UNDERDARK OPTIONS 2 UA - It's magical radiation. Everybody knows that, Ash.

Welcome back to the Underdark, where the mushrooms are telepathic, the fish can invent gods, and magical radiation apparently has the terrifying power to give you a headache and ruin your wine. This week, Unearthed Arcana Underdark Options 2 gives us a Freedom Cleric that desperately wants you to move around, a Spores Druid that has discovered the tactical value of exploding zombies, and a Faerzress Sorcerer built around creating a 40-foot cube of mild inconvenience. We also get playable Driders, almost-Mind-Flayers, god-making fish people, communal mushroom skills, and several moments where Ash seriously considers personally redesigning the Sorcerer. So grab your darkvision, protect the cheese from magical radiation, and try not to stand too close to the zombies. We're going back underground.

• UA Underdark Options

• Accompanying Blog Post

• RPGBOT.Podcast Episodes

• UA Underdark Options 1

Show Notes

Unearthed Arcana Underdark Options 2 takes us back below the surface for another batch of D&D 5e playtest subclasses and playable Underdark species. This time we're looking at the Freedom Domain Cleric, Circle of Spores Druid, Faerzress Sorcery Sorcerer, Deep Imaskari, Drider, Illithidkin, Kuo-toa, and Myconid.

The Freedom Domain Cleric starts with a promising idea: a high-Dexterity cleric built around mobility, escaping restraints, breaking debilitating conditions, and helping allies get out of trouble. Invoke Liberty can remove conditions and reposition the party without provoking opportunity attacks, while Unencumbered Grace turns the Cleric into something resembling a shield-carrying monk. Unfortunately, the later features lean heavily on difficult terrain, movement bonuses, and Dexterity checks, leaving us wondering when the subclass is supposed to get its next interesting button to push.

Then we get the revised Circle of Spores Druid, and things get significantly better. Wizards addresses several long-standing complaints about the D&D Circle of Spores by improving its action economy and making Symbiotic Entity a bonus action. Halo of Spores now provides value whether the enemy succeeds or fails its save, and Fungal Body remains delightfully creepy.

But Explosive Burst is where things get wonderfully ridiculous. As written, an undead creature you created explodes when it dies. That wording potentially includes creatures created with Animate Dead, which immediately inspires the completely reasonable strategy of surrounding an enemy with injured zombies and starting a fungal chain reaction. Is that probably getting rewritten before publication? Yes. Is exploding an army of disposable zombies extremely funny? Also yes.

Unfortunately, the Faerzress Sorcery Sorcerer brings the mood crashing back down. The subclass revolves around creating areas of Faerzress that interfere with divination, long-distance teleportation, and a handful of other magical effects. The problem is that most enemies simply do not care. Instead of dangerous magical radiation, the subclass frequently feels like it has created a large zone where somebody might have trouble scrying on you.

There are pieces worth saving. The concept of an Underdark radiation Sorcerer has potential, and the discussion quickly turns toward mutations, crystal growths, radiant damage, exhaustion, and other mechanics that could make Faerzress actually feel hazardous. As presented, though, the subclass spends a lot of time solving problems that rarely appear in combat.

The playable species in Unearthed Arcana Underdark Options 2 fare considerably better. Deep Imaskari blend human traits with Faerzress mutations and radiant abilities. Driders finally offer the opportunity to crawl across ceilings as a giant spider person. Illithidkin provide telepathy, psychic resistance, and a collection of appropriately Mind-Flayer-adjacent abilities.

Kuo-toa may be the standout simply because Deific Manifestation is wonderfully strange. Their familiar can borrow actions, reactions, or traits from other familiar options, opening the door to creations like weapon-wielding weasels and other tiny violations of common sense. It feels exactly like the sort of bizarre mechanical playground Kuo-toa deserve.

Finally, the Myconid gives D&D players a playable mushroom creature with telepathy and Skill Meld, allowing a group to share a skill or tool proficiency after a long rest. Sharing Stealth, Perception, or another useful proficiency with the whole party is mechanically interesting and perfectly fits the communal Myconid fantasy, even if letting Myconids speak normally raises some questions.

By the end, our feelings on this D&D Unearthed Arcana are all over the Underdark. Circle of Spores feels close to ready, especially once Explosive Burst gets clarified. The Freedom Domain Cleric has a worthwhile theme but needs more interesting features. Faerzress Sorcery needs considerably more work, but magical radiation, mutations, crystals, and Underdark corruption could still become a fantastic Sorcerer concept.

The ideas are here. Some of them just need to be dug up, dusted off, and exposed to slightly more dangerous radiation.

Key Takeaways

• The Freedom Domain Cleric has a strong concept built around mobility, condition removal, and escaping restraints, but several later abilities feel too passive or situational.
• Invoke Liberty is the highlight of the Freedom Cleric and could provide useful party repositioning in addition to condition removal.
• Circle of Spores Druid gets meaningful D&D 2024 improvements, particularly the bonus-action Symbiotic Entity and revised Halo of Spores.
• Explosive Burst could potentially create hilarious zombie chain reactions unless its wording is narrowed to Fungal Infestation zombies.
• The revised Circle of Spores is the subclass the hosts felt was closest to being ready for publication.
• Faerzress Sorcery struggles because its central zone interferes with abilities that many D&D monsters and encounters never use.
• The Faerzress Sorcerer concept could be much stronger if it leaned into magical radiation, mutation, radiant damage, crystals, poisoning, or exhaustion.
• Deep Imaskari, Drider, Illithidkin, Kuo-toa, and Myconid add some genuinely unusual playable Underdark species options.
• Kuo-toa Deific Manifestation offers particularly entertaining familiar customization and plenty of room for player creativity.
• Myconid Skill Meld lets characters temporarily share skill or tool proficiencies, reinforcing the species' communal identity.
• Underdark Options 2 has several strong themes, but the episode's recurring message is simple: keep the concepts, improve the execution, and please make magical radiation more threatening than spoiled wine.

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

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