One D&D: Bards, Rangers, and Rogues

The next round of playtest material for One D&D, the next edition of the popular Dungeons & Dragons, is here. While this material is experimental and in no way final, I thought it might be fun to take a look at some of the changes to the “Expert Classes”, the new base bard, ranger, and rogue.

What makes them Expert Classes? Well, these are the classes that will gain “Expertise” in a few select skills, this allows them to double their proficiency bonus in these skills. Making them the best in the game at whatever they choose to specialise in.

Besides this, another major sweeping change is that all classes have their capstone ability moved to level 18 and instead receive an epic boon at level 20. 5e’s capstones were notably pretty awful, so this is a good change, but the epic boons so far shown have yet to light up my world either.

Before we dive into what these changes mean, let's summarise them.

The Bard;

By default, the bard has a few major changes, the first of which is the limitation of their spell list to Arcane spells that fall into the following schools of magic — Divination, Enchantment, Illusion, or Transmutation — with only limited spells available outside of this (using their Magical Secrets feature). This really pushes the bard towards control, utility and support. They also get a range of healing spells added to their spell list, but not the most powerful ones. In addition, Bardi Inspiration die can now be used to heal in addition to boosting the result of a d20 Test, with Bardic Inspiration being a Reaction instead of a Bonus Action. No more will your allies forget to use it. With a revamp (or should we say clarification) of weapon classifications, the bard also loses access to any non-simple weapons (like the rapier). There is also the small but amazing change that bards can now pick and choose their spells from their spell list every long rest.

The bard is very clearly a support class now, cutting off a large number of damage options and giving them access to basic healing by default.

The Ranger;

A class that struggled upon 5e’s release gets a much-needed revision at the cost of some flavour. The Expertise gained will really help them with their survival skills, but what about the rest of their new kit? Rejoice, for Hunter’s Mark no longer requires concentration and acts more like an ability for rangers. Their spells are limited to the “Primal” spellcasting branch, and like the bard, they can change them when they take a long rest. Otherwise, as you level you’ll get to move faster, travel for longer, go invisible because why not, and gain Blindsight before eventually upgrading your Hunter’s Mark at 18th level to 1d10.

The ranger has more spell flexibility now that it isn’t locked into Hunters Mark concentration, this also makes melee rangers more viable (as well as the changes to how two-weapon fighting works, woo!). It loses some of the wonky and situational abilities like the old Favored Enemy. Expertise basically gives the ranger what it lost from the now redundant Natural Explorer feature. Tireless seems pretty situational and meh, and I feel you could easily move Foe Slayer to that slot and you wouldn't miss Tireless, then add something better for 18th level, not just more damage. It actually has about the same impact as a rogue Sneak Attack increase, except you only get the boost once, so why not?

The Rogue;

Among the Experts, the rogue gains their Expertise a little bit faster (with a second set of Expertise at 7th level rather than 9th) but is otherwise the least changed class. There is some woe as the rogue can no longer apply Sneak Attack multiple times in one turn or on Reactions, however, this was a loophole in 5e’s rules and I don’t think it will have a material impact on the class, certainly not the way I’ve seen it played. Otherwise, the rogue actually is slightly more powerful than its 5e version, with higher level rogues getting so much advantage and a boost to both Charisma and Wisdom saves.

The rogue probably has the least fundamental changes, with some minor wording here and there. Charisma saves as well as Wisdom saves are awesome. They simplified or clarified wording for various things. Subtle Strikes are great but still slightly out of reach for rogues in most campaigns. Rogues are going to be even harder to pin down than ever but will do less damage (due to the closing of loopholes).

These classes really focus on out-of-combat situations. Within combat, the bard is focussed on support with magic and Bardic Inspiration, and the other two are secondary damage dealers (or should be if compared to a mage or warrior). Where they shine is in the use of their skills. For the bard the focus is on social situations. The ranger and rogue don’t have an explicit focus but it is implied that the ranger focuses on Survival and Stealth and the rogue focuses on Stealth and Sleight of Hand but there is nothing that actually forces you to play that way.

The rogue could potentially feel less powerful than it does currently because the ranger has been brought up a couple of levels with Expertise and has access to Spellcasting. The rogue does somewhat make up for that with a fairly reliable Sneak Attack (provided you have melee fighters in your party) which makes rogues have these damage spikes, whereas the ranger is more focused on consistent damage.

Oh also, you can no longer spam Guidance for people, but I feel like spell changes and so on should be a separate article. Happy gaming!