Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Wizards of the Coast has released three new sub classes for playtesting:
- Love Domain (Cleric)
- College of Creation (Bard)
- Clockwork Soul
While there are homebrew subclasses aplenty, subclasses from Wizards of the Coast are few and far between, so it’s exciting to have new material to play with. I would like to provide further information on these subclasses, but it seems like the link to the correct PDF has currently stopped working on Wizard’s side. So for now, I’ll refer to our friends over at comicbook.com.
Love Domain
“The Love Domain is for clerics who serve one of the many deities dedicated to love. The cleric can create a bond between two willing creatures that allows them to add a d4 to one of their rolls once per turn whenever they are within 30 feet of each other. The love domain cleric can also temporarily make a creature infatuated with them, causing the creature to use its reaction to make a weapon attack against a target of your choice. At higher levels, the bond a cleric creates between creatures strengthens and allows them to protect each other from damage and grants them even more benefits should one of them fall in battle.”
College of Creation
“The College of Creation draws upon the Song of Creation, the esoteric song believed to have created the universe, to power their abilities. When Creation Bards use their Bardic Inspiration, they can create a “Note of Potential” to provide players with a secondary boost that can either damage foes, provide temporary hit points, or allow players to re-roll their Bardic Inspiration dice. At higher levels, players can use the Song of Creation to temporarily create an item or temporarily breathe life into an object and use it to attack enemies. ”
Clockwork Soul
“The Clockwork Soul Sorcerer is the most interesting of the three subclasses, largely due to its ties to Mechanus, a plane most associated with the Planescape campaign setting. Clockwork Soul Sorcerers can spend their reaction to grant advantage or disadvantage on any creature within 60 feet of them who is about to make an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check. At higher levels, the Clockwork Soul Sorcerer can also create magical wards that reduce damage, and enter a trance that causes all rolls of a 9 or lower to automatically become a 10 instead.”
The above descriptors are all credited towards Christian Hoffer, and his article reporting on these subclasses is linked above. Like Christian, I’m extremely excited for the possibility of interplanar travel, and what that hints at being in store for a new setting. The College of Creation and Clockwork Soul subclasses both seem to be following the same thematic direction, and though the Love Domain is certainly a nod to the current season, the Love Domain cleric has been floating around for awhile now as a homebrew subclass. I’ve even had the pleasure of playing the homebrew version myself a few times and thoroughly enjoyed it. This may be just be Wizards of the Coast giving a silent nod to the homebrew subclass and agreeing that it would make a good addition to our current lineup.
Skip the roses, loot some treasure!
Whatever the case, we all know that if you haven’t reserved a spot by now, all restaurants are going to be filled up on Valentine’s Day. It’s going to be loud, busy, expensive, and parking is going to be an absolute nightmare. So why not just make a date night with your SO, grab some of your favorite snacks, and try out these subclasses in a romantic one-shot adventure instead? Long distance? No problem. Check out our article on Roll20 and how it can keep star-crossed lovers connected and rolling those dice. Roll20 even has an integrated 5e character sheet to make creation go smoothly and prevent a lovers’ quarrel.
This Is Playtest Content
The material in Unearthed Arcana is presented for playtesting and to spark your imagination. These game mechanics are in draft form, usable in your D&D campaign but not refined by final game design. They are not officially part of the game. For these reasons, material in this column is not legal in D&D Adventurers League events.
