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.

 

[HammerMan]

The problem is probably less about sexuality and more with the idea that the people in the brothel aren't there of their own free will or are otherwise being treated badly.

but why would that be?

Sure, it's a fantasy world so you can say that sex worker is actually a well-paying job with benefits and no more exploitation than in any other job--but unfortunately there's far too many people who have been sexually exploited.

and how many of them were sexually exploited by legal brothals?

Also, if the brothel is supposed to be a place where the PCs can visit on their downtime, as opposed to a side plot where there's a wrong to right, then does it matter if it's listed in the book a brothel or a music hall?

no just me noteing it is a strange thing to change and a strange way to do it (the way being swaping to 'music hall')

"Your player goes there, spends 5 gold, and has a great time." Do you really need to know if your PC had sex or not? (And if so, can I roll on the Random STD table?)

me, no... although at my tables we are more likely to have a player use downtime to work in one then to spend money in one (although back in 4e I did have a DM that had REALLY weird house rules for needing to spend gp and have things to count as a rest in her 'gritty' variant game and 'houses of ill repute' was a safe place to rest...but that was a weird campaign)

I am again just calling out that it is an odd thing to errata, and an odd way of doing it. One that shows at least a puritarian leaning.

 

[Charlaquin]

WTF is offensive about Pixie Dust?!?!?!?

This is starting to turn less into Errata and more into an Onion Article.

Wall of the Faithless at least was never really popular with established fans, but Pixie Dust? WTF.

Nothing is offensive about pixie dust. These changes are not about offense. Pixie dust was probably changed to fairy dust because there are or will soon be fae other than pixies that make magic dust.

 

[Professor Murder]

I find it so amusing that there are people who honestly believe that going from "All orcs are evil by design" to "Some orcs are evil based upon what they actually do" is making things bland.

One is a wide brush of paint across an entire species with absolutely no thought whatsoever as to why other than one single idea... where the other needs actual design and story process to come up with explanations and reasons for why each individual orc or group of orcs are evil based upon the story they are in (while the others are neutral and/or good). And the one with hundreds and thousands of different options for evil is the bland one? Uh... okay. Sure.

Moving from intrinsic evil to cultural and individual experiences making a given sentient foe evil is moving in the right direction. I feel that the existing framing and implementation is hamhanded. It's likely that cleaner writing isnt really possible until the upcoming revision. I like the intention, but I can grasp being critical of the implementation. I have my own reservations.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Someone didn't see the 1980s animated movie of Watership Down.

Efrafa Warren from Warership Down?

I define that as tame, do I have a high tolerance for darkness or something

 

[Bagpuss]

People do a lot of things for decades that fall out of favor due to progress.

Like heroin baby drops, uranium watches or carbonated milk

Not sure if these changes are going to save as many lives as removing uranium from watches or giving heroin to babies... only time will tell.

 

[HammerMan]

I'm also running a campaign now where the bunny person of the group is a Chaotic Evil barbarian who carries around the skull of the dire wolf who killed her family to remind them of how the weak perish and strong survive.

hey and even better then my batman/punisher ripp off

 

[Faolyn]

I can't wait till we reach the point where you roll dice to settle combat via having your PCs play Rock Paper, Scissors against the BBEG Demi-Lich.

Demiliches have no hands, so the PCs will win.

 

[Bagpuss]

how would one even make bunnies grimdark?

Go watch Watership Down (1978) and then come back to us.

That's the problem with kids nowadays they didn't get to watch Watership Down when they were when they were preteens.

 

[Scribe]

but why would that be?

Could be. May be. What if.

Considering Wizards doesnt want to offend, better to just remove it, and replace it with something that cannot be (or is less likely) to be misconstrued, or assumed.

 

[Mind of tempest]

hey and even better then my batman/punisher ripp off

so that bat guy from 40k?