Four new villain Dungeons and Dragons options, ranked

Sometimes when you're playing Dungeons and Dragons, you want to try your hand at being a villain. Being a hero is fine and all, but it's absolutely overplayed for the most part. The Unearthed Arcana has been released, and with it comes four subclasses for villains to try on your table.

Villain options include subclasses for cleric, druid, fighter, and sorcerer. On top of these subcategories, you'll get options to let your character follow a villainous path. These paths provide your character with new villainous actions and story explanations to help them navigate this new villainous path they've chosen. Here's every villain option in the Unearthed Arcana.

4

Titan Circle

Druid

Protectors of the earth, these druids sometimes go overboard, punishing anyone who doesn't see the land as they do. This evokes the Titan form that comes with this Druid subclass. Circle of Titans introduces three new wild shapes in Behemoth, Leviathan and Insectoid.

While your Titan is in wild form you receive elemental damage of your choice. You can become bigger or bigger and avoid terrain issues for most situations, and you can swallow a creature after becoming Gargantuan.

Unfortunately, this class doesn't feel very villainous, and the abilities aren't any better than other druid options available. The best part about this subcategory is the new Wild Shape options, although some of these abilities you'll find in other Wild Shape options that you can choose from. Your germ form can distribute health points to allies, though. There aren't many fun or villainous options here, and even the high-level abilities aren't worth the investment.

Using the Lich or Path of the Death Knight options included in Unwarthed Arcana can help create backstory and more villainous involvement with this class choice.

3

demonic magic

magician

Sorcerers get the monstrous hat subclass. Your monstrous villainy comes from the Age Abyss, and you will manifest it in your appearance as well, helping to sell your villainous ideals. The wickedness and disorder of the unfathomable scheme should help guide your villain in the direction of playing a good role.

Your new abilities include a demonic blow that deals 1d4 slashing damage and draws an enemy towards you or deals damage for a turn using a magic point to attack against you. Level 18 allows you to summon a fiend onto the field with the Summon Fiend spell at no component cost.

The most interesting ability is using Innet Sorcery for Abyssal Aura. This Abyssal Aura creates a point of emission that has several effects, including:

• Sticky Webs – Create difficult terrain that requires a creature to roll and use action to get out.

• Caustic Oze – Creates difficult terrain that deals acid damage on failed saves.

• Terrible Scream – Emits deals mental damage.

• Fascinating Spores – Creates a heavy opaque field that can attract enemies.

• Poisonous Foliage – Creates a lightly opaque area with monstrous vegetation that deals poison damage on a failed save.

• Strengthening Bones – Bones come from the ground, they withstand necrotic damage on hits.

The variety here makes these options viable for mages who are usually stuck with the same spells for an entire level. The downside of course is that you have to roll, and the desired result may not be what you want. The variety available, however, makes up for the randomness while keeping a sense of base class. Higher levels let you roll twice and choose which effect you want to use.

The only downside here is that it doesn't necessarily feel villainous, like some demonic force is controlling you. The available option to apply Disadvantage is great, and given the expanded spell list, it doesn't end up playing as powerful or unique as you might ultimately think.

2

hell knight

a fighter

A great villain option, Hell Knights can easily tie their backstory to the Nine Hells, as they are the champions of devils, cambians, and night hags from the nine hells. There are many additional options available at UA on how you can be a Hell Knight as an added bonus. You learn the Infernal, can see in magical and non-magical darkness, and can imbue your weapon to create an infernal fire weapon that deals regular damage or fire damage of your choice. You gain resistance to fire damage when wearing armor or a shield, and ignore fire resistance when you use a weapon.

The best part about your weapon is the added hell and advanced wound mechanic. You get to deal an additional d6 damage with your inner wound die. As you level up, you can detonate the wounds you create on enemies to deal different types of damage, with some types of damage emanating from the wound and inflicting damage on others in the area.

For added damage, your Action Surge can cause your armor to explode at the point of fire emission from you, dealing fire damage. The skin wounds you leave behind give you an additional d6 of damage when you reach 15th level, and when your weapon reduces a creature to 0 hit points at level 18, they become a lemur in the nine hells.

There's a lot going on in this subgenre, and it all works well in the way it builds on the vivid theme of Nine Hells Servant. Your fighter has many options for dealing extra damage, making it worth the investment for a fighter who wants to add more damage to each roll. The added bonus of an easy way to slide in villainous backstory makes this a great UA addition as well.

1

epidemic domain

religious leader

Plague and pestilence are key aspects of this subcategory, which invokes gods of rot, pestilence, plague, poison, disease, and famine. This makes the subclass easier to integrate, as playing a key role in areas in most campaigns, you can invest in creating or causing these problems as your player travels. As far as mechanics go, the subclass gets its own spell list. Suspicious options are here, blight, contagion, detect poison, and disease, etc.

The real joy comes in channeling your divinity ability, Plague Blessings. Giving a level of exhaustion to the combat while providing a roleplaying objective with plague symptoms that help tell your players story makes this UA option the most interesting. Having your plague burst from a creature at zero hit points adds even more versatility, making it a strong villain option.

Add the ability to transform at level 17, and your Cleric feels like an entirely new and creative class. This version is such an interesting triumph for the villain that it's worth a try.