A new third-party sourcebook has landed on D&DBeyond, and it’s as grisly as they come. Steihardt’s Guide to the Eldritch Hunt Player Pack offers six new subclasses, each of which turns your D&D character into a Soulsborne-like monstrosity. There’s Barbarians with lightning rods for spines and torturer Rangers, but the most exciting new option is probably the Druid.
The Circle of Symbiosis Druid has replaced their limbs with pieces of flora and fauna. They become ‘one with nature’ by stitching bits of it to their bodies, turning themselves into bizarre aberrations. Like I said, this book gets pretty grisly.
Rules-wise, this is actually a pretty strong option for the DnD classes. You start out with a spell list almost entirely ripped from the new book. Most of these are damage-dealers, but there’s a few utility and control spells, too. Oh, and you get Shillelagh – a Druid classic that’s about to get really weird.
Level three also gives you one of three Grafted Powers. Bear Back increases your carrying capacity and adds your Wisdom modifier to Strength checks, while Deer Head gives you advantage on all Perception checks. There’s also Goat Hooves, which grant advantage on saves against prone, as well as a climb speed equal to your speed.
Is it body horror enough for you yet? If not, check out Wickerborne Behemoth. From level three, you can use a bonus action to Wild Shape into a monstrosity (as long as you aren’t using armor or a shield). For 10 minutes, you gain the following benefits:
- You are under the effects of Barkskin (no concentration).
- You can use your arms as a Club that’s had Shillelagh cast on it, and you can use the Club weapon mastery property as normal.
- When an attack damages you, you deal 1d4 piercing damage to creatures of your choice within five feet as your skin splinters off.
- At the start of your turn, you regain HP equal to half the damage taken since your last turn.
It sounds ridiculous in all the right ways. A tanky Druid that constantly heals, does retaliatory damage, has a high AC, and beats people to death with its arms? Sign me the hell up.
The other subclass options aren’t quite as buff, but they’re still powerful – and, more importantly to me, spooky in all sorts of interesting ways.
The Path of the Lightning Vessel Barbarian uses many, many bonus actions to deal extra lightning damage to foes. Blood Hound Fighters are like gruesome Battle Masters, with a range of ‘Blood Strike’ options that modify their attacks in exchange for some of your HP.
I’m quite keen to build an Oath of the Eldritch Hunt Paladin. They can pursue a marked foe by teleporting within five feet of them constantly. Spells like Moonbeam and Evard’s Black Tentacles up their ranged damage potential, and they immediately sense the immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilities of enemies in their aura of protection.
The Torturer Conclave Ranger is perhaps the most upsetting of the new subclasses. They use Torture Tools to exhaust restrained enemies and empower their attacks. Expect to dole out extra damage, debuffs, and some truly gory attack descriptions.
That leaves us with the Blade of Radiance Rogue and the Osteomancer Wizard. The former uses a sanctified blade and Divine Points to create buffs and debuffs in battle. The latter is a master of bone magic – oh, and skeletons.
Steihardt’s Guide to the Eldritch Hunt Player Pack is available now on D&DBeyond. Want to chat more about this year’s DnD release schedule? We’re always keen to chat in the Wargamer Discord.
Source: Wargamer
