Up until the end of 2023(ish), Wizards of the Coast will be releasing a new Unearthed Arcana every month or two. These are not final versions of a new ruleset, but rather playtest materials for players to experiment with and provide feedback on.

I will be covering each new release in a TLDR version and collecting them all in one place for players and DMs to use.

Character Origins

Character Origins, the first Unearthed Arcana release leading to One D&D, the next generation of Dungeons and Dragons, introduces new playtest materials for the following topics:

• Character races

• Character backgrounds

• New rules

Character Races

Races from the Player’s Handbook all received updates. The following changes are presented for each race:

• Human

  • Size. Can be Small or Medium.

  • Resourceful. Gain Inspiration at the end of a Long Rest.

  • Skillful. Proficiency in one Skill of your choice.

  • Versatile. Gain the Skilled Feat or another 1st-level Feat of your choice.

• Dragonborn.

  • Breath Weapon. Action, 15-foot cone, Dex Save DC = 8 + Con + Proficiency Bonus. On a failed save, a creature takes 1d10 + character level damage of a type dependent on your Draconic Ancestry. Can use a number of times equal to Proficiency Bonus; regain uses at the end of a Long Rest.

  • Darkvision.

• Dwarf

  • Forge Wise. Two Tool Proficiencies, choosing from Jeweler’s Tools, Mason’s Tools, Smith’s Tools, or Tinker’s Tools.

  • Stonecunning. As a bonus action, gain 60-foot Tremorsense for 10 minutes. Must be on or touching a stone surface. Can use a number of times equal to Proficiency Bonus; regain uses at the end of a Long Rest.

• Elf

  • Fey Ancestry. Advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the Charmed Condition.

  • Trance. Magic can’t put you to sleep.

• Gnome

  • Forest Gnome. May cast Speak with Animals a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus; regain uses at the end of a Long Rest. May also use Spells Slots to cast.

  • Rock Gnome. Know Mending and Prestidigitation cantrips. Can spend 10 minutes and 10 GP casting an empowered Prestidigitation to make a Tiny clockwork device. May have up to 3 such devices at a time. These devices dismantle after 8 hours, but the materials used to make them can be reclaimed.

• Halfling

  • Brave. Advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the Frightened condition.

  • Naturally Stealthy. Proficiency in the Stealth Skill.

• Tiefling

  • Fiendish Legacy. The ability to choose a legacy that provides different damage resistances and the ability to cast different spells at certain levels:

    • Abyssal. Resistant to Poison Damage. Know Poison Spray (1st-level), Ray of Sickness (3rd-level), and Hold Person (5th-level).

    • Chthonic. Resistant to Necrotic Damage. Know Chill Touch (1st-level), False Life (3rd-level), and Ray of Enfeeblement (5th-level).

    • Infernal. Resistant to Fire Damage. Know Fire Bolt (1st-level), Hellish Rebuke (3rd-level), and Darkness (5th-level).

    These spells can be cast once per long rest using this trait, and also with the player’s Spell Slots, if they have them available. The player chooses the spellcasting ability for spells cast with this trait.

New Races

• Ardling (Upper Planes; head resembles an animal)

  • Celestial Legacy. The ability to choose a legacy that provides different damage resistances and the ability to cast different spells at certain levels:

  • Exalted. Know Thaumaturgy (1st-level), Divine Favor (3rd-level), and Lesser Restoration (5th-level).

  • Heavenly. Know Light (1st-level), Cure Wounds (3rd-level), and Ray of Zone of Truth (5th-level).

  • Idyllic. Know Guidance (1st-level), Healing Word (3rd-level), and Animal Messenger (5th-level).

  These spells can be cast once per long rest using this trait, and also with the player’s Spell Slots, if they have them available. The player chooses the spellcasting ability for spells cast with this trait.

  • Damage Resistance. Resistant to Radiant Damage.

  • Angelic Flight. Bonus action to fly a number of feet equal to Speed. Fall if nothing is holding you aloft. May use a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus; regain uses at the end of a Long Rest.

• Orc

  • Adrenaline Rush. May Dash as a bonus action; gain temporary hit points equal to Proficiency Bonus. May use a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus; regain uses at the end of a Long Rest.

  • Darkvision.

  • Powerful Build. Count as one Size larger for determining carrying capacity and weight you can push, drag, or lift.

  • Relentless Endurance. When you are reduced to 0 hit points, you drop to 1 hit point instead. May not use again until you finish a Long Rest.

Character Backgrounds

There are significant changes to how character backgrounds work introduced in this Unearthed Arcana. Most significantly, the default option is now for a player to build their own background (following a set of guidelines) rather than selecting a pre-built background.

There are other very big changes to what choices come along with a character’s background selection. Here’s how to build your own background:

• Choose Ability Score Increases. You can give yourself +2 in one ability and +1 in a different ability. Or, you can give yourself +1 in three different abilities.

  This replaces the Ability Score Increases trait from Tausha’s Cauldron of Everything — it doesn’t stack with it.

• Choose Skill Proficiencies. Choose two Skills to be proficient in.

• Choose Tool Proficiency. Choose one tool to be proficient in.

• Choose a Language. Choose one language to know.

• Choose a 1st-level Feat. This is a new rule, explained more below.

• Choose equipment. Spend 50 GP on any starting equipment. Keep any unspent GP.

The UA also presents 18 example backgrounds if players wish to select a pre-built character background. According to the game’s developers, this was to have a beginner-friendly option for a player who would be overwhelmed by making so many choices without really understanding why they matter.

The developer’s idea here is that a character’s background, rather than their race, should determine the most important elements of why and how they’re good at the things they’re good at.

Feats and First-Level Feats

This UA introduces a few changes to the nature of how Feats work in general. Namely, every Feat will always now have three elements:

• Level. This indicates that all the Feats from previous sourcebooks will be changed to have level requirements. This likely means that powerful, “must-pick” Feats like Great Weapon Master, Sharpshooter, and War Caster will be pushed back until at least 8th level.

  At the same time, middling Feats from the past will gain new viability thanks to reduced competition from those “must-pick” Feats.

• Prerequisite. A requirement to have the Feat. If you lose the requirement, you lose access to Feat’s benefits.

• Repeatable. A simple Yes or No. Repeatable Feats can be selected multiple times.

Additionally, this UA introduces a rule where all characters get a 1st-level Feat from their character’s background. These Feats are familiar from the Player’s Handbook, but have been updated to be more attractive and versatile.

For example, instead of a flat +5 bonus to initiative, Alert now scales with Proficiency Bonus and allows for the player to swap their initiative with an ally.

Like other elements of the new development mindset on character backgrounds, the goal is for this Feat to relate to what your character was doing before their adventuring life.

Rule Changes

This UA introduces several rule changes that affect several facets of play:

• d20 Test. Ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws are all d20 Tests. This seems to mostly be a semantic addition to help the rules refer to these three checks as a group more efficiently.

• Rolling a 1 or 20. A 1 automatically fails, and a 20 automatically succeeds on any d20 Test, regardless of any modifiers or the DC.

• Rolling a 20. Now gain Inspiration whenever you roll a 20 on a d20 Test.

• Critical Hits. Only Weapons and Unarmed Strikes can critically hit, on an attack roll of 20. When this happens, roll the damage dice of the Weapon or Unarmed Strike twice. For example, a 1d4 + Dexterity modifier damage Dagger would deal 2d4 + Dexterity modifier.

  This means that features like Sneak Attack don’t get all of their damage dice doubled on a Critical Strike anymore.

• Grappled. The grappled condition changed in the following ways:

  • Disadvantage on attack rolls against a creature other than the grappler

  • Moveable, but the grappler suffers from the Slowed Condition (new condition) while moving unless you are Tiny or two or more sizes smaller than the grappler.

  • May escape by using an action and succeeding on a Dexterity or Strength saving throw against he grapple escape DC (8 + Strength modifier + Proficiency Bonus).

• Incapacitated. The Incapacitated condition changed slightly, and the developers decided to include the “Can’t Speak” and “Can’t Concentrate on Spells” elements to the condition, which were always implicit via the conditions that apply Incapacitated.

  In addition, being Incapacitated now gives Disadvantage on initiative rolls.

• Slowed. A new condition that does the following:

  • Must spend 1 extra foot of movement for every foot you move.

  • Attack rolls against you have Advantage

  • You have disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws

• Inspiration. As before, Inspiration can be used to give a player advantage on any d20 Test. However, now a player also gains advantage whenever they roll a natural 20 on any d20 Test.

  According to the developers, a goal of this change was to make Inspiration both more frequent and to allow for Inspiration to snowball more easily (it’s more likely to roll a 20 on a d20 Test if you have advantage on it).

  Additionally, if a player has Inspiration and gets it from another source, they can pass it to an ally who lacks it.

  As before, DMs are free to award Inspiration whenever they feel a player deserves it.

• Long Rest. Long Rests are now limited to one per day. Additionally, if a Long Rest is interrupted, but a player had at least 1 hour of rest time, the rest confers the benefits of a Short Rest.

• Unarmed Strike. Unarmed Strikes still use the same attack roll (d20 + Strength Modifier + Proficiency Bonus), but you can now cause one of three effects on hit:

  • Bludgeoning Damage. 1 + Strength modifier. This is the same as it’s always been.

  • Grapple. Escaping requires a Dexterity or Strength saving throw against your grapple escape DC (8 + Strength modifier + Proficiency Bonus).

  • Shove. Push the target Prone or 5 feet away.

  Notably, this means that Grapples and Shoves are no longer ability check contests that pit the attacker’s Athletics against the target’s Athletics or Acrobatics. Instead, they are attack rolls against the target’s AC.

  Escaping a grapple is now a matter of competing against the grappler’s Strength, rather than their Athletics. This severely limits the capability of specializing as a grappler by investing in Athetlics proficiency and Expertise.

• Spell Lists. Spells are now broken down into three spell types:

  • Arcane. Ambient magic of the multiverse used by Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, Wizards, and Artificers also harness this magic.

  • Divine. Magic from the power of the gods and the Outer Planes used by Clerics and Paladins.

  • Primal. Nature magic and power from the Inner Planes used by Druids and Rangers.

  The UA provides lists of cantrips and 1st-level spells that fall into each of these spell categories. At this point, these designations have no interaction with any of the game’s rules. However, the devs suggest that their plan is to use these tags to support how Classes, Subclasses, Races, and Feats work in relation to spells.

• Tremorsense. The ability to pinpoint the location of creatures and moving objects if they are in contact with the same surface and within a specific range. Can’t detect creatures or objects in the air. Doesn’t count as a form of sight.

• Tool Re-Pricings. A few categories of tools had their prices standardized:

  • Artisans Tools. All now cost 15 GP.

  • Gaming Sets. All now cost 1 GP.

  • Musical Instruments. All now cost 20 GP.