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.

 

[Oofta]

It also is an interesting indication of which books are getting reprinted. 5E Adventures have long shelf lives...

Which makes sense if the next edition is truly backwards compatible.

 

[Geoff Thirlwell]

Will the next book be called “Friend Folio” ?

 

[Scribe]

I guess this was as much as they were able to fix using just errata. 2024 is still a ways away and they weren't going to be able to reprint the PHB an additional 1-2 times before that without addressing the elephants in the room.

Here we go. This is a leap from what they've been doing, and definitely putting there words into action. 2024 is closer than we thought.

Anyone surprised by this hasnt been paying attention to the prior works and changes.

 

[overgeeked]

“The lore in this chapter represents the perspective of Volo and is mostly limited to the Forgotten Realms. In the Realms and elsewhere in the D&D multiverse, reality is more varied than the idiosyncratic views presented here. DM, use the material that inspires you and leave the rest.”

How dare they. We should form yet another TSR and sue to stop this.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Which makes sense if the next edition is truly backwards compatible.

Semi-mechanically compatible. Perhaps not conceptually compatible. And we also have to consider that they mean compatible with the revised printings of the old books, not their original presentation (which I imagine are what most people who have physical copies own).

 

[Micah Sweet]

Anyone surprised by this hasnt been paying attention to the prior works and changes.

Not surprised. A little resigned.

 

[overgeeked]

Will the next book be called “Friend Folio” ?

A book of NPC allies and companion creatures would be amazing. Great idea.

 

[Scribe]

Not surprised. A little resigned.

Quite, on my part, but if they want to make their works even more 'do whatever' its not like they are really changing much.

 

[TerraDave]

It doesnt say that.

It in fact, says as little as possible. Dont commit, dont define, dont state definitively. - Wizards 2021, probably.

If this upsets you, well steel yourself for the 5.5 release.

The errata for Volo's is a wimpification. And these cuts remove some of the most interesting language from the book.

The game has monstrous monsters for a reason. But we will see soon, as it effective replacement is coming.

Maybe mind flayers now just give head messages, and yuan-ti venom is a source of healing potions.

 

[bedir than]

The tables with all the evilness is still there.