One D&D Playtest Review: Paladin & Druid 

Expanding on Monty's idea of a limited number of wild shapes know, I propose a flora form. You could have vines that could suck out nutrients if you're grappling an enemy, healing you for 1d4 damage, you'd get an innate speak with plants while transformed and you could get a bonus to stealth if you don't move.

I agree with what u said. I understand balancing the Druid health bar but the fun part for Druid was the adaptability of nature and losing that would hurt greatly

I feel like the solutions presented in this vido boil down to "give every class eldritch invocations" and I love it

I would love to see druid environments be incorporated into wild shape abilities like Eldritch Invocations modify Eldritch Blast. You’re a tundra or desert druid, so you can modify your wild shapes to have cold or fire resistance. You’re an Underdark druid, so all of your wild shapes have tremorsense or blindsight. You’re a savannah druid, your wild shapes get extra movement. I think it would be a great way to incorporate backstory into a druid’s powers, which often just feel nebulous in how they relate to nature as a whole.

Really wish they would get The true essence of The moon druid without The Wonky scaling.

What you’re saying is exactly how I feel about bard and their special spells like viscous mockery. The fact it’s just a spell on the arcane list means you’ll get wizard, sorcerer, etc. getting those spells too. Makes the Bard feel less special because the wizard already does literally everything

I love your druid idea - Current one D&D druid does not look fun, but your idea looks so much better!

With the Paladin the wording allows for a ranged smite. "Immediately after you hit a target with an attack roll using a weapon or an Unarmed Strike." They give up the Nova but now you can really Dex your pally and give them a bow, also giving you a chance to be a holy puncher.

Monty’s idea of multiple wild shape forms and ones you have prepared is EXCELLENT

I'd just like to say that Kelly has really found his stride in the last few months, and seems more confident, happy, and comfortable showing his silly side and I love that!!!

The idea for Druid makes perfect sense!! I hope they listen to this and use it

I could definitely see Smites becoming something like Eldritch Invocations. Personally tho, I think class spell lists is a better fix.

I was hoping to also hear you talk about the healing flower thing you can do with channel nature...I love the concept but it seems insanely weak after you get past the first couple levels.

You guys hit the nail on its head for both classes, but specially the druid , the fun part was looking at all the beasts and finding the one you can use with its special ability for the conundrum you have . multiple options should still be the case with special abilities for each i like the species concept but still allow for cross species abilities. yes like mutants, owlbear comes to mind. i mean i just used a seahorse in my last game to guide the boat to our destination, it creates that fun challenge that is part of the whole concept. Oh and yes PF2 has it really good for druids, with even options for dragons, and plant forms. They took the tiny form from them why not take the rest.

Awesome idea for wildshape! I’ve always played my druids with just a few forms in mind, cause a guy who can transform into literally any obscure beast is hard to justify narratively.

Druids at my tables have always needed to have some experience with the animals whose forms they sought to assume. When one player was wanting to be a bear so badly, but kept rolling terribly, I allowed him to spend some down time communing with a forest. So even though he wasn’t able to see a bear directly, he was able to “see” one through the “eyes” of a tree.

As a Paladin Stan I can accept the limit to smites but I really hope they lift the restriction to not being able to use spells at the same time and just limit it to the smite spells since that is what they wanted to limit anyways

I feel like there are some really good ideas and perspectives here. I really agree with the main concept of classes/subclasses that give choices in order to diversify really is the way to go forward. It allows things to get simplified at lower levels and increase complexity as the character grows which is important.

Regarding the Druid I like the framework of Wildshape: Air, Land, Sea. Kinda reminds me of the revamped/ alternate Beastmaster from Tashas. Same three categories. HOWEVER. Inside each framework, there should be beast size brackets: Small, Medium, Large. And depending of you size, you should get less or more HP depending on the beast. And to compensate small size with low hp you could get more speed and dexterity. If large sure gets tons of hp, resistance but a bit lower speed. If SAME size as your humanoid form? Well you get a small buff in hp and bonus on saving throws. Also you could flavor EACH size bracket/ category and adjust if you want to use the hp of a certain beast like in 5e. As an OPTION! If not fiddling with more details for your wildshape. Use the standarized up or downscaling regarding HP etc in any of the Wild Shape frameworks: Air, Land, Sea

I really like your approach of a range of forms to choose from with premade state blocks and variety of skills. So long as I could choose the size that would work great for me. The part I don't want to lose is all of the exploration aspects of wild shape. That is a part I really love in the game.

"To not create new beast stat blocks , because if you did you will be giving a new form for a druid to potentially turn into". That's great! You open a new book and you have new content to refresh already old and stagnant classes! The only thing they need to do is to ensure the CR is properly set so all beasts are balanced.

Druid Wildshape could scale similarly to Warlock invocations and let you choose different forms or abilities as you level up.

Great ideas for druid wildshape dudes! I hope wotc hears this and takes it on. I would also like to add that there shouldn't be any level locking for swim and fly. when you consider that some druid circles like coast or consider flavour/roleplay like a mountain druid, then it would make sense for them to be able to master swim or flying shapes first before land.

Yes! I was just talking that Smite Spells should just be passive abilities that a Paladin gets added onto their smite as they go up in level. and then the sub classes can have their own unique one.

For the Druid, I'd approach it a little differently. Instead of discrete forms, I think 3 or 4 basic forms are fine, but then have an invocation type system of buying enhancement as you progress in levels. Then you can layer these enhancements upon the base form to achieve a ton of combinations. Then the flavor is up to the player. Land beast could be a horse, giant lizard, or bear, but slapping on the the burly feature gives you a certain amount of temporary hit points when you first shift, while "fleet" increases your speed.

re: Druids, I think it was a holdover from having played in 4e, but our table generally limits druid wild shape forms to "beasts you've seen". So if you're in say, Eberron, a dinosaur might not be too unbelievable, but in Faerun, maybe not. This helps balance it at least at our table.

I think they should have gone in the exact opposite direction with the spell tables. I think every class that can cast should have a unique spell table with uniquely themed spells so there isn't so much overlap with casting.

I also enjoy the idea of druids only being able to turn into things they themselves have observed. Make it a check the druid has to roll in order to "catch" or "learn" that wild shape. It makes the forms the druid knows feel earned and reflect the narrative of the campaign. Just feels weird that a druid can randomly become an angel or dragon when they've probably never even seen one beyond pictures in a book. A set number of forms also works and maybe even adding a penalty/risk to trying advanced forms can be included. Maybe a level 3 druid trying to become a t rex results in the druid changing their form but not maintaining control so there's just a t rex who doesn't realize the food surrounding is actually their party.

As a paladin fan, I'm not happy. While I do think that classes/subclasses in general got too powerful in 5th edition and new monsters are not necessarily cathing up, I think that limiting the number of times you can smite per turn to 1 would have been enough.

I appreciate you guys having a back and forth with the one dnd material. I do believe it is ultimately for the best that spellcasting classes get nerfed in each their way, and martials get buffed in each their own way. However, no class should lose its identity. I have to respect one dnd for actually trying, and I'm glad you guys are too.

My disappointment is that it feels like a Cleric will be a better "Paladin" then the actual Paladin class. It does almost everything a paladin does but quicker and easier

Maybe give the Druid a D12 hit die to make up for the extra hit points lost in wildshape. Druids bodies are honed beyond average due to their changing nature.

i like the idea of doing an invocation style deal for the wild shapes, then like, at first you can pick 1 "wildvocation" (spider climb or tiny size, or whatever) then, at higher levels, let them pick additional wildvocations and unlock them, just like w/ warlock, the x number of forms works too, but wildvocations feels like it'd take less space in a book and stuff lol

Trent monk gave a good reason for why they are doing spell list the way they are in the UA it is far easier for future classes and helps manage the bloat later down the road

Unique spell lists limit the expandability of classes in DND, as every subsequent class requires an ever increasing amount of reprents, self referencing, and complication. Generic allows for a new class to simply state "Arcane, but no evocation school" and that is it. If you get a setting book that adds a spell to the Arcane list, that spell doesn't have to be retroactively applied to a new class

I really love the propsed changes to the druid wildshape here in the video it seems like infusions or eldritch invocations

Both of you are absolutely "Power Gamers", that is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does color your perceptions and opinions.

Thought about the lack of extra hit points and thought of this. When you wild shape, you gain temporary hit points equal to 5 times your proficiency bonus. Temporary hp can’t stack, can still be overcome with damage, but incentivizes the wild shapes and provides a buff while retaining the flavor of being toughened by natures strength. It would also be easy to scale as a class feature by changing the number to 10x your bonus and maybe a capstone of 15x. Not huge, but definitely nothing to ignore either. Low levels isn’t huge so it will toned down a bit but 10hp isn’t anything to scoff at either at levels three or four, and it stays relevant as you gain more levels. Maybe an extra increase for the moon Druid? If you wanted to prevent the chaining of wild shapes you can say you only get this buff when you change from your normal form. It won’t stop it, but slows it enough to add a cost and require strategic planning. Iwould love to see what you think. Also definitely a longer list than 3 forms. Or at least a one trait, one combat trick, one exploration bonus from a list. Something other than 3 stat blocks. Love to hear the feedback

Excellent review, Monty and Kelly! Please also note that when Paladins choose a fighting style in 5e, they can select Blessed Warrior that offers a selection of cleric cantrips to add a little more magic to the build.

Your suggestion has touched on my idea for a homebrew druid subclass, I'm almost ready to add it to the discord somehow.

Love your idea for specific forms with basic stat blocks as long as the stat blocks remain similarly generic, but based on form. I also think that a happy medium with health could be something like this: “Using the wildshape ability grants you a number of temporary hit points equal to your Druid level with each use.”

I played as a Moon Druid and the DM based my abilities on what I’ve seen in my travels and if I wanted to learn new forms I had to go out and find them.

I really dislike not being able to turn into critters at lower levels.

I am really hoping that they listen, because I really want to play your version of the OneD&D druid.

Balanced and insightful analysis as always, guys. What I was hoping for from the Paladin, and didn't get, was a way to make your casting stat also your weapon stat. There's a reason Hexadins are so popular, and now, presumably, you will need to take three levels of Warlock to become a Hexblade and get this one feature. Druids have it (kind of) with a cantrip, Shillelagh; Monks have it with Dedicated Weapon, at least at the moment. I'd like to see Paladins get the opportunity without having to multiclass. It could be a feat, that would be fine, but give us _something_. Agree with you on the uniqueness of the smites and Find Steed being important. Druid wild shape is a terrible mess. Making something easier to do only works if it's still worth doing, and wild shape now almost isn't. And your point about not giving too much power to multiclassing is well taken, but now multiclassing into druid isn't at all attractive, since you can't use your other abilities while in wild shape. I agree with you that there's a middle way. Don't require Druid players to look up the Monster Manual, but still make the form you assume have mechanical weight. The reason you turn into a beast is that the beast can do something you can't: it's faster, stronger, tougher, more stealthy, more perceptive... It wouldn't be hard to say, for example, "Large forms don't cut in until level X, but when you're in a Large form, you get a STR bonus and a CON bonus; Tiny forms don't cut in until level Y, but when you're in a Tiny form, you get a DEX bonus and a stealth bonus; predatory forms have more or better attacks," and so forth. Though I really like your approach too. It hits a sweet spot between "look through a ridiculous number of MM forms" and "you have three almost flavourless options".

I think you guys made an excellent case for divorcing Wild Shape from the Druid chassis. It is a strong and interesting enough feature to be it's own class.

Summary: use the Invocation/Infusion/Maneuver system more, I’m pretty sure everyone loves these. Give us Smites and Wildshapes in this format.

Having a limited number of forms to focus on from a wider template set would probably be ideal. Also reminds me in a decent way of the original Warcraft druids and how they had a focus on specific forms to shapeshift into - with the Archdruid rank being some of the few able to do multiple forms at peak level. It could've been a good idea for D&D to copy, having the "ultimate" level 19-20 ability for druids being that "shapeshift into any template with all bonuses" perk as befits an Archdruid of some kind, and helping keep up with other "epic level" classes too.

What I liked about the new smite is, that it is uncapped now and on ALL weapon attacks, melee and ranged as well as unarmed/natural weappons, that is really cool.

For the druid, my Dm's always tell me it has to have been a creautre I would have seen in my area of land. So no dinos and stuff like that. And the wild shape thing could also scale like spells. Maybe like after 2 or 3 lvls you get an extra animal you could turn into

Maybe, as an idea bouncing off of Monty’s, you pick 3-4 forms to master/know and whatever circle you pick for your subclass, you could learn that circles form as an additional free form to master/know

I'd like you to discuss some of the rules additions. For example making jump an action rather than being a part of movement.

I understood what One DnD tried to achieve as they try to simplify a lot of things and generalise them so that there is more freedom for how you want to play your character. I agree that their first proposal really missed the mark. I did think about if it's possible to have variety and not be bombarded with stat blocks to make the druid easier to get into while not making it wonky like it is now. You guys's proposal I love. I couldn't figure out a way myself but this would be great. Give people choices for animal categories and maybe the Moon druid just gets to pick more of them or enhances some. I agree that the elemental part of moon druids is really cool but feels cramped in there because "they're the wild shape focused subclass" A Wildfire druid at level 6 or 10 gaining the ability to turn into a fire elemental feels so much more on theme than the current or the UA version presented. I also think those categories should give temporary hitpoints or increase to max hit points. It doesnt have to be level 3 with 34x2 hitpoints from double brownbear wildshape like it is right now. But a bear should feel more sturdy than a squirrel would. Maybe half of what they usually had and once that is out you drop back out or dig into your own health. However it would be the most balance without losing wildshape turn one of getting hit by something. They currently want people to go wisdom to scale AC so I feel like just having your own HP as a D8 class that wont max out constitution potentialy to then be a frontliner with low AC and low HP seems pretty scary and not the most appealing I got to say. Certainly needs work but I love the ideas presented here. Great input and I will input your idea into my playtest feedback for sure.

The subclass opportunities you've come up with just by restricting the forms is quite interesting

Wildshape needs a level locked burrowing form too

Alongside the 12-20 stat blocks, perhaps size modifiers. Attribute a baseline size for each form and allows Druids to bump the size up or down by 1 category. Then just plus +1 STR and CON for the larger forms and +DEX for any smaller forms. For example, the lupine form (medium) can offer something that can resemble dogs (small), wolves (medium), and dire wolves (large). Arachnid form has the baseline of tiny and it could be bumped up for nightmare fuel at Small. Tiny rodent form can now believably offer a small sized capybara

I 100% agree with you. If I wanna turn into a Cat the stat block can't be the same as if i'm turning into a bear. For the Paladin, I'd go with this change as it is but increasing the damage dice for the single smite, so that it is limited but you're still getting a little bit more from that single use you get.

the druid playtest is 100% bad, there are zero redeeming qualities to it.

As an avid druid player I really like the idea of having a list of cool shapes to choose from, but bringing back the statblocks, will also bring back another thing from the 5e druids... The treshold for new players. For us oldtimers that have plenty of hours of adventuring behind us and know the rules and mechanics pretty well, choosing spells and shapes isnt that big of a deal. (though you will always land in that situation that requires the thing you didnt choose.) But for new players, that's actually quite a struggle. Imagine you have never played or maybe only once or twice and you think a druid sounds nice and the next thing you know you get a list of a dozen spells you need to pick a few from and then another list of 12 types of animals you need to pick a few from that will have even more maths and numbers than that first sheet you filled in.... It's easy to become overwhelmed and divert to another class with a bit less option-stress. Sure, other players can help, but then you most likely end up with a druid THEY like to play and not something that came from you. With that in mind, adding one more table, with a selection of utilities, makes things more approachable. Let's say the utility list has 15 different choices with: burrowing, stealthy, webbing, speedy, etc. Each time you wildshape, you get to choose one. Now, new players would be less stressed, as instead of making choices way at the beginning of the game, they can first see the situation and figure out what kind of special trait could help out in overcoming the challenge. If they want to make wildshaping a defining feature of the druid, they NEED to add something like that in, or otherwise they miss their mark. The combat oriented wild-shape was mostly for the moon-druids, while the other subclasses would dip into it for the utilities, since they could resolve combat easier with spells.

I created a house rule that pretty much killed dips for multi class at my table. It’s takes 2. When you level and decide to cross, you expend your leveling to declare your cross class. Then, the next level up you can take your cross level. It’s not the end of the world, but it sucks just enough, plus it hampers your end game because at the 20 level cap you’re now stuck at 19 overall.

Everyone loves warlock invocations. Warlock invocations for everybody! Paladin invocations for the smite spells, Monty's forms for druid invocations.

The druid at my table would turn into a squirrel constantly for reconnaissance. We called it "squirrel team 6"

I feel like wildshape is only op/overwhelming as a moon druid, but it tapers of quite quickly Without concentration spells mixed in. Your wild shape is super dope!

I think if the forms were tweaked slightly and druids gained a list of 'traits' they could select (similar to warlock invocations) that would allow them to keep the flavour of certain animals whilst also allowing scaling, adding more the higher level you were. To me, this is a good mix of simplifying it and means there's no fear of adding beasts to monster manuals and having it all just copied. An example would be "At level 3 chose 2 animalistic traits you can ascribe to your your wildshape forms, gain another at level 7, 11 and 14". It would allow people to focus on specialties for their wildshape that could be anything from higher ac, extra temp hp, climb, swim or fly etc etc. It would also make Moon druid's easy to set up - you gain an extra trait each time (or something like it) and you gain access to a Dire/Were version of the form (like the guys suggest in the video) which confers an extra PB to attack, damage and AC (seem's reasonable for scaling but this can be tuned). This would let Moon druid truly build themselves a custom animal that doesn't go nuts on damage and outshine full melee. I'd let them fully embrace their wildshape as the pillar of their character and possibly limit their spellcasting slightly in some way to make up for this martial power and versatility (maybe stop them gaining spellslots over lvl 5 to represent that they have focused on control of their inner beast rather than spell casting. If you read all that, thank you lol. I know a lot of this is discussed but wanted to put it down in my own words alongside so I could keep track ;)

Idea: druids have a special number of attunement slots that they attune totems too. They get one or 2 free totems at level one and those totems represent specific animals. They can collect more as they progress through leveling up or DM discretion even. They can only become animals that they have an attunened totem too. Perhaps there would even be rules for a process of how one makes these totems. They are an item that could be lost or broken even. Also to fix the health issue we currently have. Maybe whatever hotpoints lost in animal form carry over. That seems like a simple fix to me.

You forgot to mention that Paladins can now Smite with ranged weapons, as it doesnt specify it has to be melee weapon attacks to smite.

I like that clerics and paladins share a spell list, including smites. I value the simplicity and flexibility of this. It allows for Clerics who perhaps took a domain like Tempest, War, Forge, or anything in the future to augment their frontline capabilities without being solely dependent on domain spells. On the flip side it allows a player playing a Paladin like an Oath of Redemption to flesh out their spell list with more support options if they so choose. Having smoke for Clerics being able to summon a steed because it takes away from the Paladin seems shortsighted, especially when Wizards already get Phantom Steed but they get no smoke for that.

I really like the sound of Monty’s wild shape

Love your wildshape suggestion

I also feel like they should offer features that further emphasizes their role as a warrior/combat class. Like with clerics they can span anywhere between being a healer to raining holy fire down on enemies, but Paladins are for the most part the ones imbuing their weapons, armor, etc, with divine power. So perhaps giving them something like the Warlock has with their Pact Weapon, allowing them to apply different effects to their weapons/armor, perhaps transform their weapons/armor, etc. I also agree that giving them a more reliable/powerful Summon Steed feature would be neat. As for the smite nerf, I feel like if they just kept it at once per turn that'd be fine - cause not being able to also cast a spell does limit what a Paladin can do in a turn.

The problem with divine spark wasn't allowing multiclass characters getting 2-6 uses, the problem was it ALSO increased in powers with PB, instead of with cleric levels, Hot take, make Channel Divinity be PB number uses per LR. Make divine spark heal/damage a number of d4's equal to half your cleric, rounded up, plus your wisdom modifier. Make level 9 allow 1 channel divinity recharge on short rests, at level 18, make damage/healing increase to d6's and get 1 recharge at start of initiative. Make Channel Nature be PB number of uses, make duration 1 hour at 1st, 8 hours at 9th and 24 hours at 18th. Make healing blossom be same scaling as divine spark, but also allow it dex saves for anyone you don't heal to treat the area as difficult terrain or maybe even affected by the slowed condition while in the area, make this effect last 1 minute. Make the radius you can effect with healing blossom increase by 10 ft at 9th, increase again at 18th. Give 1 recharge Channel nature on short rests at 9th and 1 at start of initiative at 18th. templates for wildshape are good, but the AC needs to dramatically increase(like adding pb to it) or hit points should be a separate pool, but equal to half your current HP? That way any hit point you take kind of still sticks even if you wild shape?(rounded up) also they should add templates like they do for Tasha's summons (or even find familiar, find steed in the same playtest) these different versions of the same forms is where you could hide the nuanced versions of the different types. Restrict large forms til higher level, allow tiny forms. They already allow you to have a familiar which can kind of do the same shenanigans that they are trying to circumvent anyway. Allow swimming by 5, and flying by 7. The moon druid should be able to basically as a bonus action add elemental damage to a wild shape melee attack that by expending a bonus action and a spell slot after hitting with an attack. Damage should be a number of d8's in elemental damage equal to the spells level, the number of which can't exceed your PB bonus. Also thousand forms should be removed and instead give resistances to all elemental damage, and as a reaction, immunity to 1 element once per short rest. Should also allow switch between swim/fly/land forms with same wild shape use. I had more fixes already posted on gmbinder.

Trentmonk did a good video on why he thinks WotC is moving away from unique class spell lists, and what it boils down to is that it makes it difficult to print new spellcasting classes in the future as if any books after them want to add spell to the new classes spell lists you have to add the blurbs about which books have the classes etc. And you have to reprint spells from books before that class came out if you want those on the spell list. It's easy when it's just Artificer but imagine 6 new classes, it would cause more and more problems later on. Moving to general spell lists allows the game to grow. Spells that were unique to a class should probably just become class features instead.

Considering Paladin needs for stats to make it viable. Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, and Charisma. As well as adding the half-spell caster element to it. It already feels balanced enough. I love how Druid works, but I also think the number of wildshapes could be tied into Proficiency Bonus. Or take a page from Pathfinder and allow for additional transformations based on a level of spell slots vs the challenge rating. At the same time, based on an earlier Dungeon Dudes video as well as some other tutorial sites. I went and purchased those monster stat cards. Put them into a card holder binder, separating them based on CR and level they unlock. I have two pages worth of a shortlist. Plus some additional pages for variety and niche use. So the short list presented here based on categories feels solid.

im glad that they are moving away from monster manual stat blocks for wild shape. i mean, i helped my sister roll a druid for her 1st 5e character, and having to cross-reference a character sheet and a codex of MM entries you had to google was overwhelming for a new player, and i totally get it.

I do enjoy the 12-20 animal stat block idea, with limited options known as you level up. It seems like the best way to do it.

I do think the generic spell lists are generally fine, but I do think there should be a handful of class specific spells, now maybe that gets to be small enough it should just be abilities as you'd have to take them in either way, but I do like having spells presented in a more uniform way.

>co-run optimization channel >am I a power gamer? All in good fun of course

Love your ideas regarding picking from a larger set of characters - I have basically implemented something similar for conjure animal spells. I would add one additional feature. I would split your choices into combat shapes vs others. So for combat options you would pick from the list as you have described. But I would then also allow them to pick any shape for utility but with a set low HP of 2 or something, and do anything your imagination and the dice and your DM will let you do, and roleplay your heart away. Oh, I would also let them swap out selected combat shapes whenever they level.

I like these solutions for the druid and even expand on this give specific subclass special wildshapes because all I want is a swamp druid that can turn into a seaweed monster like that waterbender from AtLA...

They could also do spell tags. All smite spells have the "smite" tag. Give all healing spell the "Restoration" tag and then give that tag to bards.

A few thoughts regarding Paladin: 1. While Clerics gain access to Find Steed, it's still very heavily tilted towards Paladin. Clerics can upcast it better, gaining access to the flying steed sooner, but if the steed gets killed, it's much more inconvenient for the Cleric to summon another. The casting time for a Cleric is 10 minutes, so they can only summon the steed during downtime. The casting time for a Paladin is 1 *action*, and can be cast 1/LR without using a spell slot. So a bad guy could shoot the mount out from under a Paladin, and they could be back on a new one within seconds. For the most extreme example, a 20th level Paladin could theoretically get 11 horses shot out from under them in a single battle, and still be mounted at the end of the fight. 2. Regarding the discourse with Divine Smite, one thing that I think I've seen everyone miss is that, going by the updated Devotion Paladin, one of the core abilities of the Oaths will be adding a secondary effect to Divine Smite. For Devotion, their smite also gives someone temp HP. In the future, I imagine that the other oaths will have similar secondary effects. Like, maybe Conquest's Smite will apply Frightened or Vengeance's Smite will give the next attack against that enemy advantage or make them take extra damage. By limiting Divine Smite to once per turn, and not allowing it to stack with the Smite spells, it opens up the design space to allow Wizards to add these additional effects without it getting out of hand. 3. Abjure Foes is amazing, and will probably be the primary Channel Divinity option for most mid-to-high level Paladin. It Dazes multiple opponents (restricting them to either their movement or their action, and preventing both bonus actions and reactions) if they SUCCEED on the save! If they fail, they are both Dazed *and* Frightened. 4. The current 5E Paladin Oath design philosophy is 3rd level gets you Oath-based Channel Divinity, 7th gets you an Aura (except with Vengeance, which instead sometimes gets extra movement), 15th gets you some defensive ability, and 20th is the transformation ability. Under One D&D, it looks like 3rd is still the Channel Divinity, 6th is a secondary effect added to Divine Smite, 10th is the Aura ability, and 14th is the transformation, which will get redesigned to be less powerful when you originally get it, but then scale to be as or more powerful when you hit 20.

I had house ruled once per turn on smites since it’s inception and I also require you to call a smite before rolling to hit. If you miss the smite is wasted. I feel it’s the same as casting a spell and requiring an attack roll

My proposed fixes to Paladin unique spell protections. Make Find Steed a divine invocation feature not a spell. Smites are a 4th spell list that Paladins get access to as a class feature. This means a few other game features can poach them (same as 5th ed), but Clerics don't have general access. Still allows you to specifically add these spells to other classes (e.g., as a sub-class list) and lets you give them to a whole other class/sub-class if desired (e.g., if you make an "inquisitor" class).

Good idea witht the different statblocks Monty, but now I imagine adding a Swarm stat block where a higher level druid can turn into a swarm of critters

5e paladin with polearm master San burn 3 spell slots in the time a Wizard or Sorcerer can spend 1. Further, because they can choose to use it on my after a bit is landed they NEVER waste one. Sure a missed attack means I smite either on that attack but you didn't lose the spell slots which was never at risk. It's a big problem and I am glad they are addressing it.

I don't think our group is going to play OneD&D but I enjoy these videos to keep up with the proposed changes. Thanks for another great video! 🤓

I like this idea of your proposal for Wild Shape, it feels like you treating a Druid's use of Wild Shape like a Warlock's Eldritch Invocations. As for the matter of HP, I would suggest creating a table that lists temp HP based on the beast's size plus your proficiency bonus, this way it build's the feeling that a druid's power grows with their level.

As someone currently playing a druid and having seen druids in previous campaigns, I'll say this: of all of the classes in D&D, I think druids require both the most communication between player/DM as well as most trust by both that things won't get too out of hand too regularly. A former druid made a wonderful suggestion to me as I set about setting up this character to create an Excel doc of the frequently used wild shapes (including AC, HP, link to the stat block, and a brief list of benefits to that particular creature). This way, the DM has some idea of what chaos may ensue. One of the big challenges to WS is that the best time to control which are available to the PC is by controlling which creatures the druid has even encountered, but that proves a challenge as it's impossible to foresee all the problems a given wild shape could present. I will say that I'm very torn about the new WS. At one level, I like breaking the mold and have built a very non-WS-centric druid, and the way that "Channel Nature" is set up lends itself amazingly for building out other options. On the other hand, even as a Circle of Dreams druid, I find myself using the utility of Wild Shape all the time, whether for scouting or for acting as a pack-horse for hauling treasure. I REALLY like the idea you guys pitched about a limited set of forms. I will also say that one thing I appreciate about the druid as it currently is, is that it's an effort/reward trade off: very powerful, but it takes a lot of effort to juggle everything so I feel I'm being rewarded for putting in the effort.

Interesting idea for the druid's wildshape. Maybe to build on that, treat forms like a wizard's prepared spells. They learn a couple of these forms naturally as they level up but can then learn additional forms via training. Then each day when they prepare their spell lists they can also prepare a scaling set number of these forms from the list of what they know. I would still let them swap out forms they learned naturally as they level up if they decide that one they picked isn't really as useful or fun as they thought it would be. For the paladin, get rid of the smite spells entirely and bake those into the paladin class itself. As the paladin levels they get to pick a number of those as an alternate version they can use when they smite. Additionally, give the paladin a generic smite they can use x amount of times per day (I was thinking tie it to their paladin spell slots...half their spell slots per level, rounded down, minimum of 1,...so 2 level 1 smites and 1 ea. levels 2-5 @ paladin level 20) that doesn't require the use of spell slots but also wouldn't allow them to utilize the specialized smites (basically a cantrip level smite). This would help the paladin not run out of gas quite as quickly while also maintaining the ability to "go nova"...even if it isn't as nova as they once could do. Running with that, as a level 20 ability, allow the paladin to designate a specialized smite as "mastered" (ala Wizard) and let them use it at its lowest level w/their Cantrip Smite feature.

Druids only had access to forms that were seen. The hp pool is only really an issue early levels but not a big deal later on. The new wildshape makes wanting to cast polymorph on yourself more desirable

It's been a long time since I've read the material but I'm pretty sure they have changed wild shape to allow the druid to cast some spells while transformed, and they have changed barkskin/stoneskin to be temp HP That's where some additional power is put into the forms but you'll need to use spell slots

I’ll put the same thing I put on their oficial video because I can lmfao: Druid is my favorite class, I’ve been playing one for 2 years not(we are lvl 15) and would play another for 2 more years given the chance. I’m not a moon Druid fan but the base class and it’s fantasy has its grips on me for some time now and I can say that the only 3 things I like in this version draft is the standardization of the Wild Shape charges(now channel nature), the standardization of animal shapes and the new healing blossoms. Without entering too much into class fantasy and how Druids are wildly downplayed lore wise in dnd, we can say that wild shape is the core idea of Druid’s features in 5e. And that this feature has a wild amount of “cheesiness” and conflicting power levels on the 2014’s phb, being too weak or too strong depending on Druid level, amount of animals you DM let you transform into, subclass(specially moon druids), beast stat blocks published over the years and scenario(such as underwater). The changes on the PDF answers those problems but the solution was a hammer where a scalpel was needed, the utility of wildshape is highly questionable even for Moon Druids since the extra HP(admittedly broken in multiple scenarios) is gone, the base power of the stats Is more dependent on your build and the base class doesn’t work well in melee. Some of this changes by themselves could fix the problems but all of them, exacerbated as they are, severely hinder what is, unfortunately, one of the core features of the class. Furthermore, historically speaking, the most popular subclasses for Druid outside of the PHB where those who severely change the Druid’s relationship with the Wild Shape Charges, like the druid in Tasha’s Couldron of Everhing that, given more time, could eclipse the expectations that people have with the class as the “animal form caster” into something more like what they sound jn lore, as representatives of forces of nature. In the dryness of possibility’s that the now called Channel Nature feature represents, the new Healing Blossom(even if a bit narrow in flavor) and Wild Companion options really help to expand upon what the class is capable of, similar to how people praise other alternative uses such as the ones presented on the subclasses cited above. This looks like a good direction to go but then there are details that bother me, such as: If we assume more subclasses will try to do different things with Channel Nature, and we assume most people don’t like/use the wild shape feature in combat(and both of those are things said multiple times in the years of 5e) then why maintain Wild Shape as one of the most important things in the class? If moon Druids have a monopoly in Wild Shape(as they appear to be) then why not give them the features linked to it in the base class and expand about what the Druid can do by itself as a Herald of Nature, Embodiment of the Material Plane and Inner Planes? Why not allow Druids to interact more with other planes like the paladin does, when they are in the same group and have similar themes of protection of the world? If the idea is to maintain as close as possible to the 2014’s version then I urge you to not do this. Wild Shape is a restrictive much more than a feature to most people and I think we all would be happier with other direction to the Druid as a severely thematically handicapped class.

I think they should keep unique spell lists because it keeps identities while also allowing subclasses and feats letting you get them if it's a specific build.

Generic spelllists make sense to me as it makes it so much easier to add on new classes and spells over time. Instead of having to say explicitly which classes have access to a spell in every book they can just say a class has access to all spells of this type and then you can just add all spells to your class spelllist depending on which materials you have. It makes sense with the toolkit approach of D&D as it akes matching so much easier. I think what is missing are prerequesits. You could easily use the generic spelllists and have a few very unique spells have the prerequisit of having at least one level in a specific class. So instead of having to explicitly list which spells match which class, you can always figure out which spells are available just by knowing your class and the types of spells available.

Your ideas for resolving balance issues with druid wild shape are really good and they feel similar to Battle Master Fighter maneuvers, so it's a familiar concept that players could adapt with easily.

Warlock and Totem Barbarian should be the standard. I love the idea for limiting Druid but giving Druid more options as you described.

The limited wildshape attunements is the right idea for balance.

A lot of this Celtic folk lore also consists of Welsh folk lore, a little recognition for my countries history and wonder would be great xD

May I say I agree with everything you said. I agree with the comment on the paladin. Your points were accurate on the druid. The only thing i want to add is, if you want to make wildshape the core feature of the druid, and that wildshape being a combat ability, it must come with some form of suvivability in combat. Either the wildshape form has a higher AC of it gives temp HP or healing each round but if you turn into a wolf with an AC of 12; there is no way you're going to do that and go melee range with your little pool of HP.

Just commenting to say that I loved your proposed Wild Shape solution