The Warrior Class Playtest

December 01, 2022

No, not actually. Well—it’s not out yet! Wizards just dropped the playtest for the Cleric class and revised Goliath, Ardling, and Dragonborn. But I’m not here to talk about that!

The previous day, Todd Kenreck and Jeremy Crawford released a video talking about the past OneD&D playtest documents and the survey results, and part of what they talked about is the Warrior class group and it’s relationship with the changes to the Great Weapon Master and Sharpshooter feats.

The link to that video is here, it’s fascinating and well worth watching if anything I talk about in these articles is of interest to you.

So I want to talk about the Warrior group, and what Jeremy Crawford might be meaning when he talks about interesting weapon options going forward.

First, keep in mind that Maneuvers are kind of my jam so I have a predisposition to thinking they are a good way to address martial character disparity with spellcasters. I’ve released a Variant Fighter, a Fighting Maneuvers document for replacing Fighting Styles, and the Group Maneuvers article in MCDM’s ARCADIA #13. I’ve studied martial characters inside and out and I’d like to think I know what I’m talking about here, but feel free to reach out to me on Twitter @vorpaldicepress to tell me where I’m wrong!

Weapon Options

Jeremy Crawford speaks enthusiastically about upcoming weapon options for OneD&D’s Warrior Group and we don’t really know what that means just yet. I’m salivating to find out, but in the mean time there are at least three things we might see, and I’ll try and summarize my predictions here.

Improved Weapon Actions

I want to draw attention to the Unarmed Strike rules from the OneD&D Playtest so far.

Unarmed Strike

An Unarmed Strike is a melee attack that involves you using your body to damage, grapple, or shove a target within your Reach.

Your bonus to hit with an Unarmed Strike equals your Strength modifier plus your Proficiency Bonus. On a hit, your Unarmed Strike causes one of the following effects of your choice:

Damage. The target takes Bludgeoning Damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier.

Grapple. The target is Grappled, and the grapple’s escape DC equals 8 + your Strength modifier + your Proficiency Bonus. This grapple is possible only if the target is no more than one Size larger than you and if you have a hand free to grab the target.

Shove. You either push the target 5 feet away or knock the target Prone. This shove is possible only if the target is no more than one Size larger than you.

The decision to build the Grapple and Shove rules directly into Unarmed Strikes makes me think there is a possibility that Wizards of the Coast might add similar types of rules to Weapon Attacks of all kinds.

For example, Polearms (which appear to be any melee weapon with the Reach property) might get a similar writeup to the above, that could read something like this:

Polearm Strike

A Polearm Strike is a melee attack that involves attacking with any weapon with the Reach property.

On a hit, your Polearm Strike causes one of the following effects of your choice:

Damage. The target takes the weapon’s regular weapon damage.

Sweep. You knock the target Prone.

Pin. If the target is Prone, you can Restrain them until the start of your next turn. While Restrained, the target can use its action to make a DC 15 Strength saving throw, ending the Restrained condition on a success.

Of the suggestions I’m laying out here, I think this the least likely as it would apply too generally and from the way Jeremy Crawford is speaking, it sounds like these weapon options are going to be big for the Warrior class. A Ranger or Rogue (not part of the Warrior class) could benefit equally from something like the above.

Improved Weapon Properties

For this, I point to the Light Weapon Property in the OneD&D Playtest packets.

Light [Weapon Property]

When you take the Attack Action on your turn and attack with a Light weapon in one hand, you can make one extra attack as part of the same Action. That extra attack must be made with a different Light weapon in the other hand, and you don’t add your Ability Modifier to the extra attack’s damage. You can make this extra attack only once on each of your turns.

For example, if you take the Attack Action on your turn and have a Shortsword in one hand and a Dagger in the other—each of which has the Light property—you can make one attack with each weapon, but you don’t add your Strength or Dexterity Modifier to the damage roll of the second weapon.

So this used to be its own rule: Two-Weapon Fighting. Now it’s baked into the Property of the weapon itself.

This gives me the idea that we might see similar things built into other properties, like the Heavy property for example.

Consider the possibility of:

Heavy [Weapon Property]

When you take the Attack Action on your turn and attack with a Heavy weapon, you can choose to take a -5 penalty to your attack roll. If you do, and hit with your attack, the attack deals an extra 10 damage. You can deal this extra damage only once on each of your turns.

Now I don’t think we’re actually going to see this in this form, but I mean. Maybe?

You could build similar types of improved weapon properties into things like the Thrown, Finesse, or Reach properties.

This idea, while simple and effective, has the same philosophical issue as the first suggestion though: This effects the system too generally, so it would benefit non Warrior’s as much as it would Warriors.

That being said, Warriors could have a feature that said something along the lines of: “You can activate a weapon property more than once on your turn.” which would basically bring it back lock-step with 5E for Great Weapon Fighters. That would be interesting for sure, especially with the Light property.

Weapon Maneuvers

Okay so this one is my pie-in-the-sky idea. Would Wizards of the Coast have the cahones to pull something like this out for OneD&D? I don’t know, but it’s very possible.

This is a bit more indepth than the other two suggestions so bare with me as I explain.

The “Warrior” class group would gain a Weapon Maneuver system that would look and function similarly to Spellcasting. Each of the three Warrior classes: Fighter, Barbarian, and Monk would get a Weapon Maneuver ‘slots’ table that looks exactly like a Half-Caster’s Spell Slots table.

The Maneuvers get presented like spells, with a few differences:

Maneuvers would have no Level; Slots become called Executions, and Slot Levels become Challenge Level. Using a higher Challenge Level than 1st increases the effect of the maneuver.

Casting Time becomes Action Type, and is limited to “Attack Action”, “Bonus Action”, “Jump” or “Move”, and “Reaction”

Range remains the same as Spells, but for melee weapons can reference Reach to cover the reach of the creature executing the maneuver and any improvements they get from weapon types, size, or other features.

Materials is replaced with “Weapon Required” and lists either the specific weapons, or types of weapons required to perform the maneuver. Some generalized maneuvers might be blank (or say ‘any’). This section might also say “Unarmed Strikes”, too.

Duration would be gone, as the effects would always be instantaneous.

Maneuver Executions would recharge likely on a Short Rest, instead of a Long Rest, and the general ‘effect’ of maneuvers would be lower than that of spells as they would all be roughly equivalent to a Smite spell (a single attack rider effect).

Here’s a few examples:

Vaulting Strike

Action Type: Jump

Range: Reach

Weapon Required: Any weapon with the Reach property

While taking the Jump action, you use your weapon to propel yourself into a vaulting strike. The DC for the Strength Check becomes 15, and on a successful check, you can clear up to twice the normal distance and make a single Weapon Attack against a creature after landing.

At Higher Levels. The Weapon Attack you make deals an additional 1d8 damage for each Challenge Tier above 1st.

or maybe

Cleave

Action Type: Attack Action

Range: Reach

Weapon Required: Any weapon with the Two-Handed property

As part of an attack with a Two-Handed weapon, you can cleave through into another creature of your choice within 5 feet of the target and also within your reach. Use the result of the original Attack Roll to determine if you hit the new target. On a successful hit, they take damage equal to your Strength modifier.

At Higher Levels. You can choose an additional target to cleave into for each Challenge Tier above 1st. If you execute this maneuver with a Challenge Tier of 3rd or higher, each target take additional damage equal to your Proficiency Bonus, including the target of the original attack.

I don’t know how many of these maneuvers there would need to be for the system to feel complete. Certainly at least 3–4 for each category or 2–3 with some overlap, to make the decisions feel meaningful and allow for variety.

I’d probably also imagine maneuvers would be prepared, so you could switch up the ones you know as you change your equipment. That’s in line with what OneD&D is doing so far and I think best fits the direction the game is moving towards. It helps to alleviate choice paralysis in early levels (you can always fix it by taking a rest) and lets players experiment without wishing for their character to die off so they can make different choices for Joe Fighter the Second.

And I know what you’re thinking if I haven’t sold you with this idea yet: Wow, this really sounds a lot like 4E. Yeah. I’m sorry (not sorry) but 4E is a great game and one of the things it did really well was Martials. And yes, Martials played basically exactly the same as Casters, and that was a common criticism. I think the above is just different enough that a Caster (Long Rest, levelled spells they learn as they level) and Martial (Short Rest, improving base maneuvers as they level) would feel distinctly different.

It also opens the door for some neat mechanics like Ranger being able to take a few Maneuvers and use Spell Slots like Executions (with some additional benefit, as the Long Rest recharge adds budget), or a Warlock using their Short Rest slots to execute Maneuvers and feel even more Martial-like.

Summary

Are these good ideas for OneD&D? I don’t know. I think the last one has a lot of merit, and the others are simple ways to build in some depth to Martials without risk of overdesigning the concept.

Whatever Jeremy Crawford and the team have in store—which sounds like it’s fairly well conceptualized at this point (so if what I suggested here is close, it’s just kismet and nothing else)—I am eagerly ready to look at it. So eager that I basically skipped over the current playtest document! Look forward to my comments on that in the coming weeks.

I have a lot of faith in OneD&D, despite the my own objections to certain aspects of it. As a Game Designer, I’ll never be completely happy with any edition or revision of D&D and find ways to tinker with or improve on the core content.

Unearthed Arcana - Expert Classes Part 2

November 14, 2022

A long time ago, on a blog post far far away…

No, seriously. Sorry that this has taken so long to get out! Life and all that.

Let’s talk about FEATS.

Document Links

You can download the Playtest Packet from D&D Beyond here

Alternatively, you can download my version of the PDF. This version is faithfully remade but includes hyperlinks for the underlined keywords, bookmarks, and a subtle background to ensure it doesn’t get confused with the original document.

Unearthed Arcana - Expert Classes (Accessible PDF)

Feats

The feat section is full of content so I’m going to list each feat with a brief description of my thoughts. I’ll be grouping all the Epic Boon Feats into one section, as my thoughts are basically the same on all of them.

One thing I will note is that the Bonus Feats at 20th Level sidebar is a great rule for post-20 progression; even in 5e. Highly recommend. Just… not with these Epic Boon Feats.

Another thing I’ll note is that basically every feat that is 4th-19th level (aka not a Feat from the previous UA, a Fighting Style, or an Epic Boon) is a half-feat. That’s a notable design shift. Half-Feats are easier to justify when levelling but they also have a weirdness here. As a result of half feats, there is the distinct possibility that you will build a character that gets no benefit from the half feat.

Let me explain. Say you start a Wizard with 17 in their primary stat. One half feat that includes Intelligence will get you to 18, and an Ability Score Improvement will get you to 20. After that, since Wizards don’t particularly need Charisma or Wisdom, any feat that buffs Intelligence or any combination of mental scores without also offering Dexterity or Constitution is half-wasted on the Wizard.

Now, they could have planned their feats out in advance and taken three sequential half feats to reach 20 in Intelligence, but that also means they delay capping their primary stat to 12th level instead of 8th. To many people this is minmax-y nonsense but it’s a very real issue players can run into.

A quick and easy change would be to have a general rule: “If you take a feat that increases an ability score that is already at 20, you can choose any other ability score to increase instead.”

But a better change might have just been to divorce Ability Scores and Feats completely. As @ThinkingDM once suggested, have ability scores increase every other level by 1 and consider it basic ‘character’ progression, like Proficiency Bonus. Don’t tie it to Feats at all. Let Feats be their own thing. There is significant design freedom gained by doing so.

Ability Score Improvement

I mean, yeah.

Actor

Impersonation seems like the point of disguising yourself as another person. I think a lot of DMs would give this advantage normally, without the feat. Mimicry is fine. This feat still seems poor compared to the other feats and probably should have been a 1st-level feat.

Athlete

With the new Jumping rules, this is great. To me, this is a great example of the perfect balance of feat strength. Three solid, situational abilities that don’t ‘negate’ the challenge of those situations but give you higher success or greater tools to approach it.

Charger

It’s not super clear here how Improved Dash functions. Dash allows you to take a bonus Move on your turn. Move is not an action. Is the bonus Move considered the Dash action, for the purpose of the text “for that Action”? If the intent is +10 feet of movement for the turn, it should probably either say “When you take the Dash action, your Speed increases by 5 feet.” Or, alternatively, “When you take the Dash action, your Speed increases by 10 feet during the bonus Move.”

As for the Charge Attack… bonus 1d8 damage once per turn is significant enough budget. The push is nice, especially for helping allies Disengage for free. Seems alright. I’m not sure if I’d be jumping to take this feat or not.

Crossbow Expert

Ah, the first of 5E’s ‘broken’ feats. First, why doesn’t Crossbow Expert require proficiency in Crossbows? They dropped the ‘with which you are proficient’ text from the 5e’s Ignore Loading bullet, but you can still take this feat without proficiency—why?

Assuming the Loading property remains unchanged, this feat only actually changed a little bit and improved. It gained the +1 Dexterity of the half feat, and as with Two-Weapon Fighting, the Dual Wielding attack no longer requires your Bonus Action.

Here is why that is a problem: the Dual Wielding property of this feat is effectively identical to the entire Fighting Style: Two Weapon Fighting feat. Yes, that’s a feat you can get at 1st/2nd level with Fighter or Half Martials (Paladin/Ranger) but this also has two additional benefits AND gives +1 Dexterity. If you skip ahead to Polearm Master, you’ll see that the bonus action attack from PAM remained a bonus action as it was in 5e. This last bullet needs to be replaced. Making it a BA is problematic, as it’d stack with the Light Weapon Property attack, and making it not give Ability Mod would in effect remove the bullet; leaving the rest of the feat fairly anemic. I would probably replace the last bullet with something like this:

Finisher. When you make the extra attack of the Light weapon property, you score a critical hit on a d20 roll of 19 or 20 if that attack is with a crossbow that has the Light property and was made against a target you’ve hit with an attack this turn.

Is this stronger? Yes, but it’s also not 100% guaranteed, somewhat situational, and doesn’t conflict with the Fighting Style: Two-Weapon Fighting feat. (Sidenote, it’s not clear how the two feats currently interact. I believe, RAW, you add your ability mod TWICE to the extra attack if you have both feats)

Defensive Duelist

Another Dexterity feat. Reaction +prof AC after being hit by an attack is good. Enough for a whole feat? Compared to Charger, yes. Compared to Crossbow Expert, absolutely not. In Wizards of the Coast’s opportunity to rebalance feats, they’ve still left a ton of power disparity between feats in the same grouping. That’s not shedding a positive outlook. My ‘quick fix’ is to have the +AC work against all attacks from that target until the end of the current turn. Hunter Multiattack Defense style. I would probably also add the caveat that you can’t use the reaction if you’re Prone, Grappled, or Restrained, and lose the benefit if you gain any of those conditions (plus any conditions that prevent acting/reacting like Incapacitated).

Dual Wielder

I find this one weird that it requires Martial Weapon proficiency. That seems like an arbitrary limit, when dual wielding daggers or hand axes is totally a thing.

But, more importantly: this feat got nerfed. Why? Why on earth did the WORST of the weapon feats in 5e get NERFED?

You no longer get +1 AC, but +1 Dex. This is an overall nerf, as you can’t stack the +1 AC on top of being Dex capped.

You no longer can dual wield with two non-Light weapons, but only a single non-Light weapon. So while the old Dual Wielder could bump you from d6 weapons to d8 weapons, for an average damage increase of… 2. This now only gives you an average damage increase of 1.

Quick Draw on 5e’s Dual Wielder was actually useful, but with the changes to OneD&D’s drawing weapons rules (you can draw or stow a weapon once per attack), you don’t even really need this anymore. The benefit it gives is when you only have one Attack as part of the Attack action, and had no weapons drawn on the first turn, you can still get both weapons out and benefit from the Light weapon property extra attack. Otherwise, it’s basically only useful for going from a 2handed weapon to two one-handed weapons; which is fairly rare and an unnecessary limit that most DM’s ignore anyways.

How do you fix this feat? I actually have no idea. Dual Wielding with non-Light weapons is a trope, but a rather ridiculous one. My first thought is “you gain the extra attack from the Light weapon property once for each Attack you can make as part of the Attack action”, essentially giving Fighters and other Martials more dual wielding, but that scales out of hand really quickly (especially with classes like the Ranger and Hunter’s Mark).

I might bring out some legacy content I’ve used in the past and do something like a 4e Viper Strike. Add a bullet that says “If you are wielding a Weapon with the Light property in each hand, you can use your Bonus Action to attack with both weapons simultaneously. Make a single attack roll against a creature you can see within reach of both weapons. On hit, you roll the damage dice of both weapons, add them together, then add your Ability Modifier and deal that much damage.” (rough as hell wording, still haven’t navigated all the OneD&D lingo)

Durable

Ah, Hit Dice mechanics. This is basically like the Dwarven racial feat from Xanathar’s Guide, but different.

I take no issue with the Hit Dice mechanics on this feat, as it has established precedent, but Defy Death ruffles my feathers. Flat advantage on Death Saving Throws is both boring (Advantage should basically always be situational) and too powerful. I think something more engaging here would be better, such as “When you are reduced to 0 hit points, you start with one successful Death Saving Throw.” Or, better yet, “When you are reduced to 0 Hit Points, you can use your Reaction and expend one of your Hit Dice to attempt to remain standing. Make a Death Saving Throw. On a successful save, you roll the expended Hit Die and regain that many hit points. Once you have benefited from this feature, you must regain all your Hit Dice before you can do so again.”

Elemental Adept

The same, except now adds a mental half-feat. This was already a decent feat, but the addition of the half-feat makes it much more takeable. I like it.

Epic Boons

Let’s skip this, I’ll come back to it.

Fighting Style Feats

These remain unchanged from the Fighting Styles of 5e, they’re just 1st-level Feats now. The Fighter, Barbarian, and Monk are in the ‘Warrior’ group, this means Barbarians and Monks will likely get access to Fighting Styles, which is interesting.

Grappler

5E’s most useless PHB feat is now less useless! Hurrah.

With the change to the Unarmed Strike rules, this feat has become a must-take for Monks and possibly even Fighters. A single Unarmed Strike deals damage and causes a guaranteed Grapple (Grapples are no longer a contested roll, but automatic on hit, with an escape DC that the target automatically attempts at the end of each of their turns). Since you have advantage on all attacks against a Grappled target.

Its possible Grappler has swung too hard in the other direction. It depends on how often OneD&D will support higher damage die on Unarmed Strikes. If the Tasha’s Unarmed fighting style is still a valid option, this is incredibly powerful as a feat.

Great Weapon Master

This feat is finally at a good level. Removing the Power Attack option and replacing it with a 1/t +PB damage is great.

I know a lot of people are going to have a hue and cry foul about this change but it is a good change. If the Barbarian and Fighter classes were truly unusable without GWM or SS in 5e, that was bad design. This indicates WotC is aware of that. Either the entire system is being scaled back a touch, or the Barbarian and Fighter will have something in the class to make up for the loss.

Heavily Armored

Eh. The dominance of Dexterity as a stat makes Strength weapons a niche choice, basically reserved for Fighters and Barbarians – neither of which need or want this feat. Gaining Armor Training should be a downtime activity.

Heavy Armor Master

I like that the Damage Reduction now scales and is no longer limited to non-magical damage. Although we’ve seen already that WotC is trying to remove magical BPS from the game (guidelines on Monster creation after WbtW basically said “use Force or something else instead of magical BPS” and we see that change throughout Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse)

The scaling and half feat make this a takeable feat.

Inspiring Leader

Much improved over the 5e version but lacks in ‘activeness’. I’d love to see an active bullet under this, like allowing someone to reroll a failed save with PB/LR uses. It might step on the Bard’s toes a little bit but not so much it doesn’t also work for the Bard to take.

Keen Mind

No issue here. Allowing Expertise through this feat is a nice touch. I like the level this is at.

Lightly Armored

Notably, this is a 1st-level feat and not a 4th-level one (so not a Half-Feat). This has much more use than Heavily Armored, as gaining armor proficiency from no proficiency is a big deal. It also grants the Shield proficiency, which is huge. If you sat this next to Heavily Armored, even with the half-feat on Heavily Armored, it still falls flat on its face.

Mage Slayer

I’m not sure why this requires proficiency with Any Martial Weapon. I get that the trope is the ‘anti-magic templar’, but there’s nothing about this that screams weapons. If Concentration Breaker was weapon attacks only, then yes; or if the OA against creatures within 5 feet of you that cast a spell was restored to the feat, sure. Otherwise, it seems superfluous as a requirement. Speaking of the OA, that really should comeback. There’s plenty of budget in here for that and it was great flavor.

Medium Armor Master

Another snore Armor Master feat. Basically identical to 5e, trading the ignoring Stealth disadvantage (possibly removed from the game?) for half-feat. The +1 AC doesn’t make Medium Armor something anyone wants to use. Again, Dexterity supremacy in 5e. If you have 16 Dexterity, you’re likely to have 20 Dexterity eventually, or already have Unarmored Defense (Barbarian/Monk), so Unarmored or Light Armor is better than Medium.

Medium Armor Master could literally be a half feat and just have a single other property that said “You gain a +2 bonus to your Armor Class while wearing Medium Armor” and it would still be a “ehh, maybe.” Feat.

Mounted Combatant

Again with the Martial Weapon proficiency. Why? It makes zero sense here.

Mount Handler interestingly talks about training horses. I wonder if we’re getting Training Mounts rules in OneD&D?

The rest is fine. I just don’t understand the proficiency requirement. Why not Animal Handling proficiency required?

Observant

Keen Mind parallel for Wisdom. Also functions for Intelligence, which is interesting. Keen Mind is Intelligence only, whereas Observant functions for both.

Polearm Master

Another of 5E’s super-feats. And… basically unchanged. Wait, what? So it gained half a feat, slightly more limited weapon options (press “F” in chat for Quarterstaff and Spear), and the OA is no longer classified as an OA, preventing you from stacking Polearm Master and War Caster for nonsense shenanigans.

This feat was actually indirectly nerfed, but also not. As other TWF-style features (CBE and TWFing) were shuffled out of the Bonus Action and buried in the Attack action, this wasn’t. So it gained that drawback. Or, is it? As this doesn’t count as a Light weapon attack, you can now stack this BA with TWFing. With the more accessible weapon drawing rules, it’s very easy to go from using two Shortswords to a Polearm by the end of your turn. A Fighter can make really good use of this with their Attack economy. But, is it worth it? It’s janky. It might be worthwhile to a Ranger, with the extra d6 on Hunter’s Mark and the greater chance of an OA ending your turn with a polearm in hand is a nice touch.

I don’t know. Janky. I’d rather see the BA count as a Light Weapon Property Attack, and not add modifier to the damage without Fighting Style: Two Weapon Fighting. That wouldn’t significantly nerf the feat, and would bring everything under the same hood.

Resilient

Same. Not sure how I feel about that. Resilient (CON) has always been a top-tier feat. I might like to have seen the Prerequisite be a 13+ in the chosen ability. Wouldn’t change too much, but it would be harder to take it to just ‘fill a gap’ like Barbarian taking Wisdom.

Ritual Caster

Love it. All casters became Ritual Casters in OneD&D, and this does a good job of building on that. I especially like the Quick Ritual bullet. Makes this more than just a flavor/exploration/out of combat feat.

Sentinel

Basically, the same but with the addition of a Half Feat, and Martial Weapon Proficiency as a requirement. So a great feat made better, except for one key difference which isn’t even a part of this feat.

Sentinel’s strongest use was when paired with the “entering reach” OA of Polearm Master. Well, that’s no longer an OA. So the Halt property of Sentinel will no longer trigger. Patching that synergy makes this feat well within reason.

Sharpshooter

The last of the 5e power-feats and wow. They really did a number on Sharpshooter.

Unlike Great Weapon Master, which maintained some of its former glory, Sharpshooter got gutted with the removal of Power Attack and no replacement damage option.

So what are we left with?

• Half Feat, like everything else.

• Ignoring Cover, which I hate. Ignoring an element of the game as a ‘feat’ is messy design and in my experience, reinforces forgetting to use Cover for DMs. I’d rather see step-down cover here (Three Quarters becomes Half, Half becomes No Cover)

• Firing in Melee, a rule often forgotten about by DMs, and rightfully so (it very rarely comes up)

• And Long Shots, another rule that very rarely comes up.

I don’t know what Wizards are thinking with Sharpshooter. It lost all its tooth and just became a boring mess of features.

How would I fix it… The aforementioned change to Bypass Cover. I’d also remove the Firing in Melee bullet and move it to Crossbow Expert, where it belongs.

I’d then add a new bullet:

Aimed Shot: As a bonus action, you gain Advantage on your next Ranged Attack. If both d20 used in the attack roll would have hit the target, your attack deals additional damage equal to your Proficiency Bonus.

Shield Master

Changes: Half Feat, the Shove/Prone is no longer a BA, and no more +Shield AC to Dex Saving Throws.

I like that the sequence of events for the Shove/Prone is codified now. Not being a BA is nice. No major issues here. I didn’t mind the old Shield Master either and this is basically the same.

Skulker

Blind Sight is a bit weird here as opposed to just Darkvision, especially with the “slinking through shadows” flavor text.

Fog of War has a weird dissonance mechanically and flavor wise with the basic flavor of the feat. “slinking through shadows” is the base flavor but Fog of War indicates you use crowds/chaos to more successfully hide, and functions as well in bright light as it does in darkness. I would either remove the shadowy flavor text of the feat, or make this only work in dim light or darkness.

Otherwise, this is a good feat, I like it.

Speedster

The only entirely new feat of the bunch. It’s fine. I don’t love the name, because its anachronistic and makes me think of the Flash from DC Comics, not D&D.

Spell Sniper

Ugh, has the same ‘ignore cover’ as Sharpshooter. I like that they at least split up the two different kinds of Ranged Attacks, but I still hate the mechanic.

I mean, this is basically Sharpshooter for Spells. Spells don’t HAVE Long Ranges, so this instead increases their range. Otherwise, it’s the same. I actually don’t mind the mechanics as they are here, as increasing range is more valuable than overcoming Long Range disadvantage (as it creates a new opportunity), and casting in Melee is good Spellcaster imagery.

An interesting note is the “Attack Rolls with Spells” wording. It looks like OneD&D is moving away from the quadrilateral relationship between Ranged Weapon Attack, Melee Weapon Attack, Ranged Spell Attack, and Melee Spell Attack; and instead going with a triangle: Ranged Attack or Melee Attack with Weapons, or Attack Rolls with Spells. How will this effect a spell like Shocking Grasp?

War Caster

Requires Spellcasting/Pact Magic now, so High Elf or other racial spellcasting isn’t sufficient for granting access to the feat. Half Feat, Concentration remains mostly the same although now it’s any Concentration saving throw, not just ones triggered by damage (rare, but they did come up). Reactive Spell is the same, except for the indirect change with the aforementioned Polearm Master. Somatic Components is the same.

This was a great feat. It’s even better now, if only slightly more limited. Probably not too strong.

Weapon Training

… eh.

Probably should just be a downtime activity with a gold cost, like Heavy Armor Training. Or, at least, a 1st-level feat without a half-feat. It should probably also grant Simple Weapon Proficiency, too. I can’t see anyone taking this feat as it is.

Epic Boon of Feat Feats Feat Feat Feat

Alright, I said we’d circle back to Epic Boons and here we are.

What the hell are these?

First, Wizards, please just call them Epic Feats. It is absolutely ridiculous to read “Epic Boon of X Feat” when instead it could just be “Epic Feat: X”, following the same formatting as the Fighting Style Feats.

Second, these are so weak… and boring… The only one that is of note is Epic Boon of Recovery.

This is your reward for reaching the level cap and continuing to play at 20th level?

Back to the drawing board Wizards. These are just… wrong. There is nothing Epic about these.

You know what I think of when I think of Epic Feats? Look at my previous article, with the Bard class.

Epic Feat: Magical Secrets

20th-level Feat

Prerequisite: Spellcasting or Pact Magic Feature

Repeatable: Yes

Pick one of the following spell lists: Arcane, Divine, or Primal. You can prepare two spells of your choice from the chosen list. You can cast each of these spells once without expending a spell slot. Once you cast one of these spells this way, you can’t cast it this way again until you finish a Short Rest or a Long Rest.

Or how about this

Epic Feat: Fated Bond

20th-level Feat

Prerequisite: Warrior Group

Repeatable: No

Choose a sentient weapon. Within the next 7 days, you will encounter the chosen weapon and likely become its wielder. Attuning to this weapon does not count against your number of attuned items. If you are ever separated from it for more than 7 consecutive days, or the weapon is destroyed, you die.

Spell Lists

The spell lists are mostly unremarkable. The Divine spell list raises some questions for me, as Paladin will likely have access to the Cleric spell Spirit Guardians, which would be quite strong on Paladin. Also, notably, the Eldritch Blast spell is missing from any of the three lists.

Rules Glossary

A lot of this is repeat from either 5E or the previous playtest packet. Some notable exceptions:

Armor Training

Nice to see this split out from Proficiency, as Armor doesn’t interact with Proficiency Bonus.

Attack [Action]

Specifically on Equipping Weapons, you can now equip/unequip one Weapon immediately before any attack you make. So no longer does this consume your one Object Interaction for the turn (in fact, there’s something to be said that Object Interaction might be gone from OneD&D entirely, as it was also dropped from the Thief rogue’s Fast Hands). Also note that the weapon you equip or unequip doesn’t need to be involved in the attack.

Attack Roll

In this tiny little paragraph, we see a shift back to traditional 5E rules for Critical Hits for this playtest packet. I don’t remember there being any questions on the Survey about this specifically, so I’m not sure what Wizard’s is looking for here.

D20 Tests

You now gain Heroic Inspiration on a 1, instead of a 20. This is a better situation. I might know a thing or two about what’s good for Inspiration and you’ll see some examples of that in the future.

Exhausted [Condition]

This overhaul was long overdue. Exhaustion in 5E was a broken feature. It went from ‘meh’ to ‘wow I might as well be dead’ very fast thus it was extremely difficult to deal out as a DM or deal with as a player. The new Exhaustion mechanic is great, and I can already see ways to use it as a resource. See my suggestion for a change to the OneD&D Hunter Ranger’s Multiattack feature in the previous article.

Guidance

This is hot garbage. There is basically nothing redeemable about this design.

Hidden [Condition]

I think it’s interesting that a single creature locating you breaks the new Hidden condition, preventing you from getting a Sneak Attack on an entirely different creature. I suppose it simulates the creatures working together and talking about the status of the battlefield. It’s also much less awkward than Schrödinger’s Invisibility from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything (Gloomstalker Ranger).

Hide [Action]

I know a lot of people take issue with Hiding being against a static DC, but honestly, I love it. I think this communicates to the player the likelihood of success a lot better, and helps them make good choices. It also gives the opposing creatures a reason to do things like take the Search action and/or move around the room looking for hidden creatures. I also love the addition of the line “If you can see a creature, you can discern whether it can see you.” This empowers the player to say to the DM, “Am I out of line of sight and able to hide?” without having to use their action only to watch it fail to learn that information.

What I don’t like is that you have to make note of your check, and that becomes the DC to be found. I would much prefer they instructed you to use passive Stealth here; 8+DEX+[Prof or Double Prof if Expertise].

Influence [Action]

Basically, just the DMG ‘Social Interaction’ rules, with the DC 0 entry on the table removed. I like that WotC is thinking about this, but I think this is the laziest implementation they could have done, and it’s poor too. There is no way that people are going to be okay with the idea of a single, nonmagical action being able to basically mind control an NPC; especially when the DM starts using it against the PCs.

Jump [Action]

One of the biggest changes in this section. Jump is no longer a janky subset of movement but has become an Action with all its own rules. It’s still missing a bit of vertical nuance to me. It doesn’t address two common issues with verticality and jumping:

• First, if you jump > 10 feet in the air, do you take falling damage?

• Second, if you jump up into the melee range of a flying creature: can you attack it in midair, and does falling back down trigger an OA?

Light [Weapon Property]

Great change. My only problem is the terminology used to reference this attack. “the extra attack of the Light weapon property” is a mouthful. I get not wanting to use the term “bonus attack”, as it can be confused with a Bonus Action, but “extra attack” is equally (if not more) confusing in this regard.

Magic [Action]

Aside from the term Magic being used here (not a verb), having a codified action to encompass casting spells and activating magic items is nice.

Move

Move is basically bringing back the “Move action” from 4E, without calling it an action. It might be better for WotC just to get all the way into the water and stop dipping their toes. A fairly substantial change to Move from 5e is that, during a single Move, you can only use one of your speeds. So, if you have a Fly Speed and a Swim Speed, and 30 feet of each, you can no longer Fly 15 feet, then dive into the water and Swim 15 feet. I’m not sure how that is actually meant to work. Does it mean you can’t fly into the water, or you Fly through the water requiring 2 feet for every 1 foot you move (as if you did not have a Swim speed)?

Search and Study [Actions]

Just grouping these together because they’re similar enough. This is codified Action-based use of many skills that often had no use. It’s good. I don’t know if it’s perfect, but it’s pretty good.

Teleportation

Nothing particularly new here, except that Teleportation now specifically says you transport anything you are wearing and carrying by default. 5E didn’t have this distinction and the fact that some spells specified that you did could be used as an argument that for other spells that didn’t specify, that you didn’t. Misty Step makes you naked every time you cast it!

Summary

Overall, I can see what Wizards are doing with the Feats, but they need another good design pass or two before they’re fully baked. Especially the Epic Boon Feats.

An issue that @dmheavyarms brought to my attention is that, for feats such as GWM and SS, if they are too significantly nerfed—so much so that player’s become disenfranchised—and Wizards of the Coast continues to beat the backward compatible drum: those players will just use the old GWM/SS from 5E. If you believe that Fighter, Barbarian, and other martials were only balanced in 5E if they took these feats, and Wizards buffs those classes now that the feats are nerfed, then using the old versions will make your character into a powerhouse. Regardless of what this does or doesn’t mean for whether the content is truly compatible, what it does highlight to me is that the OneD&D Designers need to start honestly talking to us about WHY they are making the changes. If they release the OneD&D Barbarian, and it has Power Attack built right into the class, then Wizards could say “We did this because we felt that the Barbarian needed GWM/SS to be competitive. We gave the Fighter more uses of Action Surge and [so on and so on], to ensure that the core class could compete with casters without requiring a specific selection of feats.” Assuming this hypothetical happened, it would be very easy for players to understand the intent is not to use the old feats on the newly designed martials.

I personally have never used Feats as a core rule in 5E because of the painful disparity in power. It always felt like a trap for anyone who wasn’t familiar with the system. I preferred to empower my players in other ways, and they preferred it too. So when OneD&D made it clear that Feats were becoming a Core Rule, I had my reservations. I still do, but having see their plan, I’m more comfortable with it now than I was before.

Unearthed Arcana - Expert Classes

October 14, 2022

A few weeks ago, Wizards of the Coast dropped the newest playtest packet for OneD&D, Unearthed Arcana: Expert Classes. This playtest packet includes the Bard, Ranger, and Rogue classes (each with one subclass); as well as new feats, the full spell lists for Arcane, Divine, and Primal, and new and revised entries in the Rules Glossary.

Document Links

You can download the Playtest Packet from D&D Beyond here

Alternatively, you can download my version of the PDF. This version is faithfully remade but includes hyperlinks for the underlined keywords, bookmarks, and a subtle background to ensure it doesn’t get confused with the original document.

Unearthed Arcana - Expert Classes (Accessible PDF)

I’m going to detail my thoughts and assessments of the playtest packet here. Most of these things have already been discussed and debated to death but you might find some interesting takes in what I have to say about it.

You can jump to the sections below using these links:

Bard

Ranger

Rogue

We’ll be discussing Feats and the Rules Glossary in a Part 2, to come later.

The Bard Class

Lore wise, the Bard is unchanged. They sing the song of creation and weave magic into the world through music.

You can hear a video of Todd and Jeremy talking about the Bard and College of Lore here.

Base Class

The first thing of note is that the Bard class gains subclass features at levels 3, 6, 10, and 14. The addition of the 10th-level subclass feature means that all past subclass material for the Bard class is now rendered unusable. This is of importance as Wizards has claimed backwards compatibility between OneD&D and 5th Edition. Nobody really knows what Backwards Compatible means and whether it is meant to extend to player options or if it just means Adventures. In the OneD&D Announcement Video, Makenzie De Armas stated that “All the adventures and supplements that have been released in the last 10 years will still be playable with the new evolution of D&D.” (thank you Graham Ward (@DarkplaneDM) for directing me to this quote)

This playtest document says “When playtesting the new version of a Class, you can use a Subclass from an older source, such as the 2014 Player’s Handbook or Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. If the old Subclass offers features at levels that are different from the Subclass levels in the Class, follow the older Subclass’s level progression after the Class lets you gain the Subclass.” — this statement effectively gives the Bard class a dead level at 10th level, but it’s also just referring to the playtest.

What could happen is Wizards provides a section in the 2024 Player’s Handbook regarding compatibility including a blurb saying, “If using a Bard subclass without a 10th-level feature, grant the Bard player an extra feat at this level.” But considering the other changes to Bardic Inspiration, I don’t think they are intent on keeping content like College of Swords, Spirits, and Eloquence playable in OneD&D until the inevitable OneD&D versions are released.

On that same note, the addition of a 10th-level subclass feature is just about the best thing that could happen to Bard. The jump from 6th to 14th in subclass levels was always awkward and this really rounds the class progression out. So, A+ from me on that change.

Bardic Inspiration

Bardic Inspiration has been changed. It is no longer a Bonus Action to apply a 10-minute buff to a character, but instead a reaction to immediately boost a failed d20 Test or heal a creature after they’ve taken damage.

I both like and dislike aspects of the new Bardic Inspiration. I know a lot of players who ran Bardic Inspiration like this, because they’d forget to buff in advance or be caught unaware by combat and not have a chance to use BI on the first round. Most DMs I’ve played with have been permissive in applying BI retroactively, so codifying it as a Reaction supplants that issue. I don’t love that Healing is built directly into Bardic Inspiration; but I will concede that Wizards obviously has different opinions on the Bard’s role in a party than I. The new Song[s] of Rest[oration] grants healing spells to the Bard as additional spells that they don’t have to prepare and don’t count against their prepared spells. The Bard is being hardcoded as a Healer role for parties. Do I want this for the Bard? No. A “College of Physicians” subclass that acts as a Healer? Absolutely. But it is not core bard identity to me. The Bard has always had top-tier narrative identity and bottom-tier mechanical identity. Giving them lots of Spellcasting Utility and bonus prepared spells through Songs of Restoration and Magical Secrets gives them a solid mechanical identity that doesn’t hinder their narrative one. I’m okay with this direction, ultimately.

Spellcasting

Between both the Ranger and Bard, we see a significant change to how Spellcasting works. Both classes are now Prepared casters, but more importantly the number of prepared spells for these classes is not determined by level or Ability Score Modifier. Instead, the number of spells you can prepare is equal to the number of spell slots you have (including Cantrips, interestingly enough.)

This is as close to Vancian Spellcasting I think we’ll ever see in a modern D&D. It has a few interesting effects:

• You can no longer prepare additional high-level spells at the cost of preparing less low-level spells. This helps low-level spells remain relevant.
• You will never have more spells of a level than you can cast. Often, I’d prepare three or more 3rd level spells when I only had two slots. I don’t know why I did this, short of having the flexibility to use the spell I needed. I feel positively about this change.

I believe these changes have been made to make Spellcasting less daunting for new players, and more accessible. No longer do you have to wait for a level up to fix picking that spell you never cast, or that Cantrip choice you made at character creation without really knowing much about the game. Also, having Spells Prepared (by level) match Spell Slots (by level) turns the complexity knob back a position or two on the dial.

What remains to be seen is how the Mage-group classes are going to be affected by this change. Will a Warlock be a Known caster, as their slots are so limited? How will a Wizard’s spellbook work? Will Sorcerers be highly school-limited?

But for the Bard, and Ranger: I like it. This fits their narrative better for me and feels more accessible to new players.

Expertise

Nothing new here, except Expertise is a keyword now and we have some suggestions. Expertise is how the Expert classes are being unified which I think is fine. Bard and Rogue were already Experts in this regard, and it always felt particularly fitting for the Ranger. You also now get more Expertise at 9th level instead of 10th. So that’s nice.

Songs of Restoration

This feature replaces Song of Rest. Instead of gaining additional healing over a short rest, the Bard now gains healing spells as additional spells prepared. I think it is a curious choice to have the spells be gained on off-levels. Obviously, Songs of Restoration comes online at 2nd level, so you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. This produces a ‘smoother’ spellcasting progression as you’re gaining new spells on every level up to 10th, instead of only every other level. I don’t think it makes much of a difference from a balance perspective, so it falls firmly under the category of ‘curious’ to me. As I mentioned above, I don’t connect the Bard to the role of Healer myself but if that’s direction Wizards is going, I don’t take any particular issue with it.

Jack of All Trades

This feature, which I always felt was iconic to the Bard, has been shuffled to 5th level. I’ve always designed classes with a goal for iconic features to be captured in the first three levels; with 5th-level being the far extremity of the range where iconic features can come online, so this is okay. Also, by coming online after Proficiency Bonus has moved to +3 (still only grants a +1), you get your next bump up out of Jack of All Trades sooner which is a good thing.

However, press “F” in chat for +Half Proficiency Bonus to Initiative checks. Now that Jack of All Trades applies only to Ability Checks with a Skill Proficiency you lack, it can’t apply to Initiative checks or any of the checks buried in spells like Counterspell like it used to.

While I dislike this, it actively removes a bonus that most people weren’t made aware of by just reading the text (relying on someone having told them about the interaction from an external source). This is good. Reducing the amount of rules interactions that are obfuscated by complex interactions makes the game more equal and accessible for old hats and new players. I’m sure there is a subset of people out there who derived their “fun” of 5e by knowing things about it that others didn’t, but the less complex interactions the better for the game.

Font of Bardic Inspiration

This feature remains the same (aside from the clarifying name change) except for the key detail that it has been pushed from 5th level to 7th level. This is a substantial nerf to the Bard class but with Bardic Inspiration being made so much stronger by the fact it’s Reaction-based and you know the binary state of the check before choosing to use it, I’m okay with the nerf here. It’s also important to note that 1st-to-5th level progresses rather quickly in D&D. Features that change how a previous feature work should probably not be contained within such a short play period. I’ve encountered many players who weren’t even aware of what Font of Inspiration did because they’ve played at 5th-level or higher so much longer than 1st-4th and had forgotten Bardic Inspiration ever recharged only on Long Rests.

Magical Secrets

This is a very interesting change to me. In 5E, Bard gets Magical Secrets at 10th, 14th, and 18th level with the Lore Bard getting ‘Additional’ Magical Secrets at 6th level. (Additional? They didn’t have ANY at this point. Feature should have been called Early Magical Secrets!)

Magical Secrets has been pushed back to 11th level, and only has one increase at 15th level. The Lore Bard no longer gets any Additional Magical Secrets.

Why this is so interesting to me is that the Lore Bard no longer functions as the “Bard Class+” subclass. The subclass that just enhances the base class without doing anything particularly new. I’ve never liked that design paradigm, and I hope that this shift means we’ll see it in other places as well throughout OneD&D classes.

Magical Secrets is also very different now. Instead of adding more spells known, you can now choose a Spell List (including Arcane) and, when preparing spells, you can prepare up to two spells from that list. Being able to choose Arcane lets you bypass the Bard’s school limit and being able to choose Divine or Primal gives them access to literally every spell in the game. This is also interesting because once you’ve chosen a Spell List, you’re locked into it forever. You can choose an additional (different) spell list at 15th level, but if you choose Arcane and Primal, you’ll never be able to prepare spells from the Divine list. Where Wizards has made the Spellcasting feature more forgiving, they’ve kept the hard choice here.

Much like my 5E homebrew Potion of Retraining that was a consumable that let a character change a Cantrip choice, I imagine I’ll have a Potion of Magical Secrets in my OneD&D games that lets a Bard change a spell list choice for the Magical Secrets feature. Or, possibly an Epic Boon Feat called Epic Boon of Secrets Feat that gives the Magical Secrets feature, allowing the Bard to choose the remaining list and other Spellcasters access to off-list spells as an Epic Boon.

Superior Bardic Inspiration

Now 18th level, 2 uses instead of 1, and triggers even if you aren’t empty. These are all great changes, but the fact of the matter is… the Bard’s “Capstone” feature is still boring as hell. Getting SR-recharge uses of features back on Initiative… compare this to Druid’s Archdruid or the Barbarian’s Primal Champion and what you’ve got is something that is going to make me want to ditch the Bard class as soon as I reach 15th-level (or 17th-level if I’m multiclassing into a non-caster).

The Bard’s Capstone needs meat. How about “When you roll Initiative, you can use your Reaction to narrate the story of your battle. For the next 10 minutes, each ally (including yourself) within 60 feet of you that can see or hear you can use their Reaction to gain the benefit of your Bardic Inspiration feature without expending a use. Each ally can only use their reaction this way once.”

College of Lore Subclass

The basic premise of College of Lore is the same, thematically. I don’t think we’ll see much theme changes in classes or subclasses, so I’ll stop mentioning that.

We get some Bonus Proficiencies (no longer just any three, but three specific this time that can be swapped if you already have proficiency).

Cutting Words is changed to no longer let you reduce damage, which makes sense since that same mechanic is captured in the Heal option of base Bardic Inspiration. If my thoughts above on the Heal option and the Hearing/Sight is backwards from 5E proves to be a mistake (whether an intentional change or mistake, it’s a mistake regardless!) and they fix it, a Damage Reduction option here would still have value (preventing someone from hitting 0, where they’d no longer be a valid target for Heal) but it’s no great loss as reducing damage is never as effective as healing. Cutting Words also gets the logic change we saw in Bardic Inspiration where you now will know if the original Attack or Ability Check is succeeding before you choose to use Bardic Inspiration.

Cunning Inspiration replaces Additional Magical Secrets. It’s perfect. Roll Bardic Inspiration twice, pick higher result. Basic and beautiful.

Improved Cutting Words is our new Level 10 feature. You can now deal damage when you burn someone with Cutting Words. I really like this. It’s a lot like Vicious Mockery but in a different package and feels very appropriate. When the Bardic Inspiration Die becomes a D12, and you have Cunning Inspiration, you’re going to get good Reaction-based damage out of this. For the first time ever, it’s a shame you only get Prof/SR uses of Bardic Inspiration. Although that’s very appropriate for combat as Prof/SR means you can use it every turn of every encounter and never run out of uses (on average); but you won’t be left with any uses for non-combat scenarios.

Improved Cutting Words models to me what could be an interesting alternative to Bardic Inspiration: Heal and Songs of Restoration.

Songs of Inspiration

Whenever a creature rolls your Bardic Inspiration die to boost a d20 Test, you can have the target benefit from one of the following options of your choice:

Invigoration: The target regains hit points equal to the number rolled on the Bardic Inspiration die plus your Charisma modifier.

Restoration: End a disease or one of the following conditions affecting the target: Blinded, Deafened, Paralyzed, or Poisoned.

Freedom: Until the end of the target’s next turn, their movement is unaffected by difficult terrain, nor can their speed be reduced in any way. They are immune to the paralyzed and restrained condition and can automatically escape grapples by spending 5 feet of movement.

Finally, we have Peerless Skill. This is a self-only version of Bardic Inspiration: Boost a d20 Test where you no longer expend the die if you still fail. At this level your Bardic Inspiration die is about to become a D12 that you roll and use the higher result. This feature is good, and solidifies the Bard as an Expert at skills for sure… I’m just not sure I love it here. It comes very late. In just a few levels the Bard has +3 to any Skill Proficiency, +6 to those they’re Proficient in, and +12 to a few they have Expertise in. They’ll be adding a +D12 that they get to roll twice… So how often are they going to be failing and making use of this feature? And with it being Self-Only, something this Bard is encouraged not to do (Cutting Words all day)! It just doesn’t feel right?

It would be interesting to see this feature in reverse. Possibly as an extra paragraph on Improved Cutting Words; or baked into this subclass capstone somehow: “The damage dealt by this feature is doubled if the target of your Cutting Words still succeeds on their Ability Check or Attack Roll.”

Bard Summary

Overall, I don’t feel as though the Bard has changed significantly balance wise, but the usability is greatly improved. Bardic Inspiration is no longer eating significant action economy, is usable only when needed, and College of Lore really improves Bardic Inspiration. Their available spells are very similar, as many of the Evocation spells they used to enjoy and would no longer be able to take were shifted into other schools (such as Shatter). The Magical Secrets changes resulted in less off-class spells available at any given time but give access to prepare from the whole list in exchange, a noted improvement. I’m not sure if the emphasis on Bard as a Healer is a change in how Wizards perceives the class, or more of a clarification of their previous intent. I remember that at one point in 5e’s development, Bard was the mythical long-lost Arcane Half-Caster and capable of producing functional Gish-type characters. I was wondering if we’d have seen a shift back to that in OneD&D but it seems they went the other way.

Back to Top

The Ranger Class

Again, nothing significant about the lore of a Ranger has changed.

You can hear a video of Todd and Jeremy talking about the Ranger and Hunter here.

Base Class

All the basics are there regarding the Ranger’s starting kit. The Ranger class has the same subclass levels as the Bard and Rogue, 3rd, 6th, 10th, and 14th. This is a small change from the original Ranger which received subclasses at 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 15th which amounts to nothing significant.

What’s a bigger change to the 1st-level Ranger is that they now receive actual features at 1st level by way of Expertise, Favored Enemy (more on this below), and Spellcasting at 1st-level. Gone are the antiquated D&D trappings of the Half-Caster spending one or more levels as a pure Martial before becoming a Spellcaster.

Another huge change for the Ranger isn’t even addressed in the Ranger class. Two-Weapon Fighting no longer requires a Bonus Action to make the additional attack.

Expertise

Same as Rogue, a level earlier than Bard. Nothing special here. Expertise 2 Electric Boogaloo comes on at 9th level.

Favored Enemy

Okay so instead of choosing a creature type and getting a nominal feature related to that type, we now get Hunter’s Mark as an always prepared spell that we can cast without Concentration. This is a juicy buff to Hunter’s Mark but is it the right thing for a Ranger’s core identity feature?

Hunter’s Mark exists on the Primal spell list. It is a Divination spell, but there’s no reason to believe Druid’s won’t get access to Divination spells. So, the Ranger’s core class feature is… something the Druid can also do at 1st-level, albeit in a limited capacity. We haven’t yet seen the Warlock class in OneD&D but a notable missing spell from the Arcane, Divine, and Primal spell lists is Eldritch Blast. It’s reasonable to assume at this point that Eldritch Blast has become a class feature. Why not Hunter’s Mark? A Ranger only has two 1st-level spell slots at 1st level, and one is going to be dedicated to casting Hunter’s Mark every single day. Sure, it lasts a full 1 hour unless we get incapacitated, but that’s still conceivably using one or all of the Ranger’s spell slots in a day to access their core feature. This is an absolute boondoggle. We don’t need or want Hunter’s Mark to be a spell. Make it a Class Feature and be done with it.

One thing I will note is that your ability to cast Hunter’s Mark without Concentration now means you can use both of your spell slots and have two Hunter’s Marks up at any given time. Is that worthwhile? I don’t think so. You can’t stack them on a single target and how often are you attacking two different targets? But noting it anyways.

As I do, here’s my proposed change to Favored Enemy (it’s possible this change makes Ranger too attractive as a 1-level multiclass but such things I’ll consider when I can see all the classes):

Favored Enemy

As a bonus action, choose a creature you can see within 90 feet that you can see. The target becomes mystically marked as your quarry, granting you the following benefits:

Weak Point. You roll one additional weapon die as extra damage whenever you hit the marked creature with a Weapon Attack.

Tracking. You have advantage on any checks you make related to the target as part of the Search action. If the target becomes Hidden or Invisible, you can use your Reaction to take the Search action.

You can only have one target marked at a time. You can use a Bonus Action to mark a new creature, moving the mark from the original target to the new one. A mark lasts 1 hour, persisting through the target’s death, and ends early if you become Incapacitated or choose to end it early (no action required).

Number of Uses. You can mark a target this way a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.

Spellcasting

Prepared spellcasting on a Ranger is perfect. I’ve always run Rangers as Prepared Casters in 5E (letting them change prepared spells during a Short Rest in their Favored Terrain, too!) so I can vouch that this is fine. Cantrips at 1st-level is also awesome. I wish Produce Flame (better yet Create Bonfire, but non-PHB alas) was on the suggested list over Guidance (oh we’ll talk about Guidance later, don’t worry). They also only list two 1st-level spells being prepared, Cure Wounds and Hunter’s Mark. Since Hunter’s Mark is always prepared and doesn’t count against the number of spells you can prepare, it really shouldn’t be listed here. These are just suggestions, but this suggestion creates confusion.

It’s also interesting that Bard gets the Arcane Spell List but is fairly limited in School, and Ranger gets the Primal Spell List and the only school they are excluded from is Evocation (sadly where Produce Flame is, and changed from 5e, so likely why it’s not in the suggested list—again… Create Bonfire please). The only 0th- and 1st-level spells that the Ranger can’t take are Produce Flame and Faerie Fire.

Another notable thing is that the Ranger now gets access to the Druidic Spellcasting Focus, where it was limited to a Component Pouch before. Not a significant change as far as I’m concerned because of how Weapon Action Economy has changed (will discuss when talking about the Rules Glossary)

Fighting Style

The Ranger’s only second level feature is to pick a Fighting Style between Archery, Defense, and Two-Weapon Fighting. These Fighting Styles are unchanged from 5E, except that they are now a category of Feats exclusive to the Warrior class group. Not sure what the purpose of excluding fighting styles is here since they can pick up the other ones at 4th level. The Ranger gets access to all Simple and Martial weapons, but if they want to take a Longsword & Shield or Polearm, their only choice is Defense until 4th-level when they can choose any of the Fighting Style Feats; not just the three available at 2nd level. This is the type of complexity we’ve seen being removed from 5E by way of OneD&D in other places and I suspect is an error. We’ll either see the Ranger limited to just these three Fighting Styles at all levels or opened to all Fighting Styles in a later revision.

Extra Attack

The Ranger gets Extra Attack at 5th level just like in 5E. Nothing changed here.

Roving

This is a “new” feature for Ranger. Roving was a sub-feature to the Deft Explorer feature from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Slightly revised, as the original Roving was 6th level and only 5 extra feet of movement but not limited by Heavy Armor. Not sure I care for the Heavy Armor limitation here, especially since Heavy Armor doesn’t limit the Climb and Swim Speeds they get from Roving, so “theme” isn’t enough of a compelling argument.

Tireless

Another “new” Ranger feature that was once a sub-feature of Deft Explorer. The Temporary Hit Points used to be an Action and Proficiency Bonus/Long Rest uses and added Wisdom Modifier, now it’s automatic during a rest and adds Proficiency Bonus. I’m not sure I really care about this feature. It’s such a nominal bonus. The Exhaustion removing aspect is interesting as Exhaustion has been completely reworked. More on that later, but I suspect we’ll see Exhaustion appear more frequently in play now, so this feature gained some use over the Tasha’s equivalent.

Nature’s Veil

A re-imagining of the Vanish feature. Instead of Hiding, you now become Invisible but must expend a Spell Slot. I’m not sure I like this better. Notably we’ve also lost the Hide In Plain Sight feature which, for all its problems, was much more ‘Ranger’ like than this.

I think this is a good time to make a point of the fact that the Ranger has become inherently more magical in this iteration. Do I want a more magical Ranger? Eh. I guess it helps give the Ranger identity over a Fighter or Rogue, but I’m as much a fan of the non-magical outlander/survivor type of Ranger and you’re not going to get that out of this Ranger at all. At least with the 5E Ranger your basic features felt non-magical. You’re absolutely stuck on the Fighter, Rogue, or Barbarian for that now without heavy flavoring.

Feral Senses

Moved from 18th to 15th level. Basically, remains the same, although you no longer have any benefit against being Deafened.

Foe Slayer

Hunter’s Mark improvement. A nice improvement, but sort of… snore. As Hunter’s Mark scales so well with Two-Weapon Fighting or the Swift Quiver spell, you get more oomph out of this capstone if you’re roleplaying Drizzt or Legolas over Aragorn but ultimately, it’s +6/8 average damage per round. You know what would have been nice here? “You can cast Hunter’s Mark without expending a spell slot and its duration becomes ‘Until Dispelled’.” But I’d still rather see Hunter’s Mark become a class feature instead of a spell at 1st-level. With perhaps “You have unlimited uses of your Favored Enemy feature” as the Capstone; and riffing off my suggested Favored Enemy change above, have Weak Point roll two extra weapon damage die.

Hunter Subclass

The Hunter subclass is no longer a buffet of options largely unbalanced against one another, so that’s a great improvement!

Hunter’s Prey is Colossus Slayer from the old Hunter, which was always the best option. No issue here, if not a bit boring.

Hunter’s Lore gives me a bit of that Study action and old Battle Master “Know Thy Enemy” and I like these kinds of features. This is core “Exploration” pillar in D&D to me. This + the Study action open up more possibilities to run Combat Encounters as puzzles of a sort. Good thematic for the subclass and Ranger in general, too.

Multiattack is just awful. Features that are “here’s a spell but slightly different” are lazy design (coughs in Favored Enemy) but this isn’t just lazy design. First, Rangers are pushed pretty hard to using Two-Weapon Fighting from what I can tell, but even if they are using ranged weapons, a spell to do an archery thing just takes the wind out of Drizzt’s sail. It’s also pitiful damage wise. While the Ranger only got 3rd level spells on the previous level, a Bard has been throwing those around for five levels at this point. 3d8 damage in a cone? Assuming the Ranger is using a Longbow, they’re already dealing 1d8+1d6+DEX on two attacks at this point + an additional 1d8 once. Assuming two targets for Conjure Barrage cast at 3rd level, just attacking is basically equal. You don’t get the half damage on save, but you do get two attack rolls (that have a chance to crit). And downcasting Conjure Barrage? You’ll never, ever do that. Certainly you never should unless you just happen to be officiating a goblin’s wedding and have a dozen or more goblins standing right in front of you.

Look, Volley and Whirlwind were bad, but at least they were individual attacks. There was some interesting stuff you could do with them (especially if you had Magic Weapons).

Strikes against Multiattack:

• Having only a Ranged option
• Being a weak Spell (consuming precious spell slots)
• Being a Spell that the Ranger could already prepare (but probably shouldn’t) anyways, a level earlier.
• Downcasting?

I don’t like ragging on things without offering a solution, so here’s my take on Multiattack. Keeping in mind I’m basing it off Hunter’s Mark as I believe that should be a class feature (see above)

Multiattack

When you take the Attack action on your turn and hit the creature marked with your Favored Enemy feature, you can perform a multiattack against nearby targets by exerting yourself. Make two attacks of the same type against up to two creatures you can see within 10 feet of the original target and in range of your weapon. You add the bonus damage from Favored Enemy to each of these attacks.

Each time you use this feature, you gain a level of exhaustion.

And as for Superior Hunter’s Defense I think this is fine. A parry of sorts. More encouragement for the Ranger to be in melee and base contact with enemies, further reinforcing Two-Weapon Fighting.

Ranger Summary

To quote a good friend of mine, this new Ranger is “creatively bankrupt”. It has essentially codified the Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything Ranger features as “Core”, establishes Hunter’s Mark a must-take spell in the least accessible way, and takes almost all the Exploration pillar and Naturalist-themed stuff out. “Spell but different” as a feature is boring design at best, lazy at worst. Is the Ranger better here? Yeah, but it was a super low bar. It has a real feature at 1st level, can do some pretty good damage (if they are Two-Weapon Fighting its excellent, otherwise it’s pretty good), and gets some interesting features as it levels. But what did it give up to get here? There’s no connection between the Ranger and the Land anymore. Favored Enemy’s flavor went from “I know the ins and outs of this group of creatures like Jane Goodall” to “I cast a spell on you, take some extra damage.”

Things I’d change?

Ranged Weapon Damage. First, I’d increase the damage dice on all the ranged weapons by one. We haven’t seen the table yet, but if a Longbow is going to remain d8, it won’t be an attractive option except as a sidearm against Two-Weapon Fighting with Shortswords. With the exception of the Hand Crossbow, as the Crossbow Expert Feat (to discuss later) makes the Hand Crossbow an attractive option as you can get the full benefit of the Archery Fighting Style and the Two-Weapon Fighting Style without even taking the latter.

Variations on Features. I’ve also already proposed a different Multiattack and Favored Enemy, tackling the “spell but different as feature” issue.

Connection to Nature. Also, I’d grant them another 2nd level feature called Natural Explorer which grants them an expanded list of always-prepared spells, like Songs of Restoration on the Bard, that are flavored around wilderness travel. Spells like Longstrider, Tree Stride, Feather Fall, and similar. I’d probably also give Roving something to benefit moving through nonmagical difficult terrain, maybe. Don’t forget making Create Bonfire a PHB spell and putting it on the Ranger suggested Cantrip list.

Enable All Fighting Styles. Great Weapon Fighting on a Ranger is keen identity, and with Shields as a base Ranger proficiency, a lack of the Protection and Dueling Fighting Styles seems unnecessary. Just make them all available at 2nd level, instead of a limited selection and the remainder available at 4th level.

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The Rogue Class

I think the Rogue class—compared to its 5E counterpart—has had the least tinkering but with the greatest overall effect.

You can hear a video of Todd and Jeremy talking about the Rogue and Thief here.

Base Class

Rogue subclass levels match Bard and Ranger, which is a significant departure from its 5E progression but a very welcome and necessary change. Previously, Rogues had a large gap between 3rd and 9th level for subclass features.

Expertise

Nothing new her…—wait. No longer can you obtain Tool expertise with thieves’ tools. That’s a relatively significant change but it’s hard to know what the effect is until we see what happens with tools.

Rogue gets their second Expertise at 7th level, earlier than Bard or Ranger.

Sneak Attack

This is where “a little tinkering” went a long way. The Rogue has had two significant changes to how Sneak Attack works:

• Sneak Attack can only occur as part of the Attack action, preventing the use of Cantrip-based attacks like Green-Flame Blade and Booming Blade from doubling the Rogue’s core damage output. No longer is a non-Spellcasting Rogue half a Rogue!
• Sneak Attack can only occur during your own turn. This change is very divisive. More detail below.

One thing I will point out is that it’s possible that it is a mistake that was overlooked when the mechanic was shifted to the Attack action. It’s notable that during the interview with Jeremy Crawford about the OneD&D Rogue, he never once mentions this change. I know these talks often focus on the positives and exciting features, so either this is an intentional nerf they don’t want to highlight, or it could be an accidental nerf that we will see rectified later.

My opinion on it, regardless of being deliberate? It is a good change. Most new players won’t see until someone points out to them that you can Sneak Attack twice in a round if you use a Reaction to make an attack that qualifies. So, it removes the possibility of doubling a Rogue’s effectiveness through System Mastery (gaining knowledge about interactions in the system that aren’t readily called out in the text). Secondly, it makes the Rogue more balanced. What I mean by this is that at one table, a Rogue could be played for an entire campaign without ever getting a Reaction Sneak Attack. Perhaps they are a Shortbow Rogue and never encountered a chance to make an Opportunity Attack? Or, they were a Melee Rogue, but the DM didn’t have creatures flee combat or reposition once they were in base contact (I know more than a fair share of DMs who play this way). At another table, the Rogue could know about this and not just seek it out, demand of the other party members to invest in features like Dissonant Whispers or the Commander’s Strike maneuver to feed them opportunities to be two Rogues worth of damage output in a single Rogue. Those two tables are having extremely different experiences with a Rogue character at their table.

Removing these two issues is a positive. However, I can understand that some players who are used to being able to seek out more Sneak Attack damage are going to feel dissatisfied with the nerf. I personally don’t think the Rogue needs this, based on the math.

Whether I agree or not, it would be nice to see Wizards of the Coast address the issue.

You can’t just change the wording to “Once each round” or any variation of that, because its not the Attack action being taken on those off turns, it’s a Reaction. If the door is intended to be closed on Green-Flame Blade and Booming Blade, then you need another option. The simplest would be “When you make a Weapon Attack that is not part of the Magic action, you can deal extra damage to one creature you hit with an Attack Roll if [..].” and add somewhere the text that equates to “Once each round” (such wording only works if Round is defined properly, which it is not). There are longer phrases that can be used but Wizards getting around to properly defining a Round might be ideal.

If getting Sneak Attack twice in a round is an important part of Rogue balance and they revert to the old wording, Wizards needs to communicate that to the player through the Rogue’s mechanics. Two examples of this might be: Give them a Reaction Attack they can perform under certain criteria or add a third header under Sneak Attack like “Reactive. Your Attack Roll is being made as part of a Reaction.” This works to communicate clearly to a reader that this is an option, and that you’re expected to seek it out.

Another aspect of this is the “off turn Sneak Attack” but not necessarily two Sneak Attacks in a round. Taking the Ready action to fire a shot when someone leaves cover, or to make a melee attack against a spellcaster you have pinned if they try to cast a spell, is a great image and Rogues deserve that..

One thing I find interesting is how closely balanced a Two-Weapon Fighting Rogue and Two-Weapon Fighting Ranger is in this pack at 20th level. Using just their basic abilities (Two-Weapon Fighting and two Shortswords; and Hunter’s Mark for the Ranger and Sneak Attack for the Rogue) the Ranger is dealing 42 average damage over three attacks, and the Rogue is dealing 47 average damage over two attacks. The Rogue is also likely to have advantage on these attacks due to Subtle Strikes. This is very equal. Giving the Rogue a chance to Sneak Attack twice in a round sharply increases their damage output on turns where they pull that off, putting them way far ahead.

Food for thought to anyone who feels the Rogue underperforms without the second Sneak Attack each round.

Thieves’ Cant

Or can they? Same as before but you get a Language as well. I know Jeremy Crawford explains the thematic behind this in the video, but I don’t see it. I would have loved for this to be “You know Thieves’ Cant and the sign language version of one other language of your choice, which you choose from the Standard Languages and Rare Languages tables.” since silent communication is key Rogue imagery.

Cunning Action

No changes here. They didn’t bring the Aim option forward from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything but that’s because it would be redundant with Subtle Strikes at 13th level.

Uncanny Dodge

No change here, great tanking ability for Rogues. Uncanny Parry as a later upgrade to Uncanny Dodge that gives you the ability to make a Reaction attack when you use Uncanny Dodge would be fun for Rogues; but see the above analysis on Sneak Attack for my thoughts on that.

Evasion

Moved from 7th to 9th level to accommodate an earlier Expertise… not sure I think that was a necessary change. Expertise 2 before other Experts makes Rogue’s into the Prime Expert class but does that justify pushing Evasion back two levels?

Extra Feat

I could wax poetic all day about how the Feat feature at 4th level should include “At Higher Levels” instead of including a Class Feature for every level you gain one (like how Ability Score Improvement does in 5E), and here’s a reason why: The Rogue maintains the bonus feat from 5E. That’s critical information that is easily missed because “Feat” appears so often on the Class Table it is basically ignored. Then “Extra Feat” at 10th level for the Rogue and (assuming) 6th and 14th on the Fighter will be stand-out as exceptions.

Reliable Talent

Basically, the same with new wording. It’s hardcoded as being limited to Skill and Tool Proficiencies now, but I don’t think there were any instances where 5E Reliable Talent could be used on any non-Skill or Tool ability checks due to the requirement that it also added your Proficiency Bonus (Jack of All Trades and similar features never triggered this.)

Subtle Strikes

Flanking hardcoded into the Rogue. I like that this functions off Ranged Attacks as well. Builds up the “Team Work” or ”Gang Tactics” vibe of a Rogue. Subtle Strikes + a dip into a Crit Threshold feature like Hexblade (Eldritch Smite!) or Champion (snore…) could be a powerful multiclass.

Slippery Mind

Adds Charisma Saving Throw Proficiency into the mix over the 5E’s version. Not a huge balance shift, but a nice add-on.

Elusive

Same as 5E. Notably, I’m just realizing that Blindsense at 14th level from 5E Rogue is gone yet Ranger gained Blindsense in the form of a revamped Feral Senses. I’m fine with the change, but it’s notable none the less.

Stroke of Luck

A significant change over the 5E version. Instead of turning a miss into a hit, and an d20 roll for an ability check into a 20, this now turns any failed d20 test into a 20.

I like it because Rogue crits are fun. But there is one thing I don’t like about this. In the Bard section I lamented how great it is that you only burn Bardic Inspiration on failed rolls now. But that shouldn’t always be the case with features like this. I know it doesn’t match the thematic, but Stroke of Luck should allow you to turn any d20 Test roll into a 20 (after rolling it). Because I shouldn’t be hoping to miss as a Rogue so that I can get a sweet crit. I should have the wherewithal to turn a regular hit into a crit if I want to.

Thief Subclass

The Thief subclass is, in my opinion, almost exactly the same.

Fast Hands gives you two new Cunning Action uses, the Search action and a Sleight of Hand check to pick a lock, disarm a trap with Thieves’ Tools, or pick a pocket. The old Fast Hands feature didn’t let you take the Search action but it did let you take the Use an Object action; letting you use the Healers Kit or deploy Caltrops as a Bonus Action. I’m sad to lose that, as that was great. It’s possible that those items will no longer require a Use an Object action and are Bonus Actions normally, we haven’t yet seen them.

Second-Story Work is basically the same with a slight adjustment to the Jump option to accommodate the new Jump action.

Supreme Sneak is now 6th level and no longer has a half-movement requirement but limits you against Medium and Heavy Armor. This change doesn’t resonate with me personally as I think the half-movement theme was good and I don’t think Medium Armor needs any more punishment than it already has!

Use Magic Device has been moved to 10th level instead of 13th. You can’t ignore the restrictions of magic items anymore which is a bit of a bummer, but you get an additional Attunement slot, can squeeze extra charges out of a magic item, and the Spell Scroll use is specifically listed here. I think I understand the theme of Use Magic Device. It’s one part Indiana Jones and one part ‘Cat Burglar’ gadgetry. I guess making the Thief a Pseudo-Caster makes sense.

Last we have Thief’s Reflexes. Instead of letting you take a second turn on the first round of every combat, you now get a second Bonus Action use which must be used for Cunning Action. Back when Baldur’s Gate 3’s Early Access released, the first character I tried was a Thief Rogue. Their 3rd-level feature was Extra Bonus Action. I wonder if there was any cross informing here?

What I don’t like about Thief’s Reflexes is the Prof/LR limit. I don’t think it is necessary, especially considering how limited Cunning Action is. It sort of depends on what other Bonus Actions are available outside of the Rogue class. Being able to pop off the Bonus Action Healing from the Durable feat without limit could be a potential issue, maybe?

Rogue Summary

There is one change to the Rogue that is worthy of discussion, and it boils down to:

• Should Sneak Attack work off turn? (still limited to 1/round)
• Should Sneak Attack return to normal?

Everything else is either such a minor change or makes perfect sense. I’m in the camp of Sneak Attack should work off turn but be still limited to 1/round. And still exclude Booming Blade and Green-Flame Blade. Other than that, there isn’t much to say about the Rogue. Subtle Strikes is a good feature for the Rogue, and hits at a good level (I might have swapped it and Reliable Talent, personally). The change to Stroke of Luck to be able to guarantee a critical hit is fantastic for the Rogue, but also should work on any attack roll not just a miss.

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Feats

Stay tuned for Part 2, because this is a lot of content.

Vorpal Dice Press Discord!

December 03, 2021

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The Chosen, Playtest and Update

November 16, 2021

Back in May of this year, I published a playtest document for a new class for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition called the Chosen. This was my answer to the Sorcerer, which I feel is one of the least satisfying (both in a mechanical and thematic sense) class in 5e.

Yeah, that’s right. Cue shock and awe.

It’s maybe not a common opinion, but it’s a strong one among those who hold it.

Why am I posting about this now? Because I am revisiting the Chosen playtest and wrapping it up, ready for publication!

Here are my issues with the Sorcerer:

1st-level Subclasses

This should probably come later in my issues, but it’s an important one. The Sorcerer has 1st-level subclasses because it must. The theme of a Sorcerer requires 1st-level subclasses because your magic is intrinsic to who you are.

If the idea was the power was emergent, it would make a better Wizard subclass.

The reason this is an issue is because of how the Sorcerer’s class specific features are structured, namely Sorcery Points and the two main features that interact with SP: Font of Magic and Metamagic.

These features appear at 2nd- and 3rd-level respectively, which means the 1st-level subclass feature can’t interact with them. The first opportunity for a subclass to interact with the Sorcerer’s main class features is 6th level, much too late in my opinion and an awkward level for a full caster as there isn’t a ton of room for a big and interesting feature here.

Sorcery Points and Font of Magic

Font of Magic is, in my opinion, the best feature that a Sorcerer has for class identity. And Wizards of the Coast knew it, because they started experimenting with expanding it in the original Class Feature Variants Unearthed Arcana.

These right here:

This feels sorcerous and is unique to the Sorcerer. Much more interesting than what the Sorcerer typically gets with Font of Magic.

The reason it’s such a shame that the 1st-level subclass feature can’t interact with Font of Magic is, can you imagine subclass specific options here? You don’t have to, here are two quick ideas I whipped up:

Draconic Might

As a bonus action, you can transmute one of your hands into a dragon’s claw for 1 minute. This claw can be used to make unarmed attacks, which use your Charisma modifier instead of your Strength modifier for the attack and damage rolls and deal 1d10 slashing damage. This attack is magical for the purposes of overcoming resistance to nonmagical damage.

Surge of Chaos

As a bonus action, you can spend 1 sorcery point to roll on the Wild Magic Surge table. When you do, you regain the use of your Tides of Chaos feature if it was previously expended.

Metamagic

Similar to Font of Magic, by being 3rd level the Sorcerer misses out on having subclass-specific Metamagic options. You are a Dragon Sorcerer, not a Sorcerer who happens to also have Dragon Blood. Why are you casting burning hands when you could be breathing fire? Subclass specific Metamagic Options would have been a great place to handle this.

Are You Really a Dragon?

This one is a bit of a bigger issue with identity, and goes back to what I just said:

You are a Dragon Sorcerer, not a Sorcerer who happens to also have Dragon Blood.

This is a problem with Sorcerer identity in 5e: Wizards didn’t seem to want to commit to the idea that you were a mutant.

The most interesting Sorcerer subclasses are the ones that lean really hard into the idea of emerging throughout the levels into your bloodline or origin, eventually becoming that.

In fact, the Wild Magic sorcerer actually gets less wild as they level. They gain control over the chaos instead of embracing it. That sounds like something a Wizard would do, at least to me.

Lastly, just a Wizard Without a Book

The other big issue with Sorcerer for me is just it’s identity alongside its counterpart: the Wizard.

A Sorcerer is a Spells Known caster, which could have been an opportunity to build on the idea of “Why cast delayed blast fireball when I could just cast a bigger fireball?” but instead comes off as “I’m not studious enough to learn more magic.”

The problem here is the emphasis on I’m not a Wizard, so I’m a Sorcerer as opposed to I am a Sorcerer, and here’s what sets me apart from a Wizard.

The Chosen

So, the Chosen sets out to address these issues. The last page of the playtest pdf includes the design notes, but I’ll repeat them here:

I will begin by prefacing that this document represents a class that is designed with the intent of being a direct replacement for the Sorcerer class in 5th edition. The Sorcerer class, in my opinion, does not fully realize itself as a “creat[or of] magic the way a poet creates poems, with inborn talent honed by practice.” (Player’s Handbook 3.5e).

Moreover, a sorcerer’s origin has little impact on how or what kind of magic they can produce. It seems to be more of a personal—and, often times physical—influence over who they are and not the nature of their magic.

One of the primary design goals here was to capture the essence of a spellcaster who gains more control over spells inherited from their power source as they cast them more frequently, as opposed to simply growing into learning new spells as they gain levels. To that end:

Chosen Casting

I’ve chosen (heh) to use the Warlock class casting as a base for the Chosen. Looking at the class table, that might not be self evident, so let’s break that down. We have three distinct paths of spellcasting here, and cantrips for funsies.

Spontaneous Magic: A chosen’s magic is spontaneous. It doesn’t come from a book, or object of power, it literally erupts from the chosen themself at their will. Spontaneous Magic is difficult to control, so it’s a more limited resource (twice per Long Rest) and spells cast are always cast at their highest level.

How does that translate to gaining more control? Say you take burning hands at 1st level. You can only cast it twice per long rest as a 1st-level spell until you gain the Adept Casting feature.

Adept Casting: You’ve now unlocked the ability to cast burning hands as a 2nd-level spell twice per long rest as Spontaneous Magic. But you’ve also gained mastery over the spell. You can also cast it twice per short rest, but only as a 1st-level spell.

This continues still until you reach 6th level as a Chosen, and gain the Innate Spell Mastery feature.

Innate Spell Mastery: By 6th level, you can now cast burning hands as a 3rd-level spell twice per long rest; and a 2nd-level spell twice per short rest.

And you can also cast it at will as a 1st-level spell. It’s become second nature to you. You conjure that wave of flame like as easily as a barbarian swings their axe.

These three paths of spellcasting are not unlike a Warlock’s Eldritch Blast and Eldritch Invocations, Pact Magic, and Mystic Arcanum. However, the progression of growth rather than suddenly gaining new abilities is meant to highlight the Chosen’s increasing talents.

I’ve also chosen to limit a Chosen to 7th-level spells, to build on the idea that there is a difference between what a trained spell master (a Wizard) or a Deity-fueled caster (a Cleric) can accomplish. This is part of a larger reimagining of the place of high level magic in a world, but I feel it fits thematically well on the Chosen even in a traditional Dungeons & Dragons world.

Hidden Talent

Similar to a Warlock’s pact, the chosen’s Hidden Talent is an additional layer to their inherited power. It’s an ability they unlock as they develop their powers, and is uniquely theirs.

Origin

In this draft, we’re showing the Draconic Blood origin. This might not be the best example of how this class differs from the Sorcerer, but it does reinforce my intentions of having the Chosen as a replacement for it.

A focus of the Origin here, through the use of Origin spells and ways to expend uses of your Spontaneous and Adept casting features, is to reinforce that you have a form of magic unique to your Origin.

Three additional subclasses are planned to the final draft:

• the Raw Magic chosen that will be reminiscent of the Wild Magic sorcerer
• the Wild Talent chosen, a spontaneous inheritor of the art of Psionics
• and the Fated chosen, a chosen whose takes their fated destiny into their own hands

Sardior, the Ruby Dragon

October 20, 2021

Written by Bryan Holmes

While the great chromatic and metallic dragons wage battles and intrigue, sometimes in the name of Bahamut or Tiamat, the gem dragons are content with more philosophical ways, enjoying contemplation and meditation. While Tiamat lords over chromatic dragons with an iron claw, and Bahamut inspires goodness in his followers, most gem dragons don’t pay all that much mind to Sardior: the ruby dragon.

Sardior is the creator of gem dragons, although where he came from is unknown. Some say a ruby coalesced in the elemental chaos or the far realms, growing until it became touched by divinity where it grew into an egg and eventually Sardior hatched fully formed.

Sardior is playful, enjoying intellectual exercises with other creatures. He also possesses a sharp wit, and is an infamous conversationalist. At the height of Netheril, Sardior considered the wizards to be sometimes allies and sometimes foes, although always a group to count on when going against the Phaerimm. Today, he is more concerned with proliferating psionic power within all the races of the world.

Ideal. “Leave the world a better place than it was when you entered it.”

Bond. “The world is full of arcane and divine… it needs more powers of the mind to balance them out.”

Flaw. “My ascension to divinity makes it easy to understand the big picture, but hard to see the impact on individuals.”

DMs wanting to know more about Sardior should check out the following books: “That’s not in the Monster Manual” from Dragon #37, Planes of Law, and “The Legend of Sardior, The Mind’s Eye” from the Wizards of the Coast website (found here)

Sardior’s Lair

The Ruby Palace is a flying castle which travels the material plane high above the world. Clouds generate around the castle as threads of the astral plane boil away around the fortress. If the palace remains in place for at least one week, the regional effects of the castle begin to spread out at a rate of 1 mile per day, to a maximum of 8 miles.

Lair Actions. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), Sardior can take a lair action to cause one of the following effects; he can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:

• Sardior changes gravity, replicating the reverse gravity spell except he can orient the area in any direction, causing creatures and objects within to fall toward the end of the area.
• Sardior shapes the walls or floor of his castle into an object, replicating the stone shape spell.
• Sardior can channel energy through his castle, healing one other creature Sardior can see. That creature regains 15 hit points.

Regional Effects. The region containing Sardior’s lair is warped by his magic, creating one or more of the following effects:

• Sardior is aware of the number of minds in his region with intelligences above 3, and those with intelligences below 3. Sardior is not aware of creatures with the Undead, Construct, Ooze, or Plant type.
• Bodies of water at least 10 feet in diameter become Color Pools as described in chapter 2 of the Dungeon Masters Guide.
• Clouds within the region become connected to the astral plane. When a creature spends at least 1 minute within a cloud, when they leave the cloud roll 1d20. On a 19 or 20, they exit in the astral plane.

Sardior as a Mythic Encounter

Sardior is a powerful encounter on his own, but if the adventurers want a true challenge fit for the gods, you can use his Ruby Soul trait. Using this trait marks a drastic turn in the encounter as his divine spark flares into overdrive. Once Sardior has used this trait, he can choose one of his mythic actions when he uses a legendary action.

Read or paraphrase the following text when Sardior uses his Ruby Soul trait:

Sardior stands before you, eyes filling with ruby light. It’s then that you notice it: a light burning deep within the gem dragon. This light grows brighter, and brighter, until it’s almost painful to look at.

“Silly mortals. I’m no mere child of divine blood. I am not a simple chromatic creature, or a scion of metal. I am pure thought! My mind is an infinite plane of contemplation, and now, I contemplate your DOOM!”

Rewards

Fighting Sardior as a mythic encounter is equivalent to fighting two CR 30 creatures in one encounter. Award a party 310,000 XP for defeating Sardior after he uses Ruby Soul. You can also reward them with Ruby of Free Thought, Resurrection Egg, and the spell Ruby Armor of Sardior in addition to any other treasure he might hold.

Sardior

Gargantuan Dragon, Always Neutral

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
28 (+9)	12 (+1)	30 (+10)	30 (+10)	26 (+8)	29 (+9)

Actions

Bonus Actions

Legendary Actions

Sardior can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Sardior regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.

Mythic Actions

If Sardior is a Mythic encounter, he can choose from the options below as additional legendary actions for 1 hour after using the Ruby Soul mythic trait:

Rewards

Below are spells and magical items you can reward your party for defeating Sardior, the Ruby Dragon.

Ruby of Free Thought

Wondrous item, mythic (requires attunement by a spellcaster)

One of the many ruby scales that comprise Sardior’s tough exterior that gleams brighter and more radiant than the others. This scale—which could easily be mistaken for a gemstone—can impart powerful psionic power to a spellcaster who chooses to attune to it.

Psionics. When you attune to the ruby, your mind begins to race at a pace previously unknown to you. You gain the ability to cast some of your spells without expending spell slots or using components.

Empty Mind. While attuned to the scale, you are always under the effects of the spell mind blank. If a spell or effect would attempt to sense your emotions or read your thoughts, you can choose to share any information you’d like, or nothing at all.

Sentience. The Ruby of Free Thought is a sentient object of neutral alignment, with an Intelligence of 30, Wisdom of 26, and Charisma of 29. It has hearing and blindsight out to a range of 300 feet, and it can communicate telepathically with any creature within that range.

Personality. The ruby, while sentient, does not contain Sardior’s true mind but instead a sort of pseudo-intelligence designed to share specific information with whomever it attunes to. It instructs its bearer on psionic teachings and practices, and will take any opportunity to lead the bearer back to the Ruby Palace, or to a nearby gem dragon who can assist in reaching the palace. It harbors no ill will towards its bearer and will share whatever information it can to help protect them, but its ultimate goal is to be reunited with Sardior.

Destroying the Ruby. The ruby is a powerful artifact, immune to the effects of all traditional forms of damage. To destroy the ruby, it must be brought to a hidden location within the Ruby Palace: the chamber where Sardior keeps the fragments of the egg from which he hatched.

Resurrection Egg

Wonderous item, mythic (requires attunement)

This egg resembles a very large ruby egg roughly the size of a halfling. This egg is always warm, regardless of the actual temperature surrounding it. When a creature puts their ear to the egg, they hear a deep heartbeat within.

When the creature attuned to this egg dies, they can choose one of the two following effects to occur 7 days later:

Resurrection. The attuned creature is resurrected as per the spell resurrection with no drawbacks.

Reincarnate. The attuned creature is reincarnated as per the spell reincarnate. The attuned creature can choose from the table which creature they’re reincarnated as.

When a creature is brought back to life using either spell, the creature loses attunement and the egg hatches and a new adult gem dragon is born (d6: 1 - Amethyst, 2 - Emerald, 3 - Sapphire, 4 - Topaz, 5 - Crystal, reroll any 6) and a new egg grows in the hoard of a gem dragon. That gem dragon will become Sardior in the event of his death.

Ruby Armor of Sardior

6th-level abjuration (mythic)

Crushing the ruby used in casting the spell into a dust, and then coating your skin with it, a protective spell is raised. This shield has a total hit point value equal to the GP value of the gem used in casting the spell. Whenever you take damage or when you fail your saving throw against a spell or magical effect from a creature, you can use your reaction to negate it.

Negating damage in this way reduces the remaining hit points of the shield by the amount of damage dealt. Negating a spell in this way reduces the remaining hit points of the shield by ten times the level of the spell. Negating a magical effect in this way reduces the remaining hit points of the shield by ten times the CR of the creature.

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About the Author

You can find more of Bryan’s work at his website here and can follow him at Twitter.

Sardior, the Ruby Dragon is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

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