Due to recent events over on X/Twitter, the moderation team of r/dndnext and r/onednd has decided to ban links to that site. From now on, the Automoderator will remove such links.

However, since WoTC uses X/Twitter for official announcements, there's an exception to this new rule: You can still share screenshots of their tweets. Since our subreddits don't have image posts activated, please upload such screenshots to an image hosting site like imgur.com and link them in your post.
Alternatively, you can link to WOTC's official Bluesky.

Seriously y'all it's almost like they wrote this section while making HARD eye contact with us Redditors. I love it.

Players Exploiting the Rules
Some players enjoy poring over the D&D rules and looking for optimal combinations. This kind of optimizing is part of the game (see “Know Your Players” in chapter 2), but it can cross a line into being exploitative, interfering with everyone else’s fun.
Setting clear expectations is essential when dealing with this kind of rules exploitation. Bear these principles in mind:

Rules Aren’t Physics. The rules of the game are meant to provide a fun game experience, not to describe the laws of physics in the worlds of D&D, let alone the real world. Don’t let players argue that a bucket brigade of ordinary people can accelerate a spear to light speed by all using the Ready action to pass the spear to the next person in line. The Ready action facilitates heroic action; it doesn’t define the physical limitations of what can happen in a 6-second combat round.

The Game Is Not an Economy. The rules of the game aren’t intended to model a realistic economy, and players who look for loopholes that let them generate infinite wealth using combinations of spells are exploiting the rules.

Combat Is for Enemies. Some rules apply only during combat or while a character is acting in Initiative order. Don’t let players attack each other or helpless creatures to activate those rules.

Rules Rely on Good-Faith Interpretation. The rules assume that everyone reading and interpreting the rules has the interests of the group’s fun at heart and is reading the rules in that light.

Outlining these principles can help hold players’ exploits at bay. If a player persistently tries to twist the rules of the game, have a conversation with that player outside the game and ask them to stop.

For your reference, here's a list containing every change I could find between the 5.0 (2014) and 5.5 (2024) D&D base game rules.

This doesn't include changes that are specific to certain options (such as a class, a weapon, or a spell), or things that are merely changes in terminology (like "D20 Test"). It also doesn't consider any rules found outside of the PHB, DMG, and MM.

If I have missed any changes to the base game's rules, please let me know!

EDIT Apr 9 2025: Rules for squeezing into smaller spaces are gone.

EDIT May 13 2025: There is no distinction between magical and non-magical damage.

EDIT June 2 2025: There are no vehicle proficiencies.

EDIT May 8-10 2026: If a feature gives you a skill or tool proficiency you already have, you can’t just choose a different proficiency instead. AND If you would gain Heroic Inspiration but you already have it, you can give it to another player.

GENERAL RULES

• You can choose to fail any saving throw.

• Heroic Inspiration is a reroll of any die, not advantage.

• If you would gain Heroic Inspiration but you already have it, you can give it to another player.

• Tool Proficiency and skill Proficiency can stack together to give you advantage on the check.

• You have Advantage on checks to influence Friendly creatures and Disadvantage on checks to influence Hostile ones.

• Carrying capacity only applies if you try to carry something "unusually heavy" or a "massive number" of things.

• Truesight does not reveal the true form of creatures or objects transformed by nonmagical means (like doppelgangers).

• All DM-controlled creatures are defined as being monsters, and any monster with a specific name and personality is defined as an NPC. (This one is just terminology, but I find it amusing.)

ACTIONS

• During the Attack action, you can equip or unequip one weapon before or after each attack.

• If you have multiple movement speeds, you must choose only one of them to use when you Dash.

• You must have Proficiency to Help an ally make an ability check.

• Hide: The check is DC 15. You can Hide even if you merely have 3/4 cover, although you also must be out of enemies' line of sight which appears to contradict that. Hiding makes you Invisible, but doesn't explicitly make your location unknown to enemies, though apparently one can Hide in order to "sneak past a guardian." You are no longer Invisible if "an enemy finds you," which includes when a creature makes a Perception check to find you, but it isn't explicitly stated whether there is any other way for a creature to "find you." Casting a spell only breaks your Invisibility if it has a Verbal component.

• Influencing a creature's attitude is explicitly an action.

• The Search action allows Insight, Medicine, Perception, or Survival (but not Investigation).

• Recalling information is explicitly an action (Study).

ENVIRONMENT

• New hazard: Burning

• You take full falling damage when falling into liquids, or half damage on a successful check.

• Dehydration: You can drink half your required daily amount of water without risk of dehydration. No rule about requiring more water in hot conditions. You don't gain two levels of Exhaustion (rather than one) from dehydration as a result of already having Exhaustion. You don't need to eat food to remove Exhaustion caused by dehydration.

• Malnutrition: You can eat half your required daily amount of food without risk of malnutrition. If you eat nothing for 5 days, you gain 1 level of Exhaustion plus another at the end of each additional day without food. If you eat a nonzero amount of food which is less than half your required daily amount of food for even just 1 day, you must save or gain 1 level of Exhaustion. You don't need to drink water to remove Exhaustion caused by malnutrition.

• A suffocating creature gains temporary Exhaustion every round, rather than surviving for a number of rounds before falling to 0 Hit Points.

• Traveling at a Fast pace imposes Disadvantage on Survival and Stealth checks.

• Traveling at a Normal pace imposes Disadvantage on Stealth checks.

• Traveling at a Slow pace grants Advantage on Perception and Survival checks.

COMBAT

• The DM may use a combatant's (passive) Initiative score rather than have them roll initiative.

• Surprise only imposes Disadvantage on Initiative.

• A slope of at least 20 degrees is difficult terrain.

• You can't choose to drop Prone if your Speed is 0.

• Moving through creatures: You can move through Incapacitated creatures. You can always move through Tiny creatures. Allies' and Tiny creatures' spaces aren't Difficult Terrain. If you end up in the same space as another creature, you are Prone unless you're Tiny or you're larger than that creature.

• Rules for squeezing into smaller spaces are gone.

• If your mount falls Prone, you don't get to use your reaction to land on your feet, but you do get a saving throw against falling Prone yourself.

• All ranged attacks with weapons have Disadvantage underwater.

• Melee weapons have Disadvantage underwater unless the weapon deals Piercing damage or the attacker has a Swim Speed.

• If you attempt to grapple or shove, the target makes a Str or Dex save against a DC of 8 + your Strength modifier + your Proficiency Bonus. Attempts to escape a grapple use an Athletics or Acrobatics check against this DC.

• Opportunity attacks can be made against non-Hostile creatures.

DAMAGE

• Having half of your Hit Points or less means you are Bloodied.

• A negative amount of damage is not possible. (This rule was added to 5.0 after the original printing of the PHB.)

• You don't add your ability modifier to a fixed damage total (eg. Blowgun damage).

• Having a Hit Point maximum of 0 automatically causes death.

• If you knock out a creature with a melee attack, it has 1 Hit Point rather than 0 and automatically starts taking a Short Rest. It becomes conscious if it finishes the Short Rest, gets healed, or if someone makes a successful Medicine check on it.

• There is no distinction between magical and non-magical damage.

RESTING

• You must have at least 1 Hit Point to take a Short Rest.

• A Short Rest or Long Rest is interrupted if you roll Initiative, cast a non-cantrip spell, or take damage.

• A Long Rest restores all Hit Point Dice and cures maximum Hit Point reduction and ability score reduction.

• An interrupted Long Rest can be resumed immediately and simply takes 1 extra hour to finish (rather than having to start over).

CONDITIONS

• Exhaustion reduces your D20 Tests by 2x your Exhaustion level and reduces your speed by 5x your Exhaustion level, instead of its previous effects.

• Being Grappled imposes Disadvantage on all attacks except against the grappler.

• Grappling a Tiny creature doesn't impede your movement, regardless of your own size.

• While Incapacitated you can't speak and have Disadvantage on Initiative.

• Invisibility grants Advantage on Initiative.

• A Petrified creature isn't unaware of its surroundings.

• A Stunned creature can still move.

• Diseases have been replaced with "magical contagions" which inflict the Poisoned condition.

CHARACTER CREATION

• Choosing 2 languages is its own character creation step.

• No mention of being allowed by the DM to choose a rare language at character creation.

• If a feature gives you a skill or tool proficiency you already have, you can’t just choose a different proficiency instead.

• No rules for customizing backgrounds, unless you choose a background from a 5.0 book. (The DM can create custom backgrounds, but this is no different from creating custom species, feats, spells, etc.)

• Backgrounds include Ability Score increases and feats, but background features are gone.

• Allowing multiclassing is not presented as optional.

• A multiclass character can have more than one Unarmed Defense feature (but can still only apply one of them at a time).

• Multiclassing doesn't limit your uses of Channel Divinity to whichever class gives you more uses (you would get both classes' uses).

• Playable species normally live for about 80 years (with some specified exceptions) and all reach adulthood at the same rate.

• You are implicitly allowed to make your player character a baby ("Your character can be any age that isn’t beyond their species’ normal life span").

• Feats are required for character creation and advancement.

• Feats are subdivided into categories (Origin, General, Fighting Style, Epic Boon).

ITEMS AND MONEY

• Small creatures don't have Disadvantage with Heavy weapons. Instead you need at least 13 Strength for Heavy Melee or at least 13 Dex for Heavy Ranged.

• The Bonus Action attack of the Light weapon property doesn't require the weapon to be Melee, and doesn't require the two weapons to be held at the same time.

• A Thrown weapon can be drawn as part of the attack.

• Weapons have mastery properties accessible only by characters with a relevant feature.

• Tools are assigned to specific ability scores.

• Tools can be used in specific pre-defined ways to perform actions.

• There are no vehicle proficiencies.

• Rules are included for vehicles' defenses and how to repair them.

• Hiring spellcasters to cast a spell for you is possible by default, even for spells up to 9th level.

CRAFTING

(Note: I'd just like to mention here that the new crafting rules are only slightly altered from how they were in the 5.0 Basic Rules, despite many claims I've seen that 5.0 had no crafting rules).

• It now takes half as many days to craft an item.

• You can't craft multiple items in a single day.

• Normally a crafter can't have more than 1 assistant helping.

• Crafting doesn't give you free or discounted lifestyle expenses.

• Crafting doesn't explicitly require a special location (like a forge).

SPELLS

• Abjuration includes spells that reverse harm (rather than just prevent it).

• Ritual spells can be cast as rituals by any caster who has the spell prepared.

• You can only spend one spell slot on a spell per turn. (So you can't use both an action and a reaction to cast spells from spell slots on your turn, but on the other hand, you can cast as many spells as you have actions for if they don't use your spell slots.)

• A saving throw to maintain concentration can't have a DC greater than 30.

• You can end a spell you cast that has a duration without using an action.

• A cylindrical area of effect doesn't have to be based on the ground.

DM GUIDELINES

• Encounters come in three degrees of difficulty, which are upper boundaries on the amount of XP rather than lower boundaries. There is no multiplier applied to the difficulty calculation due to the number of PCs or enemies.

• If a creature initiates combat, that creature might get advantage on initiative.

MAGIC ITEMS

• Potions take only a bonus action to drink or administer.

• The rules for effects of mixing potions are not presented as optional.

• At least some command words can be signed, allowing you to activate the magic item in the area of a Silence spell.

• A magic item that recharges at dawn can still recharge on a plane without dawns. When is up to the DM.

MONSTERS

• Monsters' gear and treasure type is listed in their stat blocks.

• 'Any alignment' replaced by Neutral alignment.

• No guideline for how much ammunition a monster carries.

Removing this feature paves the way for the design of martial classes to fill in these "mandatory" spaces in character sheets with variable and interesting design choices. Players want more exciting inputs for our non-magical characters, and "here's a bucket of flat damage" is probably the most boring, trite way to answer that. I'm happy it's going away, and we should look toward the possibilities of a stronger and more interesting martial instead of whingeing about nerfs.

I DM'ed a session of Lost Mine of Phandelver. We started at the beginning at level 1 and (spoilers for the campaign) almost completed the Cragmaw Hideout. The players were experienced with DnD and knew all the rules very well. We had a dwarf barbarian with tough, halfling trickery cleric with lucky, halfling warlock with alert, wood elf monk with healer and orc fighter with musician. We had a lot of fun and some strong opinions about the new rules after the session.

Here are the things I liked:

1. Alert feat is awesome, and everyone liked it. Getting the right player higher up in the initiative feels good and in practice using the feat was not as disruptive as I thought.

2. Natural 20s work well. We did not have an issue with players making nonsensical checks to get a natural 20 or do impossible things.

3. Inspiration in general works well and feels good. Getting nat 20 on a death saving throw was one of the best moments of the session.

4. I thought that the feat Musician might be worthless, but in practice inspiration is rare enough that Musician still makes a significant contribution.

5. Lucky and Tough are well balanced and as impactful as you want for a first level feat.

6. Removal of monster crits is nowhere as bad as people make it out to be. It makes combat less swingy at low levels and I found it to be a good addition to the game. Swingy combat might be less of an issue at higher levels but removing monster crits works well at level 1. We did not get a chance to test Sneak Attack or Smite, so I can't say anything about those changes.

Here are a few things I did not like:

1. Tremor sense is not the easiest ability to run from the DM's perspective. The range that the dwarf got was large and almost covered the entire cave. I couldn't adjust the encounters too much after I told the players all the relevant details.

2. Grappling doesn't seem to be that good anymore. My players attempted to make the best of it, but it never worked as well as it should have. They ended up hating the changes. We may need to see the system further to make a definitive judgement though. Edit: The main benefit of grapple used to be wasting an enemy's action or dragging them to where they don't want to go. Now, you must make the grapple attack again if they make the save. If you fail to make that attack, it feels like the grapple is removed without any cost.

We didn't get a chance to test Healer feat.

TL;DR I liked the changes, but for now they are not so many that it felt like a different edition. Overall, I would prefer the new rules to the original, with the exception of grappling.

I'm getting sick of this canned response to every possible criticism of the new game rules.

I know I can run the game however I want. That was always true. You're not adding anything useful to the conversation by saying that.

It's such a bad faith comment to make, too. As if the RAW were so unimportant to the people in this community. As if new players had the expertise to know which rules to ignore or completely rewrite. As if the official rules weren't the common language that this community shares.

So, hey, notice to the people who say "you can ignore this rule" or "you can do it how you want at your table":

People criticize the rules because they're afraid it's making the game stupid and frustrating to everyone that picks it up. They're afraid it's going to make the game awful. I don't want the game to be awful. I want it to be good. I want it to feel good to play, and I want it to be fun, and I want outsiders to be impressed with how well it's designed. That's not an unreasonable thing to want, and I am worried it's not going to happen.

In my opinion, 5e suffers from horrible creation option creep - every single new release includes character races that most people will never ever touch, mostly useless backgrounds (as nearly everyone just comes up with custom ones) and other superfluous character options. Meanwhile, there is a staggering lack of meaningful decision-making when actually playing the character. You pick a subclass (which you probably had in mind from the start), get some core feats (like GWM or Sharpshooter) and then you're just coasting until the end of the campaign.
I think 1D&D would really benefit from actual skill trees or other means of choosing a path for your character - it seems like a much more worthwhile effort than just churning out new races.

Designing polished game mechanics should be the responsibility of WotC, not the DM. To me that seems obvious.

I've noticed a pattern recently in the DnD community: Someone will bring up criticism of the OneDnD PHB, they get downvoted, and people dismiss their concerns because the issue can be fixed or circumvented by the DM. Here are some examples from here and elsewhere, of criticisms and dismissals -

• Spike Growth does too much damage when combined with the new grappler feat - "Just let the DM say no" "Just let the DM house-rule how grappling works"

• Spell scroll crafting too cheap and spammable - "The DM can always limit downtime"

• Animate Dead creates frustrating gameplay patterns - "The DM can make NPCs hostile towards that spell to discourage using it"

• The weapon swapping interactions, e.g. around dual wielding, make no sense as written - "Your DM can just rule it in a sensible way"

• Rogues too weak - "The DM can give them a chance to shine"

Are some of these valid dismissals? Maybe, maybe not. But overall there's just a common attitude that instead of critiquing Hasbro's product, we should instead expect DMs to patch everything up. The Oberoni fallacy gets committed over and over, implicitly and explicitly.

To me dismissing PHB issues just because the DM can fix them doesn't make sense. Like, imagine a AAA video game releasing with obvious unfixed bugs, and when self-respecting customers point them out, their criticism gets dismissed by fellow players who say "It's not a problem if you avoid the behavior that triggers the bug" or "It's not a problem because there's a community mod to patch it". Like, y'all, the billion-dollar corporation does not need you to defend their mistakes.

Maybe the DM of your group is fine with fixing things up. And good for them. But a lot of DMs don't want to deal with having to fix the system. A lot of DMs don't have the know-how to fix the system. And new DMs certainly won't have an easier time running a system that needs fixing or carefulness.

I dunno, there are millions of DMs in the world probably. WotC could make their lives easier by publishing well-designed mechanics, or at least fixing the problems through errata. If they put out problematic rules or mechanics, I think it's fair for them to be held accountable.

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/dungeons-dragons-2024-players-handbook-48-subclasses/

Barbarian:

• Path of the Berserker

• Path of the Wild Heart (Previously Path of the Totem Warrior)

• Path of the World Tree (new to Dungeons & Dragons)

• Path of the Zealot

Bard

• College of Dance (new to Dungeons & Dragons)

• College of Glamour

• College of Lore

• College of Valor

Cleric

• Life Domain

• Light Domain

• Trickery Domain

• War Domain

Druid

• Circle of the Land

• Circle of the Moon

• Circle of the Sea (new to Dungeons & Dragons)

• Circle of the Stars

Fighter

• Battle Master

• Champion

• Eldritch Knight

• Psi Warrior

Monk

• Warrior of Mercy

• Warrior of Shadow

• Warrior of the Elements (previously the Way of the Four Elements)

• Warrior of the Open Hand

Paladin 

• Oath of Devotion

• Oath of Glory

• Oath of the Ancients

• Oath of Vengeance

Ranger

• Beast Master

• Fey Wanderer

• Gloom Stalker

• Hunter

Rogue

• Arcane Trickster

• Assassin

• Soulknife

• Thief

Sorcerer

• Aberrant Sorcery

• Clockwork Sorcery

• Draconic Sorcery

• Wild Magic

Warlock

• Archfey Patron

• Celestial Patron

• Fiend Patron

• Great Old One Patron

Wizard

• Abjurer

• Diviner

• Evoker

• Illusionist

Just want to post something about so many responses I’ve seen on many sides of various issues, I won’t be going into any specific topic but in general I think this is something that needs to be said:

The default is what determines the direction of a game/organization/anything, no matter how customizable the game is. It will determine what kind of content will be made and encouraged in the future, it also sets the expectation for the general culture and makes it more difficult to play or find other people who want to play the type of game that you want to play.

Easy example, is it more difficult right now to find a D&D table that plays 2nd edition or 5th edition? D&D has playtested its way to where we are now and will continue to move as time goes by.

At the end of the day, the default matters a ton for the future of the game and not really something that can be dismissed by “just homebrew it” or “you don’t have to have it in your game”

PS - WotC really needs to provide more DM resources than just player options all the time, don’t think many people disagree there.

People who are wary of WotC's corporate ambitions are wise to feel that way. Yet when I see statements of that distrust, my heart breaks a little for all of the good people at WotC who hated this entire thing. All of these vile shenanigans were the work of a small number of people, the majority of WotC staff are people who chased their dream, are likely underpaid, and would probably be fun to have a beer with.

To honor those at WotC that are the good guys, I'm challenging myself to try to be more specific when I'm talking shit about WotC's leadership. Instead of just saying WotC, I'm gonna try to say WotC's shareholders, or Hasbro, or "the board at WotC".

I know better than to try and tell people to change how they do things, but I invite you to try it with me!

I like the idea of the Psion. And more than that, I’m really excited for a new class!

I want WOTC to explore new avenues in creating something that we haven’t seen since the Artificer. And I still think that design space can exist for new things like support based martial, a Shaman type class, and yes, a Psion.

But I’m already seeing so many complaints about how this doesn’t need to exist. And, I’m concerned that, if criticism isn’t constructive about how to reasonably improve what has been given, we’ll lose WoTCs desire to even attempt to innovate. Think the loss of universal Fighter maneuvers in dndnext. I really don’t want that.

Roll20 accidentally leaked a major announcement. We’re getting a World of Warcraft crossover product soon.

I want every spell from regular 5e, I want as many subclasses for all the classes as is reasonable...

I want as much stuff reprinted, refurbished, and reworked as possible... Cram as many races as you can in there.

Dont hold back, I want the new PHB to be a thick, chonky, big bastard. I want that boy to break my bookshelf you hear me!

"Today I retire from Wizards of the Coast after 28 years. With D&D’s 50th anniversary wrapping up and the revised rulebooks doing gangbusters, this is the perfect fairytale ending for me. I can’t wait to enjoy D&D purely as a fan again, knowing the game is in good hands. See you in the Feywild!"

https://bsky.app/profile/chrisperkinsdnd.bsky.social/post/3llyvdjkphk2p

Hello again friends, as promised I am back with my bulletpoints from the just finished stream on the new Warlock in the new PHB coming this September. If you want to see my previous bulletpoints on the previous classes check out my master post Here! (its NSFW because my account is flagged as NSFW for some reason, but there is nothing actual NSFW on there I promise) As before if you want to watch the vid yourself you can head Here

Lets get started!

Warlock overall

• Warlocks are great

• Like all of the classes a fun journey as they returned to it and gave it another look

• "How could we preserve whats great about it while make improvements"

• New feature at level 2: Magical Cunning

  • A way to get pact magic back sooner then just on Short/Long Rest

  • Knew that warlocks feel overly constrained on their spellcasting which is the thought of magical cunning

• The previous level 2, Eldritch Invocations is now moved to level 1

  • and you get more invocations now as you level up

  • Caused them to look at the invocations again and see both if they can be improved and if they are coming in at the right levels

• Since a lot of invocations have level pre-reqs

• A number of invocations have had those level pre-reqs lowered

• But also now some invocations that didn't have pre-reqs now do since Invocations are now 1st level

  • This was done both to make sure that you don't have OP options right at the bat

  • but also done to make it less overwhelming of options to choose from

  • Now the level pre-reqs sort of "pace" how many invocations you have to consider

  • 1st level main choices are 3 that used to be a whole separate feature,

• Pact Boons

  • now invocations obviously

  • Now you can get them at 1st level, but also because they are invocations you can theoretically get all of them

  • Where they used to be mutually exclusive

  • this is basically being the "big choice" you now make at 1st level instead of subclass since all subclasses are level 3 now

• Pact of the chain has been enhanced with "more spooky critter options"

  • More familiars that speak to the different types of patrons warlocks can get

  • Like a Slaad Tadpole

  • And a Skeleton familiar

  • leaning harder into the idea that warlock is a spooky and occult spellcaster

  • But on the other end of that spectrum you can also pick something more whimsical like a psuedo-dragon or a sprite, or a brand new monster, the Sphinx of Wonder

  • Sphinx of wonder is part of a re-imagined family of sphinxes that you will see more in the MM

  • All of the familiars you can get have their statblocks in the PHB, but those are the Imp, Pseudo-Dragon, Slaad Tadpole, Quasit, Sprite, Sphinx of Wonder, & Venomous Snake

  • Venomous Snake used to be a general Find Familiar option, but is now exclusive to warlock

  • Because Venomous snake was seen mechanically better then any other Find Familiar option so they moved it to warlock because that's kinda what pact of the chain does is give you a Find Familiar +

  • you can take other invocations later that mesh well with pact of the chain giving you extra stuff that you can do with your familiar, like telling it to attack with a BA

• Pact of the blade gets invocations that further enhance it as well (edited)

  • You can get to the point with blade where you can make extra attacks or heal yourself when you hit

  • Pact of the tome also has later invocations that build on it

• Pact of the Tome really speaks to the fact that spellcasting for the Warlock in general has been enhanced

  • In addition to magical cunning more of the invocations work with more of the warlocks spells then before

  • Used to be that most of the invocations that modify spells, only worked with eldritch blast

  • now if you want to modify your other cantrips you can

  • Eldritch blast is still the bread and butter and still fantastic, but you now have more build options

  • like a ray of frost that knocks people back

  • which would make that combo essentially knocking them back and slowing them because ROF does that, which essentially slows them even more

• Brand new invocation called "Lessons Of the First Ones"

  • Simply lets you take another Origin Feat

  • Again giving more customization more modularity for what kind of warlock you want to be

  • Warlock is kinda the "character builder's paradise" now because of all this according to Crawford, and Kenreck says "it will probably be very hard to meet a warlock who is exactly the same"

  • The drive to give you more options and ways to build and play your warlock should be apparent not only in the Base kit and invocations, but also in the subclasses

• You can now also Call Upon your patron

  • which was really an oversight since its such a common shtick, trope and fundamental idea for warlocks

  • No real info on how this works though sadly, at least not in the video

• Epic boon at 19 like all classes

• And still has the Mystic Arcanum feature which seems unchanged in what it does and when you get it

• the Warlock Spell List has been expanded

  • All class spell lists have been, but Crawford says "this is especially great for warlocks"

  • Warlock spell list was very short before so it being expanded is nice

  • it still won't be as big as The Wizard's for example but is expanded nonetheless

  • Warlock Spell list was always shorter because Warlocks don't rely solely on their spells like the Wizard or Sorc do, but also on their invocations

  • they always had to be careful when they added spells to the warlock list as well, with how it would interact with the pact magic

Subclasses

ArchFey

• if you like Teleporting you're in for a treat

• Thought the 2014 version needed a major enhancement, even if it was thematically always popular

• had a lot of flavor but the gameplay wasn't living up

• A lot of other Fey related mechanics involved teleportation so they decided to lean into that with the AFP

• A subclass that will let you vanish and reappear elsewhere frequently

  • but also lets you layer on extra effects when you teleport

• Steps of the Fey feature

  • Lets you cast Misty Step a certain number of times per day without expending spell slot, and allows these extra effect (

  • but you can do these extra effects whenever you cast Misty Step even if you use a spell slot

  • Was explored previously with Eladrin's Teleport effects

  • Has helpful effects , like teleporting and gaining temp HP

  • but also things like Taunting Step, where you impose disadvantage on an enemies attack unless they attack you

• Why would I want someone to attack me? Good question! Because as you go deeper into the subclass you gain abilities where you can then punish people for attacking you

  • Like with Psychic damage, or making you turn invisible

  • So with the invisibility you can really vex the monster by making it have disadvantage to hit anyone else, but also disadvantage to hit you because you are invisible

• New level 14 feature called Bewitching Magic

  • Whenever you cast an enchantment or illusion spell you can misty step for free

  • and yes when you misty step with this you can use those extra effects from Steps of the Fey

• Going to be "Ridiculous in all the best ways"

Celestial Patron

• Originally in Xanathar's Graduated to PHB and enhanced in the process

• Benefits greatly from the expanded spell list and the spell chapter in the PHB

  • Now gets one of the "new" (pretty sure it existed before though, probably just not in the PHB) summon spells, Summon Celestial

  • Most all subclasses have benefited from the expanded spell chapter, including paladin oaths, cleric domains, etc

• all warlock subclasses in the book have a major enhancement when it comes to that list of spells

• in 2014 the patron provided expanded spell list just gave you an expanded spell list that you can pick spells from

  • Now you automatically gain and always prepared those spells, and are not counted against the number of spells you can know

• Particularly important for the Celestial as those expanded spells are really bringing the "celestial flavor"

  • giving you spells like guiding bolt, cure wounds, aid, etc

  • trying to help lean into the idea that the Celestial is the "helpful warlock"

• Celestial Resilience now plays off the Magical cunning feature

• Searing Vengeance level 14 ability now applies to either you OR an ally

The Fiend

• Of the 4 warlock subclasses this has the most of the 2014 "pieces" present but they have all been enhanced

• Spell list revisited

• you can use some features more often then before, like Dark One's Own Luck

• Hurl through Hell is still terrifying but has clearer functionality

• Magical weapons no longer bypass resistance with Fiendish resilience now

• The tankiness that The Fiend had in Baldur's Gate 3 from its ability to gain Temp HP when you killed an enemy is also here now

• The biggest enhancement in Fiend is in Dark One's Blessing

  • Now you gain it's benefit whether you are the one who kills the foe, or if someone else does within a certain distance

  • So it gets even easier to get that sweet temp HP

Great Old One

• For all intents and purposes a new subclass

  • basically rebuilt from the ground up

  • as it was felt, similar to the Archfey, that it Oozed with flavor but wasn't backed up by mechanics

  • Oozed being used purposefully

• really "poured on the ooze and psionic power"

• Now you can much more easily have the fantasy of using psychic power to harm people, whisper into their minds, and summon terrifying eldritch abominations

  • with summon aberration

• Create Thrall feature, relies on you summoning a creature from beyond the stars

• Summon Aberration now lets you summon a Mind Flayer as well

  • Not 1 to 1 on the Mind flayer from the MM but a mind flayer option for Summon aberration

• Some spells on their list include, detect thought, phantasmal force, Tasha's hideous laughter, clairvoyance, hunger of Hadar, Confusion, Summon Aberrations, Modify Memory & Telekinesis

• and when you do damage you can turn things into psychic damage

• 3 of the features in this subclass are entirely new

  • Create Thrall is technically brand new as well, but its just using the old name

  • psychic Spells, Clairvoyant Combatant and Eldritch Hex are the names of the new features

• Psychic Spells Allows you to first cast enchantment and illusion spells without verbal (V) or Somatic (S) components, because you are in the flavor, not really casting the spell but using your psychic abilities to make the effect of the spell happen

  • Psychic spells also lets you change your damage to psychic when you do damage with a warlock spell

• Clairvoyant Combatant ties into Awakened Mind

  • Awakened Mind to remind people, lets you make a connection between your mind and someone else's

• Then with Clairvoyant Combatant you can make that connection "go bad"

  • Heightening the damage that you do to that target

  • A nod to how Psionics worked in 1e D&D

  • where you could have full on psionic battles in the mind with nothing actually happening visibly

• Eldritch Hex is more powerful as well

  • Gives the target Disadvantage on saving throws against a certain ability

  • Don't really see how this is different, but I just report what they say

• Kenreck is a huge warlock fan and says "these are all great its hard to choose, they all touch on the different sub genres of this type of horror so well"

And that is All! thank you again for reading if you enjoyed this write up then that's all that I want. tomorrow I will be back with the Druid, then Wizard coming Thursday And the Ranger coming Friday. with again the final 4 classes remaining unannounced AFAIK

For context, they are a wild magic sorcerer who rolled a 31 on a wild magic surge last turn. This means:

The next time you cast a spell that deals damage within the next minute, don’t roll the spell’s damage dice for the damage. Instead use the highest number possible for each damage die.

They upcast chromatic orb meaning up to two bounces. Since the damage die automatically became 8s they bounce automatically as long as the keep hitting. With innate sorcery they got 2 hits and a crit.

Chromatic Orb

You hurl an orb of energy at a target within range. Choose Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, or Thunder for the type of orb you create, and then make a ranged spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 3d8 damage to the chosen type.

If you roll the same number on two or more of the d8s, the orb leaps to a different target of your choice within 30 feet of the target. Make an attack roll against the new target, and make a new damage roll. The orb can’t leap again unless you cast the spell with a level 2+ spell slot.

Using a Higher-Level Spell Slot. The damage increases by 1d8 for each spell slot level above 1. The orb can leap a maximum number of times equal to the level of the slot expended, and a creature can be targeted only once by each casting of this spell.

Upcast that is 2 times 4d8 max and 1 time 8d8 max. 128 Damage at with a second level spell slot.

Hi everyone,

Shades the Mothman, Spaghetti0 Homebrew and me (PerfectlyCircularSeal) started a little project of translating all 2014 subclasses to the new 2024 language and applying the necessary balance and possibly redesign where needed.

We currently have all subclasses and even the Artificer written and updated, but we are looking for your feedback! We want to make this into a useful guide for anyone that wants to take their 2014 content into their new campaigns using the 2024 rules without breaking the game. Finally no subclass has to be banned or laughed at (looking at your Peace Cleric and Battlerager).

Down here is the link, feel free to look at the stuff you are curious at and comment on anything you think can be improved, nerfed, buffed, etc. Thank you and enjoy!

**UPDATE:** We have (sort of) finished up the document with all of your lovely help. I changed the document to view only for now, if there are still some major issues we have overlooked then feel free to comment below! Thank you all again for your help, together we created a very nice port of the old subclasses.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b-8jLkYuOxQJIEyUHK4yAK8FBpwaSpgROjp7Tmb6hwg/edit?usp=sharing

I understand that people are disappointed with some of the announced changes to classes. Its fine to be upset. Its fine to be critical. I just strongly doubt many people on this sub are interested to see someone else's homebrew fixes to a set of rules that we don't even actually know yet.

If you feel the need to post a homebrew fix for a 2024 class, I really need to ask you: Are you actually playing a game based on your interpretation of these YouTube videos? Have you actually found the need to implement these homebrew fixes in your game? Have they actually improved gameplay at your table? Because if not, then posting them here is just pointless bargaining and wishcasting.

Lately it feels like this sub is drowning in these kinds of posts. They have little to no value to anyone other than the posters, and they're bringing down the quality of the subreddit.

Sorry for the rant.

I see a lot of constant downvoting of any negative feedback of OneDnD on this sub, with the typical response being "Just shut up and wait" or "If you don't like it, don't use the rules". Thats not the point of a playtest, and using the downvote against anyone who doesn't trust WOTC to blindly make decisions when they themselves are asking for feedback is non-constructive. Downvotes should be used for posts that are off topic or non-constructive, not negative criticism.