Analysing the 8 Unearthed Arcana 2025 Horror Subclass Options

Deep dive into the latest playtest subclasses for D&D 2024.

What’s included in the playtest?

The playtest comes with 2 new and 6 refreshed subclasses. They are:

• Artificer: Reanimator (new)
• Bard: College of Spirits (refreshed)
• Cleric: Grave Domain (refreshed)
• Ranger: Hollow Warden (new)
• Rogue: Phantom (refreshed)
• Sorcerer: Shadow Sorcery (refreshed)
• Warlock: Hexblade Patron (refreshed)
• Warlock: Undead Patron (refreshed)

Most of these are refreshed subclasses, with the obvious winner being the Warlock with 2 updated subclasses (I guess they are the spookiest class). Perhaps most exciting of all though, is that we’re already getting new artificer subclasses, and the Hollow Warden sounds gnarly!

If you want to check out the full playtest material, you can find it all here. There’s also a video deep dive that I’ve embedded below. Just remember that this is playtest material and will likely change before we get the final version:

Artificer: Reanimator

What is it?

Dr Frankenstein is coming to D&D! That’s right, you can live out all your body horror dreams by stitching together flesh into terrifying creations. These artificers are part necromancer and part mad scientist.

Are they any good?

I really like jolt to life. I’ve always favoured good old healing word over spare the dying, but this gives me a strong reason to use that cantrip while zapping a few enemies in the process.

However, damage output I believe is a problem. If we compare this to the battle smith (who is similar with their steel defender as combat companion), the reanimator lags behind. At level 5, they average 18.5 damage compared to a battle smith’s 22.2. This disparity grows at higher levels when the battle smith averages 48 per round at level 15 compared to the reanimator’s meager 23.7. This also relies on taking the ferocity option when creating your corpse.

While it lacks the battle smith’s raw damage, it does match the armorer’s fairly closely. However, there are additional benefits to a reanimated corpse that DPR doesn’t account for, including it’s explosive death and the possibility of frightening nearby enemies or damaging those that damage it.

I do think the Reanimator might benefit a bit from upping its DPR with levels. I’d be tempted to give the corpse it’s 2nd attack automatically, and then grant some other bonus to damage on top of this at a later level (though I think this only needs to be small).

Otherwise, I think it’s not only a solid subclass, but a really well themed and fairly unique one.

3/5

Bard: College of Spirits

What is it?

Seekers of tales of long done deeds, they can summon the spirits of the dead to once again embody such legends. Essentially, they’re bards with ghostly summoning powers that love to tell spooky stories.

What has changed?

There were a couple of issues with the college of spirits before. Particularly around limitations of benefits to spells that only used their spellcasting focus and the highly unpredictable nature of their tales from beyond feature (which also required an action and a bonus action). The level 6 feature was also a very convoluted way to gain access to additional spells.

These changes manage to address most of these issues, but tales from beyond/spirits from beyond remains as unpredictable as ever (which isn’t necessarily bad).

• Channeler – Guiding whispers and spiritual focus are now part of the same feature (channeler).
• Empowered channeling – The extra damage from spiritual focus at 6th level has been moved to empowered channeling (also at level 6) and is no longer reliant on casting the spell with your spellcasting focus.
• Spirit sessions replaced – In fact, empowered channeling replaces spirit sessions and gives you spirit guardians which can also provide half cover once per long rest.
• Spirits from beyond – This is the new name for tales from beyond and is now much quicker to use. Its effects occur when you use it as a bonus action instead of preparing it with an action and then using a bonus action to bestow it. The options have all been altered, with lots of options weakened to account for the lessened action economy.

Is it any good?

Flavour wise, the college of spirits remains brilliantly spooky. Mechanically, it mostly improves on the 2014 version of the subclass, making it less reliant on tales from beyond to pack a punch.

Guidance at 60ft is a really handy buff. Extra damage and healing (especially on AoE spells) at level 6 is reasonably strong. Add to that gaining spirit guardians and the ability for this to provide half cover which is really powerful. Spirits bards will need to be careful of getting too stuck into the melee as they’re not as sturdy as clerics, but this is a big enhancement.

I think the changes to the options in spirits from beyond are definitely more streamlined. Removing the setup bonus action and action to invoke just makes this a much easier feature to use. There’s also less moving parts in the possible options too which is great for a streamlined experience.

I did notice a drop in power for many of the options available here. I think it’s due to the trade off between requiring a bonus action, and requiring and actions and a bonus action. For example, beloved heals hit points for one target, but it used to grant temporary hit points to 2 targets. Avenger used to last for a minute, but now only lasts for a round and so on.

I think because of the improvement to the actions economy, I’m largely happy with the changes, but some may feel disappointed that they’ve been made worse.

Overall, I feel like this is a much more balanced subclass. With decent utility and damage dealing and less reliance on tales from beyond, and a more streamlined version of tales from beyond, I think this is a solid subclass, despite its unpredictability (but at least it’s only unpredictability that costs a bonus action).

3/5

Cleric: Grave Domain

What is it?

Clerics that tow the line between life and death. They seek to usher souls in to the afterlife while staving off death for those with a work still to do in life. They are gatekeepers of the afterlife, and respect death as a necessary transition from one state to another.

How has it changed?

• Circle of mortality – Now grants a small damage boost against bloodied creatures. It is also subtly buffed because healing spells are considerably stronger in D&D 2024 so administering maximum healing from these spells is considerably more powerful.
• Grave domain spells – Some of the spells you receive have changed. You now get chill touch, detect evil and good, dispel evil and good and hold monster, replacing false life, death ward and antilife shell
• Path to the grave – No longer causes vulnerability to a single attack. It instead causes disadvantage to attack rolls and saving throws and can be ended early to cause some extra damage.
• Sentinel at death’s door – Can be triggered on any attack instead of just critical hits. It will simply halve damage now and can be used any time on yourself but to use it on allies, they must be bloodied.
• Divine reaper – Includes the previous keeper of souls feature. This has also been improved to grant what should be more hit points (3 x your cleric level instead of the number of hit dice the dying creature had. This feature will also let you expend a use of channel divinity to target a second creature with certain spells.

Is it any good?

Grave domain clerics make powerful healers with maximum healing always available. This is better than the life domain’s disciple of life feature for example, potentially making the grave domain the best healer subclass aroun.

They’re also defensive, being able to reduce some incoming damage a reasonable amount. They’re less big on damage dealing though, but a small boost for this against bloodied creatures is welcome (and makes them a bit of a bully).

The changes to the level 17 feature I think are decent with much better healing and twinning certain spells. Sadly the twinning of spells is quite limiting as to what will be effective to twin. Many of the options either aren’t much good, or don’t warrant being twinned (like speak with dead). Perhaps your best option is an upcast inflict wounds, but it feels like this needs broadening in scope to be more effective.

Which brings me to the one real downgrade to the class with the spell list losing some decent spells. Otherwise, the grave domain has had some decent improvements and becomes a strong healing and defensive subclass with some extra flexibility thrown into the mix.

4/5

Ranger: Hollow Warden

What is it?

The other new subclass in this Unearthed Arcana is a ranger that dwells in ancient and deadly biomes. They draw upon the monstrous and terrifying powers of such places, becoming somewhat monstrous themselves in order to guard against the desolate wilds.

Is it any good?

The hollow warden has some decent spells (wrathful smite and spike growth being good options). Sadly, I see other options being less useful, and spike growth can be challenging to use with so much reliance on hunter’s mark consuming your concentration.

However, the big draw of the subclass is its incredible durability. When you have hunter’s mark active, you gain an increase to your AC equal to your wisdom modifier (which could easily be 3-5, even at low to medium levels). And with multiple free castings of hunter’s mark, there’s no excuse not to have this active quite a lot.

This means a hollow warden could easily have 21 AC at level 4 with a shield and 24 being achievable at mid-high levels. And it gets better with epic boons and level 20+ progression! This obviously relies on building away from damage, and many rangers will opt to ditch the shield or the wisdom boost in favour of two weapon fighting and dexterity/strength and constitution boosts. Still, this feels very powerful and I wonder if this will be nerfed in the published version of the subclass.

On top of this, you get an emanation that can prevent nearby enemies making both an action and a bonus action. You also get boosted constitution saving throws, healing when hitting while bloodied and, at level 15 can expend spell slots to prevent yourself dropping to 0 hit points and having 20-25 hit points instead. All of this makes for an extremely durable ranger subclass.

There’s also damage boosts with your emanation causing quite substantial damage on a failed saving throw at level 11 and an extra weapon mastery trait on your hits.

All of this makes for a very powerful ranger subclass that I think outperforms any other ranger subclass available. I do expect this version to be toned down a bit following the playtests, but for now, it feels like a very strong subclass.

5/5

Rogue: Phantom

What is it?

Rogues that are able to tap into the negative energies that operate between life and death. They can not only use this to operate capably as spies, but to drain life energy from their targets.

How has it changed?

• Wails from the grave – Number of uses is now tied to your dexterity modifier rather than your proficiency bonus, which likely means slightly more uses at low levels and slightly less at high levels.
• Tokens of the departed – Creating tokens occurs more reliably on a long rest as well as when near someone that dies. In addition, the maximum number has been reduced. You can also use them to cast augury, rather than asking a spirit a question. Augury is a little more reliable, but the original version had more scope for what was revealed.
• Voice of death – A new feature that lets you cast speak with dead.
• Death’s friend – You now gain a soul trinket when you roll initiative and don’t already have one.

Is it any good?

Rogues already deal a lot of damage through their sneak attack, and wails from the grave enhances this by a substantial amount. Although your maximum number of tokens of the departed is reduced a little, they’re rejuvenated more easily and you get more natural uses of wails of the grave at low – mid levels meaning you should be using this feature more overall which means more damage.

Phantoms are pretty good at information gathering with speak with dead and augury in their arsenal as well as the ability to move through walls. I preferred the old way of speaking to spirits. I felt it was more interesting and had more scope for being useful, so hope this returns in some form.

While a little complex in how it’s all changed, the fact that you should be able to use tokens of the departed more often means a pretty good subclass now has even more chances to deal more damage and provide utility. Overall, I think this is a pretty good subclass that’s been made a little bit better.

4/5

Sorcerer: Shadow Sorcery

What is it?

Sorcerers that draw their magic from the negative energies of the Shadowfell. This generally means powers that give mastery over things like darkness, undeath and unease.

How has it changed?

• Eyes of the dark – You now have 10ft blindsight and can see through any darkness you create through spells, not just when casting darkness using sorcery points.
• Shadow spells – As with other sorcerer subclasses, shadow sorcery gets its own list of prepared spells. These include; bane, darkness, inflict wounds, pass without trace, hunger of Hadar, summon undead, greater invisibility, phantasmal killer, contagion and creation.
• Spirits of ill omen – The new version of hound of ill omen. This now lets you cast summon undead without material components, for free once per long rest and without requiring concentration.
• Umbral form – You now get one free use of this feature each long rest. It also incorporates the old strength of the grave feature, moving it from 1st level to being part of this feature. Strength of the grave is improved too, restoring 3 x your sorcerer level in hit points rather than just a single hit point.

Is it any good?

It’s good and bad news I think for the shadow sorcery subclass. Some things are better like the addition of shadow spells. There’s some good options in here, and the addition of blindsight and always seeing through your magical darkness makes this an even better option for the shadow sorcerer.

Sadly, this comes at the sacrifice of strength of the grave which now only comes into play at level 18 as part of umbral form. It is better, but most shadow sorcerers may never get to see this benefit now. Spirits of ill omen is also a simplification of hound of ill omen which loses a lot of flavour and no longer grants disadvantage against your spells. Hopefully something more like the original hound will make a comeback for the final version.

Shadow sorcery remains a decent subclass, and I think overall, the gains and losses balance out. It’s just a shame that by doing so, it loses some of its flavour. Hopefully some of this will come back following the playtests and feedback.

3/5

Warlock Hexblade Patron

What is it?

A warlock that has made a pact with a powerful, sentient weapon. Not only are they gifted blade-focused powers, but also curses that can be thrust upon enemies.

How has it changed?

• Hexblade spells – The list of prepared spells has been changed giving you hex, arcane vigor, magic weapon, conjure barrage, dispel magic, freedom of movement, animate objects and staggering smite. Other than shield, wrathful smite and staggering smite, all the spells on the old list were replaced.
• Hexblade manifest – New feature that gives you free castings of the hex spell and provides additional benefits. This replaces hexblade’s curse and hex warrior.
• Life stealer – Replaces accursed specter, now letting you drain HP from those cursed by hex that you kill and deal some necrotic damage when you miss with an attack against them.
• Armor of hexes – This has been adjusted so it always works, but has limited uses and just reduces damage instead of causing a miss.
• Masterful hex – Master of hexes doesn’t work with the hex spell so this has been changed to enhance hexblade manifest. This allows criticals on a 19 or 20 (previously a level 1 feature), prevents losing concentration on the hex spell and adds a small amount of damage to another creature when you use a hexblade maneuver.

Is it any good?

The hexblade very much becomes a hex warrior with every feature focused around the hex spell. This isn’t atypical for the hexblade, who previously had most features tied to their baleful curse. However, unlike the baleful curse, hex requires concentration, which prevents warlocks from using other concentration spells unless they want to forego all their subclass features…

You are at least gifted a decent number of free castings of the hex spell, and that does expand your spell slots fairly considerably. I’d also say I prefer the spell list this new version of the hexblade receives. And the features are good, if you can keep hex switched on. That might mean investing heavily in constitution and things like the warcaster feat. Of course, with multiple free castings of hex, losing concentration is not so debilitating.

Overall, it’s a decent subclass and there’s a lot of interesting things you can do while using hex. I would just like to see them allow for a little more flexibility with the subclass so it has more benefits outside of using hex.

4/5

Warlock: Undead Patron

What is it?

These warlocks have made a pact with a powerful undead creature like a lich or vampire, gaining powers of necromancy and undeath.

What’s changed?

• Undead spells – You gain ray of sickness, vampiric touch and phantasmal killer, but lose bane, phantom steed and greater invisibility.
• Grave touched – Your necrotic damage ignores resistances
• Necrotic husk – No longer requires a reaction for unholy resuscitation and you regain hit points equal to 10 times your charisma modifier and can use it more often.
• Superior dread – The new name for spirit projection. You lose resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage. You also lose the ability to move through creatures and objects. The healing from vitality syphon is now just equal to your charisma modifier rather than half the necrotic damage you cause.

Is it any good?

The undead patron warlock remains pretty good. It’s got greater resilience through resistances and immunities, plus a decent number of temporary hit points fairly regularly through form of dread and you can resuscitate every short rest (though you will become very exhausted by doing this too often).

There’a some extra damage in there and some utility with flight (though this comes a little late in your progression).

The replaced spells are probably a bit a worse in my opinion, but unholy resuscitation can be used more and you can bypass necrotic resistance (so aren’t less effective against undead anymore).

Overall I think the trade off is decent enough and it remains a good subclass.

4/5

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I’m very excited to be getting my hands on some horror themed subclasses at some point in the not too distant future. Hopefully this means a return to Ravenloft coming soon!

What do you think of the new and revised subclass playtests? Let me know in the comments below.

Spotlight on the D&D 2024 revision

All the latest updates on what’s changing with the 2024 rules revision.