D&D 5E Latest D&D Errata: Drow, Alignment, & More

Sage Advice is a series of articles in which Jeremy Crawford, one of the D&D Studio’s game design architects, talks about the design of the game’s rules and answers questions about them.

Book Updates | Sage Advice | Dungeons & Dragons

This Sage Advice provides updates and errata for a number of books, as well as answers to rules questions.

dnd.wizards.com

D&D books occasionally receive corrections and other updates to their rules and story. This Sage Advice installment presents updates to several books. I then answer a handful of rules questions, focusing on queries related to Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons and Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos.

Official errata has been published for the following books:

• Curse of Strahd
• Dungeon Master’s Guide
• Player’s Handbook
• Storm King’s Thunder
• Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
• Tales from the Yawning Portal
• Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
• Tomb of Annihilation
• Volo’s Guide to Monsters

Here's some of the highlights.

• Alignment is removed from the Racial Traits section of races.
• Drow have undergone lore changes which reflect the different types of drow. The 'darkness of the drow' sidebar which portrays them as only evil has been removed.
• Storm King's Thunder alters references to 'Savage Frontier' and 'barbarians'; Curse of Strahd alters references to the Vistani.
• The controversial Silvery Barbs spell has been clarified.

As a drow, you are infused with the magic of the Underdark, an underground realm of wonders and horrors rarely seen on the surface above. You are at home in shadows and, thanks to your innate magic, learn to con- jure forth both light and darkness. Your kin tend to have stark white hair and grayish skin of many hues.

The cult of the god Lolth, Queen of Spiders, has cor- rupted some of the oldest drow cities, especially in the worlds of Oerth and Toril. Eberron, Krynn, and other realms have escaped the cult’s influence—for now. Wherever the cult lurks, drow heroes stand on the front lines in the war against it, seeking to sunder Lolth’s web.

 

[Charlaquin]

and as I stated before no one of us can lay claim to having the correct interpretation.

I mean, the wording is perfectly clear, and the devs have explained the intent - it was exactly what the words clearly state.

 

[Remathilis]

Yeah... but so what? All it means is that in 20 years time once our current culture discussions play themselves out... perhaps all these words find themselves being put back in because things ended up not playing out what the folks of today thought they might. And if that happens, what's been lost?

I'm just pointing out that there was a long period where D&D tried to "think of the children" when it came to using language in it's game products, and it did come after a period of huge popularity followed by harsh criticism.

History repeats

Anyway, I'll let you get back to discussing if brothels in D&D tanar-ri-izes sex workers.

 

[HammerMan]

D&D has always had an implied setting in the core books,

I wonder if 5.5/6e/Anniversary Edition will change that. Maybe going forward it will be more GURPS and less WOD, with no setting just mechanics that can be melded into a setting.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Glad to see the changes, especially calling Volo out as a terrible person.

This is the first argument I've ever seen about the necessity of brothels in D&D though.

 

[HammerMan]

I mean, the wording is perfectly clear, and the devs have explained the intent - it was exactly what the words clearly state.

is there a clarification on how it works with things like cover?

 

[Blue]

It took me awhile, but I think what I really dislike about having nearly 50 playable races plus custom lineages is... none of them have any real depth. It feels to me like the fantasy world that D&D is trending towards is one where all linages are participants in the same culture. On the one hand that's kind of cool. Everyone is taken for who they are and is valued for themselves.

One of my ongoing complaints about the 5e races is that they have little design space to be interesting. The ability score modifier has the largest differentiator, and the features were small. That's caused issues before when designing races that are powerful. For example the Centaur in the MM is large, the while playable one is medium, which has a number of ripple effects including breaking the trope about riding them. If all of the races had more features, then there would be room to include more powerful features, because there would be a valid opportunity cost of not taking other races.

But now with the ability scores gone, one of the largest mechanical differentiators is gone, and I am left with the same feeling - that the races don't have much mechanical meaning. This isn't a push to return racial ability score modifiers - I am thrilled that I can match any race to any class and not be at a disadvantage. It's that all of the races need more. Unfortunately I want 2024 to be fully compatible, because if not this would be the very second thing I would be clamouring for. (The first would be a recalibration of rest-recovery models to match how people actually run).

On the other hand, having a singular monolithic culture makes everything feel the same. Ultra homogenized. Campaigns like this often leave me feeling like all the characters are just humans in rubber masks because there is no cultural heritage or actual lineage. Of course, they all really are humans in rubber masks; we don't really have an example of a culture of another sapient race we can communicate with or share ideas with. But too many lineages tends to make them all feel like just more humans.

I think of it like Babylon 5 or Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Sure, they're very focused on humans. But any time they introduce a new species, that means a new homeworld. A new, unique culture. A new, unique history. A new, unique story about a people going to space and exploring. Sure, not all of them are always detailed (e.g., the League of Nobody Can Act In This Makeup Worlds, or Latex Forehead Bump Species #4758). Basically, though, all the species of the core characters are well defined with a culture, history, and future, including with relations with other species. That informs each individual character. It affects the character development. It makes the world feel more real. How would we remember G'Kar or Londo if not for the lens of their histories? How mysterious would Kosh be if all of the races were equally unknown? How much meaning would be lost if the relationship between Humans and Minbari didn't have the context of the war.

I want the game to have memorable, heterogeneous cultures. So that when you adventure across the globe you don't find... the same set of people with a different color flag. I can't imagine having 50 distinct, memorable, meaningful cultures in a whole setting. Like holy crap: 50 lineages of origins, cultural history, interwoven political histories, etc.? Ain't nobody got time for that.

I don't want to feel like exploring the world is like going from Ohio to Illinois. I want it to feel like going from Ohio to Mumbai, or to Jerusalem, or to Minbar. Something totally alien with people who perceive the world through a completely different framework.

I wish that they would add in another pillar of character creation, culture. Just like background and race, also being able to pick that. But it would need to be setting specific, and it could hit into the same Planet of Hats issues plus possible reintroduction of sensitivity issue they removed racial ability scores - "why are everyone from X proficient in athletic skills while those from Y culture are intellectual skills" or whatever mechanical expression gets picked.

 

[HammerMan]

This is the first argument I've ever seen about the necessity of brothels in D&D though.

I don't think they are needed (and if they are we can always world build them back in) if the next edition (5.5/6/anniversary) just didn't include them I wouldn't even notice... it is calling out "Replace X with Y" that bugs me. it is a way of seeming to put your finger on the scale.

edit and "brothel" for "music hall" isn't even close to like for like... I mean they could have put 'casino' or 'gambling hall' or almost anything there... and they choose music hall?

 

[Bolares]

is there a clarification on how it works with things like cover?

If cover makes your original ac higher than 16 you use your original ac. If not, barkskin makes it 16

 

[HammerMan]

If cover makes your original ac higher than 16 you use your original ac. If not, barkskin makes it 16

I agree with this reading, but was this actually clarified somewhere? This one was a big discussion in our group about how it works.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I don't think they are needed (and if they are we can always world build them back in) if the next edition (5.5/6/anniversary) just didn't include them I wouldn't even notice... it is calling out "Replace X with Y" that bugs me. it is a way of seeming to put your finger on the scale.

edit and "brothel" for "music hall" isn't even close to like for like... I mean they could have put 'casino' or 'gambling hall' or almost anything there... and they choose music hall?

Dance or music halls were actually historically either covers or euphemisms for places to find sex workers, actually. So you can always pretend WotC is still endorsing characters paying for sex in a children's game.