Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana Returns to Monthly With Some Revised Subclasses

the fighter’s Sharpshooter subclass was, by far, the least popular

No one in their right mind liked that abomination. A terrible concept from the start.

 

[pukunui]

Ancestral Guardian: I'm not too fussed about this one. This version is probably better than the previous one. It's certainly been streamlined quite a bit. I doubt I'd ever pick this subclass no matter what it does, though, as the concept just doesn't appeal to me. Meh.

Blade: This was my favorite bard kit from 2e. I quite liked the previous version. This one has some improvements in some areas (like being able to use a weapon as a spellcasting focus) but I'm not sure about the flourishes. I liked the Trick Shot one, as I liked the idea of being a dagger thrower (I even built a carnival knife thrower pregen for a one-shot once using this subclass). Also, the Mobile Flourish is kinda odd ... if you're using a grid, rolling under a 5 on the inspiration die is useless.

Arcane Archer: This is a lot better, but I still don't like the arbitrary 2/rest limit on Arcane Shot. I'm also not sure that the basic magic arrow needs to be +1. Why can't it just be considered magical, like a level 6+ monk's fists?

Kensei: Sounds like a neat class in concept. I'm not that familiar with the source material, so I don't really have a horse in this race, but I can understand why some people are upset that you can't use a polearm with it. I also don't get the need to increase the number of weapons. Seems a bit extraneous.

Favored Soul: Meh. Still not doing it for me. I want to see them take the plunge and make it so you use the cleric spell list instead of the sorcerer spell list, rather than in addition to. You can add in a chosen domain's bonus spells to help differentiate favored souls by patron deity, too.

 

[Jester David]

I haven't read through them all, yet, but I've got a Favored Soul, in my game. I think I'll be sticking with the previous version. I hate having cure wounds hardwired into the class. Totally ruins it, IMO. The backstory for the FS in my game would have worked extremely well without cure wounds (he had an extra slot, so took it, but sure didn't need to). Having it forced upon the class seems so very limiting.

Empowered Healing compounds the issue, even further, by turning cure wounds from a bonus ability to a forced focus. While there's the possibility that Blessed Countenance could be milked a bit (I'd rather see "pick two Cha skills and gain expertise"), I liked it much, much better.

I like how they handled that, by adding that one spell rather than having it come at the expense of spells known. So healing isn't coming at the expense of other spells. A solid compromise from knowing too many cleric spells but still having the option to choose to heal.
(You still have to opt into lesser restoration and greater restoration though...)

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

This probably means they aren't going to redo the Lore Wizard, which was the Best Concept with the Worst Rules. And that makes me sad. Also noticeably absent, the Mystic and any mention of a Warlord.

Considering they said this in the intro for the UA:

"We’re also tinkering with other subclasses from the previous series, but we thought these five subclasses would be particularly interesting for you to revisit."

I would expect to see more in the coming months, along with other revised material to review.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I don't know where others are getting that you can't use Blade Flourish and Two-Weapon Fighting at the same time. Blade Flourish is "As an action", there's no mention of using a bonus action so therefore one could make an attack using their off-hand weapon, as they still have a bonus action left after using the Blade Flourish action, which can be used regardless of how many inspiration uses are left as the options are well optional.

 

[Mercule]

I like how they handled that, by adding that one spell rather than having it come at the expense of spells known. So healing isn't coming at the expense of other spells. A solid compromise from knowing too many cleric spells but still having the option to choose to heal.
(You still have to opt into lesser restoration and greater restoration though...)

I kinda agree, kinda not. If the demand is "sorcerous cleric" then it makes a ton of sense. That only appealed to me, in 3.5 because I hated the psuedo-Vancian magic (and still do). 5E preparation rules have evolved to the point where that mechanical drive for sorcerer is gone; you would do just as well by having a cleric who never prepared different spells.

If you're going for sorcerer with divine origin, then forcing cure wounds kinda sucks. If your heritage is from the god of pestilence, then why would you have cure wounds? You're "paying for" the ability, in terms of design balance, presumably. But, you don't get to use it without running counter to concept. I'd rather see them do a sub-origin, like they did with dragon blood. Pick a Cleric domain, get one of the listed 1st level spells for free. Granted, some of them kinda suck, but it at least gives an option for someone who likes the idea of divine blood magic without having to be the healbot. Or, skip the domains and have them pick a "divine nature" that's not perfectly aligned with the domains and grants a bonus spell and a 6th level ability.

 

[Blue]

This probably means they aren't going to redo the Lore Wizard, which was the Best Concept with the Worst Rules. And that makes me sad. Also noticeably absent, the Mystic and any mention of a Warlord.

They said this batch were redos (no Warlord) of subclasses (no Mystic) that scored well but had a few issues (no "worst rules" Lore Wizard). Nothing prevents any of those in the future, and two of the three actively wouldn't have belonged in this article. Keep your faith alive!

 

[Atlatl Jones]

I'm not crazy about the Favored Soul healing emphasis either. And to add to the dogpile, if the favored soul already has the Empower metamagic, he gets nothing at 6th level.

I like the new Kensei a lot, but I'm disappointed that they can't use glaives or longspears/pikes anymore.

The Blade is much cleaner, but I miss them being good with thrown weapons too. Also, College of the Blade is a much better name than College of the Sword.

I don't know where others are getting that you can't use Blade Flourish and Two-Weapon Fighting at the same time. Blade Flourish is "As an action", there's no mention of using a bonus action so therefore one could make an attack using their off-hand weapon, as they still have a bonus action left after using the Blade Flourish action, which can be used regardless of how many inspiration uses are left as the options are well optional.

The rule for two weapon fighting is: "When you take the Attack action and attack with a light melee weapon that you’re holding in one hand, you can use a bonus action to attack with a different light melee weapon that you’re holding in the other hand."

Blade Flourish isn't an Attack action, it's its own type of action, so the rules for two weapon fighting don't apply to it. I suspect this was an oversight, not an intentional design decision.

 

[Demetrios1453]

So, overall, there is absolutely no feature of the latest Favored Soul that is better than the previous one. At best, an individual feature might be a break even. Some of them are substantively worse. If this becomes the official version (assuming "big book o' crunch, 2017 edition"), it's unlikely to see play at my table.

I doubt it will be, since they are asking for further play-testing and feedback. Make sure to make your opinions known to them when the survey comes out!

 

[jrowland]

Blade Flourish isn't an Attack action, it's its own type of action, so the rules for two weapon fighting don't apply to it. I suspect this was an oversight, not an intentional design decision.

As written, I think that is correct. But there is no generic "action" (PHB 192 lists all the actions you can take). Given that all but two flourishes specify mention an attack, I think its a typo.

it probably should read:

"As an Attack action, you can make one melee weapon
attack, and your walking..."

That one word makes the entire feature much better.

 

[Jester David]

If you're going for sorcerer with divine origin, then forcing cure wounds kinda sucks. If your heritage is from the god of pestilence, then why would you have cure wounds? You're "paying for" the ability, in terms of design balance, presumably.

Maybe. But probably not, as it seems to have been added to Divine Magic. The other 1st level power isn't changed. You are losing the extra hit point, but I imagine that was as much for the balance of not getting three features at level one.
Cure wounds is nice, but you're still limited by spell slots so it's not a huge power increase.

But, you don't get to use it without running counter to concept.

Which is fine. If you can play a dragon sorcerer as a buffer rather than DPS you can play a favoured soul that isn't a healbot. And since you still have access to the regular sorcerer spells, you can alternate between healing and blasting.

The existing favoured soul in my game will be very happy with this, as he's playing a Red Mage style character that both heals and drops fireballs. This is one extra spell known.

I'd rather see them do a sub-origin, like they did with dragon blood. Pick a Cleric domain, get one of the listed 1st level spells for free. Granted, some of them kinda suck, but it at least gives an option for someone who likes the idea of divine blood magic without having to be the healbot. Or, skip the domains and have them pick a "divine nature" that's not perfectly aligned with the domains and grants a bonus spell and a 6th level ability.

Could work, but much more complicated. And so many cleric domain spells might already be sorcerer spells, so it's just a free bonus spell. And giving that choice adds extra balance concerns: they need to worry about interactions with every existing domain and newly added domain.