Unearthed Arcana is a series of documents published by Wizards of the Coast to playtest new races, subclasses, spells, feats, and most of the player options that appear in Dungeons & Dragons books. These articles, published regularly since 2015, are generally a good indication of what kinds of books WOTC are working on and what kind of content we can hope to see in the future. A few weeks after each article they release a survey for feedback on their designs, sometimes they’ll revise something and republish it in a later UA article, and after some tweaking and balancing those designs usually appear in a new book…usually. Some content is left on the cutting room floor, and what’s usually cut are subclasses. Sometimes a subclass is reworked to fit with a new class (Monster Hunter was a Fighter subclass before it moved to Ranger), sometimes a subclass works better as an item or spell (the Guardian of Nature spell was once a Ranger subclass called the Primeval Guardian), and sometimes a subclass is cut and we never see it again.
Luckily, Unearthed Arcana documents are free and easily accessible. So we will be looking back and ranking the cut subclasses, theorize why they were cut, and talk about how you can utilize them at your table. A couple of rules to start off with:
- We will not be covering subclasses that switched from one class to another (this includes the Mystic class).
- We will not be covering subclasses that later became feats, items, spells, or other features.
- We are not covering older versions of published subclasses even if they are fundamentally different.
10. Oath of Treachery Paladin
What is it?
The Oath of Treachery was meant to be another option for a “fallen” Paladin, one who turned their back on good, took up service with fiends, and fended for themselves. They are presented as a subclass primarily for DMs to use with NPCs but like the Oathbreaker players could use it as well with a DM’s permission.
Why should I play it?
The Treachery Paladin was sneakier and less outright evil than the Oathbreaker, and less outright terrifying than the Conquest Paladin. They found a sweet spot between swordplay and deceit, they can make illusory duplicates of themselves that can give you advantage on attacks against creatures you have surrounded, if you’re in a bad situation you can turn invisible and teleport away as a reaction, if an enemy misses you with an attack you can cause them to hit someone else. All in all this plays more like a “Trickery” Paladin and has more magical shenanigans up its sleeves than many other Paladin Oaths.
Why was it cut?
Thematically, the “evil paladin” trope that the Oath of Treachery was trying to capture already had options in the game. The Oathbreaker is a Paladin subclass from the Dungeon Master’s Guide that worked for evil Paladins who turned their back on their oath, and the Oath of Conquest Paladin premiered one page earlier in this UA article for Paladins who are maybe a bit more intense and grim than your average holy avenger. Mechanically, this subclass stole A LOT of features from the Trickery Domain Cleric. The illusory duplicate, extra poison damage on your blade, turning invisible, all of these things the Trickery Cleric already did so it didn’t make sense to keep this subclass around. Also, it would be difficult for a party of adventurers to trust someone who advertises “I am treacherous” so clearly.
9. Way of Tranquility Monk
What is it?
The Way of Tranquility Monk was D&D’s first attempt at a “pacifist” subclass. It presents a Monk who is more focused on diffusing tense situations and protecting or healing allies than on punching and kicking.
Why should I play it?
Many people look to Clerics as the de facto healers in D&D, and for good reason, they’re great at it! The Tranquility Monk gave players the opportunity to shield themselves with a Sanctuary spell, wade into the battlefield, and heal their allies. Many times these Monks can avoid combat all together by gaining advantage on Charisma checks to calm tense situations or by magically compelling enemies to not attack for a minute. They don’t actually get any combat abilities until Level 17, where if they see an ally drop to 0HP they can grant themselves a bonus to damage rolls equal to their Monk level. This is a massive amount of damage that will only be used in a dire situation, but Level 17 is really late for such a cool feature to become available, and by that time allies aren’t dropping to 0HP all that often.
Why was it cut?
The Tranquility Monk seems to have evolved into two published subclasses. Thematically the Oath of Redemption Paladin seemed to take this subclass’s spot in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything as a violence-adverse character, and a mechanically similar subclass appeared years later in the Way of Mercy Monk in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. The Redemption Paladin was most likely seen as a better fit for a pacifist character because so many Monk abilities are tied into Martial Arts, and encouraging a player to ignore these abilities to keep in theme likely left people feeling underwhelmed. Luckily the Way of Mercy Monk would later appear as a Monk that both heals and harms in the pursuit of mercy, which is a much better fit for a class that relies on combat as much as the Monk does.
8. College of Satire Bard
What is it?
The Satire Bard was presented along with the Swords Bard, the Cavalier Fighter, and the Scout Fighter, as a new version of D&D 2e kits. While most Bards are musicians the Satire Bard was more of a tumbling jester.
Why should I play it?
Tumbling was one of the strongest maneuverability features ever presented in 5e. Every turn you can use a bonus action to both Dash, Disengage, gain a climbing speed, and reduce damage from falling. Also at later levels Satire Bards can add their Bardic Inspiration to any failed ability check, attack roll, or saving throw and potentially turn it into a success. If you do succeed with this feature the DM can use the number you rolled against you at a later time, so it becomes a fun gamble of choosing to succeed in a moment and waiting for your luck to turn sour later.
Why was it cut?
While the idea of a jester looks good on paper, the reality was that many of these features were crude and would likely end up being annoying. One feature had a side effect where if an enemy resisted it that enemy would immediately burp, fart, or otherwise embarrass themselves, which is funny sometimes, and anti-climactic others. If Strahd Von Zarovich spent his turns farting and burping it wouldn’t be a tense battle with a powerful vampire, it would just be an annoying brawl with a gassy bat boy.
7. The Seeker Warlock
What is it?
The Seeker Warlock makes a deal with a powerful being who traverses the Astral Plane in search of knowledge. This is often a god, but unlike the Celestial Warlock you’re not a conduit for holy healing power and radiance, but instead you draw upon the power of starlight for knowledge and defense.
Why should I play it?
Many Warlock pacts are made to further your patron’s goals, whether you believe in them or not. The Seeker Warlock is a better fit for a character who wants to be a celestial researcher, someone who shares the goal of collecting knowledge along with their patron. Many of the Seeker’s abilities assist them in traversing the void of the Astral Plane, either by sequestering themselves or teammates there to recover, or by no longer needing to breath and resisting both cold and fire damage, or through spells like Feather Fall and Levitate. The Seeker also has access to a unique Pact Boon: The Star Chain. This chain is made from starlight and grants you the Augury spell, as well as a once per short rest advantage on an Intelligence check of your choice. Very few features of The Seeker assist in dealing damage, but at first level you gain the ability to shield yourself in starlight, which for one turn grants you resistance to all damage and deals radiant damage to foes within 10ft of you.
Why was it cut?
The idea of a “Seeker” as a patron was likely seen as confusing. The Greyhawk deity “Celestian” was stated as the inspiration for this subclass, but not everyone is familiar with the Greyhawk setting. Additionally many of the abilities were only situationally helpful, and are considerably weaker than standard Warlock features. This subclass could have done better if it was themed more on space travel and tied to a setting like Spelljammer, but the timing just wasn’t right.
6. Circle of Twilight Druid
What is it?
The Circle of Twilight Druid preserves life by exterminating undead. They stalk blighted groves and fight evil so that nature can thrive.
Why should I play it?
This Druid plays with the ebb and flow of life energy. The Harvest’s Scythe ability allows you to add d10s of necrotic damage to your attack spells, and if you reduce a creature to 0HP you can heal yourself or an ally. Additionally at later levels you gain a resistance to both necrotic and radiant damage. The remaining features grant you spells like Speak with Dead and Etherealness, which are useful, but not necessarily strong enough to stand alone as class features.
Why was it cut?
The Twilight Druid was developed for Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and it had a very similar theme to another undead-hunting subclass: the Grave Domain Cleric. It’s very likely that the Grave Domain received better feedback during playtesting and the Circle of Twilight was cut. It’s unfortunate but it makes sense, the Cleric class already has features that help them hunt undead while the Twilight Druid didn’t really synergize with any base Druid features.
5. Raven Queen Warlock
What is it?
The Raven Queen was once a mortal, until she found a way to become the new goddess of Death. This is a subclass where you can become her servant on the material plane and in exchange you gain spells and a magical raven companion.
Why should I play it?
The Raven Queen is one of the most popular deities in D&D and having her tied up in your plot is always going to be fun. The Sentinel Raven she grants you is similar to a familiar and at later levels you can merge with it to scout ahead or hide in raven form. Interestingly enough, the Sentinel Raven does not prevent you from taking the Pact of the Chain or casting the Find Familiar spell, so you can essentially have two familiars!
Why was it cut?
Warlock Patrons are almost always a type of creature you can make a deal with like a Genie or a Fiend, but the Raven Queen is one very specific entity. Mechanically this isn’t a problem, but creatively it’s restricting because every Raven Queen Warlock’s story is “I serve the Raven Queen and she wants me to hunt undead.”
4. Onomancy Wizard
What is it?
In fiction, the concept of a “true name” pops up from time to time. This is a name that the universe recognizes a creature or object by and knowing this name gives you magical power over that creature or object. The Onomancy Wizard played into this concept by collecting true names of creatures. Once collected the wizard could modify spells to be extra effective against targets whose true names are known.
Why should I play it?
Onomancy actually created an interesting play loop. Most of your features depended on you magically learning people’s true names. The smart move is to learn all of your allies’ true names (so you can cast Bless on them) and spend your downtime learning the true names of people you might fight. If you’re in a brawl with strangers you can extract their true name as a bonus action if they fail a Wisdom saving throw. At later levels you also learn Resonants, these are modifiers you can add to a spell if you use the target’s true name as part of the casting of that spell. Resonants can increase the power of a spell, bypass cover, end spell effects on the target, or even grant you temporary HP. Unfortunately, if you’re unable to learn an enemy’s true name many of your subclass features simply don’t work against that enemy.
Why was it cut?
A common stumbling block for DMs are players asking “What’s that person’s name?” about a random NPC and having to make up a name on the spot, and this subclass would have literally doubled that issue. The concept of True Names is fun, but often underwhelming. Telling a player the NPC “Todd” has a true name of “Todd” is disappointing but will likely be the case most of the time. As a DM who defaults to stupid names while under pressure, I am very glad this subclass was cut.
3. Brute Fighter
What is it?
The Brute was published along with the Circle of Spores Druid and Inventor Wizard. The Inventor Wizard ended up becoming a magic item called the “Mizzium Apparatus” which was published alongside the Spores Druid in Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica, so it’s safe to say the Brute was designed with Ravnica in mind.
Why should I play it?
A Brute Fighter has an additional damage die that they can add to their attacks and the die grows in size as they level up. They can also add 1d6 to every saving throw (including death saves) and at later levels take on a new fighting style and add additional damage to critical hits. All in all the Brute hits hard and is hard to take down and with some tweaks could have been an amazing fighter. A common complaint with fighter subclasses is that they rely too much on magic while many players want to play into the skilled combatant archetype. The Brute excels at being a fighter’s fighter, their hits hit harder, when you knock them down they get back up, they’re like a barbarian but without rage.
Why was it cut?
Initial feedback of the Brute was rather negative. Many compared it to the Champion Fighter, others called it the “poor man’s Barbarian”, and it was likely cut because the features appeared boring. The Brute could have been a really great subclass if it had borrowed from the Monk more than the Barbarian. Make it so that unarmed strikes work just as well as other weapons and scale damage like how the Monk scales their Martial Arts and you’ll end up with something very special: a non-magical fist fighter who keeps getting back up to 1 HP every time the enemy thinks they’re knocked out, like a medieval Rocky.
2. Phoenix, Stone, and Sea Sorcerers
What are they?
A trio of Sorcerer subclasses that were being playtested for Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. These three were likely developed to complement the Storm Sorcerer and provide a playable Sorcerer tied into each of the four element planes. While the Stone and Sea Sorcerers had suggestions for how these elements influenced the player’s heritage, the Phoenix Sorcerer very specifically stated that the player’s life is influenced by the fiery bird of legend.
Why should I play them?
The Phoenix Sorcerer didn’t just focus on the offensive use of flame, it also showed how fire can be used for defense and healing. By surrounding yourself in flame for a minute you can deal fire damage to anyone who hits you, if you drop to 0HP you can issue a burst of flames and drop to 1HP instead, you can regain hit points when casting fire spells, and at higher levels you can even fly!
The Sea Sorcerer focused more on maneuverability and strategy. You could breathe and swim in water, and at later levels turn your body into a watery-form to squeeze through enemies and into tight spaces. You could also curse an enemy to take an additional effect when you next hit them with cold or lightning damage or a spell that would move them. My one complaint with the Sea Sorcerer is I wish their curses could be triggered by other players, setting up a curse to enhance an ally’s attack would help set off cool curse effects more often, plus everyone loves a good combo move.
The Stone Sorcerer offered something completely unique: a melee Sorcerer. This subclass gave weapon and shield proficiencies and expanded the Sorcerer spell list to include Paladin spells that enhanced attacks. It also offered additional HP and a stony Natural Armor so that the Sorcerer could wade into combat and actually survive. A weak point of this subclass was relying too much on a feature called “Stone Aegis” which offered a magical shield to allies and had a complicated formula for how much damage it reduced. If WOTC had implemented a earth-bender like feature where the Stone Sorcerer could create a stony wall of cover for their allies instead I fully believe this subclass would have been published, because the idea of being magically tied into the steel of your weapon and the earth under your feet is an amazing idea for a character that no other class has done.
Why were they cut?
Subclasses themed around the four elements are rather common, and perhaps WOTC decided these ones were redundant. Or maybe the idea of a character who’s bloodline is tied to an elemental plane stepped on the toes of the Genasi race. Regardless of the reason, its been five years since this Unearthed Arcana has been released and fans still talk fondly about these three lost sorcerer subclasses and hope that someday WOTC brushes off the dust and finds a way to bring them back.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
- Sharpshooter Fighter: a ranged weapon expert
- Protection Domain Cleric: divinely shields themselves and allies
- Psionics Wizard: a mental mage with a magic crystal
- Theurgy Wizard: Hey! You got Cleric in my Wizard!
1. Modern Magic
https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/my-new-d20-modern-campaign
What are they?
In the months following the release of the 5e Dungeon Master’s Guide, WOTC contractor Dan Helmick used the homebrew setting and firearms rules to revise his favorite setting, Urban Arcana. Urban Arcana was a setting released in 2003 as a part of the “d20 Modern” roleplaying game. It takes place in the modern day where magical creatures appear thanks to a force simply called “shadow”. A few months later Dan would create three subclasses for Urban Arcana heroes: the City Domain Cleric, The Ghost in the Machine Warlock, and the Technomancy Wizard.
Why should I play them?
The City Domain Cleric doesn’t concern themselves in the matters of deities, but instead they draw power and support from their community. They gain a number of spells that interface with technology (including the ever useful “On/Off” cantrip), they get bonuses to ability checks to observe and interact with people in their city, call upon public works to restrain enemies, and even teleport along mass transit lines. Their greatest strength also ends up being their greatest weakness, the City Domain features encourage you to be within and know your city (learning mass transit routes for teleportation is a cool and flavorful example), but if your party goes for a hike many of your features simply will not work.
The Ghost in the Machine patron for the Warlock class is a magical hacker in a very cinematic way. They gain hacking tools and new spells to hack into electronic mainframes, and they can overload machines with information making them temporarily inoperable. At later levels this Warlock’s body actually becomes somewhat technological as well. They can teleport along electrical wires, encrypt their thoughts to protect against scrying and mind reading, and they can infect enemies with a technovirus.
The Technomancy Wizard rejects the old pen and paper days of wizardy and upgrades to a tablet spell computer. They create spells to function more like apps, and can program them to be activated at a later time by pushing a button or flicking a switch. By hacking into security cameras or loudspeakers this Wizard can effectively extend the distance of their spells to include anyone they can see on camera or anyone who can hear them over speakers. At later levels they can program a computer to hold concentration on a spell for them so that they can concentrate on a different spell at the same time. All of these features combined with the new spells at the end of the article create the perfect framework for a modern day mage.
Why were they cut?
These three subclasses were some of the earliest Unearthed Arcana released, and it is likely that back in 2015 WOTC were more experimental with their playtests than they are today. I truly wish an Urban Arcana book had been released because these subclasses are flavorful and fun but they only really work in a modern setting and couldn’t be incorporated into any of the books that have been released so far. The City Domain Cleric was actually used relatively recently by Lou Wilson in Dimension 20’s “Unsleeping City” campaign (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhOoxQxz2yFPI_0_7EviC1tX_nwq8SNxe) where he played Kingston Brown, a Cleric of New York City. While there is no hint to Urban Arcana being published anytime soon, a collaboration between WOTC and Dimension 20 to develop an Unsleeping City sourcebook could be an amazing opportunity to bring back these subclasses for a new and immersive modern day campaign setting! Whatever they choose to do I hope WOTC haven’t forgotten about these subclasses, because there are a lot of really great ideas hidden in D&D’s past.
