New D&D Race! Get a Sneak Peek at Harengons From The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

Tags Character Races author-michael-galvis feywild witchlight

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is Dungeons & Dragons' first adventure set in the Feywild. It will introduce two playable races when it releases on September 21: the fairy and the harengon. Harengons are rabbit-like folk that are as quick on their feet as they are lucky, and they're liable to wander off into other realms, like the Material Plane.

Here's a sneak peek at the harengon and how you might play and build one:

Harengon racial traits

Harengons originated in the Feywild, where they spoke Sylvan and embodied the spirit of freedom and travel. In time, these rabbitfolk hopped into other worlds, bringing the fey realm’s exuberance with them and learning new languages as they went.

Source: The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

Harengons are bipedal and share a rabbit's characteristic tall ears and long feet. Like the White Rabbit in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, harengons are energetic and at times jittery. Although creatures of the Feywild, harengons are classified as humanoids in The Wild Beyond the Witchlight. This sets them apart from the accompanying fairy race and even the previously released centaur and satyr races found in Mythic Odysseys of Theros.

Harengons are quick on their feet, have a touch of good luck, and have the keen senses of their animal counterparts. The following are notable racial traits. Not all of the harengon's traits are represented below.

Harengon in D&D 5EHare-Trigger. You're quick on your feet. When you roll initiative, you can add your proficiency bonus to the roll.
Lucky Footwork. Dexterity saving throws be damned. If you fail a Dexterity saving throw, you can add a d4 bonus to it as a reaction. There are limitations to when you can use this racial trait, however.
Rabbit Hop. Harengon can jump as a bonus action. The distance you can jump is equal to five times your proficiency bonus. You don't provoke opportunity attacks when you jump in this way, making it a great option for escaping an enemy's reach. Just be mindful that you get limited uses of this trait per long rest and can't use this trait if your speed is 0.

What about ability score increases?

When you create a harengon or fairy using the rules from The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, you can choose to increase one ability score by 2 and another by 1, or choose to increase three different scores by 1.

A harengon's outlook on life

Travelers at heart, harengons can be found across the multiverse, although your Dungeon Master will decide how commonplace they are in your campaign. If a permitted race, harengons can make for great allies. However, they are creatures of the Feywild, and that can affect how they interact with the world around them.

The Feywild is a realm of extreme emotion. The summer eladrin are as quick to start a dance party as they are to cut the music and draw swords. Imagine how growing up around such creatures would affect your harengon character. Would a harengon who left the Feywild for the Material Plane be terrified of the party's barbarian who falls into a rage without a moment's notice, or feel at home? You might also find that your harengon's interests are more akin to obsessions. What a harengon might describe as a joy for travel a human might see as wanderlust.

Surviving the Feywild requires you to be wary of striking deals, accepting gifts, and even giving someone your name. A harengon could be especially nitpicky when negotiating a contract with an adventurers guild, treating it with as much care as they would with an infernal contract. While this level of cautiousness will help you safely navigate the Feywild and its people, it can make you appear untrustworthy or suspicious to folk of the Material Plane.

Make your harengon character your own

How you approach your harengon character is entirely up to you. Perhaps you play a harengon who wholly rejected the trickster ways of the fey and has committed to being honest to a fault. Or you fell in love with the legalese of contracts and learned it's easy to trick people of the Material Plane into unfavorable deals. You might even decide that your harengon comes from a family of harengons that have lived in the Material Plane for centuries, and thus, have little in common with their Feywild counterparts.  

Building a harengon character

The harengon's racial traits make them well-suited for surviving combat encounters. Lucky Footwork helps them succeed on Dexterity saving throws, such as against a stray fireball. Rabbit Hop can get them out of melee range of enemies that have wandered too close. With the flexibility to increase ability scores as you see fit, a harengon works well with any class, but here are a few things to consider as you build your character:

  • Hare-Trigger helps you go first in combat. Spellcasters benefit greatly from taking their turn before others. Imagine getting to drop hypnotic pattern before enemies can fire off arrows or move into melee range to strike. Rogues with the Assassin subclass get advantage on attack rolls made against enemies who haven't taken their turn in combat yet. 
  • Lucky Foot adds a needed bonus to Dexterity saving throws. For characters that don't rely on Dexterity, like your typical Strength-based paladin, Lucky Foot can help you succeed on Dexterity saving throws when you otherwise might have to eat the full damage of a burning hands.
  • Rabbit Hop adds movement speed and functions as a pseudo Disengage. For characters who don't have a lot of uses for their bonus action, Rabbit Hop adds some great utility. A barbarian can use it to get into position to land some blows on enemies who might otherwise be just out of reach of their melee attacks. A cleric can move into range to deliver inflict wounds and then leap back to safety without triggering an opportunity attack. 
Build your harengon on D&D Beyond

When The Wild Beyond the Witchlight releases on September 21, you can use D&D Beyond's character builder to explore different builds for your harengon character. Quickly switch between classes, adjust your ability scores, and more to find a build that best suits your vision of a hopping warrior.

See more from The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

The Wild Beyond the Witchlight is nearly here, but there's more to discover before its release. Keep an eye out for more previews from D&D Beyond. And hey, if you're preparing to venture into the realm of the fey, here are our recommendations for subclasses to play in the Feywild:

Feywild 101: A Beginner's Guide to the Plane of Faerie
by Mike Bernier
Feywild 101: Read About Key NPCs in the Plane of Faerie
by Mike Bernier
Beware the Jabberwock! The Burbling Dragon Arrives in The Wild Beyond the Witchlight
by Jeremy Blum

Michael Galvis (@michaelgalvis) is a tabletop content producer for D&D Beyond. He is a longtime Dungeon Master who enjoys horror films and all things fantasy and sci-fi. When he isn't in the DM's seat or rolling dice as his anxious halfling sorcerer, he's playing League of Legends and Magic: The Gathering with his husband. They live together in Los Angeles with their adorable dog, Quentin.

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