Unearthed Arcana provides players and DMs a chance to test some new ideas, though never making it into any official content. Dungeons and Dragons is an ever-evolving game with numerous editions, add-ons, and books to provide more material for players and DMs to incorporate into their fantasy role-playing games. Unearthed Arcana or UA are playtesting materials for people to use.
10 Wizard Subclass: School Of Onomancy- Wield The Ancient Power Of Names To Defeat Your Foes
One of the more recent UA, this school of magic, focuses on Naming magic. There was a great deal of focus on the concept of True Names and using a creature's true name to charm them, enhance one's spells against that creature, or utilizing these new features called Resonants that perform all sorts of magical effects against that creature.
This Wizard Subclass has not gotten any revisions or updates, and unlike the more recent UA, this subclass remains in the playtesting stage.
9 Druid Subclass: Circle Of Twilight-A Nature Lover's Guide To The Undead
Not to be confused with the Cleric's Twilight Domain, this Druid subclass focused on the nature of undead things. The Circle of Twilight focused on a Druid's connection to the undead part of nature, allowing the Druid to speak with the dead with no material components, gaining resistance to radiant and necrotic damage, and being able to cast etherealness and travel among the realm of ghosts and spirits.
While this Subclass provides some new features for a Druid, it is still in UA with no revisions since 2016
8 Fighter Subclass: Sharpshooter Archetype- For The Player Who Does Not Want To Play A Ranger
The Fighter has a prolific roster of subclasses to choose from, ranging from simple champions to psychic wielding warriors that closely resemble Jedi. However, one Archetype remained in UA as the Sharpshooter Archetype. This subclass is meant to be the sniper class allowing new features such as using the search action as a bonus action, not rolling disadvantage with ranged weapons at five feet, and an additional bonus action attack if the player forgoes their own advantage.
The only feature that made it out of the playtesting stage was the steady aim feature which turned into an optional feature for Rogues. Everything else about this class remains in playtesting.
7 Sorcerer Subclass: Phoenix Sorcery-Fireball Is The Answer And The Source Of Power For This Subclass
This Subclass was paired with other elemental subclasses but had a unique spin given its sorcerous origin derived from the Phoenix. The subclass had features such as being wrapped in magical flame, regaining hit points when casting fire spells, and powerful Phoenix forms, allowing the player to resist all damage, among other features.
The only Sorcerer subclass that made it out of this UA was the Favored Soul, which was reworked to be the Divine Soul subclass. However, the Phoenix remains as playtesting material.
6 Bard Subclass: College of Satire- For The Class Clown Of The Party
This subclass finds its origins as a jester in D&D lore. A Bard Subclass that focuses on puns, jokes, and pranks. This Subclass contains features that allow the player to dash or disengage as a bonus action, to cast detect thoughts wherein if the target fails at resisting, they embarrass themselves and add a bardic inspiration die to failed rolls and turn them into a success.
This subclass has its roots in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons: The second edition. However, unlike the College of Valor, this subclass is still in UA.
5 Paladin Subclass: Oath of Treachery-An Evil Subclass For Those Evil One-Shots
This subclass outlines Paladins who revoke their oaths and follow a path of darkness and evil. The Oath of Treachery focuses a lot on deceiving their foes with features such as being able to conjure a duplicate of themself, being able to teleport sixty feet away while invisible after being hit, and being able to add poison damage to the attack.
Out of the five Paladin subclasses that have been in UA, this is the only Paladin subclass that remains unofficial.
4 Prestige Class: Rune Scribe-Trying To Teach An Old Dog the Old Tricks
This is a unique UA. This has its origins in earlier editions of D&D wherein a Prestige class would not be available until the player reached 3rd level, and it was a multiclass option, not a starting class. This UA, in particular, focused on the Rune Scribe. This Prestige class was dedicated to understanding rune magic, obtaining powerful runes, and harnessing the rune magic.
While this offers a new way of leveling up and multiclassing to new and exciting ways, it does not fit the current ruleset in 5e. This Prestige class is still in UA today.
3 Cleric Subclass: Protection Domain-Play As The Healer And The Protector As Well
Fun Fact, the Cleric class has the most subclasses out of any other class. Fourteen and counting. This subclass focused on many of the gods of protection. It offered players several abilities such as imposing disadvantage on attackers attacking their allies, creating an aura that attacks enemies when they attack and granting either yourself or an ally resistance to two different types of damage.
The subclass helps round out the domains of the gods of protection in most D&D worlds. Nonetheless, it remains one of the few Cleric domains in UA with no revisions.
2 Modern Magic-The Urban Fantasy Adventure You Never Thought You Needed
This UA is an outline of three different subclasses and a slew of new spells, all centered around the idea of magic in a modern-day setting. This is a stand-out amongst all other UA because this is one of the few UA to tackle a setting outside of Medieval fantasy.
The city domain for Clerics, the ghost in the machine patron for warlocks, and the school of Technomancy for wizards all create this unique spin on D&D. There has not been much expansion on this UA, and it has not gotten any updates or revisions. As such, this remains in UA.
1 Mystic Class/Psionics- You Have To Have Psychic Powers In Your Fantasy Game
Ah, the Mystic class. This has been in UA since 2016 and has gone through several revisions. This class is centered around Psionic-based abilities and involves utilizing one's mind against their foes. The Mystic class offers a fresh take on an entirely new class. Similar to the Artificer, both classes have gone through many playtesting and refining.
The difference is that the Artificer was able to escape the UA playtesting while the Mystic class remains. While some of the Psionic talents have been created for other subclasses, the Mystic class is still unofficial and still in UA.
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