D&D (2024) Unearthed Arcana Playtest Packet 6 Video

[the Jester]

Presumably they’ll go back to being an option for post-20th-level advancement though, which will mean 90% of groups never use them.

Not the fact that most people don't play at high levels, but moving them back to 20+? This is good. High level stuff should require high levels. Epic material should require epic pcs. If you want to play with epic material, play high levels. The game needs more stuff that promotes high level play, and moving epic material to sub-epic levels is exactly the opposite of that.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Oh good. They're doubling down on abandoning the first two levels to 0-levels.

And people thought shrinkflation couldn't come to RPGs.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

As a heads up, the UA pdf is out now:

Claim Unearthed Arcana now! - D&D Beyond

www.dndbeyond.com

Video overview is scheduled to release in ~1 hour:

 

[TerraDave]

Beat by two minutes. It’s there.

 

[the Jester]

I really hope Fighters get something new, cause they pretty much have no defining features besides like Action Surge(one more "fighter-esque" action per short rest woohoo) now that every martial has access to Weapon Masteries. Sure they have Weapon Expert, but that's at level 7 which most campaigns end around the end of T2 and there is absolutely no way that ODND fixed the issue of T3 and T4 being unplayable.

Just because you don't play it doesn't make it unplayable. The top level pc in my campaign is 20th and just got his tenth epic boon. High and epic levels are absolutely playable. They just aren't well-supported and most groups don't make it long enough to reach the top levels; and it's much much MUCH harder to run a good super high or epic level game if you didn't play through the lower levels.

 

[the Jester]

...a sub-system that was never used by people in the first place

I keep seeing this asserted, but I have used exhaustion very often in my game, so it's definitely not completely unused. I've had a good number barbarians with "and gain a level of exhaustion" subclasses (one of them is a homebrew that has seen multiple pcs play them; I've seen I think three or four 5e berserkers); I have used it in lieu of damage in environmental challenges (surviving a steep mountain descent during a major storm); I've used it to adjust the difficulty of monsters (e.g. "this ironmaw is starving and has four levels of exhaustion" with the effects built into the stat block)... I've used it a ton. I know it isn't popular with a lot of groups, but it's certainly not "never used".

 

[Minigiant]

, I would be satisfied if:
• The Players Handbook switches the Warlock to the long rest schedule.
• The DMs Guide offers a variant spell point system that refreshes with a short rest.

There should be a long and short rest version of each class in the DMG.

That's something the 5e designers missed due to them rushing development of the DMG.

 

[the Jester]

There should be a long and short rest version of each class in the DMG.

That's something the 5e designers missed due to them rushing development of the DMG.

I'd prefer if they made every pc have short rest reliant abilities in order to lean into short rests, instead of away from them; and then provide the DM with advice on setting how long a short rest takes for their game and the implications of various choices.

 

[Yaarel]

There should be a long and short rest version of each class in the DMG.

That's something the 5e designers missed due to them rushing development of the DMG.

It can be as simple as:
• Slots use a long rest refresh
• Points use a short rest refresh

The slots would be the default in the Players Handbook.


As a player, I prefer points. So it is vital that slots and points balance well with each other.

As a DM, I would not use both at the same time. Either everything would be slots, or else points. This is to simplify rest timing, resource depletion and restoration, and so on. I would lack either choice to work equally well. I suspect the short-rest points will balance the casters better and more consistently with Fighters and the other at-will classes.

 

[mellored]

Link

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