D&D (2024) Developer Video on Druid/Paladin/Expert Feedback

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WotC has posted a video discussing initial feedback on the One D&D Druid/Paladin playtest, along with survey results from the Expert playtest. Some highlights for discussion:

Druid: The developers recognize that the template version of wild shape is contentious. If they retain this approach, they would plan to add flexibility to those templates. If they revert to monster stat blocks, they might allow Druids to choose a limited number of options, with a default selection provided.

Paladin: The new version of smite is still intended to work with critical hits. If ranged smite persists, its damage may be adjusted through the internal balance/playtesting process.

Ranger: The updated Ranger scored very well in the playtest. Some players did miss the choice of options in the Hunter subclass.

Bard: All of the Lore Bard's features scored welll, but the overall subclass rating was mediocre. They attribute this to the loss of Additional Magical Secrets, which many saw as the key attraction of this subclass.

Rogue: The change to limit sneak attack to the Rogue's own turn scored poorly. The developers generally like moving actions to a player's own turn to keep the game moving quickly, but in this case, the change doesn't seem to be worth the loss of tactical flexibility.

Feats: With the exception of epic boons, all the feats in the Expert packet scored well. The developers are still loking at written feedback for fine tuning.

Conspicuously not mentioned were the Arcane/Divine/Primal spell lists, which were the focus of a lot of discussion during the Bard playtest.

 

[Pauln6]

You can get around the stockpiling concern by saying it only works when fresh and customized for a given wound. Some kind of chronomancy could complicate things but at that point Fabricate is still a larger problem.

Vox Machina does something similar to distinguish the clerical vs druidic healing.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

As for Smiting at range, if the concerns are what JC set out here, isn't the answer just to allow smites only within 30'?

I think for a lot of people that is just restrictive enough to mean they aren’t going to be able to make the character that excites them when they realize they can smite at range.

Like, you aren’t really a character based on raining down the wrath of god if you’re only able to do that within the same distance you could throw a rock.

 

[Pauln6]

I think for a lot of people that is just restrictive enough to mean they aren’t going to be able to make the character that excites them when they realize they can smite at range.

Like, you aren’t really a character based on raining down the wrath of god if you’re only able to do that within the same distance you could throw a rock.

Oh I dunno - sounds rather like a holy hand grenade to me...

 

[FitzTheRuke]

@Emberashh You could make poultices (or healing potions) worded like: Whenever you regain hit points for the next 8 hours, you regain an additional 1d4.

(Duration and die can be dialed up or down to suit your fancy).

 

[Clint_L]

deleted

 

[Emberashh]

@Emberashh You could make poultices (or healing potions) worded like: Whenever you regain hit points for the next 8 hours, you regain an additional 1d4.

(Duration and die can be dialed up or down to suit your fancy).

Quietly going to steal that idea

 

[Minigiant]

Crawford again states that druid is the least played class because of complexity.

Btcause of this, I doubt ODnD will get access to all beasts in wildshape as a core rule.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I don't think every class casts Healing Word or Cure Wounds the same way. The Cleric might have the glowing hands thing going on. But a Ranger might apply a mixture to a wound and an Artificer might pull out an alchemical syringe.

 

[Neonchameleon]

yeah, we have no evidence of that and good evidence against it,

Yeah, no. We have strong evidence of the financial success of 4e. For example how much the D&D Insider subcriptions were raking in (millions even after the launch of 5e) which are easy to estimate due to the fact that the old Gleemax boards had a board for subscribers. 4e was raking in far more money six years after launch than 3.5 was six years after launch (circa 9 million a year with very low overheads).

By contrast we have no good evidence for the financial success of 3.0 or 3.5 - and evidence of the financial failure of 2e. The evidence against the financial success of 3.5 is the way that 3.5's shovelware model was not brought forward into 4e or 5e with ludicrous numbers of luxury hardback books printed. Was the 3.5 PHB profitable? Certainly. But the overall product line? How many people bought the 20th Eberron or Forgotten Realms splatbook? Do you think they were all profitable?

But 4e didn't come close to the $50 million/year in revenue "Hasbro Core Brand" that was its target.

but I won’t go down this line any further as it never leads anywhere useful

Indeed. If you don't look at what people who were part of WotC at the time say and what the actual numbers we have say and instead keep repeating things that fly in the face of the evidence we actually have no wonder it never leads anywhere useful.

 

[Emberashh]

Crawford again states that druid is the least played class because of complexity.

Btcause of this, I doubt ODnD will get access to all beasts in wildshape as a core rule.

Honestly my gut still tells me this is a case of the tail wagging the dog, though there again I find how people use the word "complexity" to be rather inappropriate to begin with.

Complexity is the last word Id use to describe anything to do with 5e in general, but especially so when it comes to its casters. If the Druid is overly "complex" then all the full casters should be similarly less played, as they're all on par with each other in terms of what you need to track, but they're not. If we're going to stick with "complexity", then you can't sit there and act like Spells are the simplest thing in the world compared to a stat block.

I think the actual issue isn't complexity so much as it is convenience. Druid isn't convenient to play, and thats due to the stat blocks not all being in the PHB when they should be. Whereas with other casters, most everything they need IS already in the PHB or the supplement their subclass came from.

Meanwhile, stat blocks themselves aren't complicated, and theres no reason they need to be strictly DM facing.

Particularly because in doing so, you can actually directly state in no uncertain terms what every character is automatically familiar with by just pointing at whats in the PHB, and as such, you can segregate more setting or module specific beasts into their respective books, and give the DM a firm way to grant those as options by way of earning it through combat with those beasts.