New Unearthed Arcana Released, With 8 New Forgotten Realms-Themed Subclasses

Today, Wizards of the Coast has announced a new Unearthed Arcana playtest featuring eight new Dungeons & Dragons subclasses that will appear in the upcoming Forgotten Realms Player's Guide. The new subclasses include five classes tied to Forgotten Realms regions, as well as the return of the Knowledge Domain Cleric subclass from the 2014 Player's Handbook and the Bladesinger Wizard subclass and Purple Dragon Knight Fighter subclass from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide.

Each of the five remaining subclasses are themed to one of the five regions explored in the Forgotten Realms Adventure Guide also coming out in November. The College of the Moon Bard subclass is tied to the Moonshae Isles, the Winter Walker Ranger subclass is tied to Icewind Dale, and the Oath of the Noble Genies is tied to Calimshan. The Scion of The Three is tied to the Dead Three (of Baldur's Gate fame). Meanwhile, Spellfire Sorcery dates back to 2nd Edition and can both heal allies and harm foes.

The eight new subclasses can be found below:

• College Of The Moon (Bard)
• Knowledge Domain (Cleric)
• Purple Dragon Knight (Fighter)
• Oath Of The Noble Genies (Paladin)
• Winter Walker (Ranger)
• Scion Of The Three (Rogue)
• Spellfire Sorcery (Sorcerer)
• Bladesinger (Wizard)

The Forgotten Realm's Players Guide comes out on November 11th.

 

[michaeljpastor]

My big problem with the Valor Bard is that you can't use your Bardic Inspiration on yourself. Also, you don't get 'real' Wizard spells until around 10th level.

You are correct that the 6th and 14th Levels are virtually, if not actually, the same. That, to me, is incredibly bad design choice. There should be some differences. The original Bladesinger's 14th level ability was much better. Also, only using INT to hit and Damage while Bladesong is active really doesn't solve the problems either. So, I'm not even really a part time Gish if we go over 3 encounters. The INT to hit and Damage should at the least be on all the time. This is why I believe Training in War and Song should give you light armor, one weapon that you use INT for and is a spellcasting focus for you, and choose one skill. Then add the Advantage to acrobatics while the Bladesong is active.

Honestly, the original one was better. I may just House Rule the INT thing.

I hope you put all that into the feedback form ;-)

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

So, I'm not even really a part time Gish if we go over 3 encounters. The INT to hit and Damage should at the least be on all the time.

Why should you get to be a full time gish on the will time 9 level caster chassis? Like why even have non hybrid martials if everyone just gets to use one stat for attack attack/damage, with multiattack AND getting to sub an attack for a superior blade cantrip?

Getting a massive AC boost and a moderate boost to attack and damage in every meaningful encounter in the day is more than enough.

Fighters/barbarians only get 2 attacks at the level the game is played and arent also a 9 level caster. I'm firmly of the opinion no caster should get multiattack, but that battle has clearly been lost.

I know bladesingers have always been a OP munchkin class. Legacy is no reason to continue.

 

[Bladesinger]

I hope you put all that into the feedback form ;-)

LOL, I'll try, but I suspect they won't let me or even read it if i do!

 

[Bladesinger]

Why should you get to be a full time gish on the will time 9 level caster chassis? Like why even have non hybrid martials if everyone just gets to use one stat for attack attack/damage, with multiattack AND getting to sub an attack for a superior blade cantrip?

Getting a massive AC boost and a moderate boost to attack and damage in every meaningful encounter in the day is more than enough.

Fighters/barbarians only get 2 attacks at the level the game is played and arent also a 9 level caster. I'm firmly of the opinion no caster should get multiattack, but that battle has clearly been lost.

I know bladesingers have always been a OP munchkin class. Legacy is no reason to continue.

Your point is well taken, I just never liked feeling like I'm not my Class most of the time. Personal taste, nothing more.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I dunno, still seems hyperbolic to me.

I’d have been fine with that.

There’s a difference in degree though. Spellfire might be an FR thing, but “magic fire that can heal as well as burn and absorbs other magic” is an extremely cool concept that could easily fit into any setting, and spellfire is a good name for it that sounds like what it is. Scion of the Three is directly tied to forgotten realms gods, so it’s a little harder to port to other settings, but D&D has a long history of bringing gods from one setting to another, sometimes changing names in the process and sometimes not. So, I’m not as into it as I am the spellfire sorcerer, but I’m willing to tolerate its specificity because gods are very nearly setting neutral. But one order of knights from one country within the setting? That’s not just FR-specific, that’s specific to a very small corner of FR. That’s way too narrow to warrant an entire subclass, even within an FR book.

It's perfect fine in an FR specific book, they are very iconic. That being said, according to the bit of lore they give they used to be Cormyr specific, but aren't anymore.

No explanation given for the change either to the lore either, I NEED THE CONTEXT TO JUDGE!!!

 

[WanderingMystic]

So with the Blade singer
1: You can easily have your Mage Armor look like a suit of elven chain or even elven plate of you want, personally if I play a Goth that is what I will be doing.

2: The cantrip True Strike will let you use your into stat to hit with your weapon. Granted once you get to 5th level that extra attack which must be made with your normal weapon attack will suffer while you are not in a blade dance.

3: You can easily get an 18 Int by level 4 and definitely by level 8 so you will have 4 uses per day of your blade dance by the time you can make two attacks.

4: I completely agree that not being able to feel like your class is a big disappointment even if it is only once or twice a session. (For my group we almost never have more than four combats in a day). However you are still a full caster and will have some extra spell slots, the extra melee attack after a true strike is still better than most other wizards just casting a cantrip.

The only problem, and this is one they have always had is that you still need to care about your Dex (unlike the Eldritch Knight) so even if you prefer wielding a battle axe or a mace you need a scimitar or rapier as a back up melee weapon.

 

[Azzy]

I NEED THE CONTEXT TO JUDGE!!!

No, you need to assume the worst and wail and gnash teeth like is usual for these boards!

 

[Kurotowa]

Today's test character was a Scion Rogue. Rogues are another class where the subclasses usually aren't transformative. That said, there's two things consider here. One is that Scion Rogues are MAD for Dex and Int, so that encourages a build that goes light on feats so you can raise them both. The other is that those tasty off-turn attacks from Bloodthirst are required to be melee attacks, and later on Aura of Malevolence only has a 10ft range, so that's a disincentive away from ranged weapons.

There's some fun ways you can build around this, though it's difficult to fit them all in at once. Lucky can help make sure those Bloodthirst attacks are Sneak Attacks. Since you're investing in Int anyway, picking up True Strike can be attractive. If you want to satisfy those melee weapon requirements but don't want to depend on Cunning Action: Disengage every turn, a Whip is worth consideration.

After statting out a test character, Scion Rogue in another solid but non-transformative subclass, unless you're deliberately planning for party synergy. Getting Blade Ward or Chill Touch is cute but hard to build around. Having a Cunning Strike to Frighten foes is a little redundant with the Poison option, since it achieves a similar effect via a different save ...unless you're in a party with a Fey Wanderer Ranger, when it becomes amazing.

Still, the flavor is great, so I see nothing wrong with it.

 

[Ashrym]

My big problem with the Valor Bard is that you can't use your Bardic Inspiration on yourself.

If you're going to make house rules to "fix" what you don't like why wouldn't you just allow valor bards to use Bardic Inspiration on themselves while you're at it?

"I don't like this about bladesingers so I'm going to house rule" and "I don't like this about valor bards so it's an excuse to house rule bladesingers" seems a bit inconsistent.

Also, you don't get 'real' Wizard spells until around 10th level.

This is something that falls under No True Scotsman Fallacy. What constitutes a "real" wizard spell or needing these spells to be wizard spells at all is something I would argue does not define what a gish is. A character isn't "not a gish" because of some spells on the wizard list.

Every bard cantrip is on the wizard cantrip list except for Starry Wisp and Vicious Mockery under 2024 rules. It's not like both concepts wouldn't go for True Strike as a typical choice.

If my initial choices at 1st level are True Strike and Blade Ward as cantrips; and Thunder Wave, Sleep, Dissonant Whispers, and Cure Wounds as spells I think those are suitable. If we compare that to a wizard who takes True Strike and Blade Ward as cantrips (because they are trying to be gish) plus Minor Illusion; and Thunder Wave, Sleep, Mage Armor, and Shield I think those spells are also suitable.

This gets back to which spells you think you need to be a gish. I think casting Slow instead of Haste or Hypnotic Pattern instead of Fireball doesn't mean much.

You are correct

I know. I get that a lot.

I wasn't going to continue this discussion because I'm obviously no one to tell you what you like or don't like about you choice of DnD classes when building a character. But I think that when discussing the UA bladesinger a comparison to valor bards helps with that discusssion.

that the 6th and 14th Levels are virtually, if not actually, the same. That, to me, is incredibly bad design choice. There should be some differences.

One of those is Extra Attack, which is a common ability among many classes. EK's, valor bards, and UA bladesingers already have special versions of that ability. The UA bladesinger version is more like the EK version: "...you can cast one of your Wizard cantrips..." and the valor bard version is "...you can cast one of your cantrips..." and a slightly superior version in that valor bards don't have that class restriction listed.

Out over over 24 class / subclass options very few can use Extra Attack in this way. It's hard to apply a sameness argument here when these are the exceptions to that sameness.

Song of Victory and Battle Magic are the same mechanic but since these are the only two options for this feature it seems to imply that these are the full caster gish options and part of why we would make this comparison.

The original Bladesinger's 14th level ability was much better.

Which begs the question of why WotC chose to make that change.

Also, only using INT to hit and Damage while Bladesong is active really doesn't solve the problems either. So, I'm not even really a part time Gish if we go over 3 encounters. The INT to hit and Damage should at the least be on all the time.

INT for combat all the time looks like an "eat your cake and have it too" desire. Valor bards don't get CHA to their weapons. EK's don't get INT to their weapons. Paladin's and Ranger's don't get their casting stat to their weapons. UA Armorer artificers do but only with special armor attacks, and UA Battle Smiths do but only with magic weapons; and either of those are not full spell casters. Pact of the Blade does with the pact weapon only and investing multiple invocations into weapon attacks, and warlocks spellcasting structure and list isn't as versatile as a wizard.

INT for weapon attacks is more versatile than those other options when it's up, and it's annoying when it's not. If a person builds for when it's not (like one would with a valor bard) then that bonus becomes superfluous. If a person does not then the class plays differently with and without bladesong being up and that's what I don't like about it.

This is why I believe Training in War and Song should give you light armor, one weapon that you use INT for and is a spellcasting focus for you, and choose one skill. Then add the Advantage to acrobatics while the Bladesong is active.

I think they should take the same method as dance bards, draconic sorcerers, barbarians, and monks where it's an alternative to armor. This prevents people trying to stack extreme AC's.

Any wizard who wants a better AC can spend a feat for lightly armored because that grants light armor and shield training. The TCoE bladesinger only gave light armor so this isn't a poor choice for wizards who want to improve AC and wear armor. Or a single level multiclass can add armor.

Honestly, the original one was better. I may just House Rule the INT thing.

Here's the differences:

TCoE gave bladesingers proficiency in light armor (extremely minor IMO) and proficiency in one weapon. The UA gives multiple weapons.

Bladesong gave:

• an AC bonus equal to INT bonus
• +10 ft movement
• advantage on acrobatics checks
• a bonus to concentration saves equal to INT bonus

Bladesong did not give INT bonus for attacks and damage. The UA blade song give the same AC bonus to INT and concentration saves. The movement and acrobatics benefits are lost and using INT for attacks is gained. WotC also changed uses for INT instead of proficiency bonus.

Extra Attack is almost exactly the same except it now specifies your wizard cantrip instead of just your cantrip.

Song of Defense is exactly the same. It's worth reminding people reading this that it could only be used while bladesong is active in either version.

Song of Victory in TCoE only allowed INT bonus as a damage bonus to weapon attacks while bladesong was active. Adopting the valor bard's battle magic ability as a replacement is much better, and using INT for attacks and damage from 3rd level is better.

I think Tasha's bladesinger was worse. The UA blade singer rolls Tasha's 14th level ability into the 3rd level abilities and grants a bonus action attack for casting a spell on a gish. Losing light armor proficiency, movement, and advantage on acrobatics checks is a smaller loss than gaining INT bonus on attacks and replicating battle magic is a gain.

 

[ECMO3]

Nice to see Bladesinger reclaim the mantle as the best tank melee class.

For a while in 2024 we have had martial classes who were better martials than Wizards were.

IMO the 2024 Bladesinger is way more powerful as a melee character than the 2014 version, this is even more true because the spells are better for melee. A 2014 Bladesinger was severely limited on weapon choice (one finesse weapon or a few with a feat or race). Even if you had full martial proficiency from a dip, most weapons were not viable unless you had extremely high rolls and could run high strength, dex, Int and Con all at the same time . With Truestrike and the new Bladesong that is mostly gone (all gone when in Bladesong), anything not heavy or two-handed is good to go.

Also the new Mirror Image is going to be broken with a Bladesinger running maximum AC, especially if getting SAP through a multiclass or 12th level feat. Add in Bladeward and upcast-precast false life and nothing at all can tank like you can .... oh and at level 14 you still get to attack once on the round you cast Mirror Image.