Designer Insights from Unearthed Arcana: Villainous Options 2

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This Unearthed Arcana features three new subclasses. Continuing the theme of the previous UA, Villainous Options, these subclasses encourage players to embrace their inner antiheroes or engage with sinister powers. Like the previous UA, characters who walk these paths can be of any alignment, but it never hurts to talk with your DM if you’d like to explore a more villainous side of your character.

The material in this UA uses the rules in the Player’s Handbook. Learn about this playtest directly from the D&D Game Design Team in this article!

About Designer Insights

It has been a joy seeing excitement from the D&D community about our previous villain-themed UA. In addition to feedback on the design content itself, some fans expressed an interest in learning more about the intent and philosophies behind those designs or why we opted for a particular design direction. We hope to remedy that in this and future Designer Insights articles.

You might have noticed that we have started to slowly reintroduce more narrative content to accompany these player options and the ones in the previous UA. Some of these options, for example, contain narrative-forward tables like the ones that appeared in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything to help inspire players when making certain choices about their characters. If you like this direction, please let us know!

As always, thank you for your feedback, and please make sure to fill out the UA survey when it opens to make your voice heard. We rely on feedback from fans like you to ensure the content we create is grounded in and informed by real tables—and to make it the best it can be.

— Justice Ramin Arman, D&D Game Design Director

New Subclasses

Aurore FolnyNew Subclasses

This Unearthed Arcana features three new subclasses:

  • Path of Lament (Barbarian)
  • Warrior of Venom (Monk)
  • Primordial Patron (Warlock)

Path of Lament (Barbarian)

Barbarians of the Path of Lament harness the fear of death and the rage that accompanies great loss. This subclass takes inspiration from Undead in D&D, especially incorporeal spirits driven by extreme and often unresolved emotions—the anguish of a ghost, the sorrow of a banshee, or the hunger and malice of a wraith. The Player’s Handbook states that Rage isn’t limited to anger, and the Path of Lament leans into that claim.

This subclass’s keystone feature is Banshee’s Wail, which the Barbarian can use to psychically devastate enemies; at higher levels, this wail can outright dispatch foes with low Hit Points, whether they be pesky minions or weakened villains. Horrifying Strike lets the Barbarian damage and terrify foes simultaneously, and defensive abilities like immunity to possession and Resistance to Cold and Necrotic damage while raging allow the Barbarian to keep combat up close and personal with Undead. At the apex of their power, these Barbarians can temporarily assume an Undead form and drain the life from their enemies.

Warrior of Venom (Monk)

Warriors of Venom exploit their own bodily toxins to impair and envenom foes. This subclass takes inspiration from poison in all its forms. While the word “venom” might call to mind images of snakes or spiders, we also wanted these Monks to emulate chemicals and synthesized toxins, such as hallucinogenic vapors and truth serum. As the Monk advances in level, they apply these toxins more efficiently, progressing from coating weapons in venom to delivering toxins with a touch, through their blood, and finally with their breath.

The Toxic Blood feature in this subclass leverages a mechanical lever fifth edition didn’t have prior to 2024: Bloodied. (We’re really excited about this one!) When an attacker hits the Monk with a melee attack roll, the Monk’s toxic blood splashes onto the attacker, dealing damage in return—and when the Monk is Bloodied, that damage is greater!

Primordial Patron (Warlock)

The Primordial Patron subclass fills a gap in the Warlock’s catalog. While the Genie Patron in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything allows a Warlock to align with an Elemental, that subclass leaned into the unique fantasies associated with noble genie. This subclass embraces the widespread destruction associated with primordials and other destructive forces of nature, such as the Elemental Evils.

When you choose this subclass, you pick from one of four elements associated with your elemental patron. Primordial titans are fickle beings, however, and their Warlocks are no exception; each time you gain a Warlock level after choosing this subclass, you can shift your loyalty to a different elemental patron, gaining different benefits.

Many of the Primordial Patron’s benefits key off the subclass’s Elemental Node feature, which is inspired by the elemental nodes in adventures like Princes of the Apocalypse and The Temple of Elemental Evil. An elemental node is a locus of power where one of the Elemental Planes connects to a different point in the multiverse. A Warlock can create such a node on the battlefield to deal elemental damage to enemies; shield the Warlock from attacks and damage of the type corresponding to the node’s element; and, at higher levels, function as a gateway to summon a servant of the Warlock’s patron or even the patron itself (at the DM’s discretion) through the Planar Ally spell. This Unearthed Arcana also includes two new Eldritch Invocations that complement the Pact of the Primordial: Elemental Overflow and Elemental Transmutation.

Your Feedback Matters

Once you’ve read or played with these playtest materials, be sure to fill out the survey on D&D Beyond, coming on April 30, and let us know what you think.

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