Designer Insights from Unearthed Arcana: Underdark Options 2

Tags unearthed arcana Studio Blog

This Unearthed Arcana features new playtest content drawn from the Underdark. It continues the theme of the previous Underdark Options UA, presenting subclasses and species native to the deep places beneath the world.

The material in this UA uses the rules in the Player’s Handbook. Read about this playtest directly from the D&D Game Design Team below.

From the Game Design Team

The material in this Unearthed Arcana includes more material inspired by the Underdark, one of D&D’s most storied locations.

Like our last Unearthed Arcana, the material here touches on elements of the Underdark that have appeared previously, but which have been expanded or transformed in ways we’re not yet ready to fully reveal. Faerzress, for example, has been part of the Underdark since D1 Descent into the Depths of the Earth, and the Deep Imaskari have made their home in the deepest depths of the Lowerdark since 2003’s Underdark. More about these topics will be revealed… in time.

Right now, however, we need your help. Try these new subclasses and species 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 species that might be included in a future product. Most of these subclasses and species are entirely new and have not appeared in UA before. The Circle of Spores Druid, however, is an update from a previous version that appeared in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.

Subclasses

This Unearthed Arcana features three new subclasses:

  • Freedom Domain
  • Circle of Spores
  • Faerzress Sorcery

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

Freedom Domain

The concept behind the Freedom Domain is simple: this subclass is a high-Dexterity Cleric. Some of the mechanical design of the class was borrowed from the high-Dexterity Oath of the Noble Genies Paladin designed for Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn. Previous editions—such as D&D 3e’s Freedom Domain—also had an influence on this subclass.

The spell list was designed with one question in mind: Would this spell help in a jailbreak? When the answer was yes, we tried to include that spell on the list.

We wanted the Freedom Domain’s Channel Divinity to be a low-level Freedom of Movement effect, but it was also important that this Channel Divinity be useful most of the time, even when none of the Cleric’s allies are Grappled or otherwise restricted. Design review and iteration on the design added a movement buff, ensuring that Channel Divinity is always useful.

Circle of Spores

This subclass originally appeared in Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica and was updated in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything for use in the broader D&D multiverse. We have updated it now for 5.5e.

In an Underdark setting, the ability to use spores to reanimate corpses is most commonly associated with myconid sovereigns—and it’s possible your Druid learned this art from one such creature! Some flavor elements have been reworked for the Underdark setting to reflect this connection. These Druids also get Telepathy as part of this subclass, further tying it to myconids.

The “Design Notes” sidebar in the UA explains the major changes we made to this class, so we won’t discuss them here, but can expand on the choice to replace Spreading Spores. Spreading Spores, which allowed you to create a cloud of spores up to 30 feet away from you, felt like it didn’t fit with the “get into melee and raise the dead” loop of the subclass. We hope Explosive Burst encourages Druids to keep themselves and their zombies in the fray!

Faerzress Sorcery

Faerzress, the strange radiation of the Underdark, mutates creatures exposed to it for long periods. This makes it a natural power source for Underdark Sorcerers. Faerzress also has a list of distinctive magical effects: blocking teleportation and scrying, enhancing Darkvision, granting mundane weapons magical properties, and more.

The challenge for this subclass was designing cool Sorcerer abilities with a faerzress vibe, starting with the ability to create faerzress and be not just immune to the radiation’s effects but empowered by it. Adding scrying and terrain-manipulation to the spell list gave the Faerzress Sorcerer interesting options not usually available to the class. Other Sorcerer subclasses are often associated with a particular kind of damage (such as Radiant and Fire for Spellfire Sorcery); for faerzress we leaned into Lightning damage, culminating in the ability to transform into a being of pure faerzress energy.

Species

Caroline GaribaSpecies

This UA also contains five new species. While many Underdark adventures focus on characters from “upstairs” traveling downwards, we wanted to provide more ways for players to explore characters who already live in the Underdark and who are fighting to protect their home. You can already play a Drow, Duergar, or Deep Gnome, but now we’re adding the following:

  • Deep Imaskari
  • Drider
  • Illithidkin
  • Kuo-toa
  • Myconid

Deep Imaskari

We discussed the Deep Imaskari and their relationship to Unlight in the previous UA, so make sure you check that out! The Deep Imaskari are descended from humans, so some features (such as Resourceful) reflect this.

Most features, however, focus on their connection to Unlight. While most Underdark species have Darkvision or some other means of seeing in the dark, the Deep Imaskari instead create light wherever they go.

Drider

There are two parts to the Underdark expression of the Drider fantasy: the spider and the drow, who combine seamlessly into one deadly hunter. This drider’s abilities allow them to lure in and trap their prey. How they finish it off is dependent upon the rest of the character build.

Driders are a staple of the Underdark, but they’re a tough concept to bring to the player-facing side of the game due to their typical size and many legs. We took inspiration from the Centaur in Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse for the mechanical expression of this concept.

Illithidkin

An Illithidkin is a victim (or willing participant) of mind flayer experimentation. They have access to a small selection of psionic abilities. This contrasts with our Ceremorphosis feat path from the previous UA, which requires more build investment and provides the full mind flayer experience. This species and that feat path weren’t designed to be used together, but rather represent two different ways one might run afoul of mind flayer activity.

Kuo-toa

One aspect of the kuo-toa that has captured our imagination is their relationship to their gods. They create idols out of disparate pieces (statues, body parts, household objects, etc), and sometimes those idols come to life. If you play as a kuo-toa, you’ll get access to the Find Familiar spell, but you can mix and match features of the available familiars to create your own delightful abomination!

Myconid

Like their fungal inspiration, myconids come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. They have appeared in many D&D adventures (including Baldur’s Gate 3), and we thought it would be fun to imagine myconid adventurers. What does it look like for a plant to uproot and embark on a journey?

When a myconid leaves their circle for adventure, their party becomes their new circle! Myconid abilities are all about building rapport with your team and sharing knowledge, often without needing to exchange even a word. Because of that, this species is a real “team player.”

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 September 17, and let us know what you think.

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

Comments

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