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.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Alchemical Monk would have been better...

Agreed. Just break it entirely away from the drunken master.

Or, if the issue is more that some people didn’t like the theme and the name was harder to construct as Warrior of X, lean further into the weaving through and around enemies and the reactive aspect of the subclass mechanically and make that the thematic focus as well.

That is, let it use Deflect Attack without a reaction by spending 1 Discipline, or maybe as a bonus thing when you use a Di to use Patient Defense, and give them “enemies have disadvantage on opportunity attacks against you” as a level 3 feature alongside “when you use flurry of blows a target you hit gains X, while it has X, you don’t have to spend Di to make the follow up attack of Deflect Attacks against that target” or “when you flurry you can make one target focus on you gaining disadvantage on attacks against anyone else”, making a combatant that hits really hard on reactions or can reactively hit way more than other monks, and moves like wind or water or use weaving metaphors around the battlefield.

A monk that leans into and ramps up the 1) slippery mobility and 2) being actively dangerous when on the defensive, aspects of the monk would be cool and new and something that IMO the monk needs in order to feel complete. (Along with a proper arcane subclass with a strong theme like Abjuration turned into offense or a proper psi monk with invisible hand spells and telekenetic spells like catapult or effects like them, and a new weapons focused monk, and a divine fist type monk)

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If WotC is determined to redo Drunken Master*, then they could think about what it was originally - someone who pretends to be drunk for comedy. Thus, they could ditch the alchemical stuff, and call the subclass Clown. Mime or Way of the Slapstick are other options.


*I've never seen one played, I think it's actually a subclass that could be quietly abandoned. And if some player did pull out Xanathar's and insist that it's still game legal, then what does it matter? It's a lot weaker than any of the other 2024 monk subclasses.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Cavalier - this is one that could actually be a pet class - take the dragon stuf from PDK and refluff it as a horse (or generic mount of the player's choice). The Cavalier in Pathfinder works like that.

Then make a separate specialist defensive fighter subclass.

 

[Hussar]

heh. Funnily enough, years ago when running a Primeval Thule campaign, so, we're talking right in the early days of 5e, one of my players played a drunken master monk and skinned it as more of a drug dealer than alcoholic. Seems like that's a theme that's gotten some traction.

 

[Peter BOSCO'S]

Character concept time! The new Oathbreaker Paladin gets a per-hit damage increase from Aura of Hate. And you know what goes well with per-hit damage? Dual wielding, of course.

Darth Maul? Is that you? Give in to your anger!

 

[Sulicius]

Cavalier - this is one that could actually be a pet class - take the dragon stuf from PDK and refluff it as a horse (or generic mount of the player's choice). The Cavalier in Pathfinder works like that.

Then make a separate specialist defensive fighter subclass.

Hmmm, I actually think they did it the right way. A defensive fighter subclass with some mounted ribbon features. It's a solid class even without being mounted.

An only-mounted subclass would probably be a waste.

 

[Valetudo]

Master of white lines?

 

[Valetudo]

How about the rocknroll monk?

 

[Not a Decepticon]

Warrior of Dance

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Does WOTC simply not understand the concept of scaling and what is meaningful amounts of damage?

Like the storm auras deal a pathetic amount of damage, 2d4, save negates. That's a lot of rolling for something so negligible. And they're D4's. Stop making me roll friggin D4's!

The oathbreaker paladin can summon Cha skeletons and zombies. Great at level 3. Worthless at 10. Why don't they upscale?

Its like that crap ability where clerics can use their channel divinity to deal d8 +wis damage, save for half. Stop making abilities that are wastes of space!

Rule of thumb, if it feels like a Pathfinder 2 feat, go back to the drawing board and make it worth writing on my sheet.