Dungeons & Dragons Will Explore Using Hit Dice in New Ways in Coming Months

The principal rules designer for Dungeons & Dragons is hinting that future rules updates will see hit dice used in different ways. Last week, Wizards of the Coast posted a new "Sage Advice" video for Dungeons & Dragons, in which host Todd Kenreck discussed various design elements seen in the recently released "Heroes of Krynn" Unearthed Arcana playtest. Near the end of the video, Crawford and Kenreck discussed the new ways proficiency bonuses have been used in recent rulebooks, starting with the 2020 release Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Crawford noted that one of the design goals for that book was to find new ways to use existing elements of the game. Near the end of that discussion, Crawford hinted that we'd see other design elements find new uses in the coming months, specifically naming hit dice as an example. 

Referencing how the D&D community has embraced the new uses of proficiency bonuses, Crawford said that players will likely embrace the coming changes even more. "I think we'll see a similar thing in the months ahead as we start exploring more and more ways to use hit dice and other elements of the game," Crawford said. "We are basically looking at everything on the character sheet and asking if this piece is doing enough. Is there something we're doing in the game that we can actually hand to [those elements]. Then, the whole game gets tighter, easier to teach, easier to learn, more fun to play, easier to balance, etc." You can check out Crawford's full comments in the video below (Crawford talks about hit dice and proficiency bonuses at the 15:10 mark): 

Crawford also discusses the return of feat trees, noting that there was room to explore in that design feature. However, he said it was unlikely that complex feat trees would comeback, saying that they've received negative feedback about feat trees stacking too high. Crawford also discussed the new background designs seen in recent months, stating that the new "background with a feat" design was intended to make backgrounds more meaningful instead of disappearing into the background. As of now, these special backgrounds were limited to setting-specific backgrounds, which will likely continue.