Unearthed Arcana New Unearthed Arcana - Subclasses 2 [UPDATED]

The latest Unearthed Arcana contains three new subclasses: the bardic College of Creation, the cleric's Love Domain, and the sorcerer's Clockwork Soul.

UPDATE - WoTC appears to have removed this PDF. The link now leads to the previous Unearthed Arcana.

WotC Removes Latest Unearthed Arcana

WotC has removed this week's Unearthed Arcana from its website. Not only has the article's web page itself been removed, the actual PDF has been replaced with last month's "Subclasses, Part 1" PDF (although it's URL still reads... /UA2020-Subclasses02.pdf). The article included three new...

www.enworld.org

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

THIS so much. The idea of smacking fools with a Force damaging, dancing Broomstick is something I would do.
I also need an excuse for a Sword Familiar too.


Hmm..I noticed just now alotta 5E classes I wanna play as are UA.

Well, I feel the new subclasses are more audacious that those from Xanathar.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Restore Balance is a prime example of bizarre wording. In effect, it allows you to cancel advantage or disadvantage. Generally, I think the clockwork sorc is rather weak. Nothing wrong with it, but it pales to garbage compared to a certain subclass that adds to spells known...

 

[Undrave]

I like that all of them have features you can 'recharge' by spending a spell slot, pretty neat!

The Love Cleric really should have Ceremony on its spell list, even if it means having 3 at 1st levels compared to the usual 2. Seems like a no-brainer.

I agree that the Clockwork Soul capstone is pretty weaksauce.

 

[RSIxidor]

College of Transmutation is lovely, but I don't see the point of the line "provided the creature doesn't already have temporary hit points." We already have a mechanism that keeps them from stacking, why is this necessary? I wonder what the most useful things the bard 6 can create are, outside of scamming merchants. I kind of get why the pet is 14, but it would be much more fun at 3. There are subclasses like these where I'd rather they got everything when the subclass is taken and just have it scale. EDIT: I also like that this one has a spell-slot regenerating feature, I just missed that the creation feature recharged. I'm a little surprised by that, to be honest. The object is never permanent and takes your action for 10 minutes, and only lasts up to your bard level in hours thereafter. Doesn't seem like it needs a recharge mechanic but I suppose wily groups will abuse the heck out of this, even with the recharging.

Domain of Love is beautiful. Everything here is evocative of the domain. On top of that, it's mechanically sound. Really strong for small parties and still quite good in larger parties. I also like that they can use spell slots to reuse their level 1 feature.

Clockwork Soul is neat. Anyone who chooses not to use the Manifestations of Madness is a disappointment. Not adding to spells known is also a disappointment. I also like that they can spend sorcery points to reuse some of their features, and more specifically that it doesn't cost those points the first time they use the features.

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Restore Balance is weird. I think the reason they worded it this way was to avoid arguments about how advantages and disadvantages can be cancelled, and to interact with other reactions that might apply advantage or disadvantage (who wants to fight timing battles?). They could have worded it as, "the creature rolls without advantage or disadvantage and cannot gain advantage or disadvantage on the roll," which I think also avoids the corner cases around timing, but it's achieved with less words the way they have it now. I think the way they went might actually be more succinct and accomplish more than the alternatives, even though it reads as clunky.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Subclasses 1 was great. This was...not so great. Pretty meh, and steps on the features of other subclasses. The creation bard steps on the conjuration wizard almost with the exact same ability, and the sorcerer steps on the abjuration wizard's ward. I also think the stalker...er...love cleric's first level ability has balance issues. Two people get a bonus d4 to rolls once per turn for an hour? That's insane. Especially at level 1. And worse, it drives home one of my major pet peeves: everyone and their grandma's dog taking one level dip into a class, most times without any consideration to the actual role playing aspect of said class. barf.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

College of Transmutation is lovely, but I don't see the point of the line "provided the creature doesn't already have temporary hit points." We already have a mechanism that keeps them from stacking, why is this necessary?

Agreed, it is already optional to trigger, so there is no need to mechanically stop it going off if the user already has temp hp.

wonder what the most useful things the bard 6 can create are

Cages around monsters, manacles on spellcasters, anvils above Daffy Duck's head...

 

[RogueJK]

Two people get a bonus d4 to rolls once per turn for an hour? That's insane. Especially at level 1.

There are already spells that do that - the 1st level spell Bless for saving throws and attack rolls and the cantrip Guidance for ability checks.

Guidance can be spammed indefinitely out of combat, so this ability really only provides extra help on in-combat ability checks, which are less common. In combat, it's really only helpful on things like Athletics/Acrobatics for Grappling/Shoving or Escaping, or on Stealth for Rogues using their Bonus Action Hide.

Bless has a shorter duration and takes Concentration, but also can be used on 3 characters, they don't have to stay within 30 feet of each other, and its +d4 can be used on every single attack roll and save.


So with the limitations of it only affecting two characters who have to stay within 30 feet of each other, and only working on one roll per turn, I don't think it's extremely overpowered. Powerful, sure. But certainly not "insane".

 

[Sacrosanct]

There are already spells that do that - the 1st level spell Bless for saving throws and attack rolls and the cantrip Guidance for ability checks.

Guidance can be spammed indefinitely out of combat, so this ability really only provides extra help on in-combat ability checks, which are less common. In combat, it's really only helpful on things like Athletics/Acrobatics for Grappling/Shoving or Escaping, or on Stealth for Rogues using their Bonus Action Hide.

Bless has a shorter duration and takes Concentration, but also can be used on 3 characters, they don't have to stay within 30 feet of each other, and its +d4 can be used on every single attack roll and save.


So with the limitations of it only affecting two characters who have to stay within 30 feet of each other, and only working on one roll per turn, I don't think it's especially overpowered. Powerful, sure. But certainly not "insane".

We'll have to agree to disagree then. I think a power that lasts 60x as long as bless and doesn't use up your concentration is a pretty significant difference. Unlike Bless, that's multiple encounters.

*edit Also, it encourages what I dislike the most: level dipping for meta purposes only.

 

[Prakriti]

"The gp value of the item can’t be more than 10 times your bard level..."

It seems they learned their lesson from the Conjuration wizard. No more conjuring Purple Worm Poison at 2,000 gp a pop.

 

[Undrave]

"The gp value of the item can’t be more than 10 times your bard level..."

It seems they learned their lesson from the Conjuration wizard. No more conjuring Purple Worm Poison at 2,000 gp a pop.

Just conjure up a gem worth about 100 GP and sell it to a hapless merchant for quick gain.