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.

 

[Remathilis]

Looking at this again, I wonder if the Hexblade is being brought back to somehow tie it in/connect it to Ebonbane, a sentient magic sword that is a Darklord of a Domain of Dread!

That does give me the idea to have a hexblade whose patron is Nepenthe...

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Fun fact; the animal lord statblocks that were added to the DMG back in 5e.24 after a long absence are actually variations on gods and characters created by Michael Moorcock for the Elric series that TSR lost the rights for, if I recall correctly.

There's a lot of Elric hidden sneakily in the bones of D&D. As a huge fan of the series I'd go so far as to say that D&D's alignment system is probably its most lasting legacy (even if the Blue Oyster Cult song about the sword is fuckin badass too)

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Mystic was saying give it to them and decouple the features from requiring Hex. Which is the scenario I was mathing out. Also any trade between utility and damage is a false choice, because death is the best debuff and damage is always better.

False. Damage is only better if it has a high chance of taking out the enemy, otherwise control effects are often better, and do more to end the battle quickly.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

False. Damage is only better if it has a high chance of taking out the enemy, otherwise control effects are often better, and do more to end the battle quickly.

The best status you can inflict on the enemy is dead.

Fun fact; the animal lord statblocks that were added to the DMG back in 5e.24 after a long absence are actually variations on gods and characters created by Michael Moorcock for the Elric series that TSR lost the rights for, if I recall correctly.

There's a lot of Elric hidden sneakily in the bones of D&D. As a huge fan of the series I'd go so far as to say that D&D's alignment system is probably its most lasting legacy (even if the Blue Oyster Cult swong about the sword is fuckin badass too)

To be more precise, Animal Lords are inspired by Cat Lord, which was just male version of a cat Diety Elric once called upon when he needed to find a lost cat but felt doing it like normal people is beneath him.

 

[TravDoc42]

Fun fact; the animal lord statblocks that were added to the DMG back in 5e.24 after a long absence are actually variations on gods and characters created by Michael Moorcock for the Elric series that TSR lost the rights for, if I recall correctly.

There's a lot of Elric hidden sneakily in the bones of D&D. As a huge fan of the series I'd go so far as to say that D&D's alignment system is probably its most lasting legacy (even if the Blue Oyster Cult swong about the sword is fuckin badass too)

I didn't know that about the animal lords!! Very cool!!
And the BÖC song is awesome, I agree!! I love their music, that song is one of my favourites for that reason!!

 

[Remathilis]

And the BÖC song is awesome, I agree!! I love their music, that song is one of my favourites for that reason!!

Blue Oyster Cult is a band I can go back to over and over again for ideas because they sang songs about nerdy things like Elric, vampires, and such without being a shtick. The closest to them I can find in modern rock is Ghost.

Fun fact: Moorcock wrote lyrics for several later BOC songs, like Veteran of the Psychic Wars. They were also good friends with Stephen King. They deserve to be in rock and roll history alongside Black Sabbath.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Blue Oyster Cult is a band I can go back to over and over again for ideas because they sang songs about nerdy things like Elric, vampires, and such without being a shtick. The closest to them I can find in modern rock is Ghost.

Fun fact: Moorcock wrote lyrics for several later BOC songs, like Veteran of the Psychic Wars. They were also good friends with Stephen King. They deserve to be in rock and roll history alongside Black Sabbath.

Apparently they formed in my undergrad college's science fiction club- and I'm pretty sure the couches in their clubhouse were leftover from the 70s. It's very likely that I was DMing 4e games on a couch that Buck Dharma smoked weed on.

BOC introduced me to Moorcock, who then in turn introduced me to Hawkwind. You'd think I'd already be aware of Hawkwind as a motorhead fan, but no.

 

[Remathilis]

Apparently they formed in my undergrad college's science fiction club- and I'm pretty sure the couches in their clubhouse were leftover from the 70s. It's very likely that I was DMing 4e games on a couch that Buck Dharma smoked weed on.

BOC introduced me to Moorcock, who then in turn introduced me to Hawkwind. You'd think I'd already be aware of Hawkwind as a motorhead fan, but no.

Its funny that Sandy Pearlman (the longtime producer of BOC, and Black Sabbath for a while) wanted BOC to have this weird "Supervillains" theme. The band had alternative names (of which, only Buck Dharma survived) and were supposed to be in character. It was when neo Nazi's started showing up at shows that the band (who never liked the gimmick) absolutely dropped it to just go with all manner of sci-fi stuff.

If you listen to the first album, you can definitely hear the supervillain theme going on. Luckily they were able to break that and branch out into all types of stuff.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The best status you can inflict on the enemy is dead.

In a white room, maybe. Even then, that doesn’t mean that damage is always better

In actual play, it is often vastly better to lock an enemy down than to insist on being the one to do the damage take takes the enemy out.

Three rounds of a locked down enemy that is very dangerous is better than two rounds doing max damage you can do while half the party drops.

 

[Azzy]

Blue Oyster Cult is a band I can go back to over and over again for ideas because they sang songs about nerdy things like Elric, vampires, and such without being a shtick. The closest to them I can find in modern rock is Ghost.

Fun fact: Moorcock wrote lyrics for several later BOC songs, like Veteran of the Psychic Wars. They were also good friends with Stephen King. They deserve to be in rock and roll history alongside Black Sabbath.

I did not know that. Veteran of the Psychic Wars is probably my favorite BOC song (though I admit that my BOC knowledge is limited).