Daggerheart may be out, but it is by no means done cooking yet. Two new classes went up for playtest yesterday: the Witch and the Assassin.
Daggerheart revealed two new classes as part of another wave of playtesting this week. And it is a doozy. The latest playtest, which you can download over at Daggerheart‘s ominously named “The Void”, contains the aforementioned Witch and Assassin classes. But it also has six new ancestries and six new communities, opening up an even wider world of background lore for your characters.
Because, at the end of the day, Daggerheart is all about making your own very special little guy. Or weird little guy, big little guy, mean little guy—really any kind of little guy you can think of.
Daggerheart‘s New Playtest Doesn’t Have a Lion or a Wardrobe, But It Does Have the Witch and the Assassin
Daggerheart has hit the ground running after its launch. And while physical copies have been sold out and are awaiting a new print run estimated for July, the game is still going strong. Because you can’t sell out of PDFs. Well, I guess you theoretically could, but if we get to that point, we’ve got waaaaay more problems. At any rate, the digital game is not only going over like gangbusters, it’s also still cooking.
That is to say that despite the game coming out barely a full month ago, the developers are still hard at work on making new stuff for the game. You can find it at The Void, which is an exclusive playtesting hub for fans of Daggerheart. At the Void, you’ll find early access to new classes, subclasses, ancestries, communities, weapons, loot, adversaries—the whole works. Basically, if it can go in the game, it can be playtested at the Void. Case in point, alongside the launch of the game, the Void had the Warlock and the Brawler up for playtest (currently on v1.4 each).
It’s a very clear signal from the developers—they not only want your feedback but will showcase how playtest data is incorporated. You get to see slightly more of the iterative design before something reaches its final form. This may or may not be appealing, depending on the kind of player you are.
I know for me, personally, I just want to see what the final version is. That’s because I will end up pining for the weird niche little change that I liked. And once my favorite thing goes away it’s “cowards” all the way down.
The Witch – Hex Appeal
But so far, the designers aren’t afraid to make big swings. Case in point with the two new classes. The Witch is a take on magic made ritual and eerie. They aren’t necessarily your kindly old witch, they have spells like Withering Affliction, Shared Trauma, and Summon Horror. Witches “commune with the forces of nature and entities from realms beyond, [calling] forth their power through craft, tirutals, incantations, herbs, stones, candles, and other tools”.
The Witch is all about hexing your enemies. Whenever someone hurts you or one of your allies (physically, not emotionally), you can Hex them, which makes them easier to damage, and weaker overall, so their powers are easy to resist. You can also Commune with spirits—during a long rest, you can commune with “an entity” which can be spirits, gods, forces of nature, you name it—and it gives you a chance to gain some sort of guidance. It ranges from unhelpful: “you taste a flavor relevant to the answer” to “you witness a relevant scene play out”. Interesting mechanic, for sure.
You can decide whether you’re a Hedge Witch or a Moon Witch. Hedge Witches are all about herbal remedies, making talismans, helping your allies, and conjuring the dead. Witch stuff, you know? Moon Witches, however, are all about being bathed in moonlight and wielding magical glamor.
But the real meat and potatoes of the Witch is in the spells you’ll cast at your enemies. The Witch uses the Dread and Sage Domains, and has access to a variety of horrible incantations, evocations, and nightmarish spells to unleash. Spells like Withering Affliction and Avatar of Malice. You can find them in the playtest packet.
The Assassin – Hope You Like d6s
The Assassin, on the other hand, is all about handing out d6s like they were candy. Only the candy is a knife, and it’s in between your ribs. The Assassin, on the other hand is all about dealing extra damage as part of an ambush. Whenever you move into melee range and make a successful attack, you can deal an extra number of d6s of damage equal to your tier—and you can lather, rinse, and repeat that.
You also get a fun narrative ability to find a quick or inconspicuous way into or out of a building. No guarantees that it will be safe, but you get to at least try.
Assassins have two different subclasses: the Executioner’s Guild and the Poisoner’s Guild. The Executioner’s Guild isf or Assassins who want to play up the 5E Rogue fantasy of hitting extremely hard, especially with that first, deadly attack. They get abilities that add extra damage to their first attack, make them do even more damage (d8s instead of d6s) with their ambush, and can turn a failure into a critical success at the highest levels,
Poisoner’s Guild ASsassins, as the name suggests, gain access to an array of deadly poisons. You can spend some of your limited Stress to gain 1d4+1 poison doses and can pick from a variety of poisons, including Gorgon’s Blood Grave Spore, Ghost Petal, and Blight Seed. All of which you can find in the playtest!
Check out the playtest and keep an eye out for the survey, coming later!
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Writer, Editor, Texas Native, and now Tex-Pat, Adam covers all things Tabletop Gaming. Which includes Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, D&D, Board Games and everything else that involves dice, boards, cards and a table.
A hobbyist, player, and collector of miniatures and games, Adam’s current obsession are his Death and Chaos Armies for Age of Sigmar, his Blood Angels and Tyranids for 40k, an expanding collection of Marvel: Crisis Protocol minis, and his ever growing Arkham Horror: The Card Game Collection.
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