Today, Wizards of the Coast released its last batch of player-focused Unearthed Arcana for Dungeons & Dragons. The aptly titled Player’s Handbook Playtest 8 material introduces new changes to the Monk, Barbarian, and Druid classes, as well as some reworked spells.
The Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook Playtest 8 material
In an official post on D&D Beyond, Wizards of the Coast explains its reasoning behind the Player’s Handbook Playtest 8 material.
The post opens stating that the development team took feedback into consideration from the last Unearthed Arcana that featured the above-mentioned character classes.
As for how that feedback was implemented, the Druid is a good place to start. In a prior batch of playtest material, the Druid’s Wild Shape was reworked…and seen as a downgrade by the player base due to it being less versatile and providing less defense.
Now, Druids pick their Wild Shape forms from a list of beasts like before. While their stats and health do not change, they do gain temporary health whenever they transform. In addition, the Circle of the Moon subclass has gotten some more appealing buffs.
As for the brutal Barbarian, they’ve been given a more tactical edge. This character class’s iconic Rage ability now replenishes by one whenever they finish a Short Rest. Also, their new Brutal Strike feature lets them forgo advantage on Reckless Attack for some extra damage dice.
Lastly, the Monk has received a plethora of quality-of-life improvements, addressing both their combat skill and unique character resources.
The new Dextrous Attacks feature lets you use Dexterity instead of Strength for saving throws and grapples, which helps focus the class’ key attributes. Deflect Missiles is now Deflect Attacks, letting parry just about anything. As for Stunning Strike, it now deals Force Damage if the target passes their saving throw.
In addition, certain feats now activate automatically to help maintain the Monk’s action economy. For example. Self-restoration lets you end certain status conditions at the end of your turn, and Superior Defense grants you resistance to almost all damage at the start of your turn.
As for the Monk’s Discipline points, some class feats have been changed as well. The level 2 Uncanny Metabolism class feat now restores all of your Discipline points whenever you roll for initiative. In addition, Heightened Discipline at level 10 enhances certain Discipline point abilities, making them more useful.
Admittedly, these changes did have a cost. The Weapon Mastery ability, introduced in a prior Unearthed Arcana to martial classes, is now cut from the Monk altogether.
Finally, the Player’s Handbook Playtest 8 Unearthed Arcana introduces some new spells. A major one is Power Word: Fortify, a level-7 Bard and Druid spell that grants 120 temporary health spread out evenly among six creatures of their choice.
This latest Unearthed Arcana is available to all users right now on D&D Beyond.
