D&D (2024) 2024 Player's Handbook Reveal #3: "New Paladin"

"The paladin who, if they were in a movie, would ... have impossibly white teeth.”

"the paladin who, if they were in a movie, would ... have impossibly white teeth".


New Paladin preview: here are some notes, focusing on what's new and changes from the playtest materials. Last time we saw the Paladin was in Playtest 6 [=PT6 below].
See also this comparison at D&D Beyond (by someone who saw the video before it was streamed!)

OVERVIEW
  • spellcasting starts at level 1, specifically called out as an advantage for multiclassing. (Same for Rangers).
  • Lay on Hands and Weapon mastery at 1
  • Paladin's smite at 2, along with fighting style.
  • NEW: Paladin fighting style restriction is removed (all are available). You may forego fighting style to learn cantrips. [The option to get cantrips was given in Tasha's. They're letting us have it, but it's not called a "fighting style". I suspect this ties to the decision that fighting styles are feats now, and this would be weaker than magic initiate (which also gives a level 1 spell).]
  • Paladin's smite gives you the spell Divine smite, with one free casting.
  • channel divinity [CD]: uses increase: start with 2, plus 1 on a short rest.
  • divine sense in CD option (as in PT6). duration lasts 10 minutes.
  • Find steed spell at level 5, cast 1/day with no slot. Redesigned so that spell can be upcast, with a unique steed statblock. [This strongly implies that it's a class-specific spell, not on others' lists. Awesome. (Will a Lore Bard be able to select it? I hope so, and the discussion of spell lists (see below) makes me think they might, since identifying class-specific spells is harder.)]
  • Abjure Foes a CD option (given at 9 in PT6)
  • Auras are single things, with a single radius, that gain abilities/functionality (not separate auras as in 2014).
SUBCLASSES

Oath of Devotion.
  • NEW: Sacred Weapon is part of the attack action. (PT required a Bonus action).
  • Smite of Protection (level 15 in PT6)
  • Holy Nimbus (level 20) is a bonus action (as in PT6).
Oath of Glory ("...this for me is the paladin who, if they were in a movie, would look at the camera, have impossibly white teeth, with a little sparkle on them as they smile")
  • Peerless athlete lasts an hour (as in PT6)
  • NEW: Aura of Alacrity affects allies if they enter your aura on their turn (they no longer need to start there)
  • Oath of Glory has a new spell at level 17: Yolan's Regal Presence. Created by the Queen of the Elves, and makes others kneel before you and take psychic damage. [It's said that others can cast this spell too -- if right, then it's a 5th level spell and Clerics (likely) will be getting this at level 9. Perhaps he misspoke, and it's a class-specific spell.]
Oath of the Ancients
  • Nature's wrath range "has been extended"
  • Aura of Warding as in PT6 (resistance to Necrotic, Psychic, and Radiant)
  • Undying Sentinel at 15 as in PT6 (you don't return with 1hp, but [?] 3x class level.
Oath of Vengeance
  • NEW: Vow of Enmity part of attack action (not Bonus action); can transfer (as in PT6)
  • NEW: Level 20 Avenging Angel activated as a Bonus Action, and lasts an hour (not 10 min as in PT6)

NEW RULES
  • new area of effect: it's been there since 2014, but hasn't been named. It's for AOE that emanate from a character or monster -- the Emanation.
  • new approach to spell lists. Spell list is part of the class description (as we saw with the Artificer). Entries give the school, whether it needs concentration, and required components. [I presume spell descriptions will still be at the back of the book: this is referring to the lists currently on PHB 207-11.]
  • oath spell lists, patron spell lists, etc. have all been vetted and updated throughout.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Var

Explorer
Maybe the "Adventuring Day" is in itself as bad as any other absolutist concept.
Just have some 7 encounter days and some 3 encounter days. The party won't know that and manage their ressources accordingly.

The game doesn't work best when running a series of min maxed encounters served on an assemply line. Have some chaos, play an RPG. Throw 10 waves of trash fights in a row at people without resting, don't try to cram 4 encounters in front of a deadly boss fight or just have the boss show up halfway throw the first battle while half the initial enemies are still alive.

Just fix the problem by embracing the advantages and disadvantages of "Short Rest" vs "Long Rest" classes by letting either of them have the upper hand for a stretch of time. ;)
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Pedantic

Legend
Maybe the "Adventuring Day" is in itself as bad as any other absolutist concept.
Just have some 7 encounter days and some 3 encounter days. The party won't know that and manage their ressources accordingly.

The game doesn't work best when running a series of min maxed encounters served on an assemply line. Have some chaos, play an RPG. Throw 10 waves of trash fights in a row at people without resting, don't try to cram 4 encounters in front of a deadly boss fight or just have the boss show up halfway throw the first battle while half the initial enemies are still alive.

Just fix the problem by embracing the advantages and disadvantages of "Short Rest" vs "Long Rest" classes by letting either of them have the upper hand for a stretch of time. ;)
That's conceptually promising, but that's just not how adventuring days work. They're largely inside the player's control, unless you use pretty specific narrative pressures or an outside rules structure. Players can influence the number of encounters they have between rests, and they have strong incentives to do so. That creates situations where they feel pretty bad when they can't exercise any agency there, and situations where they feel compelled to take as much advantage as possible of resting as often as they can.

Those incentives aren't the player's fault, that's just the outcome of the system in play, without any established controls on how resting works.
 
Last edited:

mellored

Legend
Maybe the "Adventuring Day" is in itself as bad as any other absolutist concept.
Just have some 7 encounter days and some 3 encounter days. The party won't know that and manage their ressources accordingly.
One alternative is to use milestones.

You get a short rest after evey 2 battles, and a long rest after every 6 battles.

However long that takes.
 

Micah Sweet

Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
One alternative is to use milestones.

You get a short rest after evey 2 battles, and a long rest after every 6 battles.

However long that takes.
That can feel deeply gamist though, like the setting and situation are meaningless. It certainly does to me.
 







Voidrunner's Codex

Remove ads

Voidrunner's Codex

Remove ads

Top