The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is upon us! Players will journey to the Feywild in the adventure and meet fey of all sorts, from the whimsical to the murderous. To help you survive this wild plane, we've compiled a list of subclasses that either embody the Plane of Faerie or are especially good at combating fey creatures. Click below to start exploring:

1. Barbarian: Path of Wild Magic
2. Cleric: Trickery Domain
3. Druid: Circle of Dreams
4. Paladin: Oath of the Ancients
5. Ranger: Horizon Walker
6. Warlock: The Archfey

Barbarian: Path of Wild Magic

Kicking off our list is a flavorful barbarian subclass found in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. The Path of Wild Magic is perfect for player characters who are either returning to the Feywild or meet the party there. These barbarians have been transformed by the dense ancient magics of the Feywild. However, you might decide that you are an eladrin associated with summer, which is characterized by aggression and unfettered energy. In that case, this barbarian subclass is a strong match.

The Path of Wild Magic subclass has one notable feature that can help party members survive the dangers of the Feywild: the 3rd-level Magical Awareness. It allows you to sniff out spells and magic items within 60 feet of you. This could spare your party from a glyph of warding or lead you to some hidden treasure. 

However, the defining feature of the subclass is Wild Surge. It allows you to embody the unpredictability of the Feywild. When you enter a rage, you'll roll on the below table for an effect. (To calculate the DC for a particular effect, use this calculation: 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier.)

Wild Magic

Source: Tasha's Cauldron of Everything

Cleric: Trickery Domain

You might think of clerics as pious and good. But when the world around you is shrouded in chaos and confusion (see: the Feywild), having a cleric who worships the Traveler or some other trickster deity might prove useful.

Trickery clerics can wade through the dangers of the Feywild with relative ease. Their domain spells include favorites like disguise self, pass without trace, polymorph, and modify memory. Pair pass without trace with the Trickery cleric's Blessing of the Trickster, which grants advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks, and you have one hard-to-spot cleric.

The Trickery domain receives the Invoke Duplicity channel divinity at 2nd level, which can deceive enemies both in and out of combat for more antics: 

Channel Divinity: Invoke Duplicity

Starting at 2nd level, you can use your Channel Divinity to create an illusory duplicate of yourself.

As an action, you create a perfect illusion of yourself that lasts for 1 minute, or until you lose your concentration (as if you were concentrating on a spell). The illusion appears in an unoccupied space that you can see within 30 feet of you. As a bonus action on your turn, you can move the illusion up to 30 feet to a space you can see, but it must remain within 120 feet of you.

For the duration, you can cast spells as though you were in the illusion’s space, but you must use your own senses. Additionally, when both you and your illusion are within 5 feet of a creature that can see the illusion, you have advantage on attack rolls against that creature, given how distracting the illusion is to the target.

Source: Player's Handbook

Druid: Circle of Dreams

Like the barbarian's Path of Wild Magic, the Circle of Dreams is a druid subclass that has direct ties to the Feywild, specifically to the Summer Court. The subclass was introduced in Xanathar's Guide to Everything and offers some protective abilities.

The 2nd-level feature, Balm of the Summer Court, gives you a pool of die that can be used as a bonus action to restore hit points to another creature and grant them a small amount of temporary hit points. But the 6th-level feature will help you survive long nights in the Feywild's wilderness, where even innocuous-looking creatures can spell certain death:

Hearth of Moonlight and Shadow

At 6th level, home can be wherever you are. During a short or long rest, you can invoke the shadowy power of the Gloaming Court to help guard your respite. At the start of the rest, you touch a point in space, and an invisible, 30-foot-radius sphere of magic appears, centered on that point. Total cover blocks the sphere.

While within the sphere, you and your allies gain a +5 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth) and Wisdom (Perception) checks, and any light from open flames in the sphere (a campfire, torches, or the like) isn’t visible outside it.

The sphere vanishes at the end of the rest or when you leave the sphere.

Source: Xanathar's Guide to Everything

The druid offers another subclass that can work just as well in the Feywild: the Circle of the Shepherd. Although its Spirit Totem feature defines the subclass, the Circle of the Shepherd's other 2nd level feature, Speed of the Woods, can be especially useful in the Feywild. It adds Sylvan to your list of known languages, and you can speak to and decipher the motions and noises of animals. Sylvan is commonly spoken by fey creatures, though you might find that animals are a safer option when asking for directions.

Paladin: Oath of the Ancients

There's a reason why Oath of the Ancients paladins are occasionally known as fey knights. They are paladins who are tied to nature and can go toe to toe with some the strongest fey. Though all paladins get two channel divinity options, the Oath of the Ancients' Turn the Faithless can end combats on its own when you're facing down fey, like a coven of green hags:

Turn the Faithless

You can use your Channel Divinity to utter ancient words that are painful for fey and fiends to hear. As an action, you present your holy symbol, and each fey or fiend within 30 feet of you that can hear you must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the creature is turned for 1 minute or until it takes damage.

A turned creature must spend its turns trying to move as far away from you as it can, and it can’t willingly move to a space within 30 feet of you. It also can’t take reactions. For its action, it can use only the Dash action or try to escape from an effect that prevents it from moving. If there’s nowhere to move, the creature can use the Dodge action.

If the creature’s true form is concealed by an illusion, shapeshifting, or other effect, that form is revealed while it is turned.

Source: Player's Handbook

This oath also offers one of the strongest 7th-level features available to the paladin. Aura of Warding grants you and friendly creatures who are within 10 feet of you resistance to damage from spells. Fireball? More like weak sauce.

Ranger: Horizon Walker

As I always say: when in doubt, let the ranger scout. The Horizon Walker ranger makes it easy to spot fey crossings, which are portals that lead into and out of the Feywild: 

Detect Portal

At 3rd level, you gain the ability to magically sense the presence of a planar portal. As an action, you detect the distance and direction to the closest planar portal within 1 mile of you.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

See the “Planar Travel” section in chapter 2 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide for examples of planar portals.

Source: Xanathar's Guide to Everything

This ranger subclass also offers protection from evil and good, which wards you or another character against the fey. For maneuverability, you get misty step and, at 6th-level, the Ethereal Step feature. It lets you pass through objects and creatures that would normally block your path. Both make it easy for you to reposition yourself to help escape or get the jump on an unsuspecting foe.

For rangers who wish to embody the Feywild, the Fey Wanderer subclass might be a better fit. Found in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, the subclass's Otherworldly Glamour feature offers a bonus to Charisma checks equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of +1) and proficiency in Deception, Performance, or Persuasion.

Warlock: The Archfey 

Ever wanted to meet your patron? Walk up to their doorstep as the Archfey warlock. Although the Archfey offers features that help you survive the Feywild, this subclass has tons of roleplay opportunities. Imagine your party being harassed by a roaming band of quicklings, only so you can watch them cower in fear as you declare that the Queen of Air and Darkness herself chose you as her champion.

Mechanically, this subclass offers a way for you to charm and frighten enemies at low levels:

Fey Presence

Starting at 1st level, your patron bestows upon you the ability to project the beguiling and fearsome presence of the fey. As an action, you can cause each creature in a 10-foot cube originating from you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. The creatures that fail their saving throws are all charmed or frightened by you (your choice) until the end of your next turn.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

At higher levels, these warlocks will laugh maniacally as fey creatures attempt to charm them. With the 10th-level Beguiling Presence feature, you're not only immune to being charmed but can turn such effects back on enemies as a reaction.

Which subclass will you choose? 

The Plane of Faerie is an unexpectedly dangerous realm. An invitation to party with the eladrin can quickly turn deadly, and roads you travel on can easily change direction and lead you to a fomorian's den. Keep these subclasses in mind for character creation as you prepare to adventure in The Wild Beyond the Witchlight. Their unique features, spells, and lore will ensure your safety. 

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is D&D's next big adventure storyline and is now available for preorder on D&D Beyond! It brings the wicked whimsy of the Feywild to fifth edition for the first time and offers new characters, monsters, mechanics, and story hooks suitable for players of all ages and experience levels! Master-tier subscribers can share their books and other compendium content with friends in their campaigns! 

DeAngelo Murillo (That_DeAngelo) is a fourth-generation Mexican-American who helps bring more representation to the geeky community through storytelling, journalism, interviewing creatives, and more on his Twitch channel. In his free time, he enjoys harassing his peers into participating in TTRPG charity events with him and also dies quite often in video games.