The recent Villainous Edgelord Options UAs have been largely unimpressive, with most of the design choices falling into the usual 2024 pitfalls. But one feature really stood out to me for a reason, on a subclass that stood out like a sore thumb for how little effort went into it. To quote the Hell Knight's 10th-level feature:
This made me think about other instances where 2024 design really doesn't mesh well with class features and resources, and it turns out that almost every class has various pain points when it comes to class resources and features interacting with subclass features.
Artificer: A well-known one at this point, but with the expansion of Spell-Storing Item to allow 3rd-level spells, with no decrease in the number of uses of the Spell-Storing Item, this renders any options below 3rd-level spells (and the bump in tier power they represent) largely moot. The problem is that the base Artificer doesn't have any particular high-impact 3rd-level spells you'd want up to 10 free uses of per day...meaning that an Artificer's power relies significantly on their subclass's spell list. If you get stuff like Fireball or Lightning Bolt on your subclass spells, you're much more powerful than an Artificer who gets, say, Call Lightning and Clairvoyance.
There's also the matter of Magic Item Tinker, which is overhauled to massively benefit Artificers who replicate items to cast spells—letting them feed their spell slots into charges, refuel spell slots off of drained spellcasting items, and letting them turn a depleted item into a new item with a fresh stock of charges. This significantly punishes the martial-leaning Artificer subclasses, who would want to use more of their infusion options on weapons and armor (especially with Plans Known being significantly reduced in 2024).
Barbarian: Several Barbarian subclasses get the option to refuel uses of their features by expending uses of Rage. The Barbarian class at level 15 gets the ability to regain all of their uses of Rage when they roll initiative, effectively doubling their stock at that level. In other words, some Barbarian subclasses get the ability to use powerful usage-limited features more often than other Barbarian subclasses. It's a clear example of 2024 power creep, though not even all 2024-originated subclasses have this option.
To give a recent example of this: the Lament Barbarian, which can burn Rage uses to refuel its angsty wail feature. A high-level Lament Barbarian eventually gains enough uses of Rage that they can spam the wail every single turn in every encounter, while other Barbarians will have a stock of Rage uses they have no means to burn through fast enough.
And on another note, highlighting how little even WotC themselves think of the feature: unlike how almost every Rogue subclass must have an obligatory Cunning Strikes feature, zero Barbarian subclasses have features that interact in any way with Brutal Strikes. No extra options, no improving any of the options, nada.
Bard: Like the Artificer, the Bard can burn spell slots for uses of a class feature. Except unlike the Artificer, the spell slot level matters not. You expend a 9th-level slot for Bardic Inspiration? You get one use back. It's obviously nonsensical design.
Cleric: Because of people who complained that they could choose a subclass based around non-combat features and then not receive combat-focused spells on that subclass, even though they can just pick a different subclass or pick combat-focused spells as part of their regular spell picks, the Knowledge Domain Cleric gets three spells per spell level, far more than any other caster subclass. Not to mention, Clerics effectively getting a free 5th-level spell slot every long rest at 10th level, that can cast any spell from their spell list at will with no components.
Cleric non-Channel Divinity subclass features also tend to get more spammable, getting their uses back on a short rest or having better durations. We're going to touch on that, because next up...
Druid: As it was in 2014, many Druid subclasses rely on uses of Wild Shape to fuel their main features. Which is where we get into one of the many middle-fingers 2024 gives to the Druid class, in that the class has fewer uses of a vital class resource and thus fewer uses of their subclass abilities. This stands in stark contrast to almost every other subclass getting their class resource pools expanded. Druids thus have to burn spell slots just to break even, which again doesn't scale with the level of spell slot expended.
But hey, you can also burn one of your (more limited, remember!) uses of Wild Shape for...one 1st-level spell slot. Which still abides by your spells known and component requirements, unlike the Cleric's Divine Intervention.
Fighter: As per the example at the top, the Fighter loves to get features that piggyback off of Second Wind and Action Surge. And as noted, options like those and Tactical Shift from the base class mean that you're forced to expend a class resource to get those effects, rather than having a separate resource for a separate unrelated ability. For example, the Gladiator from the Apocalyptic UA is effectively punished if they ever use their Second Wind or Action Surge when they have a full stock of their Brutality feature.
Monk: The 2024 Monk is designed to do one thing and one thing only. It's designed around the idea that you will use the same action, bonus action, and reaction on almost every single turn. As such, 2024 Monk subclasses either lazily sidestep the issue by letting you cheat around action economy (as per the Shadow Monk or UA Venom Monk) or are severely weakened on any turn they need to devote actions to using features (e.g. activing Elemental Attunement or Cloak of Shadows).
There's also the matter of 2024 Monk Tax, where things other classes received for free now have subclass or feat space taken up for the Monk. For example, Open Hand Technique was a strong addition to the 2014 Monk because it gave them something other classes didn't have...and now it's simply a much worse Weapon Mastery, only applying to some of your attacks and relying on a limited resource, that your entire third level is devoted to. The UA Tattoo Monk has its entire 6th-level feature devoted to giving you a skill-based feature when every other martial has those baked into the base class without having to waste any subclass space for it.
Paladin: Are we surprised at all that Paladins of course don't have any such issues? They get better action economy on everything they do, more uses of their Channel Divinity, and are generally buffed across the board.
Ranger: As everyone is well aware that the 2024 obsession with Hunter's Mark severely hinders the class, UA subclasses have tried to address the issue by tacking on bonus effects to Hunter's Mark. Most notably, the Hollow Warden gives frankly-busted benefits (like adding Wisdom to AC) when you have Hunter's Mark up, trying to make you think a 1st-level spell as a feature is a good design choice.
Where this really falls flat is that these subclasses also give you concentration spells on their spell lists, i.e. spells you can't use while you're using your subclass features that rely on Hunter's Mark.
Rogue: Rogues are in a terrible place in 2024—(most) other martials get powerful skill options at low levels that outshine Expertise, they get very little of a bump to their damage output, and their contribution to battle now heavily relies on their Cunning Strikes gimmick. Unfortunately, Cunning Strikes both takes away from damage (and no condition it inflicts is better than Dead), relies on not hitting immunities with your effects, and most of its options are redundant with your own other options or other players' options. Even as you gain levels and thus more Sneak Attack damage, you're expected to trade away more and more Sneak Attack dice for your Cunning Strikes.
This also becomes an issue with subclass design, because unlike the Barbarian, WotC likes Cunning Strikes and wants to shoehorn in 9th-level features that revolve around Cunning Strikes. This ranges from the completely worthless (the Thief's nonsensical Supreme Sneak) to doubling down on using the only good option from the first set of Cunning Strikes (the Assassin with Poison). Notably, while other Rogue subclasses only get one Cunning Strike option at 9th level (one whole option!), the Magic Stealer UA gave three(!) Cunning Strike options at 9th-level, a huge power-creep compared to previous subclasses.
Sorcerer: The base Sorcerer gets a new gimmick, Innate Sorcery, all about letting it be numerically more powerful than other spellcasters in an uninteresting and unengaging fashion. While none of the PHB subclasses interact with Innate Sorcery, those shown in UAs do—and thus get powerful advantages that they can reuse at will for 2 Sorcery Points. For example, the Ancestral Sorcerer can cause the aspect of their ancestor to make people fall down(???) and other benefits for no cost beyond that of Innate Sorcery, or the Demonic Sorcerer can have a condition-inflicting aura that only costs them an extra 2 Sorcery Points. Compare this to Clockwork and Shadow Sorcery, which have features that cost them 5+ Sorcery Points to reuse without the benefit of Innate Sorcery.
Warlock: Make no mistake of it—the 2024 Warlock is designed entirely around Pact of the Blade and the assumption that every player playing the class will be running a Bladelock build. The subclass design makes this evidently clear. Archfey Warlocks are expected to want enemies to target them with attacks or to be within 5 feet of enemies. The Vestige can act by giving up one of your attacks, when the only way for a Warlock to have more than one attack is to be a Bladelock. The Primordial Warlock simultaneously wants you to have your Elemental Node adjacent to enemies but also for you to within said Elemental Node at the same time, something viable only for melee Bladelocks. This recurring design philosophy of building subclasses around one specific playstyle for the class thus results in subclasses that are significantly weakened or useless for any other Warlock build.
Wizard: Changing Wizards so that they get extra spells of their chosen school sounds like a decent feature...until you realize that several schools don't even have spell options at certain higher levels (unless you're using 2014 content), so those schools are inherently disadvantaged by this change.
And it occurred to me, what a genuinely awful design choice it is to have a subclass feature tethered to another feature in this way, when the two features serve no connected purpose. If you want to use your Action Surge in a way that doesn't give you the perfect opportunity to use Hellfire Surge, then you've effectively wasted your use of Hellfire Surge. You can't use it ever without using up your Action Surge at the same time, and thus it pressures you to devote an existing class feature and resource to this new feature you receive. You haven't received a new option in combat, but something awkwardly tacked onto an existing feature like a parasite.
This made me think about other instances where 2024 design really doesn't mesh well with class features and resources, and it turns out that almost every class has various pain points when it comes to class resources and features interacting with subclass features.
Artificer: A well-known one at this point, but with the expansion of Spell-Storing Item to allow 3rd-level spells, with no decrease in the number of uses of the Spell-Storing Item, this renders any options below 3rd-level spells (and the bump in tier power they represent) largely moot. The problem is that the base Artificer doesn't have any particular high-impact 3rd-level spells you'd want up to 10 free uses of per day...meaning that an Artificer's power relies significantly on their subclass's spell list. If you get stuff like Fireball or Lightning Bolt on your subclass spells, you're much more powerful than an Artificer who gets, say, Call Lightning and Clairvoyance.
There's also the matter of Magic Item Tinker, which is overhauled to massively benefit Artificers who replicate items to cast spells—letting them feed their spell slots into charges, refuel spell slots off of drained spellcasting items, and letting them turn a depleted item into a new item with a fresh stock of charges. This significantly punishes the martial-leaning Artificer subclasses, who would want to use more of their infusion options on weapons and armor (especially with Plans Known being significantly reduced in 2024).
Barbarian: Several Barbarian subclasses get the option to refuel uses of their features by expending uses of Rage. The Barbarian class at level 15 gets the ability to regain all of their uses of Rage when they roll initiative, effectively doubling their stock at that level. In other words, some Barbarian subclasses get the ability to use powerful usage-limited features more often than other Barbarian subclasses. It's a clear example of 2024 power creep, though not even all 2024-originated subclasses have this option.
To give a recent example of this: the Lament Barbarian, which can burn Rage uses to refuel its angsty wail feature. A high-level Lament Barbarian eventually gains enough uses of Rage that they can spam the wail every single turn in every encounter, while other Barbarians will have a stock of Rage uses they have no means to burn through fast enough.
And on another note, highlighting how little even WotC themselves think of the feature: unlike how almost every Rogue subclass must have an obligatory Cunning Strikes feature, zero Barbarian subclasses have features that interact in any way with Brutal Strikes. No extra options, no improving any of the options, nada.
Bard: Like the Artificer, the Bard can burn spell slots for uses of a class feature. Except unlike the Artificer, the spell slot level matters not. You expend a 9th-level slot for Bardic Inspiration? You get one use back. It's obviously nonsensical design.
Cleric: Because of people who complained that they could choose a subclass based around non-combat features and then not receive combat-focused spells on that subclass, even though they can just pick a different subclass or pick combat-focused spells as part of their regular spell picks, the Knowledge Domain Cleric gets three spells per spell level, far more than any other caster subclass. Not to mention, Clerics effectively getting a free 5th-level spell slot every long rest at 10th level, that can cast any spell from their spell list at will with no components.
Cleric non-Channel Divinity subclass features also tend to get more spammable, getting their uses back on a short rest or having better durations. We're going to touch on that, because next up...
Druid: As it was in 2014, many Druid subclasses rely on uses of Wild Shape to fuel their main features. Which is where we get into one of the many middle-fingers 2024 gives to the Druid class, in that the class has fewer uses of a vital class resource and thus fewer uses of their subclass abilities. This stands in stark contrast to almost every other subclass getting their class resource pools expanded. Druids thus have to burn spell slots just to break even, which again doesn't scale with the level of spell slot expended.
But hey, you can also burn one of your (more limited, remember!) uses of Wild Shape for...one 1st-level spell slot. Which still abides by your spells known and component requirements, unlike the Cleric's Divine Intervention.
Fighter: As per the example at the top, the Fighter loves to get features that piggyback off of Second Wind and Action Surge. And as noted, options like those and Tactical Shift from the base class mean that you're forced to expend a class resource to get those effects, rather than having a separate resource for a separate unrelated ability. For example, the Gladiator from the Apocalyptic UA is effectively punished if they ever use their Second Wind or Action Surge when they have a full stock of their Brutality feature.
Monk: The 2024 Monk is designed to do one thing and one thing only. It's designed around the idea that you will use the same action, bonus action, and reaction on almost every single turn. As such, 2024 Monk subclasses either lazily sidestep the issue by letting you cheat around action economy (as per the Shadow Monk or UA Venom Monk) or are severely weakened on any turn they need to devote actions to using features (e.g. activing Elemental Attunement or Cloak of Shadows).
There's also the matter of 2024 Monk Tax, where things other classes received for free now have subclass or feat space taken up for the Monk. For example, Open Hand Technique was a strong addition to the 2014 Monk because it gave them something other classes didn't have...and now it's simply a much worse Weapon Mastery, only applying to some of your attacks and relying on a limited resource, that your entire third level is devoted to. The UA Tattoo Monk has its entire 6th-level feature devoted to giving you a skill-based feature when every other martial has those baked into the base class without having to waste any subclass space for it.
Paladin: Are we surprised at all that Paladins of course don't have any such issues? They get better action economy on everything they do, more uses of their Channel Divinity, and are generally buffed across the board.
Ranger: As everyone is well aware that the 2024 obsession with Hunter's Mark severely hinders the class, UA subclasses have tried to address the issue by tacking on bonus effects to Hunter's Mark. Most notably, the Hollow Warden gives frankly-busted benefits (like adding Wisdom to AC) when you have Hunter's Mark up, trying to make you think a 1st-level spell as a feature is a good design choice.
Where this really falls flat is that these subclasses also give you concentration spells on their spell lists, i.e. spells you can't use while you're using your subclass features that rely on Hunter's Mark.
Rogue: Rogues are in a terrible place in 2024—(most) other martials get powerful skill options at low levels that outshine Expertise, they get very little of a bump to their damage output, and their contribution to battle now heavily relies on their Cunning Strikes gimmick. Unfortunately, Cunning Strikes both takes away from damage (and no condition it inflicts is better than Dead), relies on not hitting immunities with your effects, and most of its options are redundant with your own other options or other players' options. Even as you gain levels and thus more Sneak Attack damage, you're expected to trade away more and more Sneak Attack dice for your Cunning Strikes.
This also becomes an issue with subclass design, because unlike the Barbarian, WotC likes Cunning Strikes and wants to shoehorn in 9th-level features that revolve around Cunning Strikes. This ranges from the completely worthless (the Thief's nonsensical Supreme Sneak) to doubling down on using the only good option from the first set of Cunning Strikes (the Assassin with Poison). Notably, while other Rogue subclasses only get one Cunning Strike option at 9th level (one whole option!), the Magic Stealer UA gave three(!) Cunning Strike options at 9th-level, a huge power-creep compared to previous subclasses.
Sorcerer: The base Sorcerer gets a new gimmick, Innate Sorcery, all about letting it be numerically more powerful than other spellcasters in an uninteresting and unengaging fashion. While none of the PHB subclasses interact with Innate Sorcery, those shown in UAs do—and thus get powerful advantages that they can reuse at will for 2 Sorcery Points. For example, the Ancestral Sorcerer can cause the aspect of their ancestor to make people fall down(???) and other benefits for no cost beyond that of Innate Sorcery, or the Demonic Sorcerer can have a condition-inflicting aura that only costs them an extra 2 Sorcery Points. Compare this to Clockwork and Shadow Sorcery, which have features that cost them 5+ Sorcery Points to reuse without the benefit of Innate Sorcery.
Warlock: Make no mistake of it—the 2024 Warlock is designed entirely around Pact of the Blade and the assumption that every player playing the class will be running a Bladelock build. The subclass design makes this evidently clear. Archfey Warlocks are expected to want enemies to target them with attacks or to be within 5 feet of enemies. The Vestige can act by giving up one of your attacks, when the only way for a Warlock to have more than one attack is to be a Bladelock. The Primordial Warlock simultaneously wants you to have your Elemental Node adjacent to enemies but also for you to within said Elemental Node at the same time, something viable only for melee Bladelocks. This recurring design philosophy of building subclasses around one specific playstyle for the class thus results in subclasses that are significantly weakened or useless for any other Warlock build.
Wizard: Changing Wizards so that they get extra spells of their chosen school sounds like a decent feature...until you realize that several schools don't even have spell options at certain higher levels (unless you're using 2014 content), so those schools are inherently disadvantaged by this change.
