Matt Colville Debuts Illrigger Class for 'Dungeons & Dragons'

Game designer Matt Colville has released a new Illrigger class that's being used in his new Dungeons & Dragons stream.

Colville is best known, at least in D&D circles, as the maker and host of "Running the Game," a popular YouTube series that explains the nuances of running a Dungeons & Dragons or other tabletop RPG games. "Running the Game" is one of the most popular webseries about Dungeons & Dragons and helped contribute to Colville's rising popularity as a face of D&D.

Earlier this week, Colville debuted his new Dungeons & Dragon streaming series "The Chain," in which he DMs a party playing as the leaders of a mercenary group. Colville is incorporating rules and mechanics from his Strongholds & Followers supplement, along with a new Illrigger class that he designed.

The Illrigger is an infernal anti-paladin of sorts, serving an archdevil and receiving a portion of its infernal power in return. Illriggers are considered the "shock-commandos" of hell, able to summon and command devils and cast a limited number of unique spells.

In addition to their martial prowess and a small spell list similar in size to that of a paladin, the illrigger has two core class features. The "Infernal Conduit" ability gives players the ability to create a conduit between the illrigger and another creature that allows for the transfer of hit points. The illrigger can either choose to heal the creature or take the creature's hit points to heal themselves. The other core feature is the "Baleful Interdict" that gives the illrigger the ability to burn spell slots in order to place seals on a creature. This seal can then be activated to inflict extra damage on an enemy whenever you or an ally hit it with an attack.

As with other classes, players also choose an illrigger subclass that grants them extra abilities and effects. The illrigger can choose between three archdukes of hell to serve, each of whom can grant them different powers. Those who serve Moloch gain a number of stealth abilities, illriggers that pledge allegiance to Dispater become more versatile at front-line combat, and illriggers who follow Asmodeus become more potent spellcasters.

Colville is fantastic at coming up with interesting new mechanics that naturally fit within Fifth Edition play, and the illrigger class looks like a fun class to try out. The illrigger is a little more complex than the average D&D class, and it seems perfect for players looking to play in a dark or evil campaign. Colville notes that the illrigger design is "pre-alpha" and will likely be tweaked as the campaign goes along and Colville has a chance to see his designs in action.

You can check out the full illrigger class guide on Colville's website. Colville's "The Chain" airs on Wednesdays at 10 PM on Colville's Twitch channel.

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