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.

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[Ruin Explorer]

The issue with Level Up is it usesspecial rules to allow so many nonmagical PCs that the common fantasy table wont support.

This is absolute nonsense.

You keep asserting "most people won't allow that!!!!!!" but it's just not true and it's never been true. Even stuff like Pathfinder 1E/2E shows it's not true.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

New weapon options for certain Classes [which Crawford seems to hint is the bread and butter of the Warrior Group in one of the videos]

Yeah I am intrigued as to what this will actually mean. Weapon-based special attacks/abilities? We saw 5E kind of approach that with some of the Feats in Tasha's.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah I am intrigued as to what this will actually mean. Weapon-based special attacks/abilities? We saw 5E kind of approach that with some of the Feats in Tasha's.

I think we saw a bit of a preview with the Ranger and the two weapon fighting stuff in this packet: Feats that change the actual properties on a weapon when a particular character uses them. I think we might see some wild stuff from the Warriors with that sort of technique.

 

[Faolyn]

The issue with Level Up is it usesspecial rules to allow so many nonmagical PCs that the common fantasy table wont support.

I really don't get that. I think a lot of people will appreciate more nonmagical options.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Everything I've seen from Level Up says that it adds fiddliness in exchange for archetypes - but for all it goes in what I think is a direction that is the opposite to the one I want adding nonmagical choices is a huge positive.

 

[Faolyn]

Everything I've seen from Level Up says that it adds fiddliness in exchange for archetypes - but for all it goes in what I think is a direction that is the opposite to the one I want adding nonmagical choices is a huge positive.

I'm not sure what you mean here with fiddliness in exchange for archetypes. There are archetypes in LU--lots of them, in fact, considering the 3pp stuff. There are also choices in the base class.

 

[MarkB]

You know, if they change the way smites work (which is entirely possible, as many think they are too good), you could easily end up with the same thematic issue with paladin that we currently have with ranger.

Honestly, I've never really seen the paladin as having any particularly thematic identity outside of D&D in the first place. I can think of a couple of ranger-types from popular fantasy, but no particular reference comes to mind for the paladin. Even, say, Arthurian knights feel more like straight-up fighters.

 

[Hussar]

Well the last time they stopped the playtest ~6-8 months before release and a bunch of stuff didn't get properly playtest out of house.

But, this time around, most of the rules have been play tested for the past several years. None of the proposed changes are massive. They're tweaks. It's not like they're completely rewriting classes from the ground up, the way they did from 4e to 5e, while at the same time largely ejecting 4e's framework for how classes are built, rewriting every single monster, plus rewriting most of the flavor for every single monster in the game.

I'm thinking that this time around is a bit less... frenetic.

 

[Maxperson]

They might not need 13, but that sounds about right. Consider what their roqdmap consists of:

• Revised versions of every Class from the 2014 PHB [which should take up 3 more packets, through to the end of 2022]
• 36 additional Subclasses [probably another 4 UA, later]
• New and revised Spells [probably spread across the Priest and Mage Class drops]
• New and revised Feats [which Crawford outright says in the videos from this week will be spread across the Class Group UA]
• New weapon options for certain Classes [which Crawford seems to hint is the bread and butter of the Warrior Group in one of the videos]
• New Home Base system for PCs [probably worth a full packet]
• Encounter building rules [definitely a distinct packet]
• New and revised Monsters [probably in the same packet as the new encounter building rules]

So, I'd guess the plan before any revisits is for about 9 more UA packets to cover what they've committed to, bringing them to aboutba year after the start. Then, they can make any revisions suggested by testing for another round, and prepare the final book way before the Holidays in 2024.

That 13 takes them to the deadline without any revisiting, though. If they want to revisit, they will need to pick up the pace of UA releases.

 

[Maxperson]

I agree. I’d go a step past that even, and say it should remain unique. Let the EK cast a cantrip as a BA when they use the attack action, or something, or just give them magical “weapon attacks” that aren’t even spells, just an attack they can make any time they’d normally make a weapon attack.

I can see arguments for both unique to a subclass and for limited numbers of subclasses. I'd be fine with either. I just don't want it to be a general thing.