2025 UNEARTHED ARCANA - NOVEMBER SUBCLASSES UPDATE - Oathbreaker Summons Skeletons; Randall Summons Zoidberg

There's a mystical moment in every adventurer's life when you stare deeply into your character sheet, question every subclass you've ever loved, and think: "Is this really better… or did they just rename it again?" Welcome to the UA 2025 Subclass Update—where barbarians downgrade, fighters glow-up, monks chug things, and paladins summon skeletons with the enthusiasm of a dad discovering Bluetooth for the first time.

Show Notes

In this episode of the RPGBOT.Podcast, the team dives into the Unearthed Arcana 2025 Subclasses Update, a grab bag of returning classics and rebalanced favorites from the 2014 rules. Some subclasses got fresh polish; others… got "updates." Randall, Ash, and Tyler walk through each major subclass, offering analysis, jokes, and a metric ton of sandwich discourse.

Covered Subclasses:

• Path of the Spiritual Guardian Barbarian – Once the iconic barb tank, now notably nerfed. The new "choose-your-effect" system softens its once-reliable battlefield control. Result: "Meh, but fixable."
• Path of the Storm Herald Barbarian – A clear upgrade with better scaling, damage options, and flexible aura selection. A quiet winner in this UA.
• Cavalier Fighter – Surprisingly buffed. Constant marking, battlefield lockdown, and double reactions at high level. The table unanimously loves the glow-up.
• Warrior of Intoxication Monk – Formerly Drunken Master. New Mystic Brews add fun, flavor, and chaos—but the name flops harder than spilled ale. The team unanimously prefers "Warrior of Libations."
• Oathbreaker Paladin – Now with better necromancy tools and improvements to Aura of Hate. Gains Conjure Undead to avoid relying on friendly necromancers. Not perfect, but more self-sufficient.

Key Takeaways

• Spiritual Guardian took a noticeable hit, losing its fully reliable taunt-and-protect combo in favor of weaker pick-one options.
• Storm Herald received meaningful boosts, including scalable aura damage and flexible environment selection.
• Cavalier emerges as one of the strongest defenders in the UA thanks to unlimited marking and battlefield control.
• Warrior of Intoxication has fun ideas but clunky execution, suffering from naming issues and overly slow brew mechanics.
• Oathbreaker finally feels like a playable subclass on its own, thanks to Conjure Undead and improved aura integration.
• Overall: a mixed bag, but with more wins than losses—and lots of potential polish before the final books.

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Meet the Hosts

• Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix.

• Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme.

• Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy.

Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos.

How to Find Us:

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Tyler Kamstra

• BlueSky: @rpgbot.net
• TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET

Ash Ely

• Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games
• BlueSky: @GravenAshes
• YouTube: @ashravenmedia

Randall James

• BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG
• Amateurjack.com
• Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link)

Producer Dan

• @Lzr_illuminati

Time Stamps

1) 14:46.015
2) 30:59.032
3) 46:08.023