Thanks to its seemingly inexhaustible popularity, Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition has spawned countless homebrew expansions. The most ambitious tend to change the setting entirely, such as Mage Hand Press's Dark Matter expansion. There's so much content that the publisher plans to launch a Mega Box Kickstarter containing everything a player needs to start their Dark Matter campaign.
In a teaser post, Mage Hand Press revealed a subclass that may seem familiar to fans of trigger-happy zealots.
The Dreadnought is a subclass for that most brutal of D&D 5e classes, the Barbarian. With a Rage that even the endless depths of space could not contain, Dreadnoughts rip and tear their way in countless battlefields. As expected of a subclass inspired by the Doomslayer himself, the Dreadnought is all about keeping the battle frenzy going.
You can check out Path of the Dreadnought below.
I love how completely unsubtly DOOM the Dreadnought is. Not just from a flavor standpoint, but mechanically. The enhancement of ranged weapons at close range, heals from impressive kills, incredible mobility, and an utter refusal to die. Those are aspects of Doom that Mage Hand Press brings to the D&D table with Dreadnought. Sure, it does skew quite strong, but given the subclass's inspiration, that's to be expected.
I also appreciate Mage Hand Press just showing off the class and its features for free. It's a great way to not only hype up Dark Matter, but get people experimenting with their subclasses. Since the launch is still a few weeks away, the final version of Dreadnought may be even more violent. If the rest of Dark Matter's subclasses have this level of flavor and mechanical fun, then I can't wait to try them all.
The Dark Matter Megabox Kickstarter campaign for D&D 2024 begins on February 3, 2026.
Start theorycrafting your very own Doomguy over on the Wargamer Discord. For more D&D resources, the best D&D books guide will come quite handy.