Unearthed Arcana List & Summaries for DnD 5e

Last Updated on January 22, 2023

If you’re not super familiar with all of the fun D&D jargon, you might’ve heard Unearthed Arcana and thought it was some sort of cool adventure setting.

That’s definitely what I thought when I kept seeing posts about it in my D&D communities. Turns out, it’s a lot cooler than I could’ve thought.

Unearthed Arcana is a collection of content put out by the research and development of WotC that is in the playtest stage. Feats, subclasses, traps, and more make their way into this pre-published draft form that players and DMs are free to use, even if it’s not quite official content yet. 

Often, this is where we’ll get a sneak peek of content that will be published in upcoming sourcebooks.

While the official versions might have a lot of differences, it’s fun to get a sneak peek of what’s in store.

Complete List of Unearthed Arcana 

Travelers of the Multiverse

Released 10/08/2021

By Christopher Perkins, Jeremy Crawford

This UA brings us six new races to explore: Astral Elf, Giff, Autognome, Hadozee, Plasmoid, and Thri-kreen. Each of these races supposedly comes from a corner of the multiverse so we’ll be excited to see what sort of material follows. These races follow the lineages rule of ability score bonuses (+2 and +1, or +1 in three abilities).

Astral elves are elves that drifted into the astral plane to be closer to their gods and gained extreme longevity and interesting abilities.

Autognomes are constructs not unlike warforged, but built by rock gnomes to help in their crafts.

Giff are apparently large hippo-like beings that can’t decide whether to pronounce their race’s name with a soft or hard g (yes… this UA includes a .gif joke). They are built tough and can deal lots of damage like a bull in a china shop.

Hadozee are like flying monkeys, not the Wizard of Oz kind, but more a cross between a flying squirrel and a chimpanzee. This introduces the glide mechanic, a neat way to avoid fall damage. 

Walking breathing piles of ooze, the plasmoids are an exciting new race that can change their form at will since they technically have no form. They can even squeeze through a one inch wide hole, just as long as they’re not carrying anything that is.

Lastly, the thri-kreen appear to have adopted the carcinisation approach to evolution, developing a chitinous hide, mandibles, two pairs of arms, and more insect properties. Your second set of arms are a bit weaker, only able to carry light weapons, but it’s still pretty cool.

Mages of Strixhaven

Released 06/08/2021

By Makenzie De Armas, Dan Dillon, Jeremy Crawford

Diving once again into the world of WotC other IP, Magic the Gathering, this UA focuses on five new subclasses. Each of these is associated with one of the 5 schools of Strixhaven University, which is it’s own plane of existence… fun fact. The UA briefly describes each of the schools and their focuses and then gets to the fun stuff.

Each of the following subclasses can actually be adapted in multiple different classes, specified in the UA.

• Mage of Lorehold – These mages focus on history, but make it cool. They get access to ancient companions, long-dead spirits that help them on their homework or on the battlefield, along with some excellent subclass specific spells like Spirit Guardians and Legend Lore. 
• Mage of Prismari – The artistic Prismari students express themselves through a command of the elements. These mages focus on either cold, fire, or lightning damage and use their artistry to really bring them to life.
• Mage of Quandrix – Math is magic! That’s the motto of these mages who use formulas and equations to manipulate the capabilities of their foes. Abilities like Velocity Shift and Quantum Tunneling greatly affect movement, while Functions of Probability and Null Equations shift rolls as they’re happening through careful calculation.
• Mage of Silverquill – For the poets of strixhaven, magic flows like ink from a well. These mages can demoralize their foes, empower their allies, charm, frighten, and even manipulate the damage types of attacks with their words alone.
• Mage of Witherbloom – Witherbloom mages see the flow between life and death and draw upon that power. Druids and warlocks who take this subclass toe the line between dealing damage and healing with spells like Greater Restoration and Vampiric Touch both a part of the roster.

Draconic Options

Released 04/14/2021

By Ben Petrisor, Taymoor Rehman, Dan Dillon, James Wyatt, and Jeremy Crawford

Several different draconic character options are featured in this UA which prepares us for Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons. We see new dragonborn subraces in the forms of metallic, gem, and chromatic dragon lineages.

Again, the lineages rule of +2 and +1 or three +1s carries through. The Kobold race even makes an appearance, noticeably different than the currently published version in Volo’s Guide to Monsters.

We also get a few feats each titled Gift from the (insert type here) Dragon. These are all pretty powerful so let’s hope they stay that way once they’re out of playtesting. 

Lastly, we see a bunch of new dragon themed spells. We even have a spell named after a dragon, not an iconic spellcaster, as is tradition.

Raulothim, an emerald dragon that’s more than a bit paranoid makes an appearance with Raulothim’s Psychic Lance, which is a 4th-level enchantment that deals a whopping 10d6 psychic damage on a failed INT save.

Folk of the Feywild

Released 03/11/2021

By Taymoor Rehman, Ari Levitch, and Jeremy Crawford, with input from the rest of the D&D design team

This UA introduces a few races that one might find in a feywild campaign setting. This outlines the racial features and characteristics of fairies, feywild hobgoblins, rabbitfolk, and owlfolk. 

Each of these new races follow the trend set in TCoE and Gothic Lineages as far as ability scores. Instead of race specific bonuses, players are free to choose which scores get a bonus (either +2 in one score and +1 in another, or +1 in three different scores).

This was so well received it made it to the final cut in The Wild Beyond the Witchlight where some of these races can be found in their final form.

Gothic Lineages

Released 01/26/2021

By F. Wesley Schneider, Ben Petrisor, and Jeremy Crawford, with input from the rest of the D&D design team

Introduces lineage options, racial variants that any race can become, that fit perfectly in any horror or gothic setting, such as Ravenloft. This includes the dhampir, hexblood, and reborn lineages.

Subclasses, Part 5

Released 10/26/2020

By Dan Dillon, with Jeremy Crawford, Ben Petrisor, Taymoor Rehman, and James Wyatt

Way of the ascendant dragon monk and drakewarden ranger.

Subclasses, Part 4

Released 08/05/2020

By Ben Petrisor, with Jeremy Crawford, Dan Dillon, and Taymoor Rehman

College of Spirits bard and  undead patron warlock.

Unearthed Arcana: Feats

Released 07/13/2020

By Taymoor Rehman, Jeremy Crawford, Ben Petrisor, Dan Dillon, Ari Levitch

Many new feats, some of which would go on to be published a few months later in TCoE.

Subclasses Revisited

Released 05/12/2020

By Jeremy Crawford, Ben Petrisor, Dan Dillon, Taymoor Rehman

Phantom rogue, genie patron warlock, and order of scribes wizards are all reworkings of previous UA subclasses.

Psionic Options Revisited

Released 04/14/2020

By Jeremy Crawford and Dan Dillon, with Ben Petrisor, Taymoor Rehman, and F. Wesley Schneider

Discusses psionic energy as it has been represented in earlier editions and goals on how to bring it into 5e. Revisits earlier UA subclasses like soul knife rogue and psychic warrior (now the psi knight) and introduces psionic soul sorcerer. Also brings in a slew of psychic related spells and feats for other characters to try on.

Spells and Magic Tattoos

Released 03/26/2020

By Ben Petrisor, Dan Dillon, Jeremy Crawford

Some cool new spells like Acid Stream and Spirit Shroud. Also introduces magical tattoos, tattoos treated like magical items which grant the inked-up individual various special abilities. Still waiting for the Way of the Ink Monk or the Path of the Skin-art barbarian… one day.

Subclasses, Part 3

Released 02/24/2020

By Ben Petrisor, Jeremy Crawford, Adam Lee, Dan Dillon, F. Wesley Schneider

Armorer subclass of artificer, circle of the stars druid, and fey wanderer ranger.

Subclasses, Part 2

Released 02/06/2020

By Ben Petrisor, Dan Dillon, Jeremy Crawford, F. Wesley Schneider

College of creation bard, unity domain cleric, and clockwork soul sorcerer.

Subclasses, Part 1

Released 01/14/2020

By Ben Petrisor, Dan Dillon, Bill Benham, Jeremy Crawford, F. Wesley Schneider

Path of the beast barbarian, way of mercy monk, oath of the watchers paladin, and noble genie patron warlock.

Unearthed Arcana: Fighter, Rogue, and Wizard

Released 11/25/2019

By Jeremy Crawford, Dan Dillon, and Ben Petrisor, with F. Wesley Schneider

Gone are the days of the Mystic class, this introduces psionics through three subclasses; psychic warrior fighter, soul knife rogue, and psionics wizard.

Class Feature Variants

Released 11/04/2019

By Jeremy Crawford, Dan Dillon, and Ben Petrisor, with F. Wesley Schneider

In an attempt to balance the game and create more options for players within the classes themselves, this UA brings optional variants to the standard class features. These variants either enhance or replace existing features and all strive towards greater balance and fun.

Fighter, Ranger, and Rogue

Released 10/17/2019

By Ben Petrisor, Dan Dillon, and Jeremy Crawford, with F. Wesley Schneider

Rune knight fighter, swarmkeeper ranger, and the revived roguish archetype.

Cleric, Druid, and Wizard

Released 10/03/2019

By Dan Dillon, Jeremy Crawford, and Ben Petrisor, with F. Wesley Schneider

Twilight domain clerics, circle of wildfire druids, and Onomancy wizards. Onomancy focuses on the magic of names, for all you Rothfuss fans out there looking for your Kvothe.

Bard and Paladin

Released 09/18/2019

By Ari Levitch, Ben Petrisor, and Jeremy Crawford, with Dan Dillon and F. Wesley Schneider

College of eloquence and oath of heroism.

Sorcerer and Warlock

Released 09/05/2019

By Dan Dillon, with Jeremy Crawford, Mike Mearls, Ben Petrisor, and F. Wesley Schneider

Aberrant mind sorcerer and lurker in the deep patron warlock, along with a new cantrip Mind Sliver on the sorcerer, wizard, and warlock spell lists.

Barbarian and Monk

Released 08/15/2019

By Ben Petrisor, with Dan Dillion and F. Wesley Schneider

Wild soul barbarian and astral self monk.

The Artificer Returns

Released 05/14/2019

By Jeremy Crawford with Keith Baker, Mike Mearls, Ben Petrisor, and James Wyatt

More small changes are made to bring the artificer closer to where it is today in published works like Eberron and TCoE.

The Artificer Revisited

Released 02/28/2019

By Jeremy Crawford with Keith Baker, Mike Mearls, Ben Petrisor, and James Wyatt

This revisited version gets much closer to the published version we now have with artificer infusions being the focus of the class and spells taking a bit more of a backseat.

Sidekicks

Released 12/17/2018

By Jeremy Crawford, Ben Petrisor

A very interesting piece of UA that gives players an option to build their own sidekicks. Sidekicks have their own class and level, but a much smaller set of options which are explored within these pages.

Of Ships and the Sea

Released 11/12/2018

By WotC staff

Discusses the many mechanics of ships such as AC, hit points, and travel speed. Also discusses maritime hazards, combat, and other activities.

Magic Items of Eberron

Released 10/08/2018

By Keith Baker with Ruty Rutenberg and Ben Petrisor

Introduces Eberron specific magical items like armblades and other warforged attachment weapons, arcane focuses that are used as combat weapons, and other more commonplace items.

Dragonmarks

Released 09/10/2018

By Keith Baker with Ruty Rutenberg and Ben Petrisor

Revisits dragonmarks of Eberron from the 2015 UA. 

Races of Ravnica

Released 08/13/2018

By James Wyatt, Ari Levitch, Jeremy Crawford

Introduces races native to the plane of Ravnica; loxodon, simic hybrid, vedalken, and viashino.

Races of Eberron

Released 7/23/2018

By Jeremy Crawford, Keith Baker, Mike Mearls, Ruty Rutenberg, and Kate Welch

Changelings, shifters, and warforged rewritten from the 2015 Eberron UA, with the introduction of the kalashtar.

Giant Soul Sorcerer

Released 6/11/2018

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

As it says.

Centaurs and Minotaurs

Released 5/4/2018

By Jeremy Crawford, Mike Mearls, and James Wyatt

A rewrite of the minotaur playable race introduced in 2015’s Waterborne Adventures UA and an introduction of a playable centaur race.

Order Domain

Released 4/9/2018

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

That’s right, it’s the order domain cleric.

Into the Wild

Released 2/12/2018

By Mike Mearls

This UA guide teaches DMs how to deal with travel and wilderness in a more effective manner.

Three Subclasses

Released 11/28/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Circle of spores druid, brute fighter, and school of invention wizard.

Elf Subraces

Released 11/13/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Several new elven subraces are introduced; avariel, grugach, sea elves, and shadar-kai.

Fiendish Options

Released 10/9/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Introduces the various tiefling bloodlines of the nine demon lords, cults for each lord, and demonic boons for evil creatures and NPCs DMs might want to give more power to.

Race Options: Eladrin and Gith

Released 9/11/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Introducing the Eladrin elves and the gith race. The eladrin in this UA are noticeably missing their seasonal fey steps in favor of seasonal cantrips.

Three Pillar Experience

Released 8/7/2017

By Mike Mearls

As it sounds, this UA focuses on rewarding XP for different accomplishments throughout the three pillars, so you’re not just killing 7,100 goblins to get to 20th level.

Greyhawk Initiative

Released 7/10/2017

By Mike Mearls

A fun take on initiative that lends itself more to chaos than the official neat rules of 5e does. This breaks combat into rounds, during which initiative changes and is based more heavily in actions than a player’s speed.

Revised Class Options

Released 6/5/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Revisions of several previously drafted UA subclasses.

Revised Subclasses

Released 5/1/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Revisions of several previously drafted UA subclasses.

Feats for Races

Released 4/24/2017

By Robert J. Shwalb and Jeremy Crawford

A list of racial feats for the races of the player’s handbook. Some of these made their way into the racial feats listed in XGTE.

Feats for Skills

Released 4/17/2017

By Robert J. Shwalb and Jeremy Crawford

This introduces a feat for each of the 18 skills. These feats go beyond mere proficiency in a skill to make characters feel… skilled.

Downtime

Released 4/10/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Taking a break from ironclad mechanics and subclasses, this UA focuses on a party’s downtime. Plenty of elements to running downtime like crafting items, criminal lifestyles, research, work, and training are all detailed wonderfully in this 14 page pdf.

Starter Spells

Released 4/3/2017

By Robert J. Shwalb and Jeremy Crawford

A healthy spellbook, this UA is nothing but playtest cantrips and 1st level spells for the various spellcasting classes.

A Trio of Subclasses

Released 3/27/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Way of the drunken master monk, oath of redemption paladin, and monster slayer ranger are all on display here.

Wizard Revisited

Released 3/20/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Revisits the theurgy and war magic arcane traditions.

The Mystic Class

Released 3/13/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

A rewrite of the mystic class.The mystic is an arcane class that manipulates psionic energy to create various potent effects.  This iteration has 6 different subclasses, including the order of the soul knife and order of the awakened.

Traps Revisited

Released 2/272017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

An in-depth guide to designing and running simple and complex traps.

Mass Combat

Released 2/21/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

A rewrite of the previous UA: When Armies Clash. This simplifies mass combat by a lot, breaking units and CR down along with plenty of other easily applicable mechanics.

Warlock and Wizard

Released2/13/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Hexblade and raven queen patrons for warlock, along with several invocations. The lore mastery arcane tradition for wizards focusing on the academia of the arcane.

Sorcerer

Released 2/6/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Favored soul, sea sorcery, stone sorcery, and phoenix sorcery subclasses.

Ranger and Rogue

Released 1/16/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Horizon walker and primeval guardian ranger subclasses; scout roguish archetype.

Artificer

Released 1/9/2017

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Introduces an artificer class rewrite with a few subclasses. This iteration has a mechanical servant as a class feature with the gunsmith and alchemist subclasses.

Paladin: Sacred Oaths

Released 12/19/2016

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Oath of conquest and oath of treachery paladin subclasses.

Monk: Monastic Traditions

Released 12/12/2016

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Way of the kensei and way of tranquility monk subclasses.

Fighter: Martial Archetype

Released 12/5/2016

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Arcane archer, knight, samurai, and sharpshooter fighter subclasses.

Druid Circles and Wild Shape

Released 11/28/2016

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Circle of dreams, the shepherd, and twilight subclasses and introduces optional wild shape rules.

Cleric: Divine Domains

Released 11/21/2016

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

Forge, grave, and protection domain cleric subclasses.

Bard: Bard Colleges

Released 11/14/2016

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

College of glamour and college of whispers bard subclasses.

Barbarian Primal Paths

Released 11/7/2016

By Jeremy Crawford

You guessed it, several barbarian subclasses are in this one. Ancestral guardian, storm herald, and zealot all make their debut.

Encounter Building

Released 10/10/2016

By Mike Mearls

DMs are treated to a much needed in-depth look at CR and encounter sizes, with plenty of optional rules and guidelines for building encounters of the appropriate difficulty.

The Ranger, Revised

Released 9/12/2016

By Mike Mearls

Another attempt at reworking the ranger class to better meet player’s desires to have a class that felt powerful while not losing the core concepts of a ranger. 

The Faithful

Released 8/1/2016

By Mike Mearls and Jeremy Crawford

A couple of subclasses that worship the gods, that aren’t paladins or clerics. Here we have the seeker warlock and the theurgy wizard subclasses.

Quick Characters

Released 7/25/2016

By Mike Mearls

An extremely simple way to roll up quick characters from a series of tables. Takes about 2 minutes and you have a fully fleshed out 1st level character that just needs a name.

Feats

Released 6/6/2016

By Jeremy Crawford

This is a really fun piece of UA. It not only gives us plenty of exciting feats for our characters to use, but explains feat design in a comprehensive and interesting way. Great for homebrewers to look at.

Gothic Heroes

Released 4/4/2016

By Mike Mearls

For those of you who enjoy settings like Ravenloft, the monster hunter fighter, inquisitive rogue, and revenant racial option should all scratch that gothic itch.

Kits of Old

Released 1/4/2016

By Mike Mearls

This UA takes several 2e kits and uses their themes to create 5e subclasses like the college of swords bard and the scout fighter, amongst others.

That Old Black Magic

Released 12/7/2015

By Mike Mearls

A demonic piece of UA that includes draft tiefling variants and a few demon summoning spells.

Light, Dark, Underdark!

Released 11/2/2015

By Mike Mearls

Several underdark related character options such as the deep stalker ranger, the shadow sorcerous origin, and undying light warlocks. The now published gloom stalker, shadow magic sorcerer, and celestial warlock are the final versions of these UA subclasses.

Prestige Classes and Rune Magic

Released 10/5/2015

By Mike Mearls

Introducing prestige classes, classes which can only be multiclassed into at higher levels meant to exemplify great power and knowledge. The sample prestige class focuses on rune magic and has five unique requirements.

Ranger

Released 9/9/2015

By Mike Mearls

Addressing several complaints about the lack in power level about the PHB’s ranger class, this UA brings us a different type of ranger. This ranger option focuses more on a spirit companion than being a half-caster.

Modern Magic

Released 8/3/2015

By Dan Helmick

Several subclasses, abilities, and spells suited for incorporating the magic of D&D in a modern, or even slightly futuristic, setting. Includes the technomancer wizard and the city domain cleric.

Awakened Mystic

Released 7/6/2015

By Mike Mearls

This piece of UA presents the Mystic, a new class that focuses on psionic energy to create magical effects rather than casting spells. Introduces two psionic orders (subclasses), the order of the awakened and order of the immortal.

Variant Rules

Released 6/8/2015

By Mike Mearls

A few optional rule variants for DMs to explore with their players. Different ways to deal with vitality, dice rolls, and alignments are represented here.

Unearthed Arcana: Waterborne Adventures

Released 5/4/2015

By Mike Mearls

A set of character options for high sea adventures including an early minotaur race, and draft versions of both the swashbuckler rogue and storm sorcerer. 

Modifying Classes

Released 4/6/2015

By Rodney Thompson

A set of guidelines and advice for modifying classes to better suit your campaign. A great place for novice homebrewers to start.

Unearthed Arcana: When Armies Clash

Released 3/2/2015

By Mike Mearls

This brings us a comprehensive set of rules for handling massive scale combats. Advice on handling miniatures, unique combat actions, identifying commanders and more.

Unearthed Arcana: Eberron

Released 2/2/2015

By Mike Mearls

The first installment of UA brought us material to start making our Eberron campaigns 5e friendly. Races like the changeling and warforged, dragonmark feats, and even an early version of the Artificer were included here.

Final versions of this can be found in Eberron: Rising from the Last War.