At D&D Beyond, we both support and uphold our partner Wizards of the Coast's statements in their recent article Diversity and Dungeons & Dragons.
With these guidelines, new Errata have been released for both Curse of Strahd and Tomb of Annihilation, which have now been applied to our digital compendium effective immediately.
Among these changes to wording to better represent and uphold the cultures within, there is a minor rules modification that is listed below.
Curse of Strahd - The Haunted One, Languages and Equipment sections have been updated.
Existing characters with this Background will need to go to the Background section of the character builder to select an additional language.
Personly i feal it breaks the immersion of the vestani that makes me make one, and play those adventures, but luckily I cam always create my charter as I want and give the descriptions I want.
Hm. I don't have ToA, but for CoS it looks like they eliminated one word that identifies Vistani as Romani (not that it isn't still plenty obvious that they're stereotypical Gypsies) and they are no longer heavy drinkers (p27, p32, p121-123), which is incidentally a significant balance change if the PCs get into a fight in area n9. None of the other changes seem to have anything to do with stereotypes. ToA I assume it's making native groups (thinly disguised Native Americans, from what I remember) slightly less stereotypical.
Isn't Beyond a service as a product? Meaning, they are not only permitted to change what you get, but it is the expectation, up to termination of service without refund?
I didn't read the EULA but I'll bet that's the case.
I own ToA but haven't really done much with it because I hate the Death Curse as a plot device. But I have played and considered running CoS. The portrayals of the Vistani can definitely be offensive but honestly it might depend more on the DM's own version of them. I've spent time in Italy and directly saw how badly mainstream culture was treating the Roma.
As far as I understand Forgotten Realms, the ToA setting (the jungle/tropical forested subcontinent/peninsula of Chult) is more akin to a take on sub-Saharan Africa, which also includes the inclusion of Dinosaurs and tropes that reminded me of the King Kong movies as well as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. (A lot of that setting also reminded me of the Magic the Gathering setting of Ixalan ... which has amazing art).
The Native American-inspired area of FR is in a western continent across the Trackless Sea named Maztica. AFIK, the setting was more based on the Native American cultures of Mexico -- rather than cultures in the US or Canada. That area was a published setting in 2e, similar to Kara-Tur ('Oriental' Adventures -- which obviously is not a term people use much anymore AFIK) as well as Zakhara (a take on Arabian Nights). A few other areas of the more mainstream areas of FR include Turmish (which is a fantastical version of the Moorish areas of North Africa -- think of Morgan Freeman's character in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves). Also -- the Anarouch desert has a Bedouin-like culture known as the Bedine. And then Calimshan, Amn, and Tethyr are somewhat similar to medieval Spain or Portugal (Tethyr and Amn) and a pre-Islamic Middle Eastern vibe (for Calimshan).
To get a better idea of the ethnic diversity in 5e, I suggest just reading the PHB's 'Human' section. They describe the largest and/or most published human ethnic groups in FR. (There's also an expanded section on other FR human ethnic groups in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide ... but much of that is focused on the Sword Coast North and the Savage Frontier (i.e. northern European-inspired areas .... or typical D&D .... which I still love).
It's a pretty complex topic. I'm glad DDB and WotC are being proactive. I expected nothing less.
I’ve been following this for a bit, it is unlikely that your request will be met seeing as all printed additions going forward will be in line with these changes. I wish that they would offer the option to us here on D&D Beyond for those of us that actually appreciate the original works and those that recognize this is a fantasy game with little true reflection on real life.
Goodness, I hope so. I'm really excited to see how they develop those cultures and make the people more complex. Apparently they've been looking at "evil race" representations while working on Rime. Super curious to see what the cultures involved think of these changes and the overall final product. <3
I can appreciate wanting to give a new perspective, but personal I would prefer if they put the new stuff in new releases material rather than errant. That way if you want it you get it, and if you don’t your content remains what you like. Call me old fashioned but I enjoy my orcs with the classic Tolkien slant.
I do get the sense of wanting to honor a certain sense of tradition... but there are a lot of people who live every day in the real world affected by the idea that an entire race of people can be morally bankrupt or inherently violent or less intelligent or <insert trait here> simply by virtue of having been born. If people want to bring those issues into their own games, I guess that's up to you - but if you're going to make a fantasy world for everyone, why not make the default *not* include the fundamental concepts that people play to escape?
It's fairly obviously necessary to have bad guys in a D&D setting. However, you can come up with a better explanation for them being bad than "they look different, ergo evil".
In general, compelling villains have a coherent motivation for doing whatever they're doing that is bad. Sure, you have the occasional lunatic who is destructive for fun, but those people don't create societies. The rational bad guys just have relatively sane objectives (money, wealth, territory, etc) and are just willing to do horrible things to achieve those objectives, and this mostly isn't a racial thing, other than "well, the victims of our horrible actions aren't real people" is easier to justify across a racial divide.
I would be more enthusiastic about it if they either 1. Provide new D&D universe where the roles are clearly different, there by adding the new content without trampling on time honored fantasy troupes and there own lore. Or 2. Added new lore (Dritzz I think is a great example) where by the change is in keeping with established lore. But I’ll be frank for a moment about what really rubs me wrong about all this. I’m sorry but I fail to see how orcs, fictional creatures originally created from the works of Tolkien with the explicit purpose of being fancy antagonist, all of a sudden reflect real ethnic groups of people. D&D has always been a game of imagination that uses established troupes as bias line. I get if folks want to leave those behind and created new content that may not be in line with those troupes, heck the DMs guild has so much content attributing to that fact, so much of it fun and amazing. However I still think the basic troupes are still needed. If for no other reason than to highlight those that go by something different.
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At D&D Beyond, we both support and uphold our partner Wizards of the Coast's statements in their recent article Diversity and Dungeons & Dragons.
With these guidelines, new Errata have been released for both Curse of Strahd and Tomb of Annihilation, which have now been applied to our digital compendium effective immediately.
Among these changes to wording to better represent and uphold the cultures within, there is a minor rules modification that is listed below.
Existing characters with this Background will need to go to the Background section of the character builder to select an additional language.
The Full list of changes are available here -
[ Site Rules & Guidelines ] - [ Homebrew Rules ] - [ D&D Beyond FAQ ] - [ Homebrew FAQ ] - [ Homebrew Video Tutorials ]
Standard "free" content is restricted to the D&D 5th Edition Basic Rules, SRD, and other free content.
Thanks for the quick update!
I can manually compare them if needed, but how exactly was the Haunted One background changed? It's not listed in the CoS errata.
From a quick glance I saw some rewording in the equipment around a trinket of significance and 1 sp with the common clothes
This information has been added.
[ Site Rules & Guidelines ] - [ Homebrew Rules ] - [ D&D Beyond FAQ ] - [ Homebrew FAQ ] - [ Homebrew Video Tutorials ]
Standard "free" content is restricted to the D&D 5th Edition Basic Rules, SRD, and other free content.
Is it possible to revert the description information?
Personly i feal it breaks the immersion of the vestani that makes me make one, and play those adventures, but luckily I cam always create my charter as I want and give the descriptions I want.
Great update!
"A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence."
Hm. I don't have ToA, but for CoS it looks like they eliminated one word that identifies Vistani as Romani (not that it isn't still plenty obvious that they're stereotypical Gypsies) and they are no longer heavy drinkers (p27, p32, p121-123), which is incidentally a significant balance change if the PCs get into a fight in area n9. None of the other changes seem to have anything to do with stereotypes. ToA I assume it's making native groups (thinly disguised Native Americans, from what I remember) slightly less stereotypical.
How do I get the original (ie. same as in the printed books) text?
That is the same as the printed book text. All printings of those books
as ofEdit: after mid June have those changes in them.Site Info: Wizard's ToS | Fan Content Policy | Forum Rules | Physical Books | Content Not Working | Contact Support
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So that means, I have different product than the one I paid for? :D
Isn't Beyond a service as a product? Meaning, they are not only permitted to change what you get, but it is the expectation, up to termination of service without refund?
I didn't read the EULA but I'll bet that's the case.
I own ToA but haven't really done much with it because I hate the Death Curse as a plot device. But I have played and considered running CoS. The portrayals of the Vistani can definitely be offensive but honestly it might depend more on the DM's own version of them. I've spent time in Italy and directly saw how badly mainstream culture was treating the Roma.
As far as I understand Forgotten Realms, the ToA setting (the jungle/tropical forested subcontinent/peninsula of Chult) is more akin to a take on sub-Saharan Africa, which also includes the inclusion of Dinosaurs and tropes that reminded me of the King Kong movies as well as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. (A lot of that setting also reminded me of the Magic the Gathering setting of Ixalan ... which has amazing art).
The Native American-inspired area of FR is in a western continent across the Trackless Sea named Maztica. AFIK, the setting was more based on the Native American cultures of Mexico -- rather than cultures in the US or Canada. That area was a published setting in 2e, similar to Kara-Tur ('Oriental' Adventures -- which obviously is not a term people use much anymore AFIK) as well as Zakhara (a take on Arabian Nights). A few other areas of the more mainstream areas of FR include Turmish (which is a fantastical version of the Moorish areas of North Africa -- think of Morgan Freeman's character in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves). Also -- the Anarouch desert has a Bedouin-like culture known as the Bedine. And then Calimshan, Amn, and Tethyr are somewhat similar to medieval Spain or Portugal (Tethyr and Amn) and a pre-Islamic Middle Eastern vibe (for Calimshan).
To get a better idea of the ethnic diversity in 5e, I suggest just reading the PHB's 'Human' section. They describe the largest and/or most published human ethnic groups in FR. (There's also an expanded section on other FR human ethnic groups in Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide ... but much of that is focused on the Sword Coast North and the Savage Frontier (i.e. northern European-inspired areas .... or typical D&D .... which I still love).
It's a pretty complex topic. I'm glad DDB and WotC are being proactive. I expected nothing less.
V/R
I.T.
I’ve been following this for a bit, it is unlikely that your request will be met seeing as all printed additions going forward will be in line with these changes. I wish that they would offer the option to us here on D&D Beyond for those of us that actually appreciate the original works and those that recognize this is a fantasy game with little true reflection on real life.
I have a question, does anyone know if they will be changing the content for orcs and drow in the PHB, Volo and others?
Goodness, I hope so. I'm really excited to see how they develop those cultures and make the people more complex. Apparently they've been looking at "evil race" representations while working on Rime. Super curious to see what the cultures involved think of these changes and the overall final product. <3
I can appreciate wanting to give a new perspective, but personal I would prefer if they put the new stuff in new releases material rather than errant. That way if you want it you get it, and if you don’t your content remains what you like. Call me old fashioned but I enjoy my orcs with the classic Tolkien slant.
I do get the sense of wanting to honor a certain sense of tradition... but there are a lot of people who live every day in the real world affected by the idea that an entire race of people can be morally bankrupt or inherently violent or less intelligent or <insert trait here> simply by virtue of having been born. If people want to bring those issues into their own games, I guess that's up to you - but if you're going to make a fantasy world for everyone, why not make the default *not* include the fundamental concepts that people play to escape?
It's fairly obviously necessary to have bad guys in a D&D setting. However, you can come up with a better explanation for them being bad than "they look different, ergo evil".
In general, compelling villains have a coherent motivation for doing whatever they're doing that is bad. Sure, you have the occasional lunatic who is destructive for fun, but those people don't create societies. The rational bad guys just have relatively sane objectives (money, wealth, territory, etc) and are just willing to do horrible things to achieve those objectives, and this mostly isn't a racial thing, other than "well, the victims of our horrible actions aren't real people" is easier to justify across a racial divide.
I would be more enthusiastic about it if they either 1. Provide new D&D universe where the roles are clearly different, there by adding the new content without trampling on time honored fantasy troupes and there own lore. Or 2. Added new lore (Dritzz I think is a great example) where by the change is in keeping with established lore. But I’ll be frank for a moment about what really rubs me wrong about all this.
I’m sorry but I fail to see how orcs, fictional creatures originally created from the works of Tolkien with the explicit purpose of being fancy antagonist, all of a sudden reflect real ethnic groups of people. D&D has always been a game of imagination that uses established troupes as bias line. I get if folks want to leave those behind and created new content that may not be in line with those troupes, heck the DMs guild has so much content attributing to that fact, so much of it fun and amazing. However I still think the basic troupes are still needed. If for no other reason than to highlight those that go by something different.