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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[TheSword]

I really like the principle they’re trying to achieve. Wild shape was an abomination - +147 hp by turning into a giant ape, but a terrible AC that it disappears just as quickly.

This feels like it’s tip-toeing towards the Pathfinder Approach to changing shape. Which is more abstract. A couple of thoughts though.

- AC set at 13 for most low level Druid’s wildshape will be very painful given the changes to Hp. Druid AC should be buffed by wildshape not decreased. This becomes a mitigation for losing the hp.

- Attacks limited to 1d8 plus wisdom is underwhelming. Probably needs some special abilities or something more interesting with it, like trip or grab. Worth noting that the ability would stack with the light weapon extra attack though right? So really it’s 2 attacks if I’m reading it right?

- The ability should confer some Alter Self powers within it (and others). With different powers coming on board at higher levels.

Totally agree with removing Tiny at earlier levels. It’s extremely annoying to run as a DM.

In short it needs fleshing out and a few buffs in places - otherwise the principle is solid.

 

[BrokenTwin]

Forewarning: I am one of those "doesn't play 5E anymore" people, but I do enjoy digging into mechanics from any system, so I'm chiming in my two cents.

The new druid looks similar to my favorite version of the D&D druid (specifically, the 3.5 PHB2 version). I like that they're making the shapeshifting more central to the druid to make it more mechanically different than a nature cleric. I do have to agree that all of the variants (tiny. flight, etc) come online way too late. Overall good chassis, but a lot of minor problems in execution. Hopefully the next version fixes the issues.

Mechanical changes to the paladin I'm on-board with, lore is kinda terrible, but lore's a lot easier to change than mechanics are, so that's not really a problem.

 

[cranberry]

Except that everybody ended up choosing the same beasts for tactical reasons, which forced a choice between storytelling and mechanical superiority

Same with find familiar.

Good changes.

The operative word here is choice, which under the play test changes, we would no longer have.

 

[Pauln6]

The operative word here is choice, which under the play test changes, we would no longer have.

Yeah they need a list of super powers like pushing, climbing, swimming, burrowing, superior vision, scent, grappling, etc and the suggest various animal forms to go with them.

 

[cranberry]

While reading through this thread, at least a few people said or implied that "looking up" wild shapes is a pain.
In a pre-internet era, I would have agreed.

However, researching available wild shapes is very easy:
- If you have a D&D Beyond account, you can easily filter on beasts with the appropriate CR.
- Alternatively, you can type "5E beast CRX" into Google, and get an instant list
- Or the best option IMO, research which beasts you want to use before the game (choosing several based on their abilities, and the situations you are likely to face), have that list readily available at the table, and give a copy to the DM.

(Of course the list would include the stats of each beast)

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Wait so now just being within 10ft of a 7th level Paladin allows you to a better chance to avoid being grappled. And this makes sense how?

Do you want to get in touch woth people hanging around with paladins? I certainly won't...

 

[UngeheuerLich]

With respect this isn’t how early editions worked. There were a number of things that were % based or you wanted to roll under X value.

It wasn’t until 3rd edition that “higher is always better”, and the rolls were streamlined to be all about the d20

This is probably why they specifically talked about the last 23 years?

 

[Krachek]

Wait so now just being within 10ft of a 7th level Paladin allows you to a better chance to avoid being grappled. And this makes sense how?

As much sense as improving the avoidance of a fireball!

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I don't think it would confuse anyone, since they would know one was playing the 2014 version and the other the 2024 version.

so you think that there SHOULD be a different way to designate the version you are useing... in D&D (and TTRPG in general) we usually use the word edition for that... why would we or they want to change that?

Why would a player with a paladin be confused about the warlocks abilities? At this point 2014 and 2024 count as different classes for the same game, that happen to share a name.

excedpt again it isn't JUST class features, it's weapon info, its status effects, its action types....

Exhaustion is one of those things just to pick at the table as DM - no reason it has to be class specific.

so teh DM tells you that you have a level of exhustion and you flip to that in your PHB, and it isn't the same version/edition the other players are useing...

Hard disagree with your stance as well. But, I think we will go in circles forever, and this is only barely tangential to the original topic, so I'll drop out here.

 

[Krachek]

The "regain something when you roll initiative" should really go away.

What is rolling initiative?

I lack resources so I will slap a party member for 1 damage?
Well, the fight is on, roll initiative!


Just bite the bullet and say that short rest is 5min long.

You can do it! It's easy.

The recharge on rolling initiative will cause problems to the same DMs that can’t handle the bag of rats problem.