D&D Beyond July Drop: Para-elementals, Martial Feats, and More!

Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to DDB Drops!

We've got plenty of fun goodies for you all in the July Drop — so without further ado, let's get into it!

• For DMs
• For Players

What is DDB Drops?

DDB Drops is a growing library of adventures, player options, and DM tools available to D&D Beyond subscribers—with new content releasing every month! Every Drop is yours to keep as long as you're subscribed, and they'll appear in your library automatically.

Start exploring at your own pace with any D&D Beyond subscription, including a 30-day free subscription trial.

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For DMs

Michele Giorgi

We're exploring the Para-elemental Planes! In case you need a quick primer on the Para-elemental Planes: they're where the Elemental Planes (of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water) collide and their elements mingle. You can read more about the Para-elemental Planes in the Dungeon Master's Guide.

• Plane of Ash: Where the Plane of Air and Plane of Fire collide.
• Plane of Ice: Where the Plane of Air and Plane of Water collide.
• Plane of Magma: Where the Plane of Earth and Plane of Fire collide.
• Plane of Ooze: Where the Plane of Earth and Plane of Water collide.

Naturally, if we're taking time to talk about and explore the Para-elemental Planes, we'll also want to give you some Elementals to go along with them!

Ice Elemental (CR 6). These frigid Elementals can fire their icicles at enemies or use them to pierce foes. Artist Credit: Michele Giorgi

Magma Elemental (CR 6). These roiling Elementals are every bit as destructive as volcanoes — and capable of throwing globs of magma and lava at their foes. Artist Credit: Michele Giorgi

Mud Elemental (CR 6). These oozing Elementals are made up of dripping blobs of muck. Take special care to avoid getting engulfed by them! Artist Credit: Michele Giorgi

Smoke Elemental (CR 6). These incendiary Elementals burn and suffocate their foes with ash and smoke. Artist Credit: Michele Giorgi

4 Para-elemental Maps. We've also commissioned brand new maps to depict each of the Para-elemental Planes to mirror and compliment their Elemental counterpart! You can find them in Maps VTT by following these locations:

Gerralt Landman

• This floating island in the Plane of Ash is staying aloft with the help of the turbulent air and smoke. Be sure not to fall through any of the cracks – it may be the last thing you do! In Maps VTT, it can be found under Wilderness > Floating Island > Floating Island on the Plane of Ash.
• Despite the raging blizzards that take place on the Plane of Ice, this cave appears untouched. What secrets might this hidden cavern contain? In Maps VTT, it can be found under Wilderness> Caves > Cavern on the Plane of Ice.
• Constant eruptions and a seemingly never-ending flow of lava are commonplace in the Plane of Magma. Will you survive its treacherous terrain without getting burnt? In Maps VTT, it can be found under Wilderness > Mountain > Mountainside on the Plane of Magma.
• This horrid and mucky swamp on the Plane of Ooze is teeming with objects and treasures lost across the ages. Take special care not to step in the muck, lest you become lost as well! In Maps VTT, it can be found under Wilderness > Swamp > Swamp on the Plane of Ooze.

12 Para-elemental Stickers. And finally, we wanted to make sure you had the elements at your disposal! We've included 12 stickers themed around these elements so that you can give your maps an elemental flair! You can find them in the Sticker Browser under D&D Beyond Drops: Para-elemental Sticker Pack.

Detect Thoughts: DM Options

One of the things that fascinates me the most about D&D is the incredible amount of lore and the endless storytelling opportunities that can be found across its rich history. As a fan, I especially adore D&D's planar cosmology, and I wanted to explore the lesser-known corners of the multiverse with this month's Drop.

That's when we landed on re-visiting the Para-elemental Planes and the monsters within — these poor Elementals haven't been featured in an official D&D product since 3.5e (20+ years ago!).

Each of the maps included today helps provide a small taste of that plane (for example — a swamp in the Plane of Ooze) that's flexible for you to use in non-planar campaigns (for example — the Mountainside on the Plane of Magma map can just as readily serve as the side of an erupting volcano).

Gerralt Landman did a phenomenal job of bringing these maps (and the stickers) to life.

For Players

We have some fun stuff for martial characters to play with! We're including 3 new magic items and 4 new feats.

Magic Items

Climber's Ammunition. This is Uncommon Ammunition. When this magic ammunition hits a solid surface, it attaches to the surface, and a rope trails out from behind it.

Goggles of Foe-Finding. This is a Rare Wondrous Item. With these goggles, your ranged weapon attacks ignore Half Cover and Three-Quarters Cover.

Stormwalker's Cloak. This is a Rare Wondrous Item. This cloak gives you Resistance to Lightning and Thunder damage and lets you cast Hellish Rebuke using Lightning or Thunder damage instead of Fire damage.

Feats

Pack Fighting. This Fighting Style feat gives you a slight boost in extra damage when you and an ally surround an enemy. That damage increases if another ally within range also has this feat!

Prone Fighting. This Fighting Style feat lets you fight without any drawbacks when you have the Prone condition.

Shifting Combatant. With this General feat, you'll be able to jump into the fray without concern and force enemies to collide and fall Prone.

Tactical Combatant. With this General feat, you'll be able to turn your weapon strike into some extra protection and potentially turn a failed Ability Check into a success.

Backdrops

We've also included 4 elemental backdrops so that you can get in on the elemental fun!

Detect Thoughts: July Player Options

An ongoing theme in community feedback — including Drops-specific responses — has been a desire to see more love for martial characters. While the Pact feats are available to both martial and spellcasting classes, we wanted to make sure non-magical characters had equally exciting options to explore. With that in mind, we're adding two new Fighting Style feats and two martial-focused General feats designed to open up new combat strategies for those who prefer steel over sorcery. I'm excited to hear your thoughts! The magic items we've included this month lean into that same spirit as well.

Other Updates

Here are some other updates surrounding Drops that you may have missed:

• DDB Drops is now available in the mobile app! Thank you so much for your patience while the team worked to make it available.
• Brian Perry (the Executive Producer for DDB) recently announced that DDB Drops will also be available as a standalone SKU! We're currently planning to release an annual bundle each May that would contain the previous year's content and be purchasable for all players (and wouldn't need a subscription to use).
• Brian also announced that Master-tier subscribers can share DDB Drops content with their groups!

That's all, folks! I'm excited to see what you all think of what we've released today and what you'd like to see in future drops!