Wizards of the Coast’sefforts to refine the next generatrion ofDungeons & Dragonsis stilll underway, as the publisher has released a new set of playtest materials, specifically focusing on the 2024 Player’s Handbook this time around. It’s been revealed that these materials will propose changes to several core character classes, including Fighters, Wizards, Barbarians, Sorcerers, and Warlocks, the latter of which will see the most changes of the group.
In the latest Unearthed Arcana (thanksPolygon), lead rules designer Jeremy Crawford breaks down the changes to each class, starting with the mages. He begins by explaining that one of the main goals of the 2024 Player’s Handbook is to give both the Warlock and Sorcerer classes much more of a “mechanical identity”, allowing players to have a few levels as a standard Warlock or Sorcerer before choosing their subclass. This has allowed the designers to rearrange certain elements and add new options, with Warlock getting their Pact Boon at the first level as an example.
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Crawford also explains that Warlocks have had their Pact Magic removed and replaced with Spellcasting, giving the class a whole lot more spell slots when they hit 20th level. Warlocks' spellcasting progression will be similar to Paladins and Rangers while still keeping their Eldritch Invocations, capping out at 9 now instead of 8. The class will also get Mystic Arcana as an Eldritch Invocation, allowing you to access more powerful spells sooner, and will also now get the Hex spell and Eldritch Blast for free.
Sorcerer changes are very similar to Warlocks, in that players will get to experience being a Sorcerer for a little while before picking a subclass. By doing this, the class has been given a new ability called Inate Sorcery. This grants the players two Sorcerer exclusive spells, one of which is a new Cantrip called Sorcerer’s Burst which has a bunch of different effects. Other big changes include Meta Magic being moved to 2nd Level, a bunch of new Sorcerer exclusive spells, and new features for Draconic Sorcery.
Wizards don’t have many changes to deal with, but there are a few cool new features. One of these is called Academic which players will get at 2nd Level. This will make your character really good at their ability checks, while the Wizard’s Spellbook takes all the rules from the 2021 and 2014 Player’s Handbooks and combines them, also turning it into a Spellcasting focus.
Away from Mages, one of the biggest changes to the Fighter and Barbarian classes is the Weapon Mastery feature. Champions will get two new abilities, the first being Adaptible Victor which allows them to change around skill proficiencies, and Heroic Warrior, which lets Champions give themselves Heroic Advantage in combat. Barbarians can now extend their rage by spending a bonus action, it will last longer, but no longer extends when taking damage.
Crawford goes into far more detail in the actual video, which you’re able to view above, but if you want to try out these new rules as soon as possible, you canfind them here. Feedback opens up on May 17 if you want to let Wizards of the Coast know what you think about these proposed changes.
