Designer Insights from Unearthed Arcana: Underdark Options

Tags unearthed arcana Studio Blog

From the Game Design Team

The material in this Unearthed Arcana is rooted in the Underdark, one of D&D’s most storied locations. The Underdark was first explored almost fifty years ago in the D series of adventures (Descent into the Depths, Shrine of the Kuo-Toa, and Vault of the Drow), but many players today know the Underdark from a memorable sequence in Baldur’s Gate 3 or the Legend of Drizzt novel series.

You will doubtless have many questions about the Underdark and Unlight—a strange and dangerous form of magic important to two of the subclasses you’ll see here. And we will answer those questions... in time! Right now, however, we need your help. Try these new subclasses and feats out for yourself, fill out the survey that will follow, and help us make these character options fun at your table.

—Jason Tondro, Senior Game Designer


Underdark Option Highlights

This UA contains subclasses and feats that might be included in a future product. These subclasses and feats are entirely new and have not appeared in UA before.

Subclasses

This Unearthed Arcana features three new subclasses:

  • Path of Unlight
  • House Agent
  • Imaskarcanist

The following sections summarize each subclass and discuss some of their underlying mechanics.

Path of Unlight

Unlight is a mysterious and powerful form of magic originating in the lowest depths of the Underdark, among the people of Deep Imaskar. Unlight does not merely banish darkness from the Underdark; it infects those exposed to it, transforming them and making them both physically strong and supernaturally aggressive. In other words, Unlight exposure is a perfect match for the Barbarian class.

A Barbarian on this path has been infected by Unlight, which is associated with Radiant damage. When the Barbarian rages, Unlight bursts from their body, burning enemies and illuminating the darkness. More importantly, the Barbarian can infect enemies with Unlight, causing them to continuously burn. In D&D 5.5e, a Barbarian’s Rage can also have uses outside of combat, and the Path of Unlight reflects that by granting a raging Barbarian Blindsight and Expertise in Perception, as they become supernaturally aware of everything illuminated by the Unlight emitted by the Barbarian’s own body.

House Agent (Rogue)

House Agents work as spies for one of the powerful drow houses of Menzoberranzan, where deception and intrigue are so commonplace as to be expected. These Rogues excel at social infiltration by charming their way into a place, extracting information from a fool with a loose tongue, and backstabbing enemies on the way out. Their house sponsor also gives them a bit of magic to assist them on these missions.

Rogues are known for leveraging their reliable skillsets. This Rogue’s skillset is primarily social. Its subclass features incentivize building relationships with NPCs and either manipulating or backstabbing them.

Many of the subclass’s abilities loop through the Attitude and Influence systems: you gain Advantage (and therefore Sneak Attack!) on Friendly creatures. You don’t suffer penalties when you try to use the Influence action on Hostile creatures. You can use the Influence action as a Bonus action. This makes the House Agent’s silver tongue an asset both during and outside of combat!

Imaskarcanist

The Imaskarcanist subclass describes Wizards following in the traditions of Deep Imaskar, located in the lowest levels of the Underdark and first described in 2003’s Underdark, a book for D&D’s 3rd edition. In that book, Deep Imaskar is protected by the Great Seal, an enormous magical ward which also illuminates the city and sheds light strong enough to grow food. In the years since, the magic of the Great Seal—now known as Unlight—has split into two competing strands, each taught by one of the Imaskarcana, intelligent artifacts sacred to the people of Deep Imaskar.

The Imaskarcanist is a master of both these strands of magic, using Unlight both to heal and to harm. On one hand, they can bolster allies with the invigorating magic of Unlight, but they can also infect enemies with Unlight’s burning radiance, causing them to explode when killed! But Unlight burns the Wizard’s inner life force, represented in the game by the Wizard expending their own Hit Point Dice to fuel their abilities. Imaskarcanists also retain other secrets of Deep Imaskar, such as a facility with magic items and knowledge they use to create powerful wards like the Great Seal.

Feats

Michael BroussardMind Flayer

This UA also contains new feats that allow a character to transform into a mind flayer.

Path of Ceremorphosis

Since the Paths of Villainy from our Villainous Options UA were well received, we wanted to explore this type of player option further. Not all paths are necessarily villainous, however; some are simply transformative. The Path of Ceremorphosis explores how a player character might gradually become a Mind Flayer. This path and its features are in part influenced by Tav’s potential journey to Mind Flayerdom throughout Baldur’s Gate 3.

One design challenge with feat paths lies in delivering balanced mechanics that satisfy the narrative expectation of the monster. And the Mind Flayer typically does a lot. We put plenty of iconic abilities into this path—including psionics, Telepathy, the Mind Blast spell (also printed in this UA), and the ability to flay minds. We’ve gated these abilities behind decision points along the path to ceremorphosis. The first decision is at level 8, like the previous paths of villainy. We’ve added a second decision point at the “Full Ceremorphosis” feat that completes your transformation: is your Mind Flayer more adept at casting psionic spells or eating and metabolizing brains?

Becoming an Aberration might not be pleasant, and we want to create space for players interested in exploring that. The “Ceremorphosis Variables” table and “Elder Brain Control” sidebar both offer tools for players and Dungeon Masters who wish to explore telling the story of the transformation itself, as well as role playing the relationship between the character and the Elder Brain that seeks to control them.

Your Feedback Matters

We’re really looking forward to your thoughts and comments on the subclasses and feats in this UA. Once you’ve read or played with these playtest materials, be sure to fill out the survey on D&D Beyond, coming on August 27, and let us know what you think.

Designer Insights from Unearthed Arcana: Villainous Options Update
by D&D Staff
Designer Insights from Unearthed Arcana: Villainous Options 2
by D&D Staff
Designer Insights from Unearthed Arcana: Villainous Options
by D&D Staff

Comments

  • To post a comment, please or register a new account.
Posts Quoted:
Reply
Clear All Quotes