Dungeons & Dragons Announces Horror Subclasses Unearthed Arcana

Dungeons & Dragons has announced a new Unearthed Arcana focused on horror subclasses. The new UA, available now on D&D Beyond, introduces a mix of new subclasses and thematic subclasses from 2014 5th Edition. The full list of subclasses are as follows:

• College of Spirits Bard
• Grave Domain Cletic
• Phantom Rogue
• Shadow Sorcerer
• Heblade Patron Warlock
• Undead Patron Warlock
• Reanimator Artificer
• Hollow Warden Ranger

The Reanimator Artificer is built around creating a reanimated companion that can act in combat and explodes when it dies. The Hollow Warden Ranger adds a Wrath of the Wild feature that activates when casting Hunter's Mark and adds various emanation effects while active.

No word on what this UA is related to, but there is a mystery product coming out in October and these horror subclasses could tie into a potential Ravenloft book.

You can check out the full Unearthed Arcana here.

 

[Minigiant]

Literally any summon. Situationally, Ensaring Strike or other control spells.

Still most.

The only spells on the base ranger better than HM are

1. Spike Growth
2. Summon Beasts
3. Conjure Animals
4. Summon Fey
5. Conjure Woodland Beings
6. Summon Elemental

Ensnaring Strike is iffy. It's a strong debuff that synergyizes with Hunter's Mark very well.

That's it.
It's mostly summons and summon Emanations.

Everything else is super niche or out of combat.

Eh, it’s a little better, not way better. Regardless, it doesn’t need to have both concentration and a “save every round” clause.

It is very strong if you have tons of spare slots to spam it via an archer PC.

My old DM removed HM concentration and our ranger spammed and pincushioned enemies.

It really isn’t. At all. There are many non concentration buff spells.

Not really.

Look at the list again. Most of the nonconventratiom buffs are tertiary combat buffs or out of combat.

You can't really before fight buff stack like older editions.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

If I was WotC I would try Ravenloft sourcebook to be released near Halloween date. I wouldn't publish a rehush of Van Ritchen's Guide but a different title adding more things, like new domains and monsters.

If I was the Dark Powers of the demiplane of dread and somebody tried to escape my strategy would be this traveling toward Innistrad or Duskmourn.

If I was Vecna I would try to manipulate pawns to create a confrotation between Valgavoth (Duskmourn) and the Dark Powers. Let's remember Vecna not only wants revengue against the Dark Powers but he could find the way to archieve it. Vecna could create his own demiplane/astral domain again.

Rex Azalin could be tricked by Vecna to allow the creation of cults of Tharizdum, the elder elemental eye, because the Dark Powers wouldn't be happy with this.

I loved the lord vampires and lord mummies with age categories like dragons.

Ghost elves from Dragon magazine #313 could be perfect for Ravenloft style. Worghest also could be more interesting than "goblyns".

There is space for the gloamings(3.5 Underdark) and the shadowswyfts. Spikers (3.5 Planar handbook) with second skin dark-gift could cause a great surprise to the players.

If doll golem was canon in 2nd, and half-golem in 3rd ed, how would be a doll half-golem? I guess something like Chucky from "Child Play" slasher saga.

Has anybody thought about a character like M3G4N the crazy ginoid?

Any idea borrowed from "American Horror Story" or "Channel Zero"? Have you thought about a campaign with autognomes looting like in R.E.P.P, or monsters from Dark Hourse: Prologue? "Outalst Trials" or "Carnival Hunt" could be other sources of inspiration. Carnival Hunt could give ideas for DMs if players want to be "inedible" constructs.

 

[WanderingMystic]

What I would love but I know we won't get is like a condensed version of the old Van Ritchen's guides so rules for different types of mummies, glitches, were creatures, vampires.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I’m kinda bummed to see the Hexblade lose Accursed Specter.

I’d have liked to see it made into a custom statblock that scales with Warlock level, that you can summon when you cast hex, and if it dies you can summon it again when your hex target dies. Make it a shadow creature.

If they’re dropping it I guess I’ll just take the idea and use it to make a Shadow Thief Rogue.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

What I would love but I know we won't get is like a condensed version of the old Van Ritchen's guides so rules for different types of mummies, glitches, were creatures, vampires.

It’s pretty obvious that this is going to be an undead focused book, not a Ravenloft book, so if it contains monsters (likely) they will be general undead, not Ravenloft IP focused. And probably no lycans, since they are not undead.

 

[Horwath]

For our home group we will probably just drop the concentration requirement at level 13 instead of the can't loose concentration when hit. Honestly with that I feel that the ranger is solid. I would still use most of my spell slots outside of combat for utility but being able to have a summon or conjuration would be nice.

no damage on Conc for HM needs to be from lvl1, level of losing the Conc tag from HM can be debated, but no later than lvl7, so maybe you can combine some utility with damage during combat, like not losing Pass without trace to deal extra 5 or 6 damage.

I played one TWF ranger with new rules, and it's frustrating.

lvl1,
1st combat, 1st round, cast HM make two attacks, get hit, Conc dropperd
2nd round, recast HM, make two attacks, get hit, Conc dropped,
3rd round, recast HM with 1st level slot, make two attacks, get hit, knocked out, healed to full by new Cure wounds(finally a good change), but hey no HM as I was incapacitated.

so, that is it, all the "free" casts(that are not really free) and one 1st level slot, for extra 4d6 of damage. what a joke.

 

[Sulicius]

Could this be the second release this year that offers new subclasses? That’s a bit much IMO.

 

[WanderingMystic]

no damage on Conc for HM needs to be from lvl1, level of losing the Conc tag from HM can be debated, but no later than lvl7, so maybe you can combine some utility with damage during combat, like not losing Pass without trace to deal extra 5 or 6 damage.

I played one TWF ranger with new rules, and it's frustrating.

lvl1,
1st combat, 1st round, cast HM make two attacks, get hit, Conc dropperd
2nd round, recast HM, make two attacks, get hit, Conc dropped,
3rd round, recast HM with 1st level slot, make two attacks, get hit, knocked out, healed to full by new Cure wounds(finally a good change), but hey no HM as I was incapacitated.

so, that is it, all the "free" casts(that are not really free) and one 1st level slot, for extra 4d6 of damage. what a joke.

See our ranger has only lost concentration on hunters mark once so it has never felt all that bad. Now they do drop concentration on it to cast another spell every session should me times multiple times per session. They did take resilient con as their lvl 4 feat brining them to a 16 con. Not bumping up the dex to an 18 until level 8 doesn't feel that bad since AC is usually low at that level and we always have a +1 weapon around lvl 4-5 from our dm.

 

[WanderingMystic]

Could this be the second release this year that offers new subclasses? That’s a bit much IMO.

Third, since eberron will have subclasses for the artificer

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Could this be the second release this year that offers new subclasses? That’s a bit much IMO.

It will be next year. It’s too late to make significant changes to this year’s stuff. And if you can’t change it you are not going to waste money on public testing.