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.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

They didn't need to make them feats just to put them all in one section. Spells aren't feats.

Sure, but where? Give it its own page? At any rate, I'm sure that was considered. We'll never know quite why they chose to go the way they did, but in a lot of ways, one way is just as good/bad as the other, for things that are largely organizational. I don't agree with all their choices (as I said, I'd make EB a Warlock Feature, if it were me, as well as Smites as a Paladin Feature) but to me, I can never get more upset about that sort of thing beyond "not what I would have done", shrug.

 

[Parmandur]

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.

Thing is, those uses weren't intended by the designers in 2014, and are more exploits that they are covering up now. Nova-ing isn't what the Oalad8n is supposed to do.

 

[Horwath]

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.

you cannot use any Bonus action spell in that turn
you cannot use many racial features in that turn
you cannot use feats like polearm mastery or great weapon mastery in that turn
now with potions(and most people before with house rules) you cannot drink a potion on that turn

 

[Undrave]

And this (plus the counterspell) pretty much seals it.

Yuck.

Just nerfing one of the few ways where it TRULY felt like mixing of magic and swordplay. Now it's just a buff spell.

 

[TwoSix]

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.

My guess? People just don't like nerfs, and this is one of the few out-and-out nerfs in the revised books.

It's not entirely logical, but developers of online games have been dealing with that mentality for decades. People can freely admit that an option is too strong and STILL be angry when it gets weakened.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

you cannot use any Bonus action spell in that turn
you cannot use many racial features in that turn
you cannot use feats like polearm mastery or great weapon mastery in that turn
now with potions(and most people before with house rules) you cannot drink a potion on that turn

Fair.

I'll have to play one for longer and see if it ever bothers me.

 

[Remathilis]

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.

Because character optimizers get sad when they can't do 100 points of damage in a turn and end a fight before anyone else can act.

Paladin Smite needed a nerf and I'm glad WotC stuck to their guns on this.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Hunter's Quarry is mentioned as still being a spell

 

[Horwath]

Fair.

I'll have to play one for longer and see if it ever bothers me.

in the end, costing it a bonus action when before it didn't just made paladin play a bit more boring(less stuff to do) and more tedious(thinking what to do and what not, as before you didn't have to worry about that).

 

[Remathilis]

My guess? People just don't like nerfs, and this is one of the few out-and-out nerfs in the revised books.

It's not entirely logical, but developers of online games have been dealing with that mentality for decades. People can freely admit that an option is too strong and STILL be angry when it gets weakened.

I can't wait when the final twin spell metamagic comes out.

Oh, and the wizard spell changes will register on the Richter scale.