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.

 

[GarrettKP]

Actually, after this round of UA...I tend to doubt they will do another Everything book, ir if instead we will see another batch of thematic Setting booster books that add various options as part of a package.

I’m confident they will do a Tasha’s Xanathar’s combo book. I think these UA drops are for setting books, and I think it’s to clear some of the deck to make room for the Everything Book.

I assume they want the “Core and Expanded” books (aka the setting agnostic player options) to have even amounts of subclasses. So for the Tasha and Xan book, my guess is they only want 4 subclasses for each class.

That means they need to find other ways to reprint subclasses since they can’t hit every 2014 option in one go with that limitation.

Putting stuff like horror themed options in a Ravenloft book along with reprints like Bladesinger, Purple Dragon Knight, and Knowledge Cleric in the FR book means they have more room in the Tasha’s Xanathar’s combo book for the missing core Wizard subclasses, other Cleric options, and others.

 

[Parmandur]

I’m confident they will do a Tasha’s Xanathar’s combo book. I think these UA drops are for setting books, and I think it’s to clear some of the deck to make room for the Everything Book.

I assume they want the “Core and Expanded” books (aka the setting agnostic player options) to have even amounts of subclasses. So for the Tasha and Xan book, my guess is they only want 4 subclasses for each class.

That means they need to find other ways to reprint subclasses since they can’t hit every 2014 option in one go with that limitation.

Putting stuff like horror themed options in a Ravenloft book along with reprints like Bladesinger, Purple Dragon Knight, and Knowledge Cleric in the FR book means they have more room in the Tasha’s Xanathar’s combo book for the missing core Wizard subclasses, other Cleric options, and others.

Maybe: but then again, maybe not.

 

[GarrettKP]

Maybe: but then again, maybe not.

There’s still a lot of subclasses to be reprinted.

Barbarian - Wild Magic, Beast, Storm Herald, Giant, Ancestral Guardian

Bard - Swords, Whisper, Creation, Eloquence

Cleric - Forge, Peace, Twilight, Order, Tempest, Nature, Arcana

Druid - Wildfire, Spores, Shepard, Dreams

Fighter - Arcane Archer, Cavalier, Samurai, Rune Knight

Monk - Astral Self, Drunken Master, Kensei, Long Death, Sun Soul, Ascendant Dragon

Paladin - Conquest, Redemption, Crown, Watchers

Ranger - Drake Warden, Horizon Walker, Monster Slayer, Swarmkeeper

Rogue - Inquisitive, Master Mind, Scout, Swashbuckler

Sorcerer - Divine Soul, Lunar, Storm

Warlock - Fathomless, Genie

Wizard - Necromancer, Enchanter, Transmuter, Conjurer, War Wizard, Scribe

That’s probably too much for a single player option book, especially one that will likely also include the DM material from Xan and Tasha’s. So they have to find other places to reprint a number of things outside of that book, and that’s why we are seeing so many in places like Forge of the Artificer and the Forgotten Realms Players Guide and whatever this spooky book is.

 

[DavyGreenwind]

There’s still a lot of subclasses to be reprinted.

Barbarian - Wild Magic, Beast, Storm Herald, Giant, Ancestral Guardian

Bard - Swords, Whisper, Creation, Eloquence

Cleric - Forge, Peace, Twilight, Order, Tempest, Nature, Arcana

Druid - Wildfire, Spores, Shepard, Dreams

Fighter - Arcane Archer, Cavalier, Samurai, Rune Knight

Monk - Astral Self, Drunken Master, Kensei, Long Death, Sun Soul, Ascendant Dragon

Paladin - Conquest, Redemption, Crown, Watchers

Ranger - Drake Warden, Horizon Walker, Monster Slayer, Swarmkeeper

Rogue - Inquisitive, Master Mind, Scout, Swashbuckler

Sorcerer - Divine Soul, Lunar, Storm

Warlock - Fathomless, Genie

Wizard - Necromancer, Enchanter, Transmuter, Conjurer, War Wizard, Scribe

That’s probably too much for a single player option book, especially one that will likely also include the DM material from Xan and Tasha’s. So they have to find other places to reprint a number of things outside of that book, and that’s why we are seeing so many in places like Forge of the Artificer and the Forgotten Realms Players Guide and whatever this spooky book is.

Thematically, I see a lot of Elemental subclasses that could go in a supplement together.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Putting stuff like horror themed options in a Ravenloft book along with reprints like Bladesinger, Purple Dragon Knight, and Knowledge Cleric in the FR book means they have more room in the Tasha’s Xanathar’s combo book for the missing core Wizard subclasses, other Cleric options, and others.

This would really underscore how lousy it was for them to claw back a la carte purchases in D&D Beyond.

"Oh, you've got a knowledge cleric and bladesinger in your ongoing 5E campaign that's not set in the Forgotten Realms? Ooh, such a shame you've got to pay for a whole book you mostly won't use ..."

 

[Epic Meepo]

And yet, No 5.5 Necromancer....?
Still, I love Makenzie de Armas' enthusiasm.

Fittingly, it's the necromancer fan who revives this thread after it was dead for three months

 

[Parmandur]

There’s still a lot of subclasses to be reprinted.

Barbarian - Wild Magic, Beast, Storm Herald, Giant, Ancestral Guardian

Bard - Swords, Whisper, Creation, Eloquence

Cleric - Forge, Peace, Twilight, Order, Tempest, Nature, Arcana

Druid - Wildfire, Spores, Shepard, Dreams

Fighter - Arcane Archer, Cavalier, Samurai, Rune Knight

Monk - Astral Self, Drunken Master, Kensei, Long Death, Sun Soul, Ascendant Dragon

Paladin - Conquest, Redemption, Crown, Watchers

Ranger - Drake Warden, Horizon Walker, Monster Slayer, Swarmkeeper

Rogue - Inquisitive, Master Mind, Scout, Swashbuckler

Sorcerer - Divine Soul, Lunar, Storm

Warlock - Fathomless, Genie

Wizard - Necromancer, Enchanter, Transmuter, Conjurer, War Wizard, Scribe

That’s probably too much for a single player option book, especially one that will likely also include the DM material from Xan and Tasha’s. So they have to find other places to reprint a number of things outside of that book, and that’s why we are seeing so many in places like Forge of the Artificer and the Forgotten Realms Players Guide and whatever this spooky book is.

See, listed out like that, I see fodder for a bunch of similar Setting booster books more than a reason to expect another Everything book. Some of this are probsvly gone forever (doubt a "Samurai" is coming, ever), and others seem well fit for certain themes.

 

[Parmandur]

Thematically, I see a lot of Elemental subclasses that could go in a supplement together.

Bingo bingo.

And with the setup of the Inner Planes as a Setting in the DMG...that could cover a lot of this ground.

 

[Yaarel]

Bingo bingo.

And with the setup of the Inner Planes as a Setting in the DMG...that could cover a lot of this ground.

Especially with the 5e core being more setting-neutral now, it makes sense to provide setting-specific examples for the multiverse.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

This would really underscore how lousy it was for them to claw back a la carte purchases in D&D Beyond.

"Oh, you've got a knowledge cleric and bladesinger in your ongoing 5E campaign that's not set in the Forgotten Realms? Ooh, such a shame you've got to pay for a whole book you mostly won't use ..."

Yeah. I mean there are ways around it but the homebrew system sucks to use.