One D&D Playtest 5: My Survey Responses

May 22, 2023

Here follow my responses to the Playtest 5 survey questions. I decided to compose them externally this time since I had longer things to say and didn’t want to lose anything in case the survey glitched out, which is why I have them for this survey but not for previous surveys. Minus some minor formatting for this post, this is verbatim what I submitted. I wasn’t good about preserving my level of satisfaction about every element (sorry, reader), but it should be apparent from the comments.

For more context and my Standard Disclaimer, check out the introduction to this series.

Weapons

War pick being Versatile makes sense, good call there.

Moving the Net away from being a weapon was a good call. This way all weapons do damage!

I understand why Musket and Pistol appear on the list, but I won’t be allowing them at my tables any time soon.

I didn’t love the rollback of the Light weapon property, as it had been fun in the previous UAs. But it makes sense in the context of the Nick weapons, so I think this is all right.

Love the change to Thrown that allows the weapon to be drawn as part of the ranged attack. THANK YOU!

Weapon Mastery Properties

Reddit seems to not like Flex, but I think it’s probably all right as it frees up a hand – I don’t think most people are considering it in that light.

Cleave is cool, but it seemed very strange that Greatswords didn’t get this property by default.

I don’t know how I feel about Graze being able to do damage even without a hit. Something about that feels wrong. A Fighter with a 20 Strength and three attacks could do 15 damage even if they miss every attack! I guess it’s nice if you’re playing a martial class, as it’d help to keep up with things like Spirit Guardians, but, yeah, feels strange somehow. I’m not sure how to fix this.

Arcane Spell List

OVERALL things are good, but the devil’s in the details…

Things that I am Very Satisfied by:

Vicious Mockery and Dissonant Whispers being removed to become Bard exclusives
Eldritch Blast becoming a Warlock exclusive
Pact Weapon – love that this can now incorporate magic weapons in addition to just conjuring a weapon.
Sorcerous Vitality – nice, thanks!

Things I am Satisfied with:

Arcane Eruption – if this was a third level spell, I’d choose it over Fireball probably
Chaos Bolt
Hex – nerfed slightly, but it’s okay
Memorize Spell
Pact Familiar – should explicitly list the actions permitted to the familiar
Sorcerous Burst – I think it’ll be fun with Empowered Spell metamagic
Sorcery Incarnate – seems all right, getting some Sorcery Points back is always good. The flavor is good for sure!

Things I am Dissatisfied with:

Book of Shadows – it’s a little confusing as written… It’s a cantrip that seems like you’d only cast it once ever since the book goes away if it’s cast again? Really weird.

Things I am Very Dissatisfied with:

Modify Spell/Create Spell/Scribe Spell – this seems incredibly broken to me. I have grave reservations about being able to remove components and concentration checks, and that upcasting lets you modify multiple attributes of the spell. With the right financial resources, a Wizard in downtime could really mess up the game balance. I think this will be really hard for DMs to cope with.

Barbarian

Base Class

I’ve enjoyed playing a couple of lower-level Barbarians for a few shorter adventures, but this is a great glow-up that would make me want to play one for a full campaign.

I really like the philosophical change about extending Rage to be about what you do, rather than what’s done to you.

I also love that Brutal Critical can apply on ranged attacks. That seems really fun with Thrown weapons!

Path of the Berserker

This seems to basically be the “HULK SMASH” subclass, and I am so here for it!

Frenzy no longer giving a point of Exhaustion? Awesome!

Mindless Rage being easier to manage thanks to ending Charmed and Frightened rather than suspending them? Please and thank you!

Retaliation works with any attack? Great!

Intimidating Presence keying off of Strength instead of Charisma? Definitely on brand for the Barbarian! I like that it can use a Rage for extra uses before a Long Rest too. I don’t even mind not getting this until level 14 – it seems thematically appropriate for that tier of play.

Fighter

Base Class

Persuasion being an option is nice.

Some folks may miss the leather/longbow combo, but I guess that’s more of Ranger’s identity now?

I like how Fighting Style leans into Feats being a core part of the game. Bravo!

Second Wind is fine; seems like the recharge change here is because Long Rests are more predictable than Short Rests?

I noticed Action Surge explicitly limits the available Actions; this is probably fine, and a worthwhile clarification.

Getting an extra Feat at level 5 is nice.

Weapon Expert and Adept are metamagic for Fighters. Cool!!

I love the update to Indomitable! The bonus structure is great!

Selfishly, I want to get Unconquerable at lower levels. I can tell that it’s going to be VERY welcome in this top tier of play!

Champion

I never wanted to play a Champion before, but this looks like it will be a ton of fun!

Adaptable Victor is going to be great for letting Fighters be more useful outside of combat.

I love that Improved Critical and Superior Critical apply to unarmed attacks now.

I wish there were a category above “Very Satisfied” so that I could correctly rate Heroic Warrior. I love, love, love having mechanical ways of getting Inspiration/Heroic Advantage, which the 2014 rules sorely lacked. This is SO GREAT, thank you!!

Sorcerer

Spear seems like a weird choice for a starting weapon.

I LOVE being able to know more spells, thank you, thank you, thank you! With only 15 spells total, Sorcerers felt a little too “one trick” compared to other casters over the course of a campaign.

I also LOVE getting to swap out a metamagic option after a Long Rest. It will be great to sample all of them.

I appreciate that there are many fewer “dead levels” where a Sorcerer would only get a spell slot change, but it’d be better if there weren’t any classes with dead levels.

In general, I love how this leans into Sorcerers being infused with magic – Sorcerous Vitality, Sorcery Incarnate, and Sorcerous Restoration in particular feel good to great.

Arcane Apotheosis seems completely broken, so much so that I can’t even feel selfishly excited for it. It makes sense for Sorcerers to have a special relationship with the most powerful spell in the game, but downtime is going to wreck economies as it’ll be completely safe to crank out 25,000 gp items every few days. What I do like is the 1x/day “cast anything” effect; maybe that’s a direction to explore?

Metamagic Options

In general, everything is GREAT!

Quickened Spell is more precisely specified but still feels too complicated for its own good. Maybe it needs an example?

The new Twinned Spell is bad. Really bad. Casting the same spell two turns in a row isn’t worthy of the “Twinned” part of the name. Crawford keeps harping on the 2014 version being overpowered in videos, and maybe it is in tier 3 and 4 when Sorcery Points are more abundant, but in earlier levels it’s so situational that I don’t get to use it commonly. And on Concentration spells like Haste, it yields outsized player joy as more people get to feel awesome, but also extra risk, because having two party members stalled when Haste breaks early is extra dangerous. This change takes it from being one of the most fun metamagics to one of the least. I can definitely see it being overpowered with the removal of the single-target restriction (otherwise it’s Twinned Fireball city, amiright?) but that restriction never felt like a pain point to me under the 2014 rules. PLEASE rethink this, as it’s a really glaring flaw in what’s otherwise a VERY nice glow-up for this class.

Draconic Sorcery

The name is better, thanks.

I like how Draconic Resilience scales (haha) but not arriving until level 3 makes levels 1-2 squishier than they used to be!

Dragon Speech is weird. The old version let Sorcerers read, write, and speak Draconic, which had some very nice utility. Now they can only communicate with creatures of the Dragon type, most of whom already speak Draconic. I guess we can talk to wyverns now? How many other monsters fit into this weird niche of being Dragons without knowing Draconic?

Elemental Affinity being always on is PERFECT. Keep it!

Draconic Exhalation is way more fun than the old Draconic Presence feature. I do wonder if having to make separate attack and damage rolls will bog down combat though as compared to how something like Burning Hands works.

Dragon Wings: mostly fine, and I love it doing extra damage that ties into the Elemental Affinity, and the spectral nature of the wings means special armor/clothing accommodations aren’t needed. But Crawford was wrong when he said it was nerfed because it arrives sooner–it was a level 14 feature in 2014 too. Most campaigns won’t ever reach level 14, so it still feels out of reach.

Chaos Bolt

The chance for the spell to leap to additional targets is interesting, and I’m glad to see this get moved into the PHB spell list. I wonder if it’s more suited to a Wild Magic Sorcerer than to the general class though? I’d probably choose Chromatic Orb instead if I could since it lets me select the damage type.

Sorcerous Burst

I think this could be really fun in combination with Empowered Spell metamagic. The versatility of being able to choose the damage type is very nice, but in general I might still lean to Fire Bolt or Ray of Frost if I needed a consistent damage type.

Sorcerous Vitality

This is great, ship it! I love being able to self-serve some healing in a pinch, and ending those conditions feels appropriate and helpful.

Arcane Eruption

Overall I like it… a weaker Fireball with selectable damage type and which applies conditions to its targets. The flavor is really good. If this was a third level spell, I’d take it over Fireball any day.

Sorcery Incarnate

In the right situation, this seems really cool and cinematic, and leans into the Sorcerer’s class identity. But there are some other really great fifth level spells that could be cast instead… I think you’re onto something here, but it needs some more work.

Warlock

Base Class

I’m not in love with the sickle as a starting weapon, but okay I guess.

The internet is pretty spicy about all the Pact/Subclass moves, but I like them as it opens up some good storytelling options for committing to a patron.

I also really like getting away from Pact Magic and getting regular casting with a half-caster progression.

The updated Eldritch Invocation progression and new cap is also a nice improvement.

Contact Patron seems like a nice mirror to the Cleric’s Divine Intervention.

Also, I noted that the Warlock progression chart showed an Eldritch Invocation on level 17, but the main text skips from a Feat at level 16 to Hex Master at level 18. Can you please clarify whether or not an Eldritch Invocation is granted at level 17?

Eldritch Invocation Options

In general, the Pact Boon enhancements are great, and I appreciate the small tweaks and clarifications in things like Agonizing Blast, Repelling Blast, and Witch Sight.

Lessons of the First Ones is fine (feats are great!) but feels a little like a cop out creatively. Same with Mystic Arcanum.

Lifedrinker is cool as heck, tapping into the Elric vibe from Michael Moorcock’s books.

I LOVE that Gaze of Two Minds lets you cast from the other creature’s space; this is going to be very fun in tactical situations.

Fiend Patron

Losing Fireball from the patron spell list is kind of a bummer, but there are other ways to do it (via Mystic Arcanum), and the new list is fine.

I’ve never been keen to play a Warlock in the 2014 rules due to the wonky spellcasting, but I’d be interested in trying out this version. It seems a lot more approachable, gives access to better armor, lets you use more spells more often, and has some cool flavor and RP options. I went into this deep dive feeling kind of ambivalent about them, but now I’m eager to see the other subclasses!

Eldritch Blast

I’m glad to see this being moved to a Warlock exclusive spell.

Hex

Looks like it got a small nerf, but it makes sense in the context of other change – especially how it ties in with Pact Weapon.

Pact Weapon

Cool. I really like that this can work with a magic weapon too, so that it’s possible to enjoy some adventure loot while still feeling Warlocky!

Pact Familiar

I like the basic stat block with customization options. (I can have a FLUMPH as my buddy?! Yes please!)

I note that the Combat section says the familiar can Dodge+Move, or use your Reaction to attack. This implicitly does not include having the familiar permanently using Help to grant someone else advantage, which always felt broken to me.You should probably explicitly list all the actions that are permitted to the familiar.

Book of Shadows

Preparing extra spells? Cool.

Adding to damage rolls of cantrips? Cool.

But it’s still confusing as worded. It sounds like it’s meant to only be cast once, because the book goes away if the cantrip is ever cast again? I’m not sure what the point of a one-time-only cantrip is, when cantrips are generally the opposite.

Wizard

Base Class

A Wizard with good financing and sufficient downtime is going to absolutely break the game with Modify Spell/Create Spell/Scribe Spell. The idea of tinkering with spells is cool, but I have grave reservations about being able to remove components and concentration checks, and that upcasting lets you modify multiple attributes of the spell. I think it’s going to be really hard on DMs (and frankly non-Wizard players).

At least the new Sorcerer waits until level 18 to be totally broken; the impatient Wizard ruins things by level 9. And they said Twinned Spell was overpowered… lol! Twinned at least was a fun thing that could happen a few times in the moment, with some important constraints, and not something that could permanently change game rules in a single player’s favor.

As a DM, this makes me not want to allow Wizards in my campaigns. And that feeling SUCKS.

Evoker

I note that Empowered Evocation applies to casting Evocation spells from the Arcane spell list. I think this means that it wouldn’t apply to Evocation spells that have been customized by Modify Spell/Create Spell. Is that intentional, or an oversight?

Scribe Spell

So the scribed spell is basically encrypted when it hits a Wizard’s spellbook. How does this work with a spellbook found in adventure loot? Does a Wizard need to cast Identify on the book to know its contents? On each spell in the book? How does this impact spell scroll creation? Do spell scrolls also have to be created with Scribe Spell? And if so, how does anyone know what they do/how to cast them?

Memorize Spell

Seems fine, and useful in certain situations where time is of the essence.

Modify Spell

I have grave reservations about being able to remove components and concentration checks, and that upcasting lets you modify multiple attributes of the spell. I think it’s going to be really hard on DMs (and frankly non-Wizard players). Assuming it stays, this power comes on WAY too early in the Wizard’s progression too. As a DM, this makes me not want to allow Wizards in my campaigns. And that feeling SUCKS.

Create Spell

It seems like some kind of spell creation system is needed to satisfy this part of the Wizard fantasy, but this isn’t it. Maybe they could get some kind of toolkit that lets them build their own, BALANCED spells, instead of letting them break existing spells with enough time and money.

As it is… as a DM, this makes me not want to allow Wizards in my campaigns. And that feeling SUCKS.

Miscellaneous

Death Saving Throws

Sorry gang, I think this is a big miss here!

As written in this UA, the rule is woefully incomplete. I don’t see any benefit here versus the Dying condition from the Druid & Paladin UA, which was clear, comprehensive, and made a LOT of sense as a Condition. I’d honestly call this a pretty big regression, and would recommend rolling back to the Dying condition as previously presented (and perhaps updating “Rolling a 1 or 20” to be consistent with regaining 1 hp and still being Unconscious and starting a Short Rest).

Additional Comments

Thank you for the edits on the Attack action around equipping and unequipping weapons; the previous ambiguity has been resolved.

The removal of the Exhausted condition and subsequent reversion to the 2014 rules is a huge misstep. After being present in several UAs, its removal here is frankly shocking. In my experience with the 2014 rules, Exhaustion went largely underutilized because it was hard to find, the mechanics were hard to remember, and if used it could escalate WAY too quickly. The Exhausted condition as presented in the previous UAs was the opposite: easy to find, easy to understand, memorable, and with enough leeway to be fun to mix into play without feeling like it’d spiral out of control too easily. Anybody not closely following the UA releases that I explained it to or tested it with said it was a big improvement. So. Please. Please. Please. Bring it back!

I would also strongly recommend that future videos go through some fact-checking prior to release, as it was stated that Dragon Wings were scaled back because they were now coming online at a lower level, which isn’t true at all; both the original and UA versions are granted at the same level (14).

As always, thank you for your hard work and diligent attention to survey feedback. There are some bumps in the road, but I am still very optimistic about the results of this process.