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.

 

[Horwath]

Bard: seems nice, cool wannabe druid feel, 14th level ability is too weak for it's level, bonus +1d6 healing is about 11 levels too late and Tale of gloom is about 8 levels too late:

Cleric:
little buffed default knowledge cleric, I like the unique 15 bonus spells, even if they some are of dubious utility. But all have their niche use. And some are really good.
Mind magic: could have eschew all components from casting not just Material. It would help with sneak/roleplay

Fighter:
drakewarden from Temu.

Paladin:
read: mandatory Magic initiate Duid(charisma) for shillelagh.
AC at 3rd level: 10+3(dex)+2(st leather)+2(shield)+3(cha) =20. 22 at 8th level without sacrificing any attack power. just add 1 level of fighter at 9th level for 23 and a good giggle.

Ranger:
more features directly tied to not concentrating on any interesting ranger spell but bland, boring, not really that good, Hunter's mark.
0/10

Rogue:
anti-assassin.
I want to be LAST on initiative to trigger my sneak attack bloodied bonus as often as possible.
very nice and interesting design choice.
it could have go without focusing on Int bonus but rather fixed bonus at certain class levels. needs to be house-ruled ASAP.

 

[Parmandur]

I object to the Knowledge domain being characterized as a Forgotten Realms domain. It was a basic, well-loved, and much-played PH domain. It shouldn't appear in a campaign-specific book, but rather in a book of generic options.

The Forgotten Realms books basically serve as generic D&D splats.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Not at all, that's a fairly low cost ability, based on similar examples. It makes thst Subclass totally uoened usual Paladin builds, too, since Dex would normally be a dump stat, so that's fun.

Which similar example?

I really see no such ability anywhere.

That paladin can start with AC 20 (21 with defensive fighting style) unbuffed at level 1 with just studded leather armor, rapier and a shield.

Then take defensive duellist at level 4 and it gets disgusting. Sorry.

If it was just a temporary buff ok, but all the time? That really surpasses monk and paladin and draconic sorcerer ability by far.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Rogue:
anti-assassin.
I want to be LAST on initiative to trigger my sneak attack bloodied bonus as often as possible.
very nice and interesting design choice.

This is a really good observation. It means the ALERT feat is really powerful with this.

 

[Weiley31]

The new PDK looks like a fighter version of the Drakewarden Ranger. I liked that Banneret and Knight kitbash someone here did better...

It's a Drakewarden remix!!

 

[TwoSix]

I hope five new subclasses isn't the extent of the new material in the book. That's not enough.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

I'm not a big FR fan at all but I absolutely hate the PDK incarnation. It feels like a retcon and I don't really see it doing anything that the drakewarden doesn't. Why naughty word with both the lore of Cormyr and Amethyst Dragons when we already have a solution?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

and I don't really see it doing anything that the drakewarden doesn't

Drakewarden hasn’t been updated, and I suspect the plan is not to do so. PDK is a de facto replacement.

 

[Tonguez]

Drakewarden hasn’t been updated, and I suspect the plan is not to do so. PDK is a de facto replacement.

which is a pity Drakewarden was a nice subclass, and better than this version. Oh well - backward compatibility, right?

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I'm not a big FR fan at all but I absolutely hate the PDK incarnation. It feels like a retcon and I don't really see it doing anything that the drakewarden doesn't. Why naughty word with both the lore of Cormyr and Amethyst Dragons when we already have a solution?

Mixed feelings here. It does seem on the surface to be a retcon, BUT it's only a retcon if they don't do a proper job of explaining why Purple Dragon Knights all of a sudden have an alliance with Amethyst Dragons, because that is completely new.

The name Purple Dragon Knight actual comes from the Ancient Black Dragon who used to rule the land before the Elves and later humans did, who was old his scales turned purple in spots.

But if it's a case that the current Cormyr Queen decided to make a deal with Amethyst Dragons or a Saridon the Ruby Dragon Dragon God in the style of the Githyanki with Tiamat for Red Dragons, then it's an update not a retcon. It really depends on how they handle the lore.

On the mechanics side, I love it to pieces, they just need a none retcon lore reason for it, a rescent alliance forged.