D&D (2024) What form might subclasses take in 1DnD? (+)

[SakanaSensei]

So far, I’m quite looking forward to the upcoming playtest material! However, rather than going into the weeds for the 78th time on ASIs and the like, I’d like to see what people think they may do with subclasses.

One of the things I most like about 5E as it stands at the moment is the massive amount of very evocative 3PP player options. Mage Hand Press’ Celestial Lancer fighter bringing Final Fantasy dragoons to the game, MCDM’s the The Horned One warlock letting casters shoot with a bow, the Griffin’s Saddlebag’s wand slinger… these are all super neat.

I also think that it would be fantastic if 1DnD rearranges when characters get subclasses, along with how impactful subclasses could be. There’s a lot of potential design space that could be opened up by changing the formula here. I personally loved the idea of the multiple class subclasses in the Strixhaven UA, but the implementation was messy because classes get subclass features at different levels.

Which got me thinking of one potential solution: let all subclasses have let’s say 5 features with certain level requirements, and then fill out classes so they have 20 levels of class features so you always get something when you level up. Then, when you hit a level with a feature from your subclass, you can take that instead of your base class feature.

All of a sudden, you can have subclasses that have multiple classes they can key off of. You can ensure backwards compatibility with 3PP subclasses (and existing official options!). You can please tables that want something simpler by allowing them to cut out subclasses entirely.

This is only one potential form things could take, but I am very curious what you all think we may see as the 1DnD playtest continues.

 

[Ath-kethin]

My main beefs with 5e subclasses are 1) they don't start from 1st level, which impacts things like multiclassing, and 2) different wizard "specialists" all use the same spell list.

So my biggest hope is for subclasses from level 1 and Diviners who are distinct from Evokers in a meaningful way at the table.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

My biggest hope is no level 1 subclasses whatsoever. I spend a chunk of my summers helping many younger kids with minimum game knowledge roll up character and so I am hyper-aware of the number of decisions the game asks a brand new player to make before they can start playing. Sorcerer and Warlock weren't so bad in the just PHB days, having few subclasses, but everytime a kid said they wanted to play a Cleric (thankfully rarely) I shuddered.

 

[SakanaSensei]

My biggest hope is no level 1 subclasses whatsoever. I spend a chunk of my summers helping many younger kids with minimum game knowledge roll up character and so I am hyper-aware of the number of decisions the game asks a brand new player to make before they can start playing. Sorcerer and Warlock weren't so bad in the just PHB days, having few subclasses, but everytime a kid said they wanted to play a Cleric (thankfully rarely) I shuddered.

As someone who has also taught middle schoolers the game, I get that. Another reason I kind of liked my general idea in the OP. Kid wants a sorcerer? The baseline, only base class sorcerer could cover bases without a decision point, but people who did want to alter the flavor a bit could pick a subclass and be dandy.

 

[SakanaSensei]

My main beefs with 5e subclasses are 1) they don't start from 1st level, which impacts things like multiclassing, and 2) different wizard "specialists" all use the same spell list.

So my biggest hope is for subclasses from level 1 and Diviners who are distinct from Evokers in a meaningful way at the table.

Yeah, Wizard subclasses, especially in the official material, feel far too same-y to me, too. Here’s to hoping they work some differences in.

 

[Shiroiken]

I think they should reconsider subclasses as archetypes, providing them at level 1 so that characters are full concepts at level 1. The starting ability for each subclass should be minimal, to prevent abuse from multiclassing, but should set them on a definitive path.

 

[Remathilis]

I don't expect you'll see a change to the subclass general structure; they want compatibility, and they aren't going to redo Tasha and Xanathar material for a while. That said, I expect the classes themselves will get some much-needed additions and PHB subclasses get some polish like the current crop of subs have been. (IE bonus spells for sorcs and rangers, prof/day uses, etc).

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Hot take to avoid frontloading the classes with too many choices at 1st level for new players:

Write the ''main'' archetype of the class as part of the main class chassis in the book, not in a different section after the class chassis. Then make archetypes who swap those class features with the ones from the new archetype.

ie: The Hunter becomes part of the base ranger chassis at level 3-7-etc
After the class write up, you have the Beastmaster archetypes, which goes like: ''A player preferring to adopt the archetype of the Beastmasters loses the X-Y-Z features of the Ranger and gain the follow A-B-C features instead.

So players who are not at-ease with making a bunch of choices just pick the base ranger, already all written in the book while a more advanced player can look at the alternative archetypes features.

 

[Quartz]

I want a short-rest based full caster class.

 

[Li Shenron]

All of a sudden, you can have subclasses that have multiple classes they can key off of. You can ensure backwards compatibility with 3PP subclasses (and existing official options!).

Err... not really.

While the idea was something I would have liked back then at the beginning of 5e, changing the levels at which subclasses grant their features pretty much guarantees to break compatibility with previous supplements, which is what they claim they want to keep. All previous supplements subclasses would not work with 2024 PHB characters. If the original number of features was already 5, maybe minor adjustments could be enough, but definitely not for those classes with a different number.