The Preamble

Unearthed Arcana is the system that the Dungeons & Dragons developers use to showcase and source playtesting for upcoming content for D&D. After a designated “playtest period,” players will have a chance to submit feedback via surveys on dndbeyond.com. In this post, I’ll cover the most recent Unearthed Arcana article, published on January 15th, 2026: Mystic Subclasses. Specifically, I will be looking at the Warrior of the Mystic Arts Monk.

Note: This post assumes you have read (or at least skimmed) the content covered in the Unearthed Arcana article linked above. If you have not read it, you may find it useful to have it open in a separate tab.

Warrior of the Mystic Arts (Monk)

This subclass is basically the Monk version of the Eldritch Knight Fighter or the Arcane Trickster Rogue. This is the first time we’ve seen a Monk with spell slots that might appear in an official 5e publication. Before now, Monks who had access to spells were largely dependent on Focus Points. The most recent example of this, the Tattooed Warrior from an Arcane Subclasses UA, was almost universally disparaged by the online community, and I expect that many feedback surveys expressed a desire for a Monk that just got spell slots. This subclass, then, is likely a response to that.

Level 3: Spellcasting

It’s spellcasting; what else is there to say? It comes at the same rate of progression as the aforementioned Arcane Trickster and Eldritch Knight. That rate is pretty slow, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Your spells come from the Sorcerer spell list, which is fine, but not phenomenal; the main downside at this level is that you don’t have a lot of Ritual spells, which would give your subclass more weight outside of combat. Regardless, this is a nice feature, although it is also the only feature you get here.

Level 6: Mystic Focus & Mystic Fighting Style

Mystic Focus enables you to convert unused spell slots into Focus Points, and vice versa. The ability to convert Focus Points into spell slots is the big draw here, since Focus Points are very easy to recover in comparison, and if you have the right spells, they are also less valuable than spell slots.

Meanwhile, Mystic Fighting Style lets you replace one of your attacks to cast a Sorcerer Cantrip whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. A very solid, and expected, feature for this level. I will admit, I would find it more compelling if it was tied to Flurry of Blows rather than the Attack action… This kind of feature is starting to get a bit stale with how many subclasses have something identical.

Level 11: Centered Focus

Centered Focus is strong, but the way it’s worded is unusual. Usually, a feature like this will only say you get Advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain Concentration; saying “any” saving throw you make to maintain Concentration could cause confusion. For example, the Incapacitated condition breaks your Concentration; does this feature now give you Advantage on saving throws to resist being Incapacitated?

Level 17: Improved Mystic Fighting Style

This feature is basically not a feature. Monks only get two attacks, so replacing two attacks to cast a spell is no different than taking an action to cast a spell. There is one very niche way to get use out of this feature, which is a 2-level Multiclass dip into Fighter; long story short, it lets you bypass a restriction that prevents you from using Action Surge to cast a spell. Even then, there’s still the “one spell with a spell slot per turn” rule that you have to account for, but that’s a tangent that’s not worth covering right now.

Final Thoughts

Ultimately, this subclass is strong. Obviously Level 17 is disappointing, but I’ll cover that more later. I personally think that the subclass needs more definition in terms of flavor. For example, there’s no explanation for where their magic comes from, so which spell list they use feels completely arbitrary. Beyond that, I actually wonder if the Sorcerer spell list is the best call here. I understand if they wanted to differentiate the subclass from the Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster, or even if they just didn’t want the subclass to get the Conjure Minor Elementals spell, but I think if you’re going to depart from the Wizard spell list with a 1/3rd caster, the best direction to go is more in the realm of Bard, Cleric, or Druid. With the ability to regain spell slots using Focus Points, Warlock could also be an interesting route, although I do think the combination of Eldritch Blast and Flurry of Blows could force you to rework some features, such as Mystic Fighting Style.