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.

 

[GarrettKP]

The Horror one is in the sweet spot for it: we'll see. I just don't see an Everything before 2027.

Remember the Everything book will likely be a reprint of Tasha’s and Xanathar’s. It’s going to be a Monsters of the Multiverse, not a wholly new Everything product. They want to get old options updated sooner rather than later.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Remember the Everything book will likely be a reprint of Tasha’s and Xanathar’s. It’s going to be a Monsters of the Multiverse, not a wholly new Everything product. They want to get old options updated sooner rather than later.

Maaaaybe. The first Everything reprints we're going to see are in the Forgotten Realms players book this fall. It's certainly possible they're going to dole out the reprints in a way that fits into their overall publishing schedule.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

On the other hand, I like the concept of people encountering famous Tattooed Monks, and seeing a tattoo they know of and going "oh no! Run!"

I plan on developing other tattoos, specifically probably dragon related.

 

[Charlaquin]

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.

I think the trouble with Conjurer, and this is shared by the Necromancer, is that conceptually they want to be summoning/animating large numbers of minions, but 2024 D&D wants to move away from having a single player control several creatures at once. With the conjure X spells being redesigned, the conjurer has to rely on the summon X spells instead, which don’t satisfy the concept as well. Likewise, the necromancer’s shift in focus from animate dead to summon undead feels like a miss.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I think the trouble with Conjurer, and this is shared by the Necromancer, is that conceptually they want to be summoning/animating large numbers of minions, but 2024 D&D wants to move away from having a single player control several creatures at once. With the conjure X spells being redesigned, the conjurer has to rely on the summon X spells instead, which don’t satisfy the concept as well. Likewise, the necromancer’s shift in focus from animate dead to summon undead feels like a miss.

The obvious answer is to summon a single swarm NPC that can get bigger over time. Start with a large swarm of skeletons and scale up to a gargantuan one to represent an army.

 

[Leatherhead]

I think the trouble with Conjurer, and this is shared by the Necromancer, is that conceptually they want to be summoning/animating large numbers of minions, but 2024 D&D wants to move away from having a single player control several creatures at once. With the conjure X spells being redesigned, the conjurer has to rely on the summon X spells instead, which don’t satisfy the concept as well. Likewise, the necromancer’s shift in focus from animate dead to summon undead feels like a miss.

Just give them one REALLY BIG minion that they can customize as a subclass feature (or even a series of features), and then let them sling a spell or two for more disposable minions as needed (but still keep the numbers low for table-use). It's really that simple, they even have a framework to borrow from that new artificer subclass. Just do that, but for the Wizard.

 

[Leatherhead]

The obvious answer is to summon a single swarm NPC that can get bigger over time. Start with a large swarm of skeletons and scale up to a gargantuan one to represent an army.

This is also an acceptable variation of a big minion.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The obvious answer is to summon a single swarm NPC that can get bigger over time. Start with a large swarm of skeletons and scale up to a gargantuan one to represent an army.

Yeah, I think the contemporary necromancer fantasy is the Diablo necromancer, with an army of skeletons. Summoning in one or two temporary undead isn't at all the same thing.

 

[GarrettKP]

Maaaaybe. The first Everything reprints we're going to see are in the Forgotten Realms players book this fall. It's certainly possible they're going to dole out the reprints in a way that fits into their overall publishing schedule.

I mean, the only reprint we are getting in the FR book that was in an Everything book is Bladesinger, and that started in a FR book. Plus they likely aren’t printing any Wizards in the Everything book outside of the missing four and maybe Scribe.

Meanwhile the reprints we have been seeing in the last two big subclass UAs are basically all from Tasha’s or Xanathar’s (with the main exception being the now missing Wizards).

 

[Remathilis]

I mean, the only reprint we are getting in the FR book that was in an Everything book is Bladesinger, and that started in a FR book. Plus they likely aren’t printing any Wizards in the Everything book outside of the missing four and maybe Scribe.

Meanwhile the reprints we have been seeing in the last two big subclass UAs are basically all from Tasha’s or Xanathar’s (with the main exception being the now missing Wizards).

Knowledge domain - PHB
Arcana domain - SCAG
Grave domain - XGE
Transmuter, Conjurer, Necromancer, Enchanter - PHB
Bladesinger - SCAG/TCE
Purple Dragon Knight - SCAG
Arcane Archer - XGE
Shadow Sorcery - XGE
Spirit bard - VRGR
Undeath patron - VRGR
Hexblade - XGE
Phantom - TCE

Everything else is new.