So, of the playtests so far (including those that got "replaced" later by newer version), which class/specialization do you think is the biggest winner, so far? Which one are you most excited to play?
I am very thinly learning towards Fighter, including all of the specializations for it. Looks like it got a really nice facelift, even if rather subtle.
Evocation Wizard, Great Old One Warlock, and Land Druid are my choice’s.
Evocation Wizard: Improved Potent Cantrip and made it 3rd level instead of 6th.
Great Old One Warlock: Took one of the weakest Warlock subclasses and turned it into probably the best one. I also like the addition of Skeleton with Pact of Chain.
Land Druid: Wildshape Improvements, Land’s Aid, Wild Resurgence, and Natural Recovery make for a very deadly character
Rogue and Fighter as a whole are really looking good. Cunning Action is just brilliant, and the "Tactical" abilities from Fighter are quite interesting. I just wish that Master of Armaments was stronger. Eldritch Knight actually looks like it might be pretty interesting to try out with the improvements to all the cantrips and how you can smoothly integrate them into the Fighter's round by round actions.
Casters are... well, solid I guess. Quality of life changes are good, but I'm just not excited by any of them.
Base Class Winner: Tie between Rogue and Fighter; both chassis got major improvements. Honorable mention to Sorcerer now that they have a decent number of spells known.
Subclass Winner: Berserker Barbarian went from garbage-tier to great. Honorable mentions go to Assassin Rogue, Glamor Bard, Trickery Cleric and Wild Magic Sorcerer.
Base Class Winner: Warlock (in UA7) being able to have multiple pact boons, option for a 3rd attack with your pact weapon at level 11, and fixes to a lot of the invocations.
Subclass Winners: Land Druid & Beserker Barbarian - Land druid was just terrible all the way from 2nd level to 20th level and now it's the one I want to play most of all, Beserker was always a great class except for their 3rd level feature, that's been fixed so now they are a total powerhouse.
Base Class Winner: Warlock (in UA7) being able to have multiple pact boons, option for a 3rd attack with your pact weapon at level 11, and fixes to a lot of the invocations.
Subclass Winners: Land Druid & Beserker Barbarian - Land druid was just terrible all the way from 2nd level to 20th level and now it's the one I want to play most of all, Beserker was always a great class except for their 3rd level feature, that's been fixed so now they are a total powerhouse.
I'm hesitant to declare wins for classes that are still very much in flight like Warlock, Druid and Ranger, until we see the final product or something closer to.
Land Druid I agree got nice buffs, but it was honestly fine before too so I didn't view that as big of an increase as Trickery or Glamor, much less Berserker.
I think I'd say Fighter is the overall winner so far. The base class got some nice improvements to 2014 features(increased uses of Second Wind, an improved Indomitable), the advanced ways to make use of Weapon Masteries over other classes, and the three new features added in UA7 all look like they should be quite fun. Tactical Mind and Tactical Shift provide intriguing new uses for Second Wind beyond emergency healing. And the new Studied Attacks is a really nice combat boost that leans into the "student of combat" flavor of the Fighter. It also emphasizes the Fighter's focus on consistent damage dealing rather than the spike damage potential of classes like the Paladin and Rogue. I also think all three of the existing subclasses that got revised in UA7 are all good improvements. The new Brawler looks interesting, but probably needs some more work.
There are some definite Honorable Mentions, though:
The base Rogue is looking quite good, though it feels much like the post-Tasha's Rogue. The new Cunning Strikes looks very cool however, and we're already seeing them use it as a framework for subclass features.
While I still think the base Ranger isn't there yet(basing multiple features on their Wisdom modifier makes them more MAD than they already were), I really like the new Beastmaster. The changes from the post-Tasha's Beastmaster are modest, but useful. I love my current Drakewarden Ranger, and I think I'm definitely going to enjoy the new Beastmaster.
The new Circle Of The Sea Druid isn't ready for prime-time yet, but conceptually I love it. It's a natural(pardon the pun) direction for them to take the Druid and I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner.
There are no winners. This entire process has been a fourteen-month disaster. If anyone has any damn hope left for the 2024 books, they're deluded. Anything worth getting excited about, anything worth calling a "winner", has been ruined, destroyed, discarded, and forgotten. All that's left is the bitter ashes of a burned dream.
There are no winners. This entire process has been a fourteen-month disaster. If anyone has any damn hope left for the 2024 books, they're deluded. Anything worth getting excited about, anything worth calling a "winner", has been ruined, destroyed, discarded, and forgotten. All that's left is the bitter ashes of a burned dream.
Fighter's cooler. Rogue got some nice features, too. They did a good job fixing the majority of the problematic subclasses. As far as bitter ashes of burned dreams go, it's not so bad.
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Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
Sorcerers. The slight super sayan flavour they got in the last UA they were in is just chef's kiss. Their unique spell and cantrip are also decent and lean in into a blaster/chaotic spellcaster role. Really looking towards playing them.
There are no winners. This entire process has been a fourteen-month disaster. If anyone has any damn hope left for the 2024 books, they're deluded. Anything worth getting excited about, anything worth calling a "winner", has been ruined, destroyed, discarded, and forgotten. All that's left is the bitter ashes of a burned dream.
While I still think the base Ranger isn't there yet(basing multiple features on their Wisdom modifier makes them more MAD than they already were), I really like the new Beastmaster. The changes from the post-Tasha's Beastmaster are modest, but useful. I love my current Drakewarden Ranger, and I think I'm definitely going to enjoy the new Beastmaster.
The new Circle Of The Sea Druid isn't ready for prime-time yet, but conceptually I love it. It's a natural(pardon the pun) direction for them to take the Druid and I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner.
Yeah; I don't mind Foe Slayer being based on Wis (by the time you hit the capstone you should either be able to max out your Wisdom - or hey, maybe they'll get around to adding the Periapt!) but I'd prefer if Favored Enemy, Tireless, and Nature's Veil were based on proficiency bonus.
Circle of the Sea is really powerful right now. Concentration-free and wildshape-free flight - amazing! Three resistances - great! Action-free pushes, amazing! Sure the latter is a Con save, but at least you're not wasting anything if it fails.
Those who gain the most in fun are fighter and rogue. Especially the fighter that was boring, and now it will be possible to play with more than half a brain.
Also mention that mechanically the Ranger also gains a lot compared to 2014. But because it incorporates things from Tasha, where they had already fixed it.
I'm inclined to go with the fighter, because it got several upgrades I would rate as 'amazing' -- new Indomitable, new Relentless, new Improved War Magic -- and a number of solidly useful upgrades (tactical mind, student of war, remarkable athlete, heroic warrior, spell schools unrestricted, war magic).
The only other upgrade that really struck me as 'wow, they really did that?' was stroke of luck on the rogue.
It looks like the biggest improvements have been to the classes that hit things with sharp objects, which is fine, IMO. The Martial/Caster divide is still a thing, but will hopefully be less of one than previously. Casters seem to mainly be getting some clarifications and quality of life improvements (such as wizards getting some schools spells independent of cash flow), but I'll have to wait and see what happens in the last couple of PHB focused playtests. But if I was to put a number to the next edition based on what I have been seeing, it certainly wouldn't be 6th, or even a 5.5. 5.25 tops, maybe only version 5.1.
Biggest improvement probably the rogue or fighter. Biggest winner full casters because they didn't nerf them at least yet. The spells will tell the tale.
Biggest improvement probably the rogue or fighter. Biggest winner full casters because they didn't nerf them at least yet. The spells will tell the tale.
Ideally they should tone down the overpowered ones, and boost the underpowered ones, but until more comprehensive spell lists appear we can't answer that. Find Traps should actually find traps, and Heat Metal is truly nasty for a 2nd level spell - provided the target is wearing metal. Just for an example at each end of the spectrum.
Find traps is a hard one. If it just finds traps it is a bad spell as well not in that it is weak but its another instant bypass challenge spell. I generally don't use traps but if you are running dungeon crawls a spell that hand waves a large part of the challenge might be an issue.
Find traps is a hard one. If it just finds traps it is a bad spell as well not in that it is weak but its another instant bypass challenge spell. I generally don't use traps but if you are running dungeon crawls a spell that hand waves a large part of the challenge might be an issue.
It could work as allowing a skill check as if you were trained for a duration. They just have to set it high enough to be close to, but not superior to, a dedicated trap-springer in the party. Good enough to do what it says on the tin but not good enough to be an instant bypass button. The exact changes would require some playtesting, obviously. Part of that is I hate any spell that has zero chance of doing what it says in the title. The current version of Friends is the same, damn spell should be called Enemies.
So, of the playtests so far (including those that got "replaced" later by newer version), which class/specialization do you think is the biggest winner, so far? Which one are you most excited to play?
I am very thinly learning towards Fighter, including all of the specializations for it. Looks like it got a really nice facelift, even if rather subtle.
Evocation Wizard, Great Old One Warlock, and Land Druid are my choice’s.
Evocation Wizard: Improved Potent Cantrip and made it 3rd level instead of 6th.
Great Old One Warlock: Took one of the weakest Warlock subclasses and turned it into probably the best one. I also like the addition of Skeleton with Pact of Chain.
Land Druid: Wildshape Improvements, Land’s Aid, Wild Resurgence, and Natural Recovery make for a very deadly character
Rogue and Fighter as a whole are really looking good. Cunning Action is just brilliant, and the "Tactical" abilities from Fighter are quite interesting. I just wish that Master of Armaments was stronger. Eldritch Knight actually looks like it might be pretty interesting to try out with the improvements to all the cantrips and how you can smoothly integrate them into the Fighter's round by round actions.
Casters are... well, solid I guess. Quality of life changes are good, but I'm just not excited by any of them.
Base Class Winner: Tie between Rogue and Fighter; both chassis got major improvements. Honorable mention to Sorcerer now that they have a decent number of spells known.
Subclass Winner: Berserker Barbarian went from garbage-tier to great. Honorable mentions go to Assassin Rogue, Glamor Bard, Trickery Cleric and Wild Magic Sorcerer.
Base Class Winner: Warlock (in UA7) being able to have multiple pact boons, option for a 3rd attack with your pact weapon at level 11, and fixes to a lot of the invocations.
Subclass Winners: Land Druid & Beserker Barbarian - Land druid was just terrible all the way from 2nd level to 20th level and now it's the one I want to play most of all, Beserker was always a great class except for their 3rd level feature, that's been fixed so now they are a total powerhouse.
Rogue is the winner by a land slide.
I'm hesitant to declare wins for classes that are still very much in flight like Warlock, Druid and Ranger, until we see the final product or something closer to.
Land Druid I agree got nice buffs, but it was honestly fine before too so I didn't view that as big of an increase as Trickery or Glamor, much less Berserker.
I think I'd say Fighter is the overall winner so far. The base class got some nice improvements to 2014 features(increased uses of Second Wind, an improved Indomitable), the advanced ways to make use of Weapon Masteries over other classes, and the three new features added in UA7 all look like they should be quite fun. Tactical Mind and Tactical Shift provide intriguing new uses for Second Wind beyond emergency healing. And the new Studied Attacks is a really nice combat boost that leans into the "student of combat" flavor of the Fighter. It also emphasizes the Fighter's focus on consistent damage dealing rather than the spike damage potential of classes like the Paladin and Rogue. I also think all three of the existing subclasses that got revised in UA7 are all good improvements. The new Brawler looks interesting, but probably needs some more work.
There are some definite Honorable Mentions, though:
The base Rogue is looking quite good, though it feels much like the post-Tasha's Rogue. The new Cunning Strikes looks very cool however, and we're already seeing them use it as a framework for subclass features.
While I still think the base Ranger isn't there yet(basing multiple features on their Wisdom modifier makes them more MAD than they already were), I really like the new Beastmaster. The changes from the post-Tasha's Beastmaster are modest, but useful. I love my current Drakewarden Ranger, and I think I'm definitely going to enjoy the new Beastmaster.
The new Circle Of The Sea Druid isn't ready for prime-time yet, but conceptually I love it. It's a natural(pardon the pun) direction for them to take the Druid and I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner.
There are no winners. This entire process has been a fourteen-month disaster. If anyone has any damn hope left for the 2024 books, they're deluded. Anything worth getting excited about, anything worth calling a "winner", has been ruined, destroyed, discarded, and forgotten. All that's left is the bitter ashes of a burned dream.
Please do not contact or message me.
Fighter's cooler. Rogue got some nice features, too. They did a good job fixing the majority of the problematic subclasses. As far as bitter ashes of burned dreams go, it's not so bad.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
Sorcerers. The slight super sayan flavour they got in the last UA they were in is just chef's kiss. Their unique spell and cantrip are also decent and lean in into a blaster/chaotic spellcaster role. Really looking towards playing them.
*hugs*
Yeah; I don't mind Foe Slayer being based on Wis (by the time you hit the capstone you should either be able to max out your Wisdom - or hey, maybe they'll get around to adding the Periapt!) but I'd prefer if Favored Enemy, Tireless, and Nature's Veil were based on proficiency bonus.
Circle of the Sea is really powerful right now. Concentration-free and wildshape-free flight - amazing! Three resistances - great! Action-free pushes, amazing! Sure the latter is a Con save, but at least you're not wasting anything if it fails.
Those who gain the most in fun are fighter and rogue. Especially the fighter that was boring, and now it will be possible to play with more than half a brain.
Also mention that mechanically the Ranger also gains a lot compared to 2014. But because it incorporates things from Tasha, where they had already fixed it.
I'm inclined to go with the fighter, because it got several upgrades I would rate as 'amazing' -- new Indomitable, new Relentless, new Improved War Magic -- and a number of solidly useful upgrades (tactical mind, student of war, remarkable athlete, heroic warrior, spell schools unrestricted, war magic).
The only other upgrade that really struck me as 'wow, they really did that?' was stroke of luck on the rogue.
It looks like the biggest improvements have been to the classes that hit things with sharp objects, which is fine, IMO. The Martial/Caster divide is still a thing, but will hopefully be less of one than previously. Casters seem to mainly be getting some clarifications and quality of life improvements (such as wizards getting some schools spells independent of cash flow), but I'll have to wait and see what happens in the last couple of PHB focused playtests. But if I was to put a number to the next edition based on what I have been seeing, it certainly wouldn't be 6th, or even a 5.5. 5.25 tops, maybe only version 5.1.
Biggest improvement probably the rogue or fighter. Biggest winner full casters because they didn't nerf them at least yet. The spells will tell the tale.
Ideally they should tone down the overpowered ones, and boost the underpowered ones, but until more comprehensive spell lists appear we can't answer that. Find Traps should actually find traps, and Heat Metal is truly nasty for a 2nd level spell - provided the target is wearing metal. Just for an example at each end of the spectrum.
Find traps is a hard one. If it just finds traps it is a bad spell as well not in that it is weak but its another instant bypass challenge spell. I generally don't use traps but if you are running dungeon crawls a spell that hand waves a large part of the challenge might be an issue.
It could work as allowing a skill check as if you were trained for a duration. They just have to set it high enough to be close to, but not superior to, a dedicated trap-springer in the party. Good enough to do what it says on the tin but not good enough to be an instant bypass button. The exact changes would require some playtesting, obviously. Part of that is I hate any spell that has zero chance of doing what it says in the title. The current version of Friends is the same, damn spell should be called Enemies.
Part of the problem is that Enhance Ability exists, so any spell that provides advantage becomes redundant.