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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[Hussar]

Of course not. You kill it first.

How? You didn’t prepare your ranger stuff beforehand so now you are just a less effective fighter.

That’s the trade off. Either you give the ranger spel…. Oh sorry….. abilities that can be used a limited number of times per day that have fantastical effects OR you hand the ranger a list of things they’re going to encounter so they can prepare.

 

[Minigiant]

Except they don't need to have magic. What they need to have is abilities that other classes don't have.

They need to have magic in D&D. 90% of the enemies are magic.

 

[Micah Sweet]

So it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck but it’s okay so long as we don’t call it a duck?

And are not affected by things that affect ducks (an anti-duck field, for example), and aren't generated the same way ducks are, yes.

Perhaps they don't use duck slots.

 

[Micah Sweet]

How? You didn’t prepare your ranger stuff beforehand so now you are just a less effective fighter.

That’s the trade off. Either you give the ranger spel…. Oh sorry….. abilities that can be used a limited number of times per day that have fantastical effects OR you hand the ranger a list of things they’re going to encounter so they can prepare.

Do I have to play the Level Up card again? Not spells. Still feels like a ranger.

 

[Minigiant]

You make a potion out of wolfsbane and the fur of the werewolf that bit you. Or you boil a piece of the mummy's bandages with some grave dirt and fungus.

Where in any D&D book are these items and the rules to craft them that rangers have?

 

[Bill Zebub]

or b) isn't basically spellcasting by another name.

I think one of the sources of disagreement is that people mean so many different things by "non-magical". Some people mean only "realistic" things, others mean only things described as non-magical even if the effects are totally unrealistic, and others are fine with overtly magical powers as long as it's not spell slots and spell lists.

 

[Bill Zebub]

That’s the trade off. Either you give the ranger spel…. Oh sorry….. abilities that can be used a limited number of times per day that have fantastical effects OR you hand the ranger a list of things they’re going to encounter so they can prepare.

Those are not the only two choices.

 

[Minigiant]

Do I have to play the Level Up card again? Not spells. Still feels like a ranger.

The Level Up ranger copies low levl ranger spells and doesn'tget high level ranger spells unless it goes into spellcasting.

Things it copies

1. Alarm
2. Speak with Animals
3. Cure Wounds
4. Animal Messenger
5. Animal Friendship
6. See invisible

Things it doesn't copy
Absorb element,s beast bond, ensnaring strike, fog cloud, jump, longstrider, water walk,water breathing, aid,beast sense, lesser resotration, silence, conjure animals, locate creature, locate object. nondetection,...

And frankly the 5e ranger is missing some spells.

It comes down to "do you want some woodcraft tricks" or "do you want abilities to help you hunt D&D monsters"?

 

[Faolyn]

You can say the same for bards. And druids. And paladins. And warlocks. And sorcerers. And artificers. Etc. How many different "magic" systems do we need?

I've yet to hear anything that a ranger does that: a) can't be replicated by a fighter or rogue with the right options, and/,or b) isn't basically spellcasting by another name.

But the way the ranger is now, just about everything it can do can be replicated by a druid/fighter or druid/rogue. So why not give it abilities that are different and new?

 

[Faolyn]

How? You didn’t prepare your ranger stuff beforehand so now you are just a less effective fighter.

That’s the trade off. Either you give the ranger spel…. Oh sorry….. abilities that can be used a limited number of times per day that have fantastical effects OR you hand the ranger a list of things they’re going to encounter so they can prepare.

Or you give rangers new, nonmagical abilities that allow it to be able a handle whatever they come across. Like some of have said, look at the LU ranger.