So apparently only these combinations are fully supported:

• 5.2 game, 5.2 character, 5.2 subclass
• 5.2 game, 5.2 character, 5.1 subclass
• 5.2 game, 5.1 character, 5.1 subclass
• 5.1 game, 5.1 character, 5.1 subclass

And you can mix-and-match the first three of those options at the same table. Old subclass support is a good thing for fans of third-party stuff since that often had custom subclasses.

You can use “adventures” from 5.1 but the rulebook itself with conditions, combat system etc is supposed to be 5.2 (D&D “2024”, since referring to this new edition as a new edition is taboo) if you want to to support 5.2 characters.

I’m a li’l bit protective of features like Guidance and Song of Rest because I’ve seen again and again how they blend roleplaying and mechanics in an awesome way. Song of Rest especially read like something straight out of a PbtA in how it gave a mechanical incentive to caring about narration and how your bard actually performs and consoles and entertains the other party members.

From a flavor perspective, Song of Rest also really emphasized that the Bard was a musician class first and foremost, so the shifting away from a specifically “song”-based feature also highlights the 2024 Bard’s movement into other creative mediums

But there’s nothing to replace it that has the same “braid together symbolic and diegetic mechanics”.

OK so the wildshape does seem to have gotten a huge nerf: hitpoints!

This looks like a great development. Nerf the biggest “bug” while add in lots of other stuff that’s just plain fun.

In one of the playtests, the sorlock combo was removed but then it was quickly returned. I was still hoping it’d be gone for the real thing but from what I can tell it’s not.

I.e. the fix that I wanted (that was briefly there) was that blasting would’ve scaled with your class levels rather than your character levels, just like extra attack did for the martial classes. Not that sorlock is that OP, it’s more that it just feels dumb to go straight witch for twenty. In other words, it’s not that I would wanna reign in sorlock compared to fighters and wizards, it’s more that I would wanna make single-classing witch be more appealing. It’s a bummer when someone can get 99% of your raison d’être with a toe dip.

I don’t get it. Are the classes in 5.2 just buffed overall? Or are they about the same power level as before?