Highlights
- Dungeons and Dragons has released a playtest packet for its upcoming One D&D project, which aims to make the core rules more user-friendly.
- The packet includes revisions to the Barbarian, Fighter, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard classes, based on player feedback.
- Changes include returning Barbarian abilities to their original functionality, adding new abilities to Fighters, empowering spells for Sorcerers, and reworking Warlock subclasses.
Dungeons and Dragons recently revealed its seventh Unearthed Arcana for next year’s revision of the core rules. This playtest packet is the next step on the evergreen Dungeons and Dragons 10-year anniversary project referred to as One D&D.
Last year, Dungeons and Dragons announced One D&D, its project to turn 5th Edition into an evergreen system. While not a new edition, Dungeons and Dragons is making a more user-friendly version of the core rules, with the revisions being tested in the Unearthed Arcana packets.
The 54 pages of this packet retread the ground of previous One D&D playtests, revising the Barbarian, Fighter, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard classes based on player feedback. It also introduces the disruptive Path of the World Tree Barbarian and the fistfighting Brawler Fighter subclasses, as well as revisions to certain spells and weapon properties.
Many Barbarian abilities return to their original functionality, and popular optional features from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, like Primal Knowledge and Instinctive Pounce, were baked into the class. The Totem Warrior subclass was renamed to the Path of the Wild Heart as in Baldur's Gate 3 and was almost completely redesigned, while the Path of the Zealot was nerfed to be less unstoppable at high levels.
Fighters receive new abilities like Tactical Shift, Master of Armaments, and Studied Attacks that allow them to maneuver and adapt to any battle. Most of the D&D Fighter subclasses stay the same, but the combat maneuvers from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything were added to the Battlemaster, and the Eldritch Knight can now better weave its multiple attacks and spellcasting together.
Sorcerers can now temporarily empower their spells using Innate Sorcery, and some of their features were changed to synergize with this new ability. The Draconic and Wild Magic subclasses received small buffs and tweaks to allow them to use features more often, or at a lesser cost.
Warlocks returned to their initial Pact Magic design, but they can now regain spell slots using Magical Cunning. Pact Boons were reworked into Invocations, of which Warlocks can choose more. All Warlock subclasses in D&D now know their Patron Spells for free, and the Archfey and Great Old One subclasses were almost completely redesigned, with the former now centered around the enhancing Misty Step, and the latter focusing on Awakened Mind and the Hex spell.
Wizards received the least change, with most of the alterations reverting previous changes, but it got a few small tweaks to Spell Mastery and the subclasses. Counterspell, on the other hand, now uses a saving throw, which many consider to be a huge nerf. Feedback for this Unearthed Arcana opens on September 21, so players might want to consider filling out the survey when it is made available.
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Source: D&D Beyond