New D&D Unearthed Arcana Reveals Two New Subclasses for Monk and Sorcerer, Plus Revamps For Seven More

Wizards of the Coast has a new Unearthed Arcana playtest for Dungeons & Dragons, featuring revamps of seven existing Arcane-themed subclasses, plus two new subclasses. Today, Wizards of the Coast unveiled a new Arcane Subclass Unearthed Arcana, featuring the following subclasses:

• Arcana Domain Cleric
• Arcane Archer Fighter
• Hexblade Patron Warlock
• Conjurer Wizard
• Enchanter Wizard
• Necromancer Wizard
• Transmuter Wizard
• Tattooed Warrior Monk
• Ancestral Sorcery Sorcerer

Notably, the Hexblade Patron and Necromancer Wizard were both relatively high on the wishlist of many D&D players.

That Tattooed Warrior grants the Monk access to several magic tattoos with specific effects that enhance various monk abilities. The Ancestral Sorcery plays off the idea of having a powerful magical ancestor that grants them guidance and direction from beyond. Notably, the ancestral spirit has an spectral haze form and can even Frighten those around the sorcerer at higher levels.

Some of the notable changes in the UA include a revised Arcane Shot ability that comes with an Arcane Shot die used to deal extra damage that ramps up in size, the Conjurer Wizard's benign transposition starts at an earlier level as does Durable Summons, the Enchanter Wizard has some more versatile low-level options that replace Hypnotic Gaze, and the Necromancer has been wholly redesigned with an emphasis on generating temporary hit points for the wizard, their party members, and undead thralls.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The first two Arcane Archer and Arcane Domain are awesome, rock solid, although I'd man Arcane shot profiency times instead of Intelligence, awesome either way. Love both of them.

Monks Nature Tatoos feel too situational.

Hexblade still feels pointless with the fixed Blade.

Ancestral Sorcerer is great for folks that want a more generic wizard like Sorcerer, not my jam, but it does what it needs to I think.

The 4 wizard subclasses, only the transmute is well don't, although enchanter and Necromancer are passible.

Conjure has the wrong focus. It's most iconic attribute is Summoning creatures not bampfing across the battlefield, we have subclasses that already focus on teleportation, it's NOT the most iconic element of Conjuration Wizards, Summoning is.

Conjurers should be able to cast any summon x conjugation spell without concentration and reduce it's duration to a minute. Or if that well has been hit too often, they should summon 2 creatures when they call a Summon X spell.

Illusionists should not be better conjurers then the Conjurer.

 

[GarrettKP]

Maaaaaybr, though there is still that October book to consider.

2026 seems too soon for another Everything book after the Core.

The October book just can’t be for any of these UAs. It’s too close to release. Even the Horror Subclass one was on the razors edge of print schedules. It’s far more likely the October book is either delayed or something that doesn’t require UA, like an adventure anthology or something.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The October book just can’t be for any of these UAs. It’s too close to release. Even the Horror Subclass one was on the razors edge of print schedules. It’s far more likely the October book is either delayed or something that doesn’t require UA, like an adventure anthology or something.

Given the broad scope of what's been in these UAs, I think the odds are this is an Everything book that is going to bring most of the missing 2014 subclasses back (not you, Twilight Cleric).

And yeah, the October book would need to be something less ambitious in any case, given everything else going on, and it seems unlikely they're going to realistically have time to test a bunch of subclasses before hitting their printers' drop dead date.

 

[Osgood]

I haven’t checked it out yet, but I am a little surprised to see yet another subclass heavy UA. Given how many of these are retuning subclasses, I suppose it could just be an effort to get as many things updated to the 2024 rules as quickly as possible… but I can’t shake the nagging feeling that after many years of a slow, thoughtful product schedule we are seeing a return to the rushed splatbook pipeline that ultimate hurt 3e and 4e. It certainly lends more credence to the idea that future releases are going to follow themes—which I don’t hate—I’m just concerned about the pace.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Rather than saying "you tattoo a rabbit on your body that lets you cast the jump spell", why not just say "You tattoo magical designs on your skin that constitute a spell", in the same way writing letters in a spellbook gives wizards spells. Like, ok, maybe your image of the tattooed monk is like a guy in a full body yakuza style tattoo... but it kind of sucks as a player if, theoretically, the optimal tattoo to put on my character's chest is like "a butterfly on top of a volcano during an eclipse" is kind of ridiculous and a weird example of flavor dictating gameplay instead of the other way around. Let the players pick the spells and then describe what their tattoos look like after the fact.

 

[Mistwell]

The only new wizard subclass I actually like here so far is Transmuter. Enchanter makes no sense (why would you gain movement and disengage?). Conjurer is underpowered (one time a day features better be AMAZING, and if not they're mostly a waste of space). Necromancy is "ok". It doesn't do anything for me but it's not bad.

The biggest issue with all UA subclasses for the last three UAs is they're not keeping in mind the importance of scaling for many abilities. Example: Enchanter has an ability once per day as a reaction after you've been hit to force an attacker to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the attacker takes psychic damage equal to half your wizard level plus your intelligence modifier. That's an OK ability at level 6 (about 7 damage) and a nearly meaningless ability at level 15 (12 damage). You're not risking your reaction, which can be for spells like Shield or Counterspell or Absorb Elements, to do an additional 12 damage once a day.

Not to mention the requirements for such a minor ability are too high: 1) you're hit by an attack, 2) attacker must be within 30', 3) it costs your reaction, 4) it's limited to once a day unless you expend a 2nd level spell slot to recharge it earlier, 5) the foe STILL needs to fail a save and you lose your use even if they succeed on their save. All that for half level + int mod? It's a ribbon ability with so many hoops despite being the only ability you get at 6th level for a subclass that otherwise isn't a winner for any of the other levels.

 

[Remathilis]

Given the broad scope of what's been in these UAs, I think the odds are this is an Everything book that is going to bring most of the missing 2014 subclasses back (not you, Twilight Cleric).

And yeah, the October book would need to be something less ambitious in any case, given everything else going on, and it seems unlikely they're going to realistically have time to test a bunch of subclasses before hitting their printers' drop dead date.

I think the Hexblade revision puts a stake in the heart* of an October Ravenloft book, unless it was never intended for it or has been cut for later from it. I won't say never, but my money is increasingly that the October book is vaporware or delayed and these new UAs are all for 2026. (Either one big project or a few smaller ones).

* pun absolutely intended.

 

[LaTia J]

I thiiiiiink we fixed the link issues...

 

[Nikosandros]

The link does not appear to be currently working.

 

[SkidAce]

Rather than saying "you tattoo a rabbit on your body that lets you cast the jump spell", why not just say "You tattoo magical designs on your skin that constitute a spell", in the same way writing letters in a spellbook gives wizards spells. Like, ok, maybe your image of the tattooed monk is like a guy in a full body yakuza style tattoo... but it kind of sucks as a player if, theoretically, the optimal tattoo to put on my character's chest is like "a butterfly on top of a volcano during an eclipse" is kind of ridiculous and a weird example of flavor dictating gameplay instead of the other way around. Let the players pick the spells and then describe what their tattoos look like after the fact.

Pretty sure we will regardless.