Dungeons & Dragons: Unearthed Arcana Playtest, New Players Handbook 2024

I’ve been playing the “Unearthed Arcana” One D&D Playtest for several months now and my initial opinions on the playtest for next years release of the new core rule books is that the material seems to be getting pretty long, after it was already long last year at the release of Starter Set: Dragons Of Stormwreck Isle.

Players at my game table Dragon Adventures have so many points and questions about the material new players might have a hard time getting all the rules.

First, Dungeons & Dragons “Unearthed Arcana” (Hasbro) is not the same thing as “Unearthed Arcana: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons”.

Unearthed Arcana in the Hasbro game is the playtest title for game adventures that are test games for the new Players Handbook etc.

The Unearthed Arcana part is that it is the playtest for new rule books.

I mean, if you’re a serious Dungeons & Dragons adventurer like me then this is the Official Hasbro Game, Unearthed Arcana that writes the new rule books…if you’re not playing that and this far into the game as a Dungeon Master you’ll never make it as an Official Dungeons & Dragons Senior Game Designer, the people running the playtest.

If you want to play at the biggest table in Dungeons & Dragons it’s at the Hasbro Game Company One D&D playtest that makes new rules for the game based on player interaction and feedback.

My main point is that if you’re creating your own RPG based on Dungeons & Dragons you’re missing out if you skip this section of the game.

Remember this is the new “Unearthed Arcana” for Hasbro Dungeon & Dragons Fifth Edition, the biggest RPG official game table where your house rules game can become official rules in new Dungeons & Dragon core rule books.

If you want your content featured in the new rule books then you need to win at this playtest.

The point of Hasbro Unearthed Arcana is they are using this game live to write the new Players Handbook.

In Hasbro Unearthed Arcana ability scores only go to 20 and is for the regular levels in Fifth Edition.

However, all stats, tables and rules are on Playtest Settings and might be different, more or less, difficult when the official books come out.

What I am saying is that the new playtest is the next version of the 2024 Hasbro Dungeons & Dragons players handbook.

Possible spoilers include Race has been changed to Species, with a lot of new playable characters coming out.

The One D&D playtest features almost, but this is supposed to be complete by the end of the playtest, all regular playable characters from the game making is a test version of the 2024 Players Handbook with rules that have not be officially decided on, in the manuals new options in the game for the test setting are highlighted in grey boxes that show the differences from the previous Players Handbook 2014.

The direction of the game in the playtest appears to be heading into the “Rules Expansion” set from last year with new features in the game coming from sources like Xanathar’s Guide To Everything, which are now test rules for the new Official Players Handbook 2024.

In recent videos Dungeons & Dragons has stated that one of the main updates from the playtest for new rules in the 2024 Players Handbook will focus on “Subclass” which is also featured in Xanathar’s Guide To Everything that give players new options for their main class that add new bonuses to the players character sheet.

The next update to the Players Handbook is “Character Origins” that are seamlessly related to the new “Subclass” options.

Character Origins gives you new backgrounds the create bonuses in the game for players that can be used in the Subclass section that allow the playable character to expand into different directions as they progress up in levels of the game.

Different chosen paths at the start of the game create new higher level options that expand the game into new multiple directions NOT INCLUDING playable monsters today only new rules for the same classic versions of the characters.

My opinion on the playtest is that this is the best table in RPG to play Dungeons & Dragons for your game, the Official Hasbro Game Table, where playing the game and providing feedback can get your game rules printed in official manuals if they choose what players like to print in the official bookstore game.

Also, the new game seems to be getting long in text pages meaning most people won’t be able to play this full game as it’s getting too long into a high design game level from Hasbro.

As you progress up and choose new character origins and subclasses this “extrapolates” and creates a lot of advanced options in higher levels for playable characters making them unique and totally different at high levels within the same class.

For example a Sorcerer or Fighter at high levels will now have multiple options of each class, not including multi-classing with new subclasses which make this version a super long read for most people.

In the future Hasbro has set themselves up for a large expansion based on these new game features that will enable them to write a vast amount of game material in higher levels of the game when each individual class has been expanded as the levels progress making many new adventure options for each character with different backgrounds and subclasses in higher levels of the game for new Official Adventure Modules in future game books.

Although at low levels most character are on the same path, this changes as the level goes up and each individual class gets expanded into it’s own unique set of characters based on these new backgrounds and subclasses at higher levels in new adventure modules.