One D&D: Expert Classes
Wizards of the Coast continues to produce new playtest material for One D&D, and the newest content is twice as long as the previous one! This one touches on a few of the changed rules already referenced in the previous release, but it’s mostly the introduction of new groupings for classes and some major reworks to the classes in one of the particular groupings. This article will summarize the material to a digestible length, with a few opinions sprinkled throughout. Let’s dive in!
Parts of a Class
In the first section, the basics of classes are gone over, including the ‘primary ability’ for them and such. A lot of it is familiar, but the most notable change is Class Groups. When I first read the title of this release, I thought they were talking about Prestige Classes – a mechanic from older editions of the game that allowed a player to essentially multiclass into a better version of their current class by meeting certain prerequisites. However, that is not the case here. Instead, Class Groups are ways to categorize the existing classes to, presumably, make it easier to reference them, and also give a better, more broad idea of what function the classes in that group serve in a party. The current Class Groups are as follows, quoted directly:
Experts (Bard, Ranger, Rogue) Polymaths who have the Expertise feature and elements of other Classes
Mages (Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard) Adepts of Arcane magic, focusing on utility and destruction
Priests (Cleric, Druid, Paladin) Stewards of Divine or Primal magic, focusing on healing, utility, and defense
Warriors (Barbarian, Fighter, Monk) Masters of combat who can deal and endure many wounds
The latter three are not detailed in this release, which focuses solely on the first: Experts. Class Groups appear to largely be an organizational tool and not something that’s meant to be taken literally. There’s a suggestion, too, that these group names will be used when determining attunement eligibility for magic items. So, instead of must be attuned to by a Paladin it may say must be attuned to by members of the Expert class.
Bard
Getting into the meat of this release, the next section focuses on the Bard class (my personal favorite.) They made some adjustments to the flavor text for them, but I’m going to be focusing on the major mechanical changes for them and the other classes talked about here. Their starting equipment, proficiencies, and multiclassing requirements are all the same, but here are the differences in mechanics. Note: a ‘d20 test’ is any roll made using a d20.
Bardic Inspiration. This is arguably the biggest change made to Bards. While the progression of the die increase is the same, how it functions is different. Rather than giving a fellow player a bardic inspiration as a bonus action and allowing them to hold onto it for 10 minutes, they now made rewarding it a Reaction. If you, a Bard, see or hear a creature within 60 ft fails any d20 test, you can spend your Reaction to give them a bardic inspiration, which is immediately rolled to potentially turn a failure into a success. A major note here is the word fails, as in you can now use this reaction after the DM declares a failure, as opposed to having to go in blind and use it before hearing the result.
They also gave a secondary function to the inspiration: healing. Out to the same range (seeing or hearing out to 60 ft) you can immediately heal a creature after they take damage with a roll of your inspiration die.Spellcasting. Another major change that they appear to have done with all the classes mentioned here is getting rid of learned spellcasting. Bards used to ‘learn’ spells, which means they couldn’t be switched out on a long rest – only upon level up or at DM discretion. Bards now ‘prepare’ spells, meaning at the end of any long rest, they can switch out their spells for a new list, much as Clerics and such did in current editions of the game. Bards take from the ‘Arcane’ spell list, and must only choose spells in the following schools: Divination, Illusion, Enchantment, and Transmutation spells,
Songs of Restoration. They have gotten rid of the Song of Rest feature from previous iterations, and have replaced it with Songs of Restoration. These are ‘always prepared’ healing spells the Bard gains at certain levels, regardless of subclass, and don’t count against their prepared spells for the day. They go as follows: Healing Word at 2nd level, Lesser Restoration at 4th level, Mass Healing Word at 6th level, Freedom of Movement at 8th level, and Greater Restoration at 10th level.
Jack of All Trades. This feature is the same, but has been moved from 2nd level to 5th level.
Countercharm. This ability no longer exists.
Font of Inspiration. The Bard feature that allows you to regain all your Bardic Inspiration dies on both a Short and Long Rest is the same. However, they added a feature: if a creature rolls your Inspiration die and gets a 1, the die is not expended. They have moved this feature from 5th level to 7th level.
Magical Secrets. This feature has been shifted from 10th to 11th level. Additionally, now all Bards get a secondary Magical Secrets at 15th level, rather than 18th. This is a change from before, where the Lore bard got three Magical Secrets features at 6th, 10th, and 18th level.
Superior Bardic Inspiration. Now, at 18th level, whenever the Bard rolls Initiative, they regain two uses of Bardic Inspiration.
These changes lean much more heavily into Bards being a support class. By that, I mean the class now has much more access to healing spells that they really didn’t have much access to before without dedicating all your learned spells to it. Now, you can have the healing spells plus all the very nice debuff/buff spells. Getting rid of ‘learned’ spells altogether I think is a very good change, because it adds a great deal of flexibility to all the classes that previously had that method of casting. The one change that is a little dicey is the inability to really play a combat heavy Bard anymore. Now that they only have access to Divination, Illusion, Enchantment, and Transmutation spells, you can’t have a Bard who has a bunch of blasting spells like Lightning Bolt or Fireball without using your magical secrets on it. This was mostly the case before, but it makes me curious about future subclasses, some of which (like College of Swords) that focused on combat.
Bard Subclass: Lore
This release includes a single subclass for each of the main classes within. For Bard, it’s the College of Lore. The changes to this one are notable:
Cutting Words. They buffed this ability by making it where you can declare the reaction after learning the creature succeeded. They also removed the inability for a creature to be affected by it if they can’t hear you or are immune to the Charmed condition.
Cunning Inspiration. They removed the additional magical secrets, replacing it with this ability, which allows a creature you grant Bardic Inspiration to to roll the die twice, taking the higher of the two numbers.
Improved Cutting Words. This 10th level ability was added, allowing Cutting Words to also deal Psychic damage equal to the Bardic Inspiration die roll + your Charisma modifier.
Peerless Skill. This has also been buffed. Once again, you now no longer have to decide to add a Bardic Inspiration before the DM declares a failure or success. Additionally, if you still fail after adding the die’s number, the die is not expended.
These are some very nice buffs without making the subclass too powerful. Lore always felt a little underwhelming beyond the extra Magical Secrets, so this rebalances it in a nice way, I think.
Ranger
Ranger has been notoriously bullied on the internet for having a less than stellar reputation. You’ll get fierce defenders and even fiercer detractors, even after Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything attempted to address some of the major concerns with this class’s balance. The general consensus was that it a.) struggled to be versatile beyond its very specific niche and b.) had high level abilities that just weren’t worth the investment, especially their old capstone. Going over the changes here, it’s a mix between older UA, Tasha’s, and original builds.
Natural Explorer. This feature has been removed, with the ability options instead sprinkled throughout the other level up features.
Favored Enemy. They have gone back to leaning heavily into the use of the Hunter’s Mark spell as the signature spell of this class. This spell is always prepared, and you can’t lose concentration on it. It only ends if you do so willfully with a Bonus Action, or you are incapacitated.
Spellcasting. Like with Bard, Rangers now prepare spells, and can take anything from the Primal spell list that isn’t Evocation.
Primeval Awareness + Deft Explorer. Both these abilities (the earlier something added in Tasha’s) have been removed.
Roving. This ability (once a 6th level option for Natural Explorer) has been added at 7th level. It increases your speed by 10 ft, but also gives you an equal swim and climb speed.
Land’s Stride + Hide in Plain Sight. Both of these abilities have been removed and replaced with additional Expertise (9th level)
Tireless. This ability (once a 10th level option for Natural Explorer) has been added at 11th level. It is the same as it was in Tasha’s (you can give yourself 1d8 + your Proficiency bonus in temp HP, and can decrease exhaustion levels by 1, both on a Long or Short Rest.)
Nature’s Veil. This ability is now at 13th level, and allows you to turn Invisible as a Bonus Action until the end of your next turn. There does not appear to be a limit by proficiency bonus like it was in Tasha’s, but it now costs a Spell Slot of any level.
Feral Senses. They have simplified this feature to simply grant Blindsight out to 30 ft., and it is now granted at 15th level, rather than 18th.
Foe Slayer. This is granted at 18th level, and simply increases the damage die of Hunter’s Mark to a d10 rather than a d6.
These are some fantastic and simplified changes to Ranger to make them a lot more versatile in a lot more situations. I do think it removes some of the unique exploration bonuses they used to grant, but now their abilities are much less restrictive.
Ranger Subclass – Hunter
On track with changes across this document, the Hunter subclass for Ranger has been overhauled and simplified. Here are some changes:
Hunter’s Prey. Rather than pick from three options (Colossus Slayer, Giant Killer, Horde Breaker), this ability is just the Colossus Slayer option i.e.once per round, adding 1d8 to any weapon or unarmed strike.
Defensive Tactics. This ability has been removed.
Hunter’s Lore. Added at 6th level, this ability makes it so the ranger learns the Vulnerabilities, Immunities, and Resistances of any creature marked by their Hunter’s Mark.
Multiattack. This ability, which originally had two options, has been replaced with a singular option, which is always having Conjure Barrage prepared and not counting it against the spells you know. Additionally, while it’s a 3rd level spell, it can be cast at lower levels by just removing a d8 per level.
Superior Hunter’s Defense. Once again, an ability that used to have multiple choices is simplified to a single function. When hit by an attack roll, you can use a Reaction to halve the damage, then redirect the attack the other half of the damage to a creature within 5 ft. of you.
I don’t think I’m a gigantic fan of these changes, only because it was nice to be able to choose between the abilities at certain levels. Granted, the choices given were often pulled from other classes, so I can see why these changes were made. The only one of these I’m hoping they adjust is Multiattack – the current version leaves a lot to be desired, with Conjure Barrage not being a fantastic spell in my opinion, and the old options being more fun. But, the overall changes to Ranger I think have finally found a nice balance between martial and spellcasting, while still keeping to the rugged explorer persona.
Rogue
Of the three classes gone over in this release, the Rogue is the most unchanged base class wise. They still rearrange some of the abilities and when they are achieved, however, and there’s been slight changes to the abilities as follows:
Blindsense. This 14th level ability has been removed.
Subtle Strikes. Added at 13th level, this ability allows you to gain Advantage on Attack rolls against creatures within 5ft of an ally who is not incapacitated.
Stroke of Luck. Now an 18th level ability, it removes the ability to make a miss into a hit, and instead only allows for any d20 roll to be treated as a 20 once per short or long rest.
And that’s it! Rogue is mostly the same, again, save for the shifting in levels of some of the abilities (Like Evasion being awarded at 9th level instead of 7th.) However, the subclass is where there appears to be significant changes.
Rogue Subclass: Thief
The most basic of the basic subclasses, Thief gets a massive face lift with this new edition. Here all all the changes they made:
Fast Hands. The additional things you can do with Cunning Action have changed. Now, you can take the Search action (new addition), and do a Slight of Hand check, which includes disarming traps and picking pockets.
Second Story Work. Simplifying the previous iteration, this ability grants a Climb speed equal to your walking speed, and allows you to change checks related to jumping from Strength to Dexterity.
Supreme Sneak. Changed from requiring you to move half your speed to gain Advantage on all Dexterity (Stealth) checks, they now made the requirement that you are not wearing Medium or Heavy armor.
Use Magic Device. This ability (previously allowing the PC to ignore all attunement requirements of magic items) now allows two, different abilities. One is giving the player one additional attunement slot (4 total), and the other is to roll a d6 every time a charge is used from a magic item. On a 6, the charge is not expended. This ability was also moved to 10th level instead of 13th.
Thief’s Reflexes. This has been notably changed from the previous version, which allowed you to take two turns on the first round of combat (once on your Initiative Roll, then a second time on your Initiative Roll - 10.) Now, the ability allows you to take two Bonus Actions, provided one of them is one of your Cunning Action abilities. This can be done a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus before finishing a long rest.
These changes make the Thief subclass overall more cohesive. While some of the abilities are a bit nerfed, others are more versatile.
Epic Boons
You may have noticed, going over the changes to classes, that all of them fail to have a level 20 ‘capstone’ ability. That’s because these changes mean all classes will have the same capstone: Epic Boons. These abilities did exist before One D&D – in the back of the Dungeon Master’s Manual (DMG), they were and are special abilities to grant epic level characters when they have no more levels to gain. The rules did not cater to them too much before beyond this entry, since some classes got a class ability at level 20 (such as Paladins and Rangers.) Now they’re just straight up rewarding them at 20th level, as opposed to the DM choosing to offer them at the end of a major quest.
The change was likely to prevent any disappointing capstones, as well as being able to even out when classes get abilities at which levels.
Twelve Epic Boons are mentioned in this release. Some of them, such as the Epic Boon of Irresistible Offense, are identical to the original DMG versions. They did add a couple, however, including the following:
Night Spirit. In Dim Light or Darkness, you can become Invisible as an Action, you become visible until immediately after taking an Action or Reaction.
Combat Prowess. When you miss a Melee Attack, you can choose to hit instead. Once you do so, you can’t do so again until you roll Initiative.
Energy Resistance. At the end of a Long Rest, you can choose a damage type Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Necrotic, Poison, Psychic, Radiant, Thunder. You become resistant to that type of damage until your next Long Rest, at the end of which you can choose a different one or keep it the same.
Fortitude. In addition to the 40 hit points the original boon granted, this new version also allows you to heal your Constitution modifier in hit points whenever you regain hit points from a spell or other effect. This can be done no more than once a round.
Recovery. In addition to the original boon’s ability to regain hit points once per long rest equal to half your hit point maximum as a bonus action, this also makes it so you only fail a Death Saving Throw if you roll a 1.
Speed. Removes the ability to Dash or Disengage as a Bonus Action once per long rest from the original version.
Unfettered. As a Bonus Action, you can Disengage, which also ends the Grappled and Restrained conditions on you.
Feats
This release, much like the last one, includes multiple Feats that have gotten a face lift from previous iterations. Now, every single feat grants a +1 to the stat that it deals with – Strength for weapon based ones, Charisma for acting based one, etc. Every single one listed is tweaked at least a little, so I’m not going to mention each change here (the Feats start on page 18 of the document if you want to check some out yourself!) However, I do want to note the more massive changes they made to certain, extremely popular Feats.
Dual Wielder. No longer grants a +1 to AC, but does allow you to treat a one-handed, non-Light weapon in your second hand as if it has the Light property, as long as your first weapon does have the Light property.
Great Weapon Master. The ability to take -5 to an Attack roll in order to add +10 to the attack’s damage has been removed. It’s been replaced by the ability to add your Proficiency Bonus to a successful attack’s damage once per round.
Keen Mind. This one’s been completely changed. It now gives you Proficiency in two Intelligence based skills (Nature, Arcana, etc) of your choice, Expertise if you’re already Proficient. Additionally, you can take the Study action as a Bonus Action (new.)
Observant. Very similarly to Keen Mind, this has been changed too. Now, you can choose Proficiency (or Expertise) in Perception, Investigation, or Insight, and you can take the Search action as a Bonus Action.
Sharpshooter. The ability to take -5 to an Attack roll in order to add +10 to the attack’s damage has been removed. It has been replaced with the ability for short distance (within 5 ft. ) to not impose disadvantage on your Ranged Attack Rolls.
Skulker. Two of the three abilities granted before have changed. Now, you simply have advantage on Stealth checks made while taking the Hide Action in Combat. It also gives you Blindsight out to 10 ft.
I’m not surprised at all by the changes to Sharpshooter and Great Weapon Master – the abilities to add +10 to damage became more and more ridiculously powerful at higher levels, when the - 5 penalty meant less and less. I’m sad the meme quality of ridiculously high Passive Perception (Observant) and remembering everything from the past month (Keen Mind) have changed, but they are much more applicable to multiple situations now.
Spells
There are six pages of spells in this release, but mainly for reorganizing them in the new Arcane, Primal, and Divine categorizations. Because of these classifications, there are no longer Class specific lists, and instead just restrictions on the lists they can pull from and the Schools they can use. This change has sparked some debate regarding the uniqueness between classes, but I do think it helps with flexibility overall. A lot of restrictions on certain spells were rather arbitrary, and also made it so someone like the Wizard just flat out got access to more spells, with the ability to dip into casting that seems entirely Drudic or Clerical or what have you.
Besides that, they made some notable changes to a few spells, which they detailed in the Rules Glossary portion, but I’m going to pull over here.
Barkskin (2nd Level). Rather than just making a creature’s AC no less than 16, this spell now grants the creature you cast it on Temporary Hit Points at the start of each of their turns equal to your Proficiency Bonus + Your Spellcasting Bonus. You can target one additional creature for each level above the 2nd.
Guidance. This one got a massive change. Now, the spell is cast as a Reaction when a creature within 30 ft. of you makes an Ability Check. They add a d4 to their roll. Once the creature does so, that creature can’t be affected by the spell again until they finish a Long Rest.
The changes to Barkskin are super nice, as the original wording was somewhat unclear and got obsolete once reaching higher levels. The gigantic nerf to Guidance, however, feels like an over-correction. I’m glad they’re addressing Guidance spamming (i.e. the Cleric saying ‘I’m casting Guidance constantly as we travel’ etc) but I think making it only affect a creature once per Long Rest makes the fact that the spell is a cantrip and now a reaction rather pointless. Personally, I would simply make it a 1st level spell, then remove the Long Rest restriction and keep everything else the same. This will prevent spamming, but will also make a decent spell worth it.
Rules Glossary
We’ve reached the end! All the remaining pages are dedicated to explaining basic rules and any changes to them. Some of these changes, such as the shift in Grappling rules, are repeated from the previous document. You can see those changes in my article on the first One D&D release. As such I won’t be going over repeated rules, nor anything that hasn’t had a significant change. Here’s some of the highlights:
Exhausted (Condition). An interesting change has been made to how Exhaustion works. While they still use levels to an extent, they’ve increased it to 10, and now you don’t get specific conditions at each level. Instead, for every level of Exhaustion you have, you get a negative to all d20 tests and your spell save (if applicable) equal to your level of Exhaustion. So if you have 3 Exhaustion levels, you subtract 3 from your rolls, etc. You still can reduce Exhaustion with a Long Rest. Finally, Exhausted is now considered a Condition, rather than a unique state.
Hidden (Condition). A clear Condition, this grants specific bonuses, including being unaffected by any ability that requires sight, having Advantage on Initiative rolls if combat begins while you’re Hidden, and Attack Rolls against your having Disadvantage + you having Advantage on your attacks. This Condition ends after performing any of the following: making noise louder than a whisper, an enemy finds you, you make an Attack, you cast a Spell with Verbal components, and if you are not Heavily Obscured or behind cover.
Hide (Action). They clarify what needs to be done to successfully Hide, which involves succeeding a DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check while Heavily Obscured, behind Three-Quarters Cover or Full Cover, and must be completely out of the line of sight of an enemy you can see. If all these conditions are met, you are Hidden (above Condition.) Whatever you Stealth check’s total was is the DC an enemy has to meet to see you with a Perception check.
Incapacitated (Condition). When you’re Incapacitated, you can’t take Actions or Reactions, you can’t speak, and if you’re under this condition when Initiative is rolled, you have Disadvantage on the roll.
Influence (Action). A notable add-on is the Influence action, which allows you to attempt to persuade or intimidate a creature into doing something for you. This action can only be used on creatures controlled by the DM, and it can’t force someone to do something that is against their alignment or is otherwise a repugnant action to the creature. This is broken into three parts: Attitude, Interaction, and Ability Check.
Attitude is the default emotional state and general feelings toward the party. The DM determines what attitude an NPC has, and each state has different levels of willingness to aid or hinder the party. Indifferent is the default, with an NPC not feeling strongly one way or another and will likely not take too much personal risk to help the party. Friendly is for those who feel fondly for the party, and will take on a decent amount of personal risk to help them. Finally, Hostile creatures are difficult to influence to their side, and will not put themselves at risk to help them. Hostile creatures won’t necessarily attack on sight, but they’re definitely unfriendly.
Interaction. When you take the Influence action, you can either roleplay out or state how you go about influencing the creature. The DM may grant Advantage or Disadvantage depending on the methodology.
Ability Check. An applicable Charisma check (Intimidation, Animal Handling, Persuasion, or Deception) is made, with the DM determining the DC. There’s a small chart to help with DC calculation, depending on the creature’s Attitude.
Search (Action). The Search action is a general action taken to see something that isn’t obvious. There’s a small chart to show examples, such as using Insight to see someone’s attitude, Medicine to determine what’s ailing a creature, etc.
Shortsword. The Shortsword is now a simple weapon, rather than a martial weapon.
Study (Action). The Study action is a general action used to recall knowledge and/or example an object or creature.
A lot of these changes are simply clarifications on certain actions and the limits of those actions. The overhaul and explanation of how to do Persuasion checks, for example, is a welcome change. Same for dedication Search and Study actions, rather than asking the DM if you can do something and the DM just having to pick a skill that seems to suit it from all of them.
Takeaways
The second release from One D&D comes with quite a few clarifications, nerfs, buffs, and brand new rules for the coming edition. Compared to the last one (which had a few additions I was not excited about) this one, I think, has a lot more positive changes. As mentioned, I think some things have been over-corrected (such as the Guidance cantrip and a couple of the Feats) and some of the clarifications they made felt a little unnecessary. However, there’s still a lot more to come, and I’m eager to see what changes they’ve made to the other classes.
