Dungeons & Dragons Unveils Significant Rules Update for Ravenloft in 5.5e
One of the standout features of Dungeons & Dragons’ new official actual play show, Dungeon Masters, is its ability to tease and preview upcoming elements that will be integrated into the official tabletop game rules. The first season aligns with the forthcoming Ravenloft: The Horrors Within book, which will refresh D&D’s iconic horror setting for the latest 5.5e rules. In Episode 5 of Dungeon Masters, fans got a sneak peek at one of the key rules updates.
[Ed. note: Spoilers for Dungeon Masters episode 5.]
After being introduced in Episode 4, Lividity, the Scion of the Three Rogue, portrayed by guest star Alex Ward (currently a player in Critical Role Campaign 4), takes the spotlight in Episode 5, adding tension to the adventuring party consisting of Professor Crem de la Crem (Neil Newbon), his wife Zora Thornska (Devora Wilde), Eloin Emberleaf (Christian Navarro), and Wesley (Mayanna Berrin). Lividity has a contentious relationship with Eloin but still joins the group on their mission to capture three banshees to appease Lord Soth, the Darklord of Sithicus, where they find themselves trapped. Early in the episode, the party pauses for a long rest, and Ward reveals he must roll for the drawback of Lividity’s Dark Gift feat, Mist Walker.
Dark Gifts, first introduced in D&D’s popular adventure Curse of Strahd, represent a perilous bargain between a character and the Dark Powers, the malevolent forces that govern Ravenloft’s Realms of Dread. In Curse of Strahd, these gifts were only available in the Amber Temple, requiring characters to interact with the enigmatic amber sarcophagi found there. Chris Perkins, the principal designer of the adventure, noted that this feature was developed alongside Tracy Hickman, the creator of the original Ravenloft module who also contributed to Curse of Strahd. The Dark Gifts were later expanded and incorporated into the core rules in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.
Ravenloft: The Horrors Within transforms Dark Gifts into Origin Feats that can be chosen by characters starting at level 1. The effects and drawbacks have also been revised, and Dungeon Masters provided a glimpse of how the drawbacks function for Mist Walker. Now, a character with this Dark Gift must succeed on a Constitution saving throw with a difficulty of 13 before attempting a short rest; failure negates the benefits of the rest. While the specifics remain somewhat vague from Ward’s brief explanation in the episode, this marks a significant departure from the previous iteration.
The complete rules in Ravenloft: The Horrors Within may differ from what is showcased in Dungeon Masters.
The core idea behind Dark Gifts is that the powers granted come with a price. In Curse of Strahd, this often resulted in disfigurements or obsessive traits (which can be amusing for DMs but not so much for players). However, in Van Richten’s version, the drawbacks were often minimal, triggering only when a player rolled a 1 on a d20 or under specific conditions. Mist Walker’s new drawback, Poisoned Roots, transforms every resting place of the Gifted player into a hazardous zone that could drain their vitality, but only after a number of weeks equal to their Constitution modifier. This could be frustrating for players with a base where they spend downtime, but it’s unlikely to be a major issue otherwise.
Using Mist Walker as a reference, it seems that the drawbacks of Dark Gifts will be more frequently impactful, balancing the powerful advantages granted by the feat. This could also open up more narrative possibilities during gameplay, making it a positive rules update. However, it still doesn’t compare to the original amber sarcophagi effects: nothing challenges a player quite like discovering that “the beneficiary of this Dark Gift must eat bones or grave dirt to survive.” Gross.
