I don't know if the OGL debacle (something that, I think it's important to remember, was a corporate-level decision and not one from the game development side) is why we've had a bit of a gap between One D&D playtests or not, but it looks like we're gearing up for more. D&D released Todd Kenreck/Jeremy Crawford video outlining some of the thoughts and ideas around the Cleric survey response.
The big takeaways:
First off, try as they've done, the Ardling is just not fitting into the PHB, and so they've decided to pull it out and possibly save it for some release with more context (if they're tied to the upper planes, I'd think a Planescape book would make sense, though I imagine the upcoming one is probably past the point in development where they could throw something like that in there). However, the new multi-faceted Goliath is looking very likely to make it into the new PHB, with sub-species (and I think they're sticking with species as the new name for race) for each of the "True Giants," (Hill, Stone, Frost, Fire, Cloud, and Storm, with the established ones fitting into the "Stone" category).
It also looks like the "Jump" action will not go forward as it was described in previous UAs - something I think is wise. The idea of having to use your action to jump on one hand did mean you could get more movement in a turn, but it also meant you couldn't leap across a crevasse and attack the monster on the other side of it on the same turn. There will be a changelog in future UAs, which should be good.
The intent in the future for the playtest is going to be bigger documents but less frequently - rather than doing a single class like they did with the Cleric, we'll probably be seeing things grouped similarly to the Experts. The next document, which we're likely going to see in the next few days, will round out the "Priest" class group and give us the Druid and the Paladin.
Now, I'm curious to see how this looks.
Both the Druid and Paladin are historically popular and powerful classes. Here are thoughts I have about what we might see with them.
Druids, I think, might get something like "Channel Nature," akin to Channel Divinity. This could then have its default use be Wild Shape, but frees up a lot of subclasses to use it in other ways, which more recent subclasses already do (the Wildfire Druid's summoning the Fire Spirit, the Spore Druid using Symbiotic Entity, and the Stars Druid getting their Starry Forms).
Paladins I absolutely love as they are, but they're also certainly a very powerful class. I can imagine that, if the mechanic is left more or less intact, we'll at least see the name of "Improved Divine Smite" changed, given that even if the ability deals d8s of radiant damage, it's otherwise an entirely separate mechanic from Divine Smite. The change to when subclass features show up is also going to be pretty interesting, as the current level 20 feature for paladins is their subclass "ult," which would now come at level 14. Will that require nerfing those abilities? I also wonder if they'll give paladins a class-wide use for Channel Divinity.
In theory, Priests are all supposed to be capable of being primary healers, which is something the Cleric can clearly do, and the Druid also does quite well. What I'd worry about is if they try to push Paladins too far in that direction, they might lose what I consider their real appeal - both mechanically and lore-wise - as the stalwart tank. A Paladin who gives up martial strength for greater healing capabilities starts to look indistinguishable from a Cleric.
I'm sure that, like the Ranger, we'll see the Paladin get access to a number of feats from the Warrior group, but it will be good to see that confirmed.
Anyway, I'm eager to see what comes next. I can't wait to see what they have in mind for Warlocks and Monks, in particular, though those are both in separate class groups, so it'll be a little while before we see them. I hope that we'll get all the base classes out soon and then can start looking at subclasses.
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