Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Coming Soon: The Wild Beyond The Witchlight

Finally. Wizards has officially announced the book that will (probably) include content from March's "Folk of the Feywild" Unearthed Arcana.  Releasing in late September (just in time for my birthday), "The Wild Beyond the Witchlight: A Feywild Adventure" sounds right up my alley.  

I know I've said this before, but my favorite splatbook for 4e was "Heroes of the Feywild", and I've always lamented that the book released shortly before I stopped playing 4e.  I'm not even slightly tempted to go back to 4e (*shudders*), but I do regret that I never got to play the Pixie race.

So I'm very happy right now, but my superstitious side is a little worried that this means we're close to the end of 5e's lifespan. It just seems like Murphy's Law that they release the book I want most right before I switch systems again.  But then, even if they were to announce 6e tomorrow, there's no law that says I can't keep playing 5e.  

According to the wizards website:

A wickedly whimsical adventure for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is D&D's next big adventure storyline that brings the wicked whimsy of the Feywild to fifth edition for the first time. Tune into D&D Live 2021 presented by G4 on July 16 and 17 for details including new characters, monsters, mechanics, and story hooks suitable for players of all ages and experience levels.

From the description, I'm a little confused as to whether it's a full adventure along the lines of "The Curse of Strahd", more of an adventure sourcebook like "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft", or about 50/50 like "Waterdeep: Dragon Heist".  It sounds like a full adventure, but that could just be adspeak.  But it doesn't matter, I'm sold either way.  

My wishlist: 

1. I hope there's more fey races than were shown in the UA.  I played a Hamadryad in 4e, and really enjoyed it.  I'd love it if this upcoming book contained playable Dryads, as well as Satyrs, Nymphs, Nixies, Kelpies, Grigs, Sirens, and so on.  I mean, the UA's animal races were cute and all, but I want some real fey stuff.

2. I'm sorry, but I hope they limit Fairy flight.  Honestly, I don't like playing characters with unlimited flight.  It makes grid battles more complicated, and it means that some DMs won't let you play the character.  Argue all you want about whether those DMs should get over themselves, but personally I'd rather just pick a race that doesn't spark controversy.  I preferred the way 4e handled Pixie flight, where they would fall if they ended their turn higher than one square.

3. New Feywild-themed subclasses.  The nature themed classes - Druid, Ranger, and to some extent, Barbarian - could all benefit from a Fey makeover.  I could also see a Bard that specializes in fairy tales, or a Monk that communes with the Feywild to achieve inner peace.  Or how about a Wizard that works mechanically like the Necromancer, but instead of raising the dead, they summon an ever-growing swarm of fairies?

4. I hope the adventure isn't 90% of the book.  There's a lot I want from a book about the Feywild, so I hope it's not just 10 pages of options followed by the adventure.  I'd prefer something similar to "Waterdeep: Dragon Heist", which doesn't start the title adventure until almost 60 pages in.  That would give us more than enough room for some new races, classes, and general Feywild lore before diving into the campaign.  

5. The press release mentioned Story Hooks.  I hope that's not just their way of saying "different ways to start the adventure".  Van Richten's Guide had a ton of great writing prompts for DMs who want to create their own Ravenloft adventures, and I hope this book does something similar.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts.  I'm sure the book is going to be fantastic regardless of how they do it.

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