New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

Today, Wizards of the Coast has announced a new Unearthed Arcana playtest featuring eight new Dungeons & Dragons subclasses that will appear in the upcoming Forgotten Realms Player's Guide. The new subclasses include five classes tied to Forgotten Realms regions, as well as the return of the Knowledge Domain Cleric subclass from the 2014 Player's Handbook and the Bladesinger Wizard subclass and Purple Dragon Knight Fighter subclass from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

Each of the five remaining subclasses are themed to one of the five regions explored in the Forgotten Realms Adventure Guide also coming out in November. The College of the Moon Bard subclass is tied to the Moonshae Isles, the Winter Walker Ranger subclass is tied to Icewind Dale, and the Oath of the Noble Genies is tied to Calimshan. The Scion of The Three is tied to the Dead Three (of Baldur's Gate fame). Meanwhile, Spellfire Sorcery dates back to 2nd Edition and can both heal allies and harm foes.

The eight new subclasses can be found below:

• College Of The Moon (Bard)
• Knowledge Domain (Cleric)
• Purple Dragon Knight (Fighter)
• Oath Of The Noble Genies (Paladin)
• Winter Walker (Ranger)
• Scion Of The Three (Rogue)
• Spellfire Sorcery (Sorcerer)
• Bladesinger (Wizard)

The Forgotten Realm's Players Guide comes out on November 11th.

 

[Remathilis]

Pretty much giving up the ghost on even pretending that prior lore matters. Not that Wizards thinks it does, they quit on that front officially some time ago now.

I think it was pretty much spelled out that WotC considers older lore to be inspiration, not shackles. That is as true for the Knights of Cormyr as it is for the Mages of High Sorcery, the Scarlet Order, the Vistani, the Hands of Havoc or the Dragonmarked Houses.

 

[Scribe]

This is the worst justification to me for critizing the PDK. Lore changes in every medium. Comics go through evolutions and retcons every few years, movies and shows constantly get rebooted, hell even novels often retcon or contridict themselves if the series runs for more than a few books.

Stagnant lore is boring. WotC should 1000% look for ways to evolve their settings to be more interesting and different for each new iteration. Otherwise why bother printing anything new at all?

Not liking the PDK is totally valid. Hell, even not liking the lore change being this drastic is valid. But to shun any form of evolution just because someone wrote a novel in 1998 just leaves everything stagnant and boring.

There is a difference in evolving lore, either as part of a story/novel, or over multiple editions, in an organic way, and just going 'Yeah actually they are called this because they have a relationship with Amethyst Dragons, what you didnt know?'

I mean I LIKE the Gem Dragons, so I'm not even that mad, I also care a lot less about anything D&D year by year, but straight up retcons are lame.

 

[Mistwell]

Purple Knight: I appreciate some have issues with the change to the theme of this class, and I am hoping WOTC can explain the shift in approach in a context which can fit with the prior theme well-enough, or adapt the approach to something more on-theme. For example, perhaps make the dragon a magical horse-like steed with similar powers but maybe a charge attack instead of the breath weapon or something. Though I do like the Dragon Riders of Pern concept.

Mechanics-wise, I love this subclass (except I think it should be charisma rather than intelligence based). This is the only way, in the entire game so far, that I've seen a way to create a true fairy tale mounted knight in the game before high level.

To do that, you'd want Dueling at level 1, Great Weapon Master at level 4, Polearm Master at level 6, Mounted Combatant at level 8, where at level 7 you get the Dragon Rider feature, and now you've got your full lance and shield while riding a dragon concept going by level 8. And the mount is medium size at that level, which is easier to fit in dungeons.

The progression is spot-on to what I'd want for a fairy tale knight in shining armor. At low levels you're an apprentice knight wielding a longsword and shield with Dueling. At level 4 you use a great sword with Great Weapon Master, or sword and board when AC is needed ore. At level 6 you switch the great sword for a Halberd or Glaive with polearm master or spear and shield when AC from the shield is needed. At Level 8 you get the lance and shield going while mounted, with those other combinations for when dismounted. That's the progression I'd want for a fairy tale classic mounted knight, and having reasons to make that progression in different weapons feels very classic Knight to me. And it gives a reason for all those weapon masteries and ability to change out weapon masteries.

There's just no real way to do this by tier 2 with a mount that has a prayer of surviving, except this one. You could pull if off with a Paladin or Ranger by tier 3, but nothing completes the concept nearly as early as this one (the others are like level 12 to 14). And it's mostly due to the Fighter's extra feat. The fighter is the perfect chassis for this kind of thing.

 

[Scribe]

I think it was pretty much spelled out that WotC considers older lore to be inspiration, not shackles. That is as true for the Knights of Cormyr as it is for the Mages of High Sorcery, the Scarlet Order, the Vistani, the Hands of Havoc or the Dragonmarked Houses.

They didnt spell it out, they said it. Anything prior to 5e is not canon. Thats just how it goes.

 

[Remathilis]

There is a difference in evolving lore, either as part of a story/novel, or over multiple editions, in an organic way, and just going 'Yeah actually they are called this because they have a relationship with Amethyst Dragons, what you didnt know?'

I mean I LIKE the Gem Dragons, so I'm not even that mad, I also care a lot less about anything D&D year by year, but straight up retcons are lame.

We don't KNOW it's a retcons. Remember, Forgotten Realms is the only setting so far that hasn't reset to it's original date. We got a little generic info in SCAG and that's all. It's absolutely possible that this change will come in the form of an evolution (in recent years, Cormyr made a pact with an amethyst dragon...) that happened off camera. Is it a retcon just because there isn't a novel or module that explains it?

Now it's perfectly possible it is a retcon; WotC is not adverse to them. But until we get the setting guide or more info on Cormyr, it's hard to say exactly where the change comes from.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but maybe we should wait until we know more before flying off the handle.

 

[Remathilis]

They didnt spell it out, they said it. Anything prior to 5e is not canon. Thats just how it goes.

And yet they keep as many things (or even more) than they changed. Greyhawk had very minimal changes befitting and edition change (at least on par with the 3e changes) and Krynn kept much of it's broad strokes the same. Even Planescape is mostly intact enough that you could view it as an alternative timeline to Faction War.

 

[mellored]

Yeah, Dance/Genie goes way too hard on that one stat.

Overall Genie Paladin isn't even that bad, if you're not doing some crazy minmax that sacrifices other important traits. Plate armor is AC 18, Studded Leather armor with Dex 20 and Cha 14 is AC 19. That's a pretty small difference. All it's really doing is incentivizing a Finesse type build a little. You're not really outpacing Plate armor until Tier 3, and by that point you have to seriously consider the difference in magic item selection.

You're not outpacing plate unless you take +2 Dex/Cha feats. Which means your not taking heavy armor mastery or even inspiring leader.

So yea, not an issue by itself.

Not even sure it's an issue with dance bard.
Is 25 AC better than.
20 AC, reduce B/P/S damage by 5, and higher level spells?

 

[Scribe]

I'm not saying you're wrong, but maybe we should wait until we know more before flying off the handle.

I'm not flying off the handle, I'm resigned, as I am to most of what they are doing that I dont agree with. Its academic at this point.

 

[Worrgrendel]

Notably, you can't use defensive style if you aren't wearing armor.

Also, dance/genie might have high AC, but I'm not sure it's really that strong overall.

High AC and little to back it up with just means you’re likely to be the last one to die when things go sideways on the way to TPKville. That or the DM just gets annoyed at not being able to hit you and throws stuff at you with Con or Int saves all the time.

 

[mellored]

High AC and little to back it up with just means you’re likely to be the last one to die when things go sideways on the way to TPKville. That or the DM just gets annoyed at not being able to hit you and throws stuff at you with Con or Int saves all the time.

Well you got a lot of healing and support.

Give everyone an initiative boost, drop Hypnotic Pattern, a bardic inspiration, and throw out a punch, and reaction to move an ally and throw out another punch isn't a terrible round 1.

Might be a bit on the strong side. But not like quicken CME levels.