In the Dragonflight Beta, with Less Than Two Months to Go

EDIT: Well, I now wonder if this is available to everyone, because when I tried to hearth on my Dracthyr to Valdrakken, I showed up only to be booted back to Stormwind for being "out of bounds." Just as well, I'll try this out when the expansion itself comes out.

 To no fanfare or email, I realized yesterday that my Battle.net launcher happened to have the Dragonflight beta available.

Now, there are a few things that seem a little fishy here - I can't seem to access a character-copy option, and while I was able to roll up a Dracthyr Evoker, he just gets dumped in Stormwind with all his talents already assigned (not that I can't reassign them) but no, like, starting experience or prompt to accept a quest to go to the Dragon Isles.

I'm sort of ok with that - I think I'm actually pretty happy to experience the expansion with fresh eyes.

Figuring out how the Evoker players has been... challenging. It's not really easy to get all your abilities all at once and try to make sense of a rotation. I mean, having 16 years of experience with the original WoW classes, it's very easy for me to understand that, say, Cone of Cold is not a core part of the Frost Mage rotation.

Also, reading through all your abilities can make you miss certain things. For instance, I saw that there was a Bronze-themed ability that reduced cooldowns for your party or raid and assumed it was some kind of cooldown ability itself, only to notice, hey wait, this has an hour-long duration. It's a buff!

I'm eager to see the Evoker through a starting experience that gradually introduces abilities, much as the Demon Hunter did.

After ten years with the simplified Mists of Pandaria talent system, the reconstruction of the Vanilla-through-Cata-style system will take a bit of getting used to. Mainly it's about knowing what a good build looks like and how to sort through the chaff.

The Dracthyr approach to customization and armor is a unique one, and one that I'm not sure I'm totally on board with - essentially, you pick out cosmetic armor as part of character creation, and the armor you actually wear only shows up on your humanoid "visage" form. I might be tempted to go fairly minimalistic with my Dracthyr's armor in that case.

Also, the big conundrum: blue is my favorite color, and I almost always prefer to make characters that have some kind of blue theming (in D&D, two of my longest-played characters are a Blue Dragonborn and a Triton). On the other hand, the Bronze Dragonflight is by far my favorite in the Warcraft setting. So, do I make my Dracthyr blue or bronze? These are the questions that plague me.

I'm given to understand from most impressions that Dragonflight is looking like a good expansion. Obviously, we'll need to see their patch releases to really know if it goes down as one - Shadowlands' initial patch was fantastic, and honestly, I think it suffered mostly from having a weak middle patch and too-large gaps between content releases.

I'm always a little bitter toward people who balk at the heightened, out-there high fantasy of, for example, an expansion that takes place in the realm of the afterlife, though I think that in the case of Shadowlands, it might have been that the ambition of such a premise could never be fulfilled in a single expansion.

Indeed, I find a growing appreciation for the D&D approach to the afterlife, as the Outer Planes, where most mortal souls go after they die, aren't just there for the dead, but are complex worlds in their own right for whom the spirits of the dead are just one category of their many denizens.

Nevertheless, I'm hoping that Dragonflight really succeeds at giving us a cool dragon-themed expansion that Cataclysm never really lived up to being. I almost feel like in a lot of fantasy games, dragons had become kind of de rigueur, but that some recent efforts to revitalize these quintessential fantasy creatures (such as D&D's Fizban's Treasury of Dragons) are getting me to love the big flying flame-lizards once again.

An Aesthetic Critique of Elden Ring

 Elden Ring is an amazing game. As someone who was already a fan of FromSoft's "Soulsborne" games, it was a remarkable evolution of the genre. I also appreciated that the game was a bit easier (not, like, by a huge amount, mind you) than earlier titles, though that lowered difficulty may have simply sprung from the open world's openness and the ability to set aside frustrating challenges to go find something else to do (also, if you play as a rabid completionist, you'll level up more than you would otherwise).

The main plot of Elden Ring - somewhat less obscure than other games, but still vague enough to be widely open to interpretation - is that the god of the realm, Queen Marika, shattered the Elden Ring - a sort of sacred constitution that embodied the physical laws of the world - an age ago, which caused her to be imprisoned for her transgression and left her various demigod children to fight for supremacy.

The demigods, then, are largely the major bosses of the game. Each has its own faction devoted to it, which you'll encounter in various places. Indeed, in true FromSoft fashion, finding a member of one faction somewhere unexpected in the world can be a tantalizing hint that there's some secret plot going on.

But there's one problem:

Too many of the factions use red as their main color.

I'll argue that the following factions - which are either led by a demigod or some other powerful entity - are the major ones you deal with over the course of the game:

Godrick's Army - led by Godrick the Grafted

Raya Lucaria - led by Rennala (though really Ranni, as Rennala is not in her right mind)

Volcano Manor - led by Rykard

Redmane Guard - "led" by General Radahn (though he's totally lost his mind)

Leyndell - led by Omen King Morgott

Mohgwyn Dynasty - led by Mohg

Ephael - led by Miquella, with Malenia by his side

There are other factions, of course, to consider (it also seems that the Knights of the Cuckoo out of Raya Lucaria made war on Caria Manor, which I don't really understand given that both are ruled by Rennala). I'd even be tempted to toss in the Fire Cult with their "leader" as the Fire Giant, if only to show another example of red (and the red hair of the fire giant ties into the offspring of Radagon).

Anyway, Of these factions, red is the main color of Volcano Manor, the Redmane Guard, and Mohgwyn Dynasty. And that's even setting aside that the Cleanrot Knights, who serve Malenia and are similarly afflicted with/spreading the Scarlet Rot are... you know, kind of red-themed.

Where it gets especially confusing is that Mohg is associated with "bloody fingers," who invade others' worlds and basically represent the PvP system. But Volcano Manor is also basically a society of assassins who... invade others worlds and kill them.

Indeed, Rykard and Mohg both take on somewhat Satanic archetypes - I suppose the main difference being that Mohg is associated more with blood while Rykard is more associated with lava.

Now, Radagon has red hair (likely a reference to Thor - the fact that he took over as Marika's consort from Godfrey, who is clearly based on Heracles/Hercules, sort of suggests a passive of ages from Greek to Norse myth) seems to imply that he's descended from the Fire Giants, likely a source of shame given their antagonistic relationship with Marika. We do notice, though, the Radagon's children - both those with Rennala (Rykard, Ranni, and Radahn) and with Marika (Miquella and Malenia... and I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest Melina as well,) of the ones we see who still have hair, all have that red hair (while the Ranni we interact with doesn't, she's possessing a big doll. Her actual corpse, atop the Divine Tower of Liurnia, does have red hair).

There is some evidence that suggests Mohg was a late addition to the game. I believe his model's file is labeled simply as something like "Omen Demon" or the like, meaning he might have been meant to be a generic enemy. But as it stands, Mohg actually winds up being one of the oldest of the demigods, along with Margott. And the fact that both were born as Omens could potentially have been why Marika sent Godfrey off and found/became Radagon. (I think Radagon and Marika must have begun as separate people, given that Marika is said to have been a Numen while Radagon, as discussed above, was descended from Fire Giants). Incidentally, the word Monster is derived from the latin "monstrum," which means Omen, which I think is why the horned-ogre-people in Elden Ring are called that - it's the sort of quintessential "monster."

I wonder if they intend to do an Elden Ring II, or to have the game sit as a one-off like Demon's Souls and Bloodborne (though fingers crossed for a sequel to the latter). I imagine there will be some major transformation to the world and all new figures and factions within it. But let's maybe get some different colors in there, shall we?

Critting for Emotional Damage

 This is the first time I've made myself cry as a DM.

(CW: suicide, child abuse - as a note, the Cult of Rakdos on Ravnica is one that blends performance art with gory violence)

I'm running a campaign set in Ravnica, but as a very old-school Magic fan (I first played it during Fallen Empires) I wanted to make sure that the party would get to travel to other planes. Rather than just fudging it and letting them cast Plane Shift, I've instead got a system where the players undergo some emotionally powerful moment that ignites their planeswalker spark.

My best friend is one of the players in the game, and his Cult of Rakdos College of Whispers Bard has always been a tricky character to build around - the character is chaotic evil, and is straight up a cannibal serial killer. My friend, of course, is a very conscientious and sensible player, so the character's evil doesn't prevent him from cooperating with the party on their missions (part of why I chose to make the Phyrexians my big bad is that even members of the most evil guilds would be motivated to help stop them).

Anyway, I've built up little mini-adventures to set off the player characters' sparks (they're all potential planeswalkers, which there's an in-universe explanation for, though it's primarily to allow planar travel in a Post-Mending multiverse). And tonight, the Bard went to see his parents' final show within the Lower Theatre (my invention,) the most prestigious venue within Rix-Maadi, the Rakdos Guildhall.

The bard's parents were the "rival" rolled for his contacts within the Cult of Rakdos (I think he'd initially rolled Rakdos himself, and while he decided to try again for a less crazy option, I kind of worked it into the character's unknown backstory). The bard spent his childhood as the "goblin pincushion" during shows in which his parents would throw daggers at him, ending each performance by killing him, only for the boy to be revived at the curtain call.

This painful period as a "child star" in the guild coupled with his parents cutting him out of the act when he became an adult led to a deep resentment of his parents.

So, the show was already going to be emotionally charged. But then I made the big reveal: his parents' farewell show was an autobiographical musical but also a confession, showing that they had actually made a deal with Rakdos to sacrifice their son for theatrical success, and then realized that Rakdos meant the sacrifices to go on continuously. They cut him from the show when the guilt was too much for them to bear (though, you know, only after years of this).

His parents' careers went down the drain after they did this, no longer receiving Rakdos' blessing. And so, they concluded that they would give one last show and leave the theater they'd built to him. And in that last performance, his parent come on stage to sing the final number, before the actors portraying them slit their throats.

And man, as I started to describe that final number, I got choked up. I've maybe never come up with something so fucked up on so many levels - there's the manner in which this is that heightened horror that is normal for the Cult of Rakdos, but on another level, I think I managed to create an all-too-real example of abusive parents whose attempts to absolve themselves of their guilt just further traumatize and damage their child.

The culmination of this performance ultimately has the bard's spark ignite, and I think I began to realize as I was taking the players through the musical (which also involved a bunch of saving throws and ability checks to survive the performance, because, you know, Rakdos) just how infuriatingly shitty these NPCs were. Evil alignment is usually portrayed in those heightened ways, but I think I came up with a portrayal of such supreme narcissism that it couldn't be described as anything but evil - but in a disturbingly realistic manner.

So, I got choked up, and I left the table speechless. And boy do I feel drained.

I think I should note that, whatever issues I might have with my parents (one of whom died five years ago) none of this was autobiographical for me - my parents always treated my sister and me with respect and genuine care. But I think there are some universal themes and anxieties around how parents shape us, and how deeply unfair it can feel when the fallout of their issues is passed on to us, that must have resonated quite deeply with me in the moment.

But yeah, I think that's the most emotional I've gotten DMing before.

Dreams of Eldritch Blast

 I keep coming back to the Warlock. It's ironic - I don't think I was all that into the concept prior to getting into D&D - my Warlock in World of Warcraft is maybe my sixth- or seventh- priority character, and I've historically tended to prefer heavily-armored classes (my ideal would be something like the Eldritch Knight but leaning a little more toward the magic side of things. Armorer Artificer is pretty close). But something about the way the Warlock works in D&D - its story-friendly premise and unique mechanics - really speak to me.

With the spell lists introduced in the last two Unearthed Arcanas, which have been the first playtest documents for One D&D - the codename for the successor to 5th Edition (for those who think One D&D is a dumb name and worry it will be the official one, recall that before 5th Edition came out it was being called "D&D Next") - there was one extremely notable absence: Eldritch Blast.

Eldritch Blast is the cantrip that makes Warlocks (well, most Warlocks) work. Because of the way that Pact Magic works, Warlocks can't cast leveled spells on every turn in combat. Instead, they're built to use highly efficient concentration (or at least long-duration) spells while they use cantrips or weapon attacks as their bread-and-butter actions.

Eldritch Blast, then, is the cantrip that is built to go the distance for a Warlock.

On its own, Eldritch Blast works pretty much like Fire Bolt - it's a spell attack that deals 1d10 damage. However, there are two notable differences. The first is that it deals Force damage, which almost nothing resists (there are tons of monsters that resist fire damage). The next, crucial part, is that when you hit new tiers of play (levels 5, 11, and 17) rather than simply increasing the damage of a single attack, you now just make multiple attacks with it.

On average, this change shouldn't make much of a difference, though Fire Bolt is a bit swingier because of that - a crit with a Fire Bolt at level 17 means 8d10 damage, but a miss means absolutely no damage that turn, whereas Eldritch Blast can smooth that out.

But where Eldritch Blast really shines is the way that various Warlock abilities and features interact with it. Technically, these are all optional, but most Warlocks will go with them. Agonizing Blast, for example, adds your Charisma modifier to the damage of each blast - which means that more blasts means multiplying that bonus. A spell like Hex (which is functionally very similar to Hunter's Mark) lets you add a d6 each time you hit the target with an attack - and that means each blast deals an additional d6.

In a lot of ways, Eldritch Blast functions more like a Fighter's ranged weapon attacks - and like the Figher, you eventually get to make four attacks with a single action (earlier than the Fighter, too!)

And this doesn't only apply to damage. Repelling Blast, another invocation, lets you move a target you hit with Eldritch Blast 10 feet away from you - more hits means more irresistible movement.

Eldritch Blast is iconic to the Warlock, so I think the chance that they're actually getting rid of it entirely is basically zero. However, its absence on the Arcane spell list suggests to me that they're going to make it a class feature. This was actually the case when the Warlock was introduced in 3rd edition. (At a time before cantrips existed, I believe, meaning that Warlocks were unique in having an inexhaustible supply of magical damage).

Making Eldritch Blast a class feature rather than a spell accomplishes a few things. The first is that all Warlocks will have it. It also means, though, that other classes will not be able to get it through something like Magic Initiate.

But that's pretty basic.

I think Eldritch Blast could be reimagined in certain ways that could really make it feel better.

First off, I think Agonizing Blast could be rolled into it as a base feature. This is, to be certain, a bit of power creep, unless you reduce the number of eldritch invocations you can learn (at which point it becomes a nerf, given that you don't have the option to choose anything else for your "first" invocation).

Presumably, you'll get upgrades at various levels to allow you to shoot more Eldritch Blasts.

But what if we went radical with this? What if we just gave Warlocks Extra Attack? And then let Eldritch Blast be an alternative option for your Attack action?

This would, in fact, be a big benefit for Bladelocks. Currently, to get a second (and only a second) attack as a Warlock who wants to focus on weapons, you need to take the Thirsting Blade Eldritch Invocation, which requires level 5 (make sense, given that's when other classes get Extra Attack.)

It would also make Warlocks a more agile caster-blaster by explicitly allowing them to move between blasts, while also resolving issues where some DMs think you need to declare all your Eldritch Blast attacks before you make the attack and damage rolls (meaning you sometimes send a blast at a target that's already dead) - which is not, I'm pretty sure, the design intent, but is nevertheless an ambiguity that exists in the wording. Now, this simply falls under the familiar rules of the Attack action.

The question that raises, then, is whether Warlocks would get their third and fourth attacks if it's purely under the Extra Attack umbrella. That would unquestionably step on the toes of the Fighter. Indeed, a Bladelock with Thirsting Blade is still limited to two attacks (I guess what balances this is that they could get their hands on some weapon with a bunch of extra bells and whistles). But only allowing two Eldritch Blasts ever feels like it would cut down on what makes the spell so cool when you get to higher levels (I'll never forget the time I took a Glabrezu immediately out of a fight by blasting it into the River Styx where it got Feebleminded and forgot it was fighting us).

Another consequence that I've mentioned before here is that making the extra blasts of Eldritch Blast into a class feature at certain Warlock levels further incentivizes players to commit to the Warlock. One of the consequences of the Warlock's main spell being a cantrip, along with getting their subclass at level 1 (though that might be changing - I'll be curious to see how that works given that you presumably had to find a patron to get your magic in the first place, unless they reflavor levels 1 and 2 as being where your Warlock is seeking out esoteric magic from a powerful patron and 3 is when they actually forge their pact) is that Warlocks are probably the most popular "dip" class. A Sorcerer can dip in a single level or two to get those Pact Magic spell slots and Eldritch Blast/Agonizing Blast, which can fuel the "coffee lock" that doesn't have to sleep (well, if you can find a way around exhaustion). Paladins can grab a single level with the Hexblade subclass and thus only have to worry about Charisma to attack with their weapon (or three levels if they want to be able to use a two-handed weapon with Pact of the Blade).

I think the higher levels of Warlock could use some love - obviously, there are some powerful Invocations to get, but given that Pact Magic stops upgrading spell slots past 5th level, the Mystic Arcanum feature is I think strictly worse than the higher-level spellcasting that other full casters have, and beyond that there aren't a ton of other class features that Warlocks get in those levels.

Eldritch Blast's redesign could be one way to let the Warlock stand on its own as a class rather than being typically relegated to a multiclass component. I don't think it'll be enough, but it could help.

I'm just very eager to see how this turns out. Well, 1.5 to 4.5 months, roughly, and I expect we'll see.

Speculating on Spell Rules for Classes in One D&D Moving Forward

 With the Expert Class UA, we got the first revisions of the Bard, Ranger, and Rogue class. Outside of the Arcane Trickster subclass (which, along with the Eldritch Knight, pioneered the kind of spell lists that we're likely to see for all spellcasting classes moving forward) the Rogue doesn't cast spells. But the Bard and Ranger are both spellcasters - one a full caster, and the other a half-caster.

Rather than having explicit spell class lists, instead we get, essentially, rules as to which spells the class can prepare. I don't know if all classes will be preparing, rather than simply "learning" spells (though with the changes to Bards, that would leave only Sorcerers and Warlocks as classes that don't prepare spells, so I would not be shocked if everyone simply prepares them each day). The rules for a class' access to spells now has them use one of the three lists - Arcane, Divine, or Primal - and then restricts them based on spell school - the schools being Abjuration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy, and Transmutation.

As we saw with the Bard and Ranger, the number of schools available can vary widely. The Ranger gets to use 7/8 of the schools and uses the Primal spell list, with only Evocation spells being unavailable to them. The Bard, which has always had a somewhat idiosyncratic spell list that tends to push buffs and status effects rather than raw damage, gets Divination, Enchantment, Illusion, and Transmutation spells off the Arcane list. (The Bard also has a few features that let it get spells outside of those schools).

This is going to take some getting used to, of course, and while it's elegant, it will also mean a shuffle of what kind of spells you can cast (see this post from the other day).

I think we can assume that other classes will work similarly. So, I wanted to speculate on some of the possibilities for what we might see with those classes.

In all honesty, this really only starts to get complex when we get to the Arcane classes. But let's go in order. We'll be leaving out Barbarians, Fighters, and Monks given that these classes don't inherently get any sort of spellcasting capabilities. And we'll leave out Bards and Rangers because there's obviously not a lot to "speculate" on given that we already have these (though they are of course subject to revision - something I think is possible for the Bard). And Rogues fit in both categories. So, we'll be looking at just Clerics, Druids, Paladins, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards.

Clerics: This, I think, is obvious: Clerics will get access to the Divine spell list, and they'll get all 8 schools of magic. As only one of two Divine spellcasters, and the only full caster, it wouldn't make sense to put any spells of 6th or higher level on the list that they couldn't cast. Now, if there were no spells of some school of that level or higher, I could imagine limiting them to allow Paladins to get some exclusive spells from the list, but there is at least one spell of each school that is 6th level or higher, so Clerics must be able to use any school of magic - making the Divine Spell List effectively their class list.

Druids: The exact same argument can be made for Druids. As the only full caster with the Primal spell list, it's got to all be there for them. The one reason to doubt it, though, is that there are actually no Enchantment spells of 6th level or higher on the Primal spell list. As such, you could imagine Enchantment being reserved only for Rangers. However, this would mean Druids couldn't cast Animal Messenger, Dominate Beast, or Animal Friendship (holy crap, there's very little Enchantment magic on the Primal list). While those three spells certainly have a very Ranger vibe to them, they also very much have a Druid vibe to them. So I'm going to assume Druids will simply get every spell on the Primal list.

Paladins: Ok, here's where things get a little more complicated. Paladins, of course, use their spells to complement their melee capabilities, and tend not to have so many straight-damage abilities. But, that being said, the normal damage-dealing schools of magic like Evocation and Necromancy also cover spells that Paladins are likely to make use of - such as Searing Smite (and most of the Smite spells) being Evocation or Revivify being Necromancy. Classic Paladin spells like Command or Compelled Duel are enchantment. Illusion, on the other hand, I could possibly imagine being verboten for Paladins, as it literally just includes Silence in the 0-5th level spell range on the Divine list. Transmutation is likewise pretty rare on the Divine list, but Purify Food and Drink is one of them, and that feels like a good Paladin option. So, except maybe for Illusion, I actually think Paladins might simply get the full Divine spell list - but they'll naturally be limited by the fact that they only ever get up to 5th level spells.

Sorcerers: Here, things get particularly complicated. Spoiler alert: I think Wizards are going to get the absolute full list of Arcane spells. But what about Sorcerers? Sorcerers and Wizards already have a pretty hefty overlap in their spell lists, the main distinction being how they use them - in the current game, Sorcerers only learn a pretty limited number of spells, but they get to use things like Metamagic to do interesting things with them. The Wizard, on the other hand, is the hoarder of spells, with an expansive toolbox (and generally more spells they can prepare than the Sorcerer knows total).

    Now, if we see every class preparing spells each day, that's going to have huge implications for what makes a Wizard special in the first place. After all, if a Sorcerer can just prepare any Arcane spell, they effectively have a fully-complete Wizard spellbook without being a Wizard.

    However, let's imagine that Sorcerers might be slightly limited in their spell selection. Obviously, they've got to have Evocation magic, as they're meant to be the best fireball-tossers in the game. Where I could imagine them getting limited is Conjuration and/or Necromancy (with Shadow Sorcerers perhaps getting an exemption to the latter). Sorcerers, historically, have not had the summoning capabilities that Wizards and Warlocks get, and we saw with the Tasha's-era summoning spells didn't go to Sorcerers at all (Summon Draconic Spirit from Fizban's did go to them, though, perhaps to fit in with the Draconic Bloodline subclass). Now, the downside is that this means that spells like Dimension Door and Misty Step would be unavailable to Sorcerers. Still, this seems like it would be thematically appropriate - assuming that Sorcerers don't just flat-out get the whole list.

Warlocks: Warlocks have an almost entirely different vibe from Sorcerers, and actually, I could imagine that the one school of magic they don't get is Evocation. First off, some classic Warlock AoE spells like Shatter are now classified as Transmutation. This would keep Fireball, Lightning Bolt, and the like out of the Warlock list - which is true of the current Warlock. Indeed, the main Evocation spell that Warlocks currently use is Eldritch Blast, which is conspicuously absent from all three spell lists, suggesting that, much as it was in earlier editions, Eldritch Blast is likely to be transformed into a class feature rather than a spell in the traditional sense. Now, they could just lose Evocation spells and call it a day. If we were to imagine a more restrictive list, I could imagine also removing Transmutation. Conjuration and Necromancy would, I think, have to be on the Warlock list because the efficiency of summoning minions is really important for them mechanically, and it's also very flavorful (calling on your patron to send aid, or even just tying into the "dark magic" vibe with the ability to summon fiends or raise undead monsters).

    I do wonder a bit how this will interact with the various Pact Boons - Pact of the Chain looks a lot less appealing (before Eldritch Invocations) when Find Familiar is already available to you, and everyone can ritual-cast.

Wizards: While they share the list with other full spellcasters, I think that the Wizard should fill the role of the Arcane Spellcaster who gets the entire spell list. Wizards are the masters of the Arcane, and this would be a clear way to reflect that.

    The bigger question is what it will mean if everyone gets to prepare new spells each day. Wizards currently sit in this odd between-place. They get to swap out spells each day, but they don't automatically get their full list the way that Clerics, Druids, Paladins, or Artificers do. Instead, you get a collection mini-game where you add spells to your spellbook - in a campaign where the wizard really dedicates a ton of resources (and the DM permits it) they can ultimately get every Wizard spell, but it's a lot of effort to do so.

    My proposal here is that, perhaps your spellbook doesn't determine what spells you can prepare, but rather what spells you have prepared. In other words, the Wizard can add spells to their spellbook and then have them prepared all the time, like a Cleric's domain spells. This would let the Wizard retain their "massive toolbox" approach to spellcasting even while everyone gets a more versatile way to prepare spells. This could be in addition to the "number of spell slots at each level" method of spell preparation that they have with the new Ranger and Bard, meaning Wizards are special in that they get more spell options than anyone else on a given day. Might that get very overwhelming for a Wizard player? Yes, that's a risk to this design. But it would also be pretty cool.

We will, of course, have to wait and see what the future holds for these classes, but this is my best guess of what we can expect.

Delving into the Rules Glossary in Expert Classes UA

 Ok, this should be the last really deep dive into the specifics of the Expert Classes UA. The Rules Glossary on its surface might not seem so terribly important, but in the long run, this is where the game well and truly shifts - beyond the mere modular elements like classes and spells.

While some of the elements here are fairly straightforward (Artisan's Tools, for example, are listed again, but I don't know if they're any different than they were in the Character Creation UA) I'm going to go down the list and take note of anything important here.

Ability Checks: Most of this is pretty straightforward and familiar, but I think something that is noteworthy is the section marked "Action Required." The Rules Glossary will introduce a number of actions that are associated with ability checks such as "Search," "Study," or "Influence," which clearly delineate how the various skills are used. Some of these are bound to be controversial (we'll look at "Influence" further down here) but I also think it's interesting that they're introducing a bit of formality into the use of ability checks. Making them take an action, for instance, means that in general, for example, if you're in the middle of combat, "Searching" to find a hidden enemy will take your full action unless you have some feature that lets you do it as a bonus action. Note here, though, that the entry explicitly says that the DM can override this, allowing an ability check as part of a bonus action or even no action at all. But it sets up a certain default assumption.

It also sets 15 as a kind of "default" DC for ability checks, with lower or higher ones depending on how difficult it should be. This is really more of a suggestion, but I honestly think it's not a terrible place to start off new DMs who haven't gotten the hang of setting DCs on the fly (at this point, I'll automatically think of a number while I'm calling for the check).

Armor Training: This is pretty straightforward: Armor proficiency is now called Armor Training, because it doesn't use your proficiency bonus so they didn't want people to get confused. Wearing armor you're not trained for still prevents you from casting spells, and now imposes disadvantage on any d20 test that uses Strength or Dexterity (it occurs to me that a Hexblade Warlock could wear plate if they didn't mind having disadvantage on Strength or Dex saves and being unable to cast spells- likewise a Battle Smith Artificer). Lacking training in a shield simply makes the shield useless when worn - you just don't get its AC bonus.

Attack: The interesting thing here is that you can equip or unequip a weapon as part of your attack action (even if it's with an unarmed strike). That seems to suggest that you no longer need an "item interaction." This happens before or after any attack you make - which means that you can equip two weapons if you have more attacks. This, along with the Light Weapon change we'll see later, is showing some love to dual-wielders. The rule also makes it explicit that you can break up your attacks and moves (I'm really curious to see if Eldritch Blast is explicitly designed to work with the Attack action so that you can break it up similarly - I've had DMs who felt that you needed to declare all attacks before you see which hit and which enemies survive, which I think goes against the intent, which is to make Eldritch Blast work more like a Fighter's attacks).

Attack Roll: Very simple, but the UA reverts all the critical hit elements of the previous UA. NPCs and Monsters can crit again, spells can crit again, and bonus damage dice like Divine Smite and Sneak Attack can crit again. This is all good to see.

Arcane Spells: We now know that this broad list is going to serve as the class list for any Arcane spellcaster, with classes limiting things by school. Arcane spells are the domain of Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards, as well as Artificers. (Presumably this will also apply to Eldritch Knight Fighters and Arcane Trickster Rogues, with similar school restrictions.)

Barkskin: The Barkskin spell has been significantly redesigned, and is actually pretty good now. As a bonus action, you touch a willing creature (with more creatures when upcast past level 2) and grant them temporary hit points at the start of each of their turns equal to your Spellcasting Ability Modifier plus your Proficiency Bonus. And it lasts an hour. So, you're giving them a regenerating shield for an hour. That's really not too bad.

Blindsight: I don't know if this has changed much (other than moving it from the Monster Manual to, presumably, the PHB,) but it explicitly allows you to see Hidden or Invisible creatures (the hidden thing is something that I think might be new - no sneaking up, ever, on someone who has blindsight unless you're behind total cover).

Climb Speed: This is fairly straightforward. You can move up vertical surfaces (interestingly, there's no mention of having to have any footholds, so you could climb a totally smooth surface). The feature also mentions Spider Climb as a kind of enhanced Climb Speed, while drawing that distinction.

Creature Type: This just lists and defines them, and makes it clear there are no inherent rules to them, but how they work as tags.

D20 Tests: Gone is the automatic fail or success on natural 20s (I still think I like that as a homebrew rule as long as the DM is the one calling for the rolls and setting the parameters for what success or failure means). Inspiration has been renamed Heroic Inspiration (perhaps to make it easier to distinguish from Bardic Inspiration) and you now automatically get it on a Natural 1 rather than a Natural 20 (which might be better as a kind of bad-luck protection).

Dash: This is now phrased that it gives you a bonus Move on your turn (note the capitalized words - they're clearly using this to make meaningful rules-words stand out).

Difficult Terrain: Once again, the definition here is that you spend 1 extra foot of movement for every foot you travel through difficult terrain, and that a space either is or isn't difficult terrain. It also gives some examples of difficult terrain.

Divine Spells: Like Arcane, it's another spell list that is for Clerics and Paladins.

Exhausted: Exhaustion has been simplified, and now works a bit like Stress from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. With each level of exhaustion, you simply subtract your exhaustion levels from every d20 roll you make, as well as the DC of any spell you cast. And if you hit 10 levels of exhaustion, you die. I think this is going to make it way easier to use Exhausted, as you won't have to constantly refer back to the different things the condition does. It's also going to be, I think, less devastating as a condition, at least in those first couple levels. Honestly, I think this makes it a lot easier to give monsters the ability to sap PCs' energy - I could see some kind of incorporeal undead or monster from the Shadowfell whose attacks come with a Constitution saving throw that gives you a level of exhaustion on a failure. As before, finishing a long rest will reduce your exhaustion by 1, and you no longer have the condition if you hit 0.

Expertise: Now that this is available to three classes, there's a broad definition. It's unchanged.

Fly Speed: Pretty much unchanged here. You will fall if incapacitated or restrained, unless you have the Hover trait.

Gaming Set: I think this is more or less unchanged from the Character Origins UA, unless the price has changed.

Grappled: I believe this is also unchanged from the Character Origins UA - which is a pretty significant redesign compared to the current version, but I don't see any change from the one we got a month and a half ago.

Guidance: The Guidance spell has been redesigned. It is... I think most people will consider it a nerf, and I think they'd be right. But I also sort of hate Guidance as it is now, and so I will kind of cackle madly with this change. Here's how it works: Guidance is now a reaction when you see a creature fail an ability check. They roll a d4 and add the value to the check, potentially turning it into a success. This part's a buff - you no longer need concentration (though I guess you can't toss this on the Rogue and have them go off to scout out before using it on a Stealth check). However, once a creature rolls this die, they cannot benefit from this spell again until they finish a long rest.

    Let's unpack that: My biggest problem with Guidance is the fact that you can spam it. In practice, parties will simply act as if every ability check they make outside of combat has an extra d4 added to it, which I find really tedious. On the other hand, I think that this more or less makes this... effectively not a cantrip anymore? Yes, you could cast this on an entire village, but in your adventuring party, you can only use the spell a few times a day. That almost makes it feel like this has become a trap spell - it's way, way worse. But it was maybe too good originally. I imagine this is one that will get the torches and pitchforks out from those who love the spell, while I'd be inclined to just quietly remove the spell entirely.

Help: First off, this incorporates one of my own homebrew rules - you can only assist on an ability check if it uses a skill that you yourself are proficient with. The Fighter with an intelligence of 8 who has never seen an arcane rune in his life probably can't meaningfully help the Wizard on an Arcana check, right?  Helping on an attack roll is, I think, unchanged.

Heroic Inspiration: The new name for Inspiration. The big change here is that you decide whether to use this immediately after rolling the d20 on a d20 test. It still uses the term Advantage, but clearly this now allows it to grant it retroactively. Having to use Inspiration before you actually make the roll is a big part of why people tend to forget they have Inspiration. This is one of those "make it play the way it feels like it should" changes that I'm 100% on board with. The automatic gain of Heroic Inspiration that in the previous UA you got on a Natural 20, you now get on a Natural 1. (It also explicitly says you can't then use that Heroic Inspiration to get rid of your natural 1, which is something I thought of immediately before reading that sentence - note that this means that Halflings are very unlikely to earn Heroic Inspiration this way thanks to their racial lucky feat, as you need to use the natural 1 in order to gain the Heroic Inspiration).

Hidden: Ok, this is actually pretty big: being Hidden is now a condition that you can get, and is no longer just a relationship between you and the thing from which you're hidden. We'll see what this means with the Hide Action below, but Hidden gives you these benefits: You are concealed, meaning you aren't affected by any effect that requires the target to be seen. If Hidden when you roll Initiative, you have Advantage on the roll (this seems to be the new meaning of "Surprise."). You have advantage on attack rolls, while attack rolls against you have disadvantage. And the condition ends after any of the following occurs: you make a sound louder than a whisper, an enemy finds you (likely involving the "Search" action, as below,) you make an Attack Roll, you cast a Spell with a verbal component, or you aren't Heavily Obscured or behind any Cover.

    There's a lot to unpack, but let's cover the Hide action first.

Hide: To hide, you must make a DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check while you're Heavily Obscured or behind Three-Quarters or Total Cover, and you must be out of any visible enemy's line of sight - if you can see a creature, you can discern whether it can see you. On a success, you're Hidden. The result of your Stealth check sets the DC for a creature to find you with a Wisdom (Perception) check.

    Ok, let's unpack. By making Hidden a condition on you, things get significantly simplified. However, it also creates some weird edge cases: If you hide behind, say, a big sarcophagus to avoid being seen by the Necromancer on the other side of the crypt, but there's an invisible Poltergeist that is also behind that sarcophagus, the way this is written, you can still gain the hidden position even if you hide while the Poltergeist is literally staring right at you - because as long as you cannot see the Poltergeist, you can take the Hide action. Technically speaking, this means that the Poltergeist - who is literally staring right at you - needs to make a (potentially high DC) Search-action Perception check to find you.

    Obviously, this is why having a DM around to rule on things like this is important. I do think it's also a bit weird that your ability to hide from something is totally divorced from their passive Perception. A DC 15 is pretty easy to hit for a character that likes to hide - a Rogue is literally never going to fail to hide once they get reliable talent unless they've built their character in a baffling way, even if they're hiding from "Panopticon, the Lord of Eyes." The Blindsight change might be a counterbalance to this, but we'll see. I expect to see iteration on this concept.

Incapacitated: The one change here is that this gives you disadvantage on initiative rolls. I suppose the fact that Ability Checks now typically take an action also means that you're a little more helpless in this state.

Influence: This one is probably going to be the most controversial. This is the first of several ability actions (I guess technically Hide is one as well,) with this one covering most Charisma checks. Notably, this explicitly says you can only use it on creatures controlled by the DM (no "I roll to Persuade you" between player characters). It also explicitly says it's not mind control - you can't force a creature to do something counter to its nature. In a lot of ways, this introduces ideas from the DMG regarding an NPC's attitude. Influence is broken down into three parts: Attitude, Interaction, and Ability Check. Attitudes can be Friendly, Indifferent, or Hostile, which determine how inclined the NPC is to go along with what the player wants, and what they'd be willing to do for them. Interacting through Roleplay is an opportunity for the DM to decide if the check is made with advantage or disadvantage (or neither) or to shift the creature's attitude based on how the interaction goes. Notably, the Charisma skill proficiencies listed here are Animal Handling, Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion - Animal Handling being primarily used for Beasts or Monstrosities - but interestingly seeming to have moved Animal Handling to be a Charisma skill. Based on the creature's attitude, there are results given for DCs of 10 or 20 for each attitude.

    This creates much more explicit mechanics for social interaction in a player-facing way. In a sense, I admire the intent here - which is to make things clearer and more easy to adjudicate for less experienced DMs. But I can also see a lot of people bristling at the notion that these things are so uniformly laid out (especially the explicit DCs). Obviously, I imagine a lot of people ignoring this - though I'm tempted, as a fairly experienced DM, to actually try adhering to this system and seeing the results.

Invisible: This condition is more or less what you'd expect, though the interesting thing is that it has some redundancies with the Hidden condition. You can't be seen for effects that require one sees their target. You have the new Surprise (advantage on initiative,) and you have advantage on attacks while attacks against you are at disadvantage. Interestingly, this does not give you advantage on the Hide action - but then, you basically already have all the benefits of the Hidden condition anyway - only it can't be ended by someone just looking for you and you don't need cover or to be obscured.

Jump: This has become way simpler, and I believe this is one of the most popular changes in this UA. Jumping 5 feet or less now simply counts as difficult terrain. Jumping farther than that requires the Jump Action. You need to have a speed that is greater than 0 (no jumping while grappled) and then you must make a DC 10 Strength (Acrobatics or Athletics) check. If you don't move at least 10 feet immediately before taking the action, you have disadvantage on this check. On a failure, you leap 5 feet horizontally or vertically. But on a success, the check's total is the distance in feet that you can clear horizontally, or half that amount (rounded down) vertically. Jumping no longer costs you movement, though you can't exceed your Speed (if you somehow get more than 30 on your check).

    Now, the fact that you don't expend movement here is great, but we should also note that this is now an action to perform - meaning that you're still effectively "Dashing" to do this jump. However, there's no weird use of your Strength score to determine how far you can jump. It also appears that Acrobatics might be more associated with Strength now than Dexterity - which means that I think they'll need to do a better job distinguishing the two, frankly. (One of the features the new version of the Thief has is that they can use Dexterity for jumping instead of Strength).

Light Weapons: This is a wonderful change. First off, "two-weapon fighting" is not really a thing on its own. After all, if you have Extra Attack, there's nothing stopping you from attacking with a Longsword in your right hand and then a Warhammer in your left, with both using your full Strength bonus for damage. Now, however, Light Weapons instead grant you an extra attack, as long as it's made when you A: have a light weapon in one hand and B: make the extra attack with a different Light weapon in the other hand. You don't add your ability modifier to the extra attack's damage, and you can only make this extra attack once on each of your turns. Now, this looks almost identical to the old rule, but here's the big difference: it doesn't take your bonus action to make this extra attack. Thus, a Rogue can use a Cunning action and still make both attacks, or a Ranger can still apply Hunter's Mark and make both attacks. It's subtle, but this really helps with a dual-wielder's action economy.

Long Rest: The big change here is that you now get all of your Hit Dice (now abbreviated as HD) back on a Long Rest, rather than half rounded up. You also explicitly get your Max HP restored, as well as having all your ability scores restored if they had been reduced. I think the other things here were seen in the Character Origins UA.

Magic: This is now an action, where you cast a spell with a casting time of an action, or use a magic item that requires an action to be activated. Notably as well, when casting a spell that takes longer than 1 action to cast, you spend each turn while casting it taking the Magic action, and during this, you need to maintain Concentration while casting the spell. If your concentration is broken, you do not expend the spell slot, though the spell fails.

    Now, the huge thing here is that casting any spell that takes longer than 1 action to cast now requires Concentration. This means that a Warlock who's concentrating on Hex would lose that Hex if they cast the 1-minute casting-time cantrip Mending (assuming they don't make Mendng take one action). That aspect of this makes me a little wary of this change, unless we get some change to how Concentration works (which I'd expect we'll get with either the Mage or Priest UA).

Move: This is mostly straightforward, but we get some explicit guidance on moving around other creatures: You can move through the space of a creature that is an Ally, is Incapacitated, is Tiny, or is two Sizes larger or smaller than you. The other creature's space is Difficult Terrain unless the creature is Tiny. And you can't end your Move in a space occupied by another creature.

    There's more to this, but let's first examine things: First off, when fighting a Huge or Gargantuan creature, you can now move through their space as Difficult Terrain - fighting between the Giant's legs, for example. Indeed, a Small creature could go through an Ogre's space. I guess one question is whether a dead monster is difficult terrain or can just be ignored.

There's more, though: Climbing and Swimming now costs an extra foot of movement per foot moved. This stacks with difficult terrain, so if you try to swim through difficult terrain, 5 feet costs 15 feet of movement. If you have a Climb Speed or Swim Speed, you get to ignore that penalty (though of course not difficult terrain). Now, the big change here is that you can only use one type of Speed per Move - if my Triton is 15 feet from a Pond, he can use his normal speed to get to the pond, but can't just swap to Swimming to go another 15 feet into it - he'd still be using his normal (walking) Speed, and thus could only go in 7 feet. However, if he Dashed, gaining another Move, he could then use his Swim Speed to go a full 30 feet through the water.

Musical Instruments: Again, I don't see any change here that wasn't in the Character Origins UA unless they changed the price.

Primal Spells: Likewise, this is a list for Druid and Ranger spells.

Ritual Casting: Every spellcaster can now cast spells as a Ritual if they have access to spells with the Ritual Tag. Sorcerers rejoice!

Search: This is a type of Action that involves Wisdom checks to discern something that isn't obvious. Insight can search a creature's state of mind, Medicine can search for a creature's ailment, Perception can search for a concealed creature or object, and Survival can search for tracks or food.

    I actually think that this, along with the Study action (see below) makes the distinction between Perception and Investigation a little clearer, which is useful.

Shortswords: Shortswords are now simple weapons, meaning almost anyone can use them. I actually wonder if we're going to see classes have fewer explicit weapon proficiencies and instead just go for categories in order to allow for new weapons to be more easily added to the game.

Slowed: This new condition came in the Character Origins UA, and I believe is the same as it was there. Again, this uses the phrasing of "1 extra foot of movement for each foot you move using your speed," which means that it will stack with swimming and difficult terrain.

Study: This is another action type, which has you make an Intelligence check to study your own memory, a book, a creature, clue, object, or other source of knowledge and call to mind an important piece of information about it. Arcana checks are for spells, magical items, eldritch symbols, magical traditions, planes of existence, and Aberrations, Construct, Elementals, Fey, and Monstrosities. History is for historic events and people, ancient civilizations, wars, and Giants and Humanoids. Investigation is for traps, ciphers, riddles, and gadgetry. Nature is for terrain, flora, weather, and Beasts, Dragons, Oozes, and Plants. Religion is for deities, religious hierarchies and rites, holy symbols, cults, and Celestials, Fiends, and Undead.

    Here, I think, Religion gets a real buff. I think a lot of DMs are inclined to have questions about planar outsiders like Fiends or creations of dark necromantic magic like Undead fall under the Arcana umbrella - indeed, a lot of DMs might not even think of Religion as a "what do I know about this kind of monster" knowledge base. I actually love how this breaks up things by creature type. What I would like to get out of this, though, is examples of the kind of information a DM should provide on a successful check. I like making Intelligence checks give something actionable - if a player does well on a Religion check when asking about the sort of fiends they've been facing, I would be inclined to say "well, you know that this is a Yugoloth, a type of fiend from Gehenna that plays both sides of the Blood War. But also, you know that Yugoloths in particular are impervious to any form of corrosion, which might be why the Black Dragon you've befriended needs your help to fight hem off - her acid breath does nothing to them."

Swim Speed: Interestingly, there's nothing here about the old disadvantage on certain attacks while swimming if you don't have a Swim Speed. I wonder if they're removing that rule to make underwater encounters less painful.

Tool Proficiency: This looks the same as it did in the Character Origins UA. Again, the final sentence "This means you can benefit from both Skill Proficiency and Tool Proficiency on the same Ability Check" is probably just redundant, but introduces a confusing ambiguity if you read this as letting you add your proficiency bonus twice on top of getting advantage. But I think it's meant to just say you get your PB from the skill and advantage from the Tool.

Teleportation: Nothing really crazy here. It just makes it very clear that you aren't using your Speed and you don't provoke Opportunity attacks.

Tremorsense: Another thing from the Monster Manual being defined presumably in the PHB. Tremorsense works the way you'd expect it to, but it also makes it clear that this is not a form of sight - you can pinpoint a creature's location using it, but you can't "see" it for the purposes of spells and the like, and it'll still benefit from being hidden or invisible when it comes to attack rolls.

Unarmed Strike: I believe this is pretty much the same as it was in the Character Origins UA, but the damage of the "damage" option for this is now 1+Str, rather than just your Strength Modifier. The escape DC on grapple is still set by your Strength modifier - I wonder if Monks will get an exception to make them amazing grapplers.

And there we have it! The full Rules Glossary for the Expert Classes UA. As usual, I think the ability checks and the associated actions are going to be the most controversial aspect here, but I'm going to try to adopt an open-minded attitude and see how these fell in play before I get angry.

If we assume a similar timeframe for other UAs, we should get the next one in the middle of November. Fingers crossed for Mage with a redesigned Great Old One Warlock! (Though let's be real, we're probably getting the Fiend as the sample subclass).

Arcane, Divine, and Primal Spell Lists in the Expert Class UA

 Ok, we've covered the three classes and the feats, now we just have the spells and rules glossary. The latter is going to be a little more complex, so we're going to take a look at the spell lists.

If we are to take the Ranger and Bard as models for the way that spells are distributed moving forward, it looks like these lists/categories will replace class spell lists. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this actually does some future-proofing for the game - it's easier to add spells now without having to have a big section for class spell lists - each spell just comes with two relevant tags: School and Type(s).

Now, because this is now going to work with a broad rule rather than a designating each spell for specific classes, there's a possibility that classes will lose (or gain) spells with this change.

And because I'm that obsessive, I'm going to go down the line and take a look at what this means for PHB spells for the two classes we have.

Bards get access to Arcane spells, but they only get half the schools of magic (outside of their Songs of Restoration, Magical Secrets, and Further Magical Secrets features). Bards can only prepare spells of the Divination, Enchantment, Illusion, and Transmutation schools.

This actually applies to Cantrips as well - both in that they're restricted by school and you can prepare different ones each day.

So, let's look at the Bard list (using the Tasha's-era expanded spell list, but still limited to the PHB spells) and compare it with what you get in this UA. (We'll include the Songs of Restoration, as all Bards will get those (Healing Word, Lesser Restoration, Mass Healing Word, Freedom of Movement, and Greater Restoration). Also note that some spells have had their school changed - Thunderwave, for example, is Transmutation now (which seems odd, but it does mean Bards get to keep it):

Bard Gained Spells: Hex, Jump, Alter Self, Blur,  Darkvision, Magic Aura (Nystul's?), Rope Trick, Blink, Fly, Gaseous Form, Haste, Phantom Steed, Water Breathing, Arcane Eye, Fabricate, Stone Shape, Stoneskin, Contact Other Plane, Creation, Passwall, Telekinesis, Flesh to Stone, Reverse Gravity, Sequester, Simulacrum,  Control Weather, Telepathy, Shapechange, Time Stop, Weird

Bard Lost Spells: Blade Ward, Light, Mage Hand, Animal Friendship, Bane, Faerie Fire, Heroism, Speak with Animals, Unseen Servant, Aid, Animal Messenger, Cloud of Daggers, Heat Metal, Locate Animals or Plants, Silence, Zone of Truth, Bestow Curse, Dispel Magic, Feign Death, Glyph of Warding, Leomund's Tiny Hut, Nondetection, Plant Growth, Stinking Cloud, Dimension Door, Awaken, Mass Cure Wounds, Planar Binding, Raise Dead, Teleportation Circle, Eyebite, Find the Path, Guards and Wards, Heroes' Feast, Forcecage, Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion, Mordenkainen's Sword, Prismatic Spray, Regenerate, Resurrection, Symbol, Teleport, Mind Blank, Power Word Heal, Prismatic Wall

    Hoo boy, that was a lot. As you can see, Bards lose out on more spells than they pick up. However! I think it's also important to note that the new way that Magical Secrets works will help pick up a ton of slack. You can take your magical secrets in any of the three spell lists, and this allows you to prepare two spells a day that are from that list and aren't restricted by school. It seemed to me that losing out on particularly Conjuration and Abjuration spells removed a lot of options from the Bard, but you can get the ones you need pretty easily with Magical Secrets. The other big restriction is that you're now purely on the Arcane list, which has some surprising absences (like Silence). But Magical Secrets lets you pick any of the three lists, and is unbound by schools. And because you prepare these each day, rather than just learning a set number and stopping there, I think you might be in decent shape.

Now, let's look at the Ranger. With fewer spell levels to look through, as well as less of a restriction on spell school, I actually expect the Ranger to get more spells. But let's see.

Rangers can learn any Primal spell of an appropriate level (max 5th) as long as it's not of the Evocation school. Also, consider that Rangers now get cantrips, and so obviously you're adding a fair number with that.

Ranger Gained Spells: Druidcraft, Guidance, Mending, Message, Poison Spray, Resistance, Shillelagh, Spare the Dying, Thorn Whip, Create or Destroy Water, Healing Word, Thunderwave, Augury, Enlarge/Reduce, Call Lightning, Dispel Magic, Feign Death (how was this not a Ranger spell before?), Mass Healing Word, Sleet Storm, Conjure Minor Elementals, Control Weather, Giant Insect, Polymorph, Stone Shape, Greater Restoration, Insect Plague, Mass Cure Wounds, Reincarnate, Scrying, 

Ranger Lost Spells: Alarm, Searing Smite, Aid, Gust of Wind, Magic Weapon, Daylight, Wind Wall, 

    So, in the Ranger's case, their spell options expand profoundly, while they do lose a few. Rangers also now prepare spells, rather than simply learning them. They also have Hunter's Mark always prepared. You prepare a number of spells equal to the spell slots you have (and spells of each level for each slot of that level you have,) meaning that the Ranger winds up at level 20 with 15 spells prepared. That's 4 more than you have in current D&D, and you get to swap them out (and you've got 3 cantrips).

So, what do we think about this?

Again, I think that this new system is great for future-proofing, but it also puts us in a position where some things are a bit awkward. For example, Bards are the only class to get Vicious Mockery, currently, but if we assume that Wizards will get access to every spell school, that means they will be able to take it as well. We lose a little specificity.

Going general: again, Eldritch Blast's absence from any of the lists is quite notable. I do think it's very likely going to simply become a Warlock class feature. This will mean other classes can't get it, and it also might not scale up in beams unless you truly commit to getting levels in Warlock. 

It looks like most healing spells have been made Abjuration spells. I'd initially thought this could be used to keep Paladins away from Evocation spells, but then most of the Smite spells are Evocation. Perhaps it just creates some thematic consistency.

I'm inclined to think that maybe Bards are too restricted in their school options, though again, Magical Secrets could be the solution - though the first of those features doesn't come online until level 11, which is pretty far in.

Next post, I'll be looking at the Rules Glossary to see how the base rules of the game shift with this UA.