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.

 

[Charlaquin]

So, here's the thing about 3e's Vestiges. They basically didn't exist. It's not that they were dead, its that they somehow slipped out of reality and into a weird limbo-non-state.

For example, one of them was based on buddhist monk that managed to escape the cycle of life and death... but made an oopsie and ended up as a technically-non-existant-vestige instead of dying. They just vanished and turned into a Vestige.

Teneborous was being treated as a separate entity than Orcus, even though he was a divine form of Orcus. Once that divinity was stripped, Orcus returned and the remnants of that divinity formed into a pseudo-spirit non-existence.

Interesting; Teneborous is also one of the Amber Vestiges in Curse of Strahd.

Kas is weird, because his status changes depending on the edition. Vecna and he both ended up in Ravenloft at one point, but Vecna escaped and became a god - no word on what happened to Kas's domain.

There is, actually, as of 5e Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. It still exists, but without a Dark Lord it’s literally falling apart. Large portions of its map have been swallowed up by the mists, and the implication is that it will eventually disappear completely if the Dark Powers don’t and claim a new Dark Lord to keep it together.

I’m definitely getting more convinced that this Warlock subclass is slated for a Ravenloft product, along with the stuff from the horror subclasses UA.

3e made him into a Vestige, but 4e came back and said, no, he's alive and existing. Just an edition change quirk.

3e made vestiges primarily because the writers wanted something that would let you mix and match summons without needing to worry about the stigma of being a devil summoner or a ghost-caller, and the like. Vestiges were very specifically made to not interact with the rest of D&D cosmology. So, you ended up with a lot of stuff that referenced various bits of the real world as a joke, or some old D&D lore. It didn't really matter a ton if it contradicted other established bits of lore, because vestiges were all a self-contained sandbox.

Note that all this is incompatible with how 4e did Vestiges, which were just ghosts from a specific human kingdom drawn from the Points-of-Light setting. Thought it was rather easy to refluff who the ghosts were, tbh.

Right, so sounds like “they’re 100% dead, in the same way mortals die” is not really accurate.

 

[Minigiant]

I’m having trouble reconciling these two statements about Vestiges. Aren’t all of these examples of Vestiges alive? Any Binder stans able to help clarify this for me?

In Tome of Magic, they are dead dead.
But somehow they became an error. They don't exist in the cycle of life and death properly. Their souls are either in a weird position or their essence doesn't have a correct method of existing, or their soul cannot be claimed.

Ashardalon forms a cult around himself, almost dies to adventurers, replaces his heart with a demon hear, goes next divine artifact, dies again, and his soul gets stuck.

Acererak dies and his soul gets sent to a plane that can't accept souls.

 

[Weiley31]

View attachment 427445

My favorite character from Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Right, so sounds like “they’re 100% dead, in the same way mortals die” is not really accurate.

Ideas are bulletproof.

 

[Mephista]

Interesting; Teneborous is also one of the Amber Vestiges in Curse of Strahd.

Teneborous actually has some pretty cool lore behind it. Keeps showing up in different places too.

There is, actually, as of 5e Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. It still exists, but without a Dark Lord it’s literally falling apart. Large portions of its map have been swallowed up by the mists, and the implication is that it will eventually disappear completely if the Dark Powers don’t and claim a new Dark Lord to keep it together.

I’m definitely getting more convinced that this Warlock subclass is slated for a Ravenloft product, along with the stuff from the horror subclasses UA.

Huh. Missed that bit. Or forgot. So both escaped in different ways, I guess. Well, if the eternal war with vecna was what caused the binding in the first place, then losing the ability to attack Vecna meant that the thing binding Kas was gone and was no longer a torment, so Vecna's ascension probably kicked both out...

At least that's my guess based on what I know of how Ravenloft works.

As for this being a ravenloft thing... I don't know. My money is on the undead warlock making it back into the Ravenloft book myself. Pretty much any patron could fit into Ravenloft.

Right, so sounds like “they’re 100% dead, in the same way mortals die” is not really accurate.

Definitely not in the same way mortals die. Mind you, some of them are former ghosts, but the nature of being a 3e vestige is absolutely different from being an outsider/petitioner or undead.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Even if true Athasian deities are totally KO there is some opened door for the divine ascension of Athasian mortals, maybe the PCs or some character from the novels.

Some players could be interested into being divine spellcaster in Dark Sun, even if this was against the "rules" because it would be "vibes" like a 1st century Christian within a sword&sandal movie.

* What if the binder was recycled into a shaman? Something like the 2nd Ed version. Some powers would be once-encounter or with a reload of a complete turn. Or a mixture of 2nd Shaman+3.5 Binder+3.5 Incarnum totemist.

* Maybe some "dead" deities returned because Vecna rebooted the D&D Multiverse.

* 5e Kas could be a "clone" created by the Dark Powers because these have become enemies of Vecna. This wanted revengue and he has caused serious troubles in the demiplane manipulating Rex Azalin like a puppet.

 

[Zardnaar]

Atyasian deities may not be dead. They may never have existed.

 

[Charlaquin]

In Tome of Magic, they are dead dead.
But somehow they became an error. They don't exist in the cycle of life and death properly. Their souls are either in a weird position or their essence doesn't have a correct method of existing, or their soul cannot be claimed.

Ashardalon forms a cult around himself, almost dies to adventurers, replaces his heart with a demon hear, goes next divine artifact, dies again, and his soul gets stuck.

Acererak dies and his soul gets sent to a plane that can't accept souls.

Being “dead, dead” is part of the cycle of life and death. It’s the death part. If they’re outside the cycle of life and death, they aren’t alive or dead. They’re a secret third thing.

 

[Minigiant]

Being “dead, dead” is part of the cycle of life and death. It’s the death part. If they’re outside the cycle of life and death, they aren’t dead. They’re a secret third thing.

They are dead dead in the sense that they are can't go back in the cycle for rebirth. They arent really conscious tangible things that a Warlock could empower.

Undeath is the third thing.

They are a fourth thing.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Being “dead, dead” is part of the cycle of life and death. It’s the death part. If they’re outside the cycle of life and death, they aren’t alive or dead. They’re a secret third thing.

A god is basically an idea. Even if you kill all the believers and smash all the symbols, there is always the chance that someone scratched a name on a rock that someone thousands of years later might read, and start it all over again.