168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Wizards of the Coast just revealed Playtest 8 for the upcoming 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dungeons & Dragons changes, the name of which was once OneD&D, but is no longer OneD&D, and which will be forever known by players as 5.5e until they change it some more. In any case, in the seven previous Unearthed Arcanas (technically eight, as we got 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:a bonus one on bastions), there has been a bit of give and take. There have been some positive changes along the way (like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the magical viking barbarian), as well as many caveats (like t🌞he incessant tweaks to monks). However, the eighth playtest is full of positive alterations that both grow and simplify the rules, and has no black mark against it.

Most impressive is that the highest of Playtest 8's high points is for monks, who have been messed around a lot during these evolutions, and usually not in a good way. I came into these tests wary of monks anyway, and the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:changes pushed me away more. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Trying the class out in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Baldur's Gate 3 won me over, and now theseﷺ latest changes push it up near the front of the queue for my next character.

I suppose this is the point of these playtests. They don't need to be perfect right out of the gate, they just need to end up better than they started to be considered a success, even if that means failures along the way. Wizards of the Coast has been uncharacteristically communicative throughout all of this, and that deserves credit too, along with how impressive Playtest 8 is. These aren't the final rules, though we are getting closer. Last time out we were told rogues, paladins, clerics, rangers, and bards were done for changes, and after this, monks will join them.

How Does Playtest 8 Impact Monks?

Discipline Points continue to be the driving factor behind monks, which makes them a little different from all other classes, and therefore in many ways the hardest to get right. You make a change for weapon attacks and all the martial classes change, so as long as you balance that one change, you're set. Likewise for spells and casters. Discipline is only for monks, though, meaning a bad change to it will only impact them, and it needs to work in conjunction with other changes too. This playtest has seen the biggest change to Discipline Points since the name change, but fortunately, WotC may have finally figured monks out.

Discipline Points have been known as Ki Points until now, but the playtests (and any fut🙈ure books) avoid this term due to the stereotyping around mystical East Asian monks.

The simplest change is monks can now make Unarmed Strikes as a bonus action - previously this was reliant on them having used their action to attack, as well as for this attack to have hit various complex criteria. Now, if you're a monk, you can do it with no fuss. Weapon Mastery is also gone for monks, but their monk weapons are back and work with their Martial Arts die. For the most part, monks have always felt like they didn't have enough points to do things, and weren't effective as a regular fighter either. These changes fix both those issues.

Patient Defence and Step of the Wind now use no Points (though can be, for want of a better phrase, 'upcast' to make them better), while Flurry of Blows (costing one Point) gives you two Unarmed Strikes as a bonus action. It's all about making the points last for longer, but recovery is included too - Uncanny Metabolism on Initiative rolls will allow monks to recover both health and Discipline Points.

How Does Playtest 8 Impact Bards?

That line on bards being done wasn't entirely true. When the last playtest dropped, I wrote that I was fine with t🎶he current shape of rogues, paladins, and🐻 clerics. Rangers and bards I was less sure on, and while rangers aren't mentioned here, bards have been immediately taken out of the carbonite with a brand new cantrip.

Starry Wisp can be learned by bards or druids, dealing radiant damage plus negating Invisibility, and while it doesn't entirely supply bards with the identity they seemed to lack through the changes of these tests, it gives them something to hold on to. I can only hope that while players are confused as to the direction of rangers and bards, WotC has seen enough to decide internally that one iteration worked far better than the others, so that's the one to stick with.

How Does Playtest 8 Impact Barbarians?

I was also surprised that barbarians weren't in the bunch of 'all done!' classes last time around. It has remained fairly consistent throughout these tests, and in the midst of it even got a new official subclass in🅷 Bigby Presents The Glory of Giants: Pa⛎th of the Giant. Here, it gets some minor changes. Barbarians now recover a Rage slot on a shorღt rest (giving them a reason to short rest, as the only previous class to gain nothing bar health on a short rest), and Brutal Criticals are now Brutal Strikes.

I liked Brutal Crit, and agreed with the logic that they worked with Reckless Attack (Advantage means more crits, Brutal Critical meant more damage from damage from said crits), but the new Brutal Strike feature feels more modern. Brutal Critical was just more damage, and that's effective, but it's also boring. But Brutal Strikes offers a greater range of options, including forgoing Advantage to throw enemies, lower their speed, lower their defences, or remove their chance for opportunity attacks. It is more in line with the player choice-led style of modern D&D than the more traditional dice-led style of Brutal Critical.

For example, 𒁃with a Brutal Strike, you can trade the Advantage you got from a Reckless Attack to either push an enemy back 15 feet and then move half your speed to close the gap again, or you can reduce their speed to 15 until your next turn.

There have been more than a few missteps with this rollout, not least the confusion over where exactly Dungeons & Dragons is going next, and even what it’s going to be call🐲ed. But as the playtests come to a close and the new versions of each class are finalised, it finally feels like everything is mov🔯ing in the right direction.