Villa have now failed to win any of their last five league and cup games and they have only themselves to blame for dropping two points.
They appeared to be home and dry following goals from Stiliyan Petrov and substitute John Carew, before Stoke launched their desperate late attacking onslaught which resulted in goals from Ryan Shawcross and Glenn Whelan.
It was only after going two goals down that Stoke tossed away their defensive policy to throw caution to the wind and snatch an unlikely point.
In the circumstances it was hardly surprising that Stoke should find themselves under heavy pressure at the outset.
With only three points from their 13 away games, Stoke found themselves on the defensive against Villa side intent on making amends for their controversial mid-week UEFA Cup defeat in Moscow.
At times the entire Stoke team were in their own penalty area in their bid to contain the all out attacking home side, but it was only when they themselves went forward that their fortunes changed dramatically.
Andy Wilkinson had obviously been told to mark Ashley Young very closely but the young England player still managed to be create several good opening in an attempt to open up Stoke's dogged defence.
Pumping long balls into the middle of Stoke's tightly packed rearguard was never likely to succeed and a little frustration crept into Villa's play in what was a one-sided game in the first half hour.
Ironically, Villa were often thwarted by the confident handling of Thomas Sorensen, who was allowed to leave Villa on a free transfer last summer.
James Beattie may have scored four goals in five outings for Stoke but the striker had little chance to shine or add to his tally on this occasion.
The stalemate was finally broken in the 43rd minute. Petrov played a short ball to James Milner and took the return pass to fire home his first Premier League goal of the season and his first in the top-flight since last April.
Stoke were forced to replace Sorensen with Steve Simonsen at half-time because of an arm injury.
They also drafted Ricardo Fuller into the side after the break and he did make an impression when he broke through only to be denied a shooting opportunity by a timely tackle by Luke Young.
The game appeared to have been settled in the 80th minute when John Carew hooked home a first-time shot from a Petrov pass for his sixth league goal of the season.
It was only after this goal that Stoke attacked in depth with Whelan hitting the base of the post before Shawcross headed home a Beattie cross three minutes from time.
This set up a stirring finish with Whelan firing through a packed defence for a last-ditch equaliser.