Weapon Mastery, Magic Weapons, and Subclass Weapons

 Playing my Wizard, and finally getting to play one in a long campaign, I've decided that my next character might be a Rogue. I'd intended to play an Artificer (Armorer specifically) in another campaign, but that crashed and burned a couple sessions in as the DM got way too busy with work. I do want to play that character, but he's in a bit of a limbo, where I wouldn't want to play the same build in some other campaign only for this one to start up again.

Now, it's not like DMs are knocking down my door with offers to run games - of my friend group, I'm already in the game of one of them who DMs, and the other is the aforementioned overbooked busy person.

But, the point is, the subclass I'm most excited to play is the Soulknife. Mechanically and flavor-wise, it seems like a ton of fun. I like the idea of playing someone who was experimented on to turn them into some kind of psionic assassin, and that they're trying to break free of the people who wanted to use them as a weapon.

Here's the thing:

Subclasses like the Soulknife, as well as the Beast Barbarian, run into the following problem:

As other characters get fancy magic weapons - a +2 Greatsword, or a Holy Avenger Longsword, or anything like that - your subclass is centered around weapons that are conjured up with the subclass features. The Soulknife, for example, only gets to use Honing Strikes or Rend Mind if they're attacking with their Psychic Blades.

These are good weapons - sort of like a shortsword with the thrown property and a dagger that have no disadvantage for tossing at long range and deal psychic damage (something only rarely resisted) - and in a campaign without any magic items, they'll usually be better than any mundane weapons.

But they can never be upgraded.

Still, my rationale has tended to be that, while yes, a +1 weapon would be nice to have, Honing Strikes and the fact that Rogues rely far more on Sneak Attack for their damage than their actual weapon damage winds up reducing the impact of magic weapons other than for getting around damage resistances, as compared with, say, a Fighter, who's getting almost all of their damage out of the weapon hits themselves.

But, a new complication arises:

Weapon Mastery is good. I know some people are complaining that it doesn't close the gap between martials and casters, but I think Rogues in particular are going to be getting a ton out of it (actually, the impact for Monks is also not something to ignore either). Vex is amazing for a Rogue, but Nick is also really good, giving you more chances to land your hit and get sneak attack. (Well, to be fair, Nick more accurately saves you a bonus action to do things like hide or run).

Psychic Blades are not, however "shortswords with the thrown property" or "daggers" made of psychic energy. They're unclassified simple weapons and thus, if Weapon Mastery makes it "live" with the 2024 books, which I'm very confident it will, the Soulknife is going to be forced to decide whether to use their built-in weapons or ignore a big chunk of their subclass features to gain all these benefits.

The earlier problem - the lack of scaling with any kind of magic items - has plagued the Monk since 2014. While a Monk is free to use their Attack action with any magic weapon they have proficiency with, and thus gain the benefits that way, their unarmed strikes - which are meant to be their balance against the damage output potential of other martial classes - fall behind.

And while Weapon Mastery is going to apply, again, to the attacks Monks make with actual weapons, their Unarmed Strikes are going to fall behind even further without some kind of mastery effect.

Now, there is one element of Unarmed Strikes that does sort of work as a buff to the Monk - shoving and grappling, while neither involves an attack roll, are still under the banner of Unarmed Strikes, and so I think a Monk should be able to do these as a martial arts bonus action. But that's not huge - everyone can, I believe, swap out an attack for one of these, and unlike weapon hits with masteries, you don't get the damage and the effect - the Push mastery is clearly a lot better than the Shove option.

The Soulknife is not one of the PHB subclasses for the Rogue (in fairness, I think the ones they have chosen - the Thief, Assassin, Arcane Trickster, and Swashbuckler, are the best choices for the "classic Rogue archetypes.") So I don't expect to get any update to the subclass.

But I would love to see at least some new magic items that buff things like unarmed strikes or conjured weapons.

And it would be great if there was an errata that buffed the Psychic Blades by letting them count as specific weapon types. It might be harder to do, conceptually, but doing the same for Beast Barbarian weapons would also be great.

And then, well, just give the Monk some buffs (though I'd err more on survival than damage output).

Power Creep, Quality of Life, and the Future of D&D

 The One D&D Playtest has now put out its sixth Unearthed Arcana playtest document. This is the first time we've seen revisions of the initial presentations of the classes.

Some of the classes are getting significant changes, while others are getting mild tweaks. In the long run, though, no class is coming through identical to the version presented in 2014.

Now, I've got my own opinions on some of the changes - I think the Monk needs a little more love, and I think the Warlock runs the risk of being a garbled mess if they make them a half-caster who can also kind of cast higher-level spells.

But my general impression is that, in the grand scheme of things, we're looking at more powerful character classes.

I've seen people online concerned that Weapon Mastery is a small band-aid that fails to close the distance between spellcasters and weapon-based characters, but A: I think people who think casters are that much more powerful than martial characters might be basing this more on theorycrafting than actual play experience, and B: it's not really the point - Weapon Mastery is undeniably going to make these classes more powerful than they currently are.

Now, here's the thing: A lot of the ways in which these classes are being made more powerful is by removing annoying bugs in the older gameplay.

As an example, the campaign I was a player in the longest, my front-line buddy on my Eldritch Knight Fighter was a Devotion Paladin. And often, the first round of combat, all he would be able to do was use Sacred Weapon. The feature, currently, takes an action to activate, so he's sitting there making his sword glow while I'm hitting things with Green-Flame Blade and then a bonus action melee attack for good measure.

The new version makes this feature a bonus action, so you can actually use that now-Sacred weapon for its intended purpose immediately.

It was annoying for him to have to wait a full round after he used this to actually get to contribute to the fight, and I'm 100% in favor of making this change.

But, it does make the feature, and thus the subclass, and thus, for those who pick that subclass, the class, more powerful. Maybe only by a little - it makes you more likely to hit, but doesn't increase the damage you deal - but it's a little schooch in the direction of power. (Also, how am I 37 and only just realized I didn't know how to spell schooch?)

Now, taking a step back, 5E D&D is not exactly a game where player characters are underpowered. The game is built so that the players usually emerge victoriously - and that makes sense. In World of Warcraft, if your party wipes, you just run back from the graveyard (or start at the beginning of the instance). In D&D, the party getting wiped out is canonical story, and either the campaign grinds to a halt and ends in tragedy, or the DM needs to come up with some in-world justification or how these fallen heroes are brought back.

Powerful players make the game work.

At the same time, though, it's not a game if there isn't some kind of challenge.

Now, I'll confess that I am often speaking from a DM's perspective. I don't have the exact figures, but I'm fairly confident I've run more D&D as a DM than I've ever played as a PC, in terms of hours. As a DM, I want my players to win, but I'm often most satisfied when the players do so only after they've been whittled down to a sliver of HP, have expended all their spell slots, and are just barely able to make it out of there alive.

But that might just be the DM speaking.

Because as a player, I like to have mastery of the situation - I like to perform cleanly, with tactical soundness that lets us slay all the monsters in the most efficient way possible, with minimal danger to the party.

So... player me is pretty happy about all this. I've been dreaming of getting my Eldritch Knight back up and running with the new weapon masteries (especially getting multiple ones that I can customize as a Fighter) and knocking things all over the battlefield.

But DM me is really hoping to see the entries in the Monster Manual buffed in power to compensate for all these class buffs.

PHB 6 Class Review: Rogue

 Here we come to the final class review of this UA. The Rogue I think has been hardest-hit by the reversion to old subclass levels - while they still get four levels to gain subclass features, you have to wait until level 9 to get your second. That said, Rogues get the new Cunning Strikes feature, which I do think is very cool.

Let's get into it.

1st level:

Rogues actually aren't limited to Simple Weapons. They also get any Martial Weapons with the Finesse property (so, Rapiers, Scimitars, Shortswords, and Whips).

Expertise is basically the same.

Sneak Attack notably has been reverted to only requiring you to hit with a Finesse or Ranged weapon attack - none of this "attack action only," so you can once again Sneak Attack with Booming Blade or an opportunity attack. Basically, this works like it always did.

Thieves' Cant now lets you learn an additional language of your choice from among the Standard and Rare languages.

    So, nothing crazy here.

Rogues also get Weapon Mastery. Like most classes, you get two at a time, and can swap them out on a long rest.

    Now, the Vex mastery will, I think, be a game-changer for Rogues, as the most consistent way to ensure they get Sneak Attack. I think a very solid loadout for a Rogue will be to grab a Shortsword for their main hand and a Scimitar for their off hand - getting more chances to get Sneak Attack thanks to the extra attack that, thanks to Nick, no longer prevents the use of Cunning Actions. For ranged weapons, your best bet is a Shortbow. I'm a little bummed you can't get Pistols, but you might be able to get them with a feat.

2nd level:

Cunning Action works the same.

3rd level:

In addition to your subclass, you get Steady Aim, which works as it did in Tasha's, letting you basically forgo movement to get advantage on an attack.

    I think the intent, at this point, is basically to make sure the Rogue is getting sneak attack as consistently as possible. Which is great, because that's kind of their whole thing.

4th level:

ASI/Feat

5th level:

Now, the big one: Cunning Strikes is a new feature. Once per turn when you land a sneak attack, before you roll damage, you can subtract d6s from the sneak attack damage to get various bonus effects to the attack. The DC to resist these effects is based on your Dexterity (by the usual formula). The options are:

Disarm (1d6): The target makes a Dex save and drops one item of your choice it's holding on a failure.

Poison (1d6): The target makes a Con save and becomes poisoned for 1 minute on a failure, though it can repeat the save on each of its turns. You have to have a Poisoner's Kit on your person to use this (and it is not part of the standard starting equipment, so you'll need to purchase it in-game).

Withdraw (1d6): Immediately after the attack, you can move up to half your speed without drawing opportunity attacks.

    So, I love this feature. Most only cost 1d6, which is significant but not a huge amount of damage. One interesting question is whether you have to spend 2d6 on a crit - I think as written you don't. With the DC based on your Dexterity, it'll be keeping pace with spellcasters and the like, so your foes will stand a good chance of failing them.

Also at 5, you get Uncanny Dodge, which works the same (and now specifies you round the attack's damage down).

6th level:

Once again, you get two more Expertise skills.

    As a note, tool proficiencies now work in tandem with skills, so if you want to be great at lockpicking, you will want to grab Sleight of Hand as your expertise, and you'll now get advantage on the check thanks to the thieves' tolls proficiency (assuming you have them on you).

7th level:

Evasion, like with the Monk, works the same but doesn't do anything if you're incapacitated.

But also, Reliable Talent has been bumped up to 7th level. It works the same, but of course is now coming four levels earlier. The wording is slightly different - it's when you make an ability check that uses your skill or Tool proficiencies, not just any that uses your proficiency bonus, but that's probably gong to cover most circumstances.

    Given how many campaigns really only go into tier 2, this is a big deal. This is one of the Rogue's most powerful features.

8th level:

ASI/Feat

9th level:

Subclass feature

10th level:

ASI/Feat - Rogue still get this extra one.

11th level:

Here, you get Improved Cunning Strike. You can now use up to two Cunning Strike options on a single sneak attack, paying for each in d6s.

    This is pretty cool, and if you choose to go with non-Vex/Nick weapons, you might be able to put a lot of different debilitating effects on your foes. But also, you'll still be able to do a lot even if your masteries are focused on increased damage and more reliable sneak attack.

12th level:

ASI/Feat

13th level:

Subclass feature.

14th level:

Devious Strikes adds new Cunning Strike options.

Daze (2d6) makes the target succeed on a Con save or be Dazed until the end of its next turn.

Knock Out (6d6) forces a Con save, and on a failure the creature is Unconscious for 1 minute or until it takes damage. It can repeat its save on the end of each of its turns.

Obscure (3d6) forces a Dex save or the target is Blinded until the end of its next turn.

    So, all of these are powerful. Dazed is a new condition that makes the creature choose between taking a Move or and Action on their turn, not both, and they can't take bonus actions or reactions. These, of course, cost more, but something like Knock Out could potentially make a fight way easier - losing 21 damage now to take someone out of a fight. The cheaper ones are also pretty powerful.

    The real strength of Cunning Strike is that it's basically an unlimited feature, and I think is a cool tactical decision to make that will sometimes be worth it, but not always.

15th level:

Slippery Mind now grants both Wisdom and Charisma saving throw proficiency.

    Charisma saves are very rare, but this is still a buff.

16th level:

ASI/Feat

17th level:

Subclass feature.

18th level:

Elusive works the same way.

19th level:

ASI/Feat

20th level:

Stroke of Luck has been changed, but I might need some clarification here. If you fail any d20 test, you can turn the roll into a 20. Now, is that the final result, or the roll on the die? The way it's worded suggests the former.

    Obviously, this is a buff to saving throws, as you previously couldn't use this on those. But for ability checks and attacks, this might be a nerf. The old version let you simply hit with an attack you had missed, and it let you treat the d20 roll as a 20 on any ability check you failed.

    But if you're fighting a foe with an AC that is greater than 20, or if you need to make a check or save with a DC that is higher than 20, this won't actually help you, I think. By level 20, it's not unusual to have things like an Ancient Red Dragon calling for a DC 24 saving throw, or which has an AC of 22.

    Now, if the intent here is that you treat it as if you rolled a 20 on the die, then we're fine - and in fact, that means turning a miss into a crit, which is awesome. But I don't think that's how it's phrased here.

So, thought overall?

    The only huge change to the class here is Cunning Strikes, which I love. And I suspect Weapon Mastery will have a bigger impact on Rogues than even other martial classes. So you've got my endorsement for this change. All that said, after being tantalized by the prospect of getting subclass features at 6, 10, and 14, it's a bit of a heartbreaker to see them pushed back to 9, 13, and 17. Admittedly, this allows them to be more powerful, and I do think Cunning Strikes adds a lot of tactical gameplay.

    So, I think the Rogue comes out a winner here.

PHB 6 Class Overview: Rangers

 Now, this is kind of interesting - we sort of already got a new version of the Ranger in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. While a lot of classes got new/alternate rules, the Ranger got a huge overhaul. I actually think this version is closer to that second Ranger. We also saw a pretty radical redesign in the Expert Classes playtest, but I think this pulls back a bit from that.

So, there'll be some complexity to analyzing all the features, but let's get started.

1st level:

Rangers start off with Deft Explorer. This has evolved into a kind of blend of the Tasha's feature of the same name and the Natural Explorer from 2014.

You get Expertise in one of your skill proficiencies (down from 2 in the last playtest).

In addition, you choose two types of terrain - between Arctic, Coast, Desert, Forest, Grassland, Mountain, Swamp, and Underdark. You have advantage on Intelligence (Nature) checks about the chosen terrains and Wisdom (Survival) checks to track creatures within them.

When you finish a long rest, you can swap out one of your "favored terrains."

    So, this retains the favored terrain aspect of the original Ranger, but in a far more adaptable way, but also it's less extensive in its benefits. The good news is that you will now easily be able to swap to whatever terrain you find yourself in (assuming the DM doesn't pull something like "well, here on Mechanus, the terrain is 'gears,' so none of these options work.") You lose one of your Expertise uses from the previous playtest, which I think is a shame - I really think they seem to be stepping back from Class Groups as a thing, which... I kind of liked.

Also, like the Paladin (and the "live" Artificer) you now get spellcasting at level 1. A few changes here:

Rangers now have full and unfettered access to the Primal spell list - no more school restrictions.

Rangers, like Paladins, start off with 2 prepared spells and eventually get to 15 at 19th level. But also like Paladins, Rangers can now swap out a prepared spell whenever they finish a long rest.

    This is a buff for Rangers even as it was a nerf for Paladins.

And, like in Tasha's, you can use a Druidic focus as a spell focus.

    So, this is a buff to Ranger spellcasting. Being able to more easily change your spell is great, though I think I'd rather they just be able to swap them all out on a long rest. And it's coming at level 1, so you can immediately feel more than a Ranged Fighter.

Finally, at 1st level, you can pick up Weapon Mastery. Like with other classes in this playtest, you get two options and can swap them out on a long rest.

    Weapon Mastery's fun, and everyone's getting it. Buff, to be sure, though not much compared to other martial classes.

2nd level:

Favored Enemy has been redesigned. You now automatically have Hunter's Mark prepared, and you get a number of free castings of it equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1) per long rest.

    So, this isn't as insanely cool as the previous playtest version, which gave you concentration-free Hunter's Mark, which... ok, was probably overpowered.

Hunter's Mark has been redesigned. It's now Ranger-exclusive, and rather than adding 1d6 to every hit, you now only get the bonus damage once per turn, but upcasting it extends not just the duration, but the damage. At 3rd level it does 2d6, and at 5th it does 3d6. You also don't get to unerringly track the target, but instead get advantage on Wisdom (Perception or Survival) checks to find it.

    Ok, so, the math here gets complicated when it comes to damage. Unlike Warlocks and Eldritch Blast, though, it's an obvious buff to the spell at 5th level, if you're willing to spend a 5th level spell slot on this.

    In actuality, the fact that all the damage is bunched together winds up being a buff to the damage anyway - if you have a 50% chance to hit the target, you're only getting 50% of the potential damage out of the old version. But in the new version, because it will deal its full damage if you hit only once, you're actually getting 75% of its potential damage on average - as long as you hit with either attack, you get the full damage. So, this is a nerf from levels 5-8, but then buffed when you hit level 9 (again, if you're casting it at 3rd level or higher).

    The change to the non-damage aspect is also interesting - while it's not as reliable, this will also now help if you have a monster that likes to hide in the middle of combat.

    Also, you get some free uses of this spell, which can't be ignored.

    I'll also say that dual-wielding in melee as a Ranger is now a little easier because Nick will allow you to use your Bonus action on this - of course, you also won't get as much of a benefit to an additional attack.

Rangers also get Fighting Style - I think it's the same old choices.

3rd level:

You pick your subclass.

4th level:

ASI/Feat

5th level:

Extra Attack

6th level:

Here, you get Roving, which used to be part of the Deft Explorer option in Tasha's. Roving has been buffed, increasing your speed by 10 feet rather than 5, and still also gives you a Climb and Swim speed equal to your normal speed (which just got buffed!)

    I suspect that this buff was less for power than ensuring that people always have a speed that's a multiple of 10 - far easier to handle difficult terrain when halved movement results in a multiple of 5. But it's a buff.

7th level:

Subclass feature.

8th level:

ASI/Feat

9th level:

Rangers now automatically learn Conjure Barrage at 9th level. The spell has also been buffed - it now deals 5d8 rather than 3d8 damage, and can work with any melee weapon, not just nonmagical ones. Conjure Barrage is also now Ranger-exclusive, rather than a Primal spell. The damage is also Force now.

    So, 3d8 was always a bit pathetic for a 3rd level spell. 5d8, which averages to 22.5, is actually pretty decent - it's not Fireball, but Fireball and Lightning Bolt are intentionally overpowered. And it's honestly not that far behind (Fireball averages at 28 damage). So, I could see this getting real use. Great!

Also at 9, you get Deft Explorer Improvement, which gives you Expertise in one more of your proficiency skills and you get to pick two new terrain types.

    So, I'm less enthused about this. If you can swap out favored terrains on a long rest, do you really need to have four of them? How likely are you to encounter four different terrains in a single day (and know ahead of time which ones you'll be in?) I mean, unless you're playing in Los Angeles (we've got coast, mountains, desert, and kind of grasslands if you think back to when Orange County was actual farmland). The Expertise is nice, but it's a little sad you don't keep pace with Rogues and Bards.

10th level:

Tireless is part of Tasha's Deft Explorer feature, but modestly redesigned. As an action, you can give yourself Temp HP equal to 1d8 plus your Wisdom modifier, and you can do this a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier per long rest, minimum of 1 (previously it was a number of times equal to your Proficiency bonus).

Also, you can reduce your Exhaustion level by 1 on a short rest, unchanged from Tasha's.

    So, the Rules Glossary no longer includes the different version of Exhaustion, which worked more like "Stress" in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. As it was less punishing, I was hoping we might see more monsters inflict it as a condition, and that would make this feature more exciting, but I suspect that instead we'll see this as occasionally great, but only rarely.

    The temp HP is awesome, though.

11th level:

Subclass feature.

12th level:

ASI/Feat

13th level:

Nothing but 4th level spells.

14th level:

Nature's Veil is similar to the Tasha's version, but it now lasts until the end, rather than the start of your next turn. The number of uses is now based on your Wisdom modifier rather than your Proficiency bonus.

    So, this is better - you can set up advantage on your attacks for this turn and the next - but you'll probably be able to use it fewer times.

    As cool in concept as Hide in Plain Sight was, it was also just absurdly specific and another one of those things where you could probably reward any creative player with such an effect if they thought to do it.

15th level:

Subclass feature.

16th level:

ASI/Feat

17th level:

Rangers now also automatically learn Conjure Volley, which is now a Ranger-exclusive spell rather than a Primal one. Like Conjure Barrage, this can now work with any weapon, not just nonmagical ones. Oh, and it does Force damage.

    So, the damage makes this a little better than an upcast Barrage, and you can more easily avoid hitting your friends. 8d8 for a 5th level spell is fair that's Cone of Cold damage. Flavorful and fine.

18th level:

Feral Senses has been simplified - you just get Blindsight out to 30 feet.

    This should, I think, give you all the benefits of the old version, but also potentially help in other circumstances. As the ultimate tracker/hunter, this is a pretty appropriate Ranger feature.

19th level:

ASI/Feat

20th level:

Foe Slayer has been redesigned. When you miss with an attack roll against the target of your Hunter's Mark, you can add your Wisdom modifier to the attack roll, potentially turning it into a hit. Additionally, when you hit that target with an attack roll and deal damage with it, you add your Wisdom modifier to the damage.

    So, this is a buff. The phrasing is weird, though - why not just say that you add your Wisdom modifier to attack rolls against the target of your Hunter's Mark? Would that not have an identical effect? The key here is that you're getting both benefits, and multiple times per turn. The downside is that you're really forced into maintaining Hunter's Mark to make use of it.

    Ultimately, you're more likely to land your attacks, but the total extra damage is going to just be 10 more per turn (or 15 if someone has cast Haste on you).

   Using Hunter's Mark - we'll assume cast at 5th level - and shooting, say, with a Longbow, if you hit with both attacks (more likely thanks to this,) and say we have a +2 Longbow, we're looking at (1d8+7)x2+3d6+10 with all of this - an average damage of 43.5 damage per round.

    Is that impressive for level 20? Does this need some special sauce? I mean, this feature has clearly been buffed a great deal over its original version, except for its reliance on Hunter's Mark (a spell that I think is considerably better for high-level Beast Masters, as it's basically twice as powerful).

So, what do we think overall?

    I think that this is a big improvement over the 2014 Ranger, but most of that work was done in Tasha's. I think there's a bit more focus on damage than the previous playtest version, but I do think it still retains an "expert of movement and terrain" identity.

    The Ranger has always been a class that's actually pretty decent, but only looks bad in comparison to other classes, like the ranged Fighter. I think the Tasha's changes really helped it catch up, but it's more a question of perception.

    I definitely think I'd rather play this version of the Ranger than previous versions of the class - the changes to spellcasting in particular are the most appealing.

PHB 6 Class Review: Paladins

 Now we come to the Paladin, which is one of my favorite classes in the game. The Paladin is popular and generally considered powerful, so we saw a fairly simple approach to its previous revision. Let's check out the latest.

1st level:

Lay on Hands is now a bonus action, rather than an action, and no longer removes Diseases (but diseases are kind of being phased out mechanically in favor of the Poisoned condition, which this still can remove).

    This is a solid buff. A paladin wants to be attacking with their action, and this lets you toss some healing around mid-combat while still killing the monsters (which is usually the best choice for survival).

Spellcasting now arrives at level 1. Like other prepared spellcasters, you now get a flat amount to prepare, which starts at 2 and goes up to 15. Unlike Clerics, for example, this actually keeps pace with the old version, and might even be better given that you might not max out your Charisma by 20.

However, you can now only swap out one spell per long rest. Also, unlike the previous playtest, you once again do not get cantrips.

    So, I don't think this is going to be profoundly impactful, getting spells one level earlier, but it will make you feel a bit more magic from the get-go. I don't know that the limit on switching spells prepared is really necessary - though granted I think Paladins don't swap them all that often thanks to Smites (and we'll look at those soon).

Paladins also get access to Weapon Mastery, getting two at a time, with the option to swap which masteries are chosen on a long rest. (I wonder if Fighters and Barbarians will still get more as they level up in the next playtest).

2nd level:

Paladin's Smite is the new version of Divine Smite, but it is a bit different.

First up, Divine Smite is now a spell, and uses the same format as the other smite spells. You now always have most Smite spells prepared, and these are paladin-exclusive rather than Divine spells. The full list is:

2nd level: Divine Smite, Thunderous Smite

5th level: Shining Smite (a new name for Glimmering Smite)

9th level: Blinding Smite

13th level: Staggering Smite

17th level: Banishing Smite

You also get one free casting of one of these Smite spells per long rest.

Now, the way that these spells work has also been redesigned. They still take a bonus action (and that includes Divine Smite) but the bonus action can be made at the moment you connect with a weapon attack, so you still get to see if you hit or crit before spending the spell slot.

Some of the spells have gotten tweaks as well - Searing Smite (which is not on this list, but still on the Divine list) will now always do its initial 1d6 fire and the first periodic 1d6 before the target gets to make a save.

    So, all in all I think this is a nerf, but there are some positives to it. Or rather, it's a nerf to Divine Smite and a buff to all other smite spells. This will prevent you from smiting multiple times a turn as well as when you make opportunity attacks or other off-turn attacks. Likewise, if you use a Channel Divinity option like Sacred Weapon or Vow of Enmity, or one of your level 20 ultimates, you won't be able to smite on that turn.

    Now, are Paladins powerful enough that they deserved a nerf? I think you could argue that (though some would say that anyone who isn't a full spellcaster needs a buff). What this feature will certainly do is get Paladins to try out the other smites in certain situations - Divine Smite will be the best damage option (at least until Banishing Smite) but you'll get a lot of utility out of the others, and you can now crit-smite with them.

    The free smite is also nice, especially at low levels when you only have a couple spell slots.

    Oh, and as a note, unlike the previous playtest, you can't smite on ranged attacks, so gun paladins are out. Unarmed strikes are still valid, though.

Paladins also get Fighting Style at level 2, as before.

    Paladins are still limited in their choices - you can't pick two-weapon fighting.

3rd level:

Channel Divinity comes in at level 3. Like with Clerics, you now recharge all of these on a Long Rest and get a single one back on a short rest. Paladins start with two uses and get a third when they hit level 11.

    This is a buff any way you slice it - previously, Paladins only got one use of Channel Divinity, so they were only ever getting back one use on a short rest anyway - now they can "bank" a second one.

The universal use for Channel Divinity (before subclass features) is Divine Sense.

Divine Sense now acts as a bonus action, and lasts for 10 minutes (or until you're incapacitated), letting you know the location of any Celestials, Fiends, or Undead within 60 feet, and sense if places or objects have been consecrated or desecrated as with the Hallow spell.

    So, this is a "berf," in the sense that Divine Sense will now eat into your Channel Divinity uses, rather than being its own separate resource. However, lasting 10 minutes and being able to do it as a bonus action make it better - you can ping this in the middle of combat. And if you're searching for some hidden vampire, for example, you'll stand a better chance of finding them with this.

    I do think most Paladins are going to feel a lot more hesitant to use this when it's eating up chances to use their subclass Channel Divinity options.

And of course, at 3 you get your first subclass features.

4th level:

ASI/Feat

5th level:

Extra Attack of course is unchanged.

Faithful Steed is a new feature. You always have the Find Steed spell prepared. You can also cast the spell for free once per long rest. Find Steed is now a paladin-exclusive spell, rather than a Divine spell.

Find Steed has also been redesigned. The spell now uses a template stat block, and scales up with the spell level you cast it with. The spell incorporates aspects of Find Greater Steed, giving the steed a fly speed if you cast it at 4th level or higher. Also, the spell now takes only an action to cast. The steed acts as a controlled mount in combat (so you basically just get its movement) unless you're incapacitated, in which case it takes a turn immediately after yours and can use its other actions.

You choose between a Celestial, Fey, or Fiend mount when you summon it, and each gets a different special bonus action (all of which can help you if you've gone unconscious in the saddle). If you are healed with a spell of 1st level or higher, the Steed is also healed that amount if they're within 5 feet of you.

    So, this is great - it keeps Clerics from having better steeds than Paladins. I also like that, by using a template, you can be creative with what kind of creature the steed is. I want to play a paladin who rides a giant celestial wolf.

    The Steed no longer gets to share all spells with you - you can't put Aid on yourself and thereby the Steed. But I suspect that in most ways this will be an upgrade over the Warhorse you're usually taking.

    The oddity here, of course, like the new Find Familiar (not in this playtest) is that I think the goal here is to find an opportunity to spend your highest spell slot on this to get the best version of your Steed, but probably waiting until the end of a relatively uneventful day to do so. If your 4th-level steed goes down, you might have to summon a less powerful version of it until you have some downtime.

6th level:

Aura of Protection works nearly the same way, but with some restrictions. Allies don't benefit from this if you're separated by total cover. Also, the auras of multiple paladins don't overlap anymore - the creature in both auras chooses which one applies. Finally, the aura doesn't apply if you're incapacitated - you don't have to be fully unconscious.

    So, this is a nerf, but probably only in rare circumstances. I think this is going to play the way it already does in the vast majority of cases.

7th level:

Subclass feature.

8th level:

ASI/Feat

9th level:

Abjure Foes is a new universal feature that replaces a lot of subclass-specific "turn" features. As an action (a "Magic" action) you expend a Channel Divinity and present your Holy Symbol or weapon and target a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1) that you can see within 60 feet.

Each creature makes a Wisdom save, and is Dazed and Frightened for one minute if they fail (ending early if they take any damage).

    So, initially I wondered why this came so late, but unlike Turn Undead or other "turn" abilities, this targets any kind of creature. Now, this isn't going to be full crowd control - the creatures can still do some things, but Dazed and Frightened is a pretty big restriction. This isn't going to send a giant crowd running, but you can potentially take a couple foes out of a fight for a minute. I think this is probably good.

10th level:

Aura of Courage is basically the same but now simply uses your Aura of Protection, rather than having a separate aura with the same radius - which practically means no difference. It does make it clearer, though, that an ally who is frightened and enters the aura doesn't lose the condition, but only gets to ignore it while they're near you.

11th level:

Radiant Strikes is the new name for Improved Divine Smite, which is fantastic (Improved Divine Smite never actually had anything to do with Divine Smite). Like Smite spells, this now applies to unarmed strikes as well.

    Now, as a note, grappling and shoving now count as unarmed strikes. (Something I probably should have looked at with the Monk,) but this requires you to land an attack roll on the target, and those instead impose saving throws, so this will only work when you're just punching them (or kicking, head-butting, etc.)

12th level:

ASI/Feat

13th level:

Just 4th level spells (but hey, flying steed!)

14th level:

Restoring Touch is a redesigned Cleansing Touch. This now uses your Lay on Hands pool. You can expend 5 points of LOH to end one or more of the following conditions from the target: Blinded, Charmed, Dazed, Deafened, Frightened, Paralyzed, or Stunned.

    So, the old version let you end the effects of a spell on the target. Here's why I think this version might be better - a lot of spellcaster NPCs are going to be doing a lot of effects that aren't techncially spells anymore (they still have some). This, of course, also lets you do this as a bonus action, which is great. Now, it does eat into your Lay on Hands pool, rather than being a separate resource to track, so your mileage may vary.

15th level:

Subclass feature.

16th level:

ASI/Feat

17th level:

Just 5th level spells. Welcome to tier 4!

18th level:

Aura Improvement is now Aura Expansion, but works the same (well, it expands your Aura of Protection, but all other auras are now just enhancements to your Aura of Protection, so it comes around to the same thing).

19th level:

ASI/Feat

20th level:

Subclass feature - your big Paladin Ults.

    So, what do we think? I think you could argue that of all the features, most come out looking like buffs. The downside, though, is that Divine Smite has been nerfed, and Divine Smite is kind of the defining, biggest part of the Paladin, so the weight of that nerf is felt harder.

    Now, is it a huge nerf? Well, you weren't ever smiting on every single hit - there will be a bit of forced discipline now. A Paladin can no longer burn through all their spell slots in one or two turns (at least at higher levels). I think the fact that Divine Smite was a no-action-required feature that also got around the "one spell per turn" thing was powerful.

    In Curse of Strahd, when our party raided the Wochter house in the interest of settling the political situation in Vallaki, my Paladin had cast Thunderous Smite, landed a crit, and then used Divine Smite, dealing an insane amount of damage - I think 4d6+5 bludgeoning with my maul, 4d8 with Divine Smite, and 4d6 thunder with thunderous smite. I don't remember what I rolled, but the average would be 51 damage - against some goon who probably had 40-something max HP. Now, with the new system, I would have been able to choose one or the other smite - the goon was up against a wall, so thunderous smite's pushback effect didn't do anything, so I'd have saved one spell slot and done a mere 4d6+5+4d8, or 37 average damage.

    I think the satisfaction of smiting is still going to be there, but you'll be very sad if you A: crit on an opportunity attack, B: crit after using your bonus action for something like Vow of Enmity, or C: crit after smiting on a regular hit with your first attack that turn or D: had cast some bonus action spell or used Lay on Hands when you crit.

    All this being said, I think the class is still going to be a good and powerful one. Aura of Protection remains an amazing feature. And the little quality-of-life things like Lay on Hands as a bonus action and more uses of Channel Divinity are going to be very welcome. Paladins are still looking like arguably the best martial class in the game. If there are buffs that need to be handed out, let's give some to the Monk before we revisit the Paladin.

PHB 6 Class Review: Monks

 Now, we kind of already did this when the UA first came out, but I'm going to use the format I've been using for the other classes. This is the first we're seeing of the new Monk, so there's no previous playtest to compare it to. My initial impressions were that the class is very similar to its 2014 version.

I have heard some arguments that the subclass changes make it more powerful than it previously was - certainly that seems to be the case for the Four Elements, some like the Open Hand (now simply "Hand") felt, if anything, nerfed.

So let's take a look at the base Monk and see if we find this to be buff or a nerf.

1st level:

Martial Arts remains the central feature of the class, of course. And it's a complicated one, so let's break it down.

Monks lose proficiency with any Martial weapons, so the "Monk weapon" bonuses are now simply any Simple Weapon that isn't two-handed (in the case of melee weapons, that's only the Greatclub). Basically, you lose Shortswords.

The Martial Arts die has been upgraded one step - rather than starting with a d4 at level 1 and getting a d10 in tier 4, you now start with a d6 and go up to a d12. In terms of damage, this isn't a huge buff - basically you're doing one more damage per hit than you were previously.

However, there's also a change in that you no longer can replace the damage dice of weapons with your martial arts die. So, your Dagger will not be doing 1d12+Dex at level 18.

    So, overall this is a somewhat subtle change. You're going to be doing a little more damage with your unarmed strikes, but at high levels you might be doing less damage with your weapons.

Unarmored Defense is unchanged.

However, Monks now get Weapon Mastery - which everyone who uses weapons basically gets (other than, like, Valor Bards). Unlike Barbarians and Fighters (the other "Warriors," assuming that class group are still a thing) you start with two masteries and never get any others (though you can swap them on a long rest).

There are no weapon masteries for unarmed strikes.

    So, this is expected. And while it's sad that unarmed strikes don't get a mastery-like property, Monks will still get the same use out of these as any other weapon-using class, with two weapon attacks per round by level 5.

    Now, with the presence of Nick weapons, I suspect you might do quite well with dual-wielding as a monk now - with +3 to Dex, you could fight with a Handaxe and a Dagger, doing 1d6+3 with the Handaxe, 1d4 with the dagger (at advantage thanks to Vex) and then 1d6+3 with an unarmed strike, giving you 15.5 damage per round at level 1 (and a bit more thanks to the greater chance to hit with the dagger) versus 13 damage per round with a Spear or Quarterstaff (using Flex) and an unarmed strike. And yeah, your hands aren't free, but surely you can kick as an unarmed strike, right?

    With the class groups, I had suspected Monks might get to pick up a Fighting Style, but it does not appear that that's in the cards here.

2nd level:

Martial Discipline is the new name for Ki, in an effort I think to avoid calling out the Monk as "the Asian class." I think the intention here is probably good, and as someone who is not at all Asian in descent (well, not East Asian - I'm half Jewish, so technically I have ancestry from the very western edge of the Asian continent) I don't think I can comment with any particular insight into whether this is the right call.

Ki points have been renamed Discipline Points, and you learn Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind when you get this feature.

The only change here is that Step of the Wind now grants you both the Disengage and the Dash actions, rather than one or the other (also doubling jump distance).

    So, obviously this is a buff, if only a small one. Still, coupling both Disengage and Dash together should make Step of the Wind a more powerful ability that will allow you to more easily get away from your foes. Granted, with Monks' enhanced movement speed, merely disengaging could often get you away from a foe and force them to dash to get to you - now they probably can't get to you even if they do dash.

Unarmored Movement goes live at level 2, and I believe is unchanged.

3rd level:

Deflect Missiles has been redesigned.

You can use your reaction when you are hit with a ranged attack that deals bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage. The amount reduced is equal to 1d10 plus your Dexterity plus your Monk level - so this is unchanged.

If you reduce the damage to 0, you can spend 1 discipline point to redirect the attack to another creature. You choose a creature within 60 feet of yourself that is not behind total cover. The creature makes a Dexterity saving throw, and on a failure, they take damage equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die. The damage is the same type as the attack.

    So, let's break it down - first off, you don't need a free hand to catch the projectile (great if you're dual-wielding a handaxe and a dagger!) and you also now don't make an attack roll. This means that there's no "short range/long range" distinction here. You actually don't even need to see the target (as long as they're not behind total cover). The damage is also probably going to be a little better, though you can't crit (and at certain levels it might be worse). However, the Dex save is based on your Wisdom modifier, rather than an attack using your Dexterity, so...

    Hopefully we'll have more monsters that use physical ranged attacks (though keep watching this feature when we get to higher levels). My friend who played a Monk from level 3 to 12 basically got to use this feature like once.

Also, of course, at 3 you get your first subclass feature.

4th level:

Well, you do get an ASI/Feat, but you also get Slow Fall. This feature is unchanged.

5th level:

You get Extra Attack, of course.

Stunning Strike works a little differently - it's been nerfed in two ways. First, you can only attempt to Stun a target once per turn. Then, if they are stunned, the condition ends at the beginning, rather than the end, of your next turn.

    So, the good news is that you can still use this with an opportunity attack. I've said before I actually think I'd be open to nerfing this feature, but only if it meant giving Monks buffs in other places. The Monk will no longer benefit on their next turn from having advantage against a stunned enemy - though of course if they stun the target on their first attack, they'll have it for the rest of their turn.

    I suspect that enemies will be stunned far less often thanks to the once-per-turn limit. Again, that might actually be good for the game, but this is unquestionably a painful nerf to the Monk's most powerful feature.

6th level:

Empowered Strikes is the new Ki-Empowered Strikes. Rather than letting your unarmed strikes "count as magical," you instead can deal Force damage with your unarmed strikes instead of bludgeoning (or whatever).

   As they're clearly getting rid of "magical B/P/S damage" as a thing in the rules, this makes sense.

And you get your second subclass feature.

7th level:

Evasion is unchanged except that you don't gain its benefit while incapacitated - which actually makes logical sense.

Heightened Metabolism is a new feature. Once per long rest, you can spend one minute resting to gain the benefits of a short rest (so you'll recharge your Discipline Points and also be able to spend hit dice, etc.)

    I realize the way I phrased this is kind of confusing, but basically you get a chance to get your Discipline back even if the party doesn't have the time for a Short Rest. One minute is usually pretty doable - I think most DMs will tend to be pretty generous with such a short period of time in the narrative.

8th level:

ASI/Feat

9th level:

Acrobatic Movement is the new version of Unarmored Movement Improvement, but it now specifies that you only get these benefits if you're not wearing armor or a shield - which always seemed implied, but was technically not part of the rules.

10th level:

Self-Restoration is a new feature that combines elements of Stillness of Mind, Purity of Body, and Timeless Body. As a bonus action, you can remove the Charmed, Frightened, or Poisoned condition from yourself. Additionally, you don't get exhaustion from lack of food or drink.

    So, a couple things.

    First off, making this a bonus action is cool, as it lets you do something on the turn after you use it. I do think we could use some clarification, however - can we use this when we're under the effects of something like Dominate Person, where the person who has us charmed can normally fully control our turn? Or does this let us just break it? Will we know to break our Charm when we are Charmed? This problem was there in the original version, but it persists.

    Second of all, the old version of Purity of Body gave us immunity to disease, but disease as a thing is kind of being phased out of the rules, represented more by poison, which this lets us clear.

    However, what Monks lose, quite painfully, is their full immunity to poison - both the condition and the damage. This Monk can't laugh in the phase of a Green Dragon's breath weapon, which the 2014 one can.

    Finally, while it's more of a flavor thing, I liked that Timeless Body let you play a badass ancient grandpa/grandma/grandparent monk. There's not a ton of magical aging in the game either, so again - the feature never had much of a mechanical impact, but I liked it for the flavor.

11th level:

Subclass feature.

12th level:

ASI/Feat

13th level:

Deflect Energy enhances Deflect Missiles. You can now deflect any and all ranged attacks, regardless of what damage type they use.

    This is actually one of the biggest deals, because ranged attacks are going to start being a big thing with spellcasters - the Monsters of the Multiverse versions of most spellcasters are now using things like Arcane Burst as their bread-and-butter damage-dealing abilities. You'll be able to toss these back at them. So, big fan.

14th level:

Disciplined Survivor is just a new name for Diamond Soul, but works the same.

15th level:

Perfect Discipline is the same as Perfect Self, but now comes 5 levels earlier.

16th level:

ASI/Feat

17th level:

Subclass feature.

18th level:

Superior Defense shares some DNA with Empty Body, but works a bit differently.

As a bonus action, you can spend 3 Discipline Points to gain resistance to all damage other than Force for 1 minute or until you're incapacitated.

    So, the good news is that we get a discount - only 3, rather than 4 Discipline/Ki Points. And it only takes a bonus action, rather than an action, so we can get some attacks in there on that turn.

    The bad news is that we no longer turn invisible when we use this feature. We also lose this if we get knocked out in the middle of it (easier to happen given we're not invisible anymore.)

    Finally, we fully lose the ability to cast Astral Projection on ourselves. Now, I get that a planar travel spell you can't cast on the rest of your party is maybe... hard to use in a campaign, the flavor of it was freaking amazing.

    I really want some cosmic, astral, mind-bending thing to replace this if they aren't going to let Monks travel the planes on their spiritual journey.

19th level:

ASI/Feat

20th level:

Defy Death is a new capstone. If you hit 0 HP, you can spend 4 Discipline Points and roll 4 Martial Arts dice, and your HP is now set to the total rolled instead. Each time you use the feature, the number of Discipline Points you must spend increases by 2 (and does not increase the number of dice rolled). When you finish a short or long rest, the cost resets to 4.

    So, this is a worthy capstone. This is epic and cool, and by level 20, you have enough Discipline Points that you'll probably have 4 left by the time you hit this point. And an average of 26 HP means you can probably take another hit. Also, this should work against instant-death effects as well, as long as they require you to hit 0 HP first.

Ok, let's do our overall analysis:

    The only feature we overall lose is Tongue of the Sun and Moon (not counting the extra ones from Tasha's like Dedicated Weapon). The general impression of the Monk as a class was that it needed a buff. Looking at just the base class, is this a buff?

On a feature-by-feature basis, here's how I break it down:

Buffs: Martial Arts, Martial Discipline, Deflect Energy, Heightened Metabolism, Defy Death, Self-Restoration (the Stillness of Mind part), Weapon Mastery

Nerfs: Stunning Strike, Self-Restoration (the Purity of Body part), Tongue of Sun and Moon (the lack thereof)

Mixed Bags: Superior Defense, Deflect Missiles (this one leans buff)

    So, all in all, we're seeing more buffs than nerfs. I think the survival aspects of the class get a lot better at level 18, but prior to that point, you're still really relying on running away from foes to survive rather than standing toe-to-toe with them.

    I think what I was hoping for with this playtest was a Monk who can stand their ground against the monster they're fighting, and we don't really see that.

    It's definitely easier to get Discipline Points back with Heightened Metabolism, but I also think that the Monk is going to be gasping for them in most situations. Stunning Strike's once-per-turn nerf will cut down on that a little, but that's more of an enforced conservatism than actually addressing the issue.

    Now, in all fairness, I don't think the Monk is as "terrible" as some theorycrafters claim it to be - I've seen Monks perform very well in a lot of situations (I played a Drunken Master in Adventurer's League for a while) but there are some clear mathematical disadvantages that they have, particularly when it comes to defense - having less HP and lower AC than most melee classes.

    Unlike the previous Druid, of course, this version is not dramatically debilitated compared to its 2014 version. If you like the current Monk, you'll probably be ok with this version (give me back my Astral Projection, though!) but I think most of us were expecting to see a more powerful Monk.

    The lack of Poison immunity is also pretty sad, even if I get why WotC might want to dial back on any full immunities for player characters (especially Poison, which I think they're trying to rehabilitate as a viable damage type).

    This is our first look at the new Monk, but given the way this sort of testing process works, I usually expect a bold approach before dialing it back in the process of revision. Indeed, I think that's what we saw with the Warlock and the Druid, and we saw the Druid did get reined in a bit (and we're waiting for another crack at the Warlock).

    I do think this is a stronger Monk than the old version, in general. But how is it comparing with the Fighter or the Barbarian, its Warrior brethren?

PHB 6 Class Review: Druid

 So, we already looked at the changes to Wild Shape, which would surely be the most controversial change to the class (to sum it up, it's more similar to the old version, though nerfed as expected). But let's look at the class as a whole.

Level 1:

Druidic now includes not just the special language, but also gives you Speak with Animals always prepared. Weirdly, non-Druids now use Intelligence (Investigation) checks to spot messages left with it, rather than Wisdom (Perception).

    So, that's a fun buff, and gives you access to a spell you'll probably not be preparing very often.

Primal Order is a new feature that is similar to Divine Order for Clerics. At level 1, you pick between Warden or Magician.

Wardens get training in Medium Armor and Martial Weapons.

Magicians get an extra Primal cantrip, and they can add their wisdom modifier to Intelligence (Nature) checks.

    So, on the Magician side of things, like with the Cleric, I like that this allows you to get a decent bonus to your Nature checks - something that a Druid should in theory be good at, but usually isn't as good as an Intelligence-based class.

    Warden I think is actually more appealing than the Cleric's Protector, because Medium Armor makes it far easier for classes that don't prioritize Dexterity to get a decent AC - you'll only need 14 Dex to wind up with an AC of 18 in Scale Mail and a Shield - the Cleric is upgrading from Medium to Heavy, which is not as noticeable. On top of that, Moon Druids are almost sure to pick Warden thanks to their ability to use their own AC in Wild Shape.

Spellcasting works more or less the same as it always did, though you're using the Primal spell list rather than the Druid one - which are more or less the same. Like the Cleric, though, your max prepared spells is now a flat amount, rather than your Wisdom modifier plus Druid level. This winds up likely nerfing the number of spells you can prepare - at level 20, you get 22, when current Druids will probably get 25.

2nd level:

So, first off, Channel Nature is gone - instead we're back to expending "uses of Wild Shape" for alternate features. Mark me down as finding this disappointing, as I found Channel Nature to be a more elegant solution, but oh well. Thanks to alphabetical order, we also see a feature that uses these charges before we define them.

Wild Companion lets you expend a spell slot or a use of Wild Shape to cast Find Familiar without material components. Casting the spell this way causes the familiar to be Fey and it will disappear when you finish a long rest.

    So, this does allow you to get a temporary familiar even if you want to hold onto your Wild Shapes. So this is a buff.

Wild Shape is a lot more similar to its original version, but there are some changes.

First off, all Druids now Wild Shape as a bonus action, rather than an action.

Rather than picking from any eligible Wild Shape form, though, you prepare a certain number of potential shapes when you finish a long rest, similar to your spells. You start with three forms of CR 1/4 or lower that are Beasts and lack a fly speed. (There's no limit on swim speeds anymore). You can swap out one of your prepared forms on each Long Rest.

At 4th level, you can have a 4th form prepared, and the max CR goes up to 1/2. At level 8, you get a 5th prepared form, the max CR goes up to 1, and you can now choose forms with a fly speed.

You start with 2 uses per short or long rest, but at higher levels you get more - 3 at level 6 and 4 at level 17.

While transformed, you take on the Beast's statistics, but you retain your Hit Points, Hit Dice, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores, as well as your class features, species traits, languages, and feats, as well as your skill and saving throw proficiencies, while also gaining those of the creature (you can use the beast's proficiencies if they're better than yours). As before, you don't get legendary or lair actions.

You can't cast spells while in Wild Shape, but you can maintain Concentration on spells you've already cast and you can perform actions that are part of a spell after it's cast, like using Call Lightning.

Finally, your ability to handle objects is based on the form you pick. As before, you choose whether your equipment falls off when you shift or if it merges into your form. The DM gets the final word on whether a piece of equipment can be worn in your new form. Equipment that merges with your form doesn't have an effect on your until you leave the form (I might need to read how this interacts with Moon Druids a bit closer, but I think this is a "specific trumps general" kind of situation).

    Phew, ok - so obviously this nerfs the survival effect of having the giant pool of HP (something Moon Druids get a little compensation for) but there is one benefit that you might not notice - if you turn into a Spider to sneak into some enemy base, getting stepped on is probably not going to knock you out of the form, as you stay transformed as long as you're still above 0 HP - that'll be a really tough spider.

I'll confess I liked the idea of template stat blocks for this feature, even if the ones in the previous test left something to be desired (in particular, I liked using your spell attack bonus as the attack bonus for your beast form) but I think this manages to strike a decent compromise, and the limit on how many forms you can prepare will also rein it in a little bit.

Still, I think that any non-Moon Druid is basically going to only use this for utility, and will likely not make use of it much as a combat tactic (except perhaps shifting into a fast form to cross the battlefield). That might be fine, though.

3rd level:

This is when you now pick up your subclass.

4th level:

ASI/Feat

5th level:

Wild Resurgence is a new feature. If you're out of Wild Shape uses, you can expend a spell slot of any level once per turn (no action required) to get one. Alternatively, once per Long Rest, you can expend a Wild Shape charge to get a 1st level spell slot.

    Naturally, if you use these charges a lot, getting a way to get them back is very welcome. And if you never use it, you'll be able to get another spell slot back (Land Druids might have some weird ways to game this with their Recovery feature).

    I think the Long Rest restriction for getting spell slots is likely to prevent some weird Coffee-Lock-like gameplay. Because you could get a spell slot back right before a short rest, then rest and get back all your Wild Shape charges.

    Overall, this is a nice flexibility feature, and I imagine the theorycrafters are going to find some way to exploit the shit out of it.

6th level:

Subclass feature.

7th level:

Elemental Fury is very similar to the Cleric's Blessed Strikes. You can choose between Potent Spellcasting or Primal Strike.

Potent Spellcasting works the same as it does for the Cleric - you add your Wisdom modifier when you deal damage with a Primal cantrip.

Primal Strike lets you add damage once a turn when you hit a creature within a weapon or a Beast form's attack in Wild Shape. The damage is equal to 1d8 Cold, Fire, Lightning, or Thunder damage (your choice when you hit).

    So, with Druids more often focusing on melee attacks, I think the Primal Strike option might be better than the Divine Strike. What I'm noticing here is a lot of parallels with the Cleric (and this won't be the last). In terms of strict damage, we're looking at probably 5 more damage once you hit level 8 with Potent Spellcasting or 4.5 damage on average with Primal Strike (doubled on crits).

8th level:

ASI/Feat

9th level:

Druids now automatically get Commune with Nature prepared. Which, you know, is similar to how a Cleric gets Commune.

    It's thematic, but boy it's really crazy how much they're doing to align the Druid and Cleric. Still, I feel the same as I do about the Cleric's Commune - this is a spell you will probably not think to prepare, and always having access to it means you're more likely to actually use it, so I like it.

10th level:

Subclass feature.

11th level:

Just 6th level spells.

12th level:

ASI/Feat

13th level:

Just 7th level spells.

14th level:

Subclass feature.

15th level:

Improved Elemental Fury (again, kind of like Improved Blessed Strikes) improves you choice at level 7.

Potent Spellcasting increases the range of any Primal cantrip that has a range of 10 feet or greater by 300 feet.

Primal Strike's damage bonus goes up to 2d8.

    So, your Thorn Whip just became a sniper's tool. I don't think this is going to be as amazing as the temp hit points the Cleric gets to toss around, but the Druid is positioned as less of a dedicated healer. You certainly won't say no to this bonus. Meanwhile the Primal Strike damage is probably very welcome for anyone who uses melee attacks (actually, if you use a ranged weapon I think you still get this).

16th level:

ASI/Feat

17th level:

Just 9th level spells.

18th level:

Beast Spells is worded a little differently (you can speak in the new Wild Shape, so it's not about verbal components specifically anymore) but basically this works the same - you can now cast spells in Beast form as long as they don't have a material component that is consumed or costs a certain amount - essentially, your Beast Form is your spell focus.

19th level:

ASI/Feat.

20th level:

Archdruid has received some changes.

First off, rather than simply having unlimited Wild Shape charges, you now regain one if you're out and your roll Initiative. 

    Given that most Druids don't get extra HP from Wild Shape anymore, and you can't be knocked out of it as easily, I think this change shouldn't be too problematic.

You can also now convert uses of Wild Shape into a spell slot (no action required,) and you can choose a number of unexpended uses and get 2 levels per use expended. So, for example, you can expend 2 uses to get a 4th-level slot. You can only do this once per Long Rest.

    This aspect more or less acts as a buff to Wild Resurgence, letting you get higher-level slots. That said, as separate features, this means you can now expend some number of uses to get one spell slot with this feature, and then another use with Wild Resurgence, getting two spell slots out of your Wild Shapes.

Finally, you now age slower, aging only 1 year for each 10 years that pass.

    This of course was the 18th level feature, Timeless Body, pushed back here. And it's basically flavor.

Ok, so let's sum up our analysis:

The Druid doesn't really lose any features from its 2014 incarnation, though there's some shuffling around. We will, of course, be seeing a different version of Wild Shape, but this one, compared to the one seen in the previous playtest, is a lot more similar to the 2014 version.

I wouldn't mind another crack at this - perhaps more ways to alter the combat statistic of the beasts you choose - but I think this version is likely to leave more people happy than the previous version. Once again, though, it does place some limitations on the power level of Beasts in future D&D design, but in fairness, the CR limitations are there (and Polymorph is just as if not more guilty).

Ultimately, I think we'll have to go through the Primal spell list to really come to a verdict on the Druid as a whole - I think after I go through the classes, I'll have to look at those lists.

Still, I think the Druid is standing on solid ground now.