D&D: All 12 Class Capstone Abilities In The 2024 Player’s Handbook

Each class in the gets a «capstone feature» at level 20. These features are incredibly powerful, and either boost the strength of existing class features, or provide new ways for characters to interact with the world. And most of the options here are entirely new within this handbook, replacing or modifying existing features.

But even so, there are some massive power imbalances in what characters get at max level. These capstone abilities should incentivize players to keep getting stronger and more proficient in what they do, yet some classes will receive more motivation than others. It may take a long time for players to reach level 20 in many games, but they should still take a look at the power in store for them, priming themselves for excitement or disappointment.

In a sea of great abilities and powerful buffs, the ranger stands out as having the only capstone feature that most would consider objectively bad. There isn't even that much to say. At level 20, the damage from a ranger's hunter's mark increases from 1d6 to 1d10.

Subclasses are now all reserved for level three, making a one or two level dip into certain classes much less valuable.

This is bad, and not just because it relies on rangers constantly using a first-level spell to increase their damage. The damage increase, an average of two points, is borderline insulting. At this same level, wizards can cast wish, or stop time, and this 2 point damage increase is a drop in the bucket of a high-level monster's health pool.

Right away, the warlock capstone feature is miles better than the ranger's, though still not terribly exciting. It buffs their magical cunning feature, which allows warlocks to recover spell slots over a minute of concentration. Before, it restored half of a warlock's totalpact magic slots; now, it restores them all.

Warlocks have always had an interesting relationship with spell slots, only getting a few at a time, but recovering them on a short rest. That has not changed, but this