Best Announced Changes For OneD&D

Highlights

• OneD&D is going to introduce a bunch of changes to Dungeons & Dragons’ system, despite not being a new edition.
• For example, the Counterspell mechanics are changed to require spellcaster roll-off in battle. This adds complexity and player agency.
• Bastions are introduced for player-owned bases, offering rewards, staff, items, and more. It’s a unique addition that allows players to shape the game world.

The upcoming OneD&D is set to revamp Dungeons and Dragons in a major way. While it isn’t a brand-new edition of the game, it reworks many features from Fifth Edition that might be confusing, underwhelming, or not so conducive to roleplay. Some weaker classes will be improved, and martial classes will gain additional flexibility outside of just hitting their target.

Overall, OneD&D promises some interesting changes that could change how players approach the game, from embracing player-owned real estate to making Counterspell a battle between spellcasters. While there’s no shortage of changes players will have to learn, there are definitely some standouts. Here are the biggest and best changes in the forthcoming OneD&D.

7 Races

Races Are Swapped For Species

Although this change might not impact much mechanically, it has been a long time coming, and finally pushes Dungeons and Dragons into the 21st century. Since its creation, different species have been referred to as ‘Races’ in D&D, and pretty soon, this will go away, opting for the term ‘Species’ instead. This change is due to what Wizards Of The Coast have described as “prejudiced” links between fantasy and the real world. It does seem a little outdated to still be using the ‘Race’ term in 2024 for fantasy creatures when species seems more appropriate and is generally a better-suited term

When creating new characters, players will instead select a species, and the majority of the flavor associated with their character will instead be tied to their background. It’s important to note that this isn’t completely doing away with species-specific benefits, but it’s a welcomed effort to move away from stigma and prejudice in favor of a more inclusive experience.

6 Counterspell

Countering An Enemy Requires Them To Roll

Gone are the days when Counterspell acted as a simple block button, instead, it will force spellcasters to square up against each other for one to come out victorious. Currently, Counterspell can simply nullify any spell that is 3rd level or lower, and for anything higher, players who cast it need to roll a check to see if their counterspell can counteract higher-level spells.

While this is definitely not a broken feature, it can feel a little bit annoying during combat for a powerful enemy’s spell to be simply negated, or for a player to burn a high-level spell slot only for the Dungeon Master to Counterspell it. In OneD&D the player who is getting Counterspelled will instead need to roll to see if they can power through the attempt to stop their spellcasting, which adds another layer of complexity to Counterspell and allows players some amount of agency when battling it out with magic, when compared to the current Counterspell ruleset.

5 Bastions

Player Owned Bases Become Official

Bastions are one of the most interesting new mechanics that have been announced for OneD&D, and they will allow players to build a home base for their adventuring party. While it’s not uncommon for adventurers to pick a place to call their headquarters in the current version of the game, there are very few official rules to explain how such a place could be managed.

Bastions will allow players to gain special items, earn gold hire staff, and more. Bastions are automatically rewarded when a player becomes level 5, and for each week in-game, players will spend one “bastion turn” which is akin to issuing a command in their base. This can range from maintaining a Bastion to crafting items, harvesting resources or even trading.

Players will also be able to accumulate ‘Bastion Points’ which can be spent for various benefits, such as magic items. They represent the benefits accumulated by the continued operation of the Bastion. Players can spend 10 Bastion points to spread the word of their heroism, or even spend 100 Bastion points to revive their Bastion after dying. However players decide to spend their Bastion points, this is a great new addition that will allow players to partake in the molding of the adventuring world.

4 Weapon Mastery

Martial Characters Get Unique Actions

Weapon Mastery is a new mechanic that will add further options during combat for martial characters, who, for too long, have been relegated to simply hitting an enemy or object and dishing out damage. Now, each weapon in the game will have some sort of “Mastery” action, which allows a character who has achieved maximum proficiency with that weapon to gain a special action that can be used in new and interesting ways in combat.

The new possible actions available to martial characters are things like “Slow”, which will reduce a target’s speed by 10 feet, or “Cleave” which will allow players to make an additional attack against a new creature that’s within 5 feet of their original target, with slightly reduced damage. This provides great flexibility for martial characters and rewards players who invest time and effort in roleplay to further their character’s knowledge and skills.

3 Inspiration

OneD&D Provides A New Twist On Stale Rules

Inspiration in Dungeons and Dragons is a fairly simple concept. When a Dungeon Master wants to reward a player for roleplaying in a way that is true to their character, they can award inspiration. This allows players to gain advantage on a d20 roll of their choice. Unfortunately, this cannot stack, meaning that players can only have one Inspiration point at a time, and can’t stockpile them for the right scenario.

This feature is set to change in the upcoming OneD&D, and it’s already seen some adjustments in the recently-released ‘The Book of Many Things’ which offers 22 new ways to spend Inspiration. In OneD&D, players will still only be able to get 1 inspiration point at a time, but a Dungeon Master can still award additional Inspiration points, which the recipient can then distribute to another player at their table, which is a great rule change that further incentivizes good role-playing from everyone.

2 Monks

Underwhelming Class Is Set To Make A Comeback In OneD&D

Monks are in serious need of a rework, being perhaps the weakest martial class in the current version of Dungeons and Dragons, and luckily, they’re set to receive a big rework in OneD&D. Overall, their damage output will be higher, and use higher starting dice than they currently do. They are also set to receive a much-needed bonus to their Deflect Missiles feature, and at level 13, will be able to deflect any time of damage from a ranged attack, including magical effects. What’s more, at level 10, Monks will be able to immediately end negative conditions on themselves using their Self-Restoration ability, so a Monk could become the perfect candidate to take on a tricky Harpy.

The iconic Ki points that Monks use to do specific things are being reworked and replaced with discipline points. It mostly keeps things as they are in Fifth Edition, but now Monks have gained additional maneuverability, by way of Dash or Disengaging, without spending a point. Flurry of Blows will make three attacks instead of two, and their Patient Defense feature will grant additional temporary hit points, giving Monks some much-needed extra survivability during combat.

1 Feats

Feats Set To Scale With Level And Link To Origins

Feats are a little strange in the current version of Dungeons and Dragons. There’s a wide array available, with some providing ridiculously strong benefits like Shield Master allowing players to completely reduce incoming damage from a fireball, while others, like Grappler, provide situational benefits that don’t pay off particularly frequently. OneD&D is set to address this and overhaul feats in a pretty interesting way.

In OneD&D, feats will be awarded to characters as they pick their background. The feat will have some sort of link to a player’s chosen background. What’s more, is that feats are further embracing prerequisite requirements, and some feats will be locked to certain levels, which allows more mundane feats to be taken and not feel like a waste and allows higher-level players to get appropriately powerful feats as they progress through the levels.