It’s been a quiet start to the year for new Dungeons & Dragons content. This year’s roadmap doesn’t really pick up until the summer launch of the Season of Horror. And that means that most of the new content players have enjoyed so far has been in the form of 3rd party materials. But while that new Ravenloft book is still a few months away, Dungeons & Dragons did just drop a brand new Unearthed Arcana playtest. This time, fans get to playtest some new evil subclasses and check out brand-new ways to turn to the dark side.
On April 2nd, Wizards of the Coast added a brand-new set of Unearthed Arcana playtest materials to D&D Beyond. These drops let D&D fans check out what the team is working on and offer feedback to shape how these ideas ultimately get incorporated into the TTRPG. Unearthed Arcana often gives us a hint about what might be coming down the line. After all, we got to playtest some horror subclasses well before the Season of Horror became official. And this time around, it looks like D&D is planning to lead into the dark side with a new set of villainous subclasses and archetypes.
New D&D Unearthed Arcana Shows Off Evil New Subclasses & Paths to Villainy
The new Villainous Options Unearthed Arcana materials are now live on the D&D Beyond website. They are free to download, so you can grab the PDF and check out the playtest content right now. As always, these materials are still in development, and Wizards is asking for player feedback to help shape the future of these evil new subclasses and play options. The survey for this latest Unearthed Arcana drop will go live on April 9th, giving players a few days to review the materials and develop their thoughts before providing commentary.
This is a pretty beefy playtest, with 4 new subclasses to check out. It also offers new “Villainous Paths” that let characters lean into their evil ways. If you enjoy playing an evil-aligned character or want to try it out, these new options could be a fun way to lean into the antihero or villain route in your next D&D campaign.
The new subclasses outlined in the Unearthed Arcana document are the Pestilence Domain Cleric, Circle of the Titan Druid, Hell Knight Fighter, and Demonic Sorcery Sorcerer. Each leans into a darker path for the chosen class. The Pestilence Domain Cleric, for instance, abandons the traditional healer route for the class and instead pledges allegiance to disease and decay. This lets you gain Resistance to Necrotic and Poison damage, while also bypassing such Resistance from your foes.
Meanwhile, the Circle of the Titan Druid takes a more, um, direct approach to restoring balance. As in, turning into a monster of destruction to bring about the fall of society if it’s getting in the way of the natural order of things. And the Hell Knight Fighter? Well, as you might expect, they are the champions of archdevils and fiends, bringing Hellfire-infused weapons onto the battlefield. Similarly, the Demonic Sorcery Sorcerer is gifted with the magic of demons, full of chaos and disorder.
Along with the new subclass options, this Unearthed Arcana outlines new Paths of Villainy. These archetypes bring together collections of feats to help players craft a character’s transformation from ordinary to archvillain. The first option is the Path of the Death Knight, a disgraced undead warrior determined to slake their thirst for blood. Prefer an evil-coded caster? That’s what the Path of the Lich provides, bringing together feats to turn your spellcasting character into a Lich perhaps as fearsome as Szass Tam himself.
There’s no telling when or if these new evil options will make their way into the official rules, but they certainly look fun to check out. You can peruse the new playtest rules and provide feedback via D&D Beyond. The survey opens on April 9th and will likely close after a few weeks, but the Unearthed Arcana should remain available for the foreseeable future.
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