D&D 5E Two New D&D Books Revealed: Feywild & Strixhaven Mage School

Amazon has revealed the next two D&D hardcovers! The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is a feywild adventure due in September, and Curriculum of Chaos is a Magic: the Gathering setting of Strixhaven, which looks like a Harry Potter-esque mage school, set for November.

Amazon.com: The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: A Feywild Adventure (Dungeons & Dragons Book) (9780786967278): Wizards RPG Team: Books

Amazon.com: The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: A Feywild Adventure (Dungeons & Dragons Book) (9780786967278): Wizards RPG Team: Books

www.amazon.com

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is D&D's next big adventure storyline that brings the wicked whimsy of the Feywild to fifth edition for the first time.

The recent Unearthed Arcana, Folk of the Feywild, contained the fairy, hobgoblin of the Feywild, owlfolk, and rabbitfolk. UA is usually a good preview of what's in upcoming D&D books.

Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos (D&D/MTG Adventure Book) (Dungeons & Dragons): Wizards RPG Team: 9780786967445: Books

Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos (D&D/MTG Adventure Book) (Dungeons & Dragons) [Wizards RPG Team] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos (D&D/MTG Adventure Book) (Dungeons & Dragons)

www.amazon.com

Curriculum of Chaos is an upcoming D&D release set in the Magic: The Gathering world of Strixhaven -- a brand new MtG set only just launched.

Strixhaven is a school of mages on the plane of Arcavios, an elite university with five rival colleges founded by dragons: Silverquill (eloquence), Prismari (elemental arts), Witherbloom (life and death), Lorehold (archaeomancy), and Quandrix (numeromancy). You can read more about the M:tG set here.

You will be able to tune into WotC's streamed event D&D Live on July 16 and 17 for details on both, including new character options, monsters, mechanics, story hooks, and more!

D&D 5E - Here Is The Full & Alternate Cover Art Of The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

Here is the cover art for The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, the hardcover D&D product revealed this weekend. Cover art by Tyler Jacobson Alternate cover by Hydro74 https://www.enworld.org/threads/two-new-d-d-books-revealed-feywild-strixhaven-mage-school.680500/

www.enworld.org

D&D 5E - And Here Is Strixhaven's Cover Art!

It's not just The Wild Beyond The Witchlight's cover art being revealed today! We also have Magali Villeneuve's cover art for Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos! Strixhaven is an upcoming D&D setting based on the recently released Magic: the Gathering world, and features a mage school -- as Theros...

www.enworld.org

 

[Marandahir]

I still say that Bardic Inspiration for a refluffed Bard/Shaman ARE the Primal Spirits at work.

OH, I agree 100%. We're stuck with the term Shaman in Strixhaven, but they don't need to make a D&D class for it.

Bards have long had primal associations in addition to the modern portrayal as Arcane Casters; the intersection of the Divine, the Primal, and the Arcane is the wheelhouse the Bard lives in. In 4e there were Paragon Paths that required Bards to take multiclass feats that dabbled in other power sources. You had the Mythic Skald, which was a Primal Bard, for example. You also had the Bards of Wolfstone from the Nerathi Legends campaign setting, and those are definitely more primal feeling.

Now we have the College of Spirits Bard in Ravenloft. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they just outright reprint the College of Spirits and instead of leaning into spirit medium ghost-channeller tropes they lean into channellers of primal spirits and mythic storytelling. I REALLY wish that in the College of Spirits list of Spiritual Focus items there was "ceremonial mask that is held in one hand" in addition to "candle, crystal ball, skull, spirit board, or tarokka deck" so that we could play as a Griott with this subclass. I certainly am houseruling that addition in my games.

I can only imagine that they either didn't think of it in time, or they were afraid people were going to see Mask and say "hey I can cast with this focus and duel-wield at the same time, it's a mask!"

Long story short, the five mage classes in Strixhaven will likely be Cleric (Arcana Domain), Bard (College of Spirits or something new), Druid (Circle of the Geometer), Warlock (The Undead or something new), Wizard (Order of Scribes or something new) with just 2 new subclasses and a few reprints or suggestions from other recent books. I doubt they would tell you to buy Ravenloft to play as a Bard or Warlock in Strixhaven, so I'd guess a reprint is in order if either of those subclasses are the suggested ones. I would also guess a reprint of anything from any other campaign guide like SCAG. But if it's Order of Scribes for Wizards, then they'd just say go buy TCoE because why would they not? That's the big expansion to the core game for the 2020-2021 season. And that's what they did in Theros - they told you to go buy XGE to play as a Forge or Grave Domain Cleric.

 

[Yaarel]

Of which the term Shamanism is cultural appropriation and a racist caricature of indigenous belief systems by western Europeans and applied to any culture with spiritual beliefs they've lumped into one big category, including people of North and South America, Asia, northestern Europe, Africa, and Oceania. Pretty much everywhere that's not Western Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle-East, or South Asia, the areas from whence came the so-called Axial-Age of religion and philosophic thought that these so-called "shamanic" cultures are cast in contrast with and considered backwards from. It's especially prominent a term in 19th Century racist anthropology, reinforces the "noble savage" caricature, and is further associated with 1800s+ New Age mysticism which appropriated liberally.

True.

Nevertheless, the term "shaman" is useful, and when applied consistently including places like the Mideast and Europe, it is insightful.

I view the pre-monarchic biblical prophets (including Moshe) as full-on "shamans", at least in behavior, and perhaps even their view of the sky is nonbureaucratic and animistic after all. I view the Sami Noaidi and the Norse Volva as full-on shamans. And so on. All in the sense of animism.

There is a need for a word like "shaman".

 

[Mind of tempest]

Absolutely. I do think there's a role for Wuxia in D&D, and I find the Monk's core mechanics problematic at best. I do think the diversity of subclass flavour show that it's not beholden to orientalist caricatures but can explore all sorts of martial artists and monastic traditions across the world, but obviously the core class mechanics are beholden to a very specifically Shaolin interpretation. And even through Xanathar's Guide they were still creating subclasses that were orientalist caricatures (Kensei for Monk, Samurai for Fighter) that really have no place in D&D. Characters who look Asian or wear Asian-inspired armour (like that fighter in the Player's Handbook) absolutely have a place in D&D, and genre tropes from Wuxia and Jidai Geki etc absolutely have a place in D&D. But saying that "THIS IS THE ONLY FIGHTER THAT IS A SAMURAI" and "ALL SAMURAI LOOK LIKE THIS" is racist garbage.

WotC and and will do better in the future. 5e shed much of the racist garbage, but certainly not all of it, and it's a process of growth and accountability that they're still going through.



Of which the term Shamanism is cultural appropriation and a racist caricature of indigenous belief systems by western Europeans and applied to any culture with spiritual beliefs they've lumped into one big category, including people of North and South America, Asia, northestern Europe, Africa, and Oceania. Pretty much everywhere that's not Western Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle-East, or South Asia, the areas from whence came the so-called Axial-Age of religion and philosophic thought that these so-called "shamanic" cultures are cast in contrast with and considered backwards from. It's especially prominent a term in 19th Century racist anthropology, reinforces the "noble savage" caricature, and is further associated with 1800s+ New Age mysticism which appropriated liberally.

two points they have yet to do the core monk properly I would like them to be able to do them properly first before they try to open it up to new ideas as I get the feeling they do not really get the class.
and past the cavalier and the two PHB the samurai is one of the few grounded pure martial fighters and cavalier sucks, removing it is a mistake as they can't seem to make non-arcane or non-divine martial subclasses.
also, is things being name after the inspirations from other cultures a bad thing?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Shamanism in Europe - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Europe has its own history of Shamanism.

And it has Romani, too. Do we need to review the TSR/WotC history with the Vistani?

 

[Marandahir]

True.

Nevertheless, the term "shaman" is useful, and when applied consistently including places like the Mideast and Europe, it is insightful.

I view the pre-monarchic biblical prophets (including Moshe) as full-on "shamans", at least in behavior, and perhaps even their view of the sky is nonbureaucratic and animistic after all. I view the Sami Noaidi and the Norse Volva as full-on shamans. And so on.

There is a need for a word like "shaman".

Do we really need to conflate religious traditions from various cultures and call them all the same thing, losing that nuance? And if so, is there a reason why these aren't Clerics or Wizards, terms that are used in D&D 5e, and have had historical meanings inclusive of what you're talking about without being too exclusive or derogatory? In addition, while the terms Bard and Druid are pretty specific to the Celtic world, they've been used in D&D for so long for storyteller/seer/trickster/musical hero and nature priest hero that they cover that ground too.

 

[Yaarel]

Do we really need to conflate religious traditions from various cultures and call them all the same thing, losing that nuance? And if so, is there a reason why these aren't Clerics or Wizards, terms that are used in D&D 5e, and have had historical meanings inclusive of what you're talking about without being too exclusive or derogatory? In addition, while the terms Bard and Druid are pretty specific to the Celtic world, they've been used in D&D for so long for storyteller/seer/trickster/musical hero and nature priest hero that they cover that ground too.

Sometimes "cultures" are doing things that the hardwiring of the brain does.

A mode of cognition that understands our experiences of nature "persons" (family members), as opposed to "objects" (machines), can be useful and comes with benefits.



I agree, the reallife Bard is shamanic (and strongly resembles a Vovla).

But I view the reallife Druid as a polytheistic priestly caste, and not as animists, thus not shamans.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Do we really need to conflate religious traditions from various cultures and call them all the same thing, losing that nuance? And if so, is there a reason why these aren't Clerics or Wizards, terms that are used in D&D 5e, and have had historical meanings inclusive of what you're talking about without being too exclusive or derogatory? In addition, while the terms Bard and Druid are pretty specific to the Celtic world, they've been used in D&D for so long for storyteller/seer/trickster/musical hero and nature priest hero that they cover that ground too.

so you would rather they get culturally eaten by an explicitly white cultural idea instead, plus bard has never made sense to most people even descendants of its native culture and druid was always made to be a subclass of the generic animist class.
and besides, we already merged most priests into cleric so it can't be any more of a sin than we already have

 

[Marandahir]

two points they have yet to do the core monk properly I would like them to be able to do them properly first before they try to open it up to new ideas as I get the feeling they do not really get the class.
and past the cavalier and the two PHB the samurai is one of the few grounded pure martial fighters and cavalier sucks, removing it is a mistake as they can't seem to make non-arcane or non-divine martial subclasses.
also, is things being name after the inspirations from other cultures a bad thing?

I can't say they could do what you're asking for the Monk without a wholescale replacement class that tests various ideas for it. On the other hand, they can continue to broaden the class by creating alternate class features and subclasses, which could backdoor fix it (if it's worth saving, which I think it kinda is).

I agree that the Samurai subclass is great mechanically. No need to get rid of it, but future reprints could rename it and explain that the Japanese Samurai are one good example of this archetype. There's no Kiai Shout in the class features, and the Fighting Spirit and Rapid Strike features, while honouring the legacy of Samurai in D&D and representing Samurai in pulp fiction pretty darn well, are not beholden to the term Samurai and could easily represent elegant unmounted warrior-courtiers from various cultures (the Khastriya of India, the Persian Immortals, the Cheyenne Military Societies, the Maori Warriors, the Sacred Band of Thebes, the Eagle and Jaguar warriors of the Aztecs, the Variags of Byzantium, etc).

 

[Marandahir]

so you would rather they get culturally eaten by an explicitly white cultural idea instead, plus bard has never made sense to most people even descendants of its native culture and druid was always made to be a subclass of the generic animist class.
and besides, we already merged most priests into cleric so it can't be any more of a sin than we already have

You make a fair point here, and it's related to how 5e classes function - they need to be as big-hat as possible, to offer all sorts of cultural heroic and mythological archetypes. Past editions had a new class every time they wanted to come up with some specific archetype that didn't quite fit the themes of the core classes, even if they overlapped heavily. 5e says you can play as a Ninja, but think about whether you're a mystic ninja (Way of Shadow Monk) or Batman-esque grit and tech Ninja (Assassin archetype Rogue). Previous editions would have given you 5 different classes each that said Ninja in a different way.

I'd personally rather they didn't use the term Bard or Druid either, as the hats are becoming too small for the various heads filling them.

Monk is a great example of a generalized term for an overly specific (and problematic in my view) set of class features. Bard and Druid are the opposite - too specific terms for much more generalized concepts. Paladin is similar. I'd RATHER they not use culturally specific class names, especially as the classes expand to include so many concepts beyond the western European archetypes.

But these are the sacred cows that D&D can't slaughter this edition, just as M:tG can't slaughter the Shaman at this point in time. D&D tried to slaughter their cows in 4e, and got a lot of backlash for it. They didn't slaughter these ones particularly (and even embraced the term Shaman as a class), but they slaughtered other sacred cows and ended up alienating a good chunk of their audience.

But D&D doesn't have to incorporate another loaded term into its baggage in 5e. And I also believe that to an extent, terms like Bard and Druid and Paladin have become generalized terms in D&D history due to their presence in the game for 40+ years. Barbarian has took, to far more unfortunate results than those three. Shaman has not. It also carries with it the very specific cultural appropriation baggage of 18th-20th Century racist anthology. Wikipedia uses it because of the sheer documentation of use that way by the anthropological community, but then spends a large section to the criticism of the term by people who want Anthropology to be better. I think D&D can do better in general, and I expect they will for 6e and tread lightly with their present decisions in 5e.

 

[Thunder Brother]

I agree that the Samurai subclass is great mechanically. No need to get rid of it, but future reprints could rename it and explain that the Japanese Samurai are one good example of this archetype. There's no Kiai Shout in the class features, and the Fighting Spirit and Rapid Strike features, while honouring the legacy of Samurai in D&D and representing Samurai in pulp fiction pretty darn well, are not beholden to the term Samurai and could easily represent elegant unmounted warrior-courtiers from various cultures (the Khastriya of India, the Persian Immortals, the Cheyenne Military Societies, the Maori Warriors, the Sacred Band of Thebes, the Eagle and Jaguar warriors of the Aztecs, the Variags of Byzantium, etc).

The Samurai is a better Champion than the Champion.