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.

 

[Mistwell]

It rakes an allys action and a spell slot to trigger it. Said ally is better casting chromatic orb, guiding bolt or any other damage dealing spell 90% of the time. Its onlyb3d6gorce damage.

I'll have to reread the spell recharge ability. Last night had a quick glance but theoretically an ally could cast bless, use it then absorb it post combat for a level 1 or 2 spell.

Uh, you don't actually absorb the spell you know. They cast the spell as normal. Chromatic Orb, Guiding Bolt, those all do fine and do their thing.

[Edit - I see others pointed this out to you before I saw it]

For the recharge ability, your ally can cast comprehend languages as a ritual for free and you can use that to recharge their spell slot.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Their adventures absolutely do follow that guideline though, both before and after 2024.

I’m not sure how you work that out when an adventure has three encounters.

Frankly, I find that a preposterous claim. Rime of the Frostmaiden, for example, often has one encounter, then traveling to the next town.

 

[WanderingMystic]

Personally I hate this Vestige warlock. They made a mistake with the hex blade by making a subclass instead of just adding more invocations to improve being a melee warlock and this is the same problem only with the pact of the chain.

 

[Zardnaar]

I’m not sure how you work that out when an adventure has three encounters.

Frankly, I find that a preposterous claim. Rime of the Frostmaiden, for example, often has one encounter, then traveling to the next town.

Yeah the adventures are default easy mode. Very easy mode.

And it's usually a few critters. 3-6 generally.

 

[Zardnaar]

Uh, you don't actually absorb the spell you know. They cast the spell as normal. Chromatic Orb, Guiding Bolt, those all do fine and do their thing.

[Edit - I see others pointed this out to you before I saw it]

For the recharge ability, your ally can cast comprehend languages as a ritual for free and you can use that to recharge their spell slot.

I also said I misread it long ago.

Its potentially unlimited lvl 2 slots in reality probably 1-3.

 

[Sulicius]

I ran a playtest today with 2 encounters of Dragon Delves “Before the Storm”, a 10th level adventure.

In short, I thought:

• rogue is a cool concept, but the mechanics aren’t quite there yet. I want the rogue to be able to actually STEAL a spell.
• paladin was meh to me. The flavor is ok, but the mechanics are lame powerful. +AC, more reaction attacks, advantage on con saves. Yawn. A shield spell? On a heavy armor user? How daring.
• monk was sweet. Spells on a monk is a LOT of moving parts and action/bonus action combinations. Might be too much resources.
• love the vestige warlock in theory, but it didn’t land for me at the table.

 

[Mistwell]

I also said I misread it long ago.

Its potentially unlimited lvl 2 slots in reality probably 1-3.

Agreed, but it's a nice ability.

The monk subclass I think is particular good by the way overall. Even their high level ability is better than similar competing subclasses like the Eldritch Knight, as the Monk can give up their two attacks for a 2nd level spell while still hitting with the bonus action 3 times. It's a neat class.

 

[Parmandur]

That's because they stuck to backwards compatibility, which means that even though 1) most people don't use the adventuring day, and 2) they got rid of all mention of it because it's not used, it's still present in the balance.

I'm really not sure why they thought that getting rid of the adventuring day advice in the DMG was a good idea. The game is still balanced around it, but now new players won't even be warned that it's a thing.

Because there is no problem if people want to undershoot, it just makes the game easier.

 

[Parmandur]

Their adventures absolutely do follow that guideline though, both before and after 2024.

Yeah, I'm not sure why people keep saying otherwise, WotC is still putting out fully stocked Dungeons with a time crunch on the regular.

 

[Parmandur]

I’m not sure how you work that out when an adventure has three encounters.

Frankly, I find that a preposterous claim. Rime of the Frostmaiden, for example, often has one encounter, then traveling to the next town.

The Adventure Day is a maximum, not every single Encounter. Time of the Frost Maiden absolutely has fully stocked Dungeons as well, as do books published in recent months.