D&D Subclasses With Hidden Bonuses Players Always Forget
In the eight years since its release, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition has grown significantly, accumulating an immense number of official subclasses for the game's 13 classes. These subclasses offer plenty of options for players looking to explore highly thematic character fantasies from psionic warriors to elemental mages. Varying in complexity, subclasses provide features and abilities that differentiate characters of the same class and allow players to specialize in specific aspects of the game. This depth can be tricky, however - some subclasses are so full of unique abilities that it can be easy to forget some of the smaller features.
While D&D's Player's Handbook started with forty subclasses, the game now features over one hundred. Books supplementing the core rules, like Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, often add a surplus of new official subclasses, and more specific books like Fizban's Treasury of Dragons sometimes include one or two. Playtest subclasses, like Dragonlance's lunar magic sorcerer, are infrequently added via Unearthed Arcana articles published on the Wizards of the Coast website, though they aren't considered official material until they're released in a later official supplement.
Each D&D subclass gives players further thematic and mechanical customization over their characters through unique features and bonuses that other characters don't get. Many of these features are flashy and iconic - assassins get bonuses when they surprise their foes and life domain clerics are better healers than other clerics, for example. However, lots of classes get smaller, less flashy, or situational features that players may simply forget about. These bonuses and abilities aren't often the reason players choose a subclass, but they certainly shouldn't be ignored.
One of the Player's Handbook's original two barbarian subclasses, the Totem Warrior, has a reputation for being one of the best tanks in all of D&D. The animal-themed barbarian subclass, recently adapted to Baldur's Gate 3 as the Wildheart, offers far more, however - a player can choose to gain aspects of the bear, the wolf, or the eagle as they level their barbarian. Each aspect provides powerful and flashy combat and utility options, but all of this can overshadow a rare spellcasting feature for the barbarian. The Spirit Seeker feature allows Totem Warriors to cast speak with animals and beast sense as rituals, offering some social functionality to a class that is usually extremely combat-centric.
One of the most mechanically customizable subclasses, the Battlemaster also originated in the Player's Handbook. This fighter subclass approaches combat as an art and specializes in advanced combat maneuvers like feints and ripostes. The versatility and fantasy of these maneuvers make the Battlemaster a popular choice for multiclassing, but these fighters also get the Student of War feature, which gives the character proficiency in artisan's tools - their choice of calligrapher's or painter's supplies, masonry tools, or another option from the Player's Handbook. These tools' usefulness is situational, but provide a thematic element, solidifying the Battlemaster as one who studies art and war.
Another fighter subclass, Xanathar's Guide to Everything's Arcane Archer is rare due to its focus on a specific type of weapon - namely, bows. As the name suggests, Arcane Archers deliver magic at arrowpoint, allowing players to choose several spell-like effects which they can apply to their archery, from powerful explosions to seeking ammunition In addition to demonstrating magical prowess in their attacks, this fighter martial archetype in D&D gains knowledge of arcana or nature, reflected in skill proficiences, as well as the ability to cast a cantrip. These are certainly useful abilities and reflect a martial character's magical talent. However, they're auxiliary to the subclass's other features and easily overlooked when put beside the subclass's flashy magical arrows.
The Thief is a surprisingly unpopular rogue subclass, especially for how thematic it is. The Thief is the iconic old-school rogue - not an assassin, but a Bilbo Baggins-esque burglar who may not be the best in a fight but makes up for it by specializing in disarming traps, picking pockets, and using items in creative ways, all calling back to older editions of D&D. The Fast Hands feature provides the Thief much of its value, allowing players to pick locks and use objects as a bonus action in combat.
What exactly this means isn't directly spelled out, however, and it can be easy to miss why this is so useful. The Player's Handbook lists numerous combat items that specifically require an action to use, such as vials of acid or oil, bags of caltrops, and the healer's kit. All of these are covered by Fast Hands, allowing the Thief to attack and throw a vial of acid in the same turn, or even throw a flask of oil followed by another full of alchemist's fire - the possibilities are endless.
D&D's sorcerer subclasses are all related to the source of a character's innate magical ability and dragons are incredibly magical monsters. In a fantasy world where half-human, half-dragon hybrids exist, it should be no surprise that some people happen to have a draconic ancestor somewhere in their family tree. The Draconic Bloodline D&D subclass is a mixed bag, providing bonuses to magic of one element along with draconic scales and - eventually - wings. Among these bonuses is a highly situational bonus - better Charisma checks made when interacting with dragons. While scaly, flying monsters are certainly iconic to D&D, this ability will likely only be relevant for a given character a handful of times, if ever, though avoiding combat with a fire-breathing monster may just be worth it.
One of the most iconic classes in the entire game, the Wizard is a scholar of the arcane and the most spell-focused class in D&D. While most wizard subclasses center around one school of magic, the Order of Scribes Wizard instead focuses on the scholarly aspect, creating spell scrolls and awakening their spellbook to give it sentience and gain a number of bonuses. A Scribes Wizard in Dungeons & Dragons also gets a magical ink-less quill, with which they can copy spells into their book in a matter of minutes instead of the usual hours - sixty times faster than other Wizards, in fact. The utility of this ability is questionable, as resting usually allows ample opportunity for Wizards to copy their spells, though some may simply be pressed for time.