Wizards of the Coast shared a new Dungeons and Dragons playtest document on June 26, but its contents don't offer much to get excited about. Nine subclasses (seven old and two new) are presented for feedback here. Some strong ideas and welcome changes are present, but the design issues that do exist are distractingly egregious.
Two DnD classes have been particularly deserved in the new Unearthed Arcana. The Fighter 5e's Arcane Archer rework has the potential to be powerful, but its design is uninteresting and inconsistent. Meanwhile, a brand-new Monk 5e subclass makes some baffling choices in expanding the spellcasting powers of the core class.
Tattooed Warrior
First, let's talk about the new Monk, also known as the Tattooed Warrior. These martial artists gain magical tattoos imbued with magical powers at various DnD level ups. All allow the Monk to cast a particular spell, though some offer additional benefits also. Each tattoo's ability also requires the Monk to spend Focus Points to use it, with the cost increasing for higher-level tattoos.
The main issue is that the cost of most tattoos is seriously out of sync with how useful their effects are. The subclass' level-six feature demands that you spend two Focus Points to cast a single level-two spell, and your options aren't great. Sure, one tattoo lets you cast Misty Step, but there are plenty of feats that offer you the same at a better price. Alternatively, you can spend those points on Invisibility, Lesser Restoration, or (most embarrassingly) Find Traps.
Another problem is that the tattoo options provided are wildly inconsistent. For example, at level three, your tattoo options are:
- Bat - Learn Dancing Lights and gain blindsight when you spend a Focus Point on Patient Defense or Step of the Wind
- Butterfly - Learn Light and spend a Focus Point to cast Silent Image
- Chameleon - Learn Minor Illusion and spend a Focus Point to cast Disguise Self
- Crane - Learn Guidance and gain advantage on remaining Flurry of Blows attacks when one misses
- Horse - Learn Message and spend a Focus Point to cast Longstrider
- Spider - Learn Mending and give a creature hit by your Flurry of Blows disadvantage on its next attack roll
- Tortoise - Learn Spare the Dying and spend a Focus Point to cast False Light
Crane and Spider seem like vastly superior choices here, as they offer consistently useful abilities with no additional cost. The spells you can spend your Focus Points on are pretty average, and the cantrips here worth learning can be easily picked up through feats, so the value of the feature beyond these two options feels underwhelming.
That lackluster feeling continues into the higher levels. At level 11, your tattoos let you spend three Focus Points to gain advantage on a saving throw (Constitution, Dexterity, Strength, or Wisdom) and resistance to a DnD damage type (acid, lightning, fire, or cold) for one minute. This could be a life-saver, but since you can only swap your tattoos on a long rest, you'll have to guess which will be the most useful for the coming adventuring day.
The level-17 feature similarly fails to impress as a subclass capstone. A Fly speed of 10 feet is unhelpful in any situation other than falling, particularly for a class as agile as the Monk. Regaining HP equal to twice your Monk level when reduced to zero HP is nice, but it's a power we've seen many other classes and DnD races access earlier or do better.
And as for the spells you can access here, they're not much better than 'fine'. Three Focus Points for Counterspell, three for Blink (but only after you've spent Focus Points on Patient Defense), or two for Mirror Image (after spending points on Flurry of Blows or Step of the Wind). It's not bad, but it's also not a selection we can see ourselves leaning on too often.
The subclass identity here seems weak and conflicted, with the utility and defense spells offered not doing much to bolster the core strengths of the Monk. The flavor has plenty of potential, but the first draft of the rules hasn't been too well-received.
Arcane Archer
The original Arcane Archer was a high-potential subclass that was seriously hindered by the limited amount of times it could use its defining feature, Arcane Shot. The Arcane Shot options that modified its attacks were interesting, but they also scaled poorly and relied heavily on your Fighter's Intelligence skill, which pushed them into the MAD (multiple ability score dependent) zone.
The new playtest fixes the biggest issue here, which is the lack of Arcane Shot uses. It also attempts to address the poor scaling, but it does so in the dullest way imaginable.
In the playtest, Arcane Archers have Arcane Shot uses equal to their Intelligence modifier (rather than just two). This still forces the Fighter to juggle a third DnD stat that they would otherwise dump, but a Fighter who leans more toward Intelligence gets significantly more uses of Arcane Shot than they did previously. That's a huge buff, and most of the Arcane Shot options here range from 'pretty good' to 'excellent'.
So, why are we lamenting the design choices with the new Arcane Archer? It's because the way Wizards of the Coast has solved this subclass' problems is so utterly unexciting.
More uses of the exact same Arcane Shots (albeit with a few small nerfs and buffs)? Cool, okay, good. How will you solve the poor scaling problem? With three abilities that do nothing but increase the size of your Arcane Shot die. You'll have to wait until level 10 for your die to swap from a d6 to a d8, and from there, you gain no new abilities to play with. Level 15 gives you a d10, and level 18 gives you a d12. That's your lot.
We can understand why Wizards has chosen this path. The Arcane Shot, when given an appropriate number of uses, can be extremely effective, so adding too many flashy high-level options could seriously overpower this Fighter. But surely there was something more interesting you could do with a magic archer?
The Arcane Archer, unlike the Tattooed Warrior, has plenty of power to play with. However, for completely opposite reasons, it feels almost as disappointing.
You can see all of the subclasses from this Unearthed Arcana in Wizards' playtest document. We'd love to hear your takes on them over in the Wargamer Discord. If you'd like more 5e content from us, here's all you need to know about this year's DnD release schedule.