Dungeons & Dragons releases Villainous Options playtest

Wizards of the Coast has released a new playtest featuring four new "villainous" subclasses, along with two more feat paths designed to transform characters into either a lich or a death knight. Today, Wizards released a new "Villainous Options" Unearthed Arcana. The new document contains four subclasses - a Pestilence Domain Cleric, a Circle of the Titan Druid, a Hell Knight Fighter, and a Demonic Sorcerer, alongside feat paths intended to slowly transform a player character into either a lich or a death knight. While previous D&D books have brought back the concept of mini-feat trees, these villainous paths are intended to be used at every opportunity a feat can be taken.

The Pestilence Domain cleric's core ability allows it to confer exhaustion levels on opponents via use of Channel Divinity. Enemies who die while having one or more Exhaustion level can explode and inflict necrotic damage on others. The capstone ability allows the Cleric to transform into a swarm of pestilence-infused pests.

The Circle of the Titan Druid has a Wild Shape ability that transforms them into various kinds of kaiju-esque monsters, which eventually become gargantuan in size.

The Hell Knight Fighter deals extra Infernal damage that varies in type depending on the ability and eventually transforms foes into minor devils upon their death.

The Demonic Sorcerer likewise grants various kinds of sorcerer abilities Abyssal effects, culminating in the ability to summon a demon to the battlefield once per day for free.

The path feats are interesting - both culminate with a feat that can only be taken at Level 12 or higher and requires a player to have at least two other feats from the feat path. Death Knights gain a pool of Death Points that fuel various abilities, while the Lich gains a Soul Jar and eventually gains the mechanical benefits of being a lich.

The playtest is open now, with a playtest survey launching next week.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

at the cost of a multiclass level that offers very little else.

Grapple.

 

[WanderingMystic]

So while I love the idea of the Titan I think it needs a little more, maybe bumping up your damage and temp ho if you go to huge or gargantuan. Also the leviathan ink cloud doesn't scale and is no where near as nice as the other twos abilities.

Pestilence channel divinity is a little much.

The feat trees are nice and I can see having them for lots of different concepts, I would try to balance them a bit more and add an epic boon for each of them.

 

[Kurotowa]

Grapple.

Sure, in caster form. In Titan form? Both your Str and Dex get set equal to Wis, so using Dex instead of Str isn't a gain.

I suppose you'd also get the Bonus Attack Unarmed Strike from Martial Arts, even in Titan Form. And with your Dex set higher it's not useless. But I'm still not sure it's worth a full level.

So while I love the idea of the Titan I think it needs a little more, maybe bumping up your damage and temp ho if you go to huge or gargantuan. Also the leviathan ink cloud doesn't scale and is no where near as nice as the other twos abilities.

I agree on the ink cloud. Damage though, don't overlook that they're already getting modest damage bumps over time. They just come from the base class, with Elemental Fury and Improved Elemental Fury. Yes, it's not enough to keep up with a full martial. But as discussed, it really can't. Not when you're still a full caster.

 

[GravyFingerz]

Feats paths for this kind of transformation feel much better to me than prestige classes ever did.

 

[Liongo]

It needs some tweaks, but I like the idea of adding evil aspects to characters.

 

[WanderingMystic]

Sure, in caster form. In Titan form? Both your Str and Dex get set equal to Wis, so using Dex instead of Str isn't a gain.

I suppose you'd also get the Bonus Attack Unarmed Strike from Martial Arts, even in Titan Form. And with your Dex set higher it's not useless. But I'm still not sure it's worth a full level.

I agree on the ink cloud. Damage though, don't overlook that they're already getting modest damage bumps over time. They just come from the base class, with Elemental Fury and Improved Elemental Fury. Yes, it's not enough to keep up with a full martial. But as discussed, it really can't. Not when you're still a full caster.

i was thinking like Shillelagh so a bump to d10 then to d12

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

How the hell does WOTC still not understand what amount of damage is significant? They keep acting like single digit damage matters after 1st level.

Take the hellknight. OK, so you deal an extra d6 damage con times per short rest and light them on fire. Pretty mid. But then at 7th level if you roll a 6 you trigger dealing your con modifier. Guys, 2-3 damage means nothing at 7th level. I dont want abilities that arent worth remembering on my sheet. It clutters the game.

I'm not playing pathfinder 2 for a reason. I don't want to remember that I get a +1 crafting bonus to make an impression on bakers after eating eggs and I don't give a damn about dealing 1% of a monster's total HP either.

Do these guys play some sort of alt rule set where an extra d6 damage matters at 10th level? OH dear lord, its d6 damage save for HALF?

Go home WOTC, you're drunk.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

I'm going to stake a strong position for my survey feedback. The Hell Knight's Infernal Die shouldn't be tied to a limited supply. It's really not that strong, the Infernal Wound can be removed as easily as having a minion spend an Action, and nearly every subclass feature ties back into it. So why not just make it a passive ability? Why limit how often you get to do the cool signature thing the entire subclass is built around?

Its such a pissant amount of damage. Lets bog down the game making saves for single digit damage at 10th level, because the game doesnt play slow enough as is then.

WOTC, for a limited use damage ability, it should deal around 2-3 times the character level or GTFO. At 7th level all the hellknight's strikes should be flaming. The action surge explosion should be 6d6.

Its like these were written by someone stuck in 1st edition HP values.

 

[Mistwell]

Regarding Titan Druid AC, people are pointing out there's a work around. Since the Titan form gets its Dex set equal to Wis, if you have an alternative AC calculation available it's often going to be better.

The all in route is to dip a level of Monk for Unarmored Defense. That gets you AC 20, but at the cost of a multiclass level that offers very little else. The more tempered route is to get Mage Armor from Magic Initiate or an Enspelled Staff, or just from another party member. That gets you AC 18 for a much lower investment.

If you're dead set on being a frontline brawler, there's ways to make it happen. And even if you're not, Mage Armor is +5 AC for Insectoid Form, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Seems Barbarian 1 does almost as well and offers more benefits. Unarmored Defense is 10+Dex mod (Wis mod) + Con mod. Technically you can also use a shield with this. And you'd get 2 Weapon Masteries, Rage, and highest hid die in the game. And it sort of fits a Titan.