D&D 5E Latest D&D Errata: Drow, Alignment, & More

Sage Advice is a series of articles in which Jeremy Crawford, one of the D&D Studio’s game design architects, talks about the design of the game’s rules and answers questions about them.

Book Updates | Sage Advice | Dungeons & Dragons

This Sage Advice provides updates and errata for a number of books, as well as answers to rules questions.

dnd.wizards.com

D&D books occasionally receive corrections and other updates to their rules and story. This Sage Advice installment presents updates to several books. I then answer a handful of rules questions, focusing on queries related to Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons and Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos.

Official errata has been published for the following books:

• Curse of Strahd
• Dungeon Master’s Guide
• Player’s Handbook
• Storm King’s Thunder
• Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
• Tales from the Yawning Portal
• Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
• Tomb of Annihilation
• Volo’s Guide to Monsters

Here's some of the highlights.

• Alignment is removed from the Racial Traits section of races.
• Drow have undergone lore changes which reflect the different types of drow. The 'darkness of the drow' sidebar which portrays them as only evil has been removed.
• Storm King's Thunder alters references to 'Savage Frontier' and 'barbarians'; Curse of Strahd alters references to the Vistani.
• The controversial Silvery Barbs spell has been clarified.

As a drow, you are infused with the magic of the Underdark, an underground realm of wonders and horrors rarely seen on the surface above. You are at home in shadows and, thanks to your innate magic, learn to con- jure forth both light and darkness. Your kin tend to have stark white hair and grayish skin of many hues.

The cult of the god Lolth, Queen of Spiders, has cor- rupted some of the oldest drow cities, especially in the worlds of Oerth and Toril. Eberron, Krynn, and other realms have escaped the cult’s influence—for now. Wherever the cult lurks, drow heroes stand on the front lines in the war against it, seeking to sunder Lolth’s web.

 

[humble minion]

Given the 'wise serpent' is a bit of a mythological trope in many parts of the real world (India and the mythic Nagas, I think?), I could easily envision a setting where not-always-evil yuan-ti replaced elves, for instance, as the elegant, artistic, long-lived race of lost ancient glory. The whole tempting-of-Eve thing did snakes no favours when it came to PR in the western world.

(Does anyone know why yuan-ti have a vaguely Chinese-sounding name, anyway?)

 

[Bolares]

Alright, now fit Aasimar, Dragonborn, Genasi, Goliath, Owlin, Triton, Tortles, and Verdan into each of those realms. Give each of them their own racial origins, unique political and cultural interactions through history with the existing dozen races on Toril, and then make them distinct and memorable from each other and the existing lineages.

Chronicles of Eberron - Dungeon Masters Guild | Dungeon Masters Guild

Chronicles of Eberron - Join Eberron setting creator Keith Baker for another journey across the realms of Eberron, from the trackless void of t

keith-baker.com

This to me is the best take on this matter. We all should listen to keith baker more often

 

[John R Davis]

No joy for small types trying to dimension door their medium chums

 

[Bagpuss]

Wonder if we'll see "Dungeon of the Mad Mage" get a rename, too. (Perhaps not "Dungeon of the Overwhelming Mage", though.)

Blue Mist Mage?

 

[Bagpuss]

Oh, and the new Monster Manual will be FULL of such language, so you'll want to pass on that one.

I wait with baited breath to see how they errata "Monster" from the title of "Monster Manual" I mean that's a pretty pejorative term...

 

[sterndisgust]

I'm a fan in general of these changes, but I don't think WotC quite gets what they're implying by removing the mannerism entry for NPCs to have speech impediments/disorders. I'll assume the best of them and they're saying that the NPCs are rehabilitated but that still strikes me as a slap in the face. If they wanted to "fix" page 90 of the DMG then they should have added a paragraph explaining that not every trait or mannerism needs to be openly roleplayed by a GM – you can just say "they have a stutter" if nobody really wants to roleplay that.

I have a minor lisp and a major issue with slurring words to the point where I will probably need speech therapy later in life. I have to force myself to speak slowly because otherwise the slurring gets real bad. I get why they did it, they're getting bigger and bigger and they're also getting terrified of the history of their IP. That said... any of the random NPC traits on that page could be played up poorly at a table so just errata'ing it out - implying that it is incorrect/in error for NPCs to have a lisp, slur their words, or stutter - doesn't sit right with me. I dunno, I'm not really upset I'm just a bit confused and maybe a little uncomfortable with the change.

 

[HammerMan]

"brothel" for "music hall"

what... are you kidding me? in a game where we regularly kill things with sharp or pointy weapons (or beat them to death with blunt ones) the word brothel offended someone?!? that is the most American thing ever... violence gets a pass but we can't even do a hint of sexuality...

 

[HammerMan]

Absolutely nothing...?

it depends I have heard people interpret it to stack with shields and cover. I personally say it just sets the lowest it can be,

 

[MGibster]

Not really much here, other than changing the Drow description to be less "All drow are evil." I'm sure the "you know who" crowd will LOVE that...

I don't know why anyone would be upset at this point. The all drow are evil stance hasn't been true since they were included in the PHB as a standard playable race.

 

[Remathilis]

I'm a fan in general of these changes, but I don't think WotC quite gets what they're implying by removing the mannerism entry for NPCs to have speech impediments/disorders. I'll assume the best of them and they're saying that the NPCs are rehabilitated but that still strikes me as a slap in the face. If they wanted to "fix" page 90 of the DMG then they should have added a paragraph explaining that not every trait or mannerism needs to be openly roleplayed by a GM – you can just say "they have a stutter" if nobody really wants to roleplay that.

I have a minor lisp and a major issue with slurring words to the point where I will probably need speech therapy later in life. I have to force myself to speak slowly because otherwise the slurring gets real bad. I get why they did it, they're getting bigger and bigger and they're also getting terrified of the history of their IP. That said... any of the random NPC traits on that page could be played up poorly at a table so just errata'ing it out - implying that it is incorrect/in error for NPCs to have a lisp, slur their words, or stutter - doesn't sit right with me. I dunno, I'm not really upset I'm just a bit confused and maybe a little uncomfortable with the change.

The issue I think is as an "unique" trait for a minor npc, the urge to play it in a hyper-exagerated comical manner is huge. We're not looking for a nuanced depiction of speech disorders, we're looking for a memorable way to spice up an encounter with shopkeeper #1068.

In that light, I don't mind them moving things that can easily be used as mocking out of the suggestions.