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.

 

[Shardstone]

The new conjure spells have very sleek design. I am impressed with these more then anything else.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

I don't have super strong feelings about Wildshape, but this does seem to me that this "PHB is the only selection of Beasts that we will vouch for in regards to Druid balance" approach would open up Beast design for Monsters in the MM and future Monster books, and provide a certain set of built-in safety guidelines whike still leaving DMs and tables free to go crazy and use other options.

Yes. My group will continue to use beasts from all sources for wildshape, including 3pp and homebrew. This however gives Players and DMs a smaller and more curated list that they can choose from that are more manageable while allowing the design team to try their hand at creating more mechanically interesting beast.

 

[Remathilis]

Did cure spells really need a buff?

Yes. The best use of healing magic is to wait until you are at 0, and then have the healer heal you back up, lather Rinse repeat. Damage outpaced healing by a large amount.

 

[Minigiant]

Did cure spells really need a buff?

In combat healing was bad. Cure Wounds was only good for in combat healing. Which was bad.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Hmmm, Druid people with passion about Wildshape, what think ye?

Owlbears in the PHB, confirmed!

 

[Neonchameleon]

Hmmm, Druid people with passion about Wildshape, what think ye?

This is wildshape by committee. It ticks the boxes and avoids the really obnoxious parts. Wildshape is basically a utility ability where the important forms are horse (for overland travel), spider (for scouting), and owl/bat (for flight) at level 8.

Pretty disappointed on the Moon Druid. No other druid is going to use it much - but what I want from the shapeshifting specialist is to lean in hard to the shapeshifting part and go owlbear, dinosaur, or even at higher level creatures I've literally invented. This is where the templates would be good. A misty stepper that casts in combat is a weird fantasy.

Monks get a major, fat power boost.

They needed it. And they've also lost some of the nice mastery bonuses.

 

[Minigiant]

Monks can punch 5 times at level 10.

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

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.

 

[Parmandur]

They needed it. And they've also lost some of the nice mastery bonuses.

Well, that's where the power budget came from.

 

[Kurotowa]

Thoughts:

While it's pretty obvious they went, "Cunning Strike is so popular, let's try making Brutal Strike for the Barbarian", I can't say they're wrong. It's probably a good thing, but may have to be deployed strategically. I wouldn't want to give up Advantage against a high AC target like a dragon. Hmm, I wonder if Brutal Critical sacrifices all Advantage, or if you also get it from a secondary source you still have it?

When it comes to Wildshape, I don't have a dog in the race. It's messy and a little broken, but the people who love it really love it, so I hope they get something they can live with. I think the change to restricting form picks to the PHB by default is smart. It means they're less constrained with future additions, while still allowing it if the DM approves.

I gotta digest the Monk changes. Losing Weapon Mastery but regaining Monk Weapons seems to be mostly good; the bigger Martial Arts die means it's now mainly about being able to use good magic weapons, should you get one. Importantly, though, this will give Monks access to those feats that require proficiency with a Martial Weapon. So that's a big upgrade.

The rest of the Monk package is a lot, but Monks did need it. Uncanny Metabolism, Deflect Attacks, all the basic Discipline effects having a free use version and an upgraded version that costs a DP, all the basic Discipline effects upgrading at 10th level... this is good stuff. I'll have to mock up a character or two and see what they look like.

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. They also pumped up the power and scaling of the healing spells, which honestly they needed. Now maybe they'll be used for more than yo-yo band-aids.