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.

 

[Mistwell]

It's TSR and Ed Greenwood's native country, WotC is the colonist.

While fluff text originated then, I think the first player class for it originated under WOTC with 3e? Further, as WOTC took over with TSR employees still on staff replacing primarily the executives who had been hired from outside TSR to begin with, I'd say they're just a continuation of the original tribal peoples. Ed Greenwood, from my recollection, was not an employee of TSR. He just was a contractor, and was a contractor with WOTC at one time as well.

Regardless this whole analogy is silly. Colonialism theory is diluted in meaning when you extend it to a TSR-WOTC level. There is no reason to diminish the impact of colonialism by using it for this sort of business transfer as if it means the same thing in that context.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Because you are looking at it from the perspective of old Cormyr.

Tell me, what's interesting about Cormyr? A good aligned kingdom with knights? How many of those are there in D&D, let alone fantasy in general? Cormyr is kinda generic. Sure, if you deep dive into the all the lore there is cool things about it, but at it's heart it's a generic medieval kingdom in the center of the map.

The FR book is meant for a general D&D audience, so....

There's a place for generic. I wouldn't expect it to be exciting to a lot of posters here, but for all those kids new to the setting from BG3, it's a good bit of setting kit.

But let's say that the new king has made a deal with a dragon. And that deal is protect Cormyr at some price. So the dragon knights move from a generic knighthood to a nation of dragon calvary. They have draconic allies. They are strong, but their is questions on what price Cormyr is paying for Pax Draconia. Now we got something interesting. Something unique. The banner of the Purple Dragons isn't symbolic, it means your going to be fighting some actual purple dragons!

Eh, feels a little like someone's a bit jealous of Dragonlance's vibes to me. Not that it doesn't "work," just that it doesn't necessarily work any better than what is there now. It's not a clear upgrade.

I hear all the time how generic the Realms are. I'm interested in seeing some evolving that isn't just blowing them up. And Cormyr, like Moonshaes and Callimshan, are great places to inject a more fantastical element. A kingdom of dragons, a merchant nation of genies, and island chain of the fey. I'm interested..

I do really like how these subclasses evoke the local flavor, which is why the Knowledge cleric and the PDK are the big misses for me here. If these characters could exist in any setting, they're not adding much to an FR book.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

While fluff text originated then, I think the first player class for it originated under WOTC with 3e?

Not sure if you're talking Purple Dragon Knight or Spellfire Wielder, but both had official rules in 2E. Purple Dragon Knights in Warriors And Priests Of The Realms (in a subsection under Warriors of Cormyr), and er... I forget where for spellfire, but they definitely existed and I can probably track them down if needed.

 

[Mistwell]

College of the Moon Bard: This subclass, so far, is pretty darn powerful at all three subclass power points. In terms of theme, I like it. Monshae Isles is a celtic themed region, and this feels adequately celtic with folktales-drive powers.

Moonshae Folktales: At 3rd level, Tales of Mirth letting you decrease a save by your inspiration die, but ONLY when they fail the save, is really powerful for 3rd level. Tales of Life becomes powerful later. Tales of Gloam also synergizes well with the 14th level ability to teleport and then hide all with a bonus action when giving out bardic inspiration.

Blessings of the Moonwells: The healing portion of this level 6 ability is very powerful when you're fighting a lot of enemies, as you just run your moonbeam over all your foes every round and every time any of them fail a save, you heal someone. 10 failed saves is about 50 hit points healed.

Bolstered Folktales: Finally, the 14th level ability has huge synergy with the 6th level ability and the 3rd level ability for healing. Run your moonbeam across many foes, and each time they fail a save you heal someone. Which is healing from a spell, so now your third level ability adds a replacement 1d6 healing each time, for free. 10 failed saves is now an average of 85 hit points healing which is very likely worth the cost of a 3rd level spot and bonus action to cast the Moonbeam. Of course, if you need more, you do it again as an action next turn to move the beam for no additional resource cost.

Overall in terms of power levels, I'd say this subclass so far may be a tad too powerful. I'd probably reduce the power of Tales of Mirth maybe to be before you see the die result, not after, to bring the power level down a bit.

 

[Mistwell]

Not sure if you're talking Purple Dragon Knight or Spellfire Wielder, but both had official rules in 2E. Purple Dragon Knights in Warriors And Priests Of The Realms (in a subsection under Warriors of Cormyr), and er... I forget where for spellfire, but they definitely existed and I can probably track them down if needed.

Referring to Purple Knight. I don't recall the 2e Purple Knight for PCs, but my memory of that era is more hazy than any other era because I never got a chance to actually play in that era despite owning some books.

 

[cbwjm]

What I find wierd with the PDK (or any pet class with this ability) is the power of life and death they have over their pet. It dies, and the knight can bring it back to life with an easy ritual (or just a touch). I understand it mechanically, it'sa chunk of the PDK's power budget but it gets a weirder the more I think about it, what if the dragon doesn't want to come back? Is the party cleric over there mumbling something about how they need diamonds?

 

[TwoSix]

I do really like how these subclasses evoke the local flavor, which is why the Knowledge cleric and the PDK are the big misses for me here. If these characters could exist in any setting, they're not adding much to an FR book.

I would point out that an order of knights that bonds to hatchling gem dragons couldn't exist in most other settings. Dragonlance doesn't have gem dragons (that I'm aware of). It's completely contrary to the narrative of dragons in Eberron. None of the M:tG settings published really have a place for an order of medieval knights.

If you wanted a fighter subclass that has a draconic companion, then Cormyr and the well-known "Purple Dragon Knight" appellation is actually a pretty compelling specific place to put them.

The only real objection is that this change is adding specific local flavor to replace existing local flavor, which I don't think (as previously expressed) is a very strong argument.

The blandness of the Knowledge domain and its lack of FR specificity (I mean, most settings have gods/forces of knowledge) is a much more compelling critique.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

While fluff text originated then, I think the first player class for it originated under WOTC with 3e? Further, as WOTC took over with TSR employees still on staff replacing primarily the executives who had been hired from outside TSR to begin with, I'd say they're just a continuation of the original tribal peoples. Ed Greenwood, from my recollection, was not an employee of TSR. He just was a contractor, and was a contractor with WOTC at one time as well.

It was common for colonial regimes to keep some of the colonized people around to exploit them economically.

 

[doctorhook]

Sorta weird to make the Purple Dragon Knight be about having a literal dragon pet when it was never anything like that before, isn’t it?

 

[cbwjm]

I would point out that an order of knights that bonds to hatchling gem dragons couldn't exist in most other settings. Dragonlance doesn't have gem dragons (that I'm aware of). It's completely contrary to the narrative of dragons in Eberron. None of the M:tG settings published really have a place for an order of medieval knights.

For gem dragons, sure, but if I was making this subclass for FR, I'd remove the specific dragon type, and change the name to dragon knight and tie it to the cult of the dragon. To me it makes more sense for this to be tied to the cult rather than the purple dragon knights.

Also, what's up with a dragon giving their hatchlings to these warriors to take into combat situations? Seems like an example of bad parenting.