My bet is Shi'ar Wizards, Shadowcaster as a sorceror not wizard, I think Vestige pact is a good bet, Dark Lords are covered by Undying Pact. Divine Seeker Rogue. Urbane Ranger.
D&D 5E Speculation on the Remaining UAs in 2017
- Thread starter Kobold Avenger
- Start date
My bet is Shi'ar Wizards, Shadowcaster as a sorceror not wizard, I think Vestige pact is a good bet, Dark Lords are covered by Undying Pact. Divine Seeker Rogue. Urbane Ranger.
Li Shenron
Legend
I don't have much wishes for the remaining spellcasters, but I do wish we get good additions to Ranger and Rogue.
Ranger
The latest base class revision had a merit: it's highly compatible with the original version. New archetypes can easily apply to both, the only adjustment needed is related to Extra Attack. There is a good chance that the Ranger won't be revised further, because while there are still people who just want a totally different Ranger (which won't be compatible with other versions, and will always ever satisfy a small minority), many others just wanted it to be boosted, and that's what the latest UA variant does.
OTOH all these foolishly endless revisions clearly had a bad result: that Rangers got very little support in terms of options (including archetypes), exactly because it wasn't clear which version of the base class they should be designed for. We only ever got the Deep Stalker archetype, and that's it.
1) Personally I think there is a huge potential to diversify the Ranger by environment (terrain or climate). Now that the revised Ranger is basically environment-independent, it would make a lot of sense to bring environment-dependency back through a multiple-choice archetype, so that there will be Rangers both for players who like and dislike a terrain specialization. A Ranger of the Land could work somewhat similarly to the Druid subclass, offering a list of terrains/environments, but with focus on (a) avoiding hazards, (b) exploiting features and (c) fighting monsters of your favored terrain. The key to make this a widely attractive option, is to design features that actually apply beyond your favored terrain itself (simple example: a Ranger of the Desert could earn protection vs. heat or fire effects > useful also when not in a desert).
2) Urban Ranger sometimes strikes me as an oxymoron, but it can be a nice addition as long as it still has a focus on travel and exploration. So not an expert of a single city, but an expert of cities in general.
3) Planar Ranger or "Horizon Walker" would be another natural concept, for a Ranger that goes even beyond the "range". It could feature abilities to find portals, planeshift, fight/banish outsiders etc.
Sorcerer
The only subclass I'd really like right now is a generic Sorcerer, because all the current archetypes are too specific. I had players who liked the Sorcerer concept, but didn't want to turn into a dragon, nor have random magical effects, nor be particularly desctructive (storm), not tricksy (shadow)...
How about a simple subclass that focuses on the main iconic sorcerer's feature i.e. Metamagic? The base class gets way too few metamagic options, so a new subclass that grants more + additional uses per day, would become the default low-complexity choice for all players who don't want anything more specific.
Rogue
Among the "classic 4" this is now seriously lagging behind in number of subclasses.
Currently we have:
Thief > exploration
Assassin > stealth
Arcane Trickster > magic
Swashbuckler > combat
Inquisitor > investigation
Mastermind > mixed
Thinking about other possible focuses not yet covered:
Spy > basically a con artist, focus on interaction, disguise, infiltration (but not only stealthy)
Artificer > why not? this never works well when designed as a Wizard option, and it's not really supposed to be magical, so why not Rogue?
Plus perhaps a purely "Indiana Jones" style subclass, focused on exploring dungeons, avoiding combat, getting out of traps, solving riddles and finding treasures. I don't much like the names Treasure Hunter or Raider but I can't think of any better on top of my head now...
Ranger
The latest base class revision had a merit: it's highly compatible with the original version. New archetypes can easily apply to both, the only adjustment needed is related to Extra Attack. There is a good chance that the Ranger won't be revised further, because while there are still people who just want a totally different Ranger (which won't be compatible with other versions, and will always ever satisfy a small minority), many others just wanted it to be boosted, and that's what the latest UA variant does.
OTOH all these foolishly endless revisions clearly had a bad result: that Rangers got very little support in terms of options (including archetypes), exactly because it wasn't clear which version of the base class they should be designed for. We only ever got the Deep Stalker archetype, and that's it.
1) Personally I think there is a huge potential to diversify the Ranger by environment (terrain or climate). Now that the revised Ranger is basically environment-independent, it would make a lot of sense to bring environment-dependency back through a multiple-choice archetype, so that there will be Rangers both for players who like and dislike a terrain specialization. A Ranger of the Land could work somewhat similarly to the Druid subclass, offering a list of terrains/environments, but with focus on (a) avoiding hazards, (b) exploiting features and (c) fighting monsters of your favored terrain. The key to make this a widely attractive option, is to design features that actually apply beyond your favored terrain itself (simple example: a Ranger of the Desert could earn protection vs. heat or fire effects > useful also when not in a desert).
2) Urban Ranger sometimes strikes me as an oxymoron, but it can be a nice addition as long as it still has a focus on travel and exploration. So not an expert of a single city, but an expert of cities in general.
3) Planar Ranger or "Horizon Walker" would be another natural concept, for a Ranger that goes even beyond the "range". It could feature abilities to find portals, planeshift, fight/banish outsiders etc.
Sorcerer
The only subclass I'd really like right now is a generic Sorcerer, because all the current archetypes are too specific. I had players who liked the Sorcerer concept, but didn't want to turn into a dragon, nor have random magical effects, nor be particularly desctructive (storm), not tricksy (shadow)...
How about a simple subclass that focuses on the main iconic sorcerer's feature i.e. Metamagic? The base class gets way too few metamagic options, so a new subclass that grants more + additional uses per day, would become the default low-complexity choice for all players who don't want anything more specific.
Rogue
Among the "classic 4" this is now seriously lagging behind in number of subclasses.
Currently we have:
Thief > exploration
Assassin > stealth
Arcane Trickster > magic
Swashbuckler > combat
Inquisitor > investigation
Mastermind > mixed
Thinking about other possible focuses not yet covered:
Spy > basically a con artist, focus on interaction, disguise, infiltration (but not only stealthy)
Artificer > why not? this never works well when designed as a Wizard option, and it's not really supposed to be magical, so why not Rogue?
Plus perhaps a purely "Indiana Jones" style subclass, focused on exploring dungeons, avoiding combat, getting out of traps, solving riddles and finding treasures. I don't much like the names Treasure Hunter or Raider but I can't think of any better on top of my head now...
Ganymede81
First Post
This is literally the first time I noticed they were releasing the subclasses in alphabetical order.
cbwjm
Seb-wejem
Some good suggestions, ranger of the land would be a good option, I could see them working closely with land druids. Urban ranger I often consider to be synonymous with bounty hunter. I'd like to see planar options for all the classes.
I think the rogue is doing rather well at the moment, I'm not sure what a spy subclass would add and I think that thief covers the Indiana Jones type character already. Having said that, I wouldn't mind seeing what they come up with for them.
I'm one of the people that like that sorcerers have a strong theme tying them to their magic and I'm hoping to see some more elemental bloodlines, a fey bloodline would also be good and considering that they've done a few fey subclasses already I wouldn't be surprised if one does show up.
Sometimes, I feel like the only one who feels like artificer fits as a wizard subclass. This is probably due to my 2e days with its artificer specialist and various kits (maybe just kit, Al Qadim had the clockwork mage kit). I never got into eberron so am fairly ambivalent on that settings artificer. It could work as a rogue subclass though, make it a 1/3 caster as a base and work from there.
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Im hoping wizards doesnt force subclasses just to have them, because these last few UAs kinda felt that way to me. We already have a good amount of rogue subclasses that are pretty good. Im not sure what else we need. Same goes for wizards. What I think we actually need to see is some more psionics UAs and ofcoarse a warlord. Right now I feel that wizards isnt really moving forward. They had a good start these three years but,these upcoming years are the hard ones and where both 3rd and 4th editions made some of their biggest mistakes. I feel a little like goldylocks right now because Im hoping they get it just right.
Parmandur
Book-Friend, he/him
Already got the 5E take on the Warlord, at least three of them, in SCAG. All they will ever do, really.
They are trying out subclasses, because people want them. And they want to explore every class, some just don have much room.
steeldragons
Steeliest of the dragons
Different thought, to my original "they continue as they have been through the classes and then move on to [non-FR] setting-specific materials each UA" hypothesis...
Not overly likely to happen, but might be fun, if they took a break from just going through the classes and, still only having subclass options in the UAs, make each one a setting-specific...or do a set class (what's up next, Rogue?) with different subclass takes from a few different settings.
So, for example, the Rogue UA subclasses could be: 1) something broad usable in any setting, 2) Eberron Artificer, 3) Greyhawk Acrobat [based off Gord the Rogue].
Leave it to the individual tables if those setting specific types are usable in a given game or not. But it would make for a nice mix (and introductions) of setting material and different ways to view classes within a setting we may not have seen/thought of before -like considering Artificers as a type of Rogue, or as we've already seen, using sorcerer to get to a Favored Soul, etc...
Not overly likely to happen, but might be fun, if they took a break from just going through the classes and, still only having subclass options in the UAs, make each one a setting-specific...or do a set class (what's up next, Rogue?) with different subclass takes from a few different settings.
So, for example, the Rogue UA subclasses could be: 1) something broad usable in any setting, 2) Eberron Artificer, 3) Greyhawk Acrobat [based off Gord the Rogue].
Leave it to the individual tables if those setting specific types are usable in a given game or not. But it would make for a nice mix (and introductions) of setting material and different ways to view classes within a setting we may not have seen/thought of before -like considering Artificers as a type of Rogue, or as we've already seen, using sorcerer to get to a Favored Soul, etc...
Remathilis
Legend
Ranger. I could see a Warden/Verdant Lord "one with the plants" ranger who attacks with vines and stuff. Also, an urban ranger with arcane magic and bounty-hunter/capture abilities.
Rogue. Maybe a version of the Skullclan-Hunter/divine rogue?
Sorcerer. A generic-y "arcane" or "comic" sorcerer whose focus is on spellcasting, perhaps a retry on Favored soul, and some new monster bloodline (hag?)
Warlock. Shadow or Elemental Pact
Wizard. No idea. Elementalist? Runecaster/geometer?
Rogue. Maybe a version of the Skullclan-Hunter/divine rogue?
Sorcerer. A generic-y "arcane" or "comic" sorcerer whose focus is on spellcasting, perhaps a retry on Favored soul, and some new monster bloodline (hag?)
Warlock. Shadow or Elemental Pact
Wizard. No idea. Elementalist? Runecaster/geometer?
flametitan
Explorer
I know a lot of people have wanted a spellless ranger, but what about a Ranger who's designed to shore up on the spellcasting ability, and makes them think more in terms of what spells they're using (with fighting abilities to fall back on) rather than as a fighter who can cast Hunter's Mark?
The most obvious things to address are the number of spells known (By giving them a feature to allow them to prepare spells in addition to what they know, and maybe(?) ritual casting), the amount of slots they have (something akin to the Wizard's Mystic Arcanum to effectively raise the number of slots available at a time) and not make Hunter's Mark the obvious choice of spell to use (This one is a little harder, simply because of how good Hunter's Mark works with a Ranger compared to the other concentration Ranger spells)
The most obvious things to address are the number of spells known (By giving them a feature to allow them to prepare spells in addition to what they know, and maybe(?) ritual casting), the amount of slots they have (something akin to the Wizard's Mystic Arcanum to effectively raise the number of slots available at a time) and not make Hunter's Mark the obvious choice of spell to use (This one is a little harder, simply because of how good Hunter's Mark works with a Ranger compared to the other concentration Ranger spells)
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