We’ve got a surprising new Unearthed Arcana this week! Instead of presenting new subclasses, this UA gives us some new spells and a new type of magic item. Also, the survey for the last UA article is up, so go let your opinions count!
New Spells
These new spells are mostly summoning spells for different kinds of creatures, though there are three that break that mold. They range from 1st to 6th level. Every class that casts spells (except the artificer) gets at least one of these new spells, with sorcerers, wizards, and warlocks getting the most.
Also, nearly all of these spells have options associated with them that allow you to further customize the spell’s effect.
The Odd Ones Out
These spells aren’t summoning spells. Otherworldly form and spirit shroud offer customization options when you cast them, like the remaining spells.
Acid stream
Acid stream is a 1st level spell added to the wizard and sorcerer spell lists. You create a stream of acid for a minute (it’s a concentration spell). Creatures in that line must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or get covered in acid, which will deal 3d4 damage at the beginning of that creature’s turn. They or another creature need to spend an action to remove the acid. You can also cast this spell at higher levels, adding a d4 for each additional level.
There aren’t many acid spells, so this opens up some more spell options if acid damage is part of your theme.
Otherworldly form
Otherworldly form is a 6th level spell added to the cleric, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard spell lists. It requires a component worth 500 gp, and its duration is up to 1 minute with concentration. You can use a form aligned with the Lower Planes or Upper Planes when you cast the spell.
The Lower Planes transformation grants you immunity to fire and poison damage, as well as the poisoned condition. The Upper Planes transformation grants you immunity to radiant and necrotic damage, as well as the charmed condition. You gain wings and a fly speed of 40 feed, +2 to AC, and an extra attack if you don’t already have one. Your weapon attacks can use your spellcasting ability modifier and count as magical.
This spell looks like a lot of fun for high-level characters, especially those wanting to make a flashy appearance. The spell’s effects can make a huge difference in a fight.
Spirit shroud
Spirit shroud is a 3rd level spell added to the cleric, paladin, warlock, and wizard spell lists. It takes a bonus action to cast and has a duration of up to 1 minute (concentration). You call upon spirits that can be good or evil. If you choose good, your attacks deal 1d8 extra radiant damage, and if you choose evil, your attacks deal 1d8 extra necrotic damage. This damage prevents creatures from regaining hit points until your next turn. The spell also reduces nearby creatures’ speeds. If you cast this spell at higher levels, the damage increases by 1d8 per additional level.
This spell’s damage buff and enemy debuff are pretty nifty. Since you can cast it as a bonus action, you can cast it before you attack on your turn, so you’ll get at least one attack with extra damage even if you lose concentration later.
Summoning Spells
Each summoning spell has choices associated with it that further determine aspects of the summoned creature’s stat block. Instead of summoning something from the Monster Manual, you’re summoning something using the stat block made specifically for the spell.
The creatures you summon with these spell are friendly to you and your party and act immediately after you in combat. They all obey your commands and defend themselves in absence of such. The creature will disappear once the spell ends or its HP drops to 0.
The creatures have hit points, armor classes, and multiple attacks determined by factors like the spell’s level and your spellcasting ability modifier.
The duration of all these spells is up to 1 hour (concentration).
Summon aberrant spirit
Summon aberrant spirit is a 4th level spell added to the sorcerer, warlock, and wizard spell lists. It requires a 400 gp component. With this spell, you summon a spirit from the Far Realm (or similar otherworldly place). You can choose to summon a Beholderkin, Slaadi, or Star Spawn. Each of these options have their own features and attacks. For example the Slaadi regains hit points each turn, and the Beholderkin has an eye ray attack.
These otherworldly creatures specialize in psychic damage and being really unnerving, especially because the casting of this spell involves a pickled tentacle.
Summon bestial spirit
Summon bestial spirit is a 2nd level spell added to the druid and ranger spell lists. Notably, this is the only new spell the ranger gets this time. The spell requires a component costing 200 gp. You choose an environment (air, land, or water), and the creature will look like an animal native to that environment (you can choose the animal). The choice determines one of the creature’s movement types and whether it has Amphibious, Flyby, or Pack Tactics. The Water environment grants both Amphibious and Pack Tactics. The creature’s Maul attack deals piercing damage.
This creature scales according to spell level, so you can use this spell for situations where you wouldn’t necessarily use the summoning spells offered by the Player’s Handbook.
Summon celestial spirit
Summon celestial spirit is a 5th level spell added to the cleric and paladin spell lists. It requires a component costing 500 gp. You can choose whether the spirit is an Avenger or Defender, which changes the creature’s attack. The Avenger uses a Radiant Bow, and the Defender uses a Radiant Mace that grants temporary hit points to a chosen creature equal to the damage it deals. The creature also has a Healing Touch feature that restores hit points once per day.
The celestial spirit seems like a helpful ally for the cleric and paladin classes, plus the Defender’s ability to grant temporary hit points can help the party survive.
Summon elemental spirit
Summon elemental spirit is a 4th level spell added to the druid, sorcerer, and wizard spell lists. It requires a component worth 400 gp. You choose either air, earth, fire, or water. This choice determines attack damage type, damage immunities and resistances, as well as whether the creature has the Amorphous Form feature.
This spell can help add flavor to an elemental-focused character. You could also take advantage of the different elements to suit the situation (like if an enemy dealt fire damage often).
Summon fey spirit
Summon fey spirit is a 3rd level spell added to the bard, druid, sorcerer, warlock, and wizard spell lists. This is the only new spell added to the bard’s list this time. The spell requires a component worth 300 gp. You choose a mood for the creature when you cast the spell (deceitful, furious, or joyful), which determines a side effect of the creature’s Fey Step feature. The deceitful choice allows the fey to create darkness, furious grants the fey advantage on its next attack roll before its turn ends, and joyful forces a creature to save against being charmed. The creature is immune to the charmed condition.
I tend to forget that summoned creatures can be useful outside of fighting. These fey spirits look fun in combat, but you could probably use the charm or darkness options to avoid or escape conflict entirely if you play your cards right.
Summon fiendish spirit
Summon fiendish spirit is a 6th level spell added to the warlock and wizard spell lists. It requires a component worth 600 gp (and, uh, humanoid blood). You choose whether the creature appears as a demon, devil, or yugoloth. This choice determines speed types, features, and attacks available for the creature. For example, only demons have the Death Throes ability, which causes damage when the fiend dies or the spell ends. The yugoloth’s claw attack allows it to magically teleport after attacking. This creature is resistant to fire damage and immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition.
So, if your warlock had a pact with a devil, you could only use the devil option. But, you could also summon a yugoloth one day and a demon the next, depending on the situation.
Summon shadow spirit
Summon shadow spirit is a 3rd level spell added to the sorcerer, warlock, and wizard spell lists. It requires a component worth 300 gp. Like summon fey spirit, you choose an emotion for the creature—fury, despair, or fear. The emotion determines one of the features in the stat block. For example, the fury emotion grants the spirit advantage on attacks against frightened creatures, and the fear emotion allows the spirit to hide as a bonus action when in darkness or dim light. The creature has resistance to necrotic damage and is immune to the frightened condition. Once per day, the spirit can use its Dreadful Scream to cause nearby creatures to succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened (they can repeat the save at the end of their turns).
For when you want to get Spooky™ but don’t want to summon a demon, summon shadow spirit is here for you! Dreadful Scream can be especially useful in a fight with the fury choice. You could also use the despair choice’s ability to slow someone down, or the fear choice’s ability to maneuver them around the field.
Summon undead spirit
Summon undead spirit is a 3rd level spell added to the warlock and wizard spell lists. It requires a component worth 300 gp. You determine whether the creature has a ghostly, putrid, or skeletal form. This choice influences the creature’s movement options and attacks. Also, the putrid form has a Festering Aura ability that can poison nearby creatures who aren’t you. The ghostly form can hover and move through objects. The skeletal form’s attack is a spell attack with a range of 150 feet. The creature is immune to necrotic and poison damage and to the exhausted, frightened, paralyzed, and poisoned conditions.
For when you want to get Spooky™ and don’t want to summon a demon or weird Shadowfell thing, go back to the basics and raise an undead. You could get up to some hijinks with the ghostly form’s Incorporeal Movement, and the putrid form’s Rotting Claw attack can paralyze, which is no joke.
I’m really interested to see how these summon spells get used and what they look like in future iterations!
Magic Tattoos
You can use a special needle imbued with magic to give yourself a specific magic tattoo. They work like magic items and have various rarities. The rarity of the tattoo determines how much of your skin it needs to cover—from only up to 6 inches (common) to your torso and two limbs (legendary). The Variant: Body Modification box notes that you could also use these effects for body modifications that aren’t tattoos, like scars or brands bound to other objects.
To attune to one of these tattoos, you need to hold the needle to your skin throughout the attunement. The needle will then become the ink of the tattoo on your skin. Multiple tattoos will count as one magic item for the purposes of your magic item attunement limit.
Absorbing Tattoo
The absorbing tattoo is a very rare item, so it needs to cover two limbs, your chest, or your upper back (if I’m reading the table correctly). This tattoo emphasizes a certain color. The color corresponds to one of the damage types. You have resistance to that damage type. For example, a silver absorbing tattoo grants you resistance to psychic damage. There are ten types: acid, cold, fire, force, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant, and thunder.
You can also use the Damage Absorption feature once per day. This is a reaction taken when you take damage of your tattoo’s type. You gain immunity to the damage you took a reaction against, and you regain HP equal to half of the damage you would have taken normally.
This tattoo is pretty useful and neat from a flavor perspective. If your character favored a particular element and didn’t already have resistance to it, this could come in handy.
Barrier Tattoo
The barrier tattoo can be uncommon (covering your scalp or half a limb), rare (covering a whole limb), or very rare (two limbs, your chest, or your upper back). This tattoo provides an Armor Class when you aren’t wearing armor. An uncommon one grants 12 + DEX AC, a rare grants 15 + DEX (maximum 2) AC, and a very rare one grants 18 AC. This tattoo can work together with a shield.
This can be a lifesaver if your character can’t wear heavy armor (or prefers not to) but still requires protection. Even if you can wear armor, you can use this tattoo for style points and wear whatever you want while still having some protection.
Coiling Grasp Tattoo
The coiling grasp tattoo is an uncommon item, meaning it needs to cover your scalp or half a limb. With this tattoo, you can use an action to cause a nearby creature to succeed a Strength save or be grappled and take force damage. You can’t use this on another creature while you already have someone grappled.
This tattoo uses a set DC for the Strength save, which could be a blessing or a curse depending on your stats.
Eldritch Claw Tattoo
The eldritch claw tattoo is an uncommon item. It allows your unarmed strikes to count as magical, and you have a +1 to your unarmed attacks and damage from those attacks.
Once per day, you can use the Eldritch Maul feature. This requires a bonus action and lasts for a minute. When you use it, your melee weapon attacks can reach up to 30 feet away and deal extra force damage.
The eldritch claw tattoo can be a fun addition to a fighter build or for someone who wants to juice up their unarmed strikes.
Blood Fury Tattoo
The blood fury tattoo is a legendary item, so it needs to cover two of your limbs plus your torso. It grants multiple benefits: you crit on a 19 or 20, your crit deals extra necrotic damage and you gain temporary hit points, and you can use your reaction to make a melee attack with advantage against a creature who damages you.
This is a major boon to a melee combatant, and well worth its legendary rarity, I think!
Illuminator’s Tattoo
The illuminator’s tattoo is a common item, so it only needs to cover an area up to 6 inches. It allows you to write with your fingertip as if it was a pen. Once per day, you can use your action to touch a piece of writing (up to a page in length) and speak a creature’s name. For the next 24 hours, only you and that creature can read the writing, though either of you can touch the script to make it normally visible again.
I just think this one’s neat, not because I can think of a particularly clever way to use it, just because it’s a fun magic item. The ability to pass secret messages is really cool.
Lifewell Tattoo
The lifewell tattoo is a rare item, so it needs to cover a whole limb. This tattoo grants you resistance to necrotic damage. Once per day, you will drop to 1 HP where you would normally drop to 0.
Honestly, I can’t think of a situation where this wouldn’t be helpful. It’s literally a life saver!
Ghost Step Tattoo
The ghost step tattoo is a rare item. It has 3
charges that replenish themselves every day. You use a charge as a bonus action
to go ghost become incorporeal. This grants you resistance to nonmagical
bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing. You can move through solid objects (though
it’s difficult terrain and bad stuff happens if you end your turn or the effect
while in a wall). You also cannot be restrained or grappled. The effect last
until the end of your next turn.
The combat applications of this item can help prevent you from taking damage and avoid taking hits. The transformation doesn’t last for long, but you could still use it outside combat to flit through a wall real quick like.
Masquerade Tattoo
The masquerade tattoo is a common item. You can use your bonus action to change its appearance and move it to somewhere else on your skin (though you can’t make it look like anything other than a tattoo). You can also change its size. The tattoo allows you to cast disguise self once per day.
This item is great for style points, but a properly applied disguise self can work wonders, too.
Spellwrought Tattoo
The spellwrought tattoo is a single-use tattoo that allows you to cast a spell without material components. Thus, its rarity depends on the spell level. The Spellwrought Tattoo table provides information for how the spell’s level correlates to the item’s rarity, the spellcasting ability modifier, the save DC, and attack bonus values you may need for the spell. That is, it doesn’t use your own spellcasting ability modifier or anything. Once you cast the spell and the spell ends, the tattoo will vanish. The spell can be a cantrip or any spell from 1st to 5th level.
One of these tattoos can be great to have a spell in your party’s back pocket, especially if you don’t have many (or any) casters in the party.
Shadowfell Brand Tattoo
The Shadowfell brand tattoo is a very rare item. It grants you advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks. Once per day, you can use the Shadowy Defense feature. This is a reaction made when you take damage; it halves the damage you take.
Again, this is great to have in your back pocket, especially because you don’t need to be able to see the enemy to take the reaction.
I really like the idea of magic tattoos, and the ones offered here are exciting! It’s also fun inspiration to make your own magic tattoos.
What do you think of these new spells and items? I’d love to hear what you think!
Leave a Reply