Dungeons & Dragons is testing out some radical changes to the paladin and druid classes in their latest One D&D playtest. Earlier today, the D&D design team released their latest Unearthed Arcana playtest, this time focusing on overhauls to the core class abilities of the druid and paladin classes. Both are defined as part of the “priest” class group, although both come with radically different abilities.
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While the druid’s core ability is a Channel Nature ability that not only opens up the ability to Wild Shape, but also the ability to summon animal companions or magically heal other player companions at higher levels. While the core concept of Wild Shape – the ability to transform into animals – remains unchanged, the mechanics have been radically altered. Instead of selecting a specific monster statblock that meets the Wild Shape requirements (usually limited to Beast-type creatures and limited by Challenge Rating), players will now use one of three standardized Wild Shape statblocks, described as “Animal of Land,” “Animal of Sea,” and “Animal of Air.” Each statblock uses a Druid’s Hit Points and core ability scores when determining certain stats, thus allowing the animal to scale as the druid levels up. While this takes away many abilities away from a druid while Wild Shaping (as creatures often had secondary abilities beyond their base attack), the change was made to make the druid more approachable, as Wizards noted that the druid was the least used out of all of the core classes. Additionally, Wild Shapes no longer need to conform to specific animals, so a player can Wild Shape into a beefy squirrel or even an owlbear, since the stats have been standardized.
The paladin’s Divine Smite ability also received a major change, with limits placed on its use during turns. While the paladin can currently Divine Smite multiple times a turn and stack the ability with various secondary smites cast as a spell, the One D&D paladin can only Divine Smite once per turn and can’t Divine Smite and cast a spell at the same time. The various smite spells used by a paladin are now cast as a bonus attack immediately after an attack hits, which makes those spells more versatile and likely to be used. The One D&D playtest also allows players to smite with Unarmed attacks, thus allowing a much requested rules adjustment.
Other changes being tested include a major upgrade to the “Spare the Dying” cantrip, which comes as part of an overhaul to the Dying condition and the Unconscious condition. Spare the Dying now provides a dying player with 1 HP, which turns it into a valuable situational healing spell. Additionally, players can now choose to automatically make an attack a non-lethal blow when an enemy would otherwise be killed, while a character who makes three successful saving throws receives 1 HP but is still unconscious until they receive additional healing.
The full playtest can be found here. A survey to allow for feedback will open next month.
