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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[gorice]

Exactly. The problem is it's still incredibly lazy design and some players don't want a spellcasting ranger. That the iconic D&D ranger Drizzt doesn't ever cast spells outside his drow heritage shows this for the lazy design it is. They can't be arsed to properly design features so they make them spells and now feats.

My suspicion is it's not actually incompetence, so much as fear of change, lest it trigger a backlash. We've already seen a lot of gnashing of teeth about these two playtests (especially the fart in a teacup that was the critical hit drama). If they actually did remove spellcasting from rangers, I'm sure at least someone would come out of the woodwork to declare the class ruined.

This is kind of 5e (and now 'One D&D' or whatever) in a nutshell. They can't change things without changing things, and they really, really don't want to do that.

 

[gorice]

Also, you know, all these arguments about who the true archetype of the ranger is only reinforce my position that there isn't one!

Maybe it's just an empty signifier.

 

[rooneg]

This techniquely not true, Drizzt cast a Ranger once because RA Salvotore got tired of folks bugging him about it. So techniquely Drizzt can cast ranger spells, he just doesn't bother most of the time.

Just out of curiosity where did this actually happen? I've read a whole heck of a lot of those books, and I can't remember a single case.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Right?!

I was trying to think, has Drizzt EVER used Ranger spellcasting, and whilst I daresay, given he's been 39 (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) different books, I daresay in some he did, it's certainly not a core component of the character. Having "only" read maybe 9 or 10 Drizzt books I can't think of a single example of him casting a spell, so it if happened, it was not memorable or dramatic in those.

Similarly, Rangers in podcasts and the like very rarely seem to cast spells, and when they do, they often have them reskinned as abilities.

So yeah, that they keep pushing half-caster has how Ranger works seems really wack in 2022. Even 4E was messed up in this way, I note. 4E fixed most conceptual problems with most classes, but nope, not Ranger. Ranger got a whole bunch of weird-ass magic. There may have been a version that didn't, I forget, but the main one sure did.

Drizzt has cast a Ranger spell exactly once.

They tried making a more Drizzt/Aragon style Ranger in 4e and even before 4e ended they had to go back to magic Rangers.

Honestly to do a Spellless Ranger just multiclass a Rogue & Fighter with a focus on Nature skills and take Observant feat.

 

[overgeeked]

My suspicion is it's not actually incompetence, so much as fear of change, lest it trigger a backlash.

Not incompetence, laziness.

We've already seen a lot of gnashing of teeth about these two playtests (especially the fart in a teacup that was the critical hit drama). If they actually did remove spellcasting from rangers, I'm sure at least someone would come out of the woodwork to declare the class ruined.

Hence comments about chasing phantoms. Where the most customers are is where WotC will follow. If lots of people want a spell-less ranger, WotC will make it happen.

This is kind of 5e (and now 'One D&D' or whatever) in a nutshell. They can't change things without changing things, and they really, really don't want to do that.

The fact that they're risking splitting the fanbase when 5E is at an historic high water mark suggests otherwise. Almost literally the opposite, in fact. They really, really want to change things, but they fear splitting the fanbase, so they're being as open about the upcoming changes as possible. They want player satisfaction to be as high as possible with whatever changes they make. If they didn't want to change things they wouldn't, instead they'd simply rest on their laurels.

 

[Xethreau]

Aragorn, as the king, had Lay on Hands. Anybody wanna explain that?

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Just out of curiosity where did this actually happen? I've read a whole heck of a lot of those books, and I can't remember a single case.

Honestly I don't remember which book it was.

 

[darjr]

Aragorn, as the king, had Lay on Hands. Anybody wanna explain that?

Multiclassed to Paladin. In a campaign I ran it was a requirement for kings in a part of the setting.

 

[overgeeked]

I get the feeling that there are going to be a lot of little things that slip through and no one pays attention to until the 2024 books are in print and suddenly a lot of people are going to be surprised by these changes.

#

One of the stand outs for me is how tragically terrible some of the "epic boons" are. At 20th level...after a month or two or serious adventuring...you gain an epic boon. On that list you can pick Unfettered, which lets you disengage as a bonus action that also ends grappled and restrained...or you can pick Recovery, which lets you spend a bonus action to regain 1/2 of your max hit points once per long rest...oh and means you only fail death saves on a natural 1. Yeah...those are perfectly balanced.

 

[robconley]

Exactly. The problem is it's still incredibly lazy design and some players don't want a spellcasting ranger. That the iconic D&D ranger Drizzt doesn't ever cast spells outside his drow heritage shows this for the lazy design it is. They can't be arsed to properly design features so they make them spells and now feats.

While Drizzt may be the ironic D&D Ranger, the problem is that the class has been and continues to be designed with Aragorn of the Dunedain as the iconic Ranger. The whole reason the class got spells back in its first appearance in the Strategic Review was to mimic Aragorn's abilities in Lord of the Rings. It literally a class caught between two iconic interpretations each with its own fans and history.