Dungeons & Dragons telegraphs 5th edition changes in major release
A plethora of Dungeons & Dragons playtest material launched Thursday represents the largest set of proposed changes to the game’s popular 5th edition ruleset to date. The Unearthed Arcana document is running 77 pagesand includes substantive changes to seven core classes of the Player’s Handbook (2014) – bard, cleric, druid, monk, paladin, ranger and villain. Playtest feedback will open with a survey on July 11.
D&D publisher Wizards of the Coast is in the midst of recasting the core rules of the iconic role-playing game. Initially dubbed “One D&D,” Hasbro’s Seattle-based subsidiary now refers to these updates as the revised 2024 Core Rulebooks. Three such revised rulebooks will be rolled out over the course of next year and will be referred to by their original names with the year of their revision appended to the title – so Player’s Handbook (2024), Dungeon Master guide (2024), and Monstrous manual (2024). While these books will be fully compatible with the earlier 2014 versions – and with every fifth edition book published for the TTRPG to date – they also represent a new starting point for future content.
Back in May, game design architect Chris Perkins explained why these new books were so necessary, almost a decade after a wildly successful new edition of the game.
“For so many people, those books are their introductory experience with the game,” game design architect Chris Perkins said in a group interview with the press in May. “Those books are more compact than some of our later books, the monsters aren’t as easy or fun to play as some of our more recent books, and finding things isn’t as easy. […] So make sure our gateway to the game is so strong, so beautiful, [and] being as accessible as possible is very important to the longevity of the game, I think – and just for people’s enjoyment.
Included in today’s release a video of almost an hour with game design architect Jeremy Crawford, as well as shorter class-specific videos. It’s important to note that none of these changes are final, and the Wizards team relies on feedback from its players before design decisions become final. You can download the playtest materials for free at the D&D Beyond website.
The next D&D book on the roll to be published is Bigby presents: Glory of the Giants, a wealth of new and revised giant enemies and other goodies, such as new spells and character backgrounds. Pre-orders made through the Wizards of the Coast website receive a digital version of the book for free. You can read more in our summary of the Wizards release calendar for 2023 and 2024.