The latest Unearthed Arcana was released last Friday, with several subclasses from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything making an appearance.

As these are all classes that were previously already created for 5e, and not brand new, I’m mostly going to comment on the changes. I don’t expect anything exciting here – just a balancing pass; which is a bit disappointing since it has been a while since the last UA, but what can you do? Having an early look at class changes is important regardless.

Barbarian: Path of the Spiritual Guardian

Previously called the Path of the Ancestral Guardian, it has gotten some minor adjustments but nothing truly new.

Spiritual Protectors (Level 3)

Very similar to 5e’s Ancestral Protectors – while your Rage is active and you hit a creature with a weapon or unarmed attack, you can choose to:

• Distract – give disadvantage on attacks agaisnt creatures other than you
• Protect – if it hits a creature other than you, they gain Resistance to the damage dealt by the attack
• Strike – deal an extra 1d6 elemental or force damage

Strike is a new option, but the previous version had Distract and Protect rolled into one. I don’t like that they split it up; I think it would be perfectly fine to keep them together and have Strike as a separate option, letting you choose between defense and offense.

Spirit Shield (Level 6)

Again mostly the same with 5e; when raging, if another creature within 30 feet of you takes damage, you can use your Reaction to reduce that damage. Roll a number of d6s equal to your bonus Rage damage for the reduction. Pretty nice; got a very nice buff as it used to be just 2d6, so now it’s way more useful down the line.

Consult the Spirits (Level 10)

No changes here; you can cast Augury or Clairvoyance once per short or long rest.

Vengeful Spirits (Level 14)

This is a complete change however; it used to deal force damage when you used Spirit Shield, but now, when you make a melee weapon attack and roll an 18-20 on the d20, you can make an additional melee attack as part of the same action. You can only use this once per turn though.

An interesting feature to be sure; fitting for a barbarian I’d say, though I don’t see the connection to spirits. It’s… like a much worse Extra Extra Attack; though admittedly having additional attacks is super powerful. Having this proc during your turn, including Reckless Attack and both attacks, is around 40% – not great, not terrible. You could get it down to 17 for about 50% chance to get it, but now I’m getting a bit too much in the details.

Overall – sort of meh. I mean, barbarians have just 4 features in their subclass anyway so not much space for excitement, but I’m pretty neutral anyway. I do prefer the new version of Spirit Shield, as well as Vengeful Spirits, but it could be a bit more… I don’t know, spicy. Maybe make it so that if you use Spirit Shield, Vengeful Spirits is automatic? Or at least easier to hit.

Barbarian – Path of the Storm Herald

Storm Herald was certainly a lot of fun – as someone who usually plays either full spellcasters or archers, so almost never barbarians, I liked this one even if it didn’t feel super powerful. Having a magical aura was so cool. Let’s see what they did with it – turns out, not much.

Storm Aura (Level 3)

The main effect is the same; you get a 10-foot aura when you rage with various effects as you level up. You choose one of Desert, Sea, or Tundra, each with different effects, and you activate them as a Bonus Action.

• Desert: Roll a number of d4s equal to your Rage Damage. Creatures must make a DEX saving throw or take that much Fire damage, though you can choose one creature to automatically succeed. Honestly a huge buff over what it used to be – a flat 2 damage, though without a saving throw, increasing to a whopping 6 damage at level 20, which was honestly kind of a joke. Sure, 4d4 isn’t much better at that level, especially since most enemies will succeed on the saving throw now, but I think it’s probably improved at the lower levels. Additionally, I think you could just make it so that you choose the targets you want – no need to hurt your allies, even if you can sort of protect one of them.
• Sea: Roll a number of d6s equal to your Rage Damage. A creature within your aura rolls a DEX saving throw or takes that much lightning damage. This time a clear improvement from 5e, as it started from 1d6 and went up to 4d6 at 20 – especially as it only reached 2d6 at level 10, and now you have it at that right away.
• Tundra: Roll a number of d4s equal to your Rage Damage. A creature within your aura rolls a STR saving throw or subtracts the total roll from its next damage roll until the beginning of your next turn. A major change, since it used to give 2-6 Temporary HP.

Overall, I like those changes; much stronger in the early levels, though I think Desert could still deal half on a failed save. Tundra is a great change though. A MAJOR buff that I forgot to mention at the start though, is that you can now choose the environment when you enter your Rage – previously, you chose one when you gained this feature, and you could only change it when you gained a level, which was frankly awful even if it made some sense from a roleplaying perspective.

Storm Soul (Level 6)

No changes here – you gain Resistance to Fire, Lightning, or Cold damage depending on what you last chose for your aura, as well as some other minor benefits – setting things on fire, breathing underwater with a swim speed, or turning water into ice for Desert, Sea, or Tundra respectively.

Shielding Storm (Level 10)

Also no changes. You can grant creatures inside your aura the same resistance that you get from it.

Raging Storm (Level 14)

A complete redesign for all options in this one.

• Desert: Once per turn, when a creature fails its saving throw for the fire damage, you can cause it to start burning. Normally burning creatures take 1d4 damage, but these ones take an extra d4 for 2d4 total. Used to be that when a creature in your aura hit you with an attack, you could use your reaction to make them roll a DEX saving throw or take fire damage equal to half your barbarian level. Honestly I don’t really like either that much- the burning damage is kinda pathetic and also a pain to track for DMs, and the reaction was also a bit low damage for what it needed.
• Sea: Whether your target fails or succeeds the saving throw, you can choose a secondary target within 30 feet of the first and another bolt of lightning chains towards them, making them roll the same saving throw. Pretty good concept, but again kinda meh; this used to make creatures roll a saving throw or fall prone, which was a MUCH better situation for a barbarian.
• Tundra: Once per turn if a creature fails its saving throw, you can cause it to take 2d4 cold damage and halve its speed. This one is alright; it used to lack damage and drop its speed to 0, but honestly that just opens up a lot of cheese so I’ll take this. Damage is again pretty lackluster, you could have it apply regardless of the saving throw and have the speed reduction be reliant on them failing it, but it’s also fine-ish as it.

Overall, while the changes to Storm Aura are quite welcome, Raging Storm feels like a step back. Having the aura stay at 10 feet at all times also feels like a missed opportunity; increasing it to 15 at least doesn’t sound like it would break anything. Kind of disappointing; they could have done a lot more with this subclass in my opinion.

Fighter – Cavalier

Mounted combat always felt kinda janky to me, so the Cavalier was never a very attractive option. Let’s see if it’s gotten any more tempting though.

Bonus Proficiency (Level 3)

Nothing new here. One skill proficiency or one new language. Though it always seemed weird to me that you could technically be a Cavalier without proficiency in Animal Handling.

Born to the Saddle (Level 3)

No changes here either – keeps you on your saddle or on your feet easier.

Unwavering Mark (Level 3)

A couple of major changes – though strangely, the Design Note box simply mentions that it no longer has a limited number of uses. The core is the same; you hit a creature with a melee attack and you can mark them until the end of your next turn. While they’re within 5 feet of you, they have Disadvantage on attack rolls against others, and if they hit someone other than you, you have advantage on attack rolls against them until the end of your next turn. How it used to work is that you instead had a special attack against them as a bonus action that had advantage and dealt extra damage; honestly it’s better this way, much cleaner and of course the unlimited uses are also good. It just struck me as strange how essentially the entire feature was changed but it wasn’t mentioned.

Warding Maneuver (Level 7)

This one is unchanged; you can use your reaction to add 1d8 to a creature’s AC if they’re attacked while within 5 feet of you and you have a melee weapon or a shield, and they gain resistance to that attack. Pretty good so I don’t mind keeping it, though I think they could just have the AC increase last until the end of the turn rather than just the one attack.

Hold the Line (Level 10)

Also unchanged. Opportunity attacks when creatures move 5 feet or more within your reach, and reducing speed to 0 on a successful opportunity attack.

Ferocious Charger (Level 15)

This… feels like it got completely gutted. What is used to do is, if you moved at least 10 feet in a straight line before hitting a creature with an attack, they had to make a STR saving throw or fall prone. Sure, perhaps a bit too strong – could have increased the necessary distance, maybe clarified so that it only works with melee weapons, etc; instead, what it does now is the following: During the first turn of combat, you and your mount’s speed increases by 10 feet, and your movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks. When you move within 5 feet of a creature, if makes a STR saving throw and either falls prone or is pushed 5 feet.

I have a lot of things to say here, some only tangentially related to the specific feature. I think that if you limit a feature to the very first round of combat, you’d better make it really really strong (Assassin comes to mind, which also feels quite lackluster with its “first turn” effects). The protection from opportunity attacks is a nice addition; the original feature was quite susceptible to them, though it also served as an interesting decision-making opportunity; do you move to activate the feature, but also risk taking damage?

Changing the application from hitting with an attack to merely moving nearby honestly doesn’t sound bad to me. It does give off an image of a heavy knight’s charge, trampling enemies with their mount rather than having to engage with them; though including the attack as a possible trigger wouldn’t also go amiss. Finally, I feel like the requirement for a minimum amount of movement should still be there. As it is now, you could be crawling on the ground like a worm, feebly clutching someone’s leg begging for help, and somehow you’d push them away – yes, technically you could also do that in 5e too, but getting you to move certainly evoked a different feeling.

I think the best option here would be a hybrid of the two. During the first round of combat, you and your mount get a speed boost (please, something more than 10 feet; this is level 15, what are we doing? It could even double your base speed for all I care) and don’t provoke opportunity attacks. Then, regardless of turn number, if you move at least 15(?) feet in a straight line and

• hit a creature with a melee attack or
• get within 5 feet of them while mounted

they make their STR saving throw and either fall prone or are pushed 5 feet. Anyway, I think I’ve rambled long enough about this; let’s move on.

Vigilant Defender (Level 18)

This has also stayed the same; essentially, you can do an Opportunity Attack on every creature’s turn.

Overall – it was looking alright with the changes to Unwavering Mark, but then Ferocious Charger came in and ruined everything.

Monk – Warrior of Intoxication

Previously named the Way of the Drunken Master, it’s got a couple of actually significant changes.

Bonus Proficiencies (Level 3)

No changes here. Proficiency in Performance and Brewer’s supplies.

Drunken Technique (Level 3)

Also no changes. Flurry of Blows increases your speed by 10 and you don’t provoke opportunity attacks (I know I shouldn’t compare different classes, and that it’s not the main aspect of that particular feature, but… compare this to Ferocious Charger).

Tipsy Sway (Level 6)

Again no changes. You can stand up using only 5 feet of movement, and when a melee attack misses you you can redirect it to a creature within 5 feet of you for 1 Focus Point.

Mystic Brew (Level 6)

This is a brand new feature. It doesn’t replace an old one, but it’s additional. At the end of your short or long rests, you create a magical beverage. If you drink it (which takes 1 minute) you gain a benefit for 1 hour – only you can gain these benefits, so you can’t really share the drinks. However, you can also spend 1 Focus Point to extend the duration to 8 hours – which you will probably do most of the time. The benefits are:

• Cinnamon Dragon: you gain a Magic action for a cone breath attack with a DEX saving throw. Deals damage equal to 4 rolls of your martial arts die and inflicts Poisoned, with only half damage on a successful save.
• Heavenly Spirit: you have resistance to psychic and radiant damage.
• Refreshing Dip: when you regain HP, you regain additional HP equal to a roll of your Martial Arts die.

There are some interesting options here. First off, Heavenly Spirit is most likely the least useful, unless you play a campaign with lots of enemies that deal those particular damage types. Refreshing Dip is pretty nice – you can already regain HP from Uncanny Metabolism (and short rests too), but with a Paladin in the party drip-feeding you 1 point of Lay on Hands you can stay in top shape while being quite aggressive. Cinnamon Dragon is the most interesting – you usually want to spend your action on attacks, but the damage is quite respectable early on at 4d6, especially for the pretty impressive area of a 30-foot cone. The poisoned condition is perhaps even more impactful; so I can see this being the primary option.

As an aside, I’m not sure if the wording works this way – if it is intended or perhaps a missed part – but if you spend Focus Points you can be affected by more than one benefit at once, though you would need to do some short rest shenanigans. I assume the intention is to only have 1 at a time, but honestly I wouldn’t mind the stacking.

Master Brewer (Level 11)

This replaces Drunkard’s Luck, which let you remove disadvantage on your rolls by paying 2 Ki (now Focus) points. Instead, you get 2 more brew options:

• Blue Lightning: When you take a Reaction that isn’t an opportunity attack or a spell, you can make one unarmed strike as part of it.
• Drunkard’s Luck: You gain Heroic Inspiration, and you can also gain it when you roll Initiative.

Blue Lightning might seem a bit too niche, but Monks do have Deflect Attacks as a reaction so this is also pretty nice. However the new Drunkard’s Luck seems to take the cake. Honestly, now I’m leaning more towards actually minding the brew stacking…

Intoxicated Frenzy (Level 17)

And finally this remains the same; when you use Flurry of Blows, you can make up to 3 additional unarmed strikes (up to a total of 6), as long as each attack targets a different creature.

Paladin – Oathbreaker

Now this is perhaps the most exciting one; the Oathbreaker (which appeared in the 5e DMG, primarily as a “villainous” class option) makes its return. Is it a triumphant return, or just a flop?

Conjure Undead (Level 3)

You can use your Channel Divinity to summon a number of zombies or skeletons equal to half your CHA modifier, which take their own turns. This is a replacement of the Control Undead feature; while you do lose a pretty powerful tool for the late game, which would let you control dangerous undead, it’s a much better feature early on.

Dreadful Aspect (Level 3)

When you use Divine Smite, you can spend a use of your Channel Divinity to force creatures within 30 feet of you to make a WIS saving throw or be frightened. Originally this was it’s own ability, not tied to Divine Smite. Another “sidegrade” – while it no longer costs an action it now has additional activation requirements. However, paladins do love to do some smiting, so it’s pretty easy to use; I’m tentatively satisfied with this.

Oathbreaker Spells (Level 3)

Most of the Oathbreaker spells from 5e are here as well; there’s been some slight changes, but overall nothing that warrants a comment I think.

Aura of Hate (Level 7)

This is almost exactly the same; fiends and undead within your Aura of Protection gain bonus necrotic damage to their melee weapon attacks. The only adjustment is that now it affects only allies, and not all of them; which was probably how everyone did it anyway, but it’s good to have the wording properly fixed. It also has some better synergy now that you can summon your own undead more easily.

Supernatural Resistance (Level 15)

You gain resistance to Piercing, Slashing and Bludgeoning damage. A very significant buff from 5e, where it was those types of damage – but specifically from nonmagical weapons, which was… a bit underwhelming. Now you resist magical weapons as well, plus spells that have these damage types too.

Dread Lord (Level 20)

Let’s start with the parts that remain mostly the same. As a Bonus Action (used to be an action), your Aura of Protection has some new effects for 1 minute. Creatures that are frightened while inside it take 4d10 psychic damage when they start their turn there, and as a bonus action you can make a melee spell attack against a creature within your Aura (not within reach – you have a 30-foot range for this melee spell attack!) which deals 3d10+CHA necrotic damage. Pretty good so far.

The big change is that now, your aura fills up with magical darkness that you and your allies can see through, instead of just turning bright light to dim. This means that darkvision can no longer see through it, and you can be a real menace that can’t be targeted while you mess people up; just like the Warlock+Darkness cheese that’s well known.

Overall, this is perhaps the only class that I’m satisfied by – although perhaps it’s because it’s not a pure martial class, and thus already had a good baseline?

Final Thoughts

Disappointment. As I said in the beginning, I didn’t expect any grand, sweeping changes; but it seems that rather than making improvements, these are often going one step back. Low numbers, unnecessary downgrades, et cetera et cetera. I will say that a very good mechanical change in the 2024 edition (more like a general design decision rather than a single change) is that players often have more options; for example, in the Storm Herald, you can now switch what storm you’re using every time. But what are we going to do with this if most options suck?

Anyway. Go ahead and read the UA yourselves – and fill up the survey too, it’s open until November 20th!