Dungeons & Dragons Playtests Four New Mystic-Themed Subclasses

Dungeons & Dragons has dropped their first Unearthed Arcana playtest of 2026, with four brand-new subclasses being tested. Today, Wizards of the Coast posted a Mystic Subclasses Unearthed Arcana playtest to D&D Beyond, featuring four magic-themed subclasses. The new subclasses include the Warrior of the Mystic Arts Monk subclass, the Oath of the Spellguard Paladin subclass, the Magic Stealer Rogue subclass and the Vestige Patron Warlock subclass.

The Warrior of the Mystic Arts is a spellcasting subclass that grants Monks the ability to cast Sorcerer spells up to 4th level spells. The Oath of the Spellguard is designed with protecting magic-casters in mind, while the Magic Stealer Rogue targets spellcasting and can empower their Sneak Attacks with magic stolen from nearby spellcasters. The Vestige Patron Warlock forms a bond with a dying god, with the god taking on a vestige form as a companion. The Vestige companion grows in power with the spellcaster. Notably, the Vestige Patron draws inspiration from the Binder from past editions of D&D.

There's no indication when or what this new Unearthed Arcana could be related to. There are several Unearthed Arcanas not currently attached to an announced D&D product, although two almost are certainly tied to a Dark Sun sourcebook.

You can check out the subclasses here. Feedback opens for the playtest on January 22nd.

 

[Chaltab]

So it took them 12 years to figure out that to make a spellcasting Monk, they should've just made an Eldritch Knight-equivalent subclass for it.

EDIT: That said, the subclass capstone literally does nothing, as Monks only ever get 2 attacks with their Attack action. And in 2024 Flurry of Blows can be done independently of whatever action you did, so it doesn't even do anything there, either.

I thought you were being hyperbolic but holy crap.

 

[Remathilis]

Other than the ones currently in playtesting, the only new class option (for 2024) that did not make a book release was the Brawler Fighter during the 2024 PHB playtest.

Some playtests got heavy revisions to the point of being borderline "cut," like the PDK (printed as Banneret) or the half-caster Warlock (reverted to Pact Magic in 2024), but they technically saw print.

There were still a lot that got dropped, esp during the Xanathar testing era. I still wish the elemental sorcerers, the harvest druid, Raven Queen patron and brute fighter had made it in some form or another.

 

[Hussar]

I thought Vestiges weren't dying gods.

Vestiges were dead, transformed, punished, or forgotten gods. beings that failed ascending to godhood, slain patrons, or figments of magical creations or events that are near divine.

Yup.

This is a very sad version of a Binder that has zero flavor.

 

[Kurotowa]

There were still a lot that got dropped, esp during the Xanathar testing era. I still wish the elemental sorcerers, the harvest druid, Raven Queen patron and brute fighter had made it in some form or another.

The last big set that got dropped entirely, IIRC, were the Strixhaven class-agnostic subclasses. I don't believe those got recycled anywhere after they scrapped that idea.

 

[mamba]

Okay, everyone... what do these subclasses tell us about future WotC releases?

that there will be at least one...

 

[doctorbadwolf]

This is another reason why having the same subclass progression for all classes would make sense. Than the "one third caster subclass" could have been just 1 subclass for all martials, instead of 4 slightly varying subclasses...

That would suck. The Arcane Trickster is quite different from EK and should be. Ideally even more different than they are.

 

[Karixus]

(Ran into an error where the message posted twice)

 

[Karixus]

So it took them 12 years to figure out that to make a spellcasting Monk, they should've just made an Eldritch Knight-equivalent subclass for it.

EDIT: That said, the subclass capstone literally does nothing, as Monks only ever get 2 attacks with their Attack action. And in 2024 Flurry of Blows can be done independently of whatever action you did, so it doesn't even do anything there, either.

Based on the wording in the ua release, I don't think that Monk feature would require the use of a spell slot, bypassing the 1 spell slot per turn limit, right?

 

[cwallach]

The Spellguard Paladin's level 7 Aura of Concentration providing advantage to concentration saves helps the paladin but is redundant with allies Warcaster feat. This is a poor feature.

 

[Kurotowa]

Based on the wording in the ua release, I don't think that Monk feature would require the use of a spell slot, bypassing the 1 spell slot per turn limit, right?

...I can maybe see reading it that way. And that would certainly make more sense as a feature. But if so, it's very badly worded.