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.

 

[Micah Sweet]

this thread is way too much sad real life stuff now... can we go back to make believe please...

I wish. Part of the problem here is that some of the make-believe is making some people feel unpleasantly reminded of sad real life stuff.

 

[Weiley31]

Last word from Erik:
Going forward, we plan to remove slavery from our game and setting completely. We will not be writing adventures to tell the story of how this happened. We will not be introducing an in-world event to facilitate this change.

We’re just going to move on from it, period.

Fire Giants: It's free real estate baby!

 

[Zardnaar]

This is like I Am Legend (the written version, of course).

Look around you, Zardnaar. Look at the world. Then look down at your ... spaghetti pizza.....

YOU ARE THE MONSTER!!!!!!!!!

I admit I'm the monster. Your point good sir?

The Kraft Heinz Company

The Kraft Heinz Company provides high quality, great taste and nutrition for all eating occasions whether at home, in restaurants or on the go.

www.foodinaminute.co.nz

That there is fine dining.
Also you have impinged my countries honor.


To be fair that pizza was invented when our food was English based and a Sunday meal might involve mince stew, mashed potato and boiled cabbage.

Or a dry roast lamb (well done), with mint sauce, boiled cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower all boiled to with an inch of its life.

 

[Oofta]

@Snarf Zagyg , we might disagree on pizza toppings, but we are bothers in arms against bards.

So the big question: do you walk down the streets together singing a duet? Much like, I don't know, a pair of bards?

 

[Umbran]

this thread is way too much sad real life stuff now... can we go back to make believe please...

Mod Note:

Yeah, this sounds like a good idea. Folks, please bring it back around to the game now, please and thanks.

 

[Weiley31]

So the big question: do you walk down the streets together singing a duet? Much like, I don't know, a pair of bards?

View attachment 148398

However it is, this is the song playing on the guitar from the bards.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I've given it some thought, and at the end of the day, no matter how.much I dislike some of these changes, nothing WotC does is going to affect my game if I don't want it to, and the game I'm in is what matters the most to me. I don't need WotC for anything anymore, so all this is really an academic debate for the most part. Remembering that the best part of the game happens at the table would be, imo, a good idea.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

See I could get making standard PHB, MM, DMG just bland and vanilla. Make your own world and define Orcs and Elves and Whatever however you want.

But why change the established worlds? Orcs are evil in FR... except they aren't now. Fire Giants in FR are slavers.. .except they aren't anymore. Mind Flayers are just you know... different dudes its all good. Etc etc

With all these changes that seem to even to change established world setting, I kind of hope they don't touch Dragonlance now.

none of that has been universally true in FR for a long time. Orcs have had examples of good or nuetral individuals at least since 3.5, and I'm 99% sure that mindflayers have always been more or less "usually evil" forever until 5e, which made many races always evil in FR, from illithid to gnolls to orcs.

 

[Oofta]

none of that has been universally true in FR for a long time. Orcs have had examples of good or nuetral individuals at least since 3.5, and I'm 99% sure that mindflayers have always been more or less "usually evil" forever until 5e, which made many races always evil in FR, from illithid to gnolls to orcs.

I always assumed that mind flayers were always some variation of evil because of the whole brain eating thing. Kind of hard to be good (or even neutral) when you have to munch down on the brains of other sentient creatures in order to survive.

On the other hand I agree that it was a mistake to get rid of the frequency qualifier.

 

[Micah Sweet]

none of that has been universally true in FR for a long time. Orcs have had examples of good or nuetral individuals at least since 3.5, and I'm 99% sure that mindflayers have always been more or less "usually evil" forever until 5e, which made many races always evil in FR, from illithid to gnolls to orcs.

And even of you were right, WotC is still trying to sell those worlds. They're removing "problematic" elements from all their worlds, because they want to make money from them. Pretty straightforward.