If you are interested in signing up for the second round of the D&D Next public playtest, you can now do so. It includes character creation for levels 1 – 5, rules of play, DM guidelines, pre-generated characters, and an updated bestiary.

I took a quick look at everything and noticed some interesting changes. Specifically, it looks like attention has been given to healing, the cleric, the wizard, the rogue, and the fighter. Apparently, the most hotly debated topic from the feedback Wizards of the Coast has been getting revolves around the fighter and how he functions in combat. The masses seem very eager for the fighter to “have something interesting to do” in combat, other than rolling a 20-sided die and doing lots of damage. I’d be curious to hear anyone’s opinions in the comments as to what they think of the fighter as he looks right now, in this new public playtest download.

Here is a link to Mike Mearls’ summary of the changes in this round.

And here is a link to the actual page where you can download the new playtest.