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]

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).

Did you try playing one? I don't remember having that problem, but I believe you if that was your experience.

 

[Kurotowa]

Did Jeremy say anything about lay on hands? IIRC, in at least some of the UA packets it had became a bonus action.

Not specifically. He did talk about a general wave of changing "power-up state" abilities from Actions to Bonus Actions or entirely free activations as part of another action. But the Lay On Hands change was not specifically mentioned.

Keep in mind though, this is a preview video. Not an exhaustive change log. Just like they didn't specifically mention the new restriction on Action Surge yesterday, but it's probably still there, they may just not have wanted to spend time on a single minor adjustment to an otherwise unchanged feature.

 

[TwoSix]

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

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

I am curious to see which spells get nerfed.

If they're logical, I might even use some of them.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

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.

People liking it was not always the goal.

So some people might enjoy playing a 2014 character in 2024.

 

[Horwath]

Did you try playing one? I don't remember having that problem, but I believe you if that was your experience.

yes,

because playing Aasimar, I couldn't make epic battle entry with popping wings, flying to someones face and smiting them.
also it limited my feat choice as PAM was trap choice now. same with GWM

 

[Undrave]

Sure, but where? Give it its own page?

Why not? Martial Prowess is almost never given any sort fo focus in the books. Add a few more Fighting styles, place them in a chapter, then showcase a few synergetic combination, give them a 'Martial School' name and throw in some lore to get people thinking on the kind of people who use those styles, maybe saying what kind of out of combat skills those specialists favour. Maybe give each Fighting Style an improved version you can grab with a latter feat.

as I said, I'd make EB a Warlock Feature, if it were me, as well as Smites as a Paladin Feature)

Yeah if it was up to me the Paladin would NOT have spell slots, but have daily smite dice and could then convert those dice into spells (call 'em 'Miracles'?) with small bespoke lists of those baked into the subclasses.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Oh man people are going to love Divine Smite turning into a spell; we love turning class features into spells in these parts

If it's still a Bonus Action, anyone who cares at all about the performance of their character mechanically is simply going to take a 2014 Paladin, because this is abjectly and objectively worse in terms of functionality than the 2014 Smite.

It's a very significant degradation in performance, not least because it eats your Bonus Action for any other purpose, and that if you for example, did a Bonus Action attack (such as that granted by PAM or Great Weapon), you could never Smite with it. Nor could you ever Smite outside your turn (on an Attack of Opportunity for example).

If it's not a Bonus Action, this all sounds fine, but did they show the spell? Because if they didn't we can assume it stayed a Bonus Action, as it was in the UA.

 

[Remathilis]

yes,

because playing Aasimar, I couldn't make epic battle entry with popping wings, flying to someones face and smiting them.
also it limited my feat choice as PAM was trap choice now. same with GWM

So you're saying you actually have to make tactical choices round to round rather than blow your wad and end the flight in one round? I'm shocked!

 

[Scribe]

A whole bunch of smug "too bad you cannot minmax" which really misses the mark on why for me, this is just the straw that breaks this whole "totally not a new edition".

I've deleted pages of text already, but for a dozen reasons already, I'll be waiting for the SRD and making my own, I won't pay Wizards for this.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Surely this will cause no controversy.

Though, at least they did test this particular with the gaming community extensively.

Given the online reaction here and on the subreddit, I would certainly not believe that passed the 70% test without seeing the actual figures. It was incredibly divisive, to put it mildly.