The Grim Hollow: Player Pack from Ghostfire Gaming is a collection of grimdark player options, from species to spells and much more. Today, we'll be taking a dive into this foreboding third-party supplement and the six subclasses it brings to D&D Beyond.

• Barbarian: Path of the Carrion Raven
• Bard: College of Requiems
• Cleric: Inquisition Domain
• Fighter: Blade Breaker
• Paladin: Oath of Zeal
• Rogue: Misfortune Bringer

Barbarian: Path of the Carrion Raven

Favoring the company of beasts above their kin, the Barbarian clad in midnight feathers carries the spirit of the bloody raven with them. A relentless and menacing hunter, a Barbarian following the Path of the Carrion Raven may be isolated, but those that walk it see this as a mark of prestige.

Why Choose this Subclass: You want to play a Barbarian that offers a variety of options in combat while wielding the power of the beasts as a ferocious predator.

The Path of the Carrion Raven is a feral, bestial Barbarian subclass that focuses on a feature called Martial Maneuvers. Using a pool of maneuver points, the Path of the Carrion Raven is able to channel superhuman feats such as Hit Point regeneration, gliding through the air, or growing in size. You start with 6 points and 3 maneuvers known when you pick the subclass at level 3. By the time you reach level 20, you'll have 40 points to use across 6 different maneuvers, chosen from a total of 17 ranging from 1 to 8 points.

Features Summary

Martial Maneuvers (Level 3): Gain a number of maneuver points that can be spent to use maneuvers themed around the Carrion Raven saga.

Feral Celerity (Level 3): Allows you to concentrate on maneuvers and grants an additional Bonus Action attack when you enter a rage.

Raven's Spirit (Level 6): Gain a selection of skill proficiencies and the ability to cast Speak with Animals as a Ritual.

Ferocious Rage (Level 10): Cause creatures near you to potentially receive the Frightened condition when you enter your rage.

Violent Hunger (Level 14): Once per attack, spend a maneuver point to roll an additional damage dice on your attack when you roll maximum damage.

Bard: College of Requiems

Many Bards sing songs of the dead in remembrance, but some play a much more chilling tune that they play for the dead. Filling each chord with necromantic energy, their music causes corpses to rise from the earth in a danse macabre.

Why Choose this Subclass: You want to play a darkly gothic Bard who makes corpses dance to their dirges and enemies wither before them.

While some people might learn to play an instrument in order to delight others, Bards of the College of Requiems subclass play for a more nefarious purpose. Using dark dirges and melancholic melodies, this bardic college weaves necromantic energy into their tunes in order to lower the spirits of the living and raise the dead.

Gaining access to a wider selection of Necromancy spells, including Animate Dead without it counting against your spell list, the College of Requiem can also use their Bardic Inspiration dice to deal additional Necrotic damage. They can even grant a form of Bardic Inspiration–called a Dirge die–to multiple Undead creatures under their control. This Dirge die can be used in the same way as a Bardic Inspiration die while also augmenting that creature's damage on attacks.

Features Summary

Chilling Melody (Level 3): Gain two Necromancy cantrips from any class spell list, which count as Bard spells for you and don't count against the number of cantrips you know.

Pluck the Heartstrings (Level 3): Allow allies to spend your Bardic Inspiration die to deal additional Necrotic damage or spend it as a Reaction to stave off death.

Stir the Bones (Level 6): Learn Animate Dead and use your Bardic Inspiration die on Undead allies to augment their abilities.

Dance of the Dead (Level 14): Expand the number of creatures your Necromancy spells can target once per Short or Long rest.

Cleric: Inquisition Domain

There is no fire that burns as bright as the fury of a righteous Cleric. And none are more righteous than those tasked by their deity to keep wielders of the tainted arcane in check. Fearing moral audacity when dabbling in powers to rival them, the gods employ inquisitorial Clerics to burn out any who would practice eldritch heresy.

Why Choose this Subclass: You want to play a character who not only opposes tainted magic but crushes it before them with righteous fury.

The Inquisition Domain is a unique take on Cleric, taking their narrative design of “power through praxis” in a terrifying direction. Inquisition Domain Clerics embody the ideology of suppressing tainted magic wherever they can and controlling all magic they can't.

Detect Magic, Silence, Dispel Magic, and Locate Creature are but some of the incredibly thematic spells for a subclass that wants to root out heretical arcane spellcasters. Combine this with their level 1 Martial weapon proficiencies and Heavy armor training and their Witch Hunter's Strike, which deals additional damage to creatures concentrating on spells, and you already have a prodigious anti-caster subclass.

Features Summary

Inquisition Domain Spells: Add additional spells to the Cleric spell list themed around detecting and stopping magic.

Bonus Proficiencies (Level 1): Gain Martial weapons proficiency and Heavy armor training.

Witch Hunter's Strike (Level 1): Deal additional damage with weapon attacks, which is even greater if the target is concentrating on a spell, and gain Temporary Hit Points if the damage causes them to fail their save to maintain Concentration.

Channel Divinity: Spell Shield (Level 2): Grant an ally Temporary Hit Points, which also grants protection against spells.

Rebuke Invoker (Level 6): Deal damage to spellcasters as a Reaction when you can see them and they cast a spell within 60 feet.

Divine Strike (Level 8): Deal additional Force damage with your attacks.

Supernal Safeguard (Level 17) Augment your Channel Divinity: Spell Shield with additional targets.

Fighter: Blade Breaker

Change is inevitable, and those who would refuse this will break upon the determination of those who know it to be the only truth. From idealists to tyrants, those who walk in the footsteps of the legendary Blade Breaker will not be bowed or broken but will instead force those who oppose them to shatter against their will like a brittle blade against a stone.

Why Choose this Subclass: You want to play a stubborn and indomitable Fighter who is a bulwark upon which your enemies break against, both in blade and spirit.

Like the Barbarian's Path of the Carrion Raven subclass, the Fighter's Blade Breaker subclass also gets access to Martial Maneuvers and their associated martial points.

In addition to maneuvers, Blade Breakers gain access to battle stances. These are special modifiers to how the subclass fights that you choose each time you roll Initiative or as a Bonus Action, dramatically changing your character's fighting style. At higher levels, you gain features that let you inflict damage through grappling, regain maneuver points when you use your Second Wind, and even do more damage on attacks when Bloodied.

Features Summary

Martial Maneuvers: Gain a selection of maneuvers themed around martial prowess and sundering your enemies' weapons and armor.

Stance of the Blade Breaker (Level 3): Choose a battle stance you can enter when you roll Initiative and as a Bonus Action. You gain additional stances at Fighter levels 7, 10, and 15.

Unyielding Determination (Level 7): Gain Advantage on saving throws made during your turn.

Breaker of Minds (Level 10): Inflict Psychic damage on the targets you are grappling.

Adrenaline Rush (Level 15): Regain maneuver points when you use your Second Wind.

Blooded Clarity (Level 18): Gain bonus damage to attacks and more efficient use of maneuvers taken while you are Bloodied.

Paladin: Oath of Zeal

When there is no compassion, no honor, no relenting, there is only hate. And when hate meets determination, there is only zealotry. These severe Paladins strike out to uncover wickedness and purge heretics without mercy—and at any cost.

Why Choose this Subclass: You want to be the hammer and anvil between which heresy is crushed, regardless of the means needed to reach that end.

The tenets of the Paladin's Oath of Zeal subclass focus on revealing corruption and dispatching heretics without mercy or exception, and their mechanics reflect this.

With spells such as Detect Evil and Good, Hunter's Mark, Locate Creature, and Scrying, they can track down anyone they deem to be corrupt or malignant. And once they have the offender in their clutches, they can use Detect Thoughts, Fear, and Divination to extract the truth from them by any means.

Features Summary

Oath of Zeal Spells: A selection of spells themed around hunting down and interrogating their foes.

Channel Divinity (Level 3): Mark the Heretic grants a mark against a creature, improving the chances of a Critical Hit, while Inquisitor's Eye gives a bonus to ability checks using Intelligence (Investigation), Wisdom (Insight), and Wisdom (Perception).

Aura of Clarity (Level 7): You and your allies within range cannot be Blinded, and enemies cannot benefit from being Invisible.

Compel Confession (Level 15): Cast Zone of Truth at-will and inflict damage on creatures who succeed on the saving throw against its effects.

Apocalyptic Revelation (Level 20): Gain Truesight, potentially inflict the Blinded condition on enemies near you, and reveal their weaknesses, granting Advantage on attacks against them.

Rogue: Misfortune Bringer

Bad luck is an art form for those who wield hexes and curses from the shadows to turn their victims' fortunes sour in a heartbeat. Whether your power comes from hags, archfey, or witches, the roguish Misfortune Bringers have one thing in common: They cut the strings of fate like most of their comrades would cut throats.

Why Choose this Subclass: You want to play a Rogue that executes their targets through misfortune and poor luck as much as with a sharpened blade or deadly poison.

The Rogue's Misfortune Bringer subclass is a manipulator of luck and a twister of fate, a roguish archetype that wields curses like others wield blades. Often drawing on powers learned from dark and cunning creatures, this subclass for Rogue has an exceptionally unique art form. Their level 3 feature, Evil Eye, allows them to mark a victim so that they can always use their Sneak Attack against them as long as they don't have Disadvantage.

They also get the use of misfortunes via their Misfortunist feature. Much like Martial Maneuvers described above, this grants them a small selection of benefits that can be used by spending jinx points. Starting with 2 misfortunes and 4 jinx points, their repertoire and pool of points grow as they level up.

Features Summary

Evil Eye (Level 3): Mark a creature you can see with your Evil Eye as a Bonus Action to always get Sneak Attack against them as long as you don't have Disadvantage on the attack.

Misfortunist (Level 3): Learn 2 misfortunes from a list and gain 4 jinx points with which to use them, gaining an additional misfortune at levels 9, 13, and 17 and an additional 2 jinx points at level 13.

Steal Luck (Level 9 and 17): Deprive a nearby creature of Advantage on a D20 Test, regaining a jinx point if you do–this ability improves at level 17 with more uses per Short or Long Rest.

Curse Caster (Level 13) Cast Bestow Curse using Charisma for 3 jinx points.

A Grim Conclusion

The Grim Hollow: Player Pack provides you with a selection of incredibly dark and dour subclass choices perfect for your more brooding games of D&D.

But that's not all it offers, as the supplement also includes similarly themed spells, species, and magic items. You can pick up the Grim Hollow: Player Pack in the D&D Beyond marketplace today and make the brooding character of your dreams….or nightmares.

Davyd is a Dungeon Master living in the south of England with his wife Steph, daughter Willow, and two cats Khatleesi and Mollie. In addition to D&D, he loves writing, 3d printing, and experimenting home automation, often combining all four with varying degrees of success.