Grim Hollow is a dark fantasy setting created by Ghostfire Gaming for D&D 5e (for both the 2014 and 2024 rules).
It’s set in the land of Etharis, which is home to many nasty creatures inspired primarily by eastern European folklore. This means you can expect werewolves, vampires, hags and all sorts of nasty creatures in abundance.
We’ve been covering the 2024 release of Grim Hollow. In particular, we’ve been tackling many of the unique parts of this release. You can find all the details on Grim Hollow below, including our guides to the various character options:
Heritages
Grim Hollow has a unique take on species and races known as heritages. They are far more flexible, allowing you to choose the traits you want for your character from a list of over 100 traits (plus empowered traits too). Or you can use traditional traits assigned to that heritage.
Not only that, but you have some completely unique heritages, exclusive to this system. This includes the likes of natural born werewolves known as Wulven, the vamperous dhampir and even the child-like fey constructs known as Weschelkind.
Transformations
Alongside your original heritage, players may have the opportunity to take upon themself a transformation. These are both boons and curses, inflicting powers and drawbacks alike.
Most of these transformations are monstrous in nature and become more potent as your character progresses. Will you become a hag, a fiend, a lich or one of the other monsters you seek to slay?
The monster hunter: a brand new martial class
Grim Hollow also has it’s own unique class, befitting the dark world players will inhabit. The monster hunter is most akin to a ranger, though more adept at slaying monsters. Their 4 subclasses hone in on their different methods for doing so.
40 unique subclasses
Grim Hollow has some suitably dark subclasses that fit with the grim world they adventurers inhabit. From blood magic to mutants, there are loads of subclasses to choose from. In fact, there’s 3 for each of the 12 classes in the Player’s Handbook and 4 for the monster hunter making a massive total of 40 subclasses to.
You can check out our guides to these below:
- Barbarian: Paths of the fractured, primal spirit and wrathful dead
- Bard: Colleges of adventurers, fools and requiems
- Cleric: Eldritch, inquisition and purification domains
- Druid: Circles of blood, entropy and mutation
- Fighter: Bulwark warrior, living crucible and nightwatcher
- Monk: Warrior of leaden crown, pride and regret
- Monster hunter: Carver, devourer, occultist and trapper guilds
- Paladin: Oaths of pestilence, slaughter and zeal
- Ranger: Green reaper, primordial archer and vermin lord
- Rogue: Highway rider, misfortune bringer and sanguine thief
- Sorcerer: Apocalypse, haunted and wretched bloodline sorcery
- Warlock: Pacts of the coven, first vampire and parasite
- Wizard: Daemonologist, plague doctor and sangromancer
91 new spells
Grim Hollow introduces 91 brand new spells built for dark fantasy settings ranging from cantrips, all the way up to level 9. This includes a full suite of sangromancy spells too for the blood mages out there.
Not all spells are created equally so check out my spell guide to see what spells I think are worthwhile and even which ones I’d outright ban from my table.
Check out our review
If you’re thinking about buying the Grim Hollow Transformed Player’s Guide (D&D 2024), then check out our review which goes into detail on how well Ghostfire Games tackles this dark fantasy setting and it’s character options.