Dhampir and Other Species To Be Included in Astarion's Book of Hungers

The dhampir will be among several playable species included in the digital exclusive Astarion's Book of Hungers, which is currently only available as part of a $159.99 "Ultimate Bundle." Announced today during a panel on the upcoming Forgotten Realms content at Gen Con, the dhampir will make its return in the upcoming "digital DLC" for the Forgotten Realms books. An Ultimate Bundle was also put up for pre-order on D&D Beyond, which includes 8 species. Assumably, the dhampir and seven other species will appear in Astarion's Book of Hungers and perhaps split with one other unnamed DLC that's also included in the bundle. A third DLC, Netheril's Fall, is an adventure of unspecified length.

The fact that the dhampir and other species content will be included as "digital DLC" is interesting for several reasons. D&D previously made three species - the grung, locathah, and tortle - available exclusively as digital content. However, all three were released to benefit charity, with the tortle eventually making its way into Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse. So, while this wouldn't be the first time that D&D made player-facing content exclusive digitally, the intent (charity versus "Digital DLC") is certainly different. Additionally, it's unclear whether these digital DLCs will be available to purchase separately or if they'll only be available via the Ultimate Bundle, which includes physical and digital copies of the Forgotten Realms books, plus the three DLC packets.

 

[Remathilis]

There are 3 of them right? Maybe they intend to put out a compiled hardcover next year?

I'm 98% certain the dhampir and related feats will appear in the Horror based Ravenloft product coming out in 2026 with the subclasses.

Your paying for the Asterion stuff and early access.

 

[Zardnaar]

Eh, I’m from the special snowflake generation and I don’t use block function either. I support its existence for the benefit of those who prefer to use it, but personally I’d rather be able to see what the other person is saying and ignore it the old fashioned way. I don’t want to voluntarily deprive myself of information.

Yeah same. Think we would get along fine irl. We do swear a lot here though. Better than those unrefined Aussies though.

 

[Remathilis]

Preach it brother!!!

If they keep doing it or font release in dead tree maybe Daggerheart or whatever will start looking appealing.

Eh... I would not be so quick to jump into Darrington Presses open arms considering what their collaboration with Heroforge has done to the latter community. They have absolutely no issues with digital only DLC...

 

[Dire Bare]

Eh... I would not be so quick to jump into Darrington Presses open arms considering what their collaboration with Heroforge has done to the latter community. They have absolutely no issues with digital only DLC...

What has Darrington's collaboration with HeroForge done to the Heroforge community?

 

[Zardnaar]

Eh... I would not be so quick to jump into Darrington Presses open arms considering what their collaboration with Heroforge has done to the latter community. They have absolutely no issues with digital only DLC...

Ignorance is bliss lol. Daggerheart was first thing that came to mind. I have no issue telling WotC to get bent $$$ wise.

 

[Reynard]

Eh... I would not be so quick to jump into Darrington Presses open arms considering what their collaboration with Heroforge has done to the latter community. They have absolutely no issues with digital only DLC...

What has Darrington's collaboration with HeroForge done to the Heroforge community?

Asked for money, it seems.

 

[Dire Bare]

Sorry, but I do think “there’s no possible way WotC could have made Dhampirs financially viable in a physical product release” is an insane position to take. If you don’t have a problem with it being digital-only, that’s a difference in reasonable opinions. If you think it couldn’t have been printed in paper without bankrupting WotC, then you and I just aren’t living in the same reality.

Not sure who you’re encouraging to preach, but if it’s me it would be “sister.”

Well, sure, if you're going to be hyperbolic about it.

Could the digital only material we'll be getting in a few weeks have worked in some sort of print/digital product format? Sure.

But would it have been worth doing financially? WotC doesn't seem to think so. And that makes sense to me, and it doesn't bother me. If others are disappointed the material won't be available in print . . . reasonable disagreement, I'm good with it.

 

[Remathilis]

What has Darrington's collaboration with HeroForge done to the Heroforge community?

So, Heroforge has done collaborations with a lot of RPG publishers (Hit Point Press, KB, Coyote and Crow, etc) for specific unique parts as promotion for their game. Skycastle (HF parent company) just announced a colab with Daggerheart to have three of their unique species (a frog race, mushroom race and ape race) in Heroforge, along with some outfits and decals. However, each pack must be purchased separately for $8.00 per pack. This is the first time we have ever been charged for specific items in HF. These parts are not included in their Pro subscription either (which was needed for things like kitbashing or community sharing) either.

The community is in active revolt over the notion of paying ala carte for the parts. The Discord is flooded with complaints, Reddit is a sea of griping, and the community tab is filled with dozens of figures holding "no dlc" signs and middle fingers. People are cancelling their pro subscriptions as well.

It's been implied that they could not have gotten the rights to do the DH species without a revenue sharing agreement either, which is souring people towards Darrington.

The colab has been a terrible failure so far with Darrington and Skycastle taking massive heat for enpoopification of HF and gouging paying customers for exclusive content. People are moving to other mini makers as well from it.

My point of Darrington is 100% capable of charging you for dlc access. They are no better than WotC in that regard.

 

[Reynard]

My point of Darrington is 100% capable of charging you for dlc access. They are no better than WotC in that regard.

I think it is important to remember that WotC is making this thing exclusive to their platform as well. I don't think DH has a platform, and I don't expect they will release thing solely to Demiplane (for example).

That said, every RPG company that sells material you can't get in print is selling "DLC" so I am not sure why folks are worried about it.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yeah same. Think we would get along fine irl. We do swear a lot here though. Better than those unrefined Aussies though.

Oh, that’s no problem, I do too!