New Unearthed Arcana Brings Back Five Subclasses

Five existing D&D subclasses are getting a rework in a newly released Unearthed Arcana. Four of the subclasses come from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, while the fifth is the Oathbreaker subclass for Paladins from the 2014 Player’s Handbook.

The revised subclasses are:

• Path of the Spiritual Guardian Barbarian (previously Path of the Ancestral Guardian)
• Path of the Storm Herald Barbarian
• Cavalier Fighter
• Warrior of Intoxication Monk (formerly Way of the Drunken Master)
• Oathbreaker Paladin

The Path of the Spiritual Guardian has received a revamped Spiritual Protectors ability with a choice of effects. The Storm Herald’s Storm Aura now scales with Rage damage and the Raging Storm now has redesigned environments. The Cavalier’s Unwavering Mark no longer has limited uses. The Warrior of Intoxication now has the ability to create potent drinks that grant abilities when drank. The Oathbreaker has received some updates bringing its abilities in line with the revamped Paladin’s ability.

The survey for the new subclasses opens on November 6th.

 

[Charlaquin]

I quite like the Barbarian subclass updates, though I still think fire damage for a desert barbarian feels forced. I get that causing exhaustion would be overpowered, but deserts aren’t full of fire, they’re just dry, and they’re cold a good half of the time. Ah, well.

Removing the limit on the Cavalier’s mark is great. Hook that 4e Defender class action right to my veins.

The drunken monk is a complete mess, like I says. It stil (IMO correctly) says it’s about imitating the movements of “the intoxicated” not about actually being drunk, but then for some reason decides it needs magic potions… which have nothing to do with being drunk anyway, so why are they here?

Oathbreaker is still trying to be an antipaladin when it should be a fallen paladin. Take all the undead, fiend, necrotic damage stuff, put it in its own Oath of the Balckguard subclass, and bring back the old UA Oath of Conquest mechanics for a proper Oathbreaker. Give the Blackguard the tenants about fear and domination, and give the Oathbreaker tenants about doing what must be done at any cost, even your own honor. Oathbreakers should be anti-heroes, with Blackguards as the full-on villains.

 

[Zardnaar]

“Warrior of Intoxication” is such a weird name, it sounds clinical

Stupid name. Might not

 

[Mistwell]

I mean, you magically conjure and are required to drink a pint of an alcoholic beverage to gain the benefits of the subclass. All connotations and cliché's will still be there. I don't think they're getting anything out of changing the name. It IS a stereotype, and it's why people choose the subclass. If a table doesn't like that vibe, they shouldn't include this optional subclass because the subclass comes with that vibe.

 

[Morrus]

Warrior of Intoxication Monk (formerly Way of the Drunken Master)… man, poetry is dead! Who named it that?

 

[Gammadoodler]

It's almost certainly a matter of sensitivity; Martial arts that mimic drunken swaying are often a little over-stylized in media and it often reduces the character in question to an alcoholic, which some tables do not want to have that vibe if anybody in the group has traumatic correlations to people who drink excessively.

Besides, of all the things a D&D character can be personality-wise, alcoholic is by far towards the top of the list and usually one of the worst offenders for clichés. Unmarrying it slightly from explicitly being drunk (you're legally intoxicated if you've had small amounts of alcohol so it's at a least a little more realistic than being rip-roaring drunk) is a good move to alleviate that without completely stripping away its identity.

The slightly humorous bit, if that is the case, is that the new "warrior of intoxication" mechanically ties your character to drinking, while the old "drunken master" did not.

"We don't approve of drunkenness..also..drink this.."

 

[Charlaquin]

I mean, you magically conjure and are required to drink a pint of an alcoholic beverage to gain the benefits of the subclass. All connotations and cliché's will still be there. I don't think they're getting anything out of changing the name. It IS a stereotype, and it's why people choose the subclass. If a table doesn't like that vibe, they shouldn't include this optional subclass because the subclass comes with that vibe.

I’m not sure the magical beverages are actually alcoholic. They don’t say anything about intoxicating the character, they have effects like letting you breathe poison or resist radiant damage. It feels more like PF2’s mutagen alchemist than an actual drunken master…

 

[GarrettKP]

At this point, since May, they have tested way more new or updated Subclasses for next year than they did for Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.

It seems to be a mix of replacements for the remaining PHB (and now DMG!) Subclasses from 2014, replacing those from Xanathar's, and some new ideas. So a new Everything book that brings 2017 and earlier options into the 20s along with a bunch of new stuff, including a whole new Class.

Still very confident the new class (Psion) is for Dark Sun still, as are the “Apocolyptic Subclasses.” Everything else definitely feels “Everything” like.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Changing Way of the Drunken Master to Warrior of Intoxication Monk feels like a bad parody of a sensitivity reader suggestion.

 

[Cergorach]

“Warrior of Intoxication” is such a weird name, it sounds clinical

While it's named aptly, it has no panache! But it allows options like: Warrior of the Schroom...

 

[Parmandur]

Still very confident the new class (Psion) is for Dark Sun still, as are the “Apocolyptic Subclasses.” Everything else definitely feels “Everything” like.

Not mutually exclusive: the Class and Subclasses tested for Rising from the Last War and rhe subclasses for Mythic Odysseys of theros also were published in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.