Every Sublcass From The 2025 UA In DnD

We all love to have sneak previews of what’s to come to our favorite games, and Dungeons & Dragons offers that in spades with their Unearthed Arcana publications. This time, we get to see and playtest eight wonderful subclasses for the revamped 2024 rules, coming later in 2025.

While three of these subclasses are updated forms of their 2014 renditions, most of them are brand-new concepts, pushing the boundaries of what makes each class their own. And even the old subclasses feel brand new with the many exciting changes they bring to the roleplaying table.

8

College Of The Moon

Subclass For Bards

Among the subclasses showcased in the Forgotten Realms Unearthed Arcana, there isn’t one for druids, although the nature theme of the class is still present through this new bard’s college. The College of the Moon has bards delve deep into folktales, not only inspiring allies but also terrifying foes with tales of gloom and doom.

The subclass feels similar to the College of dance, in that it draws from characteristics of other classes without needing to multiclass (monks for College of Dance and druids for College of the Moon). However, the end result seems a bit lacking in flavor, being mechanically functional but not capturing the fun of being neither a bard nor a druid.

7

Knowledge Domain

Subclass For Clerics

The knowledge domain for clerics isn’t anything new, since it was available in the 2014 Player’s Handbook as one of the basic subclass choices. While you can already use subclasses from 2014 with the 2024 rules, fans of the knowledge domain will feel more at home with the new version, since it not only improves upon the previous iteration but also fits with the new rules.

Clerics of this domain have access to more spells than any other clerics, channeling their inner wizard with the sheer number of options they have available. Not only that, they can also gain knowledge of the future at level 17, using a bonus action to gain advantage on all D20 tests for one minute.

6

Winter Walker

Subclass For Rangers

The winter walker subclass for rangers is all about cold damage, cold resistance, and survivability. If you aren’t planning an expedition into the Elemental Plane of Ice, this subclass is still useful, since it can gain temporary hit points by using Hunter’s Mark and aid your allies whenever they rest, among other features.

Now, if your campaign does happen to be set in the Elemental Plane of Ice, in Icewind Dale, or somewhere similar, then this subclass will become overpowered, since it resists cold damage as early as level three. By level 15, you can become immune to cold damage, letting you chill with any Ice Elementals you find in their home biome.

5

Bladesinger

Subclass For Wizards

Bladesinger is that subclass that lets wizards pick up a sword, and if you were into it when it appeared in older publications like Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, then you’ll like it even more now. The main change is that you can now use your Intelligence modifier for melee attack and damage rolls as early as level three, instead of needing to wait for level 14 to only add it to the damage.

Beyond that, the subclass stayed largely the same, although the level 14 feature now lets you make a melee attack as a bonus action if you use your action to cast a spell. The only ‘nerf’ to be found in the subclass is that you no longer have training in light armor, but this is balanced out by removing the need for Bladesingers to have high Dexterity or Strength.

4

Spellfire Sorcery

Subclass For Sorcerers

This new subclass for sorcerers is a great way to have access to healing spells without sacrificing damage, since the spell list is filled with supportive and damaging options. All the damage options are flavored around fire, so taking a feat like Elemental Adept seems like a must.

Another important aspect of the subclass comes at level six, with the feature Absorb Spells. This feature lets the player regain Sorcery Points whenever they successfully counter a spell with Counterspell, a spell not so often used in the 2024 rules due to the changes to it.

3

Oath Of The Noble Genies

Subclass For Paladins

At first glance, the oath of the noble genies gives paladins a lot of elemental flavor for their character, from adding fire damage to their basic Divine Smite to being able to summon various elementals. That alone makes it a great subclass, but there is one more feature that makes this oath different from all the others.

That feature is Genie’s Splendor, letting you add your Charisma modifier to your armor class as long as you aren’t wearing medium or heavy armor. You can still use light armor and a shield, meaning that you could be a Dexterity-based paladin or a pure caster one and still be as tanky as the fully armored ones.

2

Scion Of The Three

Subclass For Rogues

Veteran rogue players might not like the idea of their powers coming from gods, but what if those gods were the Dead Three? The scion of the three lets you become a master of murder, dealing more damage to bloodied creatures, teleporting and dealing free damage when a creature drops to zero hit points, and even causing the fear condition with your sneak attack.

The Dead Three (Bane, Bhaal and Myrkul) aren’t known to work well with each other without some backstabbing involved, but it seems they can set their differences apart for this subclass. Just don’t be surprised if your character’s soul ends up in a dark place after the campaign; these gods aren’t meant to be messed with.

1

Purple Dragon Knight

Subclass For Fighters

The purple dragon knight subclass for fighters was all about being a knight, but very little about the purple dragon part. This edition of Unearthed Arcana changes that completely, so while purple dragon knights are still very knightly (inspiring others and being smarter than other fighters), they also have a purple dragon companion with them as early as level three.

This companion starts off small in size but fierce in nature, although it won’t stay that size for the whole campaign. At level seven, the dragon grows to medium size, and you can ride it (although it can’t fly very well with you on top), and by level 15 it grows to large size, becoming a proper dragon mount for your character.