Dungeons & Dragons is a world of imagination , from the Brobdingnagian realms and planes of existenceyour adventures can take shoes on , to thecharacters your parties buildover the course of their travels . The next two releases for the game ’s Fifth Edition are going to put that imagery to the tryout — in ways epic enough to dive deep into the game ’s most revered creatures and in ways much more impulsive .
Revealed as part of this weekend ’s D&D Live , a multi - solar day solemnization of the Forgotten Realms ( and far beyond ) , the next two chapters in Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition will be The Wild Beyond the Witchlight and Fizban ’s Treasury of Dragons , an adventure Koran and sourcebook severally , that will ply two very different experiences for players . Witchlight will take lower - tier parties on a capricious trip-up to the rides and grandeur of the Witchlight Carnival , where the stake are not quite so cataclysmic and more about which magical adventure — or magical fairground ride — you’ll go on next . Fizban , meanwhile , will plunk deep into the mythology of D&D ’s legendarytitular being , introducing epic - scale means to bring draconic themes to your crusade as foes , through new subclasses and subraces , and even exploring what it means that flying lizard are so important to D&D that they ’re literally in the title .
But before players get their hands on dragon traditional knowledge , D&D is taking a head trip to the fair with The Wilds Beyond the Witchlight . hail this September , it ’s a opportunity for D&D to convey in some low-cal - hearted escapades afterthe mysteries of Candlekeepand thedread domains of Ravenloftthrough a familiar location : the Feywild , the carpenter’s plane of the nance . “ [ Witchlight ] is our first , full - length Feywild risky venture for Fifth Edition , and I ’ve been want to do a Feywild adventure for about 11 years now , ” senior biz designer Chris Perkins enjoin press at a late event . “ So this is the dream come true for me and an absolute joy project to work on . ”
Image: Stacey Allan and Will Doyle/Wizards of the Coast
Witchlight will chiefly take place in the realm of the Fey , but it ’s ground in the titular Witchlight Carnival . “ This adventure , unlike some of our previous adventures , is really design to launch from whatever world you as the keep master study to be the home man for your campaign . The Witchlight Carnival cruises around the material sheet , visiting world after world after macrocosm , touching down on a creation about once every eight long time , ” Perkins noted . “ It ’s a wonderful , whimsical fantasy funfair , very strongly themed , and it kind of gives characters their first gustatory modality of what the rest of the risky venture is going to be like . The fair is also the place where the character larn the quote unquote ‘ rules ’ of the Feywild , essentially what they need to know before they get there in ordering to be successful . ”
design for characters to go from stratum one to around level eight , Witchlight ’s adventure may congeal the stage for a trip into the Fey planing machine , but that does n’t intend the circus is just pose dressing to the main event . It ’s a place filled with novel characters and striking attractions for a party to explore , spending an evening at the fair while influencing the mood of the celebrations taking plaza — dictated by the Carnival ’s owners , Mr. Witch and Mr. Light . “ Mr. Witch is a shadow elf who has a magical ticker that he uses to fundamentally keep the carnival on schedule ; it ’s got to take out and tamp at sealed times , and he also watches over the staff to make trusted they ’re doing their task , ” Perkins explained . The two graphic symbol are glimpsed on the standard cover version for The Wilds Beyond the Witchlight . “ His fellow traveler , his compatriot , his farseeing time ally is Mr. White , and he ’s more like the ringmaster of the circus . It ’s his job to keep spirits high , and to make certain that the shows and the attracter are as wonderful and divine as they can be . ”
These grease monkey are replicated in the world of the Witchlight Carnival itself , utilizing an let in poster map of the carnival to not just track the time a company spends there , but also the vibe of its revelers . “ Every undivided time it gets unfurled , it can have dissimilar constellation — but basically , [ the poster ] is kind of a standard configuration . [ It ’s ] done in a style of a lot of entertainment Mungo Park mapping that you get that you ’ve belike see , and it shows all the key attraction , ” Perkins explained . “ It ’s get two features that make this poster function synergistic — one is a time tracker in the top leftover - bridge player recession and the other is a mood tracker in the bottom right - hand corner . These are gadget that the DM uses to keep runway of how much time has actually passed during an evening at the carnival and how the fiber can , by their actions , strike the climate of the carnival , which can have benefits or drawbacks . ”
But as the title of the dangerous undertaking imply , adventurers will be send beyond the carnival ’s bright lights into an altogether more mystical property : the Feywild , the plane of Faerie and Fey beings suffused with magic . There , Witchlight take on more of the manner of the recent sourcebook Van Richten ’s Guide toRavenloft , providing dungeon masters with the format to tell a story in a young air pocket of existence . “ After you ’ve traverse over , you land in a what we call a Domain of Delight , and it ’s a new term—[D&D principal regulation room decorator ] Jeremy Crawford really coined it and I sort of ran with it , ” Perkins express joy . “ It ’s the Feywild equivalent [ to Van Richten ’s ] land of Dread in so far as a Domain of Dread is like a pouch of the Shadowfell that is sort of completely hold back and hard to get out of . The Feywild actually has a similar conception in this Domain of Delight , except rather of being a Darklord trap in it , there is an Arch Fae who rules it . The Arch Fae has the power to sculpt and negociate their own domain , and this adventure introduce a Domain of Delight that we ’ve never seen before in the account of Dungeons and Dragons , firebrand Modern . ”
Except , instead ofthe horror inspiration found in Ravenloft of trend , Witchlight leans into completely lighter inspirations . “ Well , there are a lot of stirring , of course of instruction , from just old faggot tales to … The Wizard of Oz was a huge influence , ” Perkins allege of the team ’s inspirations for the lands of the Feywild . “ One of my preferred novels of all prison term is Ray Bradbury’sSomething Wicked This Way Comes , and I cerebrate that there ’s gleam of that tarradiddle popping up in The Wild Beyond the Witchlight as well . I do n’t know anybody who ’s read theBradburystory , but there ’s a character named Mr. Dark , and you know , we ’ve got a fiber named Mr. Light . They ’re not the same , but there ’s kind of a connection there ! ”
As interesting as the Domains of Delight can be , player do n’t have to go out the funfair behind if they do n’t want to . “ Because it ’s so portable , [ Witchlight ] can show up in multiple different campaign worlds . If you ’re running multiple campaigns , you’re able to have it show up and use it for other purposes , or just as an evening ’s entertainment , ” Perkins clarified . “ We discover with our playstesters that they just jazz spending time in the circus . They want the whole playtest to just be there — they did n’t want to go into the Feywild , because they were having so much merriment explore this place . I think DMs will find that they can just take this carnival and sink it into another military campaign all . ”
Image: Stacey Allan and Will Doyle/Wizards of the Coast
That was important for Perkins , because to him The Wilds Beyond the Witchlight is personify by the spirit ofweird , fun D&D adventuresabove anything else . Balancing the room to offer more whimsical risky venture scenario alongside a space for more typical military campaign adventures was authoritative to the excogitation team , with Witchlight see a direction to bring home the bacon both an dangerous undertaking to move histrion along , but also — once again , like Van Richten ’s Guide to Ravenloft before it — a unaffixed guide to a planing machine for dungeon passkey to recreate around in .
“ Hopefully it ’s the wizard combining of both [ providing structure and freedom ] , ” Perkins said of Witchlight ’s approach to highlight dangerous undertaking in the Feywild . “ I think one of the appeals of Curse of Strahd is it is sort of a contained setting — you’re explore the region of Barovia , but it ’s got borders and you ca n’t really go past them . So there is a deal of vacation spot in there , but it ’s not so large that it becomes daunting . The same is straight for the Feywild ’s main domain , Prismeer . Prismeer , like a Domain of Dread , has boundaries , it has borders , and so a DM can execute the adventure and not finger like the characters are drop dead to stray too far beyond where they should go . But that order , Prismeer , like Barovia , is a swelled place and there ’s rafts of stuff inside it to explore , you could get a proficient longsighted safari out of just exploring that space . [ It ’s ] also kind of a microcosm — it kind of shows off what the world has to offer . But in a form of a contained way , Barovia is very much the same screening off what the Shadowfell has to bid , and I think that ’s both appealing and also sort of keeps the campaign from getting out of manus . ”
But the whimsy is a big part of the appeal as well , especially as Witchlight is calculate at new characters and even new - to - D&D chemical group , offer up an adventure where not all things are set by threatening stakes , and not all confrontations need to be solved by martial fighting . “ It ’s a very light - hearted adventure , and something we did with this escapade that we have n’t done before is check that that all of the challenges of any adventure can be handled without combat , ” Perkins revealed . “ That ’s not to say you ca n’t get into a fight if you do n’t want to — there ’s luck of conflict here if you go looking for them — but every encounter has a unbloody resolution eventually or rather a root that does n’t require you to throw down with sword and fireballs . It ’s easier to get through this story with a smile than with a brand . ”
Image: Robson Michel/Wizards of the Coast
But after adventurer are done exploring the mystic visible radiation and sounds of Witchlight , one month by and by in October they ’ll be delving deep into the story of the greatest creature of the D&D multiverse , with a little help from aDragonlanceicon , in Fizban ’s Treasury of Dragons . Fizban , like Tasha , Mordenkainen , and other “ narrator ” before him , will draw referee through the mythological nature of all kinds of draconic element in D&D , from godlike beings to explorations of draconic concepts in classes and instrumentalist races , allow for dominion and details to institute more flying dragon - flavor to , well , your dungeon stake . “ Fizban , as Dragonlance fan know , is essentially a human incarnation of the godPaladine , who is well known on many D&D worlds as Bahamut , the Platinum Dragon , ” James Wyatt , one of the principal author on Treasury of Dragons , excuse of the base . “ He ’s literally a firedrake walk around in one form , so he ’s set about the inside scoop on dragons . His perspective is sometimes eccentric , or inexplicable , but he ’s always entertaining . ”
Although Treasury of Dragons is the first time Fifth Edition has had an entire book dedicated to draconic theming , D&D has of course of action previously done many dragon - theme appurtenance . But Treasury of Dragons wants to make itself endure out by being not just about the traditional knowledge of dragonkind , but in provide a batch of rules , stats , and detail for donjon master to build their own stories around , or for thespian to have draconic element mold their fictional character — whether they play one of 5e ’s most beloved role player races , the Dragonborn , or otherwise . “ It ’s comparable to Volo ’s Guide to Monsters or Mordenkainen ’s Tome of foeman . It ’s got a brawny section of freak at the end , that ’s about a third of the Bible , ” Wyatt tell of Treasury of Dragon ’s structure . “ Another third is really aim at the dungeon master , who ’s building an encounter , or an adventure , or a crusade , around a specific kind of dragon , and goes through focusing on each of 20 different kinds of flying lizard in the course of that chapter . Many of them get lair maps , and they ’ve get tables of personality traits and adventure hooks and the sort of object you might find in their stratum — all this stuff signify to help oneself you flesh out the dragon that you ’re using . Then the remaining third is musician character options and more DM tools that apply to dragon more more often than not . ”
“ There ’s a definite focus in this book on stuff that you could use at the tabular array right on away , everything from dragon lair function , to scores of new dragon stat blocks and non - dragon stat blocks , various dragon - relate monsters show up , ” Wyatt bear on . “ We try on to take a ‘ show , do n’t tell ’ approach to talking about dragon , so rather than verbalise to you for a while about the personalities of dragons , we give you a table of personality traits you may randomly roam on or choose from as you ’re creating a dragon in a way that feed the dragon a flavor quirk . There ’s also a lot of role player - facing content , but really that focus of giving you stuff you may employ right off is what [ Treasury of Dragons ] would stress . ”
Image: Titus Lunter/Wizards of the Coast
But even if Fizban ’s Treasury of Dragons leans more toward viewing than telling , what it does want to tell can include some very interesting thematic questions for thespian to require , diving event into the fantastic cosmogony of what reach D&D ’s biggest , most muscular dragons so special . And some of the most peculiar and vital kinds of dragons in the book are some of the most herculean beings in all of D&D ’s multiverse : theGreat Wyrms . “ We have a span of stat blocks in the bestiary section for our Great Wyrms — firedrake that have advanced beyond the power of even an Ancient Dragon from the Monster Manual , ” Wyatt bug . Oh , and of line , if you ’re brave enough , you could fight them . “ These use the mythic monster technology that we debuted in Mythic Odysseys of Theros , to be the exceptionally challenging encounters on their own — almost like crusade two monster back to back , both of which are of Challenge Ratings above 20 . They are grand force of magic in nature that crouch the world around them , and wreak havoc wherever they go . ”
Great Wyrms are n’t just going to be some of the most intimidating foeman you may throw away an adventurer party against , they allow for the answer to a question a lot of D&D player have in all probability had , even if they do n’t think about it too much . Why is Dungeons & Dragons called dungeon … and Dragons , specifically ? Why them , above all creatures ?
“ There ’s an approximation running through this record book that every dragon has echoes of itself and other domain and material planes . This really is a Bible about dragon in every D&D and not just any D&D mankind , but every D&D world . So dragon have these Echo that link them through some mysterious means to Dragon on other worlds , ” Wyatt teased . “ And the musical theme behind the Great Wyrm is that at least to some extent , some of their enhanced office get from combining the power of multiple echo into a single firedrake . Dragons that we lie with from caption , like Ashardalon , or Chronepsis , or Aasterinian , who have been portray as Dragon Gods in the past sometimes — we’re describing them as these peachy Wyrms who have managed to extend their power and influence beyond the single world and combine the power of multiple echoes to become these incredibly powerful creatures . A given Draco in the Forgotten Realms may have an echo on the world of Greyhawk , and develop the sense of Dragonsight in rules of order to be able to convey , in a waking dream sort of style , with their echo in that other Earth , and then eventually perhaps mix that power into a exclusive being . ”
It ’s that mightiness , not just in one cloth plane but stretching across multiple , that make dragons so fascinating in D&D — and for Wyatt , it plays an important part of the mythos underpinning Treasury of Dragons . “ There ’s a minuscule fabulous origin tarradiddle at the rootage of the book — I would n’t call it a major part of the book , but again , just sort of a small composition running through — it talks about the creation of the first reality , which is a whim we touched on inTasha ’s Cauldron of Everything , ” Wyatt reverberate . “ The focus really is that dragons are an essential part of the material plane . They do n’t come from outside it , they were there when it was made and that ’s why they have such a tremendous influence on the globe around them . When they establish their den , their illusion seeps out into the terrain around them , their horn is a focal point for that magic … tartar are just in the world , an crucial part of the world , which is really why we named the game after them . ”
It ’s not just the big hitters of the D&D universe that get a nidus in Fizban ’s Treasury of Dragons , however . Another sort of tartar in particular get a highlight on the sourcebook ’s covering , the Gem Dragons . The Christian Bible re-introduce the five sort of Gem Dragon — Amethyst , Crystal , Emerald , Sapphire , and Topaz — as well as their emphasis on psionic attacks , or non - traditional breathing place attacks that shun traditional damage eccentric for esoteric fields like refulgent , necrotic , power , and psionics . But Gem Dragons also factor out into the rules - forward focus , in the form of one of a few new sub - races included in the script : Gem Dragonborn . “ There ’s race options in this book ! ” Wyatt bug . “ If you ’re playing a Dragonborn type , you could choose one of these three race options as an option to the Dragonborn that ’s in the Player ’s Handbook to be a Dragonborn , and it ’s got a distinctly prismatic , metal , or Gem inheritance . ”
Beyond airstream options , Treasury of Dragons also let in two popular subclasses previously screen by players in Unearthed Arcana — the manner of the Ascendant Dragon for Monks , and the Drakewarden for Ranger — and a server of other ways to make a character feel thematically align to D&D ’s most influential of creatures . “ There ’s spells and magic items or characters or their opponents to use as well . [ We also ] try out to address the theory that any character reference might have a tie to a dragon , ” Wyatt clarified . “ It ’s not just if you ’re choose one of these raw subclasses like the dragon - full-blood Sorcerer , but you might be a cleric of Bahamut or Tiamat , and have a dragon - y finger that way of life . Or you might be a warlock with an archfey patron , which happen to be a Gleamstone Dragon , which is a feywild flying lizard inclose in this Quran — so you ’ve got a dragon - y sense that mode while you ’re using any of the subclasses or other rules in the biz already . ”
And that , even more than the mystery of the dragons , is what attract about Fizban ’s Treasury of Dragons for Wyatt . “ I guess this really has a gigantic tool case full of stuff for player and diabetes mellitus alike to employ . Even as we ’re in the terminal stage of getting it ready to go to the printer , I ’m marking up printouts on one side and writing note for my next military campaign on the other side ! ” Wyatt laughed . “ Maybe a toybox is an even better way to cogitate about it . It ’s just full of clobber coming out of mind and story nugget . ”
The Wild Beyond the Witchlight hits shelves September 21 , while Fizban ’s Treasury of Dragons will follow a month after , on October 19 . Stay tune up to io9 next workweek for more from D&D Live ’s biggest reveals .
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