Dungeons and Dragons players can now officially access a ton of new subclasses, backgrounds, and other tools now that the latest 5.5e sourcebook has arrived.
Dungeons and Dragons – Ravenloft: The Horrors Within is Available Now
After months of anticipation, the season of horror has finally arrived for Dungeons and Dragons players. After a lot of playtesting, teasers, and live plays, TTRPG fans can now get their hands on Ravenloft: The Horrors Within and begin making characters or planning their next horror-themed campaign.
The new sourcebook is pitched as a complete toolkit for DMs to create a wide range of fear-based campaigns across multiple genres of horror. Some of the subclasses may sound familiar to fans who have read Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, but this new book is much longer, revised for 5.5e rules, and features updated versions of all the returning subclasses.
“Whether you’re looking to adventure based on gothic horror, cosmic, dark fantasy, the occult, or another type of horror, the book is packed with content to bring your ideas to life. Included are descriptions of 16 Domains of Dread, 17 Darklords, 7 subclasses, 4 species, 4 backgrounds, 11 feats, 68 monsters, and 47 maps.”
The full list of new subclasses includes:
- Reanimator (Artificer) – Reanimators are Artificers who blend the biological with the mechanical, the necromantic with the scientific. A Reanimator weaves flesh and blood—in addition to magical trinkets—into something so much more. By combining their intellect with the dark forces of the weave, Reanimators create terrifying flesh golems that dominate the battlefield.
- College of Spirits (Bard) – College of Spirits Bards embrace their connection to the afterlife, drawing power from the spirits they channel as easily as a Wizard reads a spellbook. Controlling the spirits is, of course, quite another matter entirely.
- Grave Domain (Cleric) – A Grave Domain Cleric understands that death is a natural part of the world’s cycle, a pivotal step on the path to somewhere else. But in a world with liches, vampires, ghosts, and others who resist the pull of death, shepherds of divine power work to ensure everybody is following the rules of the cosmos — no exceptions.
- Hollow Warden (Ranger) – Hollow Warden Rangers derive power from the ancient, menacing terrors that skulk in the dark and forgotten places of the world. Guardians of the darkest and most dangerous corners of the wilds, they transform into ghastly forms to overcome their foes.
- Phantom (Rogue) – Rogues with a penchant for death might find themselves suffused with its energy, straddling the border between the here and the hereafter. These masters of murder use eldritch power to consult the dead for information and channel the power of departed souls — and they aren’t asking.
- Shadow Sorcery (Sorcerer) – Shadow Sorcerers often get their powers from the Shadowfell or some equivalent dark dimension, but they may also come from exposure to a macabre magical beast or an evil object of power.
- Undead Patron (Warlock) – For some, death is merely a suggestion, an inconvenience to be overcome with an act of sheer will—or perhaps with a curse, or simply by doing an awful lot of reading. But whether they performed the right rituals or angered the wrong god, they—that lich, mummy, ghost, or vampire—are here now. Indeed, they may have been here all along, doling out power to the most ambitious and conniving among us.
Dungeon Masters who are planning to run extended horror-themed campaigns with the resources in the new book may also want to consider a new other new tools. Companion products like the Tarokka Deck and Map Pack pair well with the book and offer some interesting choices for encounter building and setting the horror-tone around the table.
Be sure to check back soon for lots more news and updates on Dungeons and Dragons and other TTRPG experiences.
Dungeons and Dragons Ravenloft: The Horrors Within is available now digitally or physically at local game shops.
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