D&D Adds Two New Books to 2025 Slate, Including New Eberron Book

Wizards of the Coast is adding two Dungeons & Dragons books to its 2025 slate, including Eberron: Forge of the Artificer in August and an unnamed mystery book in October. Eberron: Forge of the Artificer will include the revised Artificer class, several new backgrounds and feats, and revised Eberron species, including the “classic” species that previously appeared in Eberron: Rising From the Last War and the new Khoravar species. The design team for Eberron: Forge of the Artificer includes James Wyatt (who worked on the original Eberron line), with original Eberron designer Keith Baker consulting on the new book.

The Forgotten Realms Player's Guide will introduce circle-casting, a new way to cast spells. Full details on the new mechanic was not revealed, but it will involve multiple spellcasters working together to amp up a spell or give it additional effects. One example given was making a spell's effects permanent instead of having a temporary duration.

While no other details were provided for the October mystery book, EN World received a host of new details about the rest of D&D's 2025 slate during a press visit to Wizards of the Coast's new office headquarters last week.

Dragon Delves - July 8, 2025 Release Date

The previously unnamed dragon anthology is called Dragon Delves and will feature 10 short adventures, each of which features a different type of chromatic or metallic dragon. Three campaign options will be provided in the anthology to link together the adventures. Not every adventure pits players against dragons, especially as the adventures range from Level 1 to Level 12. The adventures are described as being relatively short and utilize the prep-style seen in the 2024 Dungeon Master's Guide. There's also an art section showcasing dragon art from across 50 years of D&D material.

Dragon Delves also noticably departs from Wizards' in-house style for D&D. Each adventure features art by a different artist, with the artists each providing their own style instead of conforming to the "fantastic realism" typically found in D&D books. Artists in Dragon Delves includes Luke Eidensink, Dominik Mayer, and Ed Kwong, with example pieces seen below.


white dragon ed kwong.jpg

green dragon.jpg

red dragon.jpg


Eberron: Forge of the Artificer - August 19, 2025 Release Date
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Eberron: Forge of the Artificer serves as a "companion" book to Eberron: Rising From The Last War, with looks at different parts of Eberron that wasn't explored in the previous rulebook. The book will include new backgrounds, new bastion options tied to Eberron, and expanded rules for airships. The book also includes some changes/evolutions of Eberron lore. Notably, dragonmarked houses are no longer "species-locked" with characters able to join the houses later in life. Dragonmarks are also being made into feats as opposed to having a separate subsystem.

As a note, lead rules designer Jeremy Crawford specifically noted that the Khoravar are being considered a new species and distinct from half-elves. Crawford noted that this change came from Eberron lore itself and reflects how the existing lore of D&D is influencing the mechanics.

While the book won't include a full campaign, there are three chapters presented as campaign "options" with sample adventures. The three chapters, titled Sharn Inquisitives, Dragonmark Intrigue, and Morgrave Expeditions are organized using the methods explained in the Dungeon Master's Guide and include several sample adventures.

At one point, Eberron: Forge of the Artificer was described as a "Xanathar's Guide to Everything" book, but specific to Eberron. The book will also have a different page count and price point than typical D&D rulebooks, although no further details were given.



Heroes of the Borderland Starter Set - September 16, 2025 Release Date

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Heroes of the Borderlands is a return to the Keep in the Borderlands, although "time has passed" since the original adventure module. The physical starter set will also contain several new innovations designed to make playing D&D easier for beginners. Notably, the starter set includes numerous new components including "tiles" that players mix and match to create new characters. The tile system was described as one of the quickest character creation systems ever for new players, short of giving them a pre-generated character. The Starter Set will also include support for having multiple DMs run the campaign.

Forgotten Realms Player's Guide - November 11, 2025 Release Date

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The Forgotten Realms Player's Guide will feature new backgrounds, feats, and 8 new subclasses. The 8 new subclasses will be revealed today as part of an Unearthed Arcana (found here). Instead of rehashing existing subclasses, at least some of the subclasses are inspired by different parts of the Forgotten Realms. For example, the bard subclass is inspired by the Moonshae Isles, while the genie-themed paladin is focused on Calimsham.
The eight subclasses are:

  • College Of The Moon (Bard)
  • Knowledge Domain (Cleric)
  • Purple Dragon Knight (Fighter)
  • Oath Of The Noble Genies (Paladin)
  • Winter Walker (Ranger)
  • Scion Of The Three (Rogue)
  • Spellfire Sorcery (Sorcerer)
  • Bladesinger (Wizard)

Forgotten Realms Adventure Guide - November 11, 2025 Release Date

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The Forgotten Realms Adventure Guide will contain deep dives on five different parts of the Forgotten Realms, each of which are meant to focus on a "different kind of fantasy." The five areas include the Moonshae Isles, Icewind Dale, the Dalelands, Calimshan, and Baldur's Gate. Each area will have short adventures for DMs to run or help launch a campaign.

When asked whether the Forgotten Realms would have any changes, Crawford said that some areas of the Forgotten Realms would have new developments, particularly in areas where Fifth Edition hasn't touched before. Additionally, Baldur's Gate 3 will be referenced in the artwork of the Baldur's Gate section and there would be some other nods to the game in that section as well.
 

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Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer

I assume the Marks are background feats.
I assume this is correct, and that each of the backgrounds are "House X Member" with the associated Dragon Mark Origin Feat.

Or they could have a single "Dragon Marked House" background with a generic "Lesser Mark" origin feat, and then have the full marks be level 4 feats that require the origin feat as a prereq.
 

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Why such negative framing? I dont think Keith is feeling bad about having to remix some of his setting, which he does all the time on his blog to keep up with WotC ideas without incentive.
Keith posted a while back he wanted to move onto other projects other than Eberron, and he made those feelings known in the wake of the OGL debacle. This gave rise to a rumor Keith was angry with WotC and how both the OGL and Eberron were being handled, and he was washing his hands of Eberron and D&D in general. The latter was never stated, but taken as a tennant of faith by people who want to use it to show how evil WotC is.

It reminds me how Mark Hamill's comments about The Last Jedi (and the disagreements he had regarding Luke's story in it) were used to show how evil Disney was regarding the sequels. A very "important person connected to the project agrees with me" vibe.
 

Eberron: Forge of the Artificer serves as a "companion" book to Eberron: Rising From The Last War, with looks at different parts of Eberron that wasn't explored in the previous rulebook. The book will include new backgrounds, new bastion options tied to Eberron, and expanded rules for airships. The book also includes some changes/evolutions of Eberron lore. Notably, dragonmarked houses are no longer "species-locked" with characters able to join the houses later in life. Dragonmarks are also being made into feats as opposed to having a separate subsystem.
So, 12 Dragonmarked Houses for the backgrounds section, 12 Dragonmarked Origin feats and 24 feats to cover the Intermediate and Greater Dragonmarks at 4th level and beyond? And to top it all off, 12 Siberys Dragonmarks as Epic Boon feats?

They might as well make a Dragonmarked Class. 😋
 

I assume this is correct, and that each of the backgrounds are "House X Member" with the associated Dragon Mark Origin Feat.

Or they could have a single "Dragon Marked House" background with a generic "Lesser Mark" origin feat, and then have the full marks be level 4 feats that require the origin feat as a prereq.
Where the background feats correspond to a 2014 "half feat" (without the ability boost), the Dragon Marks can be fairly powerful at level 1 (or theoretically even at level 0 as part of the background).

Also each Mark steeps in so much lore, I expect each background that grants a Mark feat to be unique.
 

Keith posted a while back he wanted to move onto other projects other than Eberron, and he made those feelings known in the wake of the OGL debacle. This gave rise to a rumor Keith was angry with WotC and how both the OGL and Eberron were being handled, and he was washing his hands of Eberron and D&D in general. The latter was never stated, but taken as a tennant of faith by people who want to use it to show how evil WotC is.

It reminds me how Mark Hamill's comments about The Last Jedi (and the disagreements he had regarding Luke's story in it) were used to show how evil Disney was regarding the sequels. A very "important person connected to the project agrees with me" vibe.

Reading Keith's actual post at the time, it doesn't seem like he was angry at WotC with regard to Eberron at all, nor did it really seem like he was tired of working on Eberron. The main issue seemed to be that the DMsGuild model (which was the only way he could release Eberron content & get paid for it) wasn't financially viable.
 


This was pretty much my reaction to the news as well. I don't see my group having any interest in running or playing an Eberron campaign, or having need for a starter set. Seeing as I usually write and run my own adventures, Dragon Delve doesn't have much appeal but might fall into the wait and see category. The mystery book might be good, guess we'll have to see what it is, perhaps an undead book.

Did TSR/WotC officially make the Moonshae Isles off limits for further development or is it just that it never got updates after the trilogy of novels and the 1E sourcebook? I'm glad that the Dalelands and Calimshan are getting an update in the Adventure Guide, but I could do without the Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate and would rather see another area that's never really been detailed get the attention, like Nimbral or Plains of Purple Dust.

As far as WotC sample adventures mentioned in the Eberron book, if the ones of in the new DMG are an indication of what to expect, no thanks, they left much to be desired.
Yes, after the trilogy/FR2 - Moonshae supplement TSR put a "lock" on development of the Moonshaes. I'm trying to find the source, but it discussed that there couldn't be Dungeon or Dragon articles written based in it, and there were restrictions on usage by the RPGA - I think only a special group was allowed to run official events based in it, as I recall. It and Sembia were supposed to be reserved for development in home games - though I think for 3E Sembia at least got some development.

I don't even know if it got any coverage in 3E.
 

Yes, after the trilogy/FR2 - Moonshae supplement TSR put a "lock" on development of the Moonshaes. I'm trying to find the source, but it discussed that there couldn't be Dungeon or Dragon articles written based in it, and there were restrictions on usage by the RPGA - I think only a special group was allowed to run official events based in it, as I recall. It and Sembia were supposed to be reserved for development in home games - though I think for 3E Sembia at least got some development.

I don't even know if it got any coverage in 3E.

Baldman Games had/has exclusive permission to use the Moonshaes for their Adventurer's League releases. In the 5E era, they released tons of Moonshae adventures and some supplements for years. It's all on DMsGuild: New on the Dungeon Master’s Guild – Baldman Games
 


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