D&D (2024) Developer Video on Druid/Paladin/Expert Feedback

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WotC has posted a video discussing initial feedback on the One D&D Druid/Paladin playtest, along with survey results from the Expert playtest. Some highlights for discussion:

Druid: The developers recognize that the template version of wild shape is contentious. If they retain this approach, they would plan to add flexibility to those templates. If they revert to monster stat blocks, they might allow Druids to choose a limited number of options, with a default selection provided.

Paladin: The new version of smite is still intended to work with critical hits. If ranged smite persists, its damage may be adjusted through the internal balance/playtesting process.

Ranger: The updated Ranger scored very well in the playtest. Some players did miss the choice of options in the Hunter subclass.

Bard: All of the Lore Bard's features scored welll, but the overall subclass rating was mediocre. They attribute this to the loss of Additional Magical Secrets, which many saw as the key attraction of this subclass.

Rogue: The change to limit sneak attack to the Rogue's own turn scored poorly. The developers generally like moving actions to a player's own turn to keep the game moving quickly, but in this case, the change doesn't seem to be worth the loss of tactical flexibility.

Feats: With the exception of epic boons, all the feats in the Expert packet scored well. The developers are still loking at written feedback for fine tuning.

Conspicuously not mentioned were the Arcane/Divine/Primal spell lists, which were the focus of a lot of discussion during the Bard playtest.

 

[Bolares]

I think in the very fundamental form, favoured enemy and terrain will give you some benefits against that creature or fight in that terrain. But the problem is, when ranger NOT fight that type of creature or in the specific terrain, You got dead level which don't provide anything .

And when you are in the terrain, exploration is an auto-win in a lot of situations.

 

[Emberashh]

I think in the very fundamental form, favoured enemy and terrain will give you some benefits against that creature or fight in that terrain. But the problem is, when ranger NOT fight that type of creature or in the specific terrain, You got dead level l which don't provide anything .

Indeed, that was the crux of the problem. What should have been a widely versatile ability was instead hyper-situational, and even with Exploration restored and run well it still misses the mark.

Doesn't mean the concept was bad, though, which is why I rewrote it and the class to do it better when Tashas came out and confirmed we were not getting a fix from WOTC.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Okay, I understand you now, thanks for responding. I like most os the things about the 2014 ranger, but I have a big problem with how it makes almost any non magical exploration scene trivial when the PC is on their chosen terrais. Playing ToA I had to weaken the class a lot for it to not ruin the exploration fases of the adventure.

I agree with this and the other issue I have is that real terrain does not divide up in the way WoTC classifies it.
In my opinion rangers should have a favoured climate type (maybe modified by littoral, inland, highland).
If they are going to include favoured terrain then make the power more nuanced and integrated with the wilderness survival/travel subsystem.

 

[Vincent55]

Rangers with terrain should have a favoured one and two others that are closely related to the primary, this would let them be more flexible. Instead of spell casting something like herbalism and nature-like sense, as well as the ability to set woodland-like traps as well as finding and spotting such hazards natural and otherwise.

 

[Emberashh]

Okay, I understand you now, thanks for responding. I like most os the things about the 2014 ranger, but I have a big problem with how it makes almost any non magical exploration scene trivial when the PC is on their chosen terrais. Playing ToA I had to weaken the class a lot for it to not ruin the exploration fases of the adventure.

Controversially, as this perception has been baked into the community for years, I actually hard disagree it actually does skip or trivialize travel and exploration segments.

The exploration mechanics are still meant to be run even with a Ranger on their terrain. Not only is the Ranger not always on their terrain, but even on it, its benefits don't call for skipping anything.

Going down the list:

You get a party speed bonus by negating difficult terrain. No confusion there.

You no longer take a getting lost penalty. This is the first one that gets people. What this actually represents is that whilst a Ranger is on their terrain, any failed navigation checks need to be re-rolled. This not a reason to not run the checks, as the party still needs to actively navigate to their objective.

When you put this in the context of a Hex Crawl, this feature starts to make even more sense, because each hex you cross into could be a different terrain altogether. Not running navigation in this context invalidates the whole point of doing the crawl.

Next, you get the ability to do two travel activities at once, with one always being keeping watch, and then a speed bonus while travelling alone. Straightforward, neither is a skip.

Then, we have the doubled Foraging. This is another one that people tend to skip, and its yet again not really a skip. For one, by the foraging mechanics theres still a chance for failure, even as a Ranger. Getting double resources just means that even when you're in an inhospitable place, you can squeeze blood from a stone as long as you pass the check. Very useful, particularly when higher level play is meant to have the players travelling into such areas more and more often.

And then you have the Tracking bonuses, which are just pure Aragorn stuff and hardly a skip.

These issues came about because exploration is poorly explained (and often not at all) in 5e, but mechanically speaking they aren't what people assume they are. When you return Exploration Turns and utilize a Hex crawl, these issues practically disappear.

Now, does all that mean its preferable to have terrains be situational? No, I don't think so, which is why my version doesn't work like that. But it does make sense internally to 5E once you correct for Exploration.

 

[Nadan]

I agree with this and the other issue I have is that real terrain does not divide up in the way WoTC classifies it.
In my opinion rangers should have a favoured climate type (maybe modified by littoral, inland, highland).
If they are going to include favoured terrain then make the power more nuanced and integrated with the wilderness survival/travel subsystem.

But again, if the game isn't happening at the climate/terrain you choose, or DM isn't into the whole survival thing, doesn't that mean ranger still got dead level?
Unless they just provide gerenal bonus like resistance or something .

 

[Neonchameleon]

Interesting, I hear more people saying Tasha’s finally made the Ranger playable in 5e. I don’t recall the playtest changes

The playtest changes were almost "make it Tasha's while scrubbing some of the legacy fluff" and then making it a prepared caster.

 

[Neonchameleon]

And when you are in the terrain, exploration is an auto-win in a lot of situations.

This is another problem. When you are in the terrain the ranger becomes non-interactive and the Ranger still has nothing to do.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Druid: The developers recognize that the template version of wild shape is contentious. If they retain this approach, they would plan to add flexibility to those templates. If they revert to monster stat blocks, they might allow Druids to choose a limited number of options, with a default selection provided.​

I like the template version of wild shape quite a bit, but replacing "any beast you have seen" with a select list would work for me as well.

 

[Neonchameleon]

I like the template version of wild shape quite a bit, but replacing "any beast you have seen" with a select list would work for me as well.

I don't like the template version unless you have tweaks - but a select list also works for me.

One thing I have done that this would bring back is dinosaurs-as-treasure for druids.