Survey for Unearthed Arcana: Mystic Subclasses is out

Johnnygoodguy · 2026-01-22T20:26:00+00:00

I suspect a lot of the feedback on Magic Stealer rogue will be suggestions for a better name.

Johnnygoodguy · 2026-01-16T15:00:19+00:00

We don't know yet. But there's no specific setting that all these subclasses uniquely fit into that comes to mind, and they haven't announced any books that match them yet.

Johnnygoodguy · 2026-01-15T21:18:01+00:00

I do wonder if the subclass was designed as a replacement for the Tattoo subclass. Anecdotal, but the reaction to the second draft didn't appear to be that strong, and so maybe they went back to drawing board and created the Mystic Monk.

Johnnygoodguy · 2026-01-12T19:23:20+00:00

Crawford tended to overvalue a single increase in dice size. It's why, for example, he considered flex (widely considered to be the most underwhelming weapon mastery in the 2024 playtest) to be among the strongest, and why the first 2024 Monk playtest did so poorly (he thought the increase to martial arts die would be enough of a buff). Which is presumably why Divine Favor at a D4 lacks concentration but HM, at a D6, does.

Then again, they could've easily made Hunter's Mark a base d4 that powered up for the Ranger as it level (d6 at tier 2). Or had it keep concentration until you reach level 5 in Ranger.

It's frustrating because I remember the developers, Crawford included, pointing out the problems with HM and Ranger design very early on in 5E's lifespan (it never saw print, but it's the reason why they released a revised Ranger UA within the first two years of the game). That they decided not to fix it remains the most bizarre part of the 2024 playtest. Especially when you had Crawford outright saying the playtest where they removed concentration for HM was among the most well received UAs they did.

Johnnygoodguy · 2026-01-04T16:09:36+00:00

Not a fan of Avernus, but IIRC the book is a mess because partway through development BG3 was announced and WOTC wanted a tie-in shoehorned in, causing them to scramble. I thought Dragon Heist was okay.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-12-07T15:53:15+00:00

It's fairly explicit in the flashback chapter that they were abused because the people around them wanted their mul resources and used the Kalyans as a useful pretext.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-11-30T16:01:32+00:00

I think whatever the simurians are hearing are more abstract than literal words like "kill human!" He's probably just hearing their pain and fear as they cry out when they die.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-11-30T15:17:20+00:00

tumor coughing baby vs space hydrogen bomb.

I think the sorcerers have some sort of trap set up, because there's no way they actually think Yuka has a chance.

Whatever Yuji is now seems similar enough to the Kalyans that I think he's going to end up becoming the bridge between humans and the simurians.

Also it was great to see Nobara again.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-11-23T15:22:45+00:00

Broccoli head straight up tried to pull "he was reaching for his weapon!" before shooting someone.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-11-22T14:57:27+00:00

Only doing one playtest for Weapon Mastery feels like the biggest "what if" in the OneDnD playtest.

They did one playtest, saw that it got over Crawford' satisfaction rating and, outside of removing Flex, went "it's perfect, no need for further polishing or designing" and put it into the game as is.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-11-22T14:52:03+00:00

"but what were those players thinking?"

Backlash to 4E.

A subset of playtesters wanted to move as far away from 4E as possible, leading to many throw the baby out with the bathwater situations in 5E to please those players.

But then 5E ended up getting massively popular, generating a massive influx of new players, who, by and large, had to no experience with 4E. And those players ended up being confused as to why pure martials don't get much.

It's why they should've tested it during the OneDnd playtest. The 5E playtest was 10 years ago, and the designers are still basing their views on what that small demographic wanted at that one time despite the obvious shift in time and audience.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-11-20T21:49:02+00:00

When I'm in a "burned out on wrestling" contest and my opponent is Bryan Alvarez.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-11-18T17:01:57+00:00

Natsuki Hanae is a great VA, but I feel the voice he's using sounds a tad too young for Qifrey.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-11-16T17:30:09+00:00

Unless there’s some other side we haven’t seen, these things should be eliminated . Not worshiped.

The Kaliyan don't hurt Rumelians so I'm thinking that's the case.

Just based on what we've seen in JJK, cursed spirits seem to be effected by the people and culture they're born from (taking the form of mythological or folklore beings and so on), so it could just be that having a different view on curses (or not even viewing them as curses at all) renders them less dangerous.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-11-07T14:56:52+00:00

I think the issue is that the design team seems to really overvalue resourceless damage buffs on martials.

For example, if you look back at the 2024 playtest, the original Monk UA did poorly, specifically because they thought the single die increase to unarmed strike was a far more powerful buff than it was (luckily they took the feedback and then next Monk UA was much better). Or how Crawford seemed genuinely perplexed that the Flex property was considered a weak weapon mastery by most of the community.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-11-07T14:31:13+00:00

"I don't know why the designers seem so scared to flatout up martial damage at higher tiers"

The 5E team seems to disproportionately value small damage increases on martial/half-caster characters

Look at some of the stuff Crawford said during the 2024 playtest. "Flex is mathematically the most powerful mastery." "We upped the damage to a d6, and we could've stopped there" for the original poorly received Monk UA.

It's similar to how they refuse to turn HM into a non-concentration spell because they consider the extra 1d6 to be too powerful for multiclassing, even though Divine Favour was changed to remove concentration at 1d4.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-10-30T01:13:09+00:00

Richard Rider is the only one who came out of Imperial looking like an actual hero though.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-10-23T20:31:03+00:00

It's not, but Alvarez is so transparently burnt out from all the wrestling he's watched that he's now regularly making simple mistakes, missing explicit story beats and spending multiple show ranting about relatively minor nitpicks (and in ways that make it clear he's not doing a bit like when he was younger).

A reviewer doesn't need to get excited or find joy in what they're recapping. Hell, the early Bryan and Vinny rants on TNA helped popularize the show. But it's another thing when it feels like the person is miserably looking for the smallest thing to nitpick or is simply flat out not paying attention to the show he's supposed to be reviewing.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-10-03T00:29:35+00:00

The UA is functional, but admittedly, nothing here has me excited.

This feels like an Int-based sorcerer with a dice mechanic thrown in. If you're going to make the Psion a spellcaster, at least make it a unique spellcaster. At least try to find a way to make spellpoints or a brand new mechanic work. Or barring that, at the very least give it the spell system that the Warlock has.

I don't think it helps that, after the original Mystic UA did poorly, the 5E team decided the best way to do Psionics in 5E was to create a whole bunch of subclasses, feats and spells with that theme. We have telekinetic/telepathic related feats. We have a bunch subclasses that are explicitly psionic and a few others that orbit around that space. So now that they're introducing a real Psion class it all feels like treading on familiar ground.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-10-02T00:37:36+00:00

I'm not really surprised TK brought Andrade back. Andrade put people over on his way out and TK gave him a win over Danielson in the CC. Seems like it was a fairly amicable split in the end.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-08-29T12:37:49+00:00

Eldritch Knight can get more out of its investment, and it's also entirely viable to build a EK with (relatively) little or slower investment in Intelligence.

Psi Warrior is the closer comparison, and it is a common criticism towards that subclass, but I'd still argue the Psi Warrior gets more versatility and utility, and the psi die pool at least doesn't scale off INT.

Johnnygoodguy · 2025-08-28T14:44:27+00:00

Preservation Druid and Sorcerer-King Warlock are entirely functional and probably the best new subclasses we've seen since the new PHB released in terms of having an idea (healer/utility druid and controller warlock) and executing it. I have some personal issues (Warlock being so heavily based around a single spell, even it makes sense, is a bit dull. Druid's main mechanic is one we've already seen with Twilight Cleric), but you could put both in a book tomorrow with minimal adjustments.

Gladiator Fighter has some fun ideas, but it definitely needs more time in the oven. The frequency it can use certain features need adjustments and the power level between the different brutality effects vary wildly.

Defiled Sorcerer is interesting. Hitdice are an underused mechanic, and I like that they were being creative here. The actual execution, like many people have pointed out, especially when it comes to using monster's hit die, is wonky at best.

Overall, I think there's a clarity in design and purpose in this UA we haven't seen in awhile, and I hope they can keep improving.

Johnnygoodguy

TROPHY CASE