Put these D&D Underdark subclasses back in their cave, they’re clearly not done yet. In the newest playtest document, released August 20, 2026, we received new character options for three classic D&D classes. There’s a House Agent Rogue, working for the drow houses; a Path of Unlight Barbarian, surging with unnatural light; and a Imaskarcanist Wizard who can control this same magic glowiness.
There’s some nice flavor here, and all three could be interesting to play in a campaign that takes place in the Underdark, even if the word ‘unlight’ is kinda confusing. But the vibes could be immaculate, it wouldn’t change the fact that these subclasses are, from a mechanical standpoint, incredibly weak.
The Path of Unlight Barbarian is the worst of the three. It wants to get hit to trigger radiant retaliatory damage, but it comes with no way to taunt enemies to make that more likely to happen. What’s worse, because this Barbarian automatically blasts light around itself like a flashlight, the class’s level six blindsight ability is entirely useless unless you’re using Darkness, which then makes enemies less likely to hit you.
Being lit up like a Christmas tree seems like a terrible survival strategy in the Underdark.
Most damning of all, the numbers seem completely wrong at higher levels. The Level 10 ability deals 1d6 damage per turn which doesn’t scale, and at Level 14 you get a completely abysmal capstone, dishing out just 1d12 damage (and your enemies can make a save to halve this!) It’s actually shocking that this made it into the world as is, even if it’s only an Unearthed Arcana. Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the game can see something ain’t right here.
The House Agent Rogue is also anemic in combat. It gets some nice utility options, with manipulative spells like Suggestion and Charm Person, and the idea is that you’re using Influence while in combat, which is really fun.
It all feels a bit janky though, like it doesn’t quite hang together though. The backstab abilities require you to sacrifice too much damage to be more than situational, you don’t get enough combat tricks before level nine, and are you really going to be able to persuade your enemies in the middle of a pitched battle? It gets good at level 17, when the campaign’s probably almost over.
Finally, the Imaskarcanist Wizard has the worst name but better rules. It’s a dabbliing healer, which isn’t that great with the Wizard’s low hit die, but it can also end harmful debuffs, which is truly useful. It also gets an incredibly fun capstone that turns an enemy into a glowing, ticking time bomb. I wish there was more stuff like that in here.
Overall, this is one of the worst UA Wizards of the Coat has put out in a long time, a real let down after the villainous subclasses we got in June. However, I have faith that in time these will turn out alright. There are the bones of some good ideas here, they’ve just gotten all jumbled up, and someone accidentally stuck a thumb spike on a nose.
At least you can turn into a Mind Flayer now!
Source: Wargamer
