A new Unearthed Arcana landed last week with four new mystic subclasses, including a new Monk with some old text.
Exciting times for D&D 5.5E as we head into the new year and the cycle of Unearthed Arcanas starts to ramp back up. Last Thursday, we got four new subclasses in the “Mystic Subclasses Unearthed Arcana”. Monks, Paladins, Rogues, and Warlocks all got a fresh new set of tools. Each subclass is centered around arcane magic, of course.
I guess “mystic” becomes a new way to say “uses arcane magic.” Which makes sense, given that we’ve already had two different ‘Arcane Subclasses Unearthed Arcana’ drops earlier. All of which makes me think we might be seeing a new arcane magic-focused sourcebook in the near future. But, if these subclasses are anything to go by, they still need a bit of work. Let’s start with the new Monk, the Warrior of the Mystic Arts.
Warrior of the Mystic Arts Monk – Finally You Can Just Cast Spells
The heart of the Warrior of the Mystic Arts Monk is a simple one: you are still a martial artist, but you also use magic. It’s not a new idea, but for Monks, it’s one that has had mixed results over the years. Most recently, we saw the Four Elements Monk (in 5E), which had the problem of a limited selection of spells, and a split resource cost. I am happy to say that the Warrior of the Mystic Arts has solved some of this problem.
It turns out, the solution was just to give them spells and spell slots. No more needing to use your precious Focus Points that you want for your cool Bonus Actions or Flurries of Blows to cast Burning Hands a few times. Instead, you get spells – not as many as a Paladin or a Ranger, but you get spells.
This all is spelled out (pun intended) in your first and only level 3 feature, Spellcasting. You get to learn spells from the Sorcerer list. You learn two cantrips, and can choose a number of prepared spells as you level up.
As you might imagine, Wisdom is your spellcasting ability, which at least helps you know where to focus your stat gains. Monks, in general, tend to be scattered between Dex, Con, and Wis. But fortunately, you can absolutely find spells on the Sorcerer list that don’t care about your spellcasting stat. Shield and Magic Missile leap to mind.
The spell progression rate is about 1/3rd the normal. If you multiclass, you add 1/3rd of your Monk levels to figure out how many spell slots you have available. And when you level up you get to swap out one spell on your prepared list for another one.
Honestly, it’s a great way to handle the idea of a spellcasting Monk. It doesn’t need its own separate weird system. We saw firsthand that the Four elements Monk before was one of the weakest classes, mechanically. But now, you can just punch a Magic Missile at someone. Sure, you only ever get 4th level spells, but you’re also a Monk. And this is just what you get at 3rd level.
Higher Levels – More Mystic Power
Once you get to level 6, you unlock two new class features. The first is Mystic Focus. This ability lets you convert spell slots into Focus Point or vice versa. This is a surprisingly subtle boost to your power. Because you can spend a spell slot to regain Focus points (equal to the spell slot’s level) without needing an action, so you can draw upon your magical reserves to unleash another Stunning Fist or Flurry of Blows.
Or, as a Bonus Action you can spend 2, 3, 5, or 6 Focus Points to regain a spell slot of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th level. They explicitly spell out that you can never recover a spell slot higher than 4th and you have to level up – you can feel how much multiclassing has been taken into consideration here. Which is a good idea, but I feel like it’s one that maybe hampers the class in a few ways.
You also get the “martial spellcaster” ability that Eldritch Knights, Valor Bards, and the like all get. In this case, the feature is called Mystic Fighting Style, and it lets you replace one of your attacks with a Sorcerer cantrip, so you can True Strike someone or do a Thunderclap or give yourself a Blade Ward or whatever.
At level 11, you gain Centered Focus, which gives you Advantage on Concentration checks whenever you use a Focus Point on one of your Monk abilities. And at level 17, the subclass caps off with a feature that is actually useless. You get Improved Mystic Fighting Style, which is a copy/paste of the Eldritch Knight’s Improved War Magic – you can replace two of the attacks with a casting of one of your level 1 or 2 Sorcerer Spells.
However, the Monk only has two attacks. So there’s no replacing and then still having the attack action. You just don’t attack and cast a spell. This is also known as “taking the Magic Action to cast a spell” – a feature any character with any kind of spellcasting ability can use.
Mystic Arts In Search Of Crafts
All in all, this isn’t a bad subclass. I think that the “convert a spell slot” feature is too drawn out. I can tell they moved that to 6th to try to prevent multiclass builds that would potentially abuse the feature. It’s where D&D starts to get weighed down by itself. Because that, to me, feels like something that you should be able to do immediately as a spellcasting Monk.
Having that at 3rd level would give you a few extra Focus Points and/or spell slots. But more importantly, it wouldn’t make you feel like you’re having to wait until 6th level to do the basic things your subclass should let you do. Part of what makes subclass progression feel good is that you get to live up to the fantasy of the thing right away. And then you get to level up. Also that level 17 feature needs to be reworked completely because it’s useless. But that’s just what I think. You should check out the subclass for yourself, and you can find a survey that will open for feedback as well on January 22nd, all at the link below!
Spellcasting Monks actually done pretty alright, what a world we live in!
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