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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On the one hand, I really don't think everything needed to be a spell, but on the other this was the only real action economy exploit in all of 5e, which is where the power really comes from, and I support either closing that hole or making free level appropriate actions more available to everyone else.
 

I keep forgetting you'd rather watch D&D die and rot in obscurity than allow a single change you don't like.
Actually I would have been fine with them making a proper 6e that actually addressed deeper issues. Would have been easier to evaluate as it's own thing to be taken or left.

Thanks for the assumptions though.
 


Actually I would have been fine with them making a proper 6e that actually addressed deeper issues. Would have been easier to evaluate as it's own thing to be taken or left.

Thanks for the assumptions though.
You have explicitly said you'd rather they stop making D&D than keep "ruining" it, and you find a way to find the most cynical take on every change they have announced. Even if they made a "proper 6e" you'd only declare it was a cash grab to invalidate all the 5e books. There is no action WotC could do that will ever win your approval. You've already announced your disinterest and refusal to buy these books, so the previews at this point aren't going to sway you.
 

You have explicitly said you'd rather they stop making D&D than keep "ruining" it, and you find a way to find the most cynical take on every change they have announced. Even if they made a "proper 6e" you'd only declare it was a cash grab to invalidate all the 5e books. There is no action WotC could do that will ever win your approval. You've already announced your disinterest and refusal to buy these books, so the previews at this point aren't going to sway you.
I have said more than once that a different game, with a home setting catering to WotC's idea of what new customers want, is a better move than continuing iteration and change to an already popular game. If you're going to make new core books for profit, make them actually a new game, like 4e. Lot of respect for 4e, which actually took a stand, and the fact that I really didn't like it personally made it that much easier to drop and move on from.
 


I have said more than once that a different game, with a home setting catering to WotC's idea of what new customers want, is a better move than continuing iteration and change to an already popular game. If you're going to make new core books for profit, make them actually a new game, like 4e. Lot of respect for 4e, which actually took a stand, and the fact that I really didn't like it personally made it that much easier to drop and move on from.
Yup, better D&D dead than turn into something you don't like.

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