The latest D&D One playtest proposes rules for allowing players to build and customize a home bases, or Bastions, and some revised version of cantrips. Lets take a look at those cantrips first.
Revised Cantrips
Acid Splash:
The new version now targets a 5 foot radius sphere instead of one or two creatures who are within 5 feet of each other. This potentially allows you to hit more than one target. Normally, I try not to split up a radius over half-squares on the map, but it looks like doing so may be D&D official position.
Blade Ward:
The new version of blade ward is a reaction you can take when you are targeted by a melee attack. It imposes disadvantage on the attack roll. The old version gave you resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing until the start of your next turn.
Chill Touch:
This spell now has a range of “touch”, and the damage dice have been upgraded from 1d8 to 1d10. If the target is an undead, it has disadvantage on attack roll against you until the end of your next turn. This cantrip still prevents regaining hit points.
Poison Spray:
This cantrip now has a range of 30 feet instead of 10, and uses an attack roll instead of a saving throw. It’s also been changed to school of necromancy.
Produce Flame:
Produce flame now casts as a bonus action, although an action is still required to hurl fire. The light it sheds is now equivalent to a torch, and the attack range is doubled to 60 feet.
Shillelagh:
This cantrip now scales in damage like other cantrips. It allows the player to choose force damage or the weapons damage type for the extra damage. It no longer says the weapon is magical, which I think may be part of the effort to remove magic weapons. I’m not sure how that’s gonna play out, but they’ve been doing it monster for a while.
Shocking Grasp:
The new version of shocking grasp only prevents opportunity attacks, instead of preventing all reactions.
Spare the Dying:
This spell now has a 15 foot range, which scales all the way up to 120 feet. They’ve also removed the wording that prevents it from being used on constructs and undead.
True Strike:
The old version of true strike gave you advantage on an attack against the target on your next turn. This is one of the spells that I have never seen anyone use, because it’s bad. Now, it allows you to make an attack using your spellcasting ability modifier, and change the damage type to radiant. The damage scales by d6’s like other damage cantrips.
Bastions
The Bastion rules are designed to give players control over building a home for themselves in the game. The rules suggest that players should be given as much free reign as possible in order to customize a space for themselves. This throws the balance of creativity in the game over to the players inside the walls of the bastion. I really like this idea.
Bastions become available to players at level 5, and they are enabled to invest money in building basic rooms that are mostly for roleplaying purposes. The are also able to build special facilities that confer bonuses to the owner based upon time and investment of Bastion Points. These facilities allow hirelings to craft items, conduct research, and perform a variety of other tasks for their player.
You can find my other articles on the One D&D playtest materials here.
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