The last two Seasons of Dungeons and Dragons gave us excellent expansions to the new 5.5e version of the game, themed around horror and arcana with familiar settings and characters. The archetypes introduced in Ravenloft: The Horrors Within and those planned for Arcana Unleashed include a number of exciting subclasses that evolved from previous playtesting in Unearthed Arcana (UA) documents. This marks a clear evolution of the TTRPG since its changes from 2014’s 5th Edition that started in 2024, which will continue with 2026 and 2027’s third Season of Champions.
If the new roadmap patterns of D&D are to be followed, a new gameplay expansion book will come with the Season of Champions, introducing a bunch of subclasses from past UA. Although not every subclass in D&D brought to playtesting should be refined into something official, the Horror and Arcana themed UA documents ended up fitting their expansions quite well. Similarly, there are both returning 5e character paths and brand-new paths that fans have been providing feedback on, with some perfect for a Season of Champions that ditches arcana and horror for swords and glory.
One of the Barbarian archetypes introduced in past UA playtesting is the Path of the Storm Herald, a version of the martial class that channels their Rage into a wrathful tempest. The primal magic of this subclass screams “Champion,” as players become a whirling storm of fury meant to knock down all enemies. This subclass is refined and updated from its base 5th Edition counterpart, which was originally published in the Xanathar’s Guide to Everything supplemental book for that version of the game.
The Storm Herald Barbarian revolves around activating a Storm Aura whenever you activate your Rage, choosing the Desert, Sea, or Tundra as a source of your elemental anger. Depending on what you choose, you can hurl bolts of lightning, spread fire to enemies, or even hinder opponents by assaulting them with icy spirits. Unlike past versions of the subclass, the Storm Aura now scales with your Barbarian’s Rage damage, making it more useful throughout character progression. In addition, reworks to the Tundra effects make them just as viable, with other tweaks to elemental effects creating a broader range of options.
The Storm Aura only grows in strength at later levels too, providing damage resistances and other useful benefits for your character. High-level Barbarians can also grant protection to allies from the storm, or apply devastating debuffs to enemies caught within it. For a Season of Champions likely designed around bombastic, intense martial character builds in D&D with a huge presence, the Storm Herald Barbarian is a perfect sublcass to bring back.
Although a surly, drunken Monk may not be your first idea of a “Champion,” some of the most famous characters in movies include martial artists who use unpredictable fighting techniques while under the influence. The Warrior of Intoxication is another archetype through UA that adopts the older Way of the Drunken Master from base 5e. However, instead of players having to find their own sources of alcohol, the Warrior of Intoxication can make their own through a feature called Mystic Brew.
Bonus proficiencies in Performance and Brewer’s Supplies adds great flavor to this subclass, along with movement buffs whenever you use the Monk’s Flurry of Blows. As this type of Monk levels up, players can redirect attacks and leap to their feet faster than other players, creating a chaotic play style far different than the spiritual focus of other paths from this class. Once you gain access to the Mystic Brew, players can suddenly create a variety of magical beverages, including:
As long as players drink at least a pint of the Mystic Brew, they gain the drunken effects of each drink for an hour, giving characters long lasting bonuses before big fights. These benefits could easily be changed, improved, or refined for an official Season of Champions expansion, making better drinks for players to indulge. With the subclass providing a ton of attacks at its highest levels, this unorthodox type of Champion still fits the theme the next Season is going for.
The Cavalier subclass for the Fighter is the quintessential “Knight” of D&D, acting as a mounted combatant who charges into battle atop a trusty steed. This type of character is also from 5th Edition, but has been in 5.5e UA as an almost authentic version of the archetype that came before. Hardly anything was changed to the Cavalier, but some updates and quality-of-life features could help this pick be one of the most obvious for the Season of Champions.
Players who build a Cavalier Fighter have access to the Unwavering Mark ability at Level 3, which activates whenever they hit an opponent with a melee attack. By marking the creature you hit, that foe has disadvantage on attack rolls against anyone other than you, with attacks against anyone else giving you advantage against the same enemy. This emphasizes your character being the center of attention in a fight, with extra skills tied to handling whatever beast of burden signals your arrival to battle.
Much like the powerful Battle Master subclass, this Fighter path also gains useful maneuvers in a fight, including one that increases your ally’s defenses to prevent them from getting hit. Later features allow you to Opportunity Attack enemies when they simply move within your range at all, rather than leaving it, giving the Cavalier many ways to manipulate the battlefield. With a mount at your side, being a Cavalier is the essence of becoming a Champion, with abilities tied to knocking down foes and dominating fights up close.
If the Wizard can get four new subclasses in the Arcana Unleashed expansion, why can’t the Barbarian gain two for the Season of Champions? When it comes to what the Barbarian has gotten in past UA, the Path of the Spirit Guardian perhaps represents the upcoming Season the best, as characters of this archetype literally have their Rage fueled by ancestral Champions from the past. The guidance of former Champions manifests in the form of Spiritual Protectors, who can distract, protect, and strike alongside a Barbarian that trusts them.
The Protectors can cause enemies to have disadvantage on attacks, grant allies resistance, or even deliver damage on their own. The supernatural offense and defense from your character’s spirits makes this subclass flexible, especially as it levels up. Your Rage can influence the spiritual guardians to reduce damage dealt to allies, but outside of battle, these friends are still useful. Later features in this subclass allow a Barbarian to call upon these spirits through spellcraft, helping guide their party in the right direction during a challenging adventure in D&D.
At the highest levels, the Spirit Guardian Barbarian can even make additional attacks when rolling high on attack rolls, calling upon Vengeful Spirits to help them do so. The refined scaling from the 5th Edition version of this subclass makes it far more appropriate for 5.5e already, but further adjustments could make it even stronger. For the Season of Champions, the Spirit Guardian Barbarian fits the theme better than anyone else, with perhaps one exception.
The Oathbreaker is a version of the Paladin that has been a fan-favorite of D&D for many years, but to many fans’ surprise, hasn’t been adopted for 5.5e yet. The Season of Champions would be the perfect time to update this subclass from its UA version, representing the idea of a “Fallen Champion” that couldn’t quite be captured in the Horror or Arcana themes from past Seasons. The violation or abandonment of a sacred Oath is already a fantastic concept, yet new changes in D&D could help make this path shine even more.
Based on its UA version, the Oathbreaker can now summon undead minions at Level 3, much like the new version of the Necromancer Wizard for D&D. This brief summoning is more consistent than simply gaining magic to control undead, which is almost all the Oathbreaker got before. Unlike past editions of the Oathbreaker, players now can frighten targets when they use Divine Smite, creating menace in battle that was otherwise limited. Some great spells are now at the Oathbreaker’s disposal too, including:
Many large AoE effects and debuffs come with large necromancy damage through these spells, granting the Oathbreaker a variety of magic they can call upon. Simply standing next to the Oathbreaker at later levels grants extra necrotic damage too, as their Aura of Hate grants damage buffs to all nearby allies, as well as any Fiend or Undead creature. With huge damage resistances and the ability to transform into a Dread Lord too, the Oathbreaker is among the most impressive subclasses in the game, having only gotten better through UA testing.
With new Villainous options allowing for players to gain Feats to become a Death Knight, having the Oathbreaker as an official character option is more important now than ever. Although it may not be the idea of a “heroic” character for a Season of Champions, the next chapter of Dungeons and Dragons would be well-received with the edgier variety the Oathbreaker Paladin subclass brings.
