D&D (2024) New One D&D Playtest Shows Us The New Druid & Paladin

WotC has released the fourth One D&D playtest document. This 29-page PDF includes the druid and the paladin with Circle of the Moon and Oath of Devotion subclasses.

Druid. The Druid class and Circle of the Moon subclass are ready for playtesting here.

Paladin. The Paladin class and Oath of Devotion subclass are ready for playtesting here.

Feats. Several revised feats appear here for your feedback, with more revised feats coming in future articles.

Spells. More spells are ready for playtesting, with a focus on smite spells, Find Familiar, and Find Steed.

Rules Glossary. The rules glossary has been updated again and supersedes the glossary in previous Unearthed Arcana articles. In this document, any underlined term in the body text appears in that glossary, which defines game terms that have been clarified or redefined for this playtest or that don’t appear in the 2014 Player’s Handbook.

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[TwoSix]

Ooooof massive nerf to Moon Druids. I sense a lot of players wanting to keep using the 2014 version.

Yea, the template is essentially "Use your Wis as your attack stat, and gain Extra Attack, but no spells". The Moon Druid buffs to it aren't that substantial; it's essentially cantrip scaling at 10th/17th, resistance at 6th, and you can cast healing spells (the Primal list is very light on Abjurations) while in animal form. Not nothing, but certainly a major step down.

I don't think it's a bad change, but it's definitely the biggest change to overall power level we've seen so far.

 

[Xamnam]

Love the buff to the other Smite spells, hate that this packet doesn't come with the crit change that only modifies weapon damage.

 

[Reynard]

'Channel Nature' is a good umbrella term for Wildshape and all those 'Instead of Wildshape' features, but I don't particularly care for how it makes Druids sound more and more like just a weird Cleric who can shapeshift...

Like, why not make them a cleric with wild shape as a channel divinity?

 

[cranberry]

Yea, I'm not a fan of the new wild shape. A standardized stat block makes it easier for the DM, but limits different tactical options you get with different beasts.

 

[Lidgar]

Paladin: "I have metal armor and can smite!"
Druid: "Wait, I now have metal armor too, and can turn into a generic flying beast of terror thingy!"
Paladin: "....I can smite!"

 

[Xamnam]

Yea, I'm not a fan of the new wild shape. A standardized stat block makes it easier for the DM, but limits different tactical option you get with different beasts.

Yep, I think ultimately this change pushes me away from being interested in playing a Wildshaping druid, especially in the context of also losing the armor/HP benefits. Feels like there needs to be a little more scaling benefit, at least for a Moon Druid.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I'm not terribly surprised to see that Druids now Wildshape (at level 1!) into a more generic statblock that you can flavor however you want, similar to the Ranger pets in Tasha's.

I am happy with this... and giving them prof but tied to class makes it a little better... but I think I didn't see much short rest abilities on these classes

 

[Undrave]

Like, why not make them a cleric with wild shape as a channel divinity?

I'd rather see them develop the Druid as a more unique class, especially in Lore.

 

[nevin]

1) Wow...major nerfs to base wildshape, although it does get quite a bit better with more channel nature uses. Most of the Tasha's design pointed towards using a template for animal shapes, so not surprised to see it here.

2) Paladins get cantrips. Nice change.

3) Also changed paladins to have artificer half-casting, gaining spells at 1st level and rounding up for spell slots when multiclassing. Good change.

4) Divine smite is actually less nerfed than I anticipated. Still 1d8+1d8 per slot level. Still just uses spell slots, so MCing still works. Now restricted to once per turn, and can't be combined with a spell (so no Booming Blade smite, or combining it with smite spells).

5) Druids and Clerics gaining access to those juicy Paladin and Ranger spells makes me way more excited about Clerics and Druids.

6) The "Smite" spells are now BAs you can choose to take after you hit. That's a major buff.

careful on the druids and clerics getting paladin spells. Pathfinder went down that path till every class had access to almost every kind of spell and magic just became another skill that every caster had.

Keeping casters in thier own area's of specialty makes for much better classes.

 

[OB1]

The new Druid wildshape is just sooooo generic. I get that they're trying to make it easier for new players and GMs, but it's just boring now. Also weird that they don't want Tiny wildshapes until 11th level. I'm assuming that's because the wild form now uses the druids HP (which, I don't know, if they're going that way, maybe at least give prof bonus temp hp when you assume the form) but it just seems an over nerf.