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.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

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!

Mod Note:

The coda to your post is a bit provocative. Do better going forward.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

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!

As a whole, your post arguably ignores a variety of current American slang that is popular enough to wind up in advertisements.

 

[doctorhook]

Maybe. But when the dominant game does things one way, maybe that's what works for most people?

Maybe. But it’s a matter of fact that the majority of people who play D&D are casual players who have only ever played D&D and likely can’t name any of D&D’s competitors. They literally don’t know any alternatives. So why so quick to discount the impact of marketing in explaining D&D’s market dominance?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

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

The broader community prefers archetypes and tropes.

 

[Parmandur]

Maybe. But it’s a matter of fact that the majority of people who play D&D are casual players who have only ever played D&D and likely can’t name any of D&D’s competitors. They literally don’t know any alternatives. So why so quick to discount the impact of marketing in explaining D&D’s market dominance?

Plenty of people are familiar with alternatives and still prefer D&D.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

blade. Mainly because I think the hexblade loses its identity the moment it goes from "mage warrior" to "fledgeling necromancer"

Its identity was never “mage warrior”, nor does it become “fledgling necromancer”.

Its identity is “Eldritch warrior that uses dark magic to curse and draw power from enemies to gain power themselves” Hexblades curse speaks to the same identity as the specter thing at level 6. Using magic to become capable of martial might also adds to that vibe, but I don’t think it’s accidental that Hexblade’s Curse works just as well on magical attacks as it does on weapon attacks.

 

[Kalmi]

Plenty of people are familiar with alternatives and still prefer D&D.

While that is true, given D&D's brand awareness vs. literally any other TTRPG, to the point D&D is more or less synonymous with it in the west, I would say the majority of D&D players are not in fact familiar with other TTRPGs whatsoever, and probably could not name more than 3 at most.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Its identity was never “mage warrior”, nor does it become “fledgling necromancer”.

Its identity is “Eldritch warrior that uses dark magic to curse and draw power from enemies to gain power themselves” Hexblades curse speaks to the same identity as the specter thing at level 6. Using magic to become capable of martial might also adds to that vibe, but I don’t think it’s accidental that Hexblade’s Curse works just as well on magical attacks as it does on weapon attacks.

Pre 5e Hexblade had a strong identity, in 3.5e it was its own class, in 4e it was a whole bunch of Warlock subclasses or something, that honestly had the most flavour of any Hexblade version, but in 5e it was a band aid for the Bladelock, and given lame lore, Hexblade was never supposed to be a Patron type, it was a pact type that could mesh with any Patron. They should rename the old Hexblade subclass Duskblade, and rename Pact of the Blade to Pact of the Hexblade.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

As a whole, your post arguably ignores a variety of current American slang that is popular enough to wind up in advertisements.

Respectfully but firmly disagree. I know exactly the language (particularly re cleaning and cooking products and so on) you mean but it is not typically used to refer to actual magic (rather metaphorical magic) and it's deployed with vastly more subtlety and fluency - words like conjure and enchant and so on would typically be used, rather than "magic" in literally the vast majority of the examples (as the examples even seemed to agree, given the parenthetical text). I don't know what the best way to put this is, so I will try to be as neutral as possible, but using "magic" as single-mindedly as described, as a verb makes one sound as if they either speaking unnaturally and affectedly on purpose (which is absolutely fine, I love Planescape slang for example but is certainly not "natural language"), or as if one doesn't know a better term so is the best term they can (again fine, but it's imho not a good or a natural use of language). YMMV of course.

All that said this isn't anywhere near the worst sin of unnatural language in 5E. It does imho help to show the natural language goal is a bit of a false economy imho.

 

[dave2008]

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!

While it may not be common, I have heard it before. Heck, I have seen it on these very forums. So your "no-one" is clearly gross hyperbole.