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.

 

[Kurotowa]

Having cleared up the issue, I’m curious what you think of the idea of the Hexblade having a wraith that can simply be summoned once per day, and can regain the wraith or heal it when your hex target dies.

Or perhaps it is summoned when you cast Hex, lasts as long as the spell, and if it dies during that time can be regained if the target dies.

My long standing opinion on pet subclass design is that they need to go all-in on it. Nothing's worse than an orphan pet feature that doesn't scale, so it's too strong when you first get it and worthlessly clogging up the initiative order a few levels later. Even the improved Chain Pact invocations are a bit of a failure in my eye, because their attack bonus remains fixed.

So with that in mind I say that a wraith pet would distract too much from the overall subclass design. As a single subclass feature it's either too strong or too weak, depending on its stats and scaling. If you devote multiple subclass features you're jettisoning what I consider the main spine of the subclass, and replicating Chain Pact to boot.

I fully sympathize with wanting a good Warlock pet master subclass, or even a Summoner class all on its own. I just don't think it fits well jammed into Hexblade with no other support. I mean, after roughing out a test character with it, I certainly wouldn't want to cut any of the offered subclass features to make room for it. They all fit together pretty tightly.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Another thing I really appreciate with the UA hexblade is the additional castings of hex. Between failed concentration checks or the hexed target escaping combat, carrying the hex away with it, I hate having to cast the spell more than once in an encounter, especially with the warlock’s limited spell slots.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Something I noticed early in the horror subclasses video, she basically confirmed that the FR subclasses got changes shaped by responses, but were good enough not to require another UA, because we will be seeing the finalized version in the 5.5e FRPG.

Should this be it's own thread?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

My long standing opinion on pet subclass design is that they need to go all-in on it. Nothing's worse than an orphan pet feature that doesn't scale, so it's too strong when you first get it and worthlessly clogging up the initiative order a few levels later. Even the improved Chain Pact invocations are a bit of a failure in my eye, because their attack bonus remains fixed.

So with that in mind I say that a wraith pet would distract too much from the overall subclass design. As a single subclass feature it's either too strong or too weak, depending on its stats and scaling. If you devote multiple subclass features you're jettisoning what I consider the main spine of the subclass, and replicating Chain Pact to boot.

I fully sympathize with wanting a good Warlock pet master subclass, or even a Summoner class all on its own. I just don't think it fits well jammed into Hexblade with no other support. I mean, after roughing out a test character with it, I certainly wouldn't want to cut any of the offered subclass features to make room for it. They all fit together pretty tightly.

While I get that POV, I don’t think it’s hard to design a statblock that simply scales and operates like a spell summon. Essentially, this would be adding a limited version of summon undead onto hex as a subclass feature.

But, I know I won’t get that, so I’ll just make a shadow patron that does it as a central feature.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I guess they are interested into the feedback and they are willing to listen us if we answer with a polite and asertive tone explaining the reasons of our point of view.

* I wonder if an incorporeal but visible monster ally/pet could be used to cover an enemy's eyes.

* The hexblade is an interesting concept but it doesn't allow enough diversity to be a complete class with several subclasses.

* I am interested into the concept of magic maneuvers. This is like a spell that lats an encounter. Then you can use and reload (with a special action) a martial maneuver from Tome of Battle: Book of the nine Swords.

* What if anybody wanted to recycle/reimagine "Ghostwalk" to play Ravenloft with a softer tone?

* Now I am imagining this scene. The heroic vampire-hunters are fighting against a suspect, and thanks a hitwith a mace his face is destroyed, but there isn't blood because he is not a human but a creature wearing a mask, and behind the broken mask it is the face of a... shardmind (using the dark-gift second gift). Can you imagine the level of surprise?

* What if a ghost could possess a "plant dopplegänger" created by a bodytaker plant? Could this allow a plant-humanoid PC specie like 4e hammadryad?

* What if T'Laan, the vampire who destroyed the "Darkspace" (Spelljammer) became a dark lord"? Or Vecna saved those natives because selfish reasons?

* I imagine the demiplane of the dread with two layers. One is the main dark domains together in the "core region". Now they haven't dark lords but there is enough space for different factions. For example Barovia is so big as Europe. The second layer is the 5e version where the domains are separate. The dark lords only can't be in the second but the "citizens" can be in both even if they can't notice. In the first layers the "international" conflicts between neighbour domains are relatively possible. The third layer is like a reimagination of Innistrad. Here there aren't dark lord in the same way, but the true leaders are the church of Avacyn. The fourth layer is like a dark mirror version of the third, and there there are lots of vampire clans and other supernatural factions. Here the vampires can feed with fiends, not only gnolls but lemures and manes mainly (they use special machines to produce "wine"). The phyxerians appeared and tried to conquer the fourth layer but they failed, and now some ghosts can possess and control some "phyxerian constructs", and usually they want to use them to take revengue against the supernatural predators who killed them to feed.

 

[WanderingMystic]

For me at least I like to just fluff things to fit if at all possible. So I would just have your Hex spell be as well as the hexblade maneuvers take the form of a spectral apparition which harasses the target of your hex. They already mention having a spectral weapon that follows them and makes the attacks having it be something else is easy.

This is not the same as an actual minion attacking them but it is a quick thematic fix.

 

[Vishy fishy]

I love college of spirits

 

[Demetrios1453]

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.

So, basically "Van Richten's Guide to Undead." Although that might get confused with the Ravenloft book, so maybe they'll choose another famous NPC who studies undead (or, like Bigby with giants, has a sudden interest in them)

 

[Remathilis]

So, basically "Van Richten's Guide to Undead." Although that might get confused with the Ravenloft book, so maybe they'll choose another famous NPC who studies undead (or, like Bigby with giants, has a sudden interest in them)

The Weathermay-Foxgrove Guide to the Living Dead. With every example being conspicuously drawn from Ravenloft.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

So, basically "Van Richten's Guide to Undead." Although that might get confused with the Ravenloft book, so maybe they'll choose another famous NPC who studies undead (or, like Bigby with giants, has a sudden interest in them)

Van Richten would consider reanimators, hexblades etc bad guys to be avoided. He wouldn’t be writing guides to how to become one and utilise their power.

An “author” character is far more likely to be a lich, vampire or Necromancer, such as Vecna, Szass Tam, Astarion or Strahd.

WotC has a lot to gain by name-dropping BG3 characters in its titles.