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

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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.
 

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Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer


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Purple Dragon Knight Review:
Lore: As I mentioned earlier, I think linking a whole subclass to a single dragon type is too narrow of an idea. These should just be "Dragon Knights," with "Purple Dragon Knights" being a specific order of them. Or if they want to differentiate them from the Drakewarden Ranger, they could connect them to only Gemstone Dragons, making up some lore about the Gemstone Dragons forming psionic bonds with humanoid warriors differently from metallic and chromatic dragons.

I do think there is still room for a Banneret/Warlord Fighter subclass and was initially disappointed they didn't even try to fix the original PDK, but also agree that a subclass with "Dragon Knight" in it should have something mechanically to do with dragons.

Knightly Envoy: This ability lets you learn Draconic or some other language and cast Comprehend Languages as a ritual. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability. IMO, Charisma or Constitution would fit better. This is mostly a flavor ability, so there's not much to say.

Purple Dragon Companion: This functions pretty much as the post-Eberron pet subclasses. A nice little buff that I believe came in the new PHB is the change from, "[Pet] acts at the end of your turn" to "[Pet] acts during your turn," so you can have your companion act during your action (especially good for mounted companions). Using Second Wind to resurrect the dragon is good, as Fighters have more than in the original PHB. Compared to the Steel Defender and Primal Companion which require spell slots to bring back, Artificers and Rangers can bring back their companions more if you have multiple fights between short rests that kill the companion, but in a very long and difficult adventuring day the PDK could theoretically resurrect their companion more than a Battle Smith or Beast Master.

The Armor Class scaling off of your Intelligence is interesting. Beast Master animal companions do the same thing but with Wisdom, while Steel Defender's have a base AC of 15 that increases to 17 at level 15. Assuming a Fighter that focuses on Strength or Dexterity (16 or 17) with Constitution as their secondary ability (14-16), a PDK will probably have a 13 or 14 for their Intelligence. So the dragon will probably have a lower AC than a Steel Defender and Beastmaster's companion. And it has the HP of the Beast of the Sky, but with a swim, walking, and flying speed of 30 feet.

It also has darkvision of 60 feet, which is standard. I think giving them blindsight would make sense. Amphibious is situationally useful. It's curious that Stalwart Bond is half as good as Primal Bond. Rend again scales off of Intelligence, so your Dragon will almost definitely be less likely to hit with its attacks than a Steel Defender/Beastmaster companion, and worse than you too. Hell, the bonus to hit doesn't even increase with your Proficiency Bonus, so good luck hitting anything with it at higher levels. Rend's damage also scales off of Intelligence and doesn't even get the base +2 damage that the Beast companions and UA Battle Smiths get.

The best use of Gravity Breath is to pull creatures towards the dragon while it's flying over them. Then they'll take falling damage and fall prone if they fail the saving throw. Otherwise this is very situationally useful, only if there are environmental hazards (cliffs, lava, acid, etc).

Dragon Rider: Pretty similar to the Drake Warden's level 7 ability, in that your dragon grows and you can ride on it. Different in that it can fly with severe limitations while you ride it and you can mount/dismount it more easily. The breath weapon having a larger area and doing a bit of damage is good, making it actually useful to use most of the time. Shared Second Wind is also good.

Rallying Surge: A pretty good ability, a vestige of the "battle commander" theme of the original PDK. But I would prefer something more dragon themed.

Amethyst Pinnacle: Strangely not the pinnacle ability of the subclass. You can finally do the thing you took this subclass to do! Being able to ride on a dragon that can truly fly comes way too late at level 15, which most players will not get to, especially when there are species that grant fly at level 1 (Aarakocra, Fairies, Owlin, etc). I am one of the DMs that doesn't think innate fly speeds at low levels is OP. My Dragon Rider subclass got to do this at level 3.

You also get to replace one of your attacks with one of your dragon's attacks. Which, like, why? Why would you ever do this? If your weapon attacks are somehow weaker than your dragon's Rend at this level, you did something wrong. You will have a higher bonus to hit and deal more damage, can apply weapon masteries, and be able to use magic weapon properties if you have them. This sucks. If Drakewarden Rangers got this ability they might consider using it, as level 15 Drakes deal 3d6+Wis damage, and have a better attack bonus. This version of a Dragon Knight will use this a single time before realizing it sucks and never doing it again. Being able to replace 2 attacks with Gravity Breath is also probably not worth it outside of rare situations.

Enduring Commander: Terrible name for a boring feature that just gives you and your dragon 2 damage resistances. Wow. Amazing capstone ability. Well done WotC. :rolleyes: Capstone abilities should be powerful and exciting. Giving 2 rare damage resistances is neither of those.

Overall I consider this a poorly designed subclass and would prefer for it to have a broader archetype. The dragon's attack doesn't scale well, it has poor AC and HP compared to most other subclass pets, Gravity Breath is only situationally useful, and there's a good chance you'll have better bonus action options than commanding your Dragon. The Dragon having "Jack of All Trades" that works on saving throws probably won't make much of a difference.

The dragon's attacks and damage should scale better. It should get damage resistance to an appropriate damage type at level 3. If you could ride on a truly flying dragon at level 7 that might make up for the poor AC, HP, saving throws, and damage. Commanding your dragon should share a bonus action with using Second Wind, at the very least. And when you use Action Surge it should be able to take two actions. I think its abilities should scale on your Constitution too, to make the subclass less MAD. Or Intelligence should be the main ability of this subclass.

Oath of the Noble Genie Review:
Lore
: Why are they sworn to all of the Genie types? I thought every genie even within the same type competed against every other genie for power, wealth, slaves, etc. It's a bit weird that they're implied to cooperate so much that they share champions with each other. Maybe this is referring to some FR Calimshan lore I'm not familiar with. This is a bit weird, but I'll go along with it.

Elemental Smite: So, you expend a use of Divine Smite and Channel Divinity at the same time to get one of four effects. I didn't like this sort of mechanic with the Heroism Paladin, and I don't like it here. An ability shouldn't require two separate resources to be expended to trigger. This should function when you hit a creature with a weapon attack and expend a use of Channel Divinity, useable with Divine Smite but not reliant on it. But I do like the idea of Paladin subclasses adding to/changing the effects of Divine Smite.
Dao's Crush - Restraining is always good. This is probably the best option.
Djinni's Escape - Even mistier step. Situationally great.
Efreeti's Fury - Also decent. Maybe it should ignore damage resistance?
Marid's Surge - Good, but situationally amazing.

Genie Spells: I can't really see a Paladin using Mirror Image or Phantasmal Force that much, but most of the other options are thematic and pretty useful depending on circumstance.

Genie's Splendor: Oh boy, now someone can compete with Bladesingers in AC. At higher levels with magical shields/armor, this can get insane. Especially with Bladelock multiclassing. I don't think it needs to be nerfed, but man this is an amazing ability. The skill is nice too. The only issue is you have to plan to be a Genie Paladin from level 1 so you make sure to get the right gear and choose the right stats.

Aura of Elemental Shielding: Simply great. Fighting a Dragon? Give everyone in your party that's in the aura a bonus to the saving throw against the breath weapon as well as resistance to the damage type! You can also use this feature to allow the whole party to ignore the Extreme Heat and Extreme Cold environmental effects.

Elemental Rebuke: This is good. I can't remember which, but there's a paladin subclass that gets a pretty similar feature.

Noble Scion: Now this is how you do a capstone! Minor Wish is great!

I love this subclass. It could use a few tweaks, but I think it's the most solid subclass so far. It also can easily be worked into other settings.
 


Looking at the original lore maybe the should have made the PDK a dragonslayer instead of a dragonrider
That might be an interesting curve-ball, next to the other subclasses that reference or involve dragons.

I'm not totally sure how you'd have it work out, if they're solely focused on slaying dragons (kind of a repeat of how Rangers used to be with Favored Enemy), and also what marks them as specialized in comparison to all the other adventurers that also slay dragons.
 

That might be an interesting curve-ball, next to the other subclasses that reference or involve dragons.

I'm not totally sure how you'd have it work out, if they're solely focused on slaying dragons (kind of a repeat of how Rangers used to be with Favored Enemy), and also what marks them as specialized in comparison to all the other adventurers that also slay dragons.
Yeah, I think designing a whole subclass around slaying a specific creature type is too niche. Imagine picking a Dragon Slayer Fighter for Curse of Strahd, Storm King's Thunder, or Tomb of Annihilation. Sure, it might come up a few times in the campaign, but you'll definitely feel out of place. WotC had a good reason for changing Favored Enemy.
 

Purple Dragon Knight Review:

Knightly Envoy: This ability lets you learn Draconic or some other language and cast Comprehend Languages as a ritual. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability. IMO, Charisma or Constitution would fit better. This is mostly a flavor ability, so there's not much to say.
INT is used elsewhere in the subclass, and it has no effect on the particular spell. Consistency is good here.

Purple Dragon Companion: This functions pretty much as the post-Eberron pet subclasses. A nice little buff that I believe came in the new PHB is the change from, "[Pet] acts at the end of your turn" to "[Pet] acts during your turn," so you can have your companion act during your action (especially good for mounted companions).
Yes -- this is an improvement and it's good it's here.

I agree that it could be generically themed, and a "dragon Knight" could choose between a dozen options of colour/metal -- that's easily implemented if anyone wants it. I think the problem with that is that people will then say "I have a Large sized Red dragon; I'm not going to use this stat block, I want the one for the Young Red dragon in the Monster Manual" --- and that's obviously too powerful. They really can't win -- different diehard fans will find something to object to regardless.

Given that, I think adding purple dragons here (and not inthe MM) is actually a reasonable choice. I'd like the flavour of a captive blue or whatever, but I see there is a logic in this, even if some will prefer the completely useless subclass in FRAG.

The Armor Class scaling off of your Intelligence is interesting.
I actually really like being motivated to keep Con at 12 or 14, and instead to play up Intelligence in a non-caster. I think this is the right kind of incentivization. An Int 16 (or more) should be desirable, and here is a reason to do it.
Rend again scales off of Intelligence, so your Dragon will almost definitely be less likely to hit with its attacks than a Steel Defender/Beastmaster companion, and worse than you too.
The damage does need to improve. You lay that out very well.
The best use of Gravity Breath is to pull creatures towards the dragon while it's flying over them. Then they'll take falling damage and fall prone if they fail the saving throw.
Ha.
Amethyst Pinnacle: Strangely not the pinnacle ability of the subclass. You can finally do the thing you took this subclass to do! Being able to ride on a dragon that can truly fly comes way too late at level 15, which most players will not get to, especially when there are species that grant fly at level 1 (Aarakocra, Fairies, Owlin, etc). I am one of the DMs that doesn't think innate fly speeds at low levels is OP. My Dragon Rider subclass got to do this at level 3.
It is possible feedback will convince them to move it to 10. The lack of consistency between levels that subclass abilities come online is really the problem, I feel, and we had the chance to fix that, but the fanbase didn't want it.

You also get to replace one of your attacks with one of your dragon's attacks. Which, like, why? Why would you ever do this?
Good point.Overall I consider this a poorly designed subclass and would prefer for it to have a broader archetype.

The dragon's attacks and damage should scale better.

This is a really good summary review. Thanks.

Oath of the Noble Genie Review:

Elemental Smite: ...
Dao's Crush - Restraining is always good. This is probably the best option.
Djinni's Escape - Even mistier step. Situationally great.
Efreeti's Fury - Also decent. Maybe it should ignore damage resistance?
Marid's Surge - Good, but situationally amazing.
I found these mostly underwhelming. Dao's Crush is the most useful, I think.
Genie's Splendor: Oh boy, now someone can compete with Bladesingers in AC. At higher levels with magical shields/armor, this can get insane. Especially with Bladelock multiclassing.
Bladelock is a possibility, but I think if you're actually playing it, you don't want to dip Warlock until at least level 8 or 9, do you? And with a Dex/Cha build, I think really all that does is allow you to "upgrade" to a heavy/two-handed weapon.

Aura of Elemental Shielding: Simply great. Fighting a Dragon? Give everyone in your party that's in the aura a bonus to the saving throw against the breath weapon as well as resistance to the damage type! You can also use this feature to allow the whole party to ignore the Extreme Heat and Extreme Cold environmental effects.
Smart.
I love this subclass. It could use a few tweaks, but I think it's the most solid subclass so far. It also can easily be worked into other settings.
Nice -- really fun.
 

Huh. I just checked my 2024 PHB and it does seem that they got rid of the "you always have this spell prepared and it doesn't count against the amount of spells you can prepare" wording and simplified it. That's nice. I hated writing that every time I homebrewed a subclass that got extra spells like that. Neat.
Almost, but not quite. Many clerics are going to have proficiency in Religion from level 1. This incentivizes them not to do so -- indeed, taking any knowledge skills at level 1 that are relevant is counter productive. It has to be you gain proficiency in two of the skills AND you gain expertise in any two INT skills you have.

I like that they call it Expertise (the 2014 PHB didn't); honestly, it would make as much sense to add WIS (or PB) to rolls of any of the four skills, and not invoke Expertise at all.

This is the biggest change I would make.
I meant to mention that. Fully agreed. The Skill Expert feat from Tasha's had wording like that, so it's weird they didn't just adopt that for all features like this.
What Arcana Cleric gave you, and this doesn't, is the option to take a cantrip that includes a roll to-hit.

Clerics can now get that, keyed off of Wisdom, with the background feat, but it remains a big gap. Let them have a wizard cantrip of choice instead of Artisan's tools.
Yeah, an ability like the Arcana Cleric's Arcane Initiate would be nice. To be honest, while I was a huge fan of the idea of the Arcana Cleric, I disliked most of the abilities. The wizard cantrips and capstone abilities are the only things I wish this subclass had.
It's still pretty sweet, setting a base for hitting a DC 15, but not guaranteeing a DC 20, so you still need to invest in Intelligence. For me, this is exactly the constraint that should be in place.
That would also be a good change.
 

INT is used elsewhere in the subclass, and it has no effect on the particular spell. Consistency is good here.
I meant that Charisma or Constitution should be the ability score all of this subclass's features that scale on Intelligence.
I think the problem with that is that people will then say "I have a Large sized Red dragon; I'm not going to use this stat block, I want the one for the Young Red dragon in the Monster Manual" --- and that's obviously too powerful. They really can't win -- different diehard fans will find something to object to regardless.
Meh. I'd only see that be a problem for players that severely misread the rules. A very rare possibility. If it hasn't come up for Drake Wardens I won't worry about it.
Bladelock is a possibility, but I think if you're actually playing it, you don't want to dip Warlock until at least level 8 or 9, do you? And with a Dex/Cha build, I think really all that does is allow you to "upgrade" to a heavy/two-handed weapon.
I was thinking of starting as Paladin and then multiclassing to Warlock to get Pact of the Blade ASAP, so you can focus on Charisma for damage. It'll set you back a level, but using Charisma for AC and weapon attacks will be great.
 

Moon Bard -- I always appreciate associations with druids because this is reminiscent of earlier bards in DnD and mythology. I can't expect anyone to not be using Tales of Mirth because a saving throw penalty seems much better than the other options. Primal Lorist should be more clear on whether Druidic includes Speak with Animals like the druid ability does, otherwise it's just a ribbon.

Knowledge Cleric -- I also like the scholarly spellcaster and can see myself playing this as an alternative to many of the bards I've played.

PDK Fighter -- This is bit different for a fighter. I'm going to side with the people who think the name should be indicative of the subclass and not just a name. Updated lore is easy enough and a sidebar is even easier. It's a pet class with some tactical options.

Genie Paladin -- I don't think the idea of a paladin with sworn oaths to genies has ever crossed my mind. The concept is interesting and I don't think the armor options a too much for a paladin. I do think Minor Wish looks excessive at that level. That looks like a lot of auto-success.

Winter Walker Ranger -- I see a lot of flavor here. I'm not sure how I feel about the focus on cold yet, but it is giving me bard vibes of some the those legends. The options look useful enough and there is a bit of dark twist in the flavor that I appreciate.

Scion of Three Rogue -- This seems a bit to focused on the Forgotten Realms with the selection of gods. I would only take a sidebar for other settings, however. I'm not a big fan of the vibe. It seems to go too far on the darker side for heroic adventurers.

Spellfire Sorcerer -- I really like this as a newer and better alternative to the Divine Soul. The full range of cleric spells isn't there, but the important basic healing is. Absorb Spells using Counterspell to absorb Sorcery Points is an interesting mechanic. Crown of Spellfire looks useful even if 7 Sorcery Points is a bit expensive. I might be inclined to burn a few low to mid level spells with Font of Magic to use this ability more often. This might be my favorite sorcerer subclass if it makes the cut.

Bladesinger Wizard -- This just seems to be a bit more streamlined. The subclass takes a slight hit to AC, and pretty much causes the wizard to prepare and spend a slot on Mage Armor but it still going to have a good AC. I don't think Bladesong can be up every combat but it can be up for several of those combats, which means the Bladesinger can play very differently when out of Bladesong uses.

I understand that. Mage Armor does work with the new Bladesinger. However, I love the idea of wearing armor and being a Gish. This is no longer possible, even with a level dip. Prior to this, if you wanted armor or Mage Armor, you could pick which way you wanted to go. Now, you don't have a choice.

It is simply just a flavor thing for me, nothing more. To be fair, it is an extremely narrow nit pick on my part, and YMMV. It's an easy House Rule for me, so really, not a huge problem or issue. Elven Chain was never available for this subclass either, which always seemed weird to me. Again, my group has House Rules for all of this so not a game breaker by any stretch.

Plus, this is just a playtest. I will need to see the final form to make a good judgement.

Why wouldn't you play a valor bard if the armor is significant? The difference between a valor bard and a bladesinger wizard is small. The 6th and 14th level abilities are almost identical, but the bard doesn't rely on Bladesong to use some of their abilities.
 

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