Sea of Stars

 Despite the fact that I will be away from my PS5 for a couple weeks as I go on my summer trip home to Boston, I felt the desire to immerse myself in a new game, if only for the evening (and then, presumably, when I get back).

I had heard of Sea of Stars when it came out two years ago - a throwback JRPG (well, not technically a JRPG because its studio is in Quebec, but a Japanese-style RPG) with a 16-bit aesthetic.

The experience I've had with it is one in which the hours got away from me - I sat and played for I think 5 hours (maybe pausing to have dinner).

The premise is that two characters, Valere and Zale, were born on the winter and summer solstices, and have innate magic themed, respectively, around the moon and the sun. The game begins when they are children, playing with their friend Garl, but after Valere's magic (actually, it might be whoever is the active "party leader") allows them to enter a dangerous cavern and Garl loses an eye, the two empowered children are brought to the Zenith Academy, where they are trained for the next ten years to fight and use their magic.

So far, at least, the specifics of the world are left pretty vague - there's some kind of ancient foe known as the Fleshmancer, with various monsters that were set upon the world and that only people with these kinds of powers - Solstice Warriors - can defeat. There is also quite a lot of implication that the story we're getting is an incomplete one. Sinister-looking conspirators simply known as One, Two, Three, and Four are shown in cutscenes at some unknown location, and Valera and Zale's older predecessors at the Academy seem skeptical about the headmaster's methods and strategy.

Gameplay-wise, there's a clear inspiration here, and it's among the best games from which to take inspiration: Chrono Trigger. Battles are turn-based, and begin when you get too close to monsters out in the world, heroes and monsters taking positions that can sometimes become relevant if you're using an ability that can do splash damage to nearby additional targets.

The heroes do have MP, but the way in which this works is closer to a more modern build-and-spend style of gameplay. Your MP cap is pretty low, but whenever you do your regular attack, you generate some of it, and thus you're encouraged to weave magic and basic attacks. Like Mario RPG, your attacks can be timed to be more effective, with the basic attack hitting twice if you do the timing correctly, and likewise, you can mitigate the damage of incoming attacks with a timely dodge (the timing of which can be tricky to get right given all the different kinds of monsters). Granted, this mitigation isn't enormous - Expedition 33 spoiled me by letting me avoid all damage if I was really on top of my parries (but taking full damage here isn't as punishing).

Also like Chrono Trigger, you can get various combo attacks, which are fueled by a meter that builds up as you fight. One of the kinds of treasure to find in the world is the ability to use new combo moves.

Probably the most unique thing I've seen in the game so far is that, when an enemy is preparing a spell, you have an opportunity to interrupt them. Enemies each have a little timer symbol over them that tells you how many of your turns you will get to go through before they make their attack. If they're preparing a spell, they have a display of a few little blocks next to them. Using the correct type of damage - like Valere's blunt damage with her staff, or Zale's sun-magic, will break one of those blocks, and if you can get all of them before the monster gets to act, you avoid their powerful attack.

It's tricky, though, because often multiple enemies have these casting blocks up at a time, and sometimes even if you've already learned what damage types you need to break them, the sequence is long and complex enough that you won't have enough turns to actually successfully interrupt the spell before they get it off, so there's a kind of triage you need to approach this mechanic with.

The game looks gorgeous, and has an excellent, nostalgia-inducing soundtrack. As someone who grew up on SNES games, there's a funny kind of alchemy to this retro approach, where a game like this looks the way that you remember those older games looking, though this game gives away its modernity with realistic lighting effects (your characters can cast shadows when near a light source) or just in the fact that an entire large region will be on a single continuous map, rather than having to break it up so the game doesn't have to load too much at a time.

Anyway, I said to myself in the middle of playing that I felt like I was 12 again, so that's got to be an endorsement.

UA: Transmuter

 We come now to the last of the subclasses in the Arcane Subclasses UA, and the last of the non-republished Wizard subclasses first seen (well, at least for 5E) in the 2014 PHB.

The Transmuter (or, as it was previously called, School of Transmutation) Wizard is, I'd argue, a better representation of an Alchemist than the Alchemist Artificer. I'll be honest, between Elden Ring and Lies of P lore, and research into my own novel, I've gone down a bit of a rabbit hole on Alchemy, and it's a really fascinating and complex tradition - while we mostly know it as the kind of proto-chemistry that gave rise to modern science, and its depiction in a lot of fantasy RPGs is the "potion-maker" or "magical chemist," it's actually far broader than that, and encompasses nearly every western mystical tradition as well as several from elsewhere in the world. (Fun fact, Alchemy is derived from an Arabic word referring to "Khemi," which is another word for Egypt, which is, of course, one of the world's oldest civilizations.)

While the Alchemist Artificer focuses largely on the sort of "magical physical sciences" aspect of Alchemy (and that was certainly a big part of it historically,) I think that the Transmuter Wizard can push further into the philosophical and symbolic elements of the practice. To be frank, just about any kind of magic in a fantasy story could be interpreted through an Alchemical lens - it was partially an attempt to explain, understand, and produce the power of the divine through human research and practice, so I could even see a Cleric as an Alchemist.

But the Transmuter also makes some oblique references to Alchemy - the Transmuter Stone is a clear reference to the Philosopher's Stone, a fabled creation that would serve some crucial function in Alchemy's Magnum Opus, though what, exactly, it was or how it worked, was pretty vague (much as the Magnum Opus' ultimate goal varied - from turning lead into gold to creating an elixir that would imbue someone with immortality, to creating the panacea that cures all diseases).

Wizards are often characterized as profoundly ambitious people, and the Transmuter really fits into the archetype of someone working on completing the Magnum Opus. Let's see how the mechanics of the subclass have changed in this revision.

Level 3:

Trasmutation Savant works the same as the other re-designed "Savant" features, giving you a free Transmutation spell for your spellbook each time you gain a new level of spell slot.

Transmuter's Stone lets you create a magical pebble when you finish a long rest that lasts until you use the feature again. A creature with the stone in their possession gains one of the following benefits, which you can swap out when you cast a Transmutation spell using a spell slot:

Darkvision: grants Darkvision out to a range of 60 feet, or increases the range of their existing Darkvision by 60 feet.

Speed: their speed increases by 10 feet.

Durability: they gain proficiency in Constitution saving throws.

Resistance: They gain resistance to your choice of Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, or Thunder damage (chosen when you choose the benefit).

    This feature has been bumped up to level 3 from level 6, and is largely unchanged with a few minor buffs (like benefiting someone who already has darkvision). But other than these subtle changes and the earlier level, this is more or less unchanged.

    Obviously, this is a pretty versatile feature. I'd guess that Durability would be the default option, though if you don't have Darkvision, that's also a solid one. As before, it's nice to be able to change it when you cast any leveled transmutation spell, so if you get ambushed by a black dragon, you can cast Longstrider on yourself and also give yourself acid resistance at the same time.

Wondrous Enhancement gives you Enhance Ability, which is always prepared for you, and you can cast it once per long rest without expending a spell slot (which does mean it won't let you change your transmuter stone when you do so, but it's still a clear positive).

Moreover, Enhance Ability (regardless of whether this is your free casting or using a spell slot) gain advantage on saving throws of the chosen ability.

    Enhance Ability is a solid spell, and this adds some pretty good functionality to it, making it more helpful in combat.

    We do wind up losing Minor Alchemy from 2014 (yeah, I wasn't imagining this as the alchemist sublcass). That feature could theoretically be really good, though I haven't seen a ton of use of it. I'd love to see something like it replicated in a spell.

Level 6:

Split Transmutation allows you to effectively upcast any transmutation spell that can target an additional target when cast at a higher level, increasing its effective level by 1. You can do this a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier per long rest.

    So, similar to what we got with Enchantment, we can effectively get the new Twinned Spell functionality on many of our transmutation spells (such as Fly), though in this case it is limited to a certain number of times per day. That being said, we'll be getting probably 3-5 uses, which isn't that bad.

Level 10:

Potent Stone increases the power of your Transmuter's Stone, allowing you to choose two of its options, rather than just one, when you create it or change its functionality. You can choose each option only once, except the resistance option, as long as you choose different damage types (though given that resistance doesn't stack, why wouldn't you?)

    This replaces Shapechanger, which gave you Polymorph for free and let you cast it once per short rest for free but only to make someone into a 1st level beast. You're likely to take Polymorph anyway, and that will benefit from Split Transmutation, so I think this is probably nicer, giving you a little more flexibility and power.

Level 14:

Master Transmuter allows you to consume your Transmuter's Stone as an action to gain a big benefit, from the following options. The stone is destroyed with this use, so you'll need to wait for your next long rest to get a new one.

Panacea: The bearer of the stone regains HP equal to twice your Wizard level, and ends a curse, including attunement to a cursed magic item.

    The old version healed the target for all their HP and cured all curses, diseases, and poisons. So I think we have to call this a nerf. It's not a terrible use, healing for at least 28 HP, but it's not as profound.

Restore Life: You cast Raise Dead without a spell slot, using the stone in place of the normally required diamond material component.

    Curiously, the old version was perhaps ambiguous - given that you were sort of casting this via a magic item, in theory did it not require the diamond? This is less ambiguous, and either a buff or the same.

Restore Youth: The bearer permanently appears 3d10 years younger, to a minimum of young adulthood.

    As I approach 40, I find myself wishing I had this in real life. This is kind of notable in that it's a rare post-2024 class feature that's really just cosmetic, but also ties into the Magnum Opus vibes of the class. Also, interestingly that its change from the old version has a higher minimum, as the old one could make you look 13. There's no rider saying it doesn't extend the character's lifespan, though it also only says that it affects your appearance.

    What we lose here is Major Transformation, which allowed you to turn one nonmagical object into another nonmagical object of similar mass and size and of equal or lesser value. I actually think that's a shame given that that feels like a feature that would really encourage some creative, outside-the-box thinking. It could also be a little too powerful - perhaps making a spell that does something similar, much as I suggested for Minor Alchemy, would be appropriate.

Overall Thoughts:

Once again, I think we have a decent subclass that doesn't particularly appeal to my sensibilities. I loved Caleb Widowgast from Critical Role's second campaign, perhaps the highest-profile Transmuter Wizard out there. I think you'll be perfectly fine if you choose this, but I also don't know that it'll make you significantly more powerful than another wizard.

And that concludes our look at the latest Unearthed Arcana. We've been getting a pretty steady stream of them, with quite a lot to go through in each. We don't yet really know what's on the docket for D&D's 2026 releases, but presumably we'll be getting a few books with lots of player options in them.

UA: Necromancer

 Here we are: the darkest, most metal of Wizard subclasses. The origin point for D&D's most iconic campaign-boss monster, the Lich. Dark magic, the raising of the dead - are you the party's token evil teammate, or are you using the darkest magic in the name of good. Or, is Necromancy misunderstood, and is actually just an efficient form of recycling?

If there's one thing associated with necromancers, it's their undead minions. Let's take a look at its features and see how it shapes up, mechanically.

Level 3:

Necromancy Savant functions much like the other redesigned Savant spells, giving you a free Necromancy spell for your spellbook each time you gain a new level of spell.

Necromancy Spellbook has two sub-features, one of which should look familiar to the 2014 version.

First, you get resistance to Necrotic damage, which, depending on your campaign, could be huge: great against lots of undead monsters.

Second, you get Grim Harvest: when you cast a Necromancy spell using a spell slot, you can choose yourself or a creature you can see within 30 feet of yourself, giving Temp HP equal to the spell slot's level plus your Intelligence modifier (minimum 1 Temp HP).

    Notably, this is a redesign of Grim Harvest. The old version let you regain HP if you killed a creature using a leveled spell, gaining twice your Intelligence modifier, or three times that if it was a Necromancy spell. Here, you're going to be able to gain roughly comparable Temp HP on any Necromancy spell cast - I think in theory you could even use this to give the raised undead creature from a Necromancy spell some Temp HP right as you raise them. For example, Summon Undead's Skeletal version would start with 20 HP but then get perhaps 7 more thanks to this. While the healing might have been more useful if you were low on HP, this will let you protect yourself and allies right at the start of a fight, or even outside of combat.

Level 6:

Grave Power gives you the following benefits:

Grave Resilience: When you use Arcane Recovery, your Exhaustion level is reduced by 1.

    Exhaustion is a little easier to get in 2024, largely because it's not as bad as it used to be. It's still fairly rare, but it'll be good to get rid of it quickly (and if you have several levels, this effectively lets you reduce it faster.

Overwhelming Necrosis: Necrotic damage dealt by your Wizard spells and features ignores resistance to Necrotic damage.

    This is all well and good, but very few monsters have resistance to necrotic damage, as immunity is more common. I think vampires have necrotic resistance, and possibly some celestials. But this is very rare.

Undead Thralls gives you Summon Undead always prepared, and you can cast it once per long rest without expending a spell slot. When cast without a spell slot in this way, you regain HP equal to half the summoned creature's HP (so, if memory serves, 15 for the Putrid and Ghostly versions, or just 10 if it's the Skeletal one) but this also halves the creature's HP.

    The big change here is that they've swapped out Animate Dead for Summon Undead. The former is still in the PHB, and works I think identically to how it used to. The old version buffed any risen undead's HP maximum and increased their damage by your PB.

    I certainly felt that any Necromancer re-work would use Summon Undead instead of Animate Dead, because of the wonky scaling (the zombies and skeletons from Animate Dead don't get a buff to their attack rolls, so even if you've got a +8 to your spell attacks, your zombies might still only be rolling with a +3). Summon Undead scales more naturally with the Wizard, so it makes sense.

    Casting Summon Undead at its base 3rd level, though, which you'll be doing with your free casting, is a bit underwhelming - just upcasting it to 4th level more than doubles the damage output of the spirit.

    The old version of this feature also gave you one bonus skeleton/zombie, so cast at 3rd level you'd have two of them following you around. This is the tension with the general redesign in 2024 - the Necromancer is most iconically surrounded by several undead minions, but the game also runs more smoothly when you have only a single minion on the battlefield. I know that Draw Steel is trying to make their Summoner work with lots of minions on the board without slowing down the game, but we are going to somewhat lose some of that fantasy here, even if the power is probably fine.

Level 10:

Undead Secrets lets you expend a 4+ level spell slot when you finish a long rest. Until you finish your next long rest, the next time you are reduced to 0 HP, your HP instead changes 10 times the spell slot you expended.

Additionally, after you take damage and are bloodied after taking that damage (thanks for the clear language!) but not killed outright, you can use a reaction to teleport up to 60 feet away to an unoccupied space (notably, you don't need to see it) and each creature within 10 feet of the space you left takes 2d10 Necrotic damage.

    Ok, there's a lot to unpack. This is really two separate features.

    The first part is something like casting Death Ward on yourself. While it won't protect against something like Disintegrate, as Death Ward does, it also gives you a pretty hefty amount of HP when it goes off. It does require you to make the decision to use the feature at the very start of your adventuring day.

    Here's the weird hack: the effect lasts until you finish a long rest, and we have a way to remove exhaustion on a short rest! Though we only get to use that feature once per long rest.

    The second part of this has an element that I think bears looking at: there's no limit on uses. While you do need to be bloodied to use it, this is going to potentially give you several opportunities to escape harm when you most need to do so. Let's say the enemy Death Knight decides you're the biggest problem, and goes over to attack you. That first nasty hit bloodies you, so you teleport away, and they'll be unable to use their second and third attacks against you. Then, they finally catch up to you, hit you again, and... whoops, you're gone again.

    We don't get Inured to Undeath, though we already got the necrotic resistance at level 3. We lost the immunity to getting our max HP reduced, but I think we're ok.

Level 14:

Death's Master gives you the following benefits while you are holding your spellbook (I doubt that many DMs are going to be too much of a stickler about whether you're holding it or not).

Bolster Undead: as a bonus action, you can choose any number of undead you have created or summoned with a Necromancy spell that are within 60 feet of yourself (note that you don't have to be able to see them). Those undead gain Temp HP equal to your Wizard level. Any given undead creature can only gain these Temp HP once every 24 hours.

    Two words: Danse Macabre. One of my favorite spells from Xanathar's, Danse Macabre is the ultimate "I need a bunch of zombies or skeletons, and fast," and also buffs their attack and damage rolls by an amount equal to your spellcasting modifier, so while their scaling isn't perfect, they're a lot better-scaled than many of the older conjured creatures. I think Skeletons even have a higher attack bonus now than they used to, so if you have 20 Intelligence, they now have a +10 to hit and deal 1d6+8 damage on a hit, and you get 5 of them. Now, they effectively can also have 27 HP a piece.

    The point is, this kind of gives you some of the old benefits of the older Undead Thralls, though admittedly at significantly higher levels. But that's a level when you're really going to need to improve the survivability of your undead minions.

Harvest Power: When you use Grim Harvest, the creature that gains Temporary Hit Points also gains one of the following benefits, which lasts until the end of the target's next turn: either they gain advantage on attack rolls or they get advantage on the next saving throw they make.

    I think the natural use for this is to buff your Undead Spirit brought forth by Summon Undead, granting them advantage on their barrage of attacks when you first bring them forth. But, of course, with other spells you can toss some advantage to your allies or even yourself.

    We do lose Command Undead, which was capable of permanently charming and dominating an undead creature. Command Undead was super cool, but also created additional bookkeeping. I think you could argue that this is another example of 2024 flattening out some of the funkier features and abilities, but I still think what we've got here is pretty good.

Overall Thoughts:

The Necromancer has always had a big advantage in that it truly gives the character a strong and distinctive flavor compared with the standard wizard. While I don't think it's the only "dark wizard" option - you could easily flavor Illusion, Enchantment, Conjuration - really just about any subclass as a pretty dark character - it's the one that is sort of inextricably linked to a darker aesthetic and tone, unless you really commit to playing against type.

Having played a Wizard for 4+ years, I'm not in any rush to play another one any time soon, especially because the Wizard's power mostly comes from its base class features, and particularly its amazing spell list. But I think a Necromancer would really encourage a player to focus on its particular spell school.

Is it the most powerful subclass? Probably not, though I think it's also not underpowered either. But is this almost certainly the subclass I'd play as a second wizard character? Yes, very much so (well, ok, Chronurgist is calling to me as well, given my love of time-travel, but the other wizard in my Wildemount game is one of those, so I'm getting some vicarious enjoyment of that subclass anyway).

I've got to say, I've put on Rebirth, the "greatest hits" album of the fictional band Old Gods of Asgard from the Alan Wake and Control video games, because it felt really appropriate to listen to metal while writing about this subclass.

Next, we'll conclude the Arcane subclasses UA review by looking at the Transmuter, aka the true Alchemist subclass.

UA: Enchanter

 We continue on with the last few subclasses of the new UA, being the Wizard subclasses from the 2014 PHB that didn't see a revision in the 2024 version. The Wizard, of course, along with the Cleric, were the two classes that in 2014 had more than three subclasses apiece, and so while most classes got additional subclasses in 2024, these two had their options pared down to achieve parity. The Wizard, of course, had been built around the 8 schools of magic, so it felt a little sad to only get half of those represented.

Enchanters, of course, focus on enchantment magic. This school is often associated with the Bard in particular, so I'm not surprised that it was among those cut. I also don't know that it was the most popular subclass either. But let's see how the revision looks.

Level 3:

Enchanting Talker allows you to add your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1) to any Charisma check. You also gain proficiency in your choice of Deception, Intimidation, or Persuasion.

    Like a lot of similar features (often which let you add a different ability modifier to Intelligence checks,) this helps ensure that your Intelligence-based character is decent at being the party's face. While you're unlikely to out-talk a Bard with expertise in one of these skills, if your Charisma isn't a negative, you'll actually do as well if not better than a Warlock, Sorcerer, or Paladin, which is thematically on point.

Enchantment Savant works similarly to the other redesigned Savant spells, giving you a free Enchantment spell for your spellbook every time you get a new level of spell slot.

Vexing Moment lets you take both the Disengage and Dash action as a bonus action after you cast an Enchantment spell, using this feature a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier per long rest (minimum 1).

    This is a nice "get the Wizard out of trouble" feature. While your Enchantment spell might be an attempt to charm that monster that's right up next to you, and thus would probably avoid opportunity attacks anyway, this will work whether or not they fail on their saving throw, and the Dash gives you a lot of extra movement. The limited uses I don't think will be too much of a problem - I don't imagine you're going to need this more than five times a day, and as a Wizard you probably have some other options to help you get out of trouble.

    Notably, this is a pretty big redesign. Hypnotic Gaze, a somewhat overcomplicated non-spell Charm Person effect with limited range is gone, and I think this is probably more broadly useful.

Level 6:

Reflecting Charm lets you use a reaction when a creature within 30 feet of you that you can see hits you with an attack to reduce the damage you take by half, and you can force the attacker to make a Wisdom saving throw. If they fail, they take Psychic damage equal to half your level plus your Intelligence modifier. You can use this once per long rest, but you can restore a use of it (no action required) by expending a 2nd level spell slot.

    The damage reduction here I think should be considered the more important part of this feature, and gives you something to use if Shield won't prevent the damage altogether. Damage-wise, if we assume we have a +4 to Intelligence by this level, we'll start off with 7 damage, and by level 20, if we're at +5, we're looking at 15 damage. Not enormous, but again, I think the damage we deal with this is secondary to the damage reduction.

    This replaces Instinctive Charm, which allowed you to potentially redirect an attack aimed at you at another foe. I think the old feature is cooler, but it's also less consistent and reliable, so this is probably better overall.

Level 10:

Split Enchantment will effectively upcast any enchantment spell that can be cast with a higher-level spell slot to target an additional creature.

    It's actually like a Sorcerer's new Twinned Spell, but it only works for Enchantment spells, though it is also always on and costs no resources. If we're focusing a lot on things like Charm Person, Hold Monster, and the like, this will get us some more power out of these, though of course only situationally.

Level 14:

Bolstering Belief gives you Power Word Fortify always prepared. You can also cast the spell once per long rest without expending a spell slot and each target has advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the charmed and frightened conditions while they have the Temp HP from this spell.

    Power Word Fortify can be really powerful (though it gets diluted if you spread it out between several party members). A free 7th level spell once a day? I really can't complain too much about that, to be honest.

    We lose Alter Memories from 2014, which allowed you to use charm spells more freely, because creatures were not aware you were trying to magically charm them, and put a minor Modify Memory effect on any enchantment spell that charmed them. I really like Alter Memories, especially for an intrigue-heavy campaign. The new feature, like so much of the 2024 revisions, becomes more broadly useful, but a little less distinctive.

Overall Thoughts:

I think there are some improvements here - I'm on the fence about the level 14 changes, but I think the subclass is a bit better now.

Do I think it'd compete with other Wizard subclasses, or just playing a Bard? Probably not. I don't think you'll be "bad" if you take this - frankly any Wizard is going to be pretty good regardless of subclass - but I think this would be near the bottom of my list of Wizard subclasses I'd be excited to play.

Speaking of Wizard subclasses I'd be excited to play: next we'll be looking at the Necromancer, the ultimate dark wizard, and a subclass whose absence from the 2024 PHB I understand, but was not happy about, and whose absence from the Horror subclasses UA can only be explained by them just doing all the wizard subclasses in this one.

UA: Conjurer

 Yes, we've hit the Wizard subclasses, and here we're going to be talking about the four 2014 PHB subclasses that were cut from the 2024 PHB. These were always bound to get a 2024 revision, so I'm not surprised to see them here.

I also have a special place in my heart for the Conjurer - in my original D&D campaign, my best friend played a Conjuration Wizard, and among those three original players (we did eventually get three other players to join the party before the campaign fell apart, so I guess I've tended to default to 6-player parties) he's the one who I still play with (we live in the same apartment, and we've been friends for like 23 years).

Anyway, Conjurers are, I'd argue, one of the really classic wizard archetypes, and while Divination probably overshadows most other wizard subclasses, this has always been a pretty good one. Notably, 2024 saw a pretty radical redesign of a lot of conjuration spells. While flexibility has gone down, their consistency has gone up. Perhaps more than any other Wizard (except maybe Necromancers, which we'll get to) Conjuration is going to be the subclass focusing on keeping up a powerful concentration spell.

Of course, Conjuration is also the school of teleportation magic, and we're going to get some related features for that as well.

Let's get into it:

Level 3:

Benign Transposition allows you to, as a Magic action, teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. You can also choose a space within range occupied by a Medium or smaller creature, and if that is creature is willing, you can both teleport, swapping places.

You can use this feature once per long Rest, but you can also restore a use of it by expending a spell slot of 2nd level or higher.

    This comes earlier - it used to come at 6th level. However, there's a slight nerf, in that rather than recharging this when you cast a Conjuration spell (of 1st or higher level), you now just have to expend a spell slot to get it back. That said, a 2nd level spell slot is what you spend on a Misty Step, so while this is less action-friendly (the spell being a bonus action,) the fact that you can swap with an ally adds some functionality here. I'd still likely take Misty Step, but this gives you some cover if you want to unprepare it.

Conjuration Savant has received the same redesign as the 2024 PHB ones, now giving you a free Conjuration spell for your spellbook every other level.

    As a note, one feature is lost here, which is Minor Conjuration. However, I think that feature largely existed just to give you something to actually get at 2nd level in the old version, and you can get a similar effect with Prestidigitation anyway. I think getting Benign Transposition earlier is worth losing this one.

Level 6:

Distant Transposition buffs your Benign Transposition. The range increases to 60 feet, and you regain your use of it on a Short rest as well as a long rest.

    This is actually quite nice - getting more uses of it per day is great, but the range increase also makes it more significant in-combat. 30-foot teleports are great to get out of melee range or a restraint/grapple, but 60 starts to really put some serious distance between you and your foes.

Durable Summons gives creatures you summon using a spell slot (guess this doesn't work with an enspelled staff) temp HP equal to twice your Wizard level when they first appear.

    This comes way earlier, as it previously came at level 14. The amount of temp HP starts off lower - the old version was a flat 30 - but at higher levels, this will scale up to eventually become 40 Temp HP. I'm pretty positive on this one - 12 Temp HP at level 6 is decent, and could effectively negate one or two hits. If you figure you've got a Fey Spirit (Summon Fey being one of the better "Summon" spells) summoned at 4th level (which would be doable only a level after getting this feature,) you would be giving them 14 Temp HP on top of their 40 base HP, increasing their effective staying power by about a third.

    This feature, admittedly, was very powerful when conjuring lots of smaller creatures - if you brought in a whole bunch of Mephits with the old version of Conjure Minor Elementals, those 30 Temp HP would multiply to potentially 240 or something. Given that creature-conjuring spells now tend to get you just one bigger creature, this isn't quite what it once was. But it's still decent.

Level 10:

Focused Conjuration prevents you from losing concentration on a Conjuration spell when you take damage.

    This is unchanged from 2014, but it's also a pretty big deal - especially as you get to higher levels, damage can sometimes hit magnitudes where it's just impossible to maintain concentration. Taking a 94-damage ancient red dragon's fire breath (assuming you don't go unconscious) won't take your summoned air elemental away, which is pretty great.

Level 14:

Quick Transposition allows you to use Benign Transposition as a bonus action. You can also use Benign Transposition as a reaction when a creature makes an attack roll against you, but only to swap places with a willing creature. The creature that takes your place then becomes the target of the attack instead.

    First off, this makes Benign Transposition straight-up better than Misty Step, and you can just permanently un-prepare that spell once you get this feature. The defensive aspect of this is also interesting. Actually, the ideal scenario would be if you could charm a foe and get them to willingly take your place, but the more likely scenario is that you'll get your heavily-armored Paladin or Fighter to take the hit, or your raging Barbarian. Wizards are among the squishiest of classes, so almost anyone would be better as the target of an attack.

Overall Thoughts:

I always liked Conjuration as a Wizard subclass, and I think that this does a great job of building on the decent 2014 version, expanding out its capabilities.

The subclass does an admirable job of balancing the two sides of the Conjuration coin - the "bamf"-ing aspect and the summoning aspect, which it also did in 2014. A solid and reasonable update. It gets my approval.

UA: Hexblade (Again)

 The Hexblade Warlock is one that I've written a lot about over the years - introduced in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, it was a massively powerful one-level dip, giving you everything from Medium Armor and Shields to being able to attack using Charisma to the quite-good Hexblade's Curse.

Some of these benefits, most notably the ability to use Charisma for weapon attacks, got moved (appropriately) to the Pact of the Blade option in 2024, and I've wondered a lot whether the days in which the Hexblade was the dominant Warlock subclass were finally over (funnily enough, this is actually the subclass that I've played the most of among Warlock ones, largely because I wanted a Shadowfell-themed Warlock when playing Descent into Avernus, and the Undead patron hadn't come out and also wouldn't have been Adventurer's League-legal).

The recent Horror Subclasses UA gave us an update of the Hexblade, and it was an extreme example of whatever the opposite of a glow-up is. I commented that if the goal was for players to try other subclasses, that version would have achieved it.

However, as I'm sure that the previous revision proposal was so poorly rated, they've come back to try it again.

Before we get into it, let's talk about the reasons that that one was such a nerf.

The first reason is actually one that I think was a reasonable balance adjustment. Hexblades getting martial weapons, medium armor, and shields all went a long way to making it the go-to subclass for playing a melee warlock. The subclass wouldn't need to have its Hex Weapon option anymore because Pact of the Blade now has that functionality, but lacking the armor and shield training does leave Warlocks having to look outside the class features to become a bit more resilient to monsters' attacks. Neither the previous nor this version restores this armor training, so you're still looking to either a feat or a 1-level dip in another class to get this.

The second reason, though, was that the subclass was built entirely around the Hex spell. And while Hex is a classic Warlock spell, it created a few issues: the biggest being that when you stopped concentrating on Hex, like if you wanted to cast, say, Animate Objects - which was one of the patron spells you got - the rest of features effectively disappeared. Given their small number of spell slots at any given time, a Warlock really wants to have a good concentration spell, and this forced you into only using that one option you've had since 1st level.

So, let's see how they do with a second revision. First impressions were that it's improved, but we'll still see how appealing the subclass looks overall.

Patron Spells:

1st: Hex, Shield

2nd: Arcane Vigor, Wrathful Smite

3rd: Bestow Curse, Conjure Barrage

4th: Freedom of Movement, Staggering Smite

5th: Animate Objects, Steel Wind Strike

    I don't think this is hugely different from the last version, but I will note that Bestow Curse is going to have a bigger potential role that we'll see moving forward. These spells will encourage a Pact of the Blade playstyle to an extent. I will note that Shield on a Warlock is not quite as appealing as it is on other spellcasters, because one of the things that makes Shield so good is that it's a 1st level spell and thus "cheap," but here it's going to take up one of your very few pact slots.

Level 3:

Hexblade's Curse returns, allowing you to curse a target within 30 feet of yourself for 1 minute, gaining a few benefits, listed below. You can use this Cha times per long rest. When you cast a spell with a spell slot that curses a target (such as Hex or Bestow Curse) you can use your Hexblade's Curse as part of the casting of that spell (no action required). When you do so, the target of the spell is the target of the Hexblade's Curse, and the duration of of your Hexblade's Curse is either 1 minute or the duration of the spell, whichever lasts longer.

Hungering Hex: When the target cursed by Hexblade's Curse drops to 0 HP, you regain HP equal to 1d8+Cha

Accursed Shield: When you aren't wearing armor or wielding a Shield, you gain a +2 bonus to AC while you are within 10 feet of the target cursed by Hexblade's Curse.

    Lot to break down here. First off, as I read this, casting spells that curse a target like Hex will let you combine it with Hexblade's Curse in terms of action economy, but not resource economy - you'll still expend uses of the feature along with the spell slot. And I don't think Hex's usual transferability will apply to HbC.

    That being said, this does give you the opportunity to focus on other spells than Hex. You can get this one-minute (which generally means one encounter) option that is concentration free and spell-agnostic, and can use it a decent number of times per day. Honestly, that's really the big thing that we wanted.

    Now, how about the actual benefits? You'll notice that this version doesn't (at least yet) actually increase your damage. The old one allowed you to add your PB to the damage you dealt the cursed target, and also allowed you to crit on a 19. This, instead, actually just gives you some survival features - some healing and a weird AC buff.

    Actually, let's focus in on that AC buff, because this is actually probably worthless. Getting a +2 to AC but only if you're not wearing armor or a shield means that you could literally wear Studded Leather armor (something that a 2nd-level character can probably afford to buy easily) and get this benefit regardless of who's cursed and how close you are. Now, to be fair, if you have Armor of Shadows and thus always have Mage Armor up, that could stack up (and would mean you'd be not wearing armor anyway) to give you a 17 AC with only a +2 to Dex, which is pretty decent, though this would only be when you're very close to your cursed target.

    The subclass is thus encouraging you to go Pact of the Blade without strictly requiring it.

Unyielding Will is another feature at 3rd level. When you succeed on a concentration saving throw, you can deal 2d6 necrotic damage to any creatures of your choice within a 10-foot emanation, once per round (or, as it's worded, you can't do this until the start of your next turn).

Additionally, if you fail a concentration saving throw, you can choose to succeed instead, and gain Temp HP equal to 1d10 plus your Warlock level. You can do this once per long rest.

    First off: note that this in no way requires Hexblade's Curse to be up. I love synergy between subclass features, but when those features are limited-use, it's good to have some exceptions. This is also going to do a lot to help you if you're a Bladelock, as you'll be getting hit more often and thus making more concentration saves. The free damage on a successful save is not bad for something that doesn't even take a reaction, and the limited-legendary-resistance is nice as well. I can't really complain about this feature.

Level 6:

Malign Brutality (which is a cool name for a feature) gives you three benefits:

Harrowing Hex: After you cast a level 1+ spell with a casting time of an action, you can make a weapon attack as a bonus action.

    This is kind of like the old version of the Eldritch Knight's Improved War Magic. Notably, once again, this is not limited by Hexblade's Curse or anything. It's still limited in that you will need to be expending a spell slot (though in theory if you cast something via an item, that should work as well) but it's a bit of extra damage.

Hindering Curse: When you hit the target of your Hexblade's Curse with an attack roll, the target has disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes before the start of your next turn.

    Sadly, this doesn't work with the previous feature. Indeed, you might struggle a bit to actually get the benefit of this saving throw disadvantage for yourself, as you're probably not going to be imposing saves on the same turn you're making attacks. But this can, of course, benefit your allies as well - smack that monster and then have your Druid entangle them.

Inescapable Hex: When the target of your Hexblade's Curse ends its turn 30 feet or further from you, you can move up to your speed straight toward the target.

    Notably, this does not cost a reaction. So, while it'll still by necessity only happen once a round, this is off-turn, action-free movement.

    Like the original, the subclass can theoretically play without Pact of the Blade, but it's pretty clear that this is meant to be the subclass for a melee-focused weapon warlock.

Level 10:

Armor of Hexes allows you to use a reaction to reduce the damage you take when the target of your Hexblade's Curse deals damage to you. The reduction is equal to your Warlock level.

    Quite a redesign from the old version, but more reliable at least. Starting off with a damage reduction of 10, this is obviously going to feel more impactful against individual weapon attacks than a giant dragon's breath, but it's a decent chunk of damage to reduce. I've been noting the various features you'd expect to use your reaction that didn't, and I wonder if they're designed that way in order to give you room to use this one.

Level 14:

Masterful Hex gives three benefits:

Accursed Critical: When you attack the target of your Hexblade's Curse, you score a critical hit on a 19 or 20.

    Obviously a nice feature that expands your critical strike chance to 10%, though we get it a full 13 levels later than the original version did. I feel like this is pretty late to get this.

Explosive Hex: When you deal damage to the target of your Hexblade's Curse, you can cause the curse to explode, dealing your 3d6 of your choice of necrotic, psychic, or radiant damage to each creature of your choice within a 30-foot emanation, and affected creatures' speeds are reudced by 10 feet until the start of your next turn. Once you use this, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest, or unless you expend a Pact Magic spell slot to restore your use of it.

    This is cool - again, some AoE damage without a saving throw. That said, it's pretty low damage, so unless you really need the AoE slow, I don't think I'd be likely to expend a 5th level spell slot to get this back, and probably only use it once per day.

Hex Restoration: You regain one expended use of Hexblade's Curse when you finish a Short Rest or use your Magical Cunning feature.

    Ok, yeah, that's nice. We already have a decent number of uses for the feature (if we only use it once per combat, we're probably not going to run out, as few adventures involve more than 4 combats per day) but this gives us a bit of flexibility.

Overall Thoughts:

I don't think this is the powerhouse that was the Xanathar's Hexblade, but that's good - that version was too powerful, and gave too many benefits that went beyond what other subclasses did. I also think this is a big improvement over the, frankly, dogshit version of the Hexblade presented in the Horror Subclass UA.

This version feels functional and even, dare I say, maybe actually quite good? I don't know that it would really appeal to me - for one thing, the flavor of the Hexblade patron is pretty dull (if I play a Bladelock, I'd probably want to go with a Death Knight as an undead patron) - and I suspect it won't be as popular as the Xanathar's one because it's not as front-loaded with power.

Still, with a little adjustment here and there (I'd consider putting some of the Masterful Hex features into the level 6 feature, so it's still a commitment, but you don't have to be halfway through tier 3 to crit on a 19) I think this could be in quite good shape.

    Next, we'll be revisiting the four Wizard subclasses that were ejected from the Player's Handbook in 2014, starting with the Conjurer.

UA: Ancestral Sorcery

 The second of two brand-new subclasses in the Arcane Subclass Unearthed Arcana, Ancestral Sorcery gives the origin of your Sorcerer abilities as a powerful ancestor. While not explicit, the obvious example is Simon, from the recent Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, a movie that was actually quite good but I don't think did very well at the box office, and thus, if there is any justice in the world, will be discovered by teenagers twenty years from now who have just started playing D&D, and will be watched in their parents' basement while they eat pizza and drink soda and become a cult classic.

The point is, Simon, played by Justice Smith, is the descendent of Elminster, the extraordinarily powerful Wizard and famed hero of the Forgotten Realms. Simon is not a Wizard, though: he's a Sorcerer, and thus has only a fleeting sense of control over his magic.

It's a fun movie. Do check it out if you haven't already. It's the kind of nerdy movie where if you do play D&D, you'll get all the deep-cut references and well-observed, subtle jokes that operate on many levels, but if you don't, it's still perfectly enjoyable as a fantasy adventure flick.

But let's talk about this subclass! Somewhat like the Arcana Domain for Clerics, this is a little bit of the "Wizard"-themed Sorcerer. That might sound like nothing given how Wizards and Sorcerers overlap so much in their aesthetics and capabilities, but we'll get into it.

Lineage Spells:

Cantrips: Guidance, Resistance

1st: Command, Protection from Evil and Good

2nd: Locate Object, Spiritual Weapon

3rd: Magic Circle, Spirit Guardians

4th: Divination, Locate Creature

5th: Legend Lore, Yolande's Regal Presence

    Admittedly, there are actually quite a few Cleric spells here, but I think the key is that it adds a lot of utility spells to a class that often wants to focus on damage spells. Getting some extra cantrips is also kind of interesting.

Level 3:

Ancestor's Lore allows you to add your Charisma modifier (minimum of +1) to any Intelligence check you make. You also gain proficiency in your choice of Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, or Religion.

    A bit like the Thaumaturge and Magician options for Clerics and Druids, respectively, this lets you actually be good at knowing about what your class does. However, this one's a bit more extensive, effectively turning any Intelligence check into a Charisma check, or even better if you also have a positive Intelligence modifier (if you have a negative, then at least it's mitigated).

Visage of the Ancestor gives you advantage on any ability check you make as part of the Influence action when your Innate Sorcery feature is active.

    This gives you a potential out-of-combat use for "Sorcerer Rage." The flavor of this is that your ancestor manifests as a spectral haze around you (and they suggest the ancestor could take various forms - like a ghostly version of themselves or perhaps a symbolic creature - like Mushu from Mulan!)

Level 6:

Superior Spell Disruption adds two more 3rd level spell beyond your Lineage spells, granting you both Counterspell and Dispel Magic. While you have Innate Sorcery active, you can cast each of those spells without expending a spell slot once per long rest, and when you do so in this way, targets of Counterspell have disadvantage on their Con save (remember that Counterspell works differently now) and you get advantage on ability checks to end ongoing spells when you use this with Dispel Magic.

    So, it's a little funny: you need to be in Innate Sorcery to do this and then also it's a limited use per day, but you still also just have these two spells prepared and can spend spell slots on them as normal. Personally, I'd drop the Innate Sorcery aspect of this, as I don't think we really need it - these features are already limited. These spells are good in any counter-magic situation, and so, getting the dice to roll more in your favor is certainly nice, though this is going to be more useful in a mage-vs-mage situation than just fighting more conventional monsters.

Level 14:

Ancestral Majesty causes Innate Sorcery to produce a 5-foot emanation magical aura. When a creature ends their turn within that emanation or enters it, you can force them to make a Charisma saving throw, and on a failure, you can make them drop prone or give them the frightened condition until the end of your next turn. They only make the save once per turn.

    We're clearly leaning into everything being tied to Innate Sorcery, and while that's a core Sorcerer feature, I don't love having everything tied to the same limited-use feature. This is clearly something that can help you out of a jam, but only if they're already right up upon you.

Steady Spellcaster prevents damage from breaking your concentration on Sorcery spells.

    ...Wait, what? Ok, I take back any worry I had about this subclass being too tied to a limited-use feature. This just... they cannot break your concentration without incapacitating you now, or I guess dispelling your spell. You get hit by an Ancient Red Dragon's breath and take 94 damage, and you're like, "nah, that Fly spell is not going anywhere." Not any specific school, not of any particular level. Just... concentration saves? Nah, we don't need to worry about that.

    This is a good feature. In case that wasn't clear. It's very, very, very good.

Level 18:

Ancestor's Ward gives you advantage on saving throws against spells while your Innate Sorcery is active. Once per use of Innate Sorcery, if you fail a saving throw against a spell, you can choose to succeed again.

    So, yeah: it really comes down to how often you're fighting creatures that actually cast spells, rather than having some other bespoke spell-like-but-not-quite-spell effect. Admittedly, I think they found a way to incorporate more genuine spells into monster design, like the part of the Adult and Ancient Dragons' multiattack. But this subclass clearly is best in a mage-vs-mage kind of campaign.

Overall Thoughts:

I think there's something solid here. The best feature doesn't come until level 14, but I think there is enough going on here that you could have a very helpful party member here. Again, this subclass is best-sutied to a campaign in which you have to deal with spellcasting adversaries, but in such a campaign, this should be very good.

Next, we'll re-re-visit the Hexblade, which is getting a second revision after its rather awful showing in the Horror Subclasses UA. At least from my initial reading, this is definitely an improvement over that one, though I suspect fans of the Xanathar's original version might still be underwhelmed.

UA: Tattooed Warrior

 The Tattooed Warrior is one of two brand-new subclasses found in the Arcane Subclasses Unearthed Arcana. It's also the first new Monk subclass post 2024 PHB. The Monk, of course, got a huge glow-up with the revisions of the rules, so I've been eager to see what new ideas they might try with the better framework.

I'll say off the bat that I'm a bit skeptical about this one.

The Way of the Four Elements, from the 2014 PHB, was infamous as being among the worst subclasses in the game. While it had a cool flavor to it, the subclass was built all around spending Ki Points in order to generate spell-like effects (or just cast spells). But with only the spell power-scaling of a 1/3 caster (like an Arcane Trickster or Eldritch Knight,) and the tension of drawing upon your primary Monk resource and thus pulling away from your ability to spend Ki Points on other things like Flurry of Blows, it wound up being pretty unpopular.

The 2024 PHB completely redesigned the Elements monk from scratch, and the Warrior of Elements subclass that exists now is generally thought to be quite good - perhaps even the best Monk subclass, or at least in contention for such a title.

Thus, I'm a little surprised that the direction that the Tattooed Warrior goes is more akin to that 2014 Way of the Four Elements. Again, you'll be spending Focus Points to cast spells chosen from a limited menu.

But lest we condemn this without a fair look, let's get into the features.

3rd level:

Magic Tattoos is the core feature of the subclass. You have various physical markings on your body - whether they be tattoos, scarification, birthmarks, brands, or any other cosmetic alteration. Injuries and damage doesn't impair these (you don't lose one of your subclass features if that monster happens to slash you across your butt tattoo). If a tattoo's effect has a saving throw, the DC is based on your Wisdom, and on a long rest, you can change one of the tattoo options you've chosen to another from the same list.

    Kind of a necessary "here's how all these work" feature, so nothing really to comment on here.

Beast Tattoos gives you your first selection of tattoo options. You get two from the following list of possibilities:

Bat: You get Dancing Lights and when you expend 1 FP on Patient Defense or Step of the Wind, you gain Blindsight to a range of 10 feet for 1 minute.

    Ok, this one's actually kind of cool. Blindsight on a Monk feels very flavorful, and can be very useful in certain situations.

Butterfly: You get the Light cantrip and you can expend 1 FP to cast Silent Image without material components.

    We're sort of getting into it now: the spells you can cast with this subclass cost FP equal to the spell's level (I think). This is better than the Four Elements Monk from 2014, which always cost the spell's level plus 1, for some godforsaken reason. Does reducing these costs by 1 fix it? Probably not. Does the fact that Monks can generally be more efficient with their FP now than they were with Ki Points back in 2014 fix it? Well, that does take it closer. Silent Image is situational, but potentially useful.

Chamelon: You know Minor Illusion and can expend 1 FP to cast Disguise Self.

    I'd bet this is going to have broader application than Butterfly. The Cantrips, honestly, might be the real selling points on these tattoos.

Crane: You know Guidance, and when you miss with an attack granted by Flurry of Blows, you get advantage on subsequent attack rolls with that use of Flurry of Blows.

    The math here is probably very complicated. This gets better when Flurry of Blows goes up to three attacks, but the funny thing is that the timing of your miss really changes how good this is. Naturally, you'd like to hit on every attack, but oddly, with this you're really going to hope that, if you do miss, you miss early. The second, or third at level 10 and beyond, attack won't really trigger this. Guidance is obviously good.

Horse: You know Message, and you can expend 1 FP to cast Longstirder.

    Given how fast Monks are anyway, Longstrider is probably not terribly useful to them - though I suppose they can give this to a friend. Again, Message is a good cantrip.

Spider: You know Mending, and when you hit a creature with an attack from Flurry of Blows, the creature has disadvantage on its next attack roll before the start of your next turn.

    This kind of gives you the Sap mastery, but only if you expend the resources on Flurry of Blows. Admittedly, tying subclass features to Flurry of Blows is a pretty safe bet, as it's the most reasonable thing to spend FP on in the first place. I don't hate it.

Tortoise: You know Spare the Dying, and you can expend 1 FP to cast False Life without Material components.

    Even though I wouldn't want to spend a ton of FP to upcast these spells (which was an option with the Four Elements Monk) I also wonder if I'd really find a 1st level False Life to be worth it compared to the extra damage I'd get through more conventional uses of that resource.

    One note here is that none of these spells are damage-dealing spells, all of them being some form of utility. I think I find myself more drawn to the ones that interact with existing Monk abilities, though in doing so, they each cost 1 FP.

6th level:

Celestial Tattoo adds new magic tattoos. You choose one of the following options.

Comet: You can spend 2 FP to cast Find Traps.

    Find Traps is a profoundly bad spell - the only trap you find with it is the spell itself. It literally doesn't do what it say sit does, and just tells you if there's a trap somewhere nearby, not where that trap is. Utter garbage, but that's more the spell than this feature.

Crescent Moon: You can spend 2 FP to cast Misty Step.

    Misty Step, on the other hand, is a fantastic spell. That being said, I do think a Monk is less likely to need it. They can already Dash or Disengage as a bonus action for free, each of which will do a big part of what you generally need Misty Step for. That said, getting out of restraints is also nice. Misty Step is a spell I basically think you should always get on any character who can have it, so this is an obviously strong choice.

Eclipse: You can expend 2 FP to cast Invisibility without Material components.

    Invisibility is a solid spell, especially useful outside of combat. Reasonable option.

Sunburst: You can expend 2 FP to cast Lesser Restoration.

    You're not likely to get this kind of functionality as a Monk, so if you don't have someone who can cast it (or a Paladin with Lay on Hands) this might be nice to have.

    Once again, none of these options deal any damage, and instead act as utility. Utility is great, and a Monk has a pretty decent amount of damage baseline, but I'm still finding it hard to get very excited about this.

11th level:

Nature Tattoo once again adds more tattoo options. You get one of the following:

Mountain: As a Magic Action, you can spend 3 FP to gain resistance to Acid damage and advantage on Con saves for 1 minute.

    If you know you're going to fight a black dragon, sure, this might be useful. But you want me to spend my action and 3 FP for a 1-minute resistance buff? I think both the FP cost and the action-economy cost are too high here.

Storm: Similar, but gives Lightning Resistance and advantage on Dex saves.

    I see where this is going. Let's just get through them.

Volcano: Fire resistance, Strength saving throws.

Wave: Cold resistance, Wisdom saving throws.

    There are too many things at play here: do I know which element I'm likely to encounter today? Do I have the turn to spend my action getting this resistance? Does the element and the saving throw line up? I mentioned a Black dragon, for example: do I want advantage on the dexterity saves to dodge its acid, or do I want the acid resistance to reduce my damage taken when I fail that save? And it's just a single minute, so unless I shout this at my DM before they tell me to roll initiative, I've got to use up most of my turn to get this going if I'm lucky enough to have had the right tattoo for the fight.

17th level:

Monster Tattoo gives you one last magic tattoo, with the following options:

Beholder: You have a Fly Speed of 10 feet and can hover, and you can spend 3 FP to cast Counterspell.

    While 10 feet is very slow, especially given that we're a Monk, one should note that that's an always-on passive. Counterspell is more situational, but this is concentration-free, resource-free, hovering flight.

Blink Dog: When you expend an FP on Patient Defense, you can expend3 FP to cast Blink immediately after that bonus action.

    This one's weird: technically this all costs 4 FP. I'm assuming this is meant to say "as part of the same bonus action," but that should probably be clarified. Blink is a spell that's cool when it works but sometimes does nothing. And I actually think Monks sometimes want to stay on the battlefield between turns because they can potentially deal more damage with Deflect Attacks.

Displacer Beast: When you expend an FP to use Flurry of Blows or Step of the Wind, you can expend 2 FP to cast Mirror Image immediately after that bonus action.

    Again, weird wording. Mirror Image is actually better for a Monk than it might have been before, as it now takes your AC into account. But again, this is a cost on top of a cost, which is the kind of unsuccessful design I though we were long past.

Guardian Naga: If you would be reduced to 0 HP but not killed outright, you instead change your HP to twice your Monk level. This can't be used again until you finish a long rest.

    A pretty solid survival feature, and the only tattoo that doesn't require you to spend any FP.

Overall Thoughts:

I don't like it. I hate to say it, but I just don't think this is going to be very good at all. There is some interesting potential for utility here, but I think you get plenty of that with something like Warrior of Shadows while also getting cool Monk abilities.

I think this will leave you sucking on fumes. Ironically, by avoiding any real damage output options, it's actually probably better than the Four Elements 2014 subclass, because you won't feel tempted to use these for your damage output.

But I just think that this is probably not going to work very well or feel very good to play.

Next time, we'll look at the Ancestral Sorcery subclass for, strangely enough, the Sorcerer, which (if I recall correctly from my initial read of the UA) is actually quite good (and also reminds me of Justice Smith's character from Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, where he was a Sorcerer descended from the famed wizard Elminster).

UA: Arcane Archer

 The Arcane Archer is one of the three subclasses for Fighters in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and all three always felt like cool ideas that couldn't quite compete with the Battle Master and Eldritch Knight (I think the Tasha's ones were a bit more exciting, especially the Rune Knight).

Still, what's notable about this is that it's the only WotC-original Fighter subclass in 5E that is built explicitly for ranged combat (we're not counting Matt Mercer's Gunslinger, which was more of a conversion of the Pathfinder class, but became very popular thanks to Percy on Critical Role).

That said, I always felt like the Arcane Archer suffered a bit because of how few of its cool Arcane Shots it could do and also because it didn't feel like it did much more than a ranged Battle Master (a complaint I also had with the Gunslinger).

So, does this make it more appealing? Let's take a look:

3rd level:

Arcane Archer Lore is nearly unchanged from Xanathar's, giving you either the Druidcraft or Prestidigitation cantrip as well as proficiency in Arcana and Nature. If you already have one or both of these, you can choose other skills for each you already had.

    Two subtle distinctions: first is that the old version only gave you one skill or the other, while this gives you both. The second is that there's no carve-out to get different skills if you already have these.

Arcane Shot is, of course, the centerpiece of the feature. First, you learn two Arcane Shot options from the list (which will be shown after the subclass features). You learn an additional shot option at level 7, 10, 15, and 18, and can replace one of your learned shots each time you hit those levels as well.

Once per turn when you make a ranged attack with a weapon that has the Ammunition property, you can apply the Arcane Shot option to that attack, deciding after you hit and deal damage to them unless the shot doesn't involve an attack roll.

Arcane Shots use an Arcane Shot Die, which might be rolled as a part of the Arcane Shot option you choose. It begins as a d6.

You can use these shots Int times per short or long rest. If a shot has a saving throw, the DC is based on your Intelligence.

    A few important changes: first off, you have far more options for the kind of weapon you want to use, as the old version only worked with Shortbows and Longbows. Now, you can use this with a Sling, with a Musket, with a Hand Crossbow - whatever you want, as long as it has the Ammunition property.

    Second, the old version only allowed two uses per short or long rest. If that's your Intelligence modifier, then there's no real difference there. But if you have a higher Int mod, this will let you use this more. Personally, I see some potential in multiclassing this with a Battle Smith Artificer, allowing you to focus on improving your Intelligence and using that to attack, while also using Repeating Shot to get yourself a weapon that not only has a nice +1 bonus but also will ignore the Loading property (get yourself a Musket!)

    One wording question is this: it says we choose these options after both hitting and dealing damage. Given that Arcane Shots now add some extra damage, would this not double the Arcane Shot dice rolled on a crit? I'd assume it works like Paladins' Smites or a Battle Master's Superiority dice, but this wording introduces an ambiguity.

7th level:

Curving Shot lets you use a bonus action if you miss with an attack roll using a weapon that has the Ammunition property to make an additional attack against a different target you can see within the weapon's long range and that isn't behind total cover. The attack doesn't cost extra ammunition (presumably because it's the same piece of ammunition swerving to go after another target).

    This feature existed in Xanathar's, but there is a subtle distinction, which is that the old version required the secondary target to be within 60 feet of the primary target. Now, it's anywhere within the weapon's long range, which is potentially an enormous area. I do think it'd still be at disadvantage if it's not within its normal range, but it could be in the complete opposite direction.

Ever Ready Shot lets you gain a use of Arcane Shot if you roll initiative with all uses expended.

    This feature was more or less present in the old version, but you got it at level 15 instead of 7, which is a big upgrade.

    Notably, one feature is missing, which is Magic Arrow, which used to let you turn nonmagical arrows into magic for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical damage. Given that that isn't, you know, a thing in 2024 D&D, it's been cut. DMs, just be sure to make the adjustment if using old monsters. (And in theory, a magic weapon should work even if the ammunition isn't magical).

10th level:

Improved Shots upgrades your Arcane Shot Die to a d8.

15th level:

Powerful Shots upgrades it to a d10.

18th level:

Masterful Shots upgrades it to a d12.

    Notably, at each of these levels, we also get to learn a new Arcane Shot option, so the relative thinness of these features should be taken with that grain of salt. By the time we get to level 18, we'll have 6 Arcane Shot options, from a total list of 8.

    Funnily enough, the old version of this didn't even have a specific 18th level feature.

Arcane Shot Options:

Banishing Shot causes the target to take additional Psychic damage equal to one roll of your Arcane Shot Die (henceforth "ASD"). The target then makes a Charisma saving throw. On a failure, the creature is banished to a harmless demiplane until the end of its next turn, where it is incapacitated and has a speed of 0. At the end of that next turn, it reappears in its previous space or the nearest unoccupied one.

    This winds up being one of the lower damage options, but can potentially steal a turn from a monster, which is pretty powerful. The old version added 2d6 Force damage at level 18 to this, which is actually slightly higher than what this will do at 18th level, but the new version gets the damage in right from the start.

Beguiling Shot causes the target to take additional Psychic damage equal to two rolls of your ASD, and then they make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, the target has the Charmed condition until the start of your next turn, treating either you or one of your allies within 30 feet of the target as the charmer. The charmed condition ends early if the charmer attacks the target, deals damage to it, or forces it to make a saving throw.

    What I really like about this is how you can use it to save an ally - if the big monster has gotten to your Wizard and is slamming them with its tentacles, you can potentially get them to stop attacking and even avoid making opportunity attacks as the ally moves away. The old version of this deals 2d6 psychic damage, and then 4d6 at level 18, so they'll start off at the same amount, the new version will scale up faster, but it winds up being slightly lower at 18+ (13 damage on average versus 14).

Bursting Shot causes an explosion of force from around the ammo when it deals damage to a creature, causing 2 rolls of your ASD of force damage to all creatures within a 10-foot emanation from the target.

    Very similar to the old one, with the same scaling differences as Beguiling. Notably, while this damage isn't a ton, there's no save against it, and gives your martial character a little bit of AoE (admittedly not in a huge range, but enough to hit two and maybe three targets).

Enfeebling Shot causes the target to take 2 ASDs of Necrotic damage, and forces a Con save. On a failure, the target is poisoned until the end of its next turn, and furthermore, has to subtract one ASD from its damage if it hits with an attack roll while poisoned in this way.

    Thankfully, while it's a poison effect, the damage is necrotic, which is far more likely to work. The old version of this would halve the target's damage, but wouldn't actually poison them, so I think probably in the long run this version is better, as they might just not hit with their attacks, even if the damage reduction in many cases won't be as profound.

Grasping Shot deals 1 ASD of additional slashing damage. The target must make a Strength save or be Restrained until the start of your next turn. They or a creature within reach of them can use an action to make an Athletics check against your DC to end the condition.

    This one's pretty seriously redesigned. The old one didn't restrain the target, instead reducing its speed by 10 feet and dealing 2d6 damage if the target moved 1 foot or more on its turn while affected. The damage was also poison, rather than slashing, and the brambles lasted 1 minute. I think the new version is cleaner, but also makes it very unlikely that any creature is going to bother wasting their action on removing someone from this given that it'll fade so quickly anyway. Slashing here is probably the better damage type, though in terms of raw damage potential, the old one might have gotten more (especially if you can get them to move on multiple turns).

Piercing Shot lets you replace an attack by instead sending your piece of ammunition in a 30x1-foot line. The ammo ignores all cover, as it phases through solid objects. Each creature in the line makes a Dexterity saving throw, taking damage as if they were hit by the attack plus 2 ASDs of piercing damage on a failure, or half as much on a success.

    Again, some AoE for a Fighter, which is nice. That said, this could even be good against a single target, because you're pumping more damage into it as well as getting a save-for-half effect that includes your full weapon damage. (If you do a Ranged Great Weapon Master build you could be hitting quite hard indeed). Lining up a lot of enemies in a 30-foot line isn't the easiest, but getting two is not too tricky, and while there's no real secondary effect, this scales in damage as well as any other shot, but can hit more than one target, so I think it's pretty good. Here, also, the scaling is better than the old one, which only did 1d6 and then 2d6 at 18th level.

Seeking Shot again lets you skip the attack roll. Instead, you choose a creature you've seen in the last minute and the ammo flies toward them, ignoring half and three-quarters cover. If the target is within your long range, they make a Dex save, taking normal weapon damage plus Force damage equal to 2 ASDs, and you learn the target's current location. On a success, they take half damage only.

    This feels like it's probably a go-to option, and reminds me of Yondu's little whistling arrow from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. I do think we could maybe address an ambiguity: presumably this piece of ammo can go around corners, so I don't know how exactly Total Cover would be adjudicated - even if the target is fully obscured by, say, a giant crate, presumably my bullet or arrow or bolt or whatever could go around it and hit them. The description does explicitly say that it goes around corners, so I'd assume that's the intention. The old version is similar, but adds only 1d6 force damage and 2d6 at level 18.

Shadow Shot adds 1 ASD of Psychic damage, and the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become Blinded until the end of their next turn.

    Weirdly, the damage scaling of this is worse than the old version, but then, I suppose Blinded is a pretty bad condition to impose. The old version also didn't technically blind them, but restricted their vision to 5 feet.

Overall Thoughts:

    The changes here are subtler than those of the Arcana Domain Cleric, but I think they've done a good job of expanding this out to more weapon options. Once again, I think that a multiclass build with a Battle Smith Artificer would be a really solid choice here so that you could maximize your Intelligence and get 5 shots per short rest on top of having a +5 to your main attack and damage stat. Because the core feature here is a one-per-turn thing, I don't know that it'll make a huge difference what kind of ranged weapon you use. Sharpshooter or Crossbow Expert will certainly be a key investment here to make sure you can use all this stuff in melee without getting disadvantage on attacks, even if, ideally, we're staying the hell away from our foes.

Next post, we'll look at one of the two brand-new subclasses, the Tattooed Warrior Monk, and wonder if it repeats the sins of the old Four Elements subclass...

UA: Arcana Domain

 The Arcana Domain for Clerics was one of the rare subclasses in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide that was neither very popular nor utter dogshit. It makes sense, though, that in a polytheistic world filled with magic that there might very well be some priests who worship gods of magic.

Sort of the inverse of the Divine Soul Sorcerer, the Arcana Cleric gets to dip their toes in arcane magic.

We'll be looking at this feature-by-feature and comparing it to the SCAG version. As a note, because of the consolidation of 1st and 2nd level features into 3rd level features and moving Divine Strike and Potent Spellcasting to a choice separate from subclass in 2024, Clerics actually only have three feature levels - though they still have domain spells that come online at 3, 5, 7, and 9.

Arcana Domain Spells:

1st: Detect Magic, Magic Missile

2nd: Magic Weapon, Nystul's Magic Aura

3rd: Counterspell, Dispel Magic

4th: Arcane Eye, Leomund's Secret Chest

5th: Bigby's Hand, Teleportation Circle

    There are some really solid spells here - a number of go-to classics that a Wizard is likely to pick up, especially among the 1st and 3rd level spells. As we'll see is something of a theme with this UA, there's a lot of counter-mage magic here, with Nystul's Magic Aura in particular feeling like it's useful in extremely specific scenarios, but in most campaigns probably useless.

    We lose Magic Circle for Counterspell, which is probably a trade-up (even if Counterspell isn't as powerful as it used to be). We also lose Planar Binding for Bigby's Hand, which I also think is a big upgrade.

3rd level:

Arcane Initiate gives you two benefits:

Arcane Knowledge gives you both proficiency and expertise in the Arcana skill, if you didn't have it already (remember that if we go with the Thaumaturge Divine Order option, we can also add our Wisdom to Arcana and Religion checks, so we could be better than a Wizard at Arcana).

You also gain two Wizard cantrips of your choice, and can replace one you know when you gain a Cleric level. While it doesn't say this explicitly, I'd assume we can use Wisdom to cast these. Even though Thaumaturge plays well with the former feature, grabbing True Strike here and picking up Divine Strike could make us hit really hard with a martial weapon (as I wrote long ago, Clerics and Druids ironically are the best classes to use guns if you can't use feats or the Artificer class from Tasha's). Still, outside of that particular combination, Wizards have far more cantrip options than the relatively small Cleric list, with some pretty good damage options as well as tons of utility ones.

    The old version gave us the cantrips, but didn't give us any way to swap them on level-up. The expertise in Arcana is also brand-new. I might want to have a clause that says if you already have Arcana, that you can take proficiency in a different Cleric skill, but otherwise, this is a nice if not enormous feature.

Modify Magic, the next 3rd level feature, lets you alter your spells when you cast them by expending a use of Channel Divinity in one of the following ways:

Fortifying Spell lets you give one target of the spell 2d8 + your Cleric level's worth of Temp HP.

    That's actually a pretty good chunk of Temp HP. If I'm slapping you with a 1st level Cure Wounds, already doing an average of 12 points of healing if I have a +3 to Wisdom, I can throw another 12 Temp HP on top of that, really fortifying whoever just got healed.

Tenacious Spell lets you apply a penalty of 1d6 to one target's saving throw against the spell.

    A d6 has the potential to be a big dent in their roll to resist one of your spells. This option's certainly riskier than the previous one - if the target would fail anyway, or if they roll super-high, or if you roll really low on the d6, it might not actually clinch you a failed save. But with some luck, this could come in clutch.

    Modify Magic is a full replacement of the old Arcane Abjuration, which was effectively a "turn celestial, fey, or fiend" ability that would also, at 5th level, have a sort of "destroy undead" effect on them, except instead of auto-killing them, it would banish them.

    Arcane Abjuration was for sure a powerful ability, but only useful against a few creature types (one of which you rarely fight,) so I think we're probably going to be happier with this version - except in those rare cases when we want to mass-banish a whole bunch of Imps.

6th level:

Dispelling Recovery allows us, when we cast a spell with a spell slot that restores HP or ends a condition on a creature, we can also cast Dispel Magic on that creature as a bonus action without expending a spell slot. We can do this Wis times per long rest.

    This is clearly a nice little action-economy and spell-slot-conservation hack. If an ally gets hit by some nasty spell that deals damage and hurts them, you can clear it off. It'll also work with Lesser Restoration, and while that might seem redundant with Dispel Magic in a lot of cases, remember that this saves you the 3rd level spell slot. Certainly only useful when you need to dispel an ally, but that doesn't seem super rare.

    The old feature, Spell Breaker, let you end a spell on an ally to whom you were restoring HP with a spell, as long as the spell you were ending was equal to or less than the level of your healing spell. The old version had no limited use, but this one will allow you to potentially end higher-level spells if you roll well. Probably a bit better.

17th level:

Arcane Mastery allows you to learn four Wizard spells, one each of levels 6, 7, 8, and 9, and they're always prepared. You can also swap them out when you gain a Cleric level.

    This is actually very similar to the old version, except that this allows you to swap them as you gain Cleric levels. A really solid feature - especially because if you pick Wish as your 9th level spell, you effectively get all spells of 8th level or lower. You don't get extra spell slots to cast these, but still, you're really expanding your options (and spells prepared).

Overall Thoughts:

I think that this is a very solid subclass with some fantastic utility and a hell of a capstone. I do think you're going to be happiest in a campaign with a lot of enemy spellcasters, but even outside of that, there are some really good things in here as well. Truly solid, and a pretty great option if you wanted to play a Wizard but the party really needs a healer.