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.

Claim Unearthed Arcana now! - D&D Beyond

www.dndbeyond.com

​

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.

 

[Kurotowa]

I think the epic boons were ridiculously weak to be called epic... but would've made for fine lv11 abilities for non-casters.

On the weak side and, due to their nature, generic and unrelated to your other class features. Which is not what a good 20th level capstone should be.

 

[Mistwell]

Nevermind this post already responded to

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Summon Beast puts a corpereal spirit, which means that it is physical at the time it exists.

If you are gonna just refuse to acknowledge the difference, I guess there’s nowhere to go from there.

Summon Beast is not the same to Conjure Animals. It doesn’t do the same job, it doesn’t just replace it. It is an alternative option that works differently.

In fact, the Summon spells have very little freedom, which is offset by being simpler. That simple vs versatile choice is worth keeping in the game.

 

[bedir than]

If you are gonna just refuse to acknowledge the difference, I guess there’s nowhere to go from there.

Summon Beast is not the same to Conjure Animals. It doesn’t do the same job, it doesn’t just replace it. It is an alternative option that works differently.

In fact, the Summon spells have very little freedom, which is offset by being simpler. That simple vs versatile choice is worth keeping in the game.

Your previous claim was that they don't put physical creatures on the board that act like their type.
The reality is the Tasha's Summons do that.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Your previous claim was that they don't put physical creatures on the board that act like their type.
The reality is the Tasha's Summons do that.

You’re nitpicking. I’m not interested.

The don’t allow the same gambits. Unless you can show me a large flying creature that can be summoned with Summon Beast and a 3rd level spell slot, you haven’t made any point at all, you’ve just nitpicked my wording.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

Yeah, they are absolutely awful, just kills the fun of these spells.

What you call fun, I call an unbalanced nightmare. shrug

I think the new versions are on the right path, they just need a playtest pass. Like Conjure Elemental would be fixed if it affects creatures that get 10ft. away from it, rather than 5ft./adjacent. That means the caster can stand next to it and if anyone wants to go toe-to-toe with the caster, they have to deal with the Elemental spirit, and might get dragged in.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

This one's going to be divisive, I expect. I mean, I LOVE these new Conjure spells.

Is anyone out there in the middle-ground? Where you're just like, "Meh, they're fine, I guess."

Because it seems like a lot of love/hate.

The only thing I'd change is to make it more explicit that there's a Celestial creature inside that pillar of light, and not just a pillar.

I love them. They need this playtest pass, though. Conjure Elemental needs to be able to react to creatures who move within 10ft. of the Spirit (simulating reach). THAT would actually help the caster a lot. Currently, enemies can still just melee the caster while staying out of reach.

For a 5th level spell, it needs more bite. If it is just area denial that doesn't hurt anyone because it is avoided, I can use a lower level area denial spell.

Conjure Minor Elementals sounds pretty great for a 4th level spell, but they have to be careful about multi-attack spells. Sure, the Druid/Wizard can dip for Eldritch Blast, but Wizard and Wildfire Druid get Scorching Ray... Actually... maybe I like this for Scorching Ray. A 4th level buff that enables my Scorching Ray to annihilate the enemies who dare get within 15 feet of me? I'd like to test this.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

Neither the Tasha’s spells or these UA spells do what was most valuable about the existing conjure spells. They don’t put a physical creature on the board that can operate pretty freely as a creature of its type.

And this is what I don't like. I don't like players conjuring independent Monster Manual statblock monsters that can use all their crazy spell abilities for the cost of one of the caster's spells. I don't like the lore of summoning real creatures from elsewhere and getting them killed. That is not heroic.

I prefer the conjuring of immortal, unkillable "spirits" to be called upon for combat, as that is their purpose. If they are destroyed or dispelled, no living thing was harmed.

Of course, I also prefer when a pet class summons a spirit that takes the form of a "pet," like the Find Familiar or the Drakewarden subclass, that have PC-balanced, scaling stat blocks as opposed to DM-balanced Monster Manual stat blocks. As alluded to above, I really don't like living animal pets being used as class combat abilities. You can't expect your pet wolf to survive a dragon fight. It's a sacrifice tantamount to animal cruelty.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

And this is what I don't like. I don't like players conjuring independent Monster Manual statblock monsters that can use all their crazy spell abilities for the cost of one of the caster's spells.

Then don’t let them cast spells.

I don't like the lore of summoning real creatures from elsewhere and getting them killed. That is not heroic.

That isn’t the lore of the conjure spells. I see nothing in the spell that suggests that the wolves I summon are real wolves rather than spirits made corporeal in the form of wolves nor to think that these spirits die when defeated.

I prefer the conjuring of immortal, unkillable "spirits" to be called upon for combat, as that is their purpose. If they are destroyed or dispelled, no living thing was harmed.

Spirits are…sentient living beings in D&D.

Of course, I also prefer when a pet class summons a spirit that takes the form of a "pet," like the Find Familiar or the Drakewarden subclass, that have PC-balanced, scaling stat blocks as opposed to DM-balanced Monster Manual stat blocks. As alluded to above, I really don't like living animal pets being used as class combat abilities. You can't expect your pet wolf to survive a dragon fight. It's a sacrifice tantamount to animal cruelty.

Eh this I am just not concerned with. BM rangers should be able to revive their pet anyway, so whether it’s a “real” or a manifested spirit creature doesn’t strike me as all that significant a difference.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

You’re nitpicking. I’m not interested.

The don’t allow the same gambits. Unless you can show me a large flying creature that can be summoned with Summon Beast and a 3rd level spell slot, you haven’t made any point at all, you’ve just nitpicked my wording.

So that invalidates the fly spell at higher levels so that should be gone.

The Summon Spells fill the role I as a GM want the old conjure spells to fill.