OK, so the most interesting part of Dungeons & Dragons‘ latest playtest – Unearthed Arcana: Underdark Options 2 – is unquestionably the revamped Circle of Spores Druid, which Mollie checked out in detail on Friday – click that link to see what’s what. But it comes alongside two other, brand new subclasses you need to know about and, while one of them is a baffling, wildly situational damp squib, the other has REAL promise.
Released on D&D Beyond on Thursday, Underdark Options 2 is a compact, 8 page PDF that nevertheless packs in a lot of new playable material for anyone enamored with the Lightless Lands. We get new DnD species rules for Driders, Myconids, Kuo-Toa, Deep Imaskari, and Illithidkin (the latter being highly reminiscent of the veiny-faced creature your BG3 Tav becomes if you eat too many tadpoles).
But the main event, as always, is the set of new DnD subclasses to try out. Besides the aforesaid fungus-fancying druid, we get the Freedom Domain Cleric – a rather political, idealistic concept all about using magic “to inspire hope among the oppressed”, free the chained masses, and lead revolutions – and the Faerzress Sorcerer: a seriously out-there option themed around manipulating the peculiar magical radiation that suffuses much of the Underdark. Let’s start with the spicy subclass we promised, shall we?
The Freedom Cleric – move fast and laugh in the face of Conditions
Thematically, Wizards says the Freedom Domain is all about “magic of liberation, movement, and free thought”, and serving divinities that “protect everyone’s right to determine their own destiny”. There’s even a rolling table for which particular philosophical definition of ‘freedom’ speaks to your character most. Scoff if you will, but I think that’s pretty cool.
Mechanically, as support Cleric builds go, this one has some serious utility under its belt. Right off the bat, your domain spell toolkit has all the mobility greatest hits. At 3rd level you get Misty Step and Expeditious Retreat; at 5th you add Fly and Gaseous Form; Dimension Door comes in at 7th; and 9th gives you Passwall and Tree Stride.
Where those spells make you almost impossible to pin down, your subclass features give you some very impressive AOE buffs that not only share your mobility with others, but magically ‘free’ allies within range from offensive effects.
Level 3 – Invoke Liberty
The Freedom Cleric’s core subclass feature is absolute fire. Invoke Liberty is a Channel Divinity ability that creates an Emanation (an aura centered on you) with two big effects – and they both rock. First each allied creature within the bubble gets to remove one Condition it has, out of Frightened, Grappled, Paralyzed, or Restrained. At 9th Level, it can cure Charmed and Petrified as well! Second, after that, each of those allies can immediately do a full move that doesn’t trigger opportunity attacks.
Right from 3rd level, you’re a very useful anti-crowd control engine that helps keep the entire party from getting caught out of position.
Level 3 – Unencumbered Grace
Why just be a Cleric when you can also be a Monk, kinda? This does a couple of Monk-ish things that highlight your extreme agility, namely:
- If you’re not wearing armor, your base AC becomes 10 plus both your Dexterity and Wisdom modifiers (but you can still use a shield for more AC without cancelling the effect)
- You gain Proficiency in Acrobatics, or bump your existing Proficiency to Expertise.
Off the top of my head, I’m not finding a lot of obvious synergies for this (other than making you decent at sneaking, unlike the average clanking, steel-clad Cleric). But it’s an unusual, neat option to have, especially at lower levels where it’s not tanking your AC much anyway.
Level 6 – Unstoppable
You ignore difficult terrain when moving, and gain Proficiency in Dex saving throws (or another save, if you’re already proficient there). Not remarkable, but good utility.
Level 17 – Avatar of Freedom
A powered up, ultimate version of Invoke Liberty, this also creates a 30-foot Emanation bubble around you that makes all your pals more mobile – only much, much more so, and it lasts for 10 minutes instead of a one-and-done. It only costs one Bonus Action to use and, for the whole 10m duration, all allies in the bubble:
- Increase their Speed by 30ft until end of next turn.
- Ignore Difficult Terrain when moving.
- Get Advantage on all Dex checks (not just saving throws).
Look, as endgame-level subclass features go, it’s not the most earth shattering when taken on its own. But this is a support subclass, remember – and it doesn’t take long to think of all the additional shenanigans your level 17-20 partymates can get done with (effectively) double movement and advantage on all Dex rolls.
Freedom isn’t free, but it could really rack up the threat range and kill count of every character with multiple attacks a turn…
The Faerzress Sorcerer – be a walking magical VPN against Divination spells
And here’s the “dud”. The fluff for this subclass is deeply weird and, for me, pretty awesome: “you have been mutated by Faerzress, the uncanny radiation Lolth used to shape the Underdark eons ago”. You get to roll on a table for exactly what the radiation emanating from you does – on a 1 it curdles nearby milk; on a 2 it makes nearby animals anxious, et cetera. This stuff is great for roleplay. Gameplay effectiveness wise, however, the overall benefit of being suffused with Lolth’s ancient magicks is extremely situational.
Except for Misty Step at 3rd level, your subclass spell list is a mixed bag of transmutation and divination utility pieces that might come up occasionally, if you’re lucky. And almost all your subclass features are entirely focused on using the Faerzress energy to shut down surveillance or interference from enemies’ Divination spells, like some walking magical VPN.
Level 3 – Faerzress Zone and Immunity to Faerzress
Your core 3rd level feature lets you create a huge Faerzress Zone up to a 40-foot cube, within 120 feet of you, that lasts for 24 hours. Faerzress has some odd magical effects:
- Creatures in the area automatically pass saving throws against Divination effects.
- Magical sensors like Arcane Eye and Clairvoyance can’t enter it.
- Creatures teleporting one mile or more can’t teleport in or out.
- The area has Dim Light, but creatures with Darkvision see in color here, and have Advantage on sight based Perception checks.
Meanwhile, your Immunity to Faerzress means you get to ignore all the effects of the zone, i.e.:
- Creatures in the zone don’t auto-pass saves versus your Divination spells.
- Your Divination spells and magical sensors work fine there.
- The zone doesn’t stop you teleporting yourself or others in or out, regardless of distance.
Level 6 – Faerzress Affinity
At 6th level, Faerzress Affinity gives you one strong-ish upgrade – Resistance to Lightning damage – and two less impactful ones:
- You gain 60 feet of Darkvision – or an extra 30 feet of it if you already had it. Plus, Advantage on Perception checks to see in Dim Light or Darkness.
- Your immunity effects above now apply to all allies within 30 feet – which means little, unless any of those allies happen to also be Diviners.
Level 14 – Faerzress Spell
This is a bit sharper, though still unimpressive for 14th level: if an enemy fails their save against your spell, you can spend a Sorcery Point to “lace” them with Faerzress, causing three middling, situational debuffs:
- They can’t teleport.
- They can’t cast Divination spells.
- They get Disadvantage on saves vs. Divination spells.
Level 14 – Faerzress Step
Now we’re talking – you have the Teleport spell permanently prepared and can cast it without a spell slot once per Long Rest. Plus, when you roll on the Teleportation Outcome table, you can pick whatever result you want from your familiarity.
A free, reliable teleport spell is always useful, and a heck of a lot more versatile than every other feature that came before it. But still, at 14th level, it feels like small beans.
Level 18 – Faerzress Form
OK, so your 18th level Ultimate ability is pretty sweet. For one minute (that’s five turns, kids) you convert yourself into a form of “pure Faerzress energy” that can use all your equipment and stats as normal, but also gets:
- Immunity to all DnD damage types except Force and Psychic.
- Immunity to Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, and Restrained.
- Fly speed equal to your move speed, and the ability to move through creatures and objects as if they were Difficult Terrain.
You can even do it again without taking an action, by spending seven Sorcery Points. This feels fairly in line with the demigod-level abilities available at levels 17-20, and will make you almost invulnerable for a decent length of time. BUT – say it with me – we don’t choose subclasses based on their endgame abilities!
Unless you’re specifically playing a campaign starting at high level, it’ll be many months before you get to bust this out, and until then you really don’t have many fun toys to play with.
As always with highly specialized, fluff-forward subclasses, there could be a campaign where this is exactly what your party needs, and your Faerzress Sorcerer gets to be the absolute MVP, protecting their pals from the Peter Thiels and Mark Zuckerbergs of the Underdark, trying to get all up in your business with magical spy software.
But in most campaigns, Divination spells are nowhere near the top of your list of frequent threats – and that’ll make this one difficult to choose, most of the time. Then again, maybe I’m just being unfair. What do you think? If you have a different take on these new subclasses, come join the free Wargamer Discord and share it! Don’t worry about Arcane Eyes spying on you; our server has a permanent Faerzress Zone on it.
Source: Wargamer
