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.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Thats kinda what a "longbow" is. It is huge.

Yes, that was my point. Having a longbow on the equipment list for a game about crawling in dungeons is inherently ridiculous.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Why force 'realism' onto some peoples' characters that will expressly make them worse to play when you're not willing to do so with all the others? Or let it go the other way where it would make them better?

Elves and dwarves get a penalty to being grappled because they come with easy handles, giants crush their own bones standing up, humans die when they get hosed down with fire or struck with a supersonic unerring softball made of force.

 

[Remathilis]

Yes, that was my point. Having a longbow on the equipment list for a game about crawling in dungeons is inherently ridiculous.

See also: about 20 some named polearms.

 

[Eubani]

Ah Verisimilitude the favorite beat stick of the Society for Spellcasting Supremacy, no other implement of pain and suffering has hurt Martials more. The spell Power Word Verisimilitude should forever be removed from the pages of the game, thus we can better enjoy our Martials and drink deeply of the tears that result.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Ah Verisimilitude the favorite beat stick of the Society for Spellcasting Supremacy, no other implement of pain and suffering has hurt Martials more. The spell Power Word Verisimilitude should forever be removed from the pages of the game, thus we can better enjoy our Martials and drink deeply of the tears that result.

Wow. That is some name calling there.
You know there are shades of grey between black and white.
Asking how a halfling can draw a longbow made foe human sized arms is not allowed anymore?

 

[Vikingkingq]

You know there are shades of grey between black and white.

FWIW, I don't think it's necessarily all or nothing either. After all, it's all a means to an end of people being able to enjoy the game.

So, for example, there's absolutely no reason there couldn't be a "recurve bow" that had the exact same game statistics as the longbow, but had descriptive text about it being a shorter bow originally designed for horse archers that compensates for its lack of height with greater power in the limbs, but which has been adopted by adventurers from shorter species who appreciate the ease of use in tight spaces.

That way, the arms and armor nerds get worldbuilding that doesn't clash with their knowledge of medieval weapons and the people who just want to play a halfling ranger or rogue who uses a bow get to do that and probably won't care what the name of the bow is.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

I propose that short bows and long bows get renamed to no longer be based on a percieved length, but of strength and power through pull.

Rather than a short bow, call it a hunting bow (or a light bow if you like the crossbow naming convention).
Rather than a long bow, call it a war bow (or a heavy bow as it has the heavy weapon property).

Maybe I'll just use that terminology in my own worldbuilding just for fun.

 

[Eubani]

We never hear talk about if different species could use various magics or not. Nothing Like heavy or weapon size discussions for magic equivalents. It's always how to make life harder for weapon users, take something away from them or stop them from getting a new toy.

 

[Pauln6]

This comes from a time when there were pros and cons to playing different species. They were based on stories and legends and were not well balanced against each other (neither were the classes) but you just got on with it. Halflings were fairly weak fighters long term but I still played them and I still had fun. Fighter-thieves were decent enough and you just wielded the weapons you were allowed to wield. You didn't even get dex to attack rolls in melee. I do find it interesting that attitudes have drifted to this point and that even the minor penalties and limitations that have not yet been excised are so toxic to some people despite the fact that they've never had it so good.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

I do find it interesting that attitudes have drifted to this point and that even the minor penalties and limitations that have not yet been excised are so toxic to some people despite the fact that they've never had it so good.

As someone who misses race-as-class for actually making the demihumans feel unique... Design-wise, I still prefer players dealing with opportunity costs (like, reroll 1s versus critting harder) rather than being pigeon-holed into only using certain race/class combinations because of penalties.