Designer Insights from Unearthed Arcana: Underdark Options

All the subclasses have very cool concepts, but are mechanically underwhelming.

The barbarian one is extremely weak; the wizard one requires Hit Dice for everything and doesn't even give you ways to recover them more often; and the rogue one executes the intended fantasy well, but leaves you with no subclass on anything that isn't social roleplay until level 9.

They're good ideas, but still need a lot of work on the actual design.

The Mindflayer feat path, however, is pretty good; very satisfactory in all parts of its mechanical implementation. You guys did good on that one.

That said, the Mind Blast spell is ludicrously weak for its level. How is an exclusive 6th level spell dealing less damage than a 3rd level one? Baffling stuff.

Quote from Camunon >>

All the subclasses have very cool concepts, but are mechanically underwhelming.

The barbarian one is extremely weak; the wizard one requires Hit Dice for everything and doesn't even give you ways to recover them more often; and the rogue one executes the intended fantasy well, but leaves you with no subclass on anything that isn't social roleplay until level 9.

They're good ideas, but still need a lot of work on the actual design.

The Mindflayer feat path, however, is pretty good; very satisfactory in all parts of its mechanical implementation. You guys did good on that one.

That said, the Mind Blast spell is ludicrously weak for its level. How is an exclusive 6th level spell dealing less damage than a 3rd level one? Baffling stuff.

 I agree on all except for that last point. 

6d8 damage for a 6th level spell you get up to 6 free uses of in a 60ft cone that is an Int save and stuns for one turn is very powerful... Balance my dude, balance.

I LOVE the theme, but the abilities of the subclasses and feats could use some work.

I just don't get this House Agent Rogue...

Influence action as a bonus action, some poor 1/LR spells, and nothing else at lv3. The lv9 feature costs 4d6 of SA damage and also requires the target needs to be Friendly or Charmed to bu stunned for only one round (and yes the condition ends before your next turn so basically you cannot benefit from it).

Why would anyone play this subclass instead of Arcane Trickster?

 Also, these features just won't work. There won't be any DM who'd allow a player to persuade an enemy to give up fighting as a bonus action while they're stabbing them with an action. This is not a video game. This feature also has zero use when fighting against monsters which it won't work in most of the encounters.

Some might say you can Influence with both of your action and your Bonus action, but still your allies are killing their friends.

The Lv9. feature also plays like a mess. I get the intention is those spy things, but in real plays, why would you stun a guy who's friendly to you in a real combat? The guy is already not attacking you, even maybing helping you out in that combat since it's Friendly to you. The subclass is just full of whys.

The Scion of the Three was already a mess. The only useful feature was doomed as INT Mod/LR and nothing else that will make you feel you do have a subclass. The UA Magic Stealer Rogue was also a mess and we never get to see a revised version of it. This House Agent Rogue still plays like vanilla Rogue with a Magic Initiate or a worse Arcane Trickster.

Is it really that hard for Rogue to have an actual playable new subclass?

I think this Barbarian subclass was designed by someone that does not understand or really dislikes the Barbarian class. 2 damage for the cost of being hit and melee attacks only when the game is printing monster after monster with Arcane Burst that the Barbarian cannot resist and is melee and ranged. This scales to a pitiful 4 at level 16! Perception expertise and Blindsight slightly further than the Fighting style? Radiant infection is weaker than the damage over time the Hell Knight gets at level 3 and comes at level 10. Requiring a save for 1d12 damage at Level 14! What a lark for the caster fans.

I am really concerned for the Path of Lament Barbarian's fate after reading this. Expect Red all the way down the line in the survey. 

I love Out of the Abyss.  I hope this means it's getting another round of polish or expanding the Underdark areas.  Or is this a SCAG for the Underdark?  I'd be down for that, too.

As someone who primarily plays martials, I found the Path of Unlight Barbarian underwhelming upon my first read-through. The flavor and mechanics feel uninspired, and the subclass needs significant revision to be engaging.

I don't yet know the specific meaning behind the Unlight setting, so I can't really judge the designs of the Barbarian and Wizard. Numbers and balance aren't something UA needs to worry about at this stage either. But the Rogue's subclass is way too dependent on charm effects. When facing enemies that are immune to charm and can't be reasoned with, it does become very passive. I understand the intention to emphasize the Rogue as a skill-user, but at least give it some abilities that can be used in any combat situation (what the Familiar provides is far too little).

:D

Nice

Reading the comments, maybe all three subclass  conceptsneed to be new feat trees. Little tack-ons that can go with any class.

I can't stress enough how exciting previous UAs were. Even things that missed the mark were trying interesting concepts.

This is NOT it. 

The Rogue is in my opinion a broken subclass which can't be made good without having a complete rework. This subclass is the most interesting of the 3 still.

The barbarian is abysmal. It is barely a subclass until late tier 3, and it's not even worth it once you get your feature then.

The wizard is fine mechanically, but it's just a copy paste in terms of feeling to the radiant sorcerer from Faerun.

These concepts are cool, they deserve better, and we know you can do it because the past UAs were 300% better.

The Mind Blast spell at the end silently confirms they are moving forward with Psion as a spellcaster. Super disappointed to see that. 

ENOUGH wizard subclasses. This arcana book has 4 coming and then here we go with another. 

Psionics have literally always been spells with a cost of paint. Other than spell points I don’t know what you expected. Be glad because they don’t know how to balance non spell features and it would end crap if they didn’t make it a caster. 

The Imaskarcanist subclass is, without a doubt, one of the most interesting things I’ve seen recently. It manages to capture the feeling that we are discovering a fragment of a truly ancient and dangerous magical tradition, rather than simply receiving another subclass with a new set of abilities.

The concept of Unlight is also excellent. It has a strong identity, both visually and mechanically, and its connection to the Imaskarcana gives the subclass a depth that goes far beyond its mechanics. It feels as though there is an entire arcane tradition behind it waiting to be explored.

I would really like to see more information about the Imaskarcana, especially their origins, nature, intelligence, and relationship with the ancient wizard-kings of Imaskar. It would be fascinating to discover what other knowledge and powers these artifacts have preserved.

I would also love to see the history of the Deep Imaskari, the High Imaskari, and, most importantly, Ancient Imaskar before its fall explored in much greater depth. There is an enormous amount of narrative potential in all three periods of Imaskari history.

It would also be fantastic to see other great Imaskari artifacts return or be introduced, especially relics connected to important figures in D&D history. One example I would particularly love to see explored is the Necromancer’s Skull Staff, associated with Velsharoon.

I sincerely hope this is only the beginning. Imaskar is one of the most fascinating civilizations in D&D history, and it deserves to be explored with the same richness and depth suggested by its own mysteries.

LEVEL 14: DOOM OF UNLIGHT You can curse your enemies with corrosive Unlight, and the only escape from the curse is physical violence or an explosive death. When a creature takes Radiant damage from a spell you cast, you can take a Reaction to curse that creature with Unlight. The creature makes a Constitution save against your spell save DC. On a failure, the creature is cursed. Until the curse ends, the target suffers the following effects:

• The target emits Bright Light in a 20-foot radius. • Attack rolls against the target have Advantage. • At the start of each of the target’s turns, it takes Radiant damage equal to your character level.

• The target has Advantage on Strength checks and melee attack rolls. 

Why would i want to curse a target and give them advantages? souldn't it be disavantages? 

Leaning into the light theme, the Path of Unlight Barbarian needs features like its own version of Blinding Smite to make it exciting and feel powerful. You have to capture the brutality of the barbarian fantasy.

I definitely agree with a lot of people here in saying that the subclasses are pretty underwhelming. House Agent Rogue is really the only one that has some interesting stuff doing for it, but even then, it still has some issue with it.

However, I do think the mind flayer feats are the highlight of this UA. My only issue is the initial INT requirement might make it a tad hard for some classes to stomach.

One of the reasons you don't become an NPC Mindflayer being "You are such an awful person that no Elder Brain wants to control you" is a HILARIOUS option.

Quote from GenericDarth >>

Psionics have literally always been spells with a cost of paint. Other than spell points I don’t know what you expected. Be glad because they don’t know how to balance non spell features and it would end crap if they didn’t make it a caster. 

All "magic" is spells with a different coat of paint. I want them to go further and show that the game can be multifacted. D&D doesn't have to fit in one particular frame.

Plus, what we saw in the playtests looked like an Int Sorcerer. It had maybe 7 new spells to show for being an entirely new fullcaster.