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.

 

[WanderingMystic]

The “horror class” thing is obviously a red herring. Doesn’t mean there won’t be anything Ravenloft, but it’s not going to be a collection of subclasses, that’s the book these are for. An adventure, presented as a sequel to CoS, is quite likely. There is obviously going to be an adventure of some description next year. Combine that with the supplemental core rule book and the Dark Sun product and that’s 75% of next year’s releases mapped out.

NB they won’t do another slim book like Eberron, it wasn’t coincidence that caused them to warp.

My hope is a compendium so there might be a chapter on Ravenloft with certain classes, spells, and feats for that setting, then one for dark Sun and so on.

 

[Marandahir]

The “horror class” thing is obviously a red herring. Doesn’t mean there won’t be anything Ravenloft, but it’s not going to be a collection of subclasses, that’s the book these are for. An adventure, presented as a sequel to CoS, is quite likely. There is obviously going to be an adventure of some description next year. Combine that with the supplemental core rule book and the Dark Sun product and that’s 75% of next year’s releases mapped out.

NB they won’t do another slim book like Eberron, it wasn’t coincidence that caused them to warp.

Or they'll do slim paperback books like they used to for that sort of smaller release.

 

[WanderingMystic]

Or they'll do slim paperback books like they used to for that sort of smaller release.

Since the slim Eberron book is still going to be hardback I don't think they will release a soft back version. Also the collection of softback books they tried for the last few settings were not well received.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Since the slim Eberron book is still going to be hardback I don't think they will release a soft back version. Also the collection of softback books they tried for the last few settings were not well received.

I think the slim hardback is a technical failure.

Printer: “sure we can do that, no problem!”

WotC: “shouldn’t a book be - flat?”

And the slim paperback proved an economic failure.

I think WotC see online only as the way forward for anything not big enough for a full size hardback.

 

[Remathilis]

I think the slim hardback is a technical failure.

Printer: “sure we can do that, no problem!”

WotC: “shouldn’t a book be - flat?”

And the slim paperback proved an economic failure.

I think WotC see online only as the way forward for anything not big enough for a full size hardback.

Because the first time something doesn't go right, you abandon the concept entirely.

We don't know why the Eberron book's cover bent. Bad materials, incorrect binding, misadjusted machinery, etc. They apparently have figured out how to FIX the issue as the new printing should be out in December. Which tells me the issue was with the execution, not the concept. Slim hardbacks aren't new to D&D: Spelljammer and Planescape are box-sets full of them and of all the problems with either product, cover-warping wasn't one of them.

I think the idea that WotC abandons the slim supplement because of the printing snafu to be premature at the very least.

 

[Marandahir]

Since the slim Eberron book is still going to be hardback I don't think they will release a soft back version. Also the collection of softback books they tried for the last few settings were not well received.

It's still hardback in part because a lot of us (and all the FLGSs etc) had already pre-ordered the hardcover copies when the print run was recalled.

They weren't going to recall it and then republish it instead in paperback. It's a much bigger headache to have to refund all the stores and to ask that those stores refund all their preorders, and then set back up preorders but for softcover instead.

But that doesn't mean they won'd do as such for a future, currently unannounced release.