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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[Micah Sweet]

And I'm saying that nowhere in the fluff or the rules is there any support for a level 5 fighter of any edition being even vaguely realistic. Anyone who can, unarmoured, survive the luckiest possible hit with an axe and be still standing isn't even on nodding terms with realism. Neither is someone who can recover from the worst possible beating they can survive in a month and be out of bed on the first day isn't realistic.

AD&D fighters weren't realistic. They were John Wick - and they made The Bride from Kill Bill seem grounded. 5e fighters are in a party of The Avengers - and you'd barely let them be Hawkeye.

For the record, non-magical healing prior to 4e was more realistic than anything since. And the hit point issue will never be resolved to anyone's satisfaction, so I see no point in using it for either side.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Okay. My mistake, then.

And this doesn't address the problem that if you require nonmagical classes to be more "realistic" than magical ones, there's going to be a problem with how the classes are balanced and treated.

I am not familiar with Level Up, and it isn't the 5e that I'm talking about. We're talking about the WotC version.

Level Up fixes your problem, and WotC doesn't and, in my experience, will never do so. 3pp and homebrew are your only hope to address it IMO, so that's what  I'm talking about.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Why does not being able to use a short sword prevent her from being a mage slayer?

The better question is, why do the new rules demand she no longer knows how to use a short sword?

 

[cbwjm]

The better question is, why do the new rules demand she no longer knows how to use a short sword?

Well, that one is easy to answer, short sword is back to being a martial weapon and monks have proficiency with simple weapons. I've no idea why a short sword would be a prerequisite for being a mage slayer though.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Well, that one is easy to answer, short sword is back to being a martial weapon and monks have proficiency with simple weapons. I've no idea why a short sword would be a prerequisite for being a mage slayer though.

What I mean is, why did they change the rules to provide monks with fewer options?

 

[cbwjm]

What I mean is, why did they change the rules to provide monks with fewer options?

And my question is specifically to do with being a mage slayer, that's what I want to know the answer to. That the monk doesn't have access to short swords has already been established, it's why the absence of that proficiency makes them incapable of being a mage slayer that I'm interested in.

 

[Hussar]

Huh? This very site (when it was still maintained by Eric Noah) came into its influence by dropping previews and leaks about 3e before its release. I'm that old.

Sorry. I misspoke.

Thankfully social media was in its infancy when 3e cam out or we’d still be using THAC0 and percentile strength.

Better?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Gotta say, WotC are mostly doing a good job of renewing my faith in One D&D with this playtest packet. I'd sort of given up after the last two, with a "Not for me" assumption re: One D&D, but this is much better.

The Bard is just like, a long string of correct decisions which will make the class, and the game, easier and more interesting to play. They also show a much deeper understanding of real balance than earlier designs. As such of course I expect the audience to hate it and WotC to have to take it all back, but if that doesn't happen... (Magical Secrets, Dancer subclass, where were these designers earlier?!).

The Druid shows a similarly excellent eye, just really good stuff here. Just good design and Circle of the Sea kicks unexpected ass.

Monks is okay, but needs work. Still balanced around stunning strike. Short swords MIA for some reason.

Paladin generally seems solid, though boo to nerfing the Ancients aura! Divine Smite costing a Bonus Action is going to have to go, though, as it makes a weird mess of the action economy.

Ranger is Ranger, and as ever, fans who I am fairly convinced have never played a Ranger have convinced WotC to include an awful feature, but whaddya gonna do, eh? It's Ranger. It's going to be an overcomplicated, weirdly bland mess.

Rogue seems mostly okay though some of the new ways to use SA are a bit odd.

They've got a lot more stuff refreshing or partially-refreshing on a Short Rest, I see, which I guess is their somewhat questionable attempt to balance Long Rest and Short Rest characters by further encouraging Short Rests. It will fail miserably as long as Short Rests remain 1 hour. This is just bad silly design, and I hope they get over it. If they don't, I suspect whichever company does are more likely to get the groups I play in's business, because every DM I know dislikes this (and most players).

 

[Kurotowa]

Well, that one is easy to answer, short sword is back to being a martial weapon and monks have proficiency with simple weapons. I've no idea why a short sword would be a prerequisite for being a mage slayer though.

Oh, I know this one! I was just looking at feats earlier to mock out what some potential characters might look like. The version of Mage Slayer in the Expect Classes UA has a prerequisite of "Proficiency with any Martial Weapon". Which does mean that cutting the shortsword proficiency from Monk means they don't qualify for it.

Now, this shouldn't shouldn't actually be a surprise if you were keeping up with the UAs. In the same Expert UA that had the Mage Slayer feat, the shortsword was specifically listed in the glossary as a Simple Weapon. So as of that UA, Monks wouldn't have qualified for the feat either. It's only if you created a playtest Monk in the period where shortswords had been reverted to a Martial Weapon but you were still using the 2014 PHB Monk's weapon proficiencies that it might be possible. But it's pretty self-evidently not intended, so I don't expect any changes to allow Monks easy access to Mage Slayer.

 

[Remathilis]

It’s going to be tough explaining to my Monk playtester that she no longer knows how to use a short sword and by virtue of that can no longer be a Mage Slayer. It seems like a rather arbitrary and punitive change on their part?

I get that they wanted to make proficiency simpler to track, but they really nerfed weapon proficiency by doing that.

Barbarian, fighter, ranger, and paladin get martial weapons. Rogues get simple + martial finesse. All other classes get just simple, unless you have an order (cleric/druid) or subclass that gives you martial.

This really hurts monk (shortsword), druid (scimitar) and bard (rapier, longsword and whip). Further, all of the weapon/armor feats are fourth level or higher, meaning a lore bard can't use a rapier until fourth level.

My feedback is to give monk, druid and bard some martial weapon proficiency, such as monks using finesse, druids using light, and bards using martials without the heavy trait. It just feels odd that these classes are losing their iconic weapons and that everyone not a warrior type is going to use spears and maces.

Alternatively, add a first level feat that gives proficiency in some martial weapons. So they PCs don't have to wait until 4th level to use a sword.