DnD heroes will be able to use “new spells” and “new kinds of spells” in the new edition of the rules, thanks to an upcoming expansion set in the popular Forgotten Realms setting. But what exactly could “new kinds of spells” mean?
The Forgotten Realms player’s guide was revealed on Tuesday as part of the DnD Direct live stream, and will be accompanied by a setting guide aimed at dungeon masters. Both books will hit the DnD release schedule some time in 2025.
Wizards’ promises ”new subclasses, new feats, new backgrounds”, and a chapter on factions for players to join, both familiar forces like the Harpers and Red Wizards of Thay, plus “a couple of new ones that got promoted”. Then there’s the mysterious mention of new “kinds” of spells.
At its simplest, this could refer to a new school of magic, joining the classics like enchantment, abjuration, and necromancy. More extreme would be a whole new spellcasting methodology – the DnD 2024 Player’s Handbook has made Psionics a core part of the experience, so Wizards clearly isn’t averse to expanding the rules laterally in this way. Maybe a few DnD classes will get new subclasses that use another novel system.
As the new system will be tied to the Forgotten Realms, it’s possible that we’re going to get rules for ‘mythals’. Mythals are powerful magical effects that can only be created by a group of spellcasters working in concert, which generate potent and long-lasting enchantments. Though they’re a well established part of Realms lore, they were last represented by rules during DnD 3rd edition, when they were a type of epic spell.
The accompanying DM’s guide will delve into the Realms, including Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale, the Dale Lands, the Moonshae Isles, and the land of Calimshan. The video suggests that each region will be keyed to a specific style of adventure: urban for Baldur’s Gate, survival horror for Icewing Dale, classic DnD for the Dale Lands, and more social adventure for the Moonshae Isles.
There are volumes and volumes written about the Realms, so while two DnD books will be quite a lot of content, it’s not going to match the depth of what’s previously been written. It’s more than the setting received in fifth edition, which only appeared in adventure paths and the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide.
It’s possible that setting specific expansions will feel more crunchy and meaningful in DnD 2024 than they did in 5e. In DnD 5e, a character’s background had very little impact on their stats and abilities compared to their species, which meant all the unique backgrounds in each setting guide felt pretty inconsequential.
Now that backgrounds mechanically trump DnD races, that may no longer be true. Even if you don’t plan to build a character using a setting-specific subclass, you can mechanically distinguish them with a background tied to the Forgotten Realms lore.
Other upcoming releases revealed in the trailer seem a little more underwhelming, like the first adventure anthology. In a shock development, it will feature both dungeons and dragons.
Source: Wargamer
