D&D (2024) One D&D Expert Classes Playtest Document Is Live

The One D&D Expert Class playest document is now available to download. You can access it by signing into your D&D Beyond account at the link below. It contains three classes -- bard, rogue, and ranger, along with three associated subclasses (College of Lore, Thief, and Hunter), plus a number of feats.

Unearthed Arcana Playtest

Unearthed Arcana Playtest Materials Get Unearthed Arcana playtest content, try it out in your game, and provide feedback! Check back regularly for ...

www.dndbeyond.com

 

[i_dont_meta]

Oooh a rules perversity! You can go further in a round where you jump a 15' gap than one where you jump a 3' gap, because gaps less than 5' count as Difficult terrain, but no penalties are assessed for jumping big distances. Learn2makerules WotC. Come on.

Pump your brakes there, scooter. White room assumptions don't break anything. Next time there's a job opening at Wizards, I'd love to see your resumè.

 

[cbwjm]

Why can’t Rangers cast evocations? What whack nonsense is this? WTF Bards can’t cast 1/3 of the damn schools!? Hahahahahhahaha no. Garbage

On the plus side, heal spells became abjurations so rangers can cast them, and spells like thunderwave became transmutation so bards can cast them. Great times!

 

[UngeheuerLich]

On the plus side, heal spells became abjurations so rangers can cast them, and spells like thunderwave became transmutation so bards can cast them. Great times!

Burning hands used to be transmutation in 2e. Flame arrow was conjuration back then.

I hated it, when 3e put all damage spells in evocation.

 

[Bolongo]

I see the basic structural problem remains: lots of empty levels and no-choice levels.
Whew, no risk I'll be tempted back to 5e, then.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Who wants to try it? Via discord and owlbear.

I would be interested

 

[Stalker0]

Katniss' main thing is she's extremely skilled - Fighters aren't. Katniss isn't armoured. Isn't in the military. Isn't trained in any kind of tactics and doesn't have a wide range of weapons. But she's also not some kind of backstabber or Thief. And as you point out, she uses traps a ton, uses natural hazards, and particularly knowledge of nature (which her opponents are shown to lack) to defeat people. She knows and understands terrain and nature - something Rangers did in 5E, but no longer do in 1D&D, I note. Something Rogues and Fighters do not do. She's absolutely what people think of when you say Ranger. Even if you read the 5E description of a Ranger, she's a good match for 6 of 7 paragraphs (a far better match than with Rogue or Fighter, I note), with only the two random and out of place-seeming lines about Rangers knowing magic not fitting.

Katniss is a fighter with the outlander background, takes survival as one of her fighter skills, has the archery fighting style, and focuses on Dex as primary with wisdom secondary. And done.... Katniss is not some skill goddess, you just need a couple of proficiencies and your ready to go.

 

[Stalker0]

The D&D cartoon is so obscure now Hank is well behind Geralt, Jon Snow...

Just noting that Jon Snow is a fighter full stop. He's not a ranger, not even close. Jon has little ranger training, he's not a particularly good tracker or forager. He's a noble raised soldier.

 

[Minigiant]

Just noting that Jon Snow is a fighter full stop. He's not a ranger, not even close. Jon has little ranger training, he's not a particularly good tracker or forager. He's a noble raised soldier.

Depends Jon Snow has a beast companion and can sorta kinda talk to him so that's Speak with Animals.He is also a untrained warg so he technically has Beast Bond as well.

He's basically like Aragorn and has "nobleblood powers" that in D&D is spells.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Katniss is a fighter with the outlander background, takes survival as one of her fighter skills, has the archery fighting style, and focuses on Dex as primary with wisdom secondary. And done.... Katniss is not some skill goddess, you just need a couple of proficiencies and your ready to go.

Yeah yeah yeah. By this logic all characters in everything are just "Fighters with some skills", including Gandalf. It's an absolutely ridiculous approach that totally fails to understand the fantasy involved.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I see the basic structural problem remains: lots of empty levels and no-choice levels.
Whew, no risk I'll be tempted back to 5e, then.

Every level is a choice level -> multiclass.

I have not experienced a single empty level in 10 years... some were a bit underwhelming but not empty.

So better for you if you have already made up your mind after 2 UA packages...
and at this point I guess it is not their goal to bring back players, but focus on keeping their audience and make the game even more accessible.

They once tried to gain back lost customers with a small edition shift (4e essentials) and only made me happy but otherwise did not gain pathfinder players back an lost their core 4e players, as most of them actually liked the game as it was.

I think what we see in the packet (although it need a bit of refinement) is exactly this. Rules consolidation. Class consolidation. With a bit better wordings also much better accessability.