D&D (2024) One D&D Expert Classes Playtest Document Is Live

The One D&D Expert Class playest document is now available to download. You can access it by signing into your D&D Beyond account at the link below. It contains three classes -- bard, rogue, and ranger, along with three associated subclasses (College of Lore, Thief, and Hunter), plus a number of feats.

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[Parmandur]

[URL='https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford']Jeremy Crawford
[/URL]
@JeremyECrawford

Replying to
@XXXXXXXX
Alternate features for multiple classes are still a possibility, but we want to do more research before we invest time in them. We don’t want our design to chase phantoms but real desires held by a large number of players.


7:47 PM · Jul 28, 2018·Twitter for iPhone

He wasn't saying individual people are phantoms, but someone having a problem might be a phantom in terms of the general user base experience.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

It's not just about killing mooks. Many times being able to do an AoE is great. Especially against concentration using casters...

Also, I think probably the biggest buff to rangers here is the ability to use cantrips. That's going to be huge, I suspect, since cantrips scale.

I would like a rewording of extra attack though. Cantrip + extra attack should be standard.

 

[Micah Sweet]

They nerfed exhaustion. Now it's just a -1 to all rolls (and -1 to spell save DC) for every level of exhaustion, and you don't die until Exhaustion 10. That means exhaustion is actually usable now.

It also means it means very little in practice, so why bother? Level Up's Fatigue and Strife do it better.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

It's not just about killing mooks. Many times being able to do an AoE is great. Especially against concentration using casters...

Also, I think probably the biggest buff to rangers here is the ability to use cantrips. That's going to be huge, I suspect, since cantrips scale.

Yeah I don’t like losing the choices of the hunter, especially if they aren’t using those features at all, but it’s not a bad subclass.

Cantrips are good, as is preparing spells, rituals, and no concentration hunters mark.

 

[WarDriveWorley]

[URL='https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford']Jeremy Crawford
[/URL]
@JeremyECrawford

Replying to
@XXXXXXXX
Alternate features for multiple classes are still a possibility, but we want to do more research before we invest time in them. We don’t want our design to chase phantoms but real desires held by a large number of players.


7:47 PM · Jul 28, 2018·Twitter for iPhone

So just to level set here, you are aware the term "chasing phantoms" (usually heard as chasing ghosts) is an idiom. He's not calling those that are complaining non-existent or as a literal phantom.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

It also means it means very little in practice, so why bother? Level Up's Fatigue and Strife do it better.

Good for level up?

 

[CleverNickName]

But why oh why do they keep forcing mundane class abilities into the spellcasting framework? This just makes it harder to develop classes for low-magic settings or classes with unique mechanics that have an impact on how they feel during play.

I understand what they're trying to do. There are a lot of folks who want a "druid spellsword" in 5th Edition, and most of them turn to the Ranger to fill that niche. It wouldn't be my first choice (I'd just let the Eldritch Knight use the druid spell list and skill proficiencies, or I'd play an Oath of Ancients paladin) but I can see why people automatically think "Ranger."

 

[doctorbadwolf]

He wasn't saying individual people are phantoms, but someone having a problem might be a phantom in terms of the general user base experience.

Not even that, the problem itself is a phantom if only a tiny percentage of the player base experiences it. There is no sense in which the person is a phantom. Phantom literally does not refer to people in the statement quoted, it refers to the mechanical problems in question.

It absolutely makes sense to gather more info and move cautiously to ensure that you don’t waste dev time hunting down “issues” that only 5 people out of millions experience or see as issues.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Fatigue/Exhaustion was always meaningless, because the first level was such a strong effect, that nothing besides Berserker ever ended up using the mechanic. Making it less punishing and not require a separate table look-up should make it possible for it to come up more.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Can we drop the Crawford minutia? This is a mostly positive packet, let's take joy in that.