D&D 5E Everything We Know About The Ravenloft Book

Here is a list of everything we know so far about the upcoming Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.

Art by Paul Scott Canavan​

• May 18th, 256 pages
• 30 domains (with 30 villainous darklords)
• Barovia (Strahd), Dementlieu (twisted fairly tales), Lamordia (flesh golem), Falkovnia (zombies), Kalakeri (Indian folklore, dark rainforests), Valachan (hunting PCs for sport), Lamordia (mad science)
• NPCs include Esmerelda de’Avenir, Weathermay-Foxgrove twins, traveling detective Alanik Ray.
• Large section on setting safe boundaries.
• Dark Gifts are character traits with a cost.
• College of Spirits (bard storytellers who manipulate spirits of folklore) and Undead Patron (warlock) subclasses.
• Dhampir, Reborn, and Hexblood lineages.
• Cultural consultants used.
• Fresh take on Vistani.
• 40 pages of monsters. Also nautical monsters in Sea of Sorrows.
• 20 page adventure called The House of Lament - haunted house, spirits, seances.

​

D&D 5E - Full Wraparound Cover Art For Ravenloft

We've seen the cover already, but here's a look at the full wraparound art by Anna Podedworna. https://www.enworld.org/threads/updated-with-cover-the-d-d-book-is-van-richtens-guide-to-ravenloft.678411/ https://www.enworld.org/threads/heres-the-ravenloft-alternate-cover.678414/...

www.enworld.org

D&D 5E - Here's the Ravenloft Alternate Cover!

As usual, there is an alternate hobby-store exclusive cover for the upcoming Ravenloft book. Here's a look at it! And here's the full wraparound art. https://www.enworld.org/threads/updated-with-cover-the-d-d-book-is-van-richtens-guide-to-ravenloft.678411/...

www.enworld.org

D&D 5E - [Updated with cover!] The D&D Book Is.... Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft!

Yesterday's hints that a new D&D book would be announced today have born fruit -- we now have a product description and a title! It's a Ravenloft setting book, with tools and new rules for horror-themed games, and new horror-themed character options. I'll update this post with a product image as...

www.enworld.org

 

[JEB]

Minis thread from Twitter is neat, but disappointingly, tells us little about what new monsters we will be getting - nearly all of them appeared in earlier products.

But there are two potentially interesting bits:

• The skittering horror? Unless this is a new creature with the same name... that's a Magic: The Gathering monster, previously appearing in the Ravnica book. Will there be a MTG-based domain in Ravenloft? That'd be a big deal.
• The non-human skeletons and zombies... will we be getting those monster templates back? Sure would be nice.

 

[Parmandur]

Minis thread from Twitter is neat, but disappointingly, tells us little about what new monsters we will be getting - nearly all of them appeared in earlier products.

But there are two potentially interesting bits:

• The skittering horror? Unless this is a new creature with the same name... that's a Magic: The Gathering monster, previously appearing in the Ravnica book. Will there be a MTG-based domain in Ravenloft? That'd be a big deal.
• The non-human skeletons and zombies... will we be getting those monster templates back? Sure would be nice.

It wouldn't be terribly surprising if they put some Magic stuff in there...or at least just use the monster stat block without thinking too hard about it. There does seem to be Eberron material, from what people are saying, so expansions to the Setting are happening.

 

[JEB]

It wouldn't be terribly surprising if they put some Magic stuff in there...or at least just use the monster stat block without thinking too hard about it. There does seem to be Eberron material, from what people are saying, so expansions to the Setting are happening.

Hmm, if there's Eberron material, I wonder if they'll finally canonize the long-running fan theory that Cyre was drawn into Ravenloft...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

And all together

I'm interested in the huge squid-thing on the back row. It makes me think of War of the Worlds Martians done right. Which is something I have never seen in any of the many TV/film versions.

It appears to be an elder oblex next to it. Which would be a new addition to the setting.

 

[JEB]

I'm interested in the huge squid-thing on the back row. It makes me think of War of the Worlds Martians done right. Which is something I have never seen in any of the many TV/film versions.

It appears to be an elder oblex next to it. Which would be a new addition to the setting.

The squid-thing is a juvenile kraken, as it appeared in Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Agreed that it's a pretty cool mini, though!

 

[TheSword]

Hmm, if there's Eberron material, I wonder if they'll finally canonize the long-running fan theory that Cyre was drawn into Ravenloft...

I’d love that. Merrix D’Cannith I made darklord of Cyre after instructing followers to built a weapon to destroy a continent and then murdering its creator. The creator lives on as a machine spirit. A domain with technological overdevelopment used for purposes of war and power, with sentient machines wrestling for control... plus the ever present fear of the superweapon that will destroy all. Duck and cover folks.

Terminator/Matrix meets When The Wind Blows.

 

[Azzy]

Hmm, if there's Eberron material, I wonder if they'll finally canonize the long-running fan theory that Cyre was drawn into Ravenloft...

I really hope not. The mystery of Cyre/The Mourning is best left up to individual DMs.

 

[tetrasodium]

Hmm, if there's Eberron material, I wonder if they'll finally canonize the long-running fan theory that Cyre was drawn into Ravenloft...

Almost certainly not. The specifics of what happened to cyre is one of the deliberately uncertain aspects of the setting with many conflicting credible possibilities. There might be a credible hint on par with other credible stuff. With that said though, if you look at the manar section of exploring eberron there is a section that talks about The Dark Powers complete with proper probinciation that could be right at home in a ravenloft book & we have art of a lightning rail so I'd expect some eberron themes to be present

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

But a "Nova Cyre" as new domain would be possible, a "copy" of the original.

3.5 Ed had got a prestige class, the seekers of the Misty Isle. We could find a "Mysty Isle" as domain in Ravenloft. Maybe it is the original, or a "clone" created because a seeker did some wrong action.

* Could illithids from Bluetspur launch raids to other domains to catch slaves? I doubt when the dark lords can "close the doors", even when they are only level 1, but they could pay for them, if there is something in Bluetspuer they can sell.

Wereoctopus in Bluetspur? There is a canon weregorrilla, somebody cursed by the Vistani.

* Characters from Innistrad? It is not impossible, even I would allow a (relatively stable) portal between both places. The Dark Powers could allow it as a "poisoned gift" for fugitives who horrified discover too late the goal isn't better very much than the origin point.

* There are firearms in Ravenloft, although bullets are uselless against most of supernatural creatures. DMs and players may invent magic tricks against the gunpowder. Other players would want repeater firearms, or a DM creating a traps with a gatling gun.

Dire Wraith - IDW Hasbro Wiki

The ancient enemies of the Solstar Order, the Dire Wraiths are a race of parasitic alien shapeshifters bent on conquest. Capable of taking over the bodies of other life-forms and transforming them into more of their kind, the Dire Wraiths wield dark magics powered by the lifeblood of other...

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[humble minion]

I'm not really invested in Eberron one way or the other, but a domain or quasi-domain centred around a haunted or cursed train could be awesome.