The races of Ravnica include humans and elves from the Players Handbook, though with some setting flavor, and six that are technically new. There’s also a Common Cause table to provide some reasons for multi-guild parties (which I love) and a Party Makeup table to provide some ready-made party configurations (which I can’t ever see using). One cool part is a flow-chart-style questionnaire to help you pick a guild, something I can see using as a template for other faction-heavy settings. Suffice to say that the guilds are a major part of the setting (perhaps the major part) so they get a lot of attention. OK, so here’s where we start getting into new stuff! It starts off with guilds and I’ll get into how those work (and how I wish they worked) later. Image © Wizards of the Coast Chapter 1: Character Creation Cool stuff but so far nothing you can’t get from the wiki. Other parts of this chapter provide a history of the setting, charts for new times of currencies, and languages for Ravnica. It does give you a sense of each guild at a glance if you know both games but there’s nothing concrete to tie the Izzet to water and fire or the Selesnya to growth and peace. You’ll note that there are mana color combinations associated with each of the guilds, something that means a lot in Magic: the Gathering but absolutely nothing in D&D. The Simic Combine provides medical assistance and performs biological research.The Selesnya Conclave promotes what is now the strongest, nature-based religion of Ravnica and its ledev guards patrol the rural areas.Now it regulates trade and banking, among other activities. The Orzhov Syndicate was originally the most widespread religion of Ravnica.The Izzet League is responsible for the world-city’s civil engineering works and new magical developments.The Gruul Clans have fallen from their former glory as the keepers of Ravnica’s wilds and now are nothing but a loose affiliation of berserker clans who seek to wipe civilization from the plane.The Golgari Swarm manages food production and organic waste disposal.The Cult of Rakdos, considered a necessary evil by some, is composed of thrill-killers who provide the heavy labor force of the plane.House Dimir was recently thought extinct, and provides illegal but necessary services, while openly serving as couriers, investigators, reporters, and archivists.The Boros Legion is a standing army that protects the Guildpact and contains the League of Wojek, the official peacekeepers of the City of Ravnica.The Azorius Senate is the legislative and judicial body of Ravnican bureaucracy.Here’s a short listing of them, cribbed from the Magic: the Gathering wiki. ere’s the most important thing you need to know: there are ten guilds in a world-sized city and they’re all frenemies. If you aren’t familiar with the Ravnica setting (I wasn’t entirely) then this section outlines the basics. Lots in this book but is it a novelty or a legitimately useful book? Welcome to Ravnica There are new character options, supplemental rules, setting details, magic items, and a mini-bestiary. Whether this was seen as a crowd-pleaser or it was a mandate from on high, the Dungeons & Dragons staff went all-out writing this book which weighs in at an impressive 256 pages. I think most of us can agree this was a weird move that seems more like corporate synergy than creative development. But for some reason Wizards decided to go with a setting borrowed from Magic: the Gathering. There are tons of settings for D&D that haven’t been updated to 5e including Dragonlance, Brighright, Spelljammer, Dark Sun, and my favorite setting of Planescape. The newest campaign setting for D&D 5e is out and it’s an old setting! Confusing? Yeah, for me too.
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