Unearthed Arcana 2023 - Player’s Handbook Playtest 5 - Weapons, Spells, Feats, and Five Classes

Oct 5, 2026

Uploaded by Finn

Unearthed Arcana 2023 Player’s Handbook Playtest 5 gathers experimental draft options using the 2014 Player’s Handbook rules. The update focuses on new weapon and spell options, additional feats including Epic Boon and Weapon Master choices, and playtesting support such as an updated rules glossary. Five classes are ready for testing—Barbarian, Fighter, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard—each with a subclass, while the Monk is planned for a future packet.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages50

Reading Time2 h 6 min

AccessFree to download

What’s New

Weapons

Spells

Feats

Five Classes

Rules Glossary

This Is Playtest Material

How to Playtest This UA

Power Level

Feedback

Weapons Section

Design Note: Weapon Updates

Weapon Tables

Simple Weapons: Melee

Simple Weapons: Ranged

Martial Weapons: Melee

UNEARTHED ARCANA 2023 PLAYER ’S HANDBOOK PLAYTEST 5 This document is part ofa series of Unearthed Arcana articles that present material designed for the next version of the Player’s Handbook. The material here uses the rules in the 2014 Player’s Handbook, except where noted. After we conclude the public playtest for the Player’s Handbook, Unearthed Arcana will explore material for the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Monster Manual. LEARN MORE ON YOUTUBE To learn more about the design in this article, we invite you to view the videos about it on YouTube ([www.youtube.com/DNDWizards](www.youtube.com/DNDWizards)) . WHAT’S NEW Weapons. New options for weapons appear here for you to try out. Spells. More spells are ready for playtesting. Feats. Several Epic Boon feats and the Weapon Master feat appear here for your feedback. Five Classes. Five classes are ready for playtesting: Barbarian, Fighter, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard. Each of those classes also includes a subclass. The Monk will appear in a future UA, along with revised versions of other classes. Rules Glossary. The rules glossary has been updated again and supersedes the glossary in all previous Unearthed Arcana articles. In this document, any underlined term in the body text appears in that glossary. THIS IS PLAYTEST MATERIAL This article is presented for playtesting and feedback. The options here are experimental and in draft form. They aren’t officially part of the game. Your feedback will help determine whether we adopt it as official. How to Playtest This UA. We invite you to tryout this material in play. When you do so, you’re welcome to combine this article with the other articles in this series, starting with “Character Origins.” If you do combine this article with any previous one, use only the rules glossary found here. In this Unearthed Arcana series, the rules glossary of each article supersedes the glossary of any previous article. To play with this material, you may either incorporate it into your campaign or run one or more special playtest sessions. For such a session, you may create an adventure of your own or use a short adventure from a source like Keys from the Golden Vault, Journeys through the Radiant Citadel, or Candlekeep Mysteries. Power Level. The character options you read here might be more or less powerful than options in the 2014 Player’s Handbook. If a design survives playtesting, we adjust its power to the desirable level before publication. This means an option could be more or less powerful in its final form. Feedback. The best way for you to give us feedback on this material is in the survey we’ll release on D&D Beyond. If we make this material official, it will be refined based on your feedback, and then it will appear in a D&D book. Providing feedback on this document is one way you can help shape the next generation of D&D! WEAPONS This section contains playtest versions of weapons in the Player’s Handbook. Here you’ll find weapon tables, several revised weapon properties, and a new type of property: Mastery properties. When we revisit the Experts and Priests in future Unearthed Arcana articles, some of them will gain access to these special properties. DESIGN NOTE: WEAPON UPDATES Here are the new elements in this weapons section: • Each weapon now has a Mastery property, a special property that requires a feature to unlock. The Mastery properties are described in this document. • Shortsword has returned to being a Martial weapon. • The Net, which doesn’t deal damage, is now adventuring gear rather than a weapon. See“Adventuring Gear” below for the item’s playtest description. ©2023 Wizards of the Coast LLC 1 • The Trident’s damage die has changed from 1d6 to 1d8, and its Versatile die is now 1d10 rather than 1d8 . • The Lance has the Heavy and Two-Handed properties rather than the Special property (which imposed Disadvantage on some of its attack rolls), and its damage die has c

FAQs

What is included in Player’s Handbook Playtest 5?

The playtest includes new weapon options, additional spells, several Epic Boon feats and the Weapon Master feat, and five classes ready for testing: Barbarian, Fighter, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard.

How should players use the rules glossary for earlier Unearthed Arcana articles?

Use only the rules glossary found in this series packet, because each article’s rules glossary supersedes the glossary from any previous Unearthed Arcana article.

How can readers provide feedback on this playtest material?

Feedback is provided through the survey released on D&D Beyond, and if the material becomes official it will be refined based on that feedback.

Oct 5, 2026

Uploaded by Finn