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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[Minigiant]

okay... now you are making me feel old... 4e is 'the old days'... damn, I thought we tended to be in our 40's and 50's or more on this site...

It's a South Park joke.

The before time is actually not long ago. That's the joke.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

The Druid need simplification and nerfs.

But the playtest druid is lame.

It more or less feels like something designed for a skeleton that a veteran DM would make TONS of exceptions for. Classic 5e.

Exactly. And it's oversimplified. OB1 in the other thread came up with just a straight-up better design on the spot.

 

[tetrasodium]

The glossary doesn't seem to be improving & is mostly just doubling down on 2014 in so many areas problematic for the 2014 version. Find familiar remaining a no risk & effectively zero cost remote drone doesn't help matters. Kind of disappointed with that lack of progress & not sure if I'm feeling up to reading the rest of the packet let alone doing another breakdown,

 

[see]

the Breaking Your Oath lore is a distinct improvement, especially in clarity.

Huh? It's almost identical to the current text.

Version in the current PHB (p.86), differences from the new version in bold:

Breaking Your Oath

A paladin tries to hold to the highest standards of conduct, but even the most virtuous paladin is fallible. Sometimes the right path proves too demanding, sometimes a situation calls for the lesser of two evils, and sometimes the heat of emotion causes a paladin to transgress his or her oath.

A paladin who has broken a vow typically seeks absolution from a cleric who shares his or her faith or from another paladin of the same order. The paladin might spend an all-night vigil in prayer as a sign of penitence, or undertake a fast or similar act of self‐denial. After a rite of confession and forgiveness, the paladin starts fresh.

If a paladin willfully violates his or her oath and shows no sign of repentance, the consequences can be more serious. At the DM’s discretion, an impenitent paladin might be forced to abandon this class and adopt another, or perhaps to take the Oathbreaker option that appears in the Dungeon Master's Guide.

New version from the playetst PDF, differences from the old in bold:

BREAKING YOUR OATH

A Paladin tries to hold to the highest standards of conduct, but even the most dedicated Paladin is fallible. Sometimes the right path proves too demanding, and sometimes the heat of emotion causes a Paladin to transgress their oath.

A Paladin who has broken a vow typically seeks absolution from a priest of the same faith or from another Paladin of the same order. The Paladin might spend an all-night vigil in prayer as a sign of penitence or undertake a fast or similar act of self-denial. After a rite of confession and forgiveness, the Paladin starts fresh.

If a Paladin willfully violates their oath and shows no sign of repentance, the consequences might be more serious. At the DM’s discretion, an impenitent Paladin might be forced to take a more appropriate subclass or even to abandon the class and adopt another one.

Seriously, one clause was deleted, the specific mention of the Oathbreaker as the likely alternate subclass was removed, and a few very minor changes in wording otherwise. That's roughly the same as the extant differences between the PHB and SRD (which matches the PHB except for saying "GM's" instead of "DM's" and doesn't mention the possibility of changing subclass, ending the last sentence at "another."

 

[GMforPowergamers]

The glossary doesn't seem to be improving

I wonder though if it is an evolution or just a test bed...

like todays playtest you go back to getting inspiration (now heroic advantage) for RP, before this it was on nat 1s and before that it was on nat 20's.... so is that them just seeing what we like more or is it doing away with the 20 and the 1?

 

[Xamnam]

I wonder though if it is an evolution or just a test bed...

like todays playtest you go back to getting inspiration (now heroic advantage) for RP, before this it was on nat 1s and before that it was on nat 20's.... so is that them just seeing what we like more or is it doing away with the 20 and the 1?

On that specific note, I actively dislike the terminology change from inspiration to heroic advantage.

 

[dave2008]

Which in no way makes their opinion any less valid.

Absolutely. However, I wasn't the one crapping on other people's opinions!

 

[GMforPowergamers]

On that specific note, I actively dislike the terminology change from inspiration to heroic advantage.

me too... and I was just getting used to 'on a nat 20/nat 1' bits

 

[Kobold Stew]

The glossary doesn't seem to be improving & is mostly just doubling down on 2014 in so many areas problematic for the 2014 version.

I disagree. There's a lot to really like here. Clear improvements over 2014 in my book include:

• Light weapons (and short sword)
• Difficult terrain
• Study action
• Search action
• the rules for Interrupting Short and Long Rests.

Find familiar remaining a no risk & effectively zero cost remote drone doesn't help matters.

I've started a separate thread on the FF rules -- there are huge changes here, and they have by no means doubled down on the combat uses of familiars.

 

[dave2008]

You and pretty much everyone who thinks this design is good lol.

Not true. Just read this thread.

How so? It looks like it was buffed slightly, given it works with ranged attacks.

It can only be used once per turn is the big one and can't be combine with other spells I think. I don't feel like checking.

Sure, but it's bizarre and terrible.

Possibly, but I can't trust your opinion and I don't care to look for myself - sorry.

I should say I have a high threshold for "terrible."