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.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

A Puffer or a Blowfish.

Darius Rucker just performed a concert here within the last 2 weeks. didn't get to see him sadly.

Maybe he's a Bard with a 3 level dip into fighter becoming a blowgun Arcane archer. Just to try to land this joke?!? (And it's all for naught if he's actually Hootie!)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Huh. I hadn't put that together, but you're exactly right. A bunch of Tasha subclasses got promoted to the PHB'24, but none of the UA releases since then have had anything from it. Which would explain why I keep being frustrated in my hope of an updated Beast Barbarian.

I wonder what the reasoning for that is. It can't be accidental.

I assume these are the new classes for the book and they think they've figured out how to fix the existing ones.

 

[Parmandur]

This is such a strange take. Do you actually think a new book would not sell more than the OLD two books?

Oh, I think they are working on a new Everything book, but it isn't neccessrily as simple as "replacing" them both...especially since there is no indication they are testing anything from Tasha's for a revisit. Xanathar's does seem to be in line for at least dome of the options being replaced, after 9 years.

Again, both books still function: you can apply any of those Subclasses to the 2024 base Classes just fine. The Monster books were replaced, to a large extent, to get rid of some of the fluff that had aged poorly by the 20s, and to tested for the new MM.

 

[Remathilis]

Im still not convinced that this is all for one Everything book. We got two themes: arcane and horror. No primal, martial, expert/skills, or divine. I'm thinking this is going to be two books that are themed rather than one everything book. The arcane book giving spells, magic items, magical monsters and the horror one being undead/Ravenloft focused.

Unless we see another theme soon, I'm going to doubt a single everything book.

 

[Parmandur]

Im still not convinced that this is all for one Everything book. We got two themes: arcane and horror. No primal, martial, expert/skills, or divine. I'm thinking this is going to be two books that are themed rather than one everything book. The arcane book giving spells, magic items, magical monsters and the horror one being undead/Ravenloft focused.

Unless we see another theme soon, I'm going to doubt a single everything book.

Also the Psion, and conceivesbly the Dark Dun themed Dubclasses could be for an Everything product as well. The pattern looks a lot like the 2019 UAs that ended up being fir Tasha's.

Whatever they ste up to, they are testing a lot of Class material, and at a solid clip.

 

[mellored]

Tattooed Monk.

• While not as constrained as last time, this still feels underwhelming. Level 3 is great – Bat’s blindsight would always be my choice, probably with Crane. The higher-level tattoos don’t feel like they are offering substantial payoffs, and I might be looking for off-ramps after level 5.
• At the very least, you should be able to take one of the new options or one of the options you haven’t chosen from a previous level.

You may have missed it, but you can change 1 tattoo on a long rest.

Which really helps if you know what your trying to do the next day.

 

[Zaukrie]

You may have missed it, but you can change 1 tattoo on a long rest.

Which really helps if you know what your trying to do the next day.

Changing tattoos seems like odd fluff.....

 

[mellored]

Changing tattoos seems like odd fluff.....

Sure. But it's there.

Also, there is some president for moving tattoos.

 

[Kurotowa]

Changing tattoos seems like odd fluff.....

If it helps, they're not tattoos that give you magic powers, they're magic powers that manifest visible signs on your body. Check the flavor text: "You gain the magic tattoos described by other features of this subclass. The tattoos appear on your body wherever you wish. ... A magic tattoo can look like a brand, scarification, a birthmark, patterns of scales, or any other cosmetic alteration."

In other words, as long as the features are represented on your body somehow, you can flavor them however you want. Dwarven aesthetic with runic brands? Dragonborn with patterns of differently colored scales? They all work.

 

[mearls]

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.

Yes! Think of any other game product where the largest number isn't the latest, greatest, and the one you should buy if you are just getting into a game. It makes sense for novels, but in gaming it's a weird outlier.