D&D (2024) 2024 Player's Handbook Reveal #3: "New Paladin"

"the paladin who, if they were in a movie, would ... have impossibly white teeth".


New Paladin preview: here are some notes, focusing on what's new and changes from the playtest materials. Last time we saw the Paladin was in Playtest 6 [=PT6 below].
See also this comparison at D&D Beyond (by someone who saw the video before it was streamed!)

OVERVIEW
  • spellcasting starts at level 1, specifically called out as an advantage for multiclassing. (Same for Rangers).
  • Lay on Hands and Weapon mastery at 1
  • Paladin's smite at 2, along with fighting style.
  • NEW: Paladin fighting style restriction is removed (all are available). You may forego fighting style to learn cantrips. [The option to get cantrips was given in Tasha's. They're letting us have it, but it's not called a "fighting style". I suspect this ties to the decision that fighting styles are feats now, and this would be weaker than magic initiate (which also gives a level 1 spell).]
  • Paladin's smite gives you the spell Divine smite, with one free casting.
  • channel divinity [CD]: uses increase: start with 2, plus 1 on a short rest.
  • divine sense in CD option (as in PT6). duration lasts 10 minutes.
  • Find steed spell at level 5, cast 1/day with no slot. Redesigned so that spell can be upcast, with a unique steed statblock. [This strongly implies that it's a class-specific spell, not on others' lists. Awesome. (Will a Lore Bard be able to select it? I hope so, and the discussion of spell lists (see below) makes me think they might, since identifying class-specific spells is harder.)]
  • Abjure Foes a CD option (given at 9 in PT6)
  • Auras are single things, with a single radius, that gain abilities/functionality (not separate auras as in 2014).
SUBCLASSES

Oath of Devotion.
  • NEW: Sacred Weapon is part of the attack action. (PT required a Bonus action).
  • Smite of Protection (level 15 in PT6)
  • Holy Nimbus (level 20) is a bonus action (as in PT6).
Oath of Glory ("...this for me is the paladin who, if they were in a movie, would look at the camera, have impossibly white teeth, with a little sparkle on them as they smile")
  • Peerless athlete lasts an hour (as in PT6)
  • NEW: Aura of Alacrity affects allies if they enter your aura on their turn (they no longer need to start there)
  • Oath of Glory has a new spell at level 17: Yolan's Regal Presence. Created by the Queen of the Elves, and makes others kneel before you and take psychic damage. [It's said that others can cast this spell too -- if right, then it's a 5th level spell and Clerics (likely) will be getting this at level 9. Perhaps he misspoke, and it's a class-specific spell.]
Oath of the Ancients
  • Nature's wrath range "has been extended"
  • Aura of Warding as in PT6 (resistance to Necrotic, Psychic, and Radiant)
  • Undying Sentinel at 15 as in PT6 (you don't return with 1hp, but [?] 3x class level.
Oath of Vengeance
  • NEW: Vow of Enmity part of attack action (not Bonus action); can transfer (as in PT6)
  • NEW: Level 20 Avenging Angel activated as a Bonus Action, and lasts an hour (not 10 min as in PT6)

NEW RULES
  • new area of effect: it's been there since 2014, but hasn't been named. It's for AOE that emanate from a character or monster -- the Emanation.
  • new approach to spell lists. Spell list is part of the class description (as we saw with the Artificer). Entries give the school, whether it needs concentration, and required components. [I presume spell descriptions will still be at the back of the book: this is referring to the lists currently on PHB 207-11.]
  • oath spell lists, patron spell lists, etc. have all been vetted and updated throughout.
 

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That's the thing - I get that the changes make those things so, but not why that's a problem.
1) With the BA, it's simply because it's weaker and less flexible. If you use your BA before you start to attack, you've lost the ability to smite, even if you get a crit. Considering that crit-fishing for smites is a big part of a paladin's offense, that's a noticeable loss. It also prevents a paladin for smiting twice if they really want to nova. Is it justifiable? Sure. But that doesn't make people like it anymore.

2) The counterspell one is more of an aesthetic preference. Counterspell is for wizard duels, not for making a paladin's glowy attack not glowy.
 


being counterspellable is baked in the rage about costing Bonus action.
Right, but really - is that ever going to actually happen at the table? Really?

And the one time it does, that your evil necromancer stops the Paladin from killing him by counterspelling the smite that would take him down - why would that not be awesome? Does the Paladin player have to win all the time to have fun? I just don't get it, I'm afraid.

And I really, REALLY don't get anyone complaining that not being able to smite twice in the same round would be a problem. Smite is awesome enough when it happens once. Ditto for Sneak Attack, and I play Rogues a lot.

Maybe I'll just never understand.
 

Right, but really - is that ever going to actually happen at the table? Really?

And the one time it does, that your evil necromancer stops the Paladin from killing him by counterspelling the smite that would take him down - why would that not be awesome? Does the Paladin player have to win all the time to have fun? I just don't get it, I'm afraid.

And I really, REALLY don't get anyone complaining that not being able to smite twice in the same round would be a problem. Smite is awesome enough when it happens once. Ditto for Sneak Attack, and I play Rogues a lot.

Maybe I'll just never understand.
I believe that most if not all are on board on smite being once per round thing.

we had enough abomination builds like paladin/fighter/gloomstalker/assassin to get 8 or 9 crit smites per round and then go to sleep.

people really do not like the added cost of Bonus action and that is like most things, turned into another spell.
 



Can someone explain to me why there is so much hate for Divine Smite as a spell? I can't say I like it much (in that I would have gone the other way and made things like Hex and Eldritch Blast, along with Smites into Exclusive Class Features) but it seems to me to be (mostly) an organizational thing, much like Fighting Style Feats (that one is even easier to understand why it was done that way - so that they don't have to keep printing them in each class that gets them).
They didn't need to make them feats just to put them all in one section. Spells aren't feats.
 

people really do not like the added cost of Bonus action and that is like most things, turned into another spell.
Right. I get that they don't like those two things - I even get why - but I don't get why they HATE it. I've played the playtest Paladin. I thought it played very awesomely. I didn't notice those things being a problem. Even if I would rather that smite was a class feature, rather than a spell.
 


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