The Future of D&D

Last Thursday, Wizards of the Coast made an announcement about the future of Dungeons and Dragons.This announcement focused on the future of Dungeons and Dragons, what they planned to have after the current 5E material. This plan focuses on what Wizards of the Coast is called One Dungeons and Dragons, or One D&D. This new version will be less of a new edition and more of a refining of the current rule set. Shortly after the announcement the first play test material was released, and focused on Character Origins. The Future of Dungeons and Dragons has started.

The Announcement

The core of the announcement focused on the intent of going from 5E D&D to One D&D. Wizards says they intend on moving away from the concept of new “editions”, happy to stick with the core rules developed in 5e. Instead, the plan is to refine and adjust, taking what they have made in the past and improving it based on their suggested tweaks and play test feedback. According to the Announcement, these new rules (currently referred to as the 2024 DMG/PHB) would be backwards compatible with the original 5e material, so original 5E martial does not become obsolete.

WoTC promises that this new version of Dungeons and Dragons will not stray far from the current 5e rule set. The focus is to preserve the rules as they currently stand, and to keep current players from feeling that One D&D’s release makes all old material obsolete. From what they have shown in the UA that appears to be the case, focusing on smaller changes over larger sweeping ones. They appear to be repeating the success of the DnDNext (The name of the system that became 5E) play test and working with the community to tweak and adjust as they prepare the new material.

5e is a solid D20 system. Out of all the versions of Dungeons and Dragons (and Pathfinder) that I have played, I have found the rule set to be a solid balance between mechanical crunch and streamlined rules. While the system has its faults, it has been one of the most popular versions of Dungeons and Dragons to date. I agree it makes sense to want to stick to that level of simplicity as it will keep the game more accessible to people wanting to try the hobby. 

I will be curious to see how far that goes. I think that Wizards of the Coast will need to find a balance between new innovations to improve the system and maintaining the original aspects of 5e to keep this new edition feeling less like a “6E”.

Character Origins

The first UA that was released shortly after the announcement focuses on Character Origins. Available here , this rework focuses on the changes to Character Races and Character Backgrounds, along with information on Feats. Looking at the character races, we can already see some larger changes.

Races

Immediately, there is a new race in the mix, the Ardling. This being, born or descended from a denizen of the Upper Planes, is fairly unique in appearance. The UA described them as having an animal head and the ability to manifest spectral wings. At a first glance this creature feels similar in origin to the Aasimar, though their origins might change moving forwards.

This new play test material reworks character races, making them more uniform. It gives each race at least 1 active ability. As they mentioned in the interview, the purpose was to make sure that each character race would have at least one active trait to be used. Dwarves, for example, have a reworked version of the Stonecunning trait. This trait will now allow 10 minutes of Tremorsense via a bonus action, as long as the character is on a stone surface. Previously, most of the setting neutral Dwarven Races provided passive, or always on, bonuses. Now this gives something that can be activated a certain amount of times a day.

Some new subrace options showed up for Tieflings, Elves, and the new Ardling race. The lineages focus on the origins of the character’s ancestors. In the Tiefling’s case we now have Abyssal (Originating from Chaotic Evil Planes), Infernal (Originating from Lawful Evil Planes), and Chthonic (Originating from Neutral Evil Planes). The lineages change the spells gotten at first level (cantrip), 3rd level, and 5th level. This already looks like it is trying to clean up the expanse of race options that currently exist in 5e. Looking at the Tiefling, there are currently 12 options available (including the Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes), and these options mainly focus on Infernal Legacies for Tieflings, specifying Forgotten Realm Specific Infernal Beings such as Zariel and Mammon.

I really like the idea of moving towards a more uniform setup for character races. Making sure that all races have an equal amount of benefits means that character choice will be more roleplay driven than for any purpose of optimization. Additionally, some races that had dozens of variants will make the character selection process easier.

Backgrounds

Backgrounds have also gotten a bit of an overhaul, and are one of my favorite parts of this new UA. Instead of pre-made Backgrounds to choose from, the play test material guides players to build their own background. The new background option provides Ability Score Increases (2/1 or 1/1/1 split), 2 skill proficiencies, 1 tool proficiency, 1 Standard Language, 1 Rare Language, 1 1st level Feat, and 50 GP for starting material. This is a tremendous change from the current 5e rules, where Custom Backgrounds were optional, with written backgrounds existing. They provided some examples, such as Artisan, Criminal, and Acolyte that are like the backgrounds that currently exist in 5e of the same name.

These changes to Backgrounds feel like they provide some improvements to the character creation setup process. Building the Background for your character allows you to bespoke the mechanical benefits to the story of your character, making your choices feel a little more intentional. Placing the Ability Score Increases in the background also provides a much needed update to the Dungeons and Dragons’ character creation process. Now your abilities are less tied to your genetics and more tied to your choices and experiences in life, something that I very much prefer. 1st level feats also make sense as well. In many of the games I have run and played in, we gave 1st level feats as a house rule to make starting characters a bit more sturdy and interesting. A very common option, it makes sense to use a feat to replace the original options provided.

In talking with my party, it was noted that the suggested route for a character could end up making a level 1 character that has significantly more power than what currently happens. Humans, for example, get two feats at level 1. This allows for a lot of power at the very beginning, and could be a sign that the power creep will increase as well. I think we will have to wait until character class options drop, to see what a fully built level 1 character will have at their disposal. 

Feats

Feats also seem to have gotten a few changes to them as well, the most noticeable being level requirements. The UA contained a set of “1st Level Feats”, and from this we can assume that other feats will get the same treatment. A few returning feats got modifications. Alert has lost the immunity to the Surprised condition, instead allowing a player to swap initiative values with another player in combat. Healer also got reworked, now allowing a bonus to healing magic and the ability to restore HP using a healer’s kit. 

I like the idea of designating certain feats available at first level for a few reasons. Only allowing certain level one feats can help level the playing field by limiting the access to “half-feats”, feats that provide a skill increase and another benefit. This can help avoid high attribute scores on lower-level characters and provide an incentive for players to take different feats. Other prerequisites could tie into the level requirement, creating Feat Tree style progression with certain abilities. This could allow for an interesting way to accumulate abilities outside of your character class.

Other Items of note

Although the focus of this play test was mainly on Character Backgrounds, there were a lot of other minor changes, either directly focused on or inferred through new wording. While not as big a change as the new Character Options or Backgrounds, they deserve to be talked about as well.

Something new that popped up in multiple places is the [Condition] keyword. Currently showing up for Grappled, Incapacitated, and Slowed, this describes a set of effects incurred by these effects. While the effects are not new (except for Slowed) this seems like a focus on grouping conditions and effects behind keywords a bit more. 4th Edition used a lot of keywords, and it provided a uniform way to reference elements on stat blocks. With this new Slowed condition, there is a possibility that we could see more conditions as well that encompass effects by spells. This could streamline a lot of the potential effects of spells or abilities, and make learning the game easier overall by focusing on these keywords.

Critical hits have also changed a bit as well. Per this document, only player weapon attacks and unarmed strikes will have a critical hit effect, still doubling the damage dice. This means that spell attacks can no longer have a critical hit. The intention, as mentioned in the interview, was to balance the damage of martial fighters with spell casters. The current rules mean critical hit effects do not apply to sneak attack dice or smite dice, just weapon damage dice. Last, monsters can no longer do critical hit damage, just players. They mentioned the potential for other monster effects to happen upon rolling a 20.

I have seen a lot of discourse on this specific change, stating that it will not have the intended effect and will cause a much less powerful monster, as well as reduce the overall power of player combat critical hits. Overall, I would be curious to see what could replace double damage for enemies. An effect that changes up combat, like a Fear Aura or Knockback Effect, could prove to create a much more dynamic battlefield, something I try to incorporate in order to make combat more interesting. It is also entirely possible that the original Critical Hit rules will come back as an optional variant, and be available for tables that want them. 

For low level (Tier 1) combat encounters, I feel that this could help to smooth out some fluctuations that happen currently. With a character under level 5, a randomly rolled 20 in combat could down or outright kill a PC. Especially for a new player, this can be very demoralizing. Potentially removing the damage from critical hits could help avoid this, creating a less dangerous introduction to the game.

Inspiration also seems to have gotten a big overhaul as well, as noted throughout the document. Besides DMs awarding Inspiration, rolling a 20 will award it as well. Some character abilities will provide it as well. Each player can still only have a single point of Inspiration, and it now expires upon starting a long rest. This change has a lot of potential, and could easily have built up more abilities.

Currently Inspiration is something I often see forgotten at the table. Awarding Inspiration can be a great way to reward players for really playing into character. I try to award it when players make a suboptimal or poor choice based on the motivations and knowledge of their character. However, it has always felt like defined mechanics for awarding Inspiration were lacking in 5E. These new options provide a good framework that should bring this element of the game in more often.

Overall Thoughts

Considering everything mentioned above, as well as the items I did not really touch on, I feel like the changes to 5E look very promising. Backgrounds feel more intuitive, and the elements provided by them will be more easily used by players. Character races seem cleaned up and streamlined, with less of the attributes focused on them while providing more active abilities as well. The changes to Feats look great as well. Some of the minor adjustments to existing feats such as Alert and Healer seem like they will balance them out a bit more, and possibly provide more of a reason to take the less sought after options. Tiered feats, only unlocking after certain levels or other prerequisites unlock, could provide a sort of Feat Tree style progression that balances out some options that current feel overpowered in use. 

There are some elements that seem like they will need further clarification and probably a change. The new critical hits might not be the right answer for balancing things out. Taking them away from enemies will help mitigate accidental low level TPKs, but reducing down the options for players might feel limiting to some. The current path for backgrounds provides a lot at level 1. This seems like it will make a more interesting, more powerful character initially, but could cause an increased power creep that starts out earlier in the game.

My biggest takeaway is that this UA is a small look at the beginning of the journey from the current version of 5e to the new edition of DnD One. Some of the information given out in this UA will change as the process proceeds, and further clarification on choices will arise as we see more elements. Ultimately, these options will change a bit before we settle on a finished product. The most important elements right now are to stay up to date on the proposed changes and to come up with solid feedback for the development team when the surveys open. The survey on Character Options will open on September 1st. I intend to have my thoughts ready by then, ready to submit to Wizards of the Coast.

Final Thoughts

This is a really exciting time for Dungeons and Dragons, since the play test material and its feedback will shape what DnD One looks like when it releases. I aim to continue to devote at least one post to the new UA as it comes out, trying to break down the UA and my general thoughts on the effects of these choices. This serves a few purposes. Giving a summarized list of the changes made in the UA will allow it to be more accessible to anyone reading the material, and allow them to have a starting point to comprehending them. While you should still read the UA yourself, this can either start you down that path or supplement reading it. Writing out my thoughts also helps me further process the information and its implications in the game at large, better refining my feedback. This way I can better put my thoughts and feelings into words to provide to the development team. Finally, I hope these UA posts can help generate conversation about the play test material. Providing the information as I understand it and my thoughts can help start out the process and help others get a better idea of what they like and what they might want to see changed moving forwards.

So for now, this is all I have on DnD One, though more is to come. What are your thoughts on the future of Dungeons and Dragons? Do you like the progress? Do you dislike it? What changes do you hope to see?

Let me know below!

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