sblock=Specialties]For some reason, themes were renamed Specialties. They operated much the same way as in the first playtest: you selected a theme, which would give you a specific feat every odd level. That said, Specialties were conceived as something you could build yourself, or even take feats a la carte. The Specialties in this Playtest packet were Archer (feats Rapid Shot and Sniper), Acolyte (feats Initiate of the Faith and Sanctified Weapon), Dual Wielder (feats Two-Weapon Fighting and Two Weapon Defense), Guardian (feats Defender and Hold the Line), Healer (feats Herbalism and Healer’s Touch), Jack-of-All-Trades (feats Skill Training at Levels 1 and 3), Lurker (feats Ambusher and Skulker), Magic-User (feats Arcane Dabbler and Find Familiar), Necromancer (feats Aura of Souls and Animate Servant), and Survivor (feats Toughness at Levels 1 and 3).

One aspect of Specialties was that they allowed you to mimic other classes: Archer, Dual Wielder, and Guardian gave you a fighter feel, Priest and Healer gave you a cleric feel, Lurker and Jack-of-all-Trades gave you a rogue feel, and Magic-User and Necromancer gave you a wizard feel.[/sblock]

[sblock=Pre-gens]To be honest, until I was writing this, I never looked at the pre-gens. Once the chargen rules came out, I only wanted to make my own characters. Looking at them now, the dwarf cleric of Moradin has been replaced by a human range specialist fighter. They are otherwise recreations of playtest packet 1 pre-gens using the playtest packet 2 rules. Also, they are only for first level, since players could use the chargen rules to advance the characters however they liked.[/sblock]

[sblock=Reclaiming Blingdenstone]Another file I never looked at until now. It’s written by Robert Schwalb and James Wyatt. It’s made up of six adventures, each designed to be completed in one or two hours, and which can be completed in any order. Doing so allows the svirfneblin to reclaim their lost city of Blingdenstone, which can then become a safe refuge in the Underdark. It’s very old school in feel, especially the maps, which are 1 square = 10 feet scale. It also comes with an appendix of monsters that are in the adventure. I could read through it all and give a more detailed synopsis/review, but I think this post has gotten ridiculously long already (9 pages on Microsoft Word), so I’ll stop here.[/sblock]