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.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

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.

The key issue here was that this specific nerf, was clearly the wrong nerf.

For example, they could and probably should have made the functionality similar to Sneak Attack - i.e. you can only use once per turn. That prevents any particularly wild novas, which were the only real balance problem, but it doesn't basically bar the Paladin from interacting with Bonus Action abilities and spells, whereas this does.

The other big problem here is that it makes turns for Paladins very sequential and thus causes analysis paralysis. Where other characters can often just go ahead and use their BA on whatever makes sense, the Paladin has to decide what they're doing, and then do it in the right order - which is any attacks have to come before the BA usage of that turn.

That's just straight-up bad design. You're slowing the game down, you're making a character class significantly more complex to play, and you're making players able to "GOTCHA!" themselves out of a Smite! It's really sad - with less technical players, DMs will basically have to intervene every time a Paladin player wants to use a BA ability to remind them that this will stop them Smiting that round.

There isn't a strong relation between what is controversial here and on Reddit and those playtest results.

Actually, there is, we've discussed this before - it's pretty reliable that anything popular here AND on the Reddit hits the 70% mark, and anything wildly divisive and heavily discussed on both doesn't - you could see that very easily with the Druid forms. Like I said, I simply would not believe that claim without the actual evidence, and if they do make that claim, I will trust the designers less. But AFAIK they haven't claimed 70% approval for any of these changes.

Also if people approved of something they didn't understand, rather than picking the "don't know" option, as you seem to be suggesting, that shows a big problem with the polling.

 

[Remathilis]

didn't saw much if any whining about axing -5/+10 part of GMW/SS, in fact it was welcomed.

same as 1/round limitation of divine smite.

Oh when the first feats UA came out, there was a devoted group who declared martials dead because GMW/SS was the only thing that was keeping them competitive with casters in DPS. If course, this was long before weapon mastery was a known thing, but you could not convince people that fighters were a dead class at that time.

 

[Zaukrie]

Find Steed still a thing.......as Mearls said in one of his design patreon, it's just not a thing that gets used much. How often do we even use mounted PCs....

 

[Parmandur]

Actually, there is, we've discussed this before - it's pretty reliable that anything popular here AND on the Reddit hits the 70% mark, and anything wildly divisive and heavily discussed doesn't - you could see that very easily with the Druid forms. Like I said, I simply would not believe that claim without the actual evidence, and if they do make that claim, I will trust the designers less. But AFAIK they haven't claimed 70% approval for any of these changes.

Also if people approved of something they didn't understand, rather than picking the "don't know" option, as you seem to be suggesting, that shows a big problem with the polling.

There are plenty of counterexamples, frankly.

 

[Undrave]

The other big problem here is that it makes turns for Paladins very sequential and thus causes analysis paralysis. Where other characters can often just go ahead and use their BA on whatever makes sense, the Paladin has to decide what they're doing, and then do it in the right order - which is any attacks have to come before the BA usage of that turn.

That's just straight-up bad design. You're slowing the game down, you're making a character class significantly more complex to play, and you're making players able to "GOTCHA!" themselves out of a Smite! It's really sad - with less technical players, DMs will basically have to intervene every time a Paladin player wants to use a BA ability to remind them that this will stop them Smiting that round.

The MONK-IFIED the Paladin!!

 

[Zaukrie]

Simplifying auras is not my favorite.......I like that a player has to choose which aura to use.

why have "emanation" and not JUST AURA?

 

[Horwath]

Oh when the first feats UA came out, there was a devoted group who declared martials dead because GMW/SS was the only thing that was keeping them competitive with casters in DPS. If course, this was long before weapon mastery was a known thing, but you could not convince people that fighters were a dead class at that time.

then they failed at math, especially with added +1 STR/DEX that will give your 4th level character 18 in primary, using -5/+10 or more precise -6/+9 mode, it is DPS loss unless attacking AC 8 sack of Hitpoints

edit: I fail at math also, breaking point for no advantage is AC 7.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

There are plenty of counterexamples, frankly.

Such as? If there are plenty it should be easy to come up with some! So far I'm the only one who has provided any examples.

 

[Kurotowa]

Weirdly I, a rather vocal opponent of spells over class features, don’t mind it here. It brings the way divine smite works in line with all the other smites. While I prefer magical abilities to not be spells when reasonable, I think insuring consistency between effects that seem like they should function the same way is more important in this case.

Indeed. Divine Smite already cost a spell slot. There were already other Smite spells in the Paladin's arsenal. Rectifying things by making Divine Smite a proper spell is just bringing it into line with how the class already worked. It's not like the other cases where shoving a class feature into the spell list is a poor fit.

 

[Zaukrie]

"turning on a state" is now a free action or bonus action, instead of an action.....that's a good change for sure.