Wizards of the Coast continues to expand options for darker characters in Dungeons & Dragons with the latest Unearthed Arcana playtest. Alongside several new subclasses, the company has introduced two complete feat chains called Paths of Villainy that let players gradually transform their characters into iconic undead powerhouses.
The two paths Path of the Death Knight and Path of the Lich give players a structured way to embrace villainy and become truly formidable forces of evil.
Designed primarily for melee martial characters (especially Oathbreaker Paladins), the Death Knight path focuses on hellish martial power and battlefield control. The feats grant access to thematic spells such as Wrathful Smite, Command, Bane, and Fear, all fueled by a new resource called Death Points.
The capstone feat, Death Knight Ascension, transforms the character’s creature type to Undead. This grants resistance to Necrotic and Poison damage and immunity to exhaustion from dehydration, starvation, or suffocation. At higher levels, players can spend Death Points to unleash hellfire across the battlefield, dealing both Fire and Necrotic damage in devastating area attacks.
The Path of the Lich caters to spellcasters, particularly Warlocks, Sorcerers, and Wizards. Players craft a Spirit Jar (phylactery) that serves as their anchor to undeath. Through the feats, characters gain the ability to use Soul Siphon on enemies to steal temporary hit points or recover expended spell slots.
The final feat, Lich Ascension, fully turns the character undead and allows them to reform near their Spirit Jar if destroyed a mechanic reminiscent of powerful liches like Szass Tam or the dracolich Sammaster. This creates incredibly resilient spellcasters who are extremely difficult to put down permanently.
These new options open up exciting roleplaying possibilities beyond simple evil campaigns:
- Full Evil Party: The entire group can embrace villainy and pursue conquest or domination together.
- Secret BBEG Twist: A player can quietly progress along one of these paths while adventuring with a heroic party, eventually revealing themselves as the campaign’s true antagonist.
- Tragic or Reluctant Villain: A character might pursue these paths as a desperate “heroic” sacrifice to defeat a greater evil, or be forced into undeath by circumstances beyond their control.
The flexibility of the system means creative players and DMs can find morally complex motivations even for these traditionally villainous transformations.
As with all Unearthed Arcana material, these Paths of Villainy are currently in playtest and subject to change based on community feedback. Similar content, such as the reworked Spirits Bard, took over a year to appear in a final sourcebook. Players should therefore expect the official versions of these paths to arrive in 2027 or later, possibly in a future supplement focused on villainous characters.
In the meantime, the playtest documents are freely available on D&D Beyond for groups who want to test them right away.
These new Paths of Villainy represent some of the most flavorful and mechanically interesting options added to D&D in recent memory. Whether you want to build the ultimate edgy anti-hero, run a full evil campaign, or pull off an unforgettable plot twist at your table, these feats give players powerful new tools to explore the darker side of the game.