D&D (2024) Unearthed Arcana Playtest Packet 7 Live on D&D Beyond

Wizards of the Coast posted the seventh playtest packet for the 2024 update to Dungeons & Dragons. The new playtest packet includes updated class material for the Barbarian, Fighter, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard classes.

Highlights for each class:

Barbarian

• New Path of the World Tree subclass and updated Berserker, Wild Heart (formerly Totem Warrior), and Zealot subclasses.
• Attack recklessly for a full round rather than just one turn.
• Path of the Wild Heart (formerly Path of the Totem Warrior) has updated options.
• Brutal Critical gets damage buffs.

Fighter

• New Brawler subclass excels at using improvised weapons and unarmed strikes.
• Tactical Mind and Tactical Shift expand the use of Second Wind.
• Studied Attacks grants advantage on an attack roll against an enemy after you've missed an attack against them.
• Battle Master and its maneuvers have been updated.

Sorcerer

• Innate Sorcery empowers your spellcasting for a limited time.
• Sorcery Incarnate and Arcane Apotheosis boost your Metamagic while Innate Sorcery is active.
• Sorcerous Restoration is available at 5th level and scales with your sorcerer level.
• Wild Magic Sorcery now more reliably allows you to roll on the Wild Magic Surge table.

Warlock

• Pact Magic is back.
• Eldritch Invocations are now available at 1st level and your options have been revised.
• Pact Boons are now invocations, and Mystic Arcanum is once again a class feature.
• Patron Spells are always prepared.
• Updated Archfey Patron, Celestial Patron, Fiend Patron, Great Old One Patron subclasses.

Wizard

• Spellcasting feature now allows you to swap out a cantrip each long rest.
• Memorize Spell is now a feature. Modify Spell and Create spell have been nixed.
• Updated Abjurer, Diviner, Evoker, and Illusionist subclasses.

Universal changes include a return to class spell lists, more features from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, and update to some of the spells including arcane eruption, sorcerous burst, counterspell, and jump.

The official Dungeons & Dragons YouTube account also posted an almost 90-minute-long video doing a deep dive on the playtest packet.

 

[Parmandur]

Still no chance of having Warlocks based on INT or WIS spell casting abilities. This is a disappointment for me, and I can’t see why it can’t be included.

Actually, the rest seems alright and, in some cases pretty good. Are these the Subclasses that they are likely to stick with for these Classes? I’m still in two minds about whether to invest in a not-a-new edition.

Apparently, that was poorly received I'm the surveys. If something works fine but is poorly received, WotC will still drop it. Being well received is what theybare testing for here.

 

[Garmel]

Seems like the final class design is coming into focus...

Martials got a significant overhaul.

Spellcasters went through big changes only to end up where they started.

I'm sad that some of the boldest ideas ended up on the cutting room floor, but 2024 looks like a good iteration of the game.

Yep. Martials got a pretty good upgrade which they needed.

 

[Yaarel]

Yeah it's quite a thing to say your rules approach is "natural language" and then pull out serious jargon like that. Plenty of TT RPG players I know would genuinely be confused by that usage.

I can say sentences with a transitive verb like:
"They magicked food whenever they got hungry." (= conjured).
"The wizard magicked a blast of fire." (= evoked).
"The sorcerer magicked them into blissful distraction." (= enchanted).
"The druid magicked her skin into bark." (= transmuted).
"The bard magicked himself invisible." (= illuded).

Etcetera.

And in these ways mean, used magic to cast a spell.

 

[Yaarel]

Heh, the obvious occurs to me. The playtest designers ignore the Bladesinger because they are only choosing Wizard subclasses that are in the 2014 Players Handbook. Referring to the traditional "spell schools" created so many sprawling subclasses, the Wizard feels all over the place. Reducing them down to four comes across as an attempt to consolidate them.

It might help to combine some the school concepts together to form a more wellrounded subclass concept.


Evoker (fire, air, water) might combine with transmuter (earth, plant, animal) for an elementalist concept.

Illusionist (force constructs) might combine with telekinetic effects (including flight).

Diviner (seeing across spacetime and planes of existence) might combine with teleporter (traveling across spacetime) and conjurer (summoning from other planes).

Abjurer is an eclectic mix of any school in a way that is protective and restorative, but should grant the subclass access to healing spells as well, which are an important part of the abjuration school.


I would actually remove enchantment and necromancy from the Wizard spell list. Make the Bard and the Warlock the go-to enchanters. Make the Cleric and the Warlock the go-to necromancers.


These more encompassing four Wizard subclasses represent most of the spells in the game, in a way that helps define the concept of what a Wizard is.

 

[doctorhook]

I'm pretty sure that is literally what they are doing. Hasboro is a for-profit company, and appealing to the broadest possible group of players in the way to make the most money.

Certainly. But there’s a real risk in that marketing strategy: if you aim too broadly, you risk losing your audience due to lack of specificity. I think D&D leans too hard upon brand recognition, which protects it for now but won’t last forever; someday it’s competitors will make real headway against D&D, and D&D will need to compete on its merits again.

 

[Parmandur]

Certainly. But there’s a real risk in that marketing strategy: if you aim too broadly, you risk losing your audience due to lack of specificity. I think D&D leans too hard upon brand recognition, which protects it for now but won’t last forever; someday it’s competitors will make real headway against D&D, and D&D will need to compete on its merits again.

I mean, that's why WotC spends so much time on gathering data with these tests and surveys. They are light-years ahead on having data compared to their competition, and that's how you figure out how to balance and appeal to customers.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Apparently, that was poorly received I'm the surveys. If something works fine but is poorly received, WotC will still drop it. Being well received is what theybare testing for here.

So having choice and a wider range of character archetypes being represented is poorly received? That’s marvellous.

 

[Parmandur]

So having choice is poorly received? That’s marvellous.

Apparently. People felt strongly that the varied casting stats were not appropriate, so WotC dropped it like it's hot.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I can say sentences with a transitive verb like:
"They magicked food whenever they got hungry." (= conjured).
"The wizard magicked a blast of fire." (= evoked).
"The sorcerer magicked them into blissful distraction." (= enchanted).
"The druid magicked her skin into bark." (= transmuted).
"The bard magicked himself invisible." (= illuded).

Etcetera.

And in these ways mean, used magic to cast a spell.

No-one talks like that lol.

Just because you can technically abuse English in that way, doesn't make it "natural language". Particularly as it makes you sound like a child or caveman!

 

[doctorhook]

I mean, that's why WotC spends so much time on gathering data with these tests and surveys. They are light-years ahead on having data compared to their competition, and that's how you figure out how to balance and appeal to customers.

No doubt, I know they’ve got enviable market research capabilities and a clear strategy: they want to be the most popular game forever. But market research fails often enough that missteps are common even among the biggest companies. And if WotC rides on its brand too much, it could easily end up like BMW—a famous brand increasingly known for quality issues. Mature brands like D&D are in a precarious position.

I’m not saying D&D is trash. Mostly I just wish modern D&D had a bit more focus and theme like some of its competitors do. One of these days, somebody will give D&D a run for its money.