New features include a cool take on Plasma's edit mode, keyboard LEDs that sync with accent colors, an inbuilt Remote Desktop Server that let's you access Plasma desktops over a network, lots of bug corrections and improvements.
Someone creates a username/password in System Settings and then activates the server on the remote computer. Then they need to approve you the first time you try to log in from your personal computer... I'm not sure this answers your question.
Sorry I know I could just switch to rawhide and try it, but I'm curious.
What I'm trying to ask is, once I've set up authentication and given access, does a logged in kde plasma session need to be running for me to remote in? I.e. would this survive a reboot.
I'd like to be able to access my desktop from my laptop on occasion while not physically having access to my desktop (I.e. over VPN). Is this possible yet?
I'd very much imagine so. You aren't going to have the DE loaded until you've gone through the DM. This would have to be integrated with SDDM in order to remotely log in.