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.

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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.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I mean the rabbits may be a bit of a streatch, but only a bit. Grim dark and gritty is a playstyle not a race choice. I can play happy fluffy Half Orcs and Teiflings, I am sure I can play dark gritty bunnies.

how would one even make bunnies grimdark?

 

[darjr]

It says BEAST of the day.

 

[Vaalingrade]

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

Let's dial back on the hyperbole and fudging a bit?

There was like a whole tribe of good guy orcs for a long time before being killed off (Many-Arrows).

The Fire Giants still make sure we have way too many slavers in the game. They just don't ransom them anymore.

They've actually done nothing to mindflayers AFAIK.

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.

Certainly wouldn't want anything to happen to the idea that the natural extreme of being good is tyranny and the only solution to that is genocide.

Also entire species designed to mock the mentally disabled, kleptomania and science in general.

 

[HammerMan]

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.

I know I was shot down for saying so upthread, but I think they may be going the GURPS route with the PHB at least for 5.5/6/anniversary edition. "Here are the building blocks to build your game" then have "Here are some pre built worlds"

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

I think they want to soften the edges of the pre built worlds

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

 

[Vaalingrade]

how would one even make bunnies grimdark?

Again, cannibalism.

The go-to grimdark of 2005, and rabbits just do that when mildly inconvenienced.

 

[Mind of tempest]

It says BEAST of the day.

Is anyone else oddly hungry?

 

[Ruin Explorer]

carbonated milk

I want to know more about this but also I very much don't. Thankfully the Wikipedia article is like two sentences with no real description.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Mind Flayers are just you know... different dudes its all good.

You just have to have a .... new conception ... of the Mind Flayer.

 

[Faolyn]

what... are you kidding me? in a game where we regularly kill things with sharp or pointy weapons (or beat them to death with blunt ones) the word brothel offended someone?!? that is the most American thing ever... violence gets a pass but we can't even do a hint of sexuality...

The problem is probably less about sexuality and more with the idea that the people in the brothel aren't there of their own free will or are otherwise being treated badly. Sure, it's a fantasy world so you can say that sex worker is actually a well-paying job with benefits and no more exploitation than in any other job--but unfortunately there's far too many people who have been sexually exploited.

Also, if the brothel is supposed to be a place where the PCs can visit on their downtime, as opposed to a side plot where there's a wrong to right, then does it matter if it's listed in the book a brothel or a music hall? "Your player goes there, spends 5 gold, and has a great time." Do you really need to know if your PC had sex or not? (And if so, can I roll on the Random STD table?)

 

[Professor Murder]

how would one even make bunnies grimdark?

Watership
Down.