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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[Bill Zebub]

To me, yes it does

Great, so YOU don't have to choose deer form.

But does it really matter if other people choose it?

EDIT: I can understand if the official rules was "Deer Form: you gain +5 AC and Level * 5 temporary HP...". That would bug me, too. But that's not what templates are.

 

[Charlaquin]

I just want
Avian: Small, and Quick form
Avian: raptor form
Bear, Small Form
Bear, Grizzl Form
Deer Form
Elk/Moose Form
Wolf Form
Panther Form
Snake, Small Constrictor
Snake, Large Constrictor
Mouse/Small Rodent form
Alligator/Crocodile Form
Fish , Small Form
Shark, Small form
Shark, Medium Form
Shark, Great White Form

A lot of these could be consolidated. Having a tiny flier and a larger raptor makes sense, but that list of land mammals could probably likewise get paired down to like… ambush predator, endurance predator, and distance runner. The snakes I don’t see much point dividing by size either. Small rodent makes sense as it’s own category. But all your various swimmers could probably be brought down to Tiny swimmer and big swimmer.

Does anyone else want to see Healing Blossoms removed?

No. Why would you?

 

[Greg K]

No. Why would you?

Because I think there is already too much ranged and area healing in the game. Druids have enough healing spells and, if the designers want a Druid with more healing, they should, imo, make a druid subclass focused on healing rather than forcing the Healing Blossoms (which I don't consider part of the default druid "narrative") on to the base class.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Because I think there is already too much ranged and area healing in the game. Druids have enough healing spells and, if the designers want a Druid with more healing, they should, imo, make a druid subclass focused on healing rather than forcing the Healing Blossoms (which I don't consider part of the default druid "narrative") on to the base class.

In the sense that each ability uses some of a class or sub-class "budget" I think that's a valid criticism. I'm not sure I agree with you about healing not being part of the default druid narrative, but when I roll it around in my head I can see the other side, too. In fact, I'm intrigued by the idea of a kind of darker and grittier default narrative.

Anyway, it would be good feedback.

 

[James Gasik]

Because I think there is already too much ranged and area healing in the game. Druids have enough healing spells and, if the designers want a Druid with more healing, they should, imo, make a druid subclass focused on healing rather than forcing the Healing Blossoms (which I don't consider part of the default druid "narrative") on to the base class.

I mean, it's at best 5d4. Which is what, 12.5 healing on average? If that bothers someone, they never had to run for a Twilight Cleric.

 

[Greg K]

I mean, it's at best 5d4. Which is what, 12.5 healing on average? If that bothers someone, they never had to run for a Twilight Cleric.

I wouldn't allow most WOTC supplemental material as I find it just poor design (of which the Twilight Cleric is just one example). Most of what I see so far in the playtest classes just furthers my dislike for the work of the current design team. Much better 3pp content out there to choose from, imo.

 

[James Gasik]

I wouldn't allow most WOTC supplemental material as I find it just poor design (of which the Twilight Cleric is just one example). Most of what I see so far in the playtest classes just furthers my dislike for the work of the current design team. Much better 3pp content out there to choose from, imo.

Ok, it's just, that kind of healing is a drop in the bucket, area or no. The Cleric channel divinity is way better.

 

[Hussar]

That's a weird take. Anyone who wants could do the same thing with a PHB, paying for it on DDB just makes it easier in the same ways it makes lots of D&D easier, that's what you pay for.

And you don't need the MM and various splat books to make a good Druid, those books give you more options, but even a PHB/SRD 2014 Druid is way cooler than the proposed 2024 version.

Not really a weird take.

Druids are too complicated. That is the feedback that WotC got. The reason druids are the least popular class is because they are too complicated.

You’re reinforcing that by stating that Druid players need to do homework in order to play.

 

[James Gasik]

So I'm playing in a Kobold Press Midgard campaign right now. My Wizard has an archetype that I chose for story reasons that makes me a P̶o̶k̶e̶m̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶r̶a̶i̶n̶e̶r̶ Familiar Master. The rules let me use a Small or Tiny Beast with a CR of 1/4 or less as a Familiar. Going over the list of all the available beasts to find the best ones available reminded me of looking up stats for Summon Monster or diving through lists of available Animal Companions/Wild Shape forms in 3.x/Pathfinder 1. I didn't much care for the experience; in fact, this sort of thing is what led to Druids and Polymorph in particular being busted in 3.5; every time a new monster book came out, players were poring something that really shouldn't be a player resource to find new things to turn into.

Ever hear of a fleshraker dinosaur? This is the exact kind of nonsense you get people wanting to be/summon/have as a pet. And that then puts the onus on the DM to have to veto half the things players want to do with their powers, when it could all be sidestepped by giving them a list of power appropriate stats in the first place.

Making character power be based on how much research into monster books (or Pelor preserve us, a guide) you want to do is just bad from both sides of the DM screen if you ask me.

 

[Horwath]

Was it ever used that much before?

It has it's own pool.
I play a paladin now, it's sometimes used as a RP tool.

But to compete with combat ability for resources?
It just became useless.