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.

 

[HammerMan]

Sure but I can find 4-6 hour long series on YouTube about how [insert horrific historical figure] was actually a good person, or how Star Trek "became woke" and started sucking (at no point was Star Trek not "woke" for it's time period lol). Chancers on YouTube will make videos about anything and people will watch them.

I think that is a bad word here... just FYI. However I laugh at the Trek idea... um it was ALWAYS progressive. (now my opinion of some trek is better then other, and of course some representation is better then other)

There's no possibility the authors didn't know it was basically a massive whitewash. Douglas Niles is only 67, not 97, and he and the other author certainly did some research into the subject. The discussion of exactly how awful the Spanish were in South America had been ongoing since literally the 1600s! (C.f. the "Black Legend" and "White Legend" re: Spain). They basically chose a "White Legend" approach, and they didn't have to do the conquistador thing at all - they could have written something actually original.

and again, I saw it going into HS... so, not a good look.

I mean, he probably should be downplayed a fair bit because his actual personal importance has been overstated and he was a monster, and "Columbus day" definitely shouldn't be a thing (and it isn't in many places now) - it's easy to keep the holiday and just make it be about something else.

my only care at all about him is that we should be honest. (like the fact that we live in America not Columbian because a second explorer named Amerigo Vespucci. he was an Italian merchant, explorer, and navigator from the Republic of Florence, from whose name the term "America" is derived.) and that we not burden 1st-4th graders with details (I mean in the internet age they can look them up if they want)

I also HATE the idea of making "indigenous people day" over Columbus day because it will taint the day with the dumb argument... I do think an Indigenous People Day could be a cool thing, just like any other day... I also don't care if there is or isn't a statue of some jerk from 400 years ago in front of my library, as long as the books inside on him are honest in what a monster he was.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

okay, so why do YOU think they changed Brothels' to music hall?

I can't speak for the other guy, but again, I'm pretty sure this is an attempt to be "child-friendly" and "mainstream" rather than an attack on sex workers. Yes by implication, if you think about it, that somewhat stigmatizes sex workers but I don't think it can be read as the objective (and society stigmatizes them in far worse ways 24/7).

 

[FormerLurker]

One of the first games I played in at a local store back in 1981 had 6th graders (including me) up to folks in their 40s. The game stores around us have quite a few folks in the 30-60 range (I wonder how much of that is that they have a lot of MtG and 40k mini players).

I'm wondering if the 20-35 yo players I know who live with their folks would feel more awkward having other adult players over than the other adult players would.

And would you have felt comfortable inviting those 40yo back to your place to continue the game?
Would you have felt comfortable going into their house?

 

[Vaalingrade]

The main push to keep Columbus Day a thing comes from Italian-American communities, because it's been Italian-American Day for a quite a while. Equivalent to St. Patrick's Day or Cinco De Mayo, but for their specific community.

Saying we shouldn't have Columbus Day can therefore read as "we shouldn't celebrate Italian-American culture" which isn't what anyone's actually saying, but the internet abhors a nuance and all that. (My proposed solution: pick a better Italian American, there's a lot of options. Sacco and Venzetti?)

Does anyone really do anything 'Italian' on Columbus day? In fact, the country that gets mentioned most on Columbus day is Spain!

I mean, we can totally have a day where drunk people enact offensive Italian stereotypes. No need for the guy who wanted to pork a manatee.

 

[HammerMan]

Because as much as we try to deny it, this is a children's game and randomly rolling that the characters played by a bunch of 12 year olds see a brothel might be a bit of an issue?

why? do 12 year olds not know that the word or place exists (I mean I bet in the internet age most if not all 12 year olds know more about sex then I did at 18) and was this problem new, did it not matter 3,5,7, 10 years ago? I mean they are going to make a NEW Dungeons Masters guide in a year or so, and no one will notice or care if they put other things in... but by calling out errata they call attention, why?

 

[Vaalingrade]

It is complicated, but I think the fact that people can't actually say the names of people or things in those categories sometimes for fear of internet reaction (sometimes on this very forum) shows that this is a problem, and many people on both sides dont treat it as complicated at all.

Or the fact the talking real world politics is a bannable offense and mentioning their names invites mentioning their politics?

 

[HammerMan]

Does anyone really do anything 'Italian' on Columbus day? In fact, the country that gets mentioned most on Columbus day is Spain!

I mean, we can totally have a day where drunk people enact offensive Italian stereotypes. No need for the guy who wanted to pork a manatee.

does anyone do anything at all for Columbus day?

 

[HammerMan]

It is complicated, but I think the fact that people can't actually say the names of people or things in those categories sometimes for fear of internet reaction (sometimes on this very forum) shows that this is a problem, and many people on both sides dont treat it as complicated at all.

yeah the fact that I have to dance around the whole "he/she who should not be named" is annoying... and yes because if I refer to them by name at least 1 person will call out me as 'huminizing' them.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Finding a group or new players is always hard. But my point is it’s even harder when you’re not playing the current edition. When 6e comes out, finding a 5e group will be that much more challenging. Which makes the argument that one can just “find a game you do like” falls flat.
(I have lots. They‘re gathering dust on my shelves.)

That’s assuming I even want to keep playing D&D and supporting a company that is tripping over themselves trying to run away from their old fans. They flipped from nostalgia to dumping continuity so fast I’m surprised they didn’t get whiplash.

I don't get why you think you're going to have difficulty finding 40-somethings (or again, I as I have pointed out, 30-somethings) who will be playing 6E.

If you choose not to play 6E because you find it offensive, that's on you, not on WotC. WotC didn't tell you to hop it. You decided WotC had annoyed you and left.

but by calling out errata they call attention, why?

Because if they re-print it differently and/or change online versions, and that's changed WITHOUT being noted in the errata, there will be loads MORE attention than if they call it out. They want to make the change to be kid-friendly, and thus they need to put it in the errata to stop "SECRET CENSORSHIP!!!!" nonsense.

And WotC are only now realizing how successful 5E is with kids, particularly the 8-12 yo kids of people who are aged 30-40.

 

[Blue]

I must have been unclear - it's not about power levels, there's lots of ways to handle that - it's about the depth of culture and history each race brings to the table.

Whether centaurs can be large (as a game mechanic) isn't my point - horseshoes are. Whether centaur traditions about when and where to wear horseshoes, the rituals involved, the idioms created, and taboos around them, do these matter? Are they necessary? Is it acceptable to release a centaur race without a few paragraphs on the meanings and traditions of shoes something we can tolerate?

I would say yes - all that's fun and all but the game works fine without it. But if centaurs are just "large", with no other discussion about who and what they are, they can end up a little boring and/or redundant with Goliaths. I suppose; I don't actually see that happen at real tables but I can't disprove it.

Thank you for taking the time to explain, and I understand your position much better now. We have competing forces of well developed races from a thematic perspective that makes them special and of interest, and the market force for additional races combined with "kitchen sink" settings where everything can be played so players can do whatever they wish.

I don't know that there is a real answer, though my personal preferences definitely come down more on your side. One of the many things I really like about Eberron is how it gives a fresh take to even the most standard races. I think that's a strong, needed point for a setting - otherwise it's just generic. But I understand the wish to play with all the new toys - I've run out-of-setting races like Loxodon, Fairy, "Custom Lineage". ("Out-of-setting" I mean like playing a warforged in FR, vs. playing a warforged in Eberron where they are strongly tied to the lore of the setting.)

I don't know that there can be a solution for that - new races will come out, often in setting books, and they can't have the barrier to publish that they need to be back-fit into all previously published settings. Especially since with homebrew that still wouldn't cut it.