Features of the MCDM Illrigger D&D class

Dungeons and dragons has been a monolithic title in pop culture for some time, from the humble 50's spin on wargaming to the dawn of the tabletop gaming industry, one of the most vibrant and engaging catalysts of the human imagination today. Nowadays, D&D can be found in Lego sets and referenced in a variety of popular television shows, and what was once a niche hobby has become quite mainstream.

One of the best things about this game, or more specifically its community, is the sheer amount of Homebrew content out there. While MCDM's class straddles the line between official and homebrew, and is officially recognized by D&D Beyond, which is owned by Wizards, the most important thing to keep in mind beyond any fluff is that this is a great class. MCDM are known for their high-quality D&D supplements, and this hellish answer to the Paladin has enough flavor and flair to be a welcome addition to D&D's major class archetypes.

8 Magic Hybrid

This class mixes martial and magical elements

While the Illrigger does not, in its base form, gain access to spellcasting, they do have some incredibly interesting occult elements attached to the seals they can place on enemies. This is immediately what makes this class so interesting and delightfully fiendish.

The player's resource to keep track of is not something internal, like a monk's ki points or a spellcaster's slots. Instead, seals must be burned for effects, and seals must be placed on enemies. Illriggers enemies is the resource that must be managed for effects, which is an incredible flavor.

7 Helvetic taste

The illrigger is infernal by nature

While no one is excluded from this class, players looking to play as light and hope should potentially consider other classes before this one. The Illrigger is a direct servant of Hell, part of an archdevil's right hand.

This is a great starting point for a class, and players will have a great time coming up with stories to explain how their character ended up in the service of some of the greatest evils in the multiverse.

6 Debuff Oriented

Illriggers can wreak havoc on enemies

Illrigger is one of those classes that is really defined by the subclass they take. One of the things that all subclasses have in mind is to negatively affect an enemy's momentum. All subclasses have some sort of function that hinders enemies.

The Seals themselves are endemic to this, as a level 1 ability for Illrigger that allows them to wreak havoc on low-level enemies with an easy way to constantly further damage, draining their enemies' vitality.

5 High-Damage features

Many Illrigger class features put it on the front line

The Illrigger is mostly dedicated to indiscriminate damage. The assassin-focused archetype, Shadowmasters, provides instant advantage on attacks, hones in on enemy weaknesses, and is generally a great source of burst damage.

Painkillers can turn a hit into a critical hit, perfect for games where the homebrew rules have already souped up critical hits a bit, and a great way to increase the amount of damage dealt at any given time.

4 The paladin objected

The Illrigger is a dark reflection of the Paladin

While Paladins can have Divine Smite, the Illrigger has a deliciously edgy ability known as Invoke Hell. This is basically a grim parallel to Paladin, with two options per subclass much like how Divine Smites works.

These Invoke Hell abilities are a great way to define Illrigger's role in the party, and yours is a consumable resource that regenerates after resting, again like the mirrored Paladin ability

3 Various subclasses

Find a niche with many subclasses

One of the things that signals that this subclass is an MCDM production and not something coming out of Wizards is how it handles subclasses. A fighter, regardless of subclass, will be a frontline damage dealer. A priest will always be a holy wizard. A bard will always be the source of the party's problems.

Illriggers will always have Charisma as one of their main stats (another Paladin parallel), but they can be a bulky tank, a stealth assassin, a spellcaster, or a bard-inspired charmer. Any playstyle can be handled with this grim class.

2 Mixes risk with reward

Class abilities come with great risk for Illrigger

Various class abilities for the Illrigger require them to take some personal risks to maximize their effectiveness for the party. This is something seen with Matt Mercer's Bloodhunter class or his iteration on the Blood School wizard subclass.

An example of this is an ability that allows Illriggers to spend a hit die to add the result to a failed roll, a great way to reflect the infernal efficiency of these fighters while also showing how they put their own health regeneration lower on the priority list.

1 Warlock Influenced

Bind with powerful devices

The bulk of Warlock subclasses and Illrigger seem to agree on certain facts, such as “Hell is pretty cool” or “serving an ancient and evil being for power is an incredibly normal thing to do”.

Perhaps reflecting their focus as powerful vehicles for another creature's power, Illriggers gain Interdict Boons, which work much like a Warlock's Eldritch Invocations, buffs that players of any subclass can take on for increased effectiveness.