One of the things about a modular, exception-based rule system like D&D is that it can be very useful to have various tags. Does my Plasmoid being an Ooze instead of a Humanoid mean anything inherently? No. But once a spell like Hold Person comes around, I'm going to be able to point to that Ooze nametag and tell that spell to go to hell.
In the 2024, OneD&D rules, spells will now have a tag that goes beyond what school of magic it is in, and which class lists it's in. Three new categories are being created: Arcane, Divine, and Primal.
These categories can make other features a bit more elegant. For example, the old Magic Initiate feat specifically allowed you to get spells from certain class lists. When the Artificer was introduced, they needed to create the Artificer Initiate feat to allow a similar expansion into that class' list. The new Magic Initiate, however, only asks that you choose spells from one of the three spell categories - Arcane, Divine, or Primal. Arcane spells draw on the power of the multiverse and its structure, and are the territory of Artificers, Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards. Divine spells draw on the gods and the Outer Planes, and are the territory of Clerics and Paladins. Primal spells draw on raw nature and the Inner Planes, and are the territory of Druids and Rangers.
Notably, spells can exist in multiple categories, much as spells can exist in multiple class' lists.
As I understand it, the goal with these lists is to open up possibilities for subclasses and other ways to expand your spell options. I could imagine, for example, that Oath of the Ancients Paladins might be able to pick up some Primal spells, or a Celestial Warlock might be able to pick up Divine spells. We'll have to wait for the class revision stuff to see how this might be implemented.
I'm not going to write out the full list here (which only covers cantrips and 1st level spells from the PHB, but that's still a lot). But I'll note a few observations:
First off, Eldritch Blast is not found on any of the lists. I suspect that the spell is going to become simply a Warlock class feature. This might also make the sting of removing critical hits from spells hit less painfully, if they make Eldritch Blast its own thing that can benefit from critical hits.
Some overlapping spells include Detect Magic (all three lists,) Thunderwave (Arcane and Primal), Protection from Evil and Good (Arcane and Divine), and Healing Word (Divine and Primal). Clearly some classes are going to be able to move outside of their standard options - Artificers will presumably still be able to cast Cure Wounds, despite that not being an Arcane spell.
And with that, we've made it through the 21-page UA that is our first preview/test of 2024 D&D material. My overall thoughts are very positive - this feels like it strikes a great balance of keeping what works while tweaking what could be clarified and improved.
As someone from a mildly mixed background (both "white" but Jewish on my father's side) I'm really glad to see broader support for characters having mixed heritages, even if in practice the mechanical expression of that has been pulled back. It's a relatively elegant solution, though, to acknowledge that not every Orc you see is purely Orc back to Gruumsh. In my worldbuilding, I've tended to have characters with mixed backgrounds. The paladin-princess who is heir to my world's massive empire is half air genasi, three-eighths human (or rather five-eights, given her genasi mother's human heritage), and one eighth elf. Mechanically, she'd just be presented as human, but with with features that recall her diverse ancestry.
Likewise, I like that Small humans (and Tieflings and Ardlings) are now an option to represent people who exist in the real world, as well as putting Common Sign Language as one of the standard options, which would make sense. Deaf people exist, so why not have Signing be a standard language (not to mention that there are plenty of cultures that use signing even among the hearing).
Dragonborn... I liked the revisions from Fizban's, and given how recent that book came out I'm surprised to see a slight reversion to the older form of Dragonborn, with Darkvision feeling like it's being tossed at them as a consolation (though in fact the PB times per long rest is a buff over once per short rest, and the damage here should be better in most cases, so perhaps it's actually a buff - just not to my Fighter who gets to make two attacks after his Chromatic Dragonborn breath weapon).
The presence of the Crafter feat makes me hope we're going to get clear and consistent rules for crafting items. Honestly, I think the whole treasure and gold system could use a revamp, but I doubt we're going to see much about that until much farther into this process.
Backgrounds' changes make a lot of sense, and the feat lets them carry a lot more weight (also putting ability scores into backgrounds gives them more heft even if this change is really just semantics). I'll be very curious to see how the higher-level feats turn out, hopefully making them solid choices over a full ASI.
There is so much to be tested. Even two years out from these books (give or take half a year) I think it's going to be a lot to get through.
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