D&D (2024) New One D&D Playtest Shows Us The New Druid & Paladin

WotC has released the fourth One D&D playtest document. This 29-page PDF includes the druid and the paladin with Circle of the Moon and Oath of Devotion subclasses.

Druid. The Druid class and Circle of the Moon subclass are ready for playtesting here.

Paladin. The Paladin class and Oath of Devotion subclass are ready for playtesting here.

Feats. Several revised feats appear here for your feedback, with more revised feats coming in future articles.

Spells. More spells are ready for playtesting, with a focus on smite spells, Find Familiar, and Find Steed.

Rules Glossary. The rules glossary has been updated again and supersedes the glossary in previous Unearthed Arcana articles. In this document, any underlined term in the body text appears in that glossary, which defines game terms that have been clarified or redefined for this playtest or that don’t appear in the 2014 Player’s Handbook.

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[Micah Sweet]

I think generic stat blocks for wild shape are generally a good thing because trawling the monster manual for stats requires a lot of system mastery. Tiny beasts should be available from the start though.

I think level based uses for class features is a good idea to limit multi-class poaching, although maybe a feat to provide extra uses could be a thing.

Making paladin smites more versatile is a good thing but I think I prefer Tasha's optional cantrips for paladins as a trade off for fighting styles. They certainly don't need to be more versatile or more magical.

For me, neither of the problems with paladins - smite damage being too high and save bonus stacking breaking bounded accuracy - have been addressed. The existing fix (only doubling weapon damage on a crit) goes a bit too far since it means assassins can rarely assassinate anyone. I suppose it does open up a bit of design space, giving a special surprise crit class feature to assassins and maybe savage attacker type features for fighters.

You're not supposed to play assassins anyway, because assassins aren't heroes, and apparently being heroic is all D&D characters are supposed to be.

 

[OB1]

And a wholly unneeded set of nerfs.

Frankly, the loss of versatility makes the base wildshape strictly worse IMO.

Combine that with not getting even a little THP while I’m beast form, as a class with spellcaster HP? Um…what?

There is a lot of negative feedback coming for this, which sucks because I like the ideas, I just find the execution unacceptable.

I feel you, but it shouldn't be hard to fix. Drop the Animal of Land/Water/Air and replace with a list of features that you pick from when wildshaping. Higher levels get to choose both more features per use and better features (like swim/flight). Keeps it simpler than 2014 without loosing the wonderful variety. Moon Druids get even more feature choices (magical attacks/resistance/etc). Change the 2nd level ability from Find Familar to Familar Form. Stat block is the same, but when you drop to 0 HP you revert.

 

[Gorck]

I like the generic wild shape stats. I didn't think I would at first and looked at it side eyed. My 10 yr old daughter is playing a druid and I think the new generic stat block would be more fun for her. I can see how some don't like it though but I think it's a good move for faster game play.

My daughter’s first 5e character (back when she was 9) was a Druid and she only used Wild Shape twice because she found it too complicated.

 

[dave2008]

If the jump action was the point where wotc felt they spent their entire wad & have no other areas in need of improvement it's not a promising sign for 6e

Fortunately this isn't 6e

 

[dave2008]

You're not supposed to play assassins anyway, because assassins aren't heroes, and apparently being heroic is all D&D characters are supposed to be.

Since when has WotC (or TSR) determined everything D&D is supposed to be? I wouldn't think the champion of 3PP would have this stance.

 

[dave2008]

I feel you, but it shouldn't be hard to fix. Drop the Animal of Land/Water/Air and replace with a list of features that you pick from when wildshaping. Higher levels get to choose both more features per use and better features (like swim/flight). Keeps it simpler than 2014 without loosing the wonderful variety. Moon Druids get even more feature choices (magical attacks/resistance/etc). Change the 2nd level ability from Find Familar to Familar Form. Stat block is the same, but when you drop to 0 HP you revert.

That sounds like the correct way to do it to me.

 

[TerraDave]

Up thread some are implying that the new wild shape is not for out of combat use. It definitely remains useful out of combat. It’s in combat that is the problem!

 

[Micah Sweet]

Since when has WotC (or TSR) determined everything D&D is supposed to be? I wouldn't think the champion of 3PP would have this stance.

WotC clearly thinks that's what D&D is all about. They didn't always, and I'm not talking about anything but WotC's views here. All of D&D is much more than that.

 

[TerraDave]

I feel you, but it shouldn't be hard to fix. Drop the Animal of Land/Water/Air and replace with a list of features that you pick from when wildshaping. Higher levels get to choose both more features per use and better features (like swim/flight). Keeps it simpler than 2014 without loosing the wonderful variety. Moon Druids get even more feature choices (magical attacks/resistance/etc). Change the 2nd level ability from Find Familar to Familar Form. Stat block is the same, but when you drop to 0 HP you revert.

It’s not that much simpler. And with many of the relevant monsters in the back of the phb or mm, the 2014 version is not that complicated.

 

[Zaukrie]

Those are generic nerfs that apply to all martial characters we've seen so far.

They're bad and dumb, because they push martials further behind full casters and make the game needlessly more complex, though, I would say.

It's like you've never played a videogame in the 21st century. That success means designers are automatically not out of touch is pretty funny, and completely contradicted by videogame history. Many games have experienced peak popularity despite incredibly out-of-touch designers because the factors that influence success aren't closely tied to smart and responsive design. Many games with extremely clued-in and successful designers have languished in relative obscurity, too.

I didn't say "automatically", I said I'd take that bet. Those are VERY different things. The idea that a few people here are certain the designers are out of touch seems less likely than the people here are wrong....