One D&D Survey Results and the Future
Here follow my notes about the first One D&D survey feedback and future of the project video that Wizards of the Coast released in November 2022.
These may be a bit spotty as they’re compiled from me just blasting my thoughts into Slack as I encountered the material for the first time.
For more context and my Standard Disclaimer, check out the introduction to this series.
Introduction
There’s a good explanation of the score ranges and how they interpret them.
The highest satisfaction score was 1st level feat with your background.
They were unsurprised that the initial d20 test mechanic tested lowest. They are intentionally A/B testing this mechanic.
The other 2 things that tested low (in the 60-70 range, or “salvageable but it needs a lot of love” category) are Ardlings and Dragonborn.
New versions of both races are coming in the next UA.
Dragonborn
Dragonborn scored lower than Ardling — this was a surprise to them!
Sounds like the breath weapon was what was most disliked about the new Dragonborn. They say they’re addressing that head-on. Also clarifying that the PHB2024 Dragonborn is the “universal” version but you can still play the specialized options that were in Fizban.
They tease a new 5th level ability for Dragonborn coming in the next UA.
Ardling
Ardling got a lot of feedback that it was doing too much — sort of replacing the Aasimar (Crawford: “they’re not”) and also filling the “beast person” role. Expect the revised version to clarify this better and attempt to improve their fit.
Everything Else
Everything else scored high enough that it’s either “you’re on the right track” or “this is very close to the right thing, be careful not to mess with it too much”.
They had over 39,000 people complete the survey, so Crawford calls the community scores “very persuasive”.
Pleasantly surprised by the reaction to the new human. Dwarf, Orc, Tiefling, Elf scored just below the human, and Gnome and Halfling scored just below those.
Besides the new Ardling and Dragonborn, the next UA will have an additional race (not yet disclosed).
Next UA will have a new Cleric class.
The next UA will be smaller, then the ones after that will be larger again. Sounds like Druid & Paladin after that, then Warrior Group, then Mage Group.
Warrior Group UA will “dig deep” on new ways to use weapons.
New rules coming for managing your party’s home base, incorporating NPCs and downtime… calling it “the Bastion system”.
But core classes coming first. 48 subclasses - 4 for each of 12 core classes.
For DMs: new encounter planning rules to make it easier to prep, monster customization options. Want to make it easier to DM.
Crawford encourages folks who read the UA material but didn’t get a chance to play to still submit feedback — it’s all helpful.
The question of Eldritch Blast is promised to be addressed in the Mage UA “with the Warlock” (I assume this means it’s becoming a class ability instead of a generally available spell).
Some actions haven’t appeared in the UA rules — that means they’re still using it as it appears in the 2014 PHB. Material in the UA is only things that have changed or didn’t previously appear in the PHB.
Use an Object was removed intentionally from the Thief’s Cunning Action. They wanted to make mechanics more dependable rather than having it depend on the DM (often causing dissatisfaction and slowing down the game)
Crawford: “If something is going to be removed from the game, we will say so.”
They note wild magic is in the same sort of place — players have to ask the DM if they can please surge. That’ll get addressed when the Mage UA comes out.
Ranger had some similar issues that they say got addressed in the Expert Classes UA. “If you’ve got a class feature, you should be able to use it the way you expect.”
On the changes to Great Weapon Master and Sharpshooter feats…
- Especially at higher levels, the -5 penalty to hit doesn’t balance the damage bonus; too easy to overcome the penalty.
- Want warriors to be able to rely on their class features for their main damage output. Don’t want people to feel like they have to take certain feats to do a satisfying amount of damage.
Light Weapon changes were about making sure light weapon users could still enjoy doing bonus actions that came from their class or other feats.
With spell lists, they’re focused first on getting players used to the 3 big lists of where magic comes from. They’re interested in finding ways to make spell selection easier/summarized per class. Sounds like some classes might have specific lists, while others (like Wizard) will just have access to an entire big list.
They conclude on re-emphasizing the importance of using the survey to send feedback.