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]

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.

Who ever said they could go back in the cycle for rebirth?

Undeath is the third thing.

They are a fourth thing.

Sure. “A secret, third thing” is just a memetic turn of phrase I was borrowing. My point was not about the exact number of possibilities, but that “outside the cycle of life and death” is categorically distinct from “dead.”

 

[Charlaquin]

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.

Yes, I agree. Tell that to @Minigiant

 

[Charlaquin]

My favorite character from Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
View attachment 427456

Fate/Stay Night!

 

[Mistwell]

This really isn’t the case in 2024. They walked back most of the changes to Spellcaster NPCs in the new Monster Manual, and now there’s plenty that still cast, including all the dragons now.

While some had them added, a whole lot had them converted into simply magical abilities.

See this thread for some details.

 

[Mistwell]

Im running a lot of spellcasters.

With changes to the rules that ability would potentially trigger.....once. range, to low levrlvetc.

Eould be useful next level so once or twice a level it would fire.

That's terrible vs every other rogue.

I only realized after listening to Pack Tactics that it doesn't say it's a foe that triggers the ability. It says, "Immediately after a creature you can see within 30 feet of you casts a level 1+ spell, you can take a Reaction to absorb magical energy from the spell. When you do so, until the end of your next turn, the next time you hit with your Sneak Attack you deal extra Force damage. To determine the extra damage, roll a number of d6s equal to the spell’s level, and add them together. You can take this Reaction a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest."

So allies trigger it. OK, that's better than I thought. I still don't like the Int times per day limit. Sure, it makes sense to be a true-strike based rogue and max out Int, but even 5 times a day isn't that much.

Now the DRAIN MAGIC ability is pretty decent. Outside of combat you have your ally cast a ritual spell on themselves, and give them back a 2nd level spell slot for it, or a 3rd level slot at level 13. And you can do this once per short rest, so if you chain some short rests you can recharge your caster ally.

 

[Zardnaar]

I only realized after listening to Pack Tactics that it doesn't say it's a foe that triggers the ability. It says, "Immediately after a creature you can see within 30 feet of you casts a level 1+ spell, you can take a Reaction to absorb magical energy from the spell. When you do so, until the end of your next turn, the next time you hit with your Sneak Attack you deal extra Force damage. To determine the extra damage, roll a number of d6s equal to the spell’s level, and add them together. You can take this Reaction a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest."

So allies trigger it. OK, that's better than I thought. I still don't like the Int times per day limit. Sure, it makes sense to be a true-strike based rogue and max out Int, but even 5 times a day isn't that much.

Now the DRAIN MAGIC ability is pretty decent. Outside of combat you have your ally cast a ritual spell on themselves, and give them back a 2nd level spell slot for it, or a 3rd level slot at level 13. And you can do this once per short rest, so if you chain some short rests you can recharge your caster ally.

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.

 

[Weiley31]

Fate/Stay Night!

And here's my fave Servant from Fate/Stay Night in an epic scene!

 

[Tigris]

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.

The spell is not countered or anything. It is normally cast.

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.

yes possible and quite strong early, but dependant on allies.

 

[GarrettKP]

While some had them added, a whole lot had them converted into simply magical abilities.

See this thread for some details.

This thread is not really saying what you’re claiming. Most of the examples they gave are not changes, as they were also magical abilities in 2014.

For example, Darkmantle is listed as having a “non-spell” magical darkness effect. Which is true. And it is true of the 2014 Darkmantle, which has a non-spell darkness.

They also list multiple teleportation abilities, like that of the Blink Dog, except those abilities are also non-spell effects in 2014. The 2014 Blink Dog has an identical teleportation effect to the 2024 version.

Same is true of Beholders. Their eye rays have never been spells.

What this post doesn’t mention is all of the humanoid spellcasters, which all have combat spells. Hell, they added more Spellcasting humanoid stats, with things like the new Bandit Deceiver.

So no, there have not been a “whole lot” of monsters that have had spells fully converted to magic abilities.

 

[Charlaquin]

This thread is not really saying what you’re claiming. Most of the examples they gave are not changes, as they were also magical abilities in 2014.

For example, Darkmantle is listed as having a “non-spell” magical darkness effect. Which is true. And it is true of the 2014 Darkmantle, which has a non-spell darkness.

They also list multiple teleportation abilities, like that of the Blink Dog, except those abilities are also non-spell effects in 2014. The 2014 Blink Dog has an identical teleportation effect to the 2024 version.

Same is true of Beholders. Their eye rays have never been spells.

What this post doesn’t mention is all of the humanoid spellcasters, which all have combat spells. Hell, they added more Spellcasting humanoid stats, with things like the new Bandit Deceiver.

So no, there have not been a “whole lot” of monsters that have had spells fully converted to magic abilities.

There are also some non-spell magical abilities from 2014 that became spells in 2024. For example, the dryad’s Charm ability got turned into the Charm Monster spell, with a parenthetical note saying it lasts 24 hours and ends early if the Dryad casts it again.

My impression is that early in the revision process there was a push coming from the design team to re-work combat-relevant spells in monster stat blocks to non-spell magical abilities so they would be more flexible and directly written into the stat block rather than having to reference a whole other book to get an effect that might not even work exactly the way you want it to for that particular monster. But when the proverbial rubber hit the road, the need to save page space was greater than the desire to make monster stat blocks more user-friendly; especially when a not-insignificant portion of the playerbase were mad about monsters “not having spells any more.”