Wizards of the Coast released a new Dungeons & Dragons Unearthed Arcana playtest material, revising previous playtests for 6 classes. Plus, the Monk class finally gets attention – but to less-than-stellar results.
- New Dungeons & Dragons playtest material revises the Monk class.
- Monk abilities have been buffed, but some changes seem trivial.
- Monks now gain Discipline Points instead of Ki Points.
- Monks still have lower hit points and lack armor and shields.
- Feedback on the playtest material can be submitted on July 20, 2023.
The D&D design team is hard at work with developing the revisions for the 2024 release of a new edition for Dungeons & Dragons. Despite the issues and controversies WotC and Hasbro have had in the past year, including the backlash to the proposed Open Gaming License changes with OGL 1.1 and OGL 1.2, Dungeons and Dragons remains the most popular tabletop roleplaying game in the world.
The newest playtest material for the upcoming One D&D revision was released via D&D Beyond on June 30, 2023.
The overwhelming response from the community helped make this the LARGEST playtest document so far.
Game Design Architect @JeremyECrawford is here to walk us through the updates: https://t.co/blUdsohgAC pic.twitter.com/Qzr5lmieRB
— Dungeons & Dragons (@Wizards_DnD) June 29, 2023
Previous playest releases have covered a number of the character classes, including the Druid’s Wild Shape that draws inspiration from the recent live action film, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
The new playtest content is probably the largest so far, featuring both new content and updates to previously released Unearthed Arcana. The Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger, and Rogue classes are revisited from the previous playtest releases.
Notable examples of these revisited rules for D&D Character Classes include the Bard getting a new College of Dance Subclass, Druids having the option to convert Wild Shape uses into spell slots (and vice versa), Paladins and Rangers getting new spells unique to their class, and Rogues being able to trade Sneak Attack damage for other tactical effects with their Cunning Strike.
But the most anticipated D&D Character Class finally gets its time in the sun: The Monk. However, while some of the Monk abilities and features have been given much needed buffs, some changes seem trivial or even laughable when scaled with other classes of the same level.
The Monk Character Class finally gets increased Martial Arts dice. In Fifth Edition D&D, the Monk started with a 1d4 Martial Arts die and increased to a d10. With the new playtest, this gets boosted to a 1d6 at 1st Level and progresses to 1d12 at 17th Level. On the downside, this only applies to Unarmed Strikes. Under the previous rules, Monks could choose to replace the damage of Monk weapons with Martial Arts dice.
The Deflect Missiles ability has also been changed to make it more useful, dealing more damage and occurring more often. At Level 13, a Monk upgrades this to Deflect Energy, allowing players to fulfill their Dragon Ball Z dreams.
The problem is this upgrade happens so late in the life of a Monk character. As most D&D campaigns rarely go higher than Level 10, many players may never get to use it. Furthermore, other classes at that level have far more powerful options. For example, a Wizard of 13th Level can cast Level 7 spells such as Force Cage, Finger of Death, and Simulacrum, while a Paladin is dealing additional 1d8 radiant damage with their weapons.
Perhaps the biggest change is instead of Ki Points, Monks gain Discipline Points. Starting at Level 2, a Monk gets a number of Discipline Points to fuel some of their special abilities. For instance, they can spend 1 Discipline Point to use Flurry of Blows which gives two Unarmed Strikes as a Bonus Action. However, the Stunning Strike ability can now only be used once per turn and the Stunned condition now only lasts until the start of the Monk’s next turn, instead of the end of their next turn.
Overall, while there are nice additions to the Monk class such as Superior Defense and Defy Death, the Monk is still hampered by lower hit points (d8 per level), the lack of armor and shields, and their more useful abilities coming so late in their level advancement.
Aside from the class-specific updates in the playtest material, there are new tentative rules applicable to multiple character classes. Weapon Mastery rules have been expanded to include the Monk, Paladin, Ranger, and Rogue classes, as well as Clerics that choose the War Domain. However, these Clerics can only take the Mastery property for a single weapon.
Moreover, the Subclass progression was previously being tested to follow a standardized pace. But the new playtest release goes back to Subclass feature progression from the 2014 Fifth Edition D&D Player’s Handbook. Another feature the D&D design team is stepping back from is the Epic Boon given as a Capstone for all classes reaching Level 20.
D&D players using the Unearthed Arcana playtest material can submit their feedback when the survey opens through D&D Beyond on July 20, 2023.
