Unearthed Arcana
Table of Contents:
Unearthed Arcana
The Playtest Laboratory of D&D
D&D is not a dead and static game, it’s a living one that constantly changes. Wizards of the Coast is constantly brewing up new content ideas and has been since 5th edition started. But new content is a double-edged sword, it brings more options and new excitement, but it can also disrupt the game as it is. Is this new class option game breaking? Who can tell? Rather than keep these new brews locked up, they decided that the best group of playtesters would be the community itself. Unearthed Arcanas are official D&D supplements that aren’t finished, they’re playtest material intended to gauge public reaction and to find and fix problems before they become real additions. Follow us through for just a bit and we’ll go through every current Unearthed Arcana and show you everything you need to know.
Using This Guide
We’ll be going through every single unearthed arcana article since they started back in 2015. We won’t be going into a ton of detail, but we will provide a link, a short description, and very importantly whether the unearthed arcana is Active, Outmoded, or Implemented.
An Active unearthed arcana is current playtesting material, it’s the most recent of its content and is still being considered for becoming part of a real book. It’s perfectly reasonable to try out Active unearthed arcanas in your home games, especially if you take the time to report some of your experiences online.
An Outmoded unearthed arcana has been considered, then thrown out to be replaced with a different version in a new unearthed arcana. Generally, you should avoid playing Outmoded unearthed arcanas, as they’ve already been removed from consideration and there is a shiny new version for testing.
Implemented unearthed arcanas are the ones that have actually been included in full releases, or at least a version of them that’s very close. Always double check the version that was actually released before using an Implemented unearthed arcana, as there are sometimes tweaks to what made the final cut.
#90 Player’s Handbook Playtest 8
Takes yet another swing at the barbarian, druid, and monk classes, along with the weapon rules and the way ability score increases work.
#89 Bastions and Cantrips
Updates some common cantrip spells and introduces a system for player-controlled strongholds called “bastions”, their hirelings, upkeep, and bonuses they can provide.
#88 Player’s Handbook Playtest 7
Almost a beat for beat redo of playtest 5, this takes another run at the barbarian, fighter, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard classes, along with the weapons and spells also from playtest 5. Has the most current version of fighter, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard, but barbarian has already been reworked for playtest 8.
#87 Player’s Handbook Playtest 6
Tweaks or reworks most of the previously tested One D&D classes, including the bard, cleric, druid, monk, paladin, ranger, and rogue. Also reworks many of the UA spells and feats. Druid and monk already have a newer version in playtest 8, but the other classes here are the most current.
#86 Player’s Handbook Playtest 5
This set gives us our first look at the One D&D version of the barbarian, fighter, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard classes, along with tweaks to the general rules glossary, weapons, and a set of the reworked arcane spells. Outmoded by playtest 7.
#85 Player’s Handbook: Druid and Paladin
Gives us a look at the One D&D druid and paladin classes while also revising many of the feats and basic rules from the last few UA’s. Also introduces a slew of divine spells and the revised divine spell list. Almost immediately outmoded by new UA versions of both classes.
#84 The Cleric and Revised Species
Proposes a new design for the One D&D cleric, and introduces new versions of the ardling, dragonborn, and goliath species. Also proposes making an ability score increase a “feat” and introduces the idea of 20th level capstone feats called “epic boons” which were immediately reworked in the following UA.
#83 Expert Classes
Introduces the concept of class “groups” and presents the proposed reworks for the “expert” classes including the Bard, Ranger, and Rogue. Reworks many of the feats proposed in UA Character Origins and gives us a huge rundown of revised basic actions and conditions, along with the new arcane, divine, and primeval spell lists. Most of the content here has already been redone in later UAs.
#82 Character Origins
The first of the One D&D playtests, this introduces the reworked core races, backgrounds, feats, and the division between arcane, divine, and primeval spell lists. Many of the feats have already been reworked in UA Expert Classes, and the Ardling species got heavily revised in UA The cleric and Revised Species (go figure).
#81 Wonders of the Multiverse
A huge mix of content obviously intended for either Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants or Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse. A whopping 19 feats, 7 of which would make it into Bigby, 7 would make it into Planescape, and 1 would wait until The Book of Many Things to get implemented. The remaining 4 get sort of condensed and chopped up into the others. It also introduces 5 new spells, 3 of which end up in The Book of Many Things, 2 of which seem to have been left behind. The giant foundling and rune carver backgrounds that were included in Bigby, and the gate warden and planar philosopher backgrounds that wound up in Planescape. And finally, the fate domain cleric subclass and a planescape inspired Glitchling race, both of which seem to have been ditched.
#80 Giant Options
Here we get the barbarian subclass path of the giant which was implemented in Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants. It also introduces 10 giant themed feats, 7 of which would also be implemented in Bigby after a rework in the next Unearthed Arcana. We also get the druid subclass circle of the primeval and the wizard subclass runecrafter, both of which are still active and yet to find their way into a book.
#79 Heroes of Krynn Revisited
Essentially the last unearthed arcana with a few tweaks, this also contains Dragonlance content including the Kender race, the sorcerer subclass lunar magic, the knight of solamnia and mage of high sorcery backgrounds, and now 9 feats dropping divine communication for some reason. Kender got the largest change and dropped a 3rd level feature, but all the content here was mostly implemented cleanly into Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen.
#78 Heroes of Krynn
This contains a collection of content themed around the old-school setting of Dragonlance. It includes the Kender race, the sorcerer subclass lunar magic, the knight of solamnia and mage of high sorcery backgrounds, and 10 feats specific to characters who took those backgrounds. This was immediately outmoded by the next unearthed arcana, which took another shot at most of the same content.
#77 Mages of Strixhaven
This contains 5 spellcasting subclasses, each themed around one of the arcane colleges from the Strixhaven setting. They went through significant editing, and by Strixhaven: a Curriculum of Chaos they were implemented not as subclasses but as overpowered backgrounds. It’s unlikely that these subclasses will ever be implemented now and will likely remain as unearthed arcana options only.
#76 Draconic Options
This contains 3 alternate dragonborn races, a rework of the kobold race, 3 dragon themed feats, and 7 dragon themed spells. Everything here was implemented in Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons except for the kobold rework, which had to wait until Mordenkeinen’s Monsters of the Multiverse to be implemented.
#75 Folk of the Feywild
This contains 4 new playable races, including the fairy, hobgoblin of the feywild, owlfolk, and rabbitfolk. The fairy and rabbitfolk (renamed harengon) were implemented in The Wild Beyond the Witchlight and all 4 lineages here were then printed again officially in Mordenkeinen’s Monsters of the Multiverse.
#74 Gothic Lineages
This contains 3 new “lineages” (a different form of race first introduced in Tasha’s) including the dhampir, hexblood, and reborn. All three of these horror-themed lineages were implemented in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft and all more or less made the transition in their entirety.
#73 Subclasses, Part 5
This contains 2 dragon themed subclasses, the Drakewarden for rangers, and the Way of the Ascendant Dragon for monks. Both subclasses were implemented in Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons.
#72 Subclasses, Part 4
This contains 2 horror themed subclasses, the College of Spirits for bards and The Undead patron for warlocks. Both of which were implemented in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft with The Undead patron getting across essentially unchanged while the College of Spirits went through a major rework.
#71 Feats
This contains 16 new feats, almost all of which were implemented either fully or in part in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
#70 Subclasses Revisited
This contains 3 reworks to previous unearthed arcana subclasses that have now been fully implemented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. It includes the Phantom rogue subclass, a rework of the Revived rouge subclass, The Genie warlock subclass, a rework of the Noble Genie warlock subclass, and the Order of scribes wizard subclass, which has replaced the Archivist artificer subclass.
#69 Psionic Options Revisited
This latest attempt to introduce and balance psionic options to the game includes the Psi Knight fighter subclass, the Soulknife rogue subclass, and the Psionic Soul sorcerer subclass (Psionic Soul directly replaces the previous Aberrant Mind) It also includes 3 psionic themed spells and 5 psionic feats. All three of these subclasses were implemented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, though strangely they reverted back again from Psionic Soul to the name Aberrant Mind.
#68 Spells and Magic Tattoos
Contains 11 new spells, focused mainly on summoning, and 11 new magic item “tattoos” and the rules for implementing them. Almost all of these magic tattoos were introduced in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
#67 Subclasses, Part 3
This contains 3 new subclasses, the Armorer artificer subclass, the Circle of the Stars druid subclass, and the Fey Wanderer ranger subclass. All of these subclasses were fully implemented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
#66 Subclasses, Part 2
This contains 3 new subclasses, the College of Creation bard subclass, the Unity Domain cleric subclass, and the Clockwork Soul sorcerer subclass. All of these subclasses were implemented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, though the Unity Domain was renamed to the Peace Domain.
#65 Subclasses, Part 1
This contains 4 new subclasses, the Path of the Beast barbarian subclass, the Way of Mercy monk subclass, and the Oath of Watchers paladin subclass which were all implemented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. It also contains The Noble Genie warlock subclass which has later been updated.
#64 Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard
This is actually one of their takes on psionics and has been completely replaced by Psionic Options Revisited.
#63 Class Feature Variants
This is a large proposed overhaul providing alternate class features for all of the classes. While not every single proposed change made the cut, the majority of these features were implemented as optional features in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
#62 Fighter, Ranger, and Rogue
This contains 3 new subclasses, the Rune Knight fighter subclass and the Swarmkeeper ranger subclass were implemented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, but The Revived rogue subclass has since been replaced.
#61 Cleric, Druid, and Wizard
This contains 3 new subclasses, the Twilight Domain cleric subclass, the Circle of Wildfire druid subclass were implemented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, but the Onomancy wizard subclass remains active.
#60 Bard and Paladin
This contains 2 new subclasses, the College of Eloquence bard subclass, the Oath of Heroism paladin subclass. Both of these subclasses were implemented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, though the Oath of Heroism was renamed the Oath of Glory.
#59 Sorcerer and Warlock
This contains 2 new subclasses, the Aberrant Mind sorcerer subclass which has been replaced by the later Psionic Soul subclass, and The Lurker in the Deep warlock subclass which was later renamed The Fathomless when it was implemented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
#58 Barbarian and Monk
This contains 2 new subclasses, the Path of the Wild Soul barbarian subclass, and The Way of the Astral Self Monk subclass, both of which were implemented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything though The Path of the Wild Soul was renamed The Path of Wild Magic.
#57 The Artificer Returns
It didn’t make the transition completely unscathed, but this last version of the Artificer class made it most of the way into Eberron: Rising from the Last War. The Archivist subclass was cut but will later return as the Oath of Scribes wizard subclass.
#56 The Artificer Revisited
This version of the Artificer class was very quickly edited for the next version in The Artificer Returns.
#55 Sidekicks
This introduces special Sidekick Classes, the Warrior, Expert, and Spellcaster, to be used for helpful and recurring NPCs. While it changed a bit, this mechanic and concept was fully implemented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
#54 Of Ships and the Sea
This version of ship mechanics made it into Ghosts of Saltmarsh with only minor changes, to the point that you can grab these for essentially the same style of water vehicle systems.
#53 Magic Items of Eberron
This set of magic items was implemented in Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron and then was carried over into Eberron: Rising from the Last War.
#52 Dragonmarks
This set of “Dragonmarks” work essentially as alternate subraces for the core races, they were technically implemented but the final version in Eberron: Rising from the Last War is different enough that I’ve categorized this as outmoded.
#51 Races of Ravnica
They went through a few major changes, but 3 of these races can be found in Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica, including the Loxodon, Simic Hybrids, and Vedalken. Sadly, the 4th race Viashano got left on the cutting room floor.
#50 Giant Soul Sorcerer
This single sorcerer subclass had a lot of influence from Storm King’s Thunder but never ended up in anything official.
#49 Centaurs and Minotaurs
Slightly streamlined versions of this Centaur and Minotaur race were implemented in Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica.
#48 Order Domain
This cleric subclass was implemented in Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica.
#47 Into the Wild
These general wilderness exploration rules have yet to be implemented or revisited.
#46 Three Subclasses
This contains 3 new subclasses, the Brute fighter subclass and the School of Invention wizard subclass are still active but The Circle of Spores druid subclass was implemented in Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica.
#45 Elf Subraces
This contains 4 new subraces for elves, the winged Avriel, and the xenophobic Grugach are still active, but the aquatic Sea Elves, and the shadowy Shadar-kai, were implemented in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes. They seem to have roped the term “grugach” into wood elves as well, making it look more likely that the concept has been dropped.
#44 Fiendish Options
This contains 8 new subrace options for tieflings, and options for specific fiendish cults. The cult mechanics didn’t make it over, but the subraces were all implemented in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes.
#43 Race Options: Eladrin and Gith
The elf subrace Eladrin and the Gith races were all implemented in Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes.
#42 Three-Pillar Experience
More of a DM philosophy and advice article than actual rules, these concepts have yet to be placed in any official book.
#41 Greyhawk Initiative
This alternate rules system for determining initiative order adds significant complexity to normal combat but also allows for more depth and variety.
#40 Revised Class Options
This contains 4 subclasses in their last incarnation before being implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. It includes the Circle of the Shepherd druid subclass, the Cavalier fighter subclass, the Oath of Conquest paladin subclass, and The Celestial warlock subclass.
#39 Revised Subclasses
This contains 5 subclasses in their last incarnation before being implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. It includes the Path of the Ancestral Guardian barbarian subclass, the College of Swords bard subclass, the Arcane Archer fighter subclass, and The Way of the Kensi monk subclass, and the Favored Soul (later renamed Divine Soul) sorcerer subclass.
#38 Feats for Races
This contains feats that can only be chosen by specific core races. Most of these were implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything but a few were left behind or redone.
#37 Feats for Skills
This contains feats that provide proficiency in each skill along with a small side benefit.
#36 Downtime
These rules and concepts for downtime activities were implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.
#35 Starter Spells
Most (but not all) of these low-level spells were implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.
#34 A Trio of Subclasses
This contains 3 subclasses in their last incarnation before being implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. It includes the Way of the Drunken Master monk subclass, the Oath of Redemption paladin subclass, and the Monster Slayer Ranger subclass.
#33 Wizard Revisited
This contains 2 subclasses for wizards. War Magic, which was implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and Theurgy, which seems to have been left behind.
#32 The Mystic Class
This contains the last incarnation of the Mystic class before they seem to have abandoned it. It was decidedly too complex and unbalanced, and has been replaced in later unearthed arcana as multiple psionic subclasses.
#31 Traps Revisited
This set of systems and rules for traps was implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything alongside several example traps.
#30 Mass Combat
This contains rules for organizing mass combat for full-scale warfare and similar engagements.
#29 Warlock and Wizard
This contains 3 subclasses, 1 of which was The Hexblade warlock subclass, which was implemented alongside numerous new eldritch invocations in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. The Raven Queen warlock subclass and the Lore Mastery wizard subclass were sadly left behind though you could argue it was an early predecessor to The Order of Scribes.
#28 Sorcerer
This contains 4 sorcerer subclasses, Favored Soul which was replaced later with Divine Soul, Phoenix Sorcery which was overpowered and abandoned, along with Sea Sorcery and Stone Sorcery which were both later replaced with Storm Sorcery.
#27 Ranger and Rogue
This contains 3 subclasses, the Horizon Walker ranger subclass and the Scout rogue subclass were implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. The Primeval Guardian ranger subclass however remains unused and active.
#26 Artificer
This is one of the earlier incarnations of the Artificer class that has since been replaced.
#25 Paladin: Sacred Oaths
This contains 2 subclasses for paladins. The Oath of Conquest, which was implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, and The Oath of Treachery, which seems to have been left behind.
#24 Monk: Monastic Traditions
This contains 2 subclasses for monks. The Way of the Kensi and The Way of Tranquility, both of which have been replaced by new versions in later Unearthed Arcana.
#23 Fighter: Martial Archetypes
This contains 4 subclasses for fighters. Samurai was implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything almost unchanged. The Arcane Archer and Knight subclasses were revised in later unearthed arcana before being implemented, and the Sharpshooter subclass seems to have been abandoned due to power balance issues.
#22 Druid Circles and Wild Shape
This contains 3 subclasses for druids. Circle of Dreams was implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything almost unchanged. Circle of the Shepherd would be revisited in another unearthed arcana before implementation. Finally, the Circle of Twilight seems to have been abandoned due to power balance issues.
#21 Cleric: Divine Domains
This contains 3 subclasses for clerics. The Forge Domain and the Grave Domain were both implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. And the Twilight Domain which was implemented much later in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.
#20 Bard: Bard Colleges
This contains 2 subclasses for bards. The College of Glamor and the College of Whispers which were both implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.
#19 Barbarian Primal Paths
This contains 3 subclasses for barbarians. The Path of the Ancestral Guardian received another version in an unearthed arcana before being implemented. Path of the Storm Herald and the Path of the Zealot were both implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.
#18 Encounter Building
This contains new advice and guidelines for building new encounters as a DM, they were implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.
#17 The Ranger, Revised
The ranger has often been criticized as the weakest class, this commonly used revision hasn’t yet been implemented but greatly strengthens the ranger’s capabilities. However, with the major redesigns for the Ranger class in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, we can finally consider this version outmoded.
#16 The Faithful
This contains The Seeker warlock subclass that remains unused and active, and the Theurgy wizard subclass that would be later tried again in another unearthed arcana.
#15 Quick Characters
This contains tables for randomly creating a new character out of the core classes and races, it remains unused.
#14 Feats
This contains a set of feats centered around specific weapon mastery and tool mastery, they have yet to appear in any publication. However, a lot of their utility was condensed into the damage-type specific feats instead of weapon specific feats and I think we can conclude they were a natural progression from these concepts.
#13 Gothic Heroes
This contains the undead subrace Revenants, which were eventually developed into the gothic lineages found in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. It also contains the fighter subclass Monster Hunter which seems to have developed into the simplistic “battle master builds” found in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and the rogue subclass Inquisitive which was implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.
#12 Kits of Old
This contains 4 subclasses, 3 of which, including the bard’s College of Swords and the fighter’s Cavalier and Scout would be replaced with later versions, and Scout even switches from a fighter subclass to a rogue subclass. The bard’s College of Satire however, remains active and unused.
#11 That Old Black Magic
This contains the tiefling subraces and abyssal spells that have been replaced in later unearthed arcana.
#10 Light, Dark, Underdark!
This contains alternate “fighting styles” for classes that can gain them, these alternate fighting styles remain active and unused. It also contains 2 subclasses that have since been replaced with newer versions, the Deep Stalker ranger subclass and the Undying Light warlock subclass (later renamed The Celestial). It also contains the Shadow sorcerer subclass that was implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.
#9 Prestige Classes and Rune Magic
This contains optional rules for “prestige classes”, secondary classes that can be worked into if an existing character meets the requirements. It then gives the Rune Scribe prestige class as an example. Some of the “runes” have been retooled into simple magic items, but it otherwise remains active and unused.
#8 Ranger
This was one of the now outmoded early attempts to “fix” the ranger class.
#7 Modern Magic
This contains new rules and spells for playing 5e in a modern or futuristic setting. It also includes 3 technology themed subclasses, the City Domain cleric, the Ghost in the Machine warlock, and the Technomancy wizard.
#6 Awakened Mystic
One of the many failed and outmoded mystic reworks.
#5 Variant Rules
This contains several alternate rules for some of the fundamentals of the system, such as saving throws and hit points.
#4 Waterborne Adventures
The only active portion of this article is the alternate “fighting style” mariner which remains unused. It also contains the minotaur race which would later be replaced, and the Swashbuckler rogue subclass and the Storm Sorcery sorcerer subclass which would both be later implemented in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.
#3 Modifying Classes
This contains alternate rules for creating your own subclasses, it uses a variant of the outmoded Favored Soul as an example of a finished new subclass, but the rules themselves remain active.
#2 When Armies Clash
This contains an earlier version of what would become the mass combat rules.
#1 Eberron
This contains racial rules for shifters, warforged, and dragonmarks, as well as rules for the artificer wizard subclass, all of which would be completely replaced in later revisions.
WANT TO SEE UNEARTHED ARCANA ORGANIZED BY CLASS? CLICK HERE!
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