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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[Burnside]

What do you mean by "support" currently old monster designs just have the "legacy" tag and can still be used. I would imagine they could do something similar for classes, rules, or even whole books. I have a hard time imagining they are going to prevent you from using the '14 PHB you purchased. Now, maybe that version will not be for sale anymore.

I'm sure it will be de-listed but not removed. But who knows, with DNDBeyond. Development is so opaque these days. Allowing 5E to sit side-by-side with OneD&D is going to require more radical GUI changes than the way they handled the Legacy races and monsters. It's impossible to say right now how it'll be handled. I doubt they even know.

 

[Maxperson]

Paladin: "I have metal armor and can smite!"
Druid: "Wait, I now have metal armor too, and can turn into a generic flying beast of terror thingy!"
Paladin: "....I can smite!"

Paladin: "....I can smite! And I can have heavy metal armor!"
Druid: "I can Bark at the Moon, too!"
Paladin: "....."

 

[Azzy]

My overall reaction to this playtest packet is p much the same as the previous ones, which is that there’s some stuff I like, some stuff I don’t, but NOTHING that makes me say “Oh, yeah, THIS is why we need a new edition.”

Still doesn’t feel like it serves any real need that 5E either isn’t already serving or couldn’t with like one Tasha’s-style update book instead of re-launching all the core books.

For me, the only thing that I've felt worthwhile were the feats and some of the other small things like the revision to long rests (that if interrupted after an hour grants a short rest), the Slow condition, etc. The orders for Clerics and the Epic Boons at 20th level are nice, too, but I haven't really been impressed with anything else. I understand the changes to races species, but I think the execution blows on most of them.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I run many games for nearly a hundred players, using DNDBeyond. I suspect DNDBeyond won't continue to support 2014 5E once OneD&D launches.

Okay, then you'll just have to keep using what you have for the next 18 months and then cross that D&D Beyond bridge when you come to it. And let the D&D Beyond people know that you hope to still have the 2014E books available in the system to use even with the release of the 2024E ones.

Personally, I think you will be fine. I don't see them removing the 2014E books from the system unless they fully intend on giving every owner of a 2014E book the new 2024E version as a replacement. But that seems unlikely. So D&DB still will have both books available to use and you'll probably just see a switch to flip in the character creator section that asks you which PHB to use (like they have switches for Homebrew Content, Critical Role Content, Magic: The Gathering Content, Eberron Content etc. etc.)

 

[Azzy]

Did I miss it or did they overlook a druid reverting back with his prior hit points when he dies in wild shape?

"Wild Shape. As a Magic action, you transform into a form that you have learned for this feature. You start knowing one form, Animal of the Land, which is detailed in the “Wild Shapes” section later in this class’s description. You stay in that form for a number of hours equal to half your Druid level or until you use Wild Shape again, have the Incapacitated condition, or die. You can also end Wild Shape early as a Bonus Action."

They way that reads you would revert back but still be dead.

Yep. That's another change to the druid that absolutely sucks.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

If you want to re-litigate what constitutes an edition, please make a thread dedicated to it so the rest of us can discuss the actual playtest without what pretty much comes across as threadcrapping.

im sorry you don't like what we are talking about... if it was threadcapping no one would respond... the discusion is the back and forth

 

[DEFCON 1]

For me, the only thing that I've felt worthwhile were the feats and some of the other small things like the revision to long rests (that if interrupted after an hour grants a short rest), the Slow condition, etc. The orders for Clerics and the Epic Boons at 20th level are nice, too, but I haven't really been impressed with anything else. I understand the changes to races species, but I think the execution blows on most of them.

What would you rather have... an ever-expanding PDF of errata that lists out all these small edits, changes and adjustments to the rules they wish to include (a la 4E) that you have to remember to insert into your game... or a fully-published book that puts all the small edits, changes, and adjustments together in one place?

Some players will want the former... others will want the latter.

 

[Maxperson]

The new Druid wildshape is just sooooo generic. I get that they're trying to make it easier for new players and GMs, but it's just boring now. Also weird that they don't want Tiny wildshapes until 11th level. I'm assuming that's because the wild form now uses the druids HP (which, I don't know, if they're going that way, maybe at least give prof bonus temp hp when you assume the form) but it just seems an over nerf.

Yes, but just once I want to be able to look at a DM and tell him that I am using wild shape to become a Chicken of the Sea.

 

[Azzy]

What would you rather have... an ever-expanding PDF of errata that lists out all these small edits, changes and adjustments to the rules they wish to include (a la 4E) that you have to remember to insert into your game... or a fully-published book that puts all the small edits, changes, and adjustments together in one place?

Some players will want the former... others will want the latter.

No, I'm fine with a revised PHB. I'm just not fine with a lot of the changes.

 

[kapars]

I see nothing about the Bastion system in the list of upcoming UA. Is this moving into the DMG playtest or being cut?

My issue with the handling of the Druid and many of the post-Tasha features is that making them generic disconnects their attachment to the world. It’s fun for a Druid to meet a new type of Beast and then being able to adopt those traits. It also gives DMs control over the theming. The wording on this would make any override on the DMs part of what the wildshape looks like as the DM being mean rather than the DM keeping to a coherent setting.

Features described as Spectral Flowers X, Spirit Y also cause this disconnect. They read to me as “we wanted to give this gameplay feature but didn’t want to explain how”, we therefore veer further into the territory of buttons on your VTT character sheet than a collectively imagined world.