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

Faolyn · May 3, 2021

tetrasodium said:
The pistol looking thing being fired by the character in the wheelchair looks a lot like a differently styled version of the artificer eldritch cannon. I think they might hew closer to breath of siberys charged "wands" to avoid ever finding out some school shooter had a pistol in a d&d game in a newspaper article

I don't think they're thinking like that. Honestly, I would imagine that whoever drew this, if they drew this actually intending it to be a pic of Laurie and Gennifer (rather than just drawing a pic of two women and later deciding it was them), that they didn't know she was a pistol-wielder.

tetrasodium · May 3, 2021

Faolyn said:
I don't think they're thinking like that. Honestly, I would imagine that whoever drew this, if they drew this actually intending it to be a pic of Laurie and Gennifer (rather than just drawing a pic of two women and later deciding it was them), that they didn't know she was a pistol-wielder.

No, but pomegranate might, it's notable that the ravenloft book ToC doesn't seem to have a section on firearms equipment etc from what I can see. I was talking more about pistols than the picture

darjr · May 3, 2021

An Exclusive Look At A Van Richten’s Guide To Ravenloft Domain

We talked with lead designer Wes Schneider about the Ravenloft domain of Dementlieu from the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons release this month.

www.forbes.com

Savage Wombat · May 3, 2021

darjr said:
An Exclusive Look At A Van Richten’s Guide To Ravenloft Domain

We talked with lead designer Wes Schneider about the Ravenloft domain of Dementlieu from the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons release this month.

www.forbes.com

So it's a PG version of "Eyes Wide Shut"?

Whizbang Dustyboots · May 4, 2021

D&D’s new Ravenloft book swaps outdated tropes for a high-fantasy approach

A sneak peek at Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, the realm of Har’Akir, and its darklord, Ankhotep

www.polygon.com

humble minion · May 4, 2021

darjr said:
An Exclusive Look At A Van Richten’s Guide To Ravenloft Domain

We talked with lead designer Wes Schneider about the Ravenloft domain of Dementlieu from the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons release this month.

www.forbes.com

I can't see that behind the paywall, but jeez, when you step back and think, it's mindboggling how much has changed over the past 10 years or so that we're actually getting hype previews of new D&D sourcebooks in Forbes of all places...

Remathilis · May 4, 2021

Faolyn said:
Huh--that's a new look for them, if that is them. Interesting change! Although if this is them, it's odd that Gennifer has a sword, when she always used a pistol before. I wonder what that says about the tech level they're going for. Personally, I imagine firearms being relatively common in Ravenloft.

I think they are going to use the same logic as Waterdeep; if you want guns, they're in the DMG. Though I might mention there is a firearm hidden in Curse of Strahd, so I don't think they're against them.

Whizbang Dustyboots · May 4, 2021

humble minion said:
I can't see that behind the paywall, but jeez, when you step back and think, it's mindboggling how much has changed over the past 10 years or so that we're actually getting hype previews of new D&D sourcebooks in Forbes of all places...

Well, "Forbes." They're no longer a respected business magazine, but a content mill, including lots of self-published stuff that may only be casually looked at by editorial staff to make sure it meets their minimal standards. This piece is good, but there's also lots of stuff that is ... not.

humble minion · May 4, 2021

Faolyn said:
I wonder what that says about the tech level they're going for. Personally, I imagine firearms being relatively common in Ravenloft.

Me too, but to be honest the D&D firearms rules don't really back up why. They're better than crossbows, but unless you house-rule, most classes who routinely use crossbows aren't firearms proficient.

The other aesthetic/technological trend i imagine in Ravenloft is the lessening of emphasis on armour. But (in real-life history) that happened because firearms penetrated armour very easily, and that mechanically just doesn't happen in D&D, and also from a more metagamey point of view - if armour goes away then melee warriors always start being Dex-based rather than Str-based, and that means finesse weapons become the norm, and the Str stat pretty much doesn't even matter any more.

I've messed around with rules for firearms that are slightly more advanced technologically than standard D&D firearms (perhaps at an early 1800s-level), especially trying to keep Str relevant and differentiate them from bows a bit, but I'm far from satisfied yet.

musket martial 1d12 piercing 150/1200 ammunition (firearms), two-handed, firearm, loading, recoil 13
fowling piece simple 2d8 piercing 30/300 ammunition (firearms), two-handed, firearm, loading, recoil 13, scattershot
elephant gun martial 2d8 piercing 150/1200 ammunition (firearms), two-handed, firearm, heavy, loading, recoil 15
boot pistol simple 1d8 piercing 20/60 ammunition (firearms), firearm, loading, light
pepperbox pistol martial 1d8 piercing 30/120 ammunition (firearms), firearm, loading, special
pistol simple 1d10 piercing 30/120 ammunition (firearms), firearm, loading
horse pistol martial 1d12 piercing 30/120 ammunition (firearms), firearm, heavy, loading, recoil 13
musket bayonet martial 1d10 piercing melee two-handed, fix bayonet

firearm - a firearm with the loading property requires two hands to load. A character making an attack with a firearm has disadvantage to Stealth rolls made in the same round. Attack rolls with a firearm gain a bonus of 1d4 against targets wearing medium or heavy armour, or using a shield.
scattershot - attack rolls with a scattershot weapon are not made with disadvantage when attacking at long range. Instead, damage inflicted by scattershot weapons at long range is halved. Scattershot weapons do not add the usual 1d4 bonus for firearms against heavily armoured or shielded targets.
fix bayonet - a bayonet can be fixed to or removed from a musket as a bonus action. A musket with a fixed bayonet cannot make ranged attack rolls until the bayonet is removed. An unfixed bayonet counts as a shortsword.
recoil - a character wielding weapon with the recoil property who moves before attacking in the same round must have at least the listed strength or make the attack roll at disadvantage. If the weapon does not have the two-handed property, the wielder can remove this penalty by wielding the weapon with two hands.

special rules
pepperbox pistol - when using this weapon, you can ignore the loading property for the first 6 attack rolls. Once you have made six attacks, this property ceases to function until you spend one minute of uninterrupted time to reset it.