Paul & Dan assess the information so far on the next edition of D&D after 5E.

In August 2022, Wizards announced that the next phase of major changes for Dungeons & Dragons would occur under the One D&D initiative which includes a public playtest of the next version of Dungeons & Dragons. Revised editions of the Player's Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master's Guide are scheduled to be released in 2024. The first public playtest, Unearthed Arcana: Character Origins, was released on D&D Beyond on August 18. Samantha Nelson, for Polygon, commented that public playtest material should not be "considered final". Nelson wrote that spells are now grouped by "arcane, divine, or primal" power sources – terms that were previously used in 4th edition's magic system. Xavier Johnson, for Dot eSports, and Christian Hoffer, for Comicbook.com, both highlighted that this playtest release updates the critical roll mechanic to an automatic success or failure if a roll is natural 20 or 1, respectively.Hoffer wrote that the "backwards compatible" One D&D release proposes "significant changes to backgrounds and races, two of the core building blocks when creating player characters. The rules also introduce several new backgrounds, new tiefling variants, and a brand new race […]. Most notably, the proposed rules shift Ability Score Increases from being a racial trait to a Background trait".

What do you think of these proposed ideas for the edition of D&D to come after 5E? Would you be more or less likely to play the game? And do they threaten to erase old-school play, or support it?

• See the new website & video for One D&D here
• Read Dan's comparison with the 5E announcement here

Wandering DMs Paul Siegel and Dan “Delta” Collins host thoughtful discussions on D&D and other TTRPGs every week. Comparing the pros and cons of every edition from the 1974 Original D&D little brown books to cutting-edge releases for 5E D&D today, we broadcast live on YouTube and Twitch so we can take viewer questions and comments on the topic of the day. Live every Sunday at 1 PM Eastern time.

This description uses material from the Wikipedia article "Editions of Dungeons & Dragons", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.