Wizards is again releasing two related books for fall, Arcana Unleashed and Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall. During their past few presentations, the D&D team has emphasized that magic, and specifically how D&D magic works, sets it apart from other fantasy games and entertainment, so spotlighting magic in a book of player and DM options, and an adventure makes sense.
Arcana Unleashed
The traditional cover, by Javier Charro, features “Alustriel Silverhand, who is the host of this book and so she is presenting arcana she has come across in her travels across the multiverse,” said Amanda Hamon, project lead for both books.
Silverhand is an iconic D&D character and “very powerful archmage.” She’s one of the Seven Sisters and daughter of Mystra, goddess of magic.
The alternative, limited edition cover by CoupleOfKooks has the symbols for the eight schools of magic in D&D. Hamon said that those symbols “are the foundational elements for both mechanics and flavor the book is based on.”
Subclasses
Arcana Unleashed has a subclass for each of the eight schools of magic in D&D. These are: the Arcana Domain for clerics, Arcane Archer Fighter, Conjurer Wizard, Enchanter Wizard, Necromancer Wizard, Transmuter Wizard, and the new Vestige Patron Warlock and Warrior of the Mystic Arts Monk.
“We have two brand new subclasses—the Warrior of the Mystic Arts Monk, which is a spellcasting monk with the same spell progression as the Arcane Trickster and is all about shooting out magical energy through natural attacks or through flurry of blows, and the Vestige Patron Warlock. The flavor of this subclass is one we love internally,” said Hamon. “It’s about a warlock whose power comes from a dead or dying god, so it’s a bit of a symbiotic relationship. You as the player can come up with, with you DM’s help, the nature of that dead or dying god. It’s very open-ended, but we present some categories of options like undead, like fiend, like celestial to give a companion to the warlock, and it’s sort of a pet class type of warlock.
They tested several versions of the Warrior of the Mystic Arts Monk before they settled on the version in the book. Hamon said they think fans will like the Vestige Patron Warlock because it’s a companion class tied to the flavor of your dying or undead god, and it provides a lot of cool role-playing opportunities.
“It’s a vaguely new, spooky, creepy avenue we wanted players to be able to explore,” said Hamon.
When asked how the Vestige Patron Warlock compared ot the old Binder class Harmon said they are not the same. “There’s no summoning or binding involved,” she explained.
We also have updates to the Arcane Archer and the Arcana Domain Cleric.”
Backgrounds
We’ve got 10 backgrounds tied to our magical factions. This is again where those schools of magic come into fundamental play. Magical factions, we’ll describe those a little later, but we have eight of those, each tied intrinsically to a school of magic. So we have, for example, the Bejeweled Conclave tied to enchantment magic. These are spies and diplomats who use enchantment magic to get into the upper echelons of society and further their own goals.
In addition to factions for each school of magic, we get two more backgrounds. One is also a faction, and one opens up opportunities for non-spellcasters.
“We have a ninth faction, The Ninth Quill, which are the magical saboteur faction who is all about getting dangerous magic out of the hands of ne’er-do-wells and we have a tenth background called the Familiar Trainer, and that is an exciting background that offers access to a feat, allowing any character class to obtain Find Familiar,” said Hamon.
More Player Options
Arcana Unleashed has more than just backgrounds and subclasses, of course. It also has a chapter on spells.
Group patrons are also highlighted, with six group patrons, all tied to high magic or esoteric magic. They also provide an example of each type of patron in the D&D world. For example, a patron could be an archmage, arcane organizations, political factions, etc. Patrons can be questgivers for the players.
This section features:
We also get a whole chapter of brand-new magic items, ranging from common to artifact level. Some even affect your familiar, such as the Necklace of the Beastly Familiar, which allows your familiar to temporarily become a scorpion or an octopus or a hippo or T-Rex, etc.
The book has several ways of boosting familiars that will be useful to non-spellcasters. The spell Battle Familiar will boost familiars and has a stat block to explain how. Elemental Familiar allows a familiar to be boosted with elemental energy so familiars have options beyond what the base version of familiar delivers.
Several utilitarian magic items can help you cast in a better way. Mage-breaker is designed to oppose evil spell-casters by forcing Disadvantage on Constitution checks to maintain Concentration.
Queen Ehlissa’s Marvelous Nightingale was updated for the current edition. It originally appeared in the Book of Artifacts for 2nd Edition D&D. Queen Ehlissa was an NPC from Greyhawk.
They’ve been delving deep into the campaign history of Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms, due to the anniversary content and bringing back various beloved characters. The folks on staff also love bringing fore parts of lore that haven’t been touched in a long time. Queen Ehlissa is one example of that. She doesn’t have a huge canon, but her enchantments are memorable. Patrick Renie, who worked on the magical artifact section, really wanted to see if Queen Ehlissa’s Marvelous Nightingale could be updated and came up with the version that was published, giving a nod to the past.
And, of course, there’s a bestiary full of magic-themed creatures, such as new living spells, a number of faction minions that are low-level creatures that serve the faction. Stat blocks for an archmage of each school of magic in D&D, and they’re 2 CR points higher than the archmage stat block in the Monster Manual. Each has their spell list and their own unique ability that is tied into the type of magic they’re casting. Plus there are a few really powerful endgame threats.
Venger Adventure
Arcana Unleashed also includes an intro quest from Venger for first level characters. He also gets a stat block in the bestiary section.
“Of course, Venger is the infamous fiend from the D&D cartoon… you get a little more info about Venger’s background in D&D specifically and we talk about Venger’s tombs, which he sets up as challenges for adventurers,” said Hamon.
“We present a level one tomb that has a lot of traps, puzzles and environmental hazards for a very old-school D&D feel,” continued Hamon. “It’s very dangerous, it’s very flavorful. It’s tied to the Shadowfell… We include a write up about how you might structure a whole campaign around this adventure, and we give ideas and options for how you can take adventures in tombs published over the last several years that could be slightly re-flavored to be Venger-themed tombs.”
Misc. Answers
During a section of the presentation for Q&A, the D&D team was asked about the new hires, and what they’re working on, Hamon explained that the whole team works on all books in progress. So, for example, Ron Lundeen wrote the magical factions, Patrick Renie worked on magic items, and Carl Sibley worked on the evolving magic items section.
Currently, there are no plans for a book on divine magic a la Arcana Unleashed.
“In 5th Edition we don’t have the mechanical divide between arcane and divine magic and so there are definitely parts of Arcana Unleashed that are flavored in a divine magic way,” said Hamon. She added that she couldn’t speak to whether they would ever do a divine magic-flavored book, such as one focusing on gods and pantheons.
No current plans exist for a Martial Unleashed book either. Hamon said it will be interesting to see how fans react to Arcana Unleashed because they’re always listening to fan feedback.
When asked if a Book of Vile Darkness was in the works, Hamon begged off the question, saying that those options aren’t necessarily planned for one book or books. UAs involve all things they are testing, things are still being developed, and may show up in different combinations.
Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall
When switching from discussing Arcana Unleashed to Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall, Hamon started by pointing to the artwork and covers.
“The art for that book is bright and colorful and cheerful, celebrating the beauty and wonder of magic through the eyes of the NPC Alustriel Silverhand,” said Hamon. “If you think about the dark mirror to that concept the answer to that and the result of that is Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall.”
Deadfall is an adventure book for levels 11-20. It takes place in Thay, which hasn’t been featured in an official D&D book in quite a while. Red Wizards of Thay have popped up as antagonists in various adventures, but no story has actually taken the characters there.
Deadfall includes a gazetteer and a full adventure, among other things. It’s a magical espionage adventure that culminates in the players taking on Szass Tam, the lich mage shown in the traditional cover of the book with art by Johan Grainer. The alt cover is by CoupleOfKooks. The beautiful overview map of Thay is by noted cartographer Francesca Baerald.
What’s In the Book
On the traditional cover, you see green magic, which Szass Tam is using to infuse his undead with demonic magic, which goes to the heart of the latest threat from the lich mage.
The book opens by explaining what’s going on in Thay now. The mageocracy that rules Thay has become very fractured. The Zulkirs, or those on the Red Wizard leadership council, are no longer sycophantic puppets of Szass Tam. In fact, several Zulkirs think they are now his equal, which Szass Tam cannot abide.
The council of Zulkirs even has a good-aligned member, Zulkir Xelnene Thrul, who will be the players’ contact and the person who recruits them for Operation Deadfall. She’s descendant of the powerful Zulkir Azbar Thrul, who murdered countless Thayans a century ago in his evil schemes. A powerful mage herself, she wants Thay to thrive and prosper. When she learned, through her spies, of Szass Tam’s plot to regain the regency, she tried to recruit the other zulkirs, but they dismissed her warnings that Szass Tam would betray them.
Szass Tam has been capturing powerful demons. He’s also preparing Thaymount for the Malefice Mortem spell, which will allow him to infuse a huge horde of undead with demonic power to lay waste to Thay and retake the throne. Zulkir Thrul recruits the players for this high stakes operation to stop Szass Tam and save the nation, if not all of Faerun.
The gazetteer details the tharchs or territories in Thay, to provide what DMs will need to run the adventure. It also includes a lot of NPCs and plot hooks to ratchet up the intrigue. And because this is the first magical espionage campaign D&D has done in awhile, the book also contains lots of information for DMs on how to run a magical spy thriller, how to lean intol the theme, spy craft, what to do if the players are terrible at keeping secrets, etc.
The adventure takes the players through various parts of Thay so locations range from the urban fantasy espionage of the capital city to survival in some of the tharchs, They can even try to recruit Red Wizards who are in hiding because they don’t align with Szass Tam. If that recruitment or even the approach goes badly, the players could have to face a giant purple worm that acts as guardian.
Related Information
Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall was created as a higher level adventure to fill a natural opening. The prior adventure book, Dragon Delves, had short adventures that took characters up to level 12 so that provided a lot of starting play to lead up to Deadfall. There hasn’t really been official high level play since Vecna: Eve of Ruin so they felt this would fill a need as well as address a piece of canon, namely what’s been going in Thay, for a long time. That combined with fan interest in the Red Wizards helped it to all come together. Deadfall is the Red Wizard project teased back in 2023, so that gives you a sense of how long the development time for a campaign can be.
Plot threads from Vecna: Eve of Ruin do not carry over to Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall. However, Mordenkainen is mentioned as a possible group patron in Arcana Unleashed.
Deadfall does not have a direct tie to the D&D movie Honor Among Thieves suggesting that story was the reason Thay has changed, even though Szass Tam was the unseen evil behind the plot in that movie. Seeing the movie is not necessary before playing Deadfall, but they thought it would be a nice way to address renewed interest in Szass Tam and the Red Wizards of Thay.
There also isn’t a direct tie-in to the two-part Thay series in the Neverwinter MMO. The D&D design team doesn’t necessarily interact with design teams working in other mediums. The other mediums also “don’t address the core canon of D&D,” said Hamon.
However, Deadfall was teased in 2023. If you remember a mention of a Red Wizard of Thay adventure from back then, you now have a sense of how long the development time can take.
Arcana Unleashed and Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall will be available in stores on September 15. Digital pre-orders will be available to Master Tier D&D Beyond subscribers two weeks earlier and one week earlier for D&D Beyond Hero Tier subscribers.
Arcana Unleashed
The traditional cover, by Javier Charro, features “Alustriel Silverhand, who is the host of this book and so she is presenting arcana she has come across in her travels across the multiverse,” said Amanda Hamon, project lead for both books.
Silverhand is an iconic D&D character and “very powerful archmage.” She’s one of the Seven Sisters and daughter of Mystra, goddess of magic.
The alternative, limited edition cover by CoupleOfKooks has the symbols for the eight schools of magic in D&D. Hamon said that those symbols “are the foundational elements for both mechanics and flavor the book is based on.”
Subclasses
Arcana Unleashed has a subclass for each of the eight schools of magic in D&D. These are: the Arcana Domain for clerics, Arcane Archer Fighter, Conjurer Wizard, Enchanter Wizard, Necromancer Wizard, Transmuter Wizard, and the new Vestige Patron Warlock and Warrior of the Mystic Arts Monk.
“We have two brand new subclasses—the Warrior of the Mystic Arts Monk, which is a spellcasting monk with the same spell progression as the Arcane Trickster and is all about shooting out magical energy through natural attacks or through flurry of blows, and the Vestige Patron Warlock. The flavor of this subclass is one we love internally,” said Hamon. “It’s about a warlock whose power comes from a dead or dying god, so it’s a bit of a symbiotic relationship. You as the player can come up with, with you DM’s help, the nature of that dead or dying god. It’s very open-ended, but we present some categories of options like undead, like fiend, like celestial to give a companion to the warlock, and it’s sort of a pet class type of warlock.
They tested several versions of the Warrior of the Mystic Arts Monk before they settled on the version in the book. Hamon said they think fans will like the Vestige Patron Warlock because it’s a companion class tied to the flavor of your dying or undead god, and it provides a lot of cool role-playing opportunities.
“It’s a vaguely new, spooky, creepy avenue we wanted players to be able to explore,” said Hamon.
When asked how the Vestige Patron Warlock compared ot the old Binder class Harmon said they are not the same. “There’s no summoning or binding involved,” she explained.
We also have updates to the Arcane Archer and the Arcana Domain Cleric.”
Backgrounds
We’ve got 10 backgrounds tied to our magical factions. This is again where those schools of magic come into fundamental play. Magical factions, we’ll describe those a little later, but we have eight of those, each tied intrinsically to a school of magic. So we have, for example, the Bejeweled Conclave tied to enchantment magic. These are spies and diplomats who use enchantment magic to get into the upper echelons of society and further their own goals.
In addition to factions for each school of magic, we get two more backgrounds. One is also a faction, and one opens up opportunities for non-spellcasters.
“We have a ninth faction, The Ninth Quill, which are the magical saboteur faction who is all about getting dangerous magic out of the hands of ne’er-do-wells and we have a tenth background called the Familiar Trainer, and that is an exciting background that offers access to a feat, allowing any character class to obtain Find Familiar,” said Hamon.
More Player Options
Arcana Unleashed has more than just backgrounds and subclasses, of course. It also has a chapter on spells.
Group patrons are also highlighted, with six group patrons, all tied to high magic or esoteric magic. They also provide an example of each type of patron in the D&D world. For example, a patron could be an archmage, arcane organizations, political factions, etc. Patrons can be questgivers for the players.
This section features:
- Narrative motivations for patrons
- Compensation rates for adventurers
- Mechanics for research, gear access, and documentation
- Specific examples of each archetype
- Tools for creating homebrew versions of each archetype
We also get a whole chapter of brand-new magic items, ranging from common to artifact level. Some even affect your familiar, such as the Necklace of the Beastly Familiar, which allows your familiar to temporarily become a scorpion or an octopus or a hippo or T-Rex, etc.
The book has several ways of boosting familiars that will be useful to non-spellcasters. The spell Battle Familiar will boost familiars and has a stat block to explain how. Elemental Familiar allows a familiar to be boosted with elemental energy so familiars have options beyond what the base version of familiar delivers.
Several utilitarian magic items can help you cast in a better way. Mage-breaker is designed to oppose evil spell-casters by forcing Disadvantage on Constitution checks to maintain Concentration.
Queen Ehlissa’s Marvelous Nightingale was updated for the current edition. It originally appeared in the Book of Artifacts for 2nd Edition D&D. Queen Ehlissa was an NPC from Greyhawk.
They’ve been delving deep into the campaign history of Greyhawk and Forgotten Realms, due to the anniversary content and bringing back various beloved characters. The folks on staff also love bringing fore parts of lore that haven’t been touched in a long time. Queen Ehlissa is one example of that. She doesn’t have a huge canon, but her enchantments are memorable. Patrick Renie, who worked on the magical artifact section, really wanted to see if Queen Ehlissa’s Marvelous Nightingale could be updated and came up with the version that was published, giving a nod to the past.
And, of course, there’s a bestiary full of magic-themed creatures, such as new living spells, a number of faction minions that are low-level creatures that serve the faction. Stat blocks for an archmage of each school of magic in D&D, and they’re 2 CR points higher than the archmage stat block in the Monster Manual. Each has their spell list and their own unique ability that is tied into the type of magic they’re casting. Plus there are a few really powerful endgame threats.
Venger Adventure
Arcana Unleashed also includes an intro quest from Venger for first level characters. He also gets a stat block in the bestiary section.
“Of course, Venger is the infamous fiend from the D&D cartoon… you get a little more info about Venger’s background in D&D specifically and we talk about Venger’s tombs, which he sets up as challenges for adventurers,” said Hamon.
“We present a level one tomb that has a lot of traps, puzzles and environmental hazards for a very old-school D&D feel,” continued Hamon. “It’s very dangerous, it’s very flavorful. It’s tied to the Shadowfell… We include a write up about how you might structure a whole campaign around this adventure, and we give ideas and options for how you can take adventures in tombs published over the last several years that could be slightly re-flavored to be Venger-themed tombs.”
Misc. Answers
During a section of the presentation for Q&A, the D&D team was asked about the new hires, and what they’re working on, Hamon explained that the whole team works on all books in progress. So, for example, Ron Lundeen wrote the magical factions, Patrick Renie worked on magic items, and Carl Sibley worked on the evolving magic items section.
Currently, there are no plans for a book on divine magic a la Arcana Unleashed.
“In 5th Edition we don’t have the mechanical divide between arcane and divine magic and so there are definitely parts of Arcana Unleashed that are flavored in a divine magic way,” said Hamon. She added that she couldn’t speak to whether they would ever do a divine magic-flavored book, such as one focusing on gods and pantheons.
No current plans exist for a Martial Unleashed book either. Hamon said it will be interesting to see how fans react to Arcana Unleashed because they’re always listening to fan feedback.
When asked if a Book of Vile Darkness was in the works, Hamon begged off the question, saying that those options aren’t necessarily planned for one book or books. UAs involve all things they are testing, things are still being developed, and may show up in different combinations.
Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall
When switching from discussing Arcana Unleashed to Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall, Hamon started by pointing to the artwork and covers.
“The art for that book is bright and colorful and cheerful, celebrating the beauty and wonder of magic through the eyes of the NPC Alustriel Silverhand,” said Hamon. “If you think about the dark mirror to that concept the answer to that and the result of that is Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall.”
Deadfall is an adventure book for levels 11-20. It takes place in Thay, which hasn’t been featured in an official D&D book in quite a while. Red Wizards of Thay have popped up as antagonists in various adventures, but no story has actually taken the characters there.
Deadfall includes a gazetteer and a full adventure, among other things. It’s a magical espionage adventure that culminates in the players taking on Szass Tam, the lich mage shown in the traditional cover of the book with art by Johan Grainer. The alt cover is by CoupleOfKooks. The beautiful overview map of Thay is by noted cartographer Francesca Baerald.
What’s In the Book
On the traditional cover, you see green magic, which Szass Tam is using to infuse his undead with demonic magic, which goes to the heart of the latest threat from the lich mage.
The book opens by explaining what’s going on in Thay now. The mageocracy that rules Thay has become very fractured. The Zulkirs, or those on the Red Wizard leadership council, are no longer sycophantic puppets of Szass Tam. In fact, several Zulkirs think they are now his equal, which Szass Tam cannot abide.
The council of Zulkirs even has a good-aligned member, Zulkir Xelnene Thrul, who will be the players’ contact and the person who recruits them for Operation Deadfall. She’s descendant of the powerful Zulkir Azbar Thrul, who murdered countless Thayans a century ago in his evil schemes. A powerful mage herself, she wants Thay to thrive and prosper. When she learned, through her spies, of Szass Tam’s plot to regain the regency, she tried to recruit the other zulkirs, but they dismissed her warnings that Szass Tam would betray them.
Szass Tam has been capturing powerful demons. He’s also preparing Thaymount for the Malefice Mortem spell, which will allow him to infuse a huge horde of undead with demonic power to lay waste to Thay and retake the throne. Zulkir Thrul recruits the players for this high stakes operation to stop Szass Tam and save the nation, if not all of Faerun.
The gazetteer details the tharchs or territories in Thay, to provide what DMs will need to run the adventure. It also includes a lot of NPCs and plot hooks to ratchet up the intrigue. And because this is the first magical espionage campaign D&D has done in awhile, the book also contains lots of information for DMs on how to run a magical spy thriller, how to lean intol the theme, spy craft, what to do if the players are terrible at keeping secrets, etc.
The adventure takes the players through various parts of Thay so locations range from the urban fantasy espionage of the capital city to survival in some of the tharchs, They can even try to recruit Red Wizards who are in hiding because they don’t align with Szass Tam. If that recruitment or even the approach goes badly, the players could have to face a giant purple worm that acts as guardian.
Related Information
Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall was created as a higher level adventure to fill a natural opening. The prior adventure book, Dragon Delves, had short adventures that took characters up to level 12 so that provided a lot of starting play to lead up to Deadfall. There hasn’t really been official high level play since Vecna: Eve of Ruin so they felt this would fill a need as well as address a piece of canon, namely what’s been going in Thay, for a long time. That combined with fan interest in the Red Wizards helped it to all come together. Deadfall is the Red Wizard project teased back in 2023, so that gives you a sense of how long the development time for a campaign can be.
Plot threads from Vecna: Eve of Ruin do not carry over to Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall. However, Mordenkainen is mentioned as a possible group patron in Arcana Unleashed.
Deadfall does not have a direct tie to the D&D movie Honor Among Thieves suggesting that story was the reason Thay has changed, even though Szass Tam was the unseen evil behind the plot in that movie. Seeing the movie is not necessary before playing Deadfall, but they thought it would be a nice way to address renewed interest in Szass Tam and the Red Wizards of Thay.
There also isn’t a direct tie-in to the two-part Thay series in the Neverwinter MMO. The D&D design team doesn’t necessarily interact with design teams working in other mediums. The other mediums also “don’t address the core canon of D&D,” said Hamon.
However, Deadfall was teased in 2023. If you remember a mention of a Red Wizard of Thay adventure from back then, you now have a sense of how long the development time can take.
Arcana Unleashed and Arcana Unleashed: Deadfall will be available in stores on September 15. Digital pre-orders will be available to Master Tier D&D Beyond subscribers two weeks earlier and one week earlier for D&D Beyond Hero Tier subscribers.
