Welcome to the Support Thread for VAN RICHTEN'S GUIDE TO RAVENLOFT
If you find any issues with the content from the sourcebook, or using it on a D&D Beyond character, please search the thread (Search form) before posting in this thread.
RELEASE NOTES
Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft explores the Domains of Dread, the mysterious expanses of the Shadowfell that serve as backdrops for excitement and terror. It guides players and Dungeon Masters through the process of creating characters, domains, and stories ripe for chilling D&D adventures.
LINEAGES
The new lineages from this sourcebook can be found on the races page by scrolling down to the section for Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, or directly on this page.
Ancestral Legacy. Where you are replacing an existing race, we recommend that you add any features of your previous race that are being kept, by directly adding them to the character sheet.
Vampiric Bite. This feature is fully functional in the D&D Beyond character sheet. There are some rules points to know about this, primarily around Monk characters. Monks & Martial Arts: The Vampiric Bite uses your character's Constitution modifier, rather than Strength. As such, whilst it is a Simple Weapon and thus qualifies for the Monk's martial arts feature, the character may not use their Dexterity modifier instead of Constitution. The rules for the Martial Arts feature are quite specific that they only allow Dexterity to replace Strength, "You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons."
Update 21st May 2021: There was an issue where the Dhampir Bite was mistakenly allowing Monk characters to replace CON with DEX for the attack and damage. This has been resolved. It should also now correctly include bonuses that should apply to a simple weapon.
HEXBLOOD
Ancestral Legacy. Where you are replacing an existing race, we recommend that you add any features of your previous race that are being kept, by directly adding them to the character sheet.
REBORN
Ancestral Legacy. Where you are replacing an existing race, we recommend that you add any features of your previous race that are being kept, by directly adding them to the character sheet.
Knowledge from a Past Life. This feature allows your character to add a d6 to their proficiency checks a limited number of times per long rest. You can easily access a d6 by heading to the dice roller at the bottom-left of the character sheet page.
DARK GIFTS
We don't currently have a way to model supernatural gifts, charms, blessings & boons.
We understand that Dark Gifts are an important part of the Domains of Dread and that our community is keen to be able to use them on their D&D Beyond characters.
We fully plan to support these (this year) with the Features System, but unfortunately this will not be in place for the launch of this sourcebook.
SUBCLASSES
BARD: COLLEGE OF SPIRITS
All fully functional.
Tales from Beyond. For ease of access to the large table of information, we have included it in the detailed description of the feature. On your character sheet, you can access this in the sidebar by clicking on any of the Tales from Beyond actions.
Spirit Session. We are currently unable to limit the spell selection to just Divination & Necromancy spells, so it presents all spells as available - please reference the Divination & Necromancy spell listings.
WARLOCK: THE UNDEAD
All fully functional.
Spirit Projection. Note that you can toggle this off and on in the character builder by changing the option selected.
BACKGROUNDS
This sourcebook revises the existing background, "Haunted One" with an expanded trinket table, as well as providing a new background, "The Investigator"
Horror Characteristics
Chapter 1 presents several new Horror Characteristics: Traits, Ideals, Bonds & Flaws, to use with your characters.
You can add these to your character either in the Character Builder, or via the Character Sheet.
Character Builder. On the tab "4. DESCRIPTION" click on the "Personal Characteristics" section.
Character Sheet. Click on the "DESCRIPTION" tab of the main area, then click on the relevant place below there to add Traits/Ideals/Bonds/Flaws.
MONSTERS
I'm going to add these in a spoiler section, as some of the information here should only be seen by a DM, and we don't want to accidentally ruin someone's game of D&D with spoilers about monsters!
Updated Monsters
Two monsters received updates in this sourcebook.
Brain in a Jar. Alignment has been removed. Spellcasting has moved to actions section of the stat block. Updated description text.
Wereraven. Subtype has changed from Medium humanoid (shapechanger) to Medium Humanoid (Human, Shapechanger)
New Monsters
Priest of Osybus. This monster has a special feature called "Tattoo of Osybus" that allows it to self-resurrect, with additional features. Due to the significant changes made by some of these boons, we have implemented an additional 6 stat blocks (all linked from the main one) to represent the relevant boons.
Unspeakable Horror. In a similar manner, due to the changes made by some of the body compositions, we have created 4 additional stat blocks for this monster to represent those changes. These are all linked via tooltip in the description of the monster. Please also note that we have added ALL actions from the various Hex Blasts and Limbs to the stat blocks, so that they are fully functional within the Encounter Builder and Combat Tracker.
HORROR TOOLKIT
Chapter 4: Horror Adventures includes a section on "Horror Tookit"
Curses
See "Dark Gifts" above - we're planning to implement the ability to directly add curses to characters later this year.
Fear and Stress
The Stress mechanic can be tracked as a custom skill on the character sheet. To do this, click on the word SKILLS with a little gear icon, at the bottom of the character sheet. Add a Custom Skill, then set the name and put the value of Stress into the box labelled "Override".
Survivors
To quote the book, "Survivors are premade characters that are simple and easy for players to master, while being customizable enough to fill broad roles in your adventures"
We have a "sidekicks system" on the horizon, which should fully allow this functionality.
UNEARTHED ARCANA
With the release of this sourcebook, we have archived the following "Unearthed Arcana" playtest rules:
The playtest period for these has formally concluded.
Any characters you own that have one of these playtest content, will continue to use those playtest rules - it's important to us that we don't change your characters in the middle of a campaign/game. If you change the race/subclass of your character, you will be unable to reselect the playtest content for them.
If you wish to update your character to the officially released version of these lineages, please do so by editing your character in the character builder, then clicking "change race" on the races tab. From there, you will find LINEAGES followed by the race you want to select.
If you find any issues with the content from the sourcebook, or using it on a D&D Beyond character, please search the thread (Search form) before posting in this thread.
The search form link seems to point to the wrong thread - it's currently a search link for the Candlekeep Mysteries support thread rather than this one.
If you find any issues with the content from the sourcebook, or using it on a D&D Beyond character, please search the thread (Search form) before posting in this thread.
The search form link seems to point to the wrong thread - it's currently a search link for the Candlekeep Mysteries support thread rather than this one.
I don't know what you are talking about! Pay no attention to the Kobolds with Batwings behind the curtain. (Fixed!)
Since downloading van Richten’s into the DNDbeyond mobile app IOS, the app complains it can’t open any book anymore. I need to clear up some space? But I have over 25gb of free space left!
Ancestral Legacy. Where you are replacing an existing race, we recommend that you add any features of your previous race that are being kept, by directly adding them to the character sheet.
This is incredibly disappointing. Why can't you implement features fully? Isn't that like... the entire purpose of the site?
Couldn't you have a choice, like with their ability score choice. Where you choose an original race or the skill profs. Then the original race option has a drop bar of the races with proficiencies/fly/climb/swim speeds that then add to your sheet? Crazy if I can develop a viable solution in 30 seconds and you guys just took the lazy route.
Not sure if this is a bug or intended, but for me the non-animated versions of the pre-order frames are placed offcentered (lower than the animated ones).
I don't have any new backdrops from the Pre-Order, just the ones we got last week already, however, the article said there would be 9 more.
We're still putting the final touches on the additional character sheet backdrops and will alert everyone through our social channels when those have been added to our users' accounts.
Have full book purchased, and content sharing enabled in the campaign. Player is reporting unable to use the new Lineages on a character.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
GM of The Bonus Role - We are playing a 5E game set in my homebrew world of Audra check us out Sunday's at 10 AM CST and follow us at the following social media links. https://www.twitch.tv/thebonusrole @BonusRole
GM of The Bonus Role - We are playing a 5E game set in my homebrew world of Audra check us out Sunday's at 10 AM CST and follow us at the following social media links. https://www.twitch.tv/thebonusrole @BonusRole
We don't currently have a way to model supernatural gifts, charms, blessings & boons.
We understand that Dark Gifts are an important part of the Domains of Dread and that our community is keen to be able to use them on their D&D Beyond characters.
We fully plan to support these (this year) with the Features System, but unfortunately this will not be in place for the launch of this sourcebook.
Aww, a bit disappointing. I was just waiting to stab people with my shadow.
Hopefully that's closer to the "It'll be a cool birthday gift for me" (late July) part of the year, than the "It'll be a nice Christmas gift" part of the year.
Public Mod Note
(Stormknight):
I'm hoping so as well! I love using blessings / gifts etc in my games and I'm really looking forward to this system.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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Welcome to the Support Thread for VAN RICHTEN'S GUIDE TO RAVENLOFT
If you find any issues with the content from the sourcebook, or using it on a D&D Beyond character, please search the thread (Search form) before posting in this thread.
RELEASE NOTES
Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft explores the Domains of Dread, the mysterious expanses of the Shadowfell that serve as backdrops for excitement and terror. It guides players and Dungeon Masters through the process of creating characters, domains, and stories ripe for chilling D&D adventures.
LINEAGES
The new lineages from this sourcebook can be found on the races page by scrolling down to the section for Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, or directly on this page.
Please note the rules presented in the Character Creation chapter of this sourcebook.
DHAMPIR
Ancestral Legacy. Where you are replacing an existing race, we recommend that you add any features of your previous race that are being kept, by directly adding them to the character sheet.
Vampiric Bite. This feature is fully functional in the D&D Beyond character sheet. There are some rules points to know about this, primarily around Monk characters. Monks & Martial Arts: The Vampiric Bite uses your character's Constitution modifier, rather than Strength. As such, whilst it is a Simple Weapon and thus qualifies for the Monk's martial arts feature, the character may not use their Dexterity modifier instead of Constitution. The rules for the Martial Arts feature are quite specific that they only allow Dexterity to replace Strength, "You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons."
Update 21st May 2021: There was an issue where the Dhampir Bite was mistakenly allowing Monk characters to replace CON with DEX for the attack and damage. This has been resolved. It should also now correctly include bonuses that should apply to a simple weapon.
HEXBLOOD
Ancestral Legacy. Where you are replacing an existing race, we recommend that you add any features of your previous race that are being kept, by directly adding them to the character sheet.
REBORN
Ancestral Legacy. Where you are replacing an existing race, we recommend that you add any features of your previous race that are being kept, by directly adding them to the character sheet.
Knowledge from a Past Life. This feature allows your character to add a d6 to their proficiency checks a limited number of times per long rest. You can easily access a d6 by heading to the dice roller at the bottom-left of the character sheet page.
DARK GIFTS
We don't currently have a way to model supernatural gifts, charms, blessings & boons.
We understand that Dark Gifts are an important part of the Domains of Dread and that our community is keen to be able to use them on their D&D Beyond characters.
We fully plan to support these (this year) with the Features System, but unfortunately this will not be in place for the launch of this sourcebook.
SUBCLASSES
BARD: COLLEGE OF SPIRITS
All fully functional.
Tales from Beyond. For ease of access to the large table of information, we have included it in the detailed description of the feature. On your character sheet, you can access this in the sidebar by clicking on any of the Tales from Beyond actions.
Spirit Session. We are currently unable to limit the spell selection to just Divination & Necromancy spells, so it presents all spells as available - please reference the Divination & Necromancy spell listings.
WARLOCK: THE UNDEAD
All fully functional.
Spirit Projection. Note that you can toggle this off and on in the character builder by changing the option selected.
BACKGROUNDS
This sourcebook revises the existing background, "Haunted One" with an expanded trinket table, as well as providing a new background, "The Investigator"
Horror Characteristics
Chapter 1 presents several new Horror Characteristics: Traits, Ideals, Bonds & Flaws, to use with your characters.
You can add these to your character either in the Character Builder, or via the Character Sheet.
Character Builder. On the tab "4. DESCRIPTION" click on the "Personal Characteristics" section.
Character Sheet. Click on the "DESCRIPTION" tab of the main area, then click on the relevant place below there to add Traits/Ideals/Bonds/Flaws.
MONSTERS
I'm going to add these in a spoiler section, as some of the information here should only be seen by a DM, and we don't want to accidentally ruin someone's game of D&D with spoilers about monsters!
Updated Monsters
Two monsters received updates in this sourcebook.
New Monsters
Priest of Osybus. This monster has a special feature called "Tattoo of Osybus" that allows it to self-resurrect, with additional features. Due to the significant changes made by some of these boons, we have implemented an additional 6 stat blocks (all linked from the main one) to represent the relevant boons.
Unspeakable Horror. In a similar manner, due to the changes made by some of the body compositions, we have created 4 additional stat blocks for this monster to represent those changes. These are all linked via tooltip in the description of the monster. Please also note that we have added ALL actions from the various Hex Blasts and Limbs to the stat blocks, so that they are fully functional within the Encounter Builder and Combat Tracker.
HORROR TOOLKIT
Chapter 4: Horror Adventures includes a section on "Horror Tookit"
Curses
See "Dark Gifts" above - we're planning to implement the ability to directly add curses to characters later this year.
Fear and Stress
The Stress mechanic can be tracked as a custom skill on the character sheet. To do this, click on the word SKILLS with a little gear icon, at the bottom of the character sheet. Add a Custom Skill, then set the name and put the value of Stress into the box labelled "Override".
Survivors
To quote the book, "Survivors are premade characters that are simple and easy for players to master, while being customizable enough to fill broad roles in your adventures"
We have a "sidekicks system" on the horizon, which should fully allow this functionality.
UNEARTHED ARCANA
With the release of this sourcebook, we have archived the following "Unearthed Arcana" playtest rules:
The playtest period for these has formally concluded.
Any characters you own that have one of these playtest content, will continue to use those playtest rules - it's important to us that we don't change your characters in the middle of a campaign/game. If you change the race/subclass of your character, you will be unable to reselect the playtest content for them.
If you wish to update your character to the officially released version of these lineages, please do so by editing your character in the character builder, then clicking "change race" on the races tab. From there, you will find LINEAGES followed by the race you want to select.
Pun-loving nerd | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
The search form link seems to point to the wrong thread - it's currently a search link for the Candlekeep Mysteries support thread rather than this one.
I don't know what you are talking about! Pay no attention to the Kobolds with Batwings behind the curtain. (Fixed!)
Site Rules & Guidelines || How to Tooltip || Contact Support || Changelog || Pricing FAQ || Homebrew FAQ
If you have questions/concerns, please Private Message me or another moderator.
Wary the wizard who focuses on homebrew, for he can create nightmares that you wouldn't even dream of
Since downloading van Richten’s into the DNDbeyond mobile app IOS, the app complains it can’t open any book anymore. I need to clear up some space? But I have over 25gb of free space left!
Hmm..
deleting everything, reinstalling the app and downloading everything again, seems to solve it
nevermind
This is incredibly disappointing. Why can't you implement features fully? Isn't that like... the entire purpose of the site?
Couldn't you have a choice, like with their ability score choice. Where you choose an original race or the skill profs. Then the original race option has a drop bar of the races with proficiencies/fly/climb/swim speeds that then add to your sheet? Crazy if I can develop a viable solution in 30 seconds and you guys just took the lazy route.
Dhampirs Bite doesn't work with Oathbreaker Paladins Aura of Hate - it should.
Dhampirs Bite doesn't work with Insignia of Claws - it should.
I don't have any new backdrops from the Pre-Order, just the ones we got last week already, however, the article said there would be 9 more.
Not sure if this is a bug or intended, but for me the non-animated versions of the pre-order frames are placed offcentered (lower than the animated ones).
I just bought the book and I can't seem to use any of the new options for my characters? Anyone know what to do
We're still putting the final touches on the additional character sheet backdrops and will alert everyone through our social channels when those have been added to our users' accounts.
Site Rules & Guidelines || How to Tooltip || Contact Support || Changelog || Pricing FAQ || Homebrew FAQ
If you have questions/concerns, please Private Message me or another moderator.
Wary the wizard who focuses on homebrew, for he can create nightmares that you wouldn't even dream of
Bought the book online and I can read the book but I can't create any characters with the new subclasses or races or get any of the other features.
Where are the alternate background features, such as Mist Wanderer, Spirit Medium, Trauma Survivor, and Traveler?
Did you buy the whole book, or the Compendium content only? If you did buy the whole book, try clearing your cache.
Beat my rolls. I dare you.
Hi FineIron and LilyWhiteLotus - I'm verifying and escalating to the team.
For anyone else who has JUST purchased the sourcebook, please standby.
Site Rules & Guidelines || How to Tooltip || Contact Support || Changelog || Pricing FAQ || Homebrew FAQ
If you have questions/concerns, please Private Message me or another moderator.
Wary the wizard who focuses on homebrew, for he can create nightmares that you wouldn't even dream of
Have full book purchased, and content sharing enabled in the campaign. Player is reporting unable to use the new Lineages on a character.
GM of The Bonus Role - We are playing a 5E game set in my homebrew world of Audra check us out Sunday's at 10 AM CST and follow us at the following social media links.
https://www.twitch.tv/thebonusrole
@BonusRole
I've just had the team make a change, are you able to recheck? Is the character sheet joined to the campaign?
Site Rules & Guidelines || How to Tooltip || Contact Support || Changelog || Pricing FAQ || Homebrew FAQ
If you have questions/concerns, please Private Message me or another moderator.
Wary the wizard who focuses on homebrew, for he can create nightmares that you wouldn't even dream of
Hi FineIron and LilyWhiteLotus - This should be resolved now!!!
Site Rules & Guidelines || How to Tooltip || Contact Support || Changelog || Pricing FAQ || Homebrew FAQ
If you have questions/concerns, please Private Message me or another moderator.
Wary the wizard who focuses on homebrew, for he can create nightmares that you wouldn't even dream of
The player says still not working, the sheet is joined to the campaign.
Correction, the player searched for the specific lineage directly and it showed up. Thank you.
GM of The Bonus Role - We are playing a 5E game set in my homebrew world of Audra check us out Sunday's at 10 AM CST and follow us at the following social media links.
https://www.twitch.tv/thebonusrole
@BonusRole
Aww, a bit disappointing.
I was just waiting to stab people with my shadow.
Hopefully that's closer to the "It'll be a cool birthday gift for me" (late July) part of the year, than the "It'll be a nice Christmas gift" part of the year.