Eight subclasses are being added. Seven of them are spellcasters. That split tells you nearly everything about the kind of book Arcana Unleashed wants to be.
Magic is the focus of this new Dungeons & Dragons release, and the subclass roster sticks to that theme with barely a step off course. The bulk of the additions are magic-oriented classes. The lone exception gives Fighters a helping of arcane power they don’t normally get to touch.
It’s Wizards who benefit most. The 2024 Player’s Handbook handed every class a flat four subclasses, a steep reduction from the eight available under the 2014 rules. Arcana Unleashed narrows that shortfall, so anyone planning a wizard for their next campaign should look these over before locking anything in.
A cleric for whom magic itself is the calling
Clerics have always lived next door to magic, though magic is seldom the thing a cleric actually prioritizes. The Arcana Cleric flips that. For them, both the knowledge and the power amount to “a gift they have the responsibility to share.”
Beginning at Level Three, Arcana Domain clerics can spend a use of Channel Divinity to alter their spells, either handing temporary HP to the spell’s target or weakening a target’s saving throws against a spell effect. They additionally pick up proficiency in Arcana or a Level One cleric skill, along with two Wizard cantrips of their choosing.
Level Six is the point where things start to feel unfair in the best possible way. Arcana Domain clerics get to fold dispel magic into the same action, bonus action, or reaction they use to heal a creature or lift a condition. It costs no spell slot. Once per short rest.
At Level 17, four Wizard spells drawn from levels six, seven, eight and nine become permanently prepared. Arcana clerics also maintain a prepared spell list that receives upgrades at levels three, five, seven and nine.
The Fighter who took a page from the elves
Arcane Archers weave magic into their attacks and into everyday adventuring, drawing on an elven technique paired with a grasp of magical theory. Level Three starts them off with either druidcraft or prestidigitation as a cantrip, alongside Proficiency in the Arcana and Nature skills.
The same level opens up “Arcane Shot” options, which apply to ranged attacks made with weapons that use Ammunition. Banishing, enfeebling, piercing. Choose whichever flavor of turn-ruining suits you.
Once they hit Level Seven, Arcane Archers gain the ability to steer their shots, selecting a fresh target in range after whiffing on the first. Magical Ammunition shows up alongside it, allowing them to grant their ammunition magical properties such as darkening an area or springing locks open.
What comes later is more straightforward and considerably nastier. Level 10 returns a use of Arcane Shot whenever they roll initiative. Level 15 adds teleportation to their Indomitable feature. Level 18 allows them to shift away after a shot misses them and then strike back without triggering an Opportunity Attack.
Monks with spell slots, a genuine first
Monks were already in a better place under the 2024 rules than they had been in years. Warrior of the Mystic Arts pushes the class further still.
Level Three grants these monks spell slots and sorcerer cantrips, and their spell access widens as they climb in level. Level Six allows one Unarmed Strike to be swapped for a cantrip during an Attack action, and permits converting spell slots into Focus Points and back the other way.
Level 11 imposes Disadvantage when Stunning Strike is used on a target, regardless of whether the saving throw lands. Level 17 lets them trade two of the Unarmed Strikes in Flurry of Blows for Level One or Two sorcerer spells.
Warlocks bound to gods on borrowed time
The usual warlock draws power from somewhere dark. The Vestige Patron warlock draws it from somewhere desperate. Their magic flows from dying gods known as vestiges, who surrender whatever strength remains to them while scrabbling to reclaim the glory they once had.
Level Three delivers a Vestige Companion that fights alongside them and follows the warlock’s orders. That companion can tap divine power once per day through a handful of different abilities. Vestige Patron warlocks additionally receive Vestige Spells, taken from cleric domain spells.
From Level Six, Vestige Companions recover that divine draw on every Short Rest, Long Rest, or use of Magical Cunning. Level 10 makes it possible to revive a companion reduced to 0 HP by spending a Pact Magic spell slot, once per Long Rest. Level 14 grants Vestiges a temporary shapeshift into stronger forms modeled on Celestial, Fiends or Undead.
Conjurers, plus a 30-foot answer to most problems
Conjurer wizards revolve around conjuration spells, which surprises nobody, and the summoning payoff lives up to the premise. Level Three drops two Conjuration spells into their spellbook at no cost, with another freebie arriving at every level of spell slots. They can also teleport as far as 30 feet using a Bonus Action, including trading places with willing creatures.
Level Six stretches that teleport out to 60 feet and allows them to spend spell slots to refresh the ability. Summons get a boost at Six as well, picking up temporary HP and Resistance to an assortment of damage types.
By Level 10, taking damage stops breaking concentration on Conjuration spells. Level 14 brings Splintered Summons, which in certain situations calls up two creatures rather than one.
The mind-benders
Enchanter wizards specialize in bending minds, and not necessarily for wicked reasons. It kicks off at Level Three with proficiency in Deception, Intimidation or Persuasion, plus an Intelligence-based bonus on ability checks made with that skill. Two Enchantment spells land in the spellbook for free and expand along the same curve as the Conjurer’s.
For moments when conversation fails, Level Three Enchanters can slap Charmed onto nearby targets who blow their Wisdom Saving Throws. At Level Six, Enchantment spells can be cast as though at an inflated level to catch extra creatures, without burning a higher level spell slot.
Level 10 gives them Reactions that turn aside certain attacks using the Enchanter’s charm, though using it more than once per Long Rest requires casting Enchantment spells with spell slots to recharge. Level 14 is the genuinely sinister tier: targets can be left oblivious to the fact that they’re Charmed, and may forget several hours entirely.
The Necromancer sustains the gloom
Thanks to the preceding Season of Horror, D&D has spent a grim year, and that atmosphere carries into Arcana Unleashed by way of the Necromancer Wizard.
Level Three supplies two Necromancy spells with further ones promised as they advance, Resistance to Necrotic Damage, an Undead familiar, and the means to siphon health from Undead creatures whenever they cast Necromancy spells using spell slots.
Level Six permits Necromancers to shed Exhaustion via Arcane Recovery, and their Wizard spells and features bypass Resistance to Necrotic damage when dealing damage. They also gain an always-prepared animate dead spell, castable once per Long Rest without a spell slot, plus a pair of buffs for any Undead they summon.
Level 10 adds further healing, allowing them to drain the life from Undead they control whenever they end up Bloodied. Level 14 lets them hand temporary HP to their Undead and then detonate them at 0 HP, hurting everything in the vicinity.
Transmuters walk away with the most inventive toys
Rounding out the new subclasses is the Transmuter wizard, built, as you’d guess, around Transmutation spells. Level Three puts two of them into the spellbook for free, with an extra one at every subsequent level of spell slots.
Level Three also yields a Transmuter’s Stone, made at the conclusion of a Long Rest, which provides Darkvision, Resistance to a damage type of their choice, or a boost to speed. It comes with an ever-prepared alter self spell that can be cast for free once per Long Rest, carrying unique bonuses to what alter self is capable of.
Level Six extends comparable treatment to polymorph. Six additionally allows transmuters to bump a Transmutation spell’s effective level up by one, provided the spell neither makes an attack roll nor forces a saving throw and is cast with a spell slot. The Transmuter’s Stone gets stronger as well, offering one more benefit and two additional options.
Level 14 wraps things up with ultimate abilities that consume the Transmuter’s Stone outright. De-age a creature. Transmute an object. Out of everything in the new Dungeons & Dragons book, these might be the options an inventive wizard will enjoy breaking the most.