New D&D Unearthed Arcana Focuses on the Barbarian and Monk
Dungeons & Dragons have revealed the latest Unearthed Arcana. This month, they have created a new Barbarian subclass called Path of the Wild Soul and a new Monk subclass called Way of the Astral Self. It is important to remember that Unearthed Arcana materials are not official and are designed for playtesting and may never end up being official. That being said, with your DM’s approval, you can use it in your home games.
Let’s take a look at the Path of the Wild Soul Barbarian. I’ll be honest, this sounds ridiculous! Maybe it’s because I’m not super knowledgeable about Barbarians, but this one seems like it might be overpowered. First, I think it’s really cool that this Barbarian gets to cast detect magic and a Wild Surge table. That being said, some of those Wild Surge effects are pretty crazy, like being able to teleport as a bonus action during your rage. Also, the ability to make something like a greatsword a light and throwable weapon is pretty insane. That being said, at least it’s a random effect each time you use it, and it sounds like a really fun subclass. Also, maybe it’s not as powerful as I think because you don’t get anything after level 14 and most of the effects of the Wild Surge table don’t scale.
Now, let’s look at the Way of the Astral Self Monk. This one was a lot more lackluster after reading about the Primal Path Barbarian, but it has some cool features. The idea is that you can summon your astral self to improve yourself in various ways. For instance, at level 3, you can summon the arms of your astral self to let you use Wisdom instead of Strength for checks and saving throws and your attack and damage rolls. This feature also extends your reach of punches to 10 feet. As you level, you can summon more of your astral self for even more effects like deflecting acid, cold, fire, lightning, and force damage. Of course, one of the coolest is at level 17 you gain the ability to regain ki points after creatures near you die.
What do you think of the new subclasses?