OneD&D Playtest packet 7
OneD&D Playtest packet 7
Haven't started reading it yet, but its out now!
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World Tree barbarian looks neat.
The brawler fighter has one glaring oversight: it has no way to apply magic damage while using its class features. They promise to include magic items in the DMG that will allow them to do so (probably gauntlets, rings, etc...) but as it is, the class is essentially useless beyond level 5. Unless you find a magic beer bottle or something.
Warlocks are still gimped. While having Agonizing Blast and Eldritch Spear apply to any cantrip is a great change (edit: though there is a huge oversight still which makes Eldritch Blast still the optimal and obvious choice, namely that Agonizing Blast lets you add the charisma modifier to each damage roll, and at the cantrip improvement levels EB gains new damage rolls instead of extra damage dice like, say, fire bolt), they still lost their short rest spell recovery. If they could use the Magical Cunning PB/LR instead of 1/LR, that might be fair but as it is, a level 20 warlock has effectively 6 spell slots. And they can't even claim that it was to get rid of the short rest because the wizard's Arcane Recovery (which at level 20 can restore effectively the same amount and level of spell slots as the warlock's Magical Cunning, btw.) is still tied to it. (Also, while there are many Eldritch Invocations that give warlocks a free utility spell, the wizard's level 18 feature effectively gives them two of these for free, and they get to select any spell.)
Looking at it more, I don't actually think agonizing blast is an oversight - warlocks don't get enough slots or spells known to always be slinging spells in combats like true full casters. Agonizing blast puts their default attack option, which they should be relying on a lot of the time if they're not a bladelock which would also add CHA modifier, on par with martial weaponry. Is it powerful? Yes, but it still costs an invocation.
The problem isn’t the power level, it’s that they’re adding a choice about which cantrip to use, and then at 5th level effectively taking away that choice by making Eldritch Blast the obviously best option.
If Agonizing Blast added your Cha mod to all your Warlock cantrips, it’d still have some marginal flexibility in cantrip choice, like if there’s a weakness to exploit or if your target is one on the like 5 creatures that resists or is immune to Force damage, but because you lock in your choice on level-up, it’s just a “choice” where you always choose Eldritch Blast.
I figure that AB and EB should just be things Warlocks get via progression at 1 and 6-8 respectively, free up a cantrip and evocation slot and line up the +MOD to cantrip damage with Clerics getting the same or Evocation Wizards getting half damage on save cantrips and make Warlocks have to work to be Magical Ranged Fighters™. Not that I entirely think Warlocks need more invocations at this point, WotC has been pretty good about fixing them up for value so you can take sub-par ones for value, but more wiggle room by providing something for free that everyone in the universe takes anyway would lead to a bit more build diversity.