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.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

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.

Nothing in RotFM prevents the players taking a long rest any time they like. Just because a dungeon has more than 6 encounters doesn’t create an encounter day that long. It needs to be artificially imposed by the DM, so now it’s not in the rulebook it’s not in the adventure.

As it happens, RotFM only really has one large dungeon, since the players have every reason to rush to the end of the Duegar Fortress without spending time exploring it. My players completed it in two combats and one social encounter, using stealth.

 

[Maxperson]

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

That's not exactly true. There is a problem for those who don't want the game to be that easy, but don't know what it is that they are doing wrong because the game no longer tells them.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That's not exactly true. There is a problem for those who don't want the game to be that easy, but don't know what it is that they are doing wrong because the game no longer tells them.

Preventing resting is a really bad way (and boring, since it means having a lot of boring low stakes fights rather than a small number of memorable ones) of making combat more difficult. See "death spiral". The best way to make combat more difficult is to use more powerful enemies.

But, as already pointed out, most players don't want the game to be not-easy. They play to have a laugh with mates over a few beers, not to test their finely honed tactical skills (since 5e completely sucks as a tactical game). Being easy is the secret sauce of 5e's success.

 

[Maxperson]

Preventing resting is a really bad way (and boring, since it means having a lot of boring low stakes fights rather than a small number of memorable ones) of making combat more difficult. See "death spiral". The best way to make combat more difficult is to use more powerful enemies.

But, as already pointed out, most players don't want the game to be not-easy. They play to have a laugh with mates over a few beers, not to test their finely honed tactical skills (since 5e completely sucks as a tactical game).

That's your feeling, but others may not agree with you there. What's wrong with informing people so that they can make their own decisions about what is fun and what is boring?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That's your feeling, but others may not agree with you there. What's wrong with informing people so that they can make their own decisions about what is fun and what is boring?

Because the people currently working at WotC do not believe in long encounter days either. The people who designed the game that way have left the company.

 

[Zardnaar]

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.

Monk looks good.

 

[Charlaquin]

Nothing in RotFM prevents the players taking a long rest any time they like. Just because a dungeon has more than 6 encounters doesn’t create an encounter day that long. It needs to be artificially imposed by the DM, so now it’s not in the rulebook it’s not in the adventure.

The reality of the whole “adventuring day” thing is that 5e (both versions) just isn’t really built for a single encounter to pose a significant threat to the PCs. Even if the encounter is built way over-budget, that mostly just makes it swingier, rather than making it more challenging in a consistent or predictable way. To get a reliable challenge, you have to wear the party’s resources down, and to do that without introducing a high chance of randomly one-shotting a PC, you have to use multiple encounters. About 6 medium ones will be enough to put a typical party up against the ropes, maybe 7 or 8 if they’re very efficient and/or very lucky. And that’s just the reality of the way the combat system is built. Technically they don’t really need to tell you that, because it’s true whether you know it or not. But I do think knowledge is power and it’s better to understand how the system is built.

Another thing that’s just true about the system is that uncertainty about how many encounters the party will need to face is part of the challenge. Players might be very conservative with their spell slots and other short or long rest recovery resources because they’re anticipating needing to save them for some future encounter, and end up losing more of their hit points resource because the fight takes longer. Conversely, they might burn through a ton of their short and long rest recovery resources and trivialize an encounter without losing much or any of their hit points resource, but end up making future encounters much harder on themselves as a result. Either of these very common mistakes can lead to the party feeling more challenged than the math expects, after fewer than 6-8 encounters. That’s why the PCs being able to rest basically whenever they want to is a feature rather than a bug. It kind of allows them to set their own difficulty. Whenever they start feeling taxed to the degree of challenge they’re comfortable with, they have the power to hit the refresh button and reset the challenge for the next adventuring day.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The reality of the whole “adventuring day” thing is that 5e (both versions) just isn’t really built for a single encounter to pose a significant threat to the PCs. Even if the encounter is built way over-budget, that mostly just makes it swingier, rather than making it more challenging in a consistent or predictable way. To get a reliable challenge, you have to wear the party’s resources down, and to do that without introducing a high chance of randomly one-shotting a PC, you have to use multiple encounters. About 6 medium ones will be enough to put a typical party up against the ropes, maybe 7 or 8 if they’re very efficient and/or very lucky. And that’s just the reality of the way the combat system is built. Technically they don’t really need to tell you that, because it’s true whether you know it or not. But I do think knowledge is power and it’s better to understand how the system is built.

Another thing that’s just true about the system is that uncertainty about how many encounters the party will need to face is part of the challenge. Players might be very conservative with their spell slots and other short or long rest recovery resources because they’re anticipating needing to save them for some future encounter, and end up losing more of their hit points resource because the fight takes longer. Conversely, they might burn through a ton of their short and long rest recovery resources and trivialize an encounter without losing much or any of their hit points resource, but end up making future encounters much harder on themselves as a result. Either of these very common mistakes can lead to the party feeling more challenged than the math expects, after fewer than 6-8 encounters. That’s why the PCs being able to rest basically whenever they want to is a feature rather than a bug. It kind of allows them to set their own difficulty. Whenever they start feeling taxed to the degree of challenge they’re comfortable with, they have the power to hit the refresh button and reset the challenge for the next adventuring day.

Amazing. Everything you just said is wrong.

 

[Zardnaar]

Amazing. Everything you just said is wrong.

Not entirely.

Might want to assume your opinion over rides reality and instantly dismissing someone's opinion.

Its hard getting g a single encounter per day thats not a curb stomp or overwhelms the PCs.

New 5.5 monsters hit like trucks.

Even harder to do it abd retain fast combat.

 

[Charlaquin]

Amazing. Everything you just said is wrong.

the math supports my stance here