D&D’s next version is on the way, a new book will tease the changes

Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast is currently walking a tightrope. The seminal tabletop role-playing game turns 50 in 2024, and developers are busy building the game’s next version to go on sale during that window. At the same time, D&D is more popular than ever, a jewel in Hasbro’s crown that — along with The Gathering: Magic and the Gathering — is raking in money hand over fist. How will developers bridge the gap between the fifth edition and the next version? You need to think very carefully.

An upcoming book, entitled “How to Navigate the Transition”, is our first clue. Mordenkainen presents Monsters of the Multiverse, a confusing name for a confusing product that will be sold in a confusing way and — at least initially — at a conspicuously high price point. Let’s break down what’s going on here, and what it means for the future of D&D.

In September, head of D&D Ray Winninger let the cat out of the bag (of holding) during a video presentation.

“I know there’s been a lot of speculation of this, but I can actually reveal today that we have — earlier this year — began work on the next evolution of Dungeons & Dragons,” Winninger said. “New versions of the core rulebooks that will be coming out in 2024 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons.”

Dungeons & Dragons 6th edition … sorta

Image: Wizards of the Coast

It’s that “next evolution” bit that keeps tripping people up. Many people speculate, with no proof, that this will be the fully-fledged sixth edition. But there’s a downside to breaking ties with nearly a decade’s worth of products — adventures, settings, rulebooks, and licensed accessories, some of which are just now trickling out into the hands of a mainstream audience — and starting fresh. Just look to the various “edition wars” that have cropped up over the years when the franchise transitioned from 3rd edition, to 3.5, to 4th edition.

Wizards, however, will take a much more gradual approach, weaving in small changes while keeping a strong connection to the past. Monsters of the Multiverse is just the first example of how that’s going to play out.

“We are working as we speak on revisions of the core rulebooks that will be backward-compatible,” said Jeremy Crawford, principal rules designer for D&D, during a press preview event last week. “That was in our mind as we worked on Monsters of the Multiverse. […] So this book will be not only ready to go, but will be able to keep going for years to come.”

So what does backward compatibility mean in D&D? You can find out more here Monsters of the MultiverseIt involves tweaking some math and inscribing subtle changes made to the game since 2014. This is done in order to make the game more accessible for an increasingly progressive and mainstream market. Honestly, outside of character creation, I’m not even sure most players will notice the differences.

Tasha’s Cauldron of Racial Essentialism

Monsters of the MultiverseCrawford explained that there are two main parts to the book. Crawford explained that the first part of the book contains 33 previously released character races for players, which have not been combined into one volume. Every one of these races will be shown in an updated format that was first seen in Tasha’s Cauldron of EverythingThe 2020 law officially divides the ability score (Strength/Constitution, Wisdom, etc.). from the character race.

“We really wanted to reinforce that all of the game’s races are just as flexible as humans when it comes to the range of culture and personality,” Crawford said.

The maneuver is an attempt to take the racist elements that D&D has been carrying around inside of it for the better part of four decades and yeet them directly into the sun. At the same time, it allows traditionalists to just keep doing it the way they’ve been doing it by using the legacy rules for character creation first published in the Player’s Handbook2014 If you and your players don’t think it’s broke, then you don’t have to fix it — but new books going forward aren’t going to encourage players to do it that way anymore.

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Crawford pointed out clearly that Crawford isn’t just responding to current criticisms about an older game. There’s another big reason as well.

“Way back when we started working on [Monsters of the Multiverse], we have not liked how the choice of race in the game — whether you’re going to be a member of the human race, or one of the game’s many fantastical races — had often too much weight on the player’s choice of class,” Crawford said.

Essentially, if you’re trying to build the most effective ranger possible (or wizard, or monk, or artificer), there are some races that are less effective than others when using the older rules. Now players will be more able to “follow their bliss,” as Crawford put it, and not be “pigeonholed” into certain classes based solely on their choice of race.

Monster Manual 2, too

This book’s second half contains more than 250 monsters. Some of them are completely new. All of the monsters will be presented in an entirely new manner.

First, they’re no longer defined solely as residents of a particular plane of the D&D multiverse. Instead, they’re presented as much more vanilla types. Alignments — chaotic evil, true neutral, lawful good — have been filed off in some places as yet another nod to removing racial essentialism from the game. It opens up opportunities for Dungeon Masters to introduce classic enemies to players in innovative and new ways. Wizards of the Coast will have more flexibility to grow its multiverse by either revising or creating new settings.

Wizards will make one more major change to monsters that has to do with something called “challenge rating.” Essentially, DMs can reference a monster’s challenge rating to determine if it’s a good fit for their players. Maybe your party has fewer members than expected. To compensate, you’ll want to swap out that ancient bronze dragon to something with a lower challenge rating. Perhaps you gave away too many magic items during the last adventure. This could make your group extremely overpowered. Pick a monster that has a higher difficulty rating, and you can continue.

It is difficult to assign a challenge rating. On the flipside, sometimes it’s just difficult for DMs to run a monster “correctly” at the table. Wizards has taken steps to solve these problems by rejigging both monster stats, abilities and buffing/nerfing others. Their challenge ratings and abilities will continue to be the same.

Image: Wizards of the Coast

“We didn’t change any of the challenge ratings,” Crawford said, “because we wanted to make sure that DMs who were already using these monsters — and other products that are currently using those monsters — can still use them at the same challenge rating. But what we did is, we made sure every monster really earned its challenge rating.”

In the past, Crawford said, all that a monster had to do to “earn” its challenge rating was to have a singular “golden path” of actions — spells, melee attacks, legendary actions, etc. — that, if executed in the proper sequence by the DM, measured up to what the designers had in mind. In Monsters of the Multiverse (and, presumably, in every new D&D book going forward) that golden path will be a lot wider.

“We’ve now made it so that each of the monsters has multiple choice sequences that lead to the same [challenge rating],” Crawford said. “Almost any main combat path that the DM chooses through a monster, it’s going to deliver that challenge rating.” That will be especially true of higher-level monsters, according to Crawford.

What the book is going to be sold

Wizards of the Coast has to deal with the global supply chain challenges that continue to affect everything, from auto manufacturers and local grocers. This is what it looks like. Mordenkainen presents Monsters of the MultiverseHowever, this sounds almost like the company was caught in the cookie jar.

It turned out that this book wasn’t supposed to be available at the right time for holidays. Wizards introduced it to the public as part of a three-volume deluxe set entitled Dungeons & Dragons Rules Expansion Gift SetIt costs $169.99 Along with a fancy slipcase and a Dungeon Master’s screen, Monsters of the MultiversePackaged with revised editions Xanathar’s Guide to Everything Tasha’s Cauldron of EverythingYou will also find two additional books to expand upon the core set. Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master’s GuideAnd Monster Manual.

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Image: Wizards of the Coast

It’s an approach to releasing new content that the company has not attempted before in 5th edition, and this time, it looks to have backfired, effectively gating off this new content for a period of time unless you’re willing to pay a premium. Like previous releases, this boxed set is also available in a collector’s edition with alternate cover art. You can expect it at your local games store or via online sellers like Amazon by January 25,

In summary, then: Mordenkainen presents Monsters of the MultiverseThe physical product will launch as part the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Expansion Gift SetIt retails at $169.99. The book will be available Jan. 25, Pre-orders for the stand-alone book — and for digital platforms such as Fantasy Grounds, Roll20, and D&D Beyond – begin Jan. 18, with delivery set for May 17.