The survey for One D&D's Playtest 6 is out, and I filled it out yesterday, with a lot of feedback that you could glean from reading this blog - in short, I think the Monk needs more substantial buffs (even if it means killing Stunning Strike) and that the nerf to Divine Smite is bigger than you might realize. But, as usual, my actual overall impression of the playtest as a whole has been largely positive.
Much of what is happening here is an attempt to clean up the messy parts that we had in 2014 but preserve the overall feel of the game. And I guarantee you that the overall feel of D&D will not change with these new rules.
We got a look at seven classes, each with four subclasses apiece (though some, at least for now, simply used subclasses as they exist already in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything).
Thus, I think it's pretty likely that we'll see the other five classes looked at in this next playtest packet - namely, the Barbarian, Fighter, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard.
I think it's likely we'll see a similar format, with each class being presented with four subclasses. I looked earlier at how my subclass predictions had gone, getting about 75% of them right (which is honestly not great, as it was a gimme that all the 2014 PHB subclasses were going to be reprinted, which accounted for 40 of the 48 subclasses in the new PHB, so honestly it was more of a coin flip on whether I got anything right.
One thing I noted is that I think popularity had a greater effect on a subclass' inclusion than thematic iconic-ness.
Classes, of course, also got changes.
I think we're still in a class-focused stage of the playtest - I hope we'll see some monster designs and other systems to test, but I think the developers know that the game mostly lives or dies by its class design, so it makes sense that this is what they'd focus on.
So, let's go class-by-class and see what we think will change.
Barbarians:
The Barbarian in the earlier playtest was actually very solid, getting some nice quality-of-life buffs (like being able to maintain Rage with a bonus action if you weren't able to attack,) so I don't see a ton of changes.
I suspect Weapon Mastery might be brought closer in line with what we see with the Monk - having only two at a time that can be swapped on a long rest. I suspect "class groups" as a thing are being swept under the rug, so Barbarians get no special claim to Weapon Mastery - though this could also mean their losing Fighting Styles, which I think would be a shame.
The Berserker and Totem Warrior are, I think, a lock for inclusion. Now what remains to be seen is what the other two subclasses will be. In terms of popularity, I'd guess Zealot and Ancestral Guardian are the most likely inclusions, even if, on a thematic level, I'd like to see the Storm Herald included (though with some buff to it - and perhaps the option to swap storm types on a long rest).
I'll also be curious to see if the Bear option for the 3rd level Totem Warrior gets nerfed - it's one of those really amazing features that leaves a lot of people wondering why you'd pick any other subclass, and thus probably needs to be nerfed or moved to a higher level.
The new Brutal Critical is probably better, but it does have the odd consequence that even Barbarians will prefer a Maul or Greatsword over a Greataxe (though weapon mastery then complicates that again, which might mean this is fine.)
Fighters:
Honestly, I loved the previous playtest Fighter and don't really see anything to change about it. Indomitable is finally useful for saves you're likely to fail, and the way that Fighters play around with Weapon Masteries is really cool.
The Champion, Battle Master, and Eldritch Knight are locks for inclusion. I expect we'll see loosening of spell school restrictions for the EK like the Arcane Trickster got, though I really hope they get the Valor Bard's feature to let them use a weapon as a spell focus.
In terms of popularity, the Rune Knight is my guess for the fourth subclass, largely because it doesn't have much competition. The Wildemount subclasses haven't seen much reprinting (the Echo Knight is actually really cool and good) and beyond those, I basically never see anyone playing Samurai, Arcane Archers, Cavaliers, Psi Warriors (this one being actually kind of cool, if not really as good, in my opinion, as the EK) or the... Purple Dragon Knight (which is maybe my least favorite subclass in the whole game).
I do think we're likely to see some revision to the Battle Master's maneuvers, given that a lot of Weapon Masteries will have similar effects. Stuff like knocking foes back or tripping them is covered by masteries, so we'll perhaps see these cut down - or we might see some maneuvers that play with masteries, like letting you swap out a mastery for a single attack.
Sorcerers:
I think we'll probably see some revision to the Sorcerer-exclusive spells, many of which were a little underwhelming, at least in a vacuum.
I also think, given the uproar over Twinned Spell, we might see another crack at it.
Subclass-wise, again, Draconic and Wild Magic are a lock. Storm Sorcery is one that I could see being added here, and I wonder if they might change it to involve some access to the Primal spell list. If we were getting the Tempest Cleric and Storm Herald Barbarian, I'd put the chances lower here, but without the former and probably without the latter, the only other "storm" subclass is the Druid Circle of the Sea. This could make it in.
The next is kind of anyone's guess. Shadow Sorcery is less likely if we get the Undead Warlock and/or Necromancer Wizard. Given the popularity of the Tasha's subclasses, I would not be shocked to get one of those.
We'll have to see how the Sorcerer-exclusive spells shake out to predict how tied-in the subclass features will be to them.
Warlock:
I imagine we'll see another take on Warlock spellcasting. Personally, there's maybe no change that upset me more than the idea of having Warlocks as half-casters, so I'm really hoping we see some new take on Pact Magic.
I'd hope, though, that we could keep the new design for the Pact Boons, which I think is generally very good.
It remains to be seen how central they expect Hex to play a role in the class design - as long as it remains a concentration spell, I don't want to be forced to use it to get access to class features.
While I hope for a big redesign of the Great Old One subclass, I'm not counting on it - the only subclass to be totally rebuilt was the Four Elements Monk, which was I think the most poorly-rated subclass in the 2014 PHB. GOO is a little lacking in power, but still sees play. I just want some of its features to be tossed in favor of something more thematic (Entropic Ward, primarily).
And I still think Undead makes the most sense as the fourth subclass option. Hexblade is popular, to be sure, but really only for its mechanics, and a lot of those mechanics have been made either baseline or part of Pact of the Blade. I could see Genie here, and I love the Genie. If they want to give more options for a less "Dark" Warlock, it would be a better option than Undead. But for classic Warlock flavor, Undead makes a lot of sense.
Wizard:
So, some of the issues with the Wizard-exclusive spells could do with some tweaking and clean-up, but I think the class overall is fairly solid.
And I think I predicted Evokers, Diviners, Necromancers, and Conjurers (though admittedly, Necromancers and Conjurers tread similar territory - both summoning minions - so one of these might be dropped).
I don't know when we're likely to see the packet. Generally, we've been getting packets roughly every two months, so packet 7 is probably not coming for about a month - late August.
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