Dungeons & Dragons Releases Updated Unearthed Arcana for Arcane Subclasses

Dungeons & Dragons has released an updated set of Unearthed Arcana, incorporating feedback about the Arcane Subclasses released for playtesting earlier this year. Included in the new subclass is the Arcane Archer Fighter, Tattooed Warrior Monk, and the Conjurer, Transmuter, Necromancer, and Enchanter Wizard classes.

The Arcane Archer has several new features, including Magical Ammunition that can be used outside of combat and a new Arcane Burst that pushes creatures away when the Indomitable feature is used. The Tattooed Warrior Monk has also been redesigned, with magical abilities that are no longer spellcasting, along with Beast Tattoos that provide cantrips in addition to enhancing other core Monk features.

Meanwhile, the Conjurer Wizard now emphasizes summoning spells with creatures that are much more durable, the Enchanter has moved back to a subclass similar to the 2014 design, the Necromancer now has ways to summon multiple Undead creatures, and the Transmuter now has shape-shifting ability. With the Transmuter ability, the Durability option of the Transmuter's Stone is now included as a default, as that option was seen as the strongest and other options were considered far inferior.

Three other subclasses from the original playtest - two Warlock subclasses and a Cleric Domain - were not included in the new playtest.

 

[Parmandur]

4E vs 5E. Are you certain the sales difference is due to the format and not the difference in overall popularity? I have strong doubts that the format is the root variable here.

Plus I still think “____’s Book of Everything” is a really stupid naming convention. To me, I’d be confused as hell that the “book of everything” doesn’t actually contain everything, and even more confused that there’s more than one such book and they all contain different material… Also if I was already a fan of [Greyhawk character] and discovered that their “book of everything” wasn’t focused on them or their setting, I’d be even more confused.

Let’s be real, it was just a name approved by their in-house process, meant to capture the idea that this book is a grab-bag of new stuff, and it sold well because 5E was on fire.

More important than what he thinks, WotC is quite convinced from their market research that the PHB2/DMG2 approach was a significant factor in depressing 4E sales numbers due to confusing mistakes customers. They won't repeat that approach.

 

[EternalDungeonMaster]

That format didn't sell well because it leads to player confusion.
On the other hand the [name] of Everything books sold extremely well.

Do you have a citation for that? Or is that your opinion?

 

[mamba]

That format didn't sell well because it leads to player confusion.
On the other hand the [name] of Everything books sold extremely well.

4e sold a lot worse than 5e did, that this is true for the main supplements as well is not really a surprise. I assume most of the difference is due to that.

As to confusion, Paizo and the Kobolds both have a Players Guide 2, no idea if that affects sales or causes confusion for them

 

[Remathilis]

So how about those changes rather than rehash 4e arguments?

 

[darjr]

More important than what he thinks, WotC is quite convinced from their market research that the PHB2/DMG2 approach was a significant factor in depressing 4E sales numbers due to confusing mistakes customers. They won't repeat that approach.

I don’t have the quite handy and don’t know about any sales impact but someone from WotC said that the version numbers in the title confused customers.

For example some thought PHB2 was the second edition of the PHB instead of the second PHB in a line of PHBs.

Like Windows 10 vs Windows 11.

 

[bedir than]

Do you have a citation for that? Or is that your opinion?

From one of the early developer blogs in the 5e era. The PHB 1,2,3 created a confusion about making the PHB1 obsolete.

 

[Kurotowa]

So how about those changes rather than rehash 4e arguments?

Generally, they look good. None of them are particularly in my personal sweet spot, but from an abstract design perspective I didn't spot as many massive glaring issues this time.

I do note that we didn't get a third iteration on the Hexblade Warlock that was in the prior Arcane UA. I have no idea what that means for the subclass, since I was just as worried about the last version as the rest of that UA.

 

[Parmandur]

Do you have a citation for that? Or is that your opinion?

No, it's not opinion, that was from Mike Mearls who discussed how the PHB 2 and DMG 2 caused customer confusion on social media like a decade ago. WotC won't ever repeat that particular approach.

 

[Parmandur]

4e sold a lot worse than 5e did, that this is true for the main supplements as well is not really a surprise. I assume most of the difference is due to that.

As to confusion, Paizo and the Kobolds both have a Players Guide 2, no idea if that affects sales or causes confusion for them

WitC market research showed different: having a PHB 2 actually mainly had tge effect of making people think the PHB was outmoded because there was a sequel and then get confused on how they were supposed to play the game.

 

[Parmandur]

I don’t have the quite handy and don’t know about any sales impact but someone from WotC said that the version numbers in the title confused customers.

For example some thought PHB2 was the second edition of the PHB instead of the second PHB in a line of PHBs.

Like Windows 10 vs Windows 11.

Pretty sure @mearls talked about it explicitly on Twitter and Twitch, in addition to list early 5E website articles. Hard to find, but it was quite specific on the problems.