One D&D Cleric & Revised Species Playtest Includes Goliath

"In this new Unearthed Arcana for the One D&D rules system, we explore material designed for the next version of the Player’s Handbook. This playtest document presents the rules on the Cleric class, it's Life Domain subclass, as well as revised Species rules for the Ardling, the Dragonborn, and the Goliath. You will also find a current glossary of new or revised meanings for game terms."

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www.dndbeyond.com

WotC's Jeremey Crawford discusses the playtest document in the video below.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

bland in mechanics sense to be precise.
background/roleplaying of characters have (almost)nothing to do with it.

Not even that. I never restricted myself to perfect race/class choices.
I had fun with my dwarven abjurer, my halfling monk and my ritual caster variant human rogue... The goliath bard I tested for myself was also not bland.
Stat choice + racial abilities/feat + background + lvl1 class abilites were enough. At level 2 multiclassing with just the base classes allows for 144 different kinds of characters.
So with 10 species you have 1440 different character options.
If this seems bland, I am sorry.

Without multiclassing and background feat and stat distribution you are easily looking at more viable choices with plebty of level 1 options.
And as seen with the cleric, having subclass at level 3 allows for some nice defining class abilities right off the gate.

 

[Horwath]

Better to accommodate newer players with simple early levels than to drive them away with complexity.

that is why I said that every class needs a subclass that has simple mechanics for starting players or those not invested in D&D as much as others.

then you can have better crit for simple fighter or 3/4 maneuvers with 4/5 superiority dice as an option.


human champion fighter with 2Hander(javelin as secondary), +1 AC style and +2HP/level feat is great option to give someone character sheet and throw them into game.

 

[Cadence]

I believe the assumption is that if your cleric worships a god, you can only choose a domain that god control or has access to.

I mean FR, GH, Mystara and most of the settings with active gods have them killing each other over domains. Some 3rd level cleric wont be able to tap a domain without the corresponding god's permission.

To me it feels like they really need to say that. Something like "choose a deity or power source based on what you and your DM have worked out (some examples for some game worlds are in Appendix X)."

 

[Remathilis]

And in exchange we get bland 1st and 2nd level characters.

Great.

What exactly are you losing at those two levels? At first level, you might have to rely on medium armor and a mace (you probably couldn't afford much better gear anyway) but by second, you have your bonus proficiencies you'd get from your domain, and swapping channel divinity from second to first surly didn't change much. At best, you lost the first level spells from your domain. Oh noes, the cleric has been nerfed. Negative five stars!

I'll give you the loss of the first level domain slots, but everything else is still there by third level. With the bonus options of being more militant light clerics or more mystical tempest clerics.

 

[Umbran]

that is why I said that every class needs a subclass that has simple mechanics for starting players or those not invested in D&D as much as others.

Mistaking rules mastery for investment or engagement is an error.

 

[Horwath]

What exactly are you losing at those two levels? At first level, you might have to rely on medium armor and a mace (you probably couldn't afford much better gear anyway) but by second, you have your bonus proficiencies you'd get from your domain, and swapping channel divinity from second to first surly didn't change much. At best, you lost the first level spells from your domain. Oh noes, the cleric has been nerfed. Negative five stars!

I'll give you the loss of the first level domain slots, but everything else is still there by third level. With the bonus options of being more militant light clerics or more mystical tempest clerics.

honestly, all 3 levels of cleric features should have been at 1st level.

 

[Minigiant]

To me it feels like they really need to say that. Something like "choose a deity or power source based on what you and your DM have worked out (some examples for some game worlds are in Appendix X)."

I'm sure they will and display the god/domain pairings in the actual PHB. That's not info needed for playtesting.

 

[Cadence]

Better to accommodate newer players with simple early levels than to drive them away with complexity.

I wonder about a pack of pre-gen character sheets that only have the things for the first two levels laid out with boxes and arrows saying where to find things. Or maybe a printable cheat sheet for each race class combination.

I also kind of wonder why they need to comfortably understanding everything about their character without a cheat sheet going into their first game. That doesn't seem to be how a ton of board games, bridge, chess, MtG, etc... are usually learned.

 

[Minigiant]

honestly, all 3 levels of cleric features should have been at 1st level.

It's too much power for 1st level.

 

[Remathilis]

honestly, all 3 levels of cleric features should have been at 1st level.

That would be great for multi-class dipping! Free weapons/armor prof, healing, divine magic and channel divinity for a 1 level dip? Sign me up!

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

that is why I said that every class needs a subclass that has simple mechanics for starting players or those not invested in D&D as much as others.

then you can have better crit for simple fighter or 3/4 maneuvers with 4/5 superiority dice as an option.


human champion fighter with 2Hander(javelin as secondary), +1 AC style and +2HP/level feat is great option to give someone character sheet and throw them into game.

You clearly did not read what I posted earlier. Or watch the video on the subject. The goal of delaying subclass choice for Clerics and the other classes until level 3 is to make it so newer players aren't flooded with another major crossroads as part of character creation for Clerics. Choosing race, class, and background is already a hard enough decision for people not familiar with the game. Adding the choice of subclass on top of that at level 1 is overwhelming. WotC wants newer players to be able to play Clerics without being bombarded with a ton of important decisions upon character creation.

 

[Horwath]

Mistaking rules mastery for investment or engagement is an error.

I'm not,
I know players that are engaged in roleplay, but simply do not have time to learn all the rules of D&D, but they did learn what their character needs.

no one needs to know all spells or even all spells of their class, but everyone needs to know spells that are on their prepared list.
Same with feats or other things.

Ofc, here comes more experienced friends that will help new players with mechanics to flesh out the character that someone imagined.

 

[Horwath]

That would be great for multi-class dipping! Free weapons/armor prof, healing, divine magic and channel divinity for a 1 level dip? Sign me up!

I would rather see some more limits on multiclassing than stretching what should be starting abilities over 3 levels.

 

[mellored]

I would rather see some more limits on multiclassing than stretching what should be starting abilities over 3 levels.

The limit is that you need to take 3 levels in a class.
And if you want to start with that many choices, start at 3.

 

[Horwath]

You clearly did not read what I posted earlier. Or watch the video on the subject. The goal of delaying subclass choice for Clerics and the other classes until level 3 is to make it so newer players aren't flooded with another major crossroads as part of character creation for Clerics. Choosing race, class, and background is already a hard enough decision for people not familiar with the game. Adding the choice of subclass on top of that at level 1 is overwhelming. WotC wants newer players to be able to play Clerics without being bombarded with a ton of important decisions upon character creation.

race, background+feat, class, skills, gear, spells,

is subclass that more of a problem on top of that?

 

[Horwath]

The limit is that you need to take 3 levels in a class.
And if you want to start with that many choices, start at 3.

that is like a default from 2014 with every campaign that I played.

I was hoping that they might introduce little more features at levels 1/2 so those levels are option to start.

Feat at level 1 that is not a house rule was a good start...

 

[Bagpuss]

I believe the assumption is that if your cleric worships a god, you can only choose a domain that god control or has access to.

I mean FR, GH, Mystara and most of the settings with active gods have them killing each other over domains. Some 3rd level cleric wont be able to tap a domain without the corresponding god's permission.

Well they why change the wording from the original way to select domains which was "Choose one domain related to your deity" to "of your choice" that seems a deliberate change. Also delaying the choice to 3rd level for newer players doesn't work if they are really making that choice at 1st level when they select the god they worship.

 

[Remathilis]

I would rather see some more limits on multiclassing than stretching what should be starting abilities over 3 levels.

How about: Your multiclass character suffers a –20% penalty to XP for each class that is not within one level of his or her highest-level class. These penalties apply from the moment the character adds a class or raises a class's level too high.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

race, background+feat, class, skills, gear, spells,

is subclass that more of a problem on top of that?

Adding a single additional choice with several different options increases the complexity of character creation by a lot. And subclass is more important than equipment, skills, gear, feats, and spells.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

How about: Your multiclass character suffers a –20% penalty to XP for each class that is not within one level of his or her highest-level class. These penalties apply from the moment the character adds a class or raises a class's level too high.

Doesn't work for milestone. And I'm not a fan of different members of the same adventuring party being of different levels.