A new Unearthed Arcana is exploring the Underdark, with three new subclasses and a new feat path to transform a player into a mind flayer. Two of the new subclasses – the Path of Unlight Barbarian and the Imaskarcanist Wizard are tied to Deep Imaskar, while the House Agent Rogue subclass is tied to the drow houses of Menzoberranzan. Interestingly, the two Deep Imaskar-related subclasses suggest that the Imaskari are making a comeback and are actually attempting to conquer the Underdark using their “Unlight”-related Arcane abilities.
The Path of Unlight Barbarian manifests the power of Unlight when they rage, granting additional radiant damage to attacks. At higher level, Unlight infects foes, causing persistent damage, and eventually the Barbarian can unleash a blinding aura that deals both radiant damage and blinds foes within 30 feet on a failed Constitution save.
House Agent Rogues gain a Spider familiar and gain several options on charming others. At level 9, they gain a Backstab ability that grants them advantage on charmed foes and comes with a Stunning Betrayal Cunning Strike option that stuns a foe if the target was either charmed or friendly to the Rogue. At higher levels, they can more easily sway hostile creatures to their side and gain an additional Cunning Strike option that charms targets who are hit with a Sneak Attack.
The Imaskarcanist can deal Radiant damage with spell attacks instead of elemental damage and can invigorate friendly creatures with Unlight, granting them temporary hit points and giving them advantage on Strength checks. At higher levels, the Unlight can heal wounds and cure conditions, and the Imaskarcanist can quickly attune magic items, ignore resistance to Radiant damage, and can cast Glyph of Warding without expending a spell slot. The Imaskarcanist can curse an opponent hit with Unlight at Level 14, causing them to take persistent damage and causing them to explode with Radiant light if they reach 0 Hit Points.
The Path of Ceremorphosis is a feat path that mimics the limited ceremophosis seen in Baldur’s Gate 3, in which a player gains psionic abilities but isn’t taken over by an elder brain. Initial feats grant various kinds of psionic abilities, but eventually players can choose feats that transform players into a ulitharid or a traditional mind flayer, complete with the ability to use Mind Blast and the ability to eat brains.
It’s unclear what product these options will be used for. The 2027 slate has no Forgotten Realms-related products announced so far, so this could be for a 2028 product or something planned as a fourth product in 2027. Several other Unearthed Arcanas, including one featuring Villainous Options, have not been tied to any announced D&D projects so far.
