Marking 50 years since the game first debuted, 2024 has been a notable year forDungeons and Dragons. 2024 sawDungeons and Dragonscollaborate with brands like LEGO and Converse as well as video games likeDestiny 2andDead by Daylight. Besides collabs,D&Dalso received some major updates to its rules this year. Wizards of the Coast released two new rulebooks this year: thePlayer’s Handbookand theDungeon Master’s Guide. As the first in a new wave of books that will continue to release over the course of the next year, these build onD&D’s 2024 update to the 5th edition ruleset, infusing the game with enhanced features and new mechanics.
Some of the most noticeable changes in the new 2024 rules have come toD&D’s class system. Each of the game’s 12 core classes — barbarian, bard, cleric, druid, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard — were overhauled to better balance play and incorporate fan feedback. Many of these updates have already received praise from players. Besides the dozen classic classes established in 5th edition’s firstPlayer’s Handbook, one supplemental class has also gotten some love in this new rollout. A recently released Unearthed Arcana playtest document made updates toEberon: Rising From the Last WarandTasha’s Cauldron of Everything’s artificer, which bodes well for the class' future.
The Artificer Class in D&D 2024
The Return of Unearthed Arcana
Besides the content included inD&D’s newest rulebooks, Wizards of the Coast is continuing to supply players with unique character options thanks to Unearthed Arcana — commonly referred to as UA. UA is first party content released online by Wizards of the Coast. Though not in a finalized state, Wizards of the Coast gives anyone interested free access to this material. This way, the company can widely playtest the material — be it new species, classes, spells, or rules — before it gets published in an official book. UA played a major role in 5th edition and is where the artificer class made its first appearance.
Artificers are Intelligence-based spellcasters that were introduced as 5th edition’s 13th playable class. Rather than relying upon traditional casting, artificers can instead infuse mundane objects with arcane energy to create their very own magic items. These include weapons, potions, spell-storing trinkets, and more. Players were disappointed to see that the popular class had been left out of the 2024Player’s Handbook, but arecent edition ofD&DUA provided updated rules and improvementsfor anyone looking to incorporate an artificer into their upcoming campaign. The changes simplified certain elements of the class while also adding new spells and magic items for players to choose from.
What This Artificer Update Could Mean For D&D
Artificer’s UA arrival is big news forD&D’s class system. While it took multiple years for artificer to first pop up inD&D5e, Wizards of the Coast brought the class to D&D 2024 (at least as a first draft) before it released theMonster Manualor even aD&Dstarter set. This suggests that artificer could appear in supplemental material much sooner than it did in 5e’s initial life cycle, which would allow Wizards of the Coast to provide the class with significantly more official support as this new ruleset expands.
The artificer class has long fascinatedD&Dplayers, and after years of playing second fiddle, the class deserves to be given the same level of polish and attention as 5e’s more tenured classes. Not only would this give players more options during character creation, but it would let Wizards of the Coast finally move on from the artificer and give the same treatment to the abandoned mystic class or make entirelynew classes that could appear in this next generation ofD&D.
Dungeons and Dragons
Created by Gary Gygax, Dungeons & Dragons is a tabletop game in which players craft their own worlds and band together to take on adventures through mysterious realms outlined in companion materials. One of the best role-playing games ever made, it has been adapted into a variety of video games and other media.
