D&D (2024) Expert Classes - Rules Glossary

[OB1]

A lot of interesting changes in here. The one that immediately caught my eye was Exhaustion. Now with 10 levels before death, with each level resulting in a -1 to all d20 tests. I wonder if being knocked unconscious and failing death saving throws will now come with exhaustion levels.

Also interesting that there is now a set DC to hide as an action, with specific conditions about when you can hide.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Also interesting that there is now a set DC to hide as an action, with specific conditions about when you can hide.

When I saw this rule change I wondered exactly why it was added... but then I realized that it actually helps out the DM and their monsters. Because now PCs can't just hide even with crappy Stealth checks because they lucked out and the monsters looking for them (usually with poor Perception bonuses) rolled poorly too to find them.

This is giving a floor that says to PCs "If you want to actually Hide, you have to do a somewhat good job at it to count." Which I think is a good thing. It also makes the Rogue's Reliable Talent have a better chance to do so something tangible, as now that free '10' on their roll means they will almost always succeed in reaching that floor.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Also interesting that there is now a set DC to hide as an action, with specific conditions about when you can hide.

Good catch. I like that it is no vs passive perception anymore (which is hopefully gone), but I don't like the fixed DC. I would love an "awareness defense" instead, even if it is just 12 + prof bonus.
I'd even more like 8 + prof bonus + int or dex, whicheveris better.
Maneuver defense would be 8 + prof bonus + dex or str.

Now we need a defense that is 8 + prof bonus + cha or con. Maybe some kind of resilience vs exhaustion.

 

[OB1]

Appreciate what they are trying to do with the Attitude and Influence section, but those DCs seem WAY low. Like all the DCs listed need to be upped by 10 to make them reasonable. It should be nearly impossible (DC30) to get a hostile creature do help you in any way or an indifferent creature to accept any kind of sacrifice or risk.

 

[Amrûnril]

Appreciate what they are trying to do with the Attitude and Influence section, but those DCs seem WAY low. Like all the DCs listed need to be upped by 10 to make them reasonable. It should be nearly impossible (DC30) to get a hostile creature do help you in any way or an indifferent creature to accept any kind of sacrifice or risk.

I think fixed attitude categories and DCs are inevitably going to run into issues. Friendliness and hostility occur on a spectrum, as do levels of risk and sacrifice (and any number of additional personality traits could come into play). I'd say the game would be better off encouraging the DM to evaluate difficulty on a case by case basis, perhaps with some examples provided for guidance.

 

[Vael]

Interaction though front loads that regardless of DC, this is not mind control and DM can override that no check is feasible.

 

[Stalker0]

The biggest notes to me:

Stealth - The loss of passive perception is very concerning to me. Its already extremely easy to hide in most cases, but now its going to require an actual action to find a hidden character? (which also means that in a normal hiding through the dungeon scenario, enemy sentries will have NO chance to find you, because you can't just take a search action over and over and over and over again non-stop, you would need a reason to do so).

On the flip side, the technical reading of the Hidden condition, is that once AN enemy finds you, you lose the condition. This means if one enemy sees you, ALL enemies see you.

Influence Action - This has potential but needs cleanup. For example, the hostile sections notes you need to make several hard checks to work a hostile creature....except with a simple DC 10 I can get a hostile monster to stop actively trying to kill me. Also the notes about shifting attitude one way or another needs some work.

Allies now count as difficult terrain when moving through them - Can be an important note in tight spaces.

Guidance - Wow, this is perfect! They solved everything, now the spell just works (no asking DM permission), but its scaled down and markedly lower in frequency. Perfect answer, really happy with this.

No longer need a bonus action for TWF

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I think fixed attitude categories and DCs are inevitably going to run into issues. Friendliness and hostility occur on a spectrum, as do levels of risk and sacrifice (and any number of additional personality traits could come into play). I'd say the game would be better off encouraging the DM to evaluate difficulty on a case by case basis, perhaps with some examples provided for guidance.

No. 20 is hard enough.

 

[Stalker0]

No. 20 is hard enough.

Yeah its important to look at the specific text. A DC 20 on a hostile creature only gets them to things that involve no risk or sacrifice. You aren't getting them to hand over the keys kind of thing. The only one that really sticks out to me is the DC 10 letting you shut down attack mode, that seems a bit too easy.

And its not just about npcs, think about monsters. For example, classic animal hunting for food and wants to attack the party. DC 10 animal handling.... encounter over. Sure a DM can override that, but you quickly get into eyebrow raising territory, "wait so this murderous person I can talk down with a crazy easy check, but that murderous person I can't get to back down even on a 30?"

 

[rules.mechanic]

I really like the new exhaustion rules. Similar to a variant I've used since @Horwath posted it here. Agree it seems to give lots of scope to pick up exhaustion from going to 0 HP or failing death throws (which we certainly do) but I'd like to also see you being able to buy Inspiration (i.e. reroll any failed D20 test) or Hit Dice with exhaustion - similar the Heroic Effort / Heroic Exertion homebrew we currently use: Tome of Variance