Unearthed Arcana: Horror Subclasses

 Somewhat unexpectedly, we got a new Unearthed Arcana today, themed around Horror Subclasses.

Given that the last time we got something along these lines, it was an early indication of the announcement of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, I suspect we'll be getting another visit to the Domains of Dread perhaps within a year or so.

As I've stated many times on this blog, Van Richten's is my favorite 5E supplement (except maybe the rules-expansion books, Xanathar's and Tasha's). I know that there was some controversy in the ways that it changed the old canon of the Land of Mists, but I thought it was an excellent example of how to do a sourcebook, really encouraging creativity for DMs and doing its best to put the setting in their hands (I also loathe "The Core" from earlier editions, which placed each domain in a literal geographical arrangement, and far prefer the idea that the domains are each kind of floating in the Mists).

I'll also just lodge a... concern, I suppose, rather than a complaint, that there has been a lot in the 2024-onward stuff that feels like it's treading the same territories we've seen before. The Forgotten Realms subclasses were balanced more toward new ones, though returning us to a setting that we're certainly not unfamiliar with, given that most of 5E's adventures were set there. This UA is primarily focused on existing subclasses, giving them revamps.

That said, these subclasses don't look like they're getting minor wording changes - each seems to have substantive changes. Whether these are buffs or nerfs is something I'll need to compare and contrast.

There are also two brand-new subclasses in this UA, one of which is for the Artificer, which I find very heartening as I always worried the Artificer would be left behind in future supplements.

I'm not sure I'll have the space/energy to review every one of these in a single post, and instead think I'll break it up, with a post for each subclass. But let's do the list of them here:

Artificer: Reanimator

Bard: College of Spirits

Cleric: Grave Domain

Ranger: Hollow Warden

Rogue: Phantom

Sorcerer: Shadow Sorcery

Warlock: Hexblade Patron

Warlock: Undead Patron.

We'll go in that order!