This guide provides an expert-written guide on DnD 5e Arcane Trickster Rogue spells, offering advice on how to pick and use the best spells available to this character. The Arcane Trickster falls under the preparation field, acting like a wizard, and their casting ability is tied to the Wizard spell list. They cannot cast spells as rituals, but they can access useful spells without spending spell slots.
As a level 10 Arcane Trickster, they know 7 spells of 1st or 2nd level. When taking a level in WizardWizard, they can learn spells from any school of magic and record them in their spellbook, provided they are of a level that could be cast as a wizard. However, they cannot prepare or cast spells from a Wizard spellbook either.
As an Arcane Trickster, they can eventually get up to level 4 spell slots, potentially accessing any wizard spell up to level 4. They do use the Wizard spell list, but they are only allowed to learn spells from the Enchantment and Illusion schools. Arcane Tricksters can cast spells but do not use a book. They can access arcane power by more martial classes in the form of specific subclasses such as the Arcane Trickster and the Eldaritch Knight in 5th Edition.
In summary, this guide provides expert advice on selecting and using the best spells for the Arcane Trickster Rogue, highlighting their limitations and the need for more versatile spells.
📹 D&D 5e Build The Gambler (Arcane Trickster Rogue/ Divination Wizard Multi-class)
D&D Role-play Build The Gambler With this build at 20th level you could cast find traps 38 times after using arcane recovery to …
Can arcane tricksters learn spells like wizards?
Upon reaching level 20, the Arcane Trickster is able to access any wizard spell up to level 4, provided that they possess the requisite level 4 spell slots.
Can an arcane trickster use a spell scroll?
The spell scroll can be used by various characters, including Arcane Trickster Rogue, Thief Rogue, Sorcerer, and Warlock. An Arcane Trickster Rogue can cast a spell from a scroll if it’s on the Wizard class’ spell list. A Thief Rogue can cast a spell from a scroll once they reach 13th level and get the Use Magic Device class feature. A Warlock can cast a spell from a scroll if it’s on the Warlock class’ spell list.
What can an arcane trickster do?
Arcane Tricksters have the capacity to augment their abilities through the casting of Wizard spells. Additional spells are learned at levels 4, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19, and 20. These spells may originate from any of the various magic schools. Upon attaining a new level, the character is permitted to replace one of their known wizard spells with another spell from the wizard spell list of a level they are able to cast.
Can Arcane Trickster cast rituals?
Arcane Trickster Rogues are unable to write down their spells, learn them from scrolls or spellbooks, and are not ritual casters. Consequently, they are unable to cast their known spells as a ritual. The browser in question does not support cookies.
What race is best for Arcane Trickster?
Arcane tricksters are skilled in perception and darkvision, which can be utilized by any rogue. High elves can choose a free cantrip from the wizard spell list, while wood elves are ideal for sneaky rogues with blades. Gnomes have darkvision and resistance to magic, while forest gnomes receive the Minor Illusion cantrip for free. Halflings can use the Lucky feat, making arcane tricksters versatile and suitable for any play style.
Can Arcane Trickster use Shadow Blade?
The Shadow Blade is an optimal selection for Arcane Tricksters, who are adept at utilizing illusion magic and enchantment spells. Its thrown property enables them to leverage their Dexterity for both offensive maneuvers and inflicting damage.
Does Arcane Trickster need high intelligence?
In D and D 5e, Intelligence and Dexterity are crucial for an Arcane Trickster. They get fewer spells that don’t rely on their Spellcasting Ability, so a high Intelligence score is needed to ensure enemies fail their saving throws and make their illusions harder to spot. Intelligence is also useful for the Arcana skill, which helps identify various arcane elements. Constitution boosts an Arcane Trickster’s hit points and concentration saving throws, allowing them to use powerful melee D and D Cantrips more easily.
Wisdom should be leveled just enough to avoid negative penalties. Perception and Insight rolls are useful, and any leg-up a character can gain will go a long way. Rogues can improve skills through their Expertise feature at level 1 and 6, so a lower Wisdom score doesn’t feel as strong as other classes. An Arcane Trickster Rogue’s Ability Scores are spread too thin, so Charisma should be dumped along with Strength.
Can a rogue learn spells?
The arcane trickster is a subclass of the rogue class, which receives spells with certain limitations. They must learn at least three spells from the 1st level wizard list, with two of them being enchantment or illusion. Additional spells must be enchantment or illusion. The arcane trickster also has cantrips, but the mage hand spell is not considered. The cantrip can create an illusory image or sound, which can be used in various ways, such as Booming Blade, Green Flame Blade, or Fire Bolt. These cantrips can be used for melee attacks, such as a melee attack with lightning damage, a flame attack, or a ranged attack with a magical mote of fire.
Can Arcane Trickster change spells?
As you advance in this class, you can replace a known wizard spell with another spell from the wizard spell list, provided it is an enchantment or illusion spell of a level with spell slots. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability, learned through dedicated study and memorization. It is used when a spell refers to your spellcasting ability and when setting the saving throw DC for a spell you cast or making an attack roll with one. The spell save DC is calculated by adding 8 to your proficiency bonus and your Intelligence modifier.
Can Rogues cast spells?
At level 3, the user may select Arcane Trickster, which will result in the acquisition of three cantrips and three first-level spells from the Wizard’s spell list. Additionally, two spell slots will be made available for casting, utilizing the Wizard’s spell list.
Can Arcane tricksters have a familiar?
The Arcane Trickster spell enables the caster to cast the “find familiar” spell, which can provide assistance to any player selected by the caster in the next attack. It should be noted, however, that JavaScript may be disabled or blocked by an extension, and that your browser does not support cookies.
📹 D&D’s Lost Subclasses (And How To Actually Play Them)
Let’s talk about the subclasses WotC forgot, abandoned, or otherwise didn’t print despite being released and being AWESOME!
Okay but imagine this. Theurgy Wizard with the Tempest Domain. You now have Tempest Domain’s powerful website divinity, with access to powerful spells for Lightning and Thunder from the Wizard Spell List So now you have a Wizard who can just decide “Nah. I’m just going to deal maximum damage on my Chain Lightning instead of rolling”
My favourite unreleased subclass is Onomany Wizard My DM let me play the subclass in a one-shot. I was a multiclassed Onomancy Wizard with Grave Cleric. The concept of the character was that they would receive names from their god for people who need to die to maintain the fate of the world, with their god being The Fates (or an analogue for The Fates). It was a higher level one-shot, so it was 7th level Onomancy Wizard (for 4th level spells) + 5th level Grave Cleric. The resonances were very fun to use.
We have a homebrew Bard Class that might be worth looking at: College of Love (Troubador/ Gallant). At 3rd level, you get to pick three of the following skills or proficiencies: Insight, Persuasion, Deception, History, Martial Arms, Medium Armor. Poetic License : Also a 3rd level, you learn to inspire others to express themselves and find their passions. An ally that has a Bardic Inspiration die from you can roll that die and add the number to a Charisma or a social based Skill check; he may choose to use after he has rolled but before the Dungeon Master has ruled whether it succeeds or fails. Silver Tongue: At 6th level, when you cast the spells charm, friends, or suggestion you can choose to have either give the target disadvantage when making a saving throw to resist or making the spell subtle so as to try to make the creature unaware that it has been charmed. If the latter, so long as the commands or suggestions made upon the creature aren’t too outrageous or too far out of character, it must make Will saving throw in order for it to realize it has been charmed and become hostile as per the spell description. Otherwise it will consider its actions while under the bard’s influence an odd moment, perhaps brought on by strong drink or a momentary lapse of reason. Love’s Arrow: At 14th level a Gallant and his allies, when fighting in the cause of Love and the virtues that he believes in, can expend a Bardic Inspiration to add to a Death Save to avoid dying (having received a vision of his beloved or another dear one asking him to remain).
My personal favourite forgotten subclasses are the MTG clerics: Solidarity domain is an interesting support tank combo, Strength domain lets you be a war cleric with shileighleigh or thorn whip, Ambition is a slightly different trickery cleric, and Zeal domain is tempest domain turned up to a million (replace lightning damage with fire damage and give it haste and fireball). I love these subclasses but never see them talked about
I played a Mark of Shadow elf assassin rogue/treachery paladin multiclass essentially the sneakiest most rogueish character combination. Her backstory was that she was an Igagakure ninja who’s clan was slaughtered by ninja zombies. She trained under a shikigami and took up the Oath of Treachery, an oath that required her to kill necromancers and some undead.
An Undying Light Reborn Warlock or a Phoenix Reborn Sorcerer would both go so incredibly hard. Reborn through their pact, or through their bloodline finally activating their latent magic, forcing them back to life and being reborn into their class, which just keeps bringing them back to life over and over.
Really glad that you made this article. Ted/Nerd Immersion had a player use the phoenix subclass so he tweaked it so that it was in line with Tasha’s subclasses and fixed the janky wording. Would definitely love if you did a follow up article on additional subclasses we never saw such as the archivist artificer (I know a lot of people were fuming that never got printed), brute and sharpshooter fighter, giant soul and stone sorcery sorcerer, Raven Queen and seeker warlock patrons, as well as the onomancy wizard. The Raven Queen one is probably the one I was most disappointed that we never got, but my 3.5 friends who enjoyed the truenamer class were really looking forward to the onomancy wizard subclass.
There was this universal subclass I remember reading about called “the Warmage” and the best way I can describe it is basically the guy from Orcs must dies skill set with summoning and fighting but the problem with them was they couldn’t cast things like fireball, healing or even any kind of light spell. The only thing they could do was summon objects/fortifications (i.e barricades, spike pits, a freaking tower, a regular barrel etc. etc.) and living things (faceless knights, archers, barbarians etc. etc.) but they all had to be drawn in a magical notebook and each had to be understood by either making the object or travelling with them for a certain amount of time. And the other bad thing is that when they summon something it will stay until it’s dismissed but while it exists your mana pool is lowered by a cost so you can make multiple of something that costs less but is less effective or you can make a few effective summons for more. The bad thing about that is if that summon dies your mana pool DOES NOT return to normal until you long rest. Not many people talk about this class because it shares a name with another class, if you lose the book you literally have to redraw everything and it’s not a very effective class until you spec into it. It has a bit more detail (like for instance if you are a warrior class beforehand you can draw yourself into the book and you have a summon already without the research) but this comment is already very long and I don’t want it to be longer.
I love flavourful subclasses that portray a preference for fun and unconventional effectiveness at the willfully embraced cost of one’s dignity and pride. Drunken Master monk is a wonderful example of this and it’s great to see it expanded on. The way I see it, drunken mastery builds on the existing asceticism of monks with an outward display that breaks down ones own sense self importance and dependence on outside approval while also becoming a gentle protest by example. Now on the other hand, bards are anything but gentle in their approach to societal matters, but this adds a nice spin of going whole hog and letting go of the performantive approval seeking most bards actively or passively employ. Basically, a reverse transitional approach the the same concept
It’s so funny, I didn’t know about the Phoenix Sorcerer but I played a full campaign as a Divine Soul Sorcerer who was the incarnation of a phoenix god. It was her job to destroy the world at the end of its lifecycle and remake a new world from the ashes. Such a cool character to play and the Divine Soul worked perfectly for it, but I wish this subclass had been printed so more people got a chance to experience a character like that.
I could see some interesting ideas for that bard type. Imagine a character that has been playing a town for money, making himself seem like the fool and allowing the world to laugh, while secretly stealing pieces of information here and there. Eventually, an entire towns economy has fallen and their people have gone into madness, not realizing that a boy who trips and falls down the road has gained the last laugh
They’re not lost subclasses, they’re unearthed arcana. You’re meant to play test them to see how they work in a D&D game and give your feedback. I would say 90% of the time with Unearthed Arcana classes/subclasses they’re just too OP, but times have changed. 2018 me would say that the Twilight and peace domain were way too overpowered and would never be published in a D&D manual. But D&D has had significant power creep with its new subclasses. I would say look them over with your DM Make sure they’re not too OP since they’re basically just fancy homebrew.
I’m still waiting for my Lore Master Wizard subclass, Scribes took a lot of features from this subclasses but is not the Lore Master that I want to play, I want a wizard subclass master in spell penetration, modifying spells and expertise in knowledge skills The cooncept of this sublclass is awesome, I want to play a Lore Master since they appear for the first time many years ago
These all seem really cool, and there’s a few more that I really liked when I saw them. Giant Soul Sorcerer- basically Rune Knight for sorcerers. You get different powers and spells based on which giant you’re descended from. Stone Sorcery- Tank Sorcerer. You get more HP and permanent mage armor, your can protect your friends, and if they get hit you can teleport next to them and literally smite them. You get smite spells added to your spell list, that seems so cool. Revised Beast Master-It’s a better beast master, but the standout ability for me is that your beast levels up with you, even getting ASIs when you do. It doesn’t specify, but as DM I would allow the beast to take feats instead, which could lead to some wild shenanigans, like a beast proficient in greatswords or a beast with a familiar and firebolt from Magic Initiate.
Here is the hardest hitting power build I think you’ve ever seen. Build With this build I plan to achieve the most possible average damage from one character with one turn of setup for Spirit Shroud. Then a supernova round of damage. All of the ability scores will be at the pre requisite amount to multiclass. I will walk you through the thought process, turn progression, class levels, feats and ASI’s, along with the damage calculations. This build needs to be going first in combat with a surprise round. This is a level 20 character build and I will be using the Point by Method for ability scores. The background does not matter. I chose criminal/spy for flavor. This build does not take any equipment into account for any part of my calculations. This is all natural. The original ability scores are as follows. 8,14,12,15,10,13 For the race I chose +2 in DEX and +1 in INT. My new scores are 8,16,12,16,10,13 There will be one ASI that increases my INT by +2. This will bring my finale total to 8,16,12,18,10,13 Race Bugbear from Monsters of the Multiverse for its racial ability. Surprise Attack If you hit a creature with an attack roll, the creature takes an extra 2d6 damage if it hasn’t taken a turn yet in the current combat. This does not specify once per turn or for weapon attacks only. Also for free stealth proficiency. Classes This will be a five multiclass build. 1: eight levels in Sorcerer. Subclass will be Storm. The metamagic options are Subtle and Transmute. The two ASI’s are metamagic Adept, and Alert.
I think there’s a lot of missed opportunities in Unearthed Arcana. One of my personal favorites, conceptually, is the Way of Tranquility monk. It definitely could have used another pass, because what they published online was kind of just a worse Paladin or Cleric, but the concept of a pacifist monk has a lot of flavor and deserves a second look
The only gripe I have with Phoenix Sorcerer is that the transformation can only be used once per long rest. Once used up, you’re basically just a sorcerer without a subclass for the day. I would say that to fix up the subclass is to have the transformation be used an amount of times equal to either your Charisma Modifier or your PB per long rest. Alternatively, it can still be used once but instead recharges on a short rest.
I love the phoenix Soul Sorcerer, but it has two fundamental problems. The first is that it has no additional spells that you learn when you reach certain levels, which is a bummer. The second and the big one being you only get to use the mantle of the flame ability once per long rest! This makes the Subclass weaker as your primary ability is essential a boost you get once a day and for a very limited time. In long boss battle or multiple combats games this becomes a hindrance for the player.
You missed the most busted multiclass: undying light warlock + phoenix sorcerer: -with one level in each your firebolt cantrip can deal d10 + 2(CHA) -4th level you’ll be firing off scorching ray and adding DOUBLE your charisma mod to all 3 rays, for 6d6 + 6(CHA) damage from a level 2 spell if all 3 hit -God forbid a group of enemies is within 40ft of each other when you hit 6th level
wait.. the light warlock is just the celestial warlock. just.. having things shifted around that “not KO’d yet” explosion is 14th level for cel bonus damage for radiant or fire and resistance against radiant is 6th for cel BA healing is 1st for cel, and it’s probably better because its max is 1 + your warlock level, so at 20th level you have 21d6 to heal with.
Spellthief is lost to time it feels. Though it would need a massive overhaul for newer editions. It appeared in 3.5… and then no where else lol. I’m working on a PF1E revamp version of it so that it will feel more like a hybrid class, better casting (no more half level crap), and no more school limitation (access to full wiz/sor, mainly for evocation, but still).
All your multiclass building articles and NOW lost subclasses!?! You’re driving me CRAZY!!!… Thank you sir. Just a couple of comments… 1. Without meaning to poach your material from Ryoku… Could you find find us some more “lost” elemental subclass builds for a L5R flavored game? (A metal mage, a sea sorcerer, a wood witch, an icey enchanter… etc) 2. If the builds are OP and are all members of the same party, do they help even everything out?
I’m happy some of these are getting more love/ notice. I once upon a time played a Oath of Treachery Paladin changeling. The Jester Knight. Its essentially a better version of Trickery domain from the cleric but for Paladin and I love it for that. Two UA’s I also loved were Stone Sorcerer and Onomancy wizard. Stone Sorcerer because I am all about that Hybrid life and we dont really have a proper rep for Geomancy and the like in DND outside of a few spells. Onomancy because Name magic nonsense can be REALLY interesting in how its used. I was able to play this once in a One shot the devil who dropped and in darkness (the spell) just proceeded to get blasted by me whos hiding behind a wall, hitting him with a remote fireball that does Force damage. It was wacky and I loved it.
I made a Professional Wrestler built on grappling someone, using tumble to climb a cage and powerbomb them from 30 feet up. It’s definitely fun. haha (And the more effective version is spike growth to drag someone through barbed wire). These UA subclasses were all great, and it makes sense that any versions of them that came out were nerfed into other subclasses. haha. They were loads of fun, but definitely overtuned in some ways in those playtests.
The theurgy wizard subclass i found was a bit lazy in design. In essence, it is a choice of 12 different subclasses in one. At this point, there’s no difference between cleric and wizard subclasses, because the wizard gets all the features of the cleric subclass anyway. It makes the cleric feel less special. You dont get anything for the theurgy subclass itself, all of the features are just the cleric subclass that you chose. Its not a subclass, its just telling the wizard “oh btw you can choose cleric subclasses too.” I feel it was scrapped for a good reason.
1st was kept back because it was too good I imagine. 2nd was a cooler Celestial, dunno why they changed it. Phoenix was cool flavor and a solid elementalist pick, shoulda kept it. THEURGEY DESERVES TO EXIST. MY SPECIAL BOI. Satire is fun too, very traditional bard or jester. Not full bullshit like Eloquence.
I think you missed the implication of the Phoenix sorcerer to be kind of melee. You cast a few things like flame blade, fire shield, mage armor and shield ready to accompany all of that. Then you go into melee, where you can deal really good damage with flame blade, have a good AC and if they hit you they take a ton of damage from your Phoenix abilities and fire shield. And if they kill you, you deal a bunch of damage while dying and come back with 1 hp and then bail out to cast scorching ray, firebolt, and fireball from the back lines.
Source Material Oath of Treachery – Unearthed Arcana 26 Paladin Undying Light Warlock – Unearthed Arcana 10 Light, Dark, Underdark. Phoenix Sorcerer – Unearthed Arcana 28 Sorcerer Theurgy Wizard – Unearthed Arcana 33 Wizard Revisited Satire Bard – Unearthed Arcana 12 Kits of Old None of these are official, and only playtest. This means that any DM would be well within their right to say “no”. As the Pyromancer Sorcerer might be considered a official version of the Phoenix, that goes double for that particular subclass.
Next character I play is going to be a Theurgy Wizard Oh my god I love it Ok hear me out, you pick the Arcana Domain & then multi Cleric & pick Knowledge. You’re the Wizard Cleric Wizard Cleric Wizard. Or pick Nature & then go Divine Soul Sorcerer as well. Wizard Cleric Wizard Cleric Druid Sorcerer Wizard.
Theurgy wizards are wicked powerful. With spell mastery, you can cast sanctuary, command, healing word, cure wounds, enhance ability, lesser restoration, silence, or spiritual weapon an INFINITE number of times per day. Infinite healing word is OBVIOUSLY incredible, and infinite enhance ability means everyone always makes skill checks at advantage. All the time. Forever.
How did the satire bard not get an improved version of vicious mockery? Scandalous. I’m glad that the Theurgy wizard was dropped. First because it seems just completely overpowered, and second because I think niche protection should maybe be a bit of a thing and just being able to steal the best abilities from another class is not really a good design approach. Also hot take: Bladesingers should 100% be Bards, not Wizards.
If you do a second part of this, you need to cover Lore Mastery Wizard. Because Lore Mastery Wizard is freaking disgusting. “Hey DM, I’d like to burn a 1st-level spell slot to add an extra 2d10 force damage to my spell damage. Oh also, I don’t have this spell prepared, but I need it, so I’ll burn my once-per-day bonus action feature to swap out spells on the fly.” And then at 14th level you can just… cast any spell from any spell list in the game??? It’s absolutely ridiculous.
Funnily enough a few weeks ago I used an oath of Treachery Paladin as a villain who betrayed the father of one of my PCs years ago. It was an incredibly deadly encounter, almost too deadly! 😅 Definitely a very cool and dynamic bossfight, provided your party is of the right level for them to be a challenge.
Love your articles, but the audio quality is … not good 😀 Looks like you have a Shure SM7B as a mic there, so a tip: It is generally a good idea to have the tip of the mic facing your mouth at about a hand’s width distance. It is especially true for this mic, because it is not very sensitive (it gets used with metal a lot because you can just scream at it with no problem/distortion) … so having it positioned so much off axis and below your mouth whie also moving around this much is just gonna guarantee bad audio. 😉
The Daily Chronicle character The perfect Arcane Trickster build for the less than roguish types. A chronicaller and keeper of knowledge purposed with recording as much of the world as they can. Mechanically awkward but incredibly intelligent and competent. Knowledge boat, not a typical skill boat. Dex primary. 18-20 Int Secondary. 16-20 Wis and Cha Tertiary. 14+ (Languages 4*/Skills 10/Tools 3) Autognome (2/0/2) Sage (2/2/0) Warlock 6 – Lorehold (0/2/0) Wizard 2 – Lore Mastery (0/2/0) Rogue 12 – Arcane Trickster (0*/4/1) Languages – Common, Elven, Dwarven, Gnomish, *Theives Cant Tools – Calligraphers, Painters, Theives Skills, all ten with expertise – History, Arcana, Religion, Nature, Medicine, Investigation, Insight, Perception, Stealth, Sleight of Hand Avoids Cha skills to maintian the awkward automaton idea despite decent Cha. Also prevents them from being the face of the party. Animal Handling and Survival are deemed not useful to the autognome. Atheletics and Acrobatics require effort and time better spent seeking or sharing knowledge. **Unparalleled Int based skill checks via Lore Mastery/Expertise, Ancient Companion/Advantage(Sage), Reliable Talent/Take 10, Lessons of the Past/+2(Sage), and Built For Success/+1d4. Spells selected later may assist as well such as Guidance. Backed up with the Sage background Research feature, if they don’t know it they can find who does. Expertise in Perception combined with the Observant and Keen Mind feats means they catch every detail of everything they see** A decent fistful of spell slots and ritual casting provide ample utility and flexibility to the character.
I used the UA Archivist Artificer to make a villain. She was a sea elf treasure hunter who found a few powerful artifacts and by the time the PCs met her was usurping the divine domain of a sea goddess and calling herself the Sea Queen. Her lair is a submarine she built herself. The party is about to kill her… But i like her so much that I’m having her artificial mind act as her soul jar, and her protege will take over once the party has had their revenge and retired.
1lv Undying Light Lock, 1lv Phoenix Sorc, 1lv Blood Cleric, 2lv Scribe Wizard, 5lv Artillerist Art, The Strixhaven background feat that gives you magic missile as a spell you can use all spell lists for, and the Awakened Draconic focus that lets you add a d6 to chromatic spells. Magic missiles go brrrr
I’m so happy you pulled out Phoenix Sorcerer and Theurgy Wizard! I have characters thought up for both of them from a while back…and both of them are from the Underdark somehow. Go figure Also, I think you left out a Theurgy feature: if you take all the spells from the cleric subclass as known spells in your spell book, afterwards you can access ALL CLERIC SPELLS!!!!! Somebody look it up but I’m almost positive that’s part of the subclass
Phoenix Sorcerer level 1 plus hexblade level 1 plus scribes wizard. Get Mantle of flame going and take cover. Next turn, Hexblades Curse, use magic missile with the scribes feature that lets you swap damage types. Deal 1d4+1+Charisma*2 damage per missile, no save. At 6th level youd have 3rd level slots, so 5 bolts. Assuming +4 Charisma, thats 50-70 damage to a single target. Just needs one round of setup!
Just listed off a bunch of UA subsclasses. They’re not really lost. They’re just lv2 homebrew stuff that a lot of DM’s avoid. There’s dozens of subclasses from various Unearthed Arcana books. If they went this long without being published officially or revised, it’s pretty safe to safe that WotC decided there was something wrong with them and decided not to move forward with the subclass. Archivist Artificer which was a like… psychic themed artificer. Controlling a creation you made with your mind that functioned sorta like a familiar that gave you skill proficiencies depending on what you created and a bunch of psychic attack themed stuff, telepathy, etc. Wild Soul Barbarian, a subclass that, like Wild Magic, also does Wild Surges, but different ones from Wild Magic Barbarian. It also can do things like help spellcasters recover spell slots. Attack enemies with a reaction when its forced to make a saving throw, and can reroll its wild surge effect as a bonus action while raging. Mage of Silverquill, a Strixhaven subclass that could be taken by Bard, Warlock, or Wizard. Goes all in on being like… a sort of mean girl-esque mage in a mage school. Silvery Barbs is a big feature of the subclass, you get the spell as a class feature ability, you can further insult enemies who fail their rolls because of Silvery Barbs to make them more vulnerable to a specific damage type. Brute Fighter, a basic no-brain subclass for fighter that is still a lot of fun. Adds extra damage to your weapon attacks that scales with your level.
Would Nourishing Fire (9:11) work with Absorb Elements, since the spell description allows for the possibility of rolling for fire damage? Or does the spell you cast with it have to actually involve rolling fire damage when you cast it? (If the latter, it would carry the implication that it doesn’t work with Fire Bolt if you miss, which seems wrong… it might also mean that Flaming Sphere doesn’t work with it because the sphere doesn’t actually do any damage until afterwards when you force someone to make the save. Produce Flame is similarly ambiguous.) If it DOES work with Absorb Elements, does it have to be against fire damage? Or could you heal yourself after Absorbing cold damage, simply because the spell description includes a POSSIBILITY of letting you roll fire damage? I might be seeing why they scrapped this subclass 😛 but then again, I feel like this feature could be rephrased to be a lot clearer.
Hmm. I take your point about the DM forgetting to penalize you being an issue. But having it trigger automatically allows the player to seek out something extremely low-stakes to burn it off. Letting the DM pick the moment increases the chances of the downside matching the upside. And unlimited BA Disengage + Dash is COMPLETELY bonkers, especially on a race that has a speed greater than 30.
Undying Light is a UA that was turned into the Celestial Warlock. Playing one, only level 8 but it’s fun. Slightly tweaked, Healing Light becomes a pool of d6’s equal in number to your Warlock level, and the short rest heal is you only. But still, loads of fun. Especially fun since I’m playing as a construct character whose Eldritch Blasts are coming from an arm cannon… and the Healing Light is just reconfiguring the ‘cannon’ to shoot healing light instead. I didn’t even explain what was happening the first time I did it, I just reconfigured and shot the wizard.
Do you think this would work?: Make a Dhampir Loxodon that’s a Level 11 Way of Long Death Monk, Take 7 levels of Theurgy Wizard as the Death Domain cleric, and 2 levels in Way of Mercy monk. Basically have the character be a Shaolin stereotype in martial arts novels with a necromantic twist. Seeks enlightenment by studying Death in all its divine manifestations, hoping to understand death to comprehend life while pursuing a new doctrine of monks Instead of constantly saying Amitabha which means infinite light, they always say Amizramrtyu which translates roughly to Absolute death. He says it almost always at the beginning or end of a sentence. If I count that as a prayer I can get that +2.
Wait, so does Searing Vengeance make you unkillable if you’re not outright killed before your turn comes back around? Also, Phoenix Spark as written on screen also is somewhat unkillable as long as you keep your reaction. Kind of broken unless details are being left out for brevity’s sake. Sure you can be attacked again but I imagine this should be a limited resource.
I can see why the Satire Bard didn’t make the cut, given Tumbling Fool. I wouldn’t allow it at my table, and would urge the player to play a Rogue, because of thematic incursion backed by mechanical incursion. I have no problem with mechanical incursion alone, but when mechanical incursion supports or necessitates thematic incursion, then I have a problem with it. Certain Bard mains will go feral at the thought of using slightly improved skill diversity or skill proficiency to improve underwhelming classes. For example, by giving the Ranger expertise, or by giving the Artificer a third skill proficiency. The claim is that this encroaches on the “unique skill-monkey nature of the Bard”. To refute this: 1) it’s not unique, and the Rogue has more starter skills, earlier access to expertise, and more expertises than the Bard. 2) The theme of a class is where it derives its identity. The mechanics reinforce the theme, and thereby give weight to the identity, but the identity comes from the theme first and foremost. 3) The Ranger and Artificer absolutely should be skill-monkeys, otherwise they fall apart on a thematic level. The theme of the Bard is built around performance and charm, and the added skills are only pertinent insofar as they reinforce that theme of performance and charm. 4) If you have to defend the skill-monkey nature of the Bard then you are underplaying the performance and charm aspects of the Bard, and underutilising your combat support role. Explore those first, then moan about skills.
Wait!!!!… I get it about the Undying Light Warlock and the Treachery Paladin. But the rest I was expecting ppl to have used them a lot!!!!… I was expecting a College of Creation or Oath of Heroism/Glory. But Phoenix Sorcery, College of Satire and Theurgy Wizard???? I mean really now? Do ppl actually DON’T use these that often???!!! IM IN SHOCK!!!!
In my opinion, the most painful lost subclass is the Primal Druid. They had a pet that was themed around being BIG. A mammoth, woolly rhino, or dinosaur. Their pet was really tanky, and you could use your Wildshape to give it additional features like different attack options and sizes. It also grew as you levelled up. REALLY flavourful, fun, and IMO the most actually interesting and unique pet subclass in the whole game. Absolutely sucks it’s been lost to time as I’d love to see one in action.
Theurgy Wizard is the best healer in the game by far. 2 level dip in Druid for Starry form and take Life Domain as the Theurgist. Spell mastery on Healing Word/Wither and Bloom. A single healing word(cast for free) cast on a tether essenced tank can heal for a total of over 70HP spread across 3 targets. Goodberries that heal a minimum of 4HP each(40 total HP from a level 1 spell). Wither and Bloom will damage everything around the tank while healing the tank. This again will trigger you being healed and the option to heal a 3rd target as well. Also potentially cast for free via Spell Mastery. All on a mark of healing halfling just because.
Trying to find the right class to start off a monk. Probably zensei or Astral fist. Barbarians can give plus 20 ms and and extra attack but paladins give you unarmed fighting style before the increases and an extra attack. Mobile, crusher, and some other boosts such as expertise, and agile parry may help with maxed out ac for giants, dragons, or tarasques. I’m thinking a bugbear for the extra reach or dragon for the extra armor. I’m also considering the giant barbarian for the extra reach. Just to get 5 d12 20 range punches at lvl 12 ish char. I vaule extra attacks and movespeed greatly, especially the ones that leave me immune from attack of opportunities and give me a killing spreed. (Sentinel?)
Ok, here we go: I Can’t Believe It’s Not Necromancy™️ 2.0 grave domain theurgy wizard life cleric (my knowledge base is about 5 years out of date so I’m not dabbling beyond that, but possibly Twilight would be better going off name alone.); thematically your could spin this as arcana for additional doubt points although the cost to overall mechanical effectiveness is not for everyone, possibly it wouldn’t be for me either but I won’t pass blanket judgement on either preference just because of a few glaring examples of problematic behaviour. Lastly, you could go with bootleg necromancy and just build a wizard devotee to vecna with a death domain of death theurgy wizard multiclassed with arcana domain cleric. This again has a bit of redundancy and isn’t the same concept but it is certainly a fun variation to thematically portray a character was motivated by devotion to an evil magic-associated deity such a vecna (or by conversation from following a more traditional arcane deity such as mistral to a perverse alternative) to persue arcane study. Anyway, lots of great ways to spin this for unique concepts and new takes on popular ideas
Makes me think of the Dark Eye magic tradition Rascal. people kidnapped by kobolds (fairies there) as a kid, trained in jester magic. their whole thing is to question things, do tricks and pranks. and with specific spells – often funny ones that still give a huge advantage. like ha you clumsy (and fumble easier) or ha sticky glue (ur movement is slowed) or ha u only talk jibberish (harder to cast spells). he can have “living” toys with him or magical hobby horse. best spell: destroy treasures.
Suggestion for the Satire Bard’s karma biting back. Just have a suit from a deck of cards (Ace to 10 for D10, add the Jack and a Joker for D12) and when the Bard uses the ability put the relevant card in front of them face down. There is a reminder that they cannot use the ability again and in the excitement of the game people might forget what the karma penalty is until the DM flips the card and uses it. Wouldn’t work for online though.
It would be a good idea to say more clearly that “lost” means “never published officially, only in Unearthed Arcana”. i.e. these are playtest subclasses, some of which later got reworked into official classes (like Celestial patron warlock as some other commenters mentioned). Others really were lost. The intro kind of dances around it, without actually mentioning the phrase “unearthed arcana” or “playtest”. And it’s the intro; I hadn’t fully settled into paying attention yet, so it was easy to miss the hints that these are UA. The key point: don’t expect to be able to play these at all tables; many are old UA content which has already had its playtesting done. Probably some DMs would allow it at least on a case by case basis if it fits someone’s character concept perfectly, perhaps under the condition that you weren’t going to multiclass in a way that makes any feature unreasonably strong, for example. Or you could port the flavour (like that your patron is the light of the multiverse instead of a specific celestial) to an official subclass. — Also, “gaslight” isn’t the right word for an incentive. “Tempt” other players (or their characters in-game) into taking more short rests? Gaslighting would be telling them there was a buff last short rest when there actually wasn’t, or something like that.
Jokes on you, I’ve played a brass dragonborn phoenix sorcerer before. Multiclass in Ascendant Dragon monk. We were fighting a plant-controling fey spirit that was blocking our way by having vines grow across the path. Well, let’s just say I intimidated the shit out of the guy when I had my “Bitch, fire is my birthright” speech and burned through their magical vines that were resistant to fire damage after reminding the DM that I had Elemental Adept and therefore ignored resistance. He ended up offering to let us through under the condition that we never come back, at which point I reminded them that “I go where I wish and if you try to stop me again, I’ll burn the entire forest to the ground”.
As a longtime DM, these all certainly did not get published because they are simply too powerful. All 5 of these give far more value for their subclass than any of the other official subclasses for the classes they are from. Some of these features are just straight up broken. I mean, instant revive on 0 hp, heal to half hp, and AOE damage… at level 6!? That’s more than what most 18th level class features give you.
It would be great if there were more campaigns in a historical and geographical correct setting, so young children could learn from it. The elementary school of my kids (2nd and 3rd grade) started using d&d as a teaching tool. Translation from English to Dutch, D&D scenario writing etc. etc. This would be great.
Regarding the bad luck penalty – Automatically applying it to the next roll, to help keep track of things I understand and agree with. What are your thoughts on a 20 still being a critical success? Just asking because it’s supposed to be in the spirit of bad luck and I’m curious to see what people think. Thanks in advance!
I play a Phoenix Sorcerer/Undead Warlock multiclass in our group’s Eberron game! She was a runic scribe in a former life when she was attacked by a vampire, and in order to stop the transformation into a spawn she absorbed and bonded a rune of fire magic into her soul. It’s a really fun character to play thematically. When she’s transformed using her Form of Dread, her Mantle of Flame is black and red fire that swirls around her.
Always seem sad to me when the developers created a good core idea and it just gets abandoned – so many of the UA options are so close, and very flavourful. In most cases needing nothing more than toning down the excessively powerful skills to either being locked until a later class level so they are no longer overpowered, limited to the modifier/proficiency times a day or just reworded a touch as RAW is broken but the seeming RAI would be alright. Occasionally the UA might be a bit more erratic in power through the levels or just generally seem weaker, but that never actually matters, weaker is a fun build/playstyle challenge if you care for it – the ultimate min-max type approaches relegate even published classes like most Rangers to being ‘bad’. Despite the original PHB 5E Ranger having many great features and utility. (for me the biggest downside to the pure rangers tends to be your party already has at least one of another class that does one of wide range of things a ranger should be good at better – if you are the 2nd best choice every time that doesn’t make you bad, but does mean you probably have less influence on the game)
Pheonix Soul is the Sorcerer subclass I have craved for So Long. The only thing that needs to be fixed is the frequency with which you can use your Mantle of Flame ability to make it more than a once per long rest thing and it would be perfect. (Id personally tie it to Proficiency bonus times per long rest)
I was really hoping this was going to feature the Path of the Depths Barbarian. It was one of the most fun Barbarian subclasses I’ve played, not because it was particularly powerful but just so flavorful. There was nothing that put you in the nautical vibe like manifesting a spectral anchor and dragging enemies toward you.
I’m surprised the League of Legends subclasses never get brought up in articles like these. The Rogue one isn’t really that crazy, but the Barbarian and Fighter are. The Barbarian gets to straight up teleport as a Bonus Action while the Fighter gets a high powered sniper rifle that gets access to a modding system.
There was one I remember that was like favored soul I want to say for a sorcerer that eventually was workshopped into Divine Soul, IIRC that was a really cool subclass. Firet level was domain spells from one cleric spell list, So a massive amount of extra spells for sorcerer. Also gain light and medium armor. 6th level was an extra attack. 14th level was at will wings that come out as a bonus action. 18th level was when you cast a spell from your chosen cleric spell list you regain chr mod+ spell level hit points. This sounds like a really weird subclass that could lead to all sorts of crazy shenanigans at high level play.
It’s been a little while since I built this character but starting at level 3 you can truly bust the wizard. Take fighter at first level and then wizard then you take the knowledge domain and make sure that you have already picked the spells from the domain. Then you take healing spells. Heavy armor wizard with healing
I’m happy you at least gave a mention to the Pyromancy subclass as while it’s….not good, I do still have a soft spot for the idea behind it. And although it is massively situational, it does at least have one small thing going for it I just wanted to give mention to. At 18th level you can deal full fire damage to anything that is normally immune to fire. This subclass could burn the literal embodiment of fire itself. Rarely ever useful, but would always be funny.
As one that has actually thrown an oath of treachery paladin against my party who at first masqueraded as an ally ( huge shout out to NPC compendium for the perfect stat block), Only to stab them in the back once they thought they had beat the final boss to initiate the real final boss fight, I can confirm they’re great if you’re an evil DM.
You should have said it was playtest Unearthed Arcana material in the intro. You called them “isolated documents almost a decade old” but Unearthed Arcana is absolutely not published, balanced material. It’s playtest beta testing stuff they decided not to proceed with. DMs should be aware that it’s basically homebrew, not tested and somewhat balanced to the same level as properly published subclasses.
For the satire bard fool luck ability, I’d do it a little differently. Whatever you roll when you use it, you can’t use it again until you are penalized. You can only be penalized when you roll the same number again. So until you roll the same number, you have to roll your bardic inspiration die for all your attack rolls and ability checks. It does not add the bonus, but once you roll the same number you first rolled, you subtract it from your attack roll or ability check and have to describe the humorous way you failed-or succeed despite the subtraction.
I was curious about the sources for these cause I didn’t remember hearing in the article, but checking out the description it looks like they’re all Unearthed Arcana. I thought there were some very unknown book or something where the classes were taken out of play test and fully released, so because they’re still not actually fully released subclasses I don’t think I’d allow them at my table.
With your homebrew suggestion for the Satire Bard, my first reaction is that it would be a little problematic because it would let players purposely do some meaningless roll to get rid of the penalty, but the more I thought about it the more that absolutely falls in line flavorwise for a kind of jester bard who will do some kind of stunt and purposely fail to play it up for laughs (like slip on a banana peel or get pied in the face). Cool article all around!
These arent official content, but Unearthed arcana content (playtest content) i already know about these subclassed due to some people having made a website where they have all the official content in addition to the Unearthed arcana. So uhm, its not official and you should ask yout DM if you want to use them as a player
Pheonix Sorcer combined with Ascendent Dragon monk and a fire based Dragonborn is insane damage output. Add in the Fire Mastery from a one level dip in Mystic and you have a legit whirlwind of fire. Each of these breathweapon says you can replace one attack with it’s use… and you have two of them, so you can breath fire twice on the same attack. Every attack is fire with big bonuses. Every breath attack from two source is fire with huge bonuses. The simple Dragons Breath spell that gives a breath weapon attack every turn gets all those fire bonuses. Make em an elf with elven accuracy, something like an Eladrin with that fire wave fay step, for more fire damage if you dont want the dragonborn. Alternatively is the Pheonix 1, Mystic 1 dips on something as simple as a Lore Mastery Wizard who can change the damage types of their spells and a wild card out of class spell casting each day.
4:56 That’s broken. I’d expect it to be limited to once per long rest, not just whenever you would make a death saving throw. Meaning unless the foes can kill you in one turn (requiring at least 3 direct attacks to go from 1HP to dead, or 4 hits of indirect damage), or they can kill you outright, you will come back again and again. Funnily, it could be overcome by hitting the Warlock non-lethaly, as if they are stabilized, they are not making death saves. 8:45 Again, no limit on how many times you can do it per long rest. At least this one is limited by your reactions. So if you take a second hit, you are going down.