D&D Live, the annual showcase for all things Dungeons & Dragons, aired July 16 - 17, revealing new information about many items, including Fizban's Treasury of Dragons. Hosted by Mica Burton, Becca Scott, and B. Dave Walters, the event was two days of live and pre-taped one-shot campaigns introducing new narratives from Wizards of the Coast, as well as announcements for upcoming sourcebooks and D&D related products.
In his interview with Walters, Wyatt revealed Fizban's Treasury of Dragons is the result of the team at Wizards of the Coast realizing they had a cache of draconic knowledge that players didn't have access to, a fact they wanted to remedy. They went about creating the sourcebook with the players and DMs in mind, filling its pages with new, playable draconic features. While accessibility for new players wasn't top of mind for Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, Wyatt claims it won't make the Dungeons & Dragons barrier to entry any harder. In fact, the book aims to provide DMs with easy access, designed to be able to create a new campaign immediately after opening it, with little to no learning curve.
The Dungeons & Dragons team decided to bring back the dragons because, in the words of Wizards of the Coast's project lead James Wyatt, the developer was "setting out to right that imbalance" and re-saturate the game with its titular creature. The the dragon sourcebook is told from the perspective of Dungeons & Dragons character Fizban, a strange archmage with a lifetime of research on the eponymous beasts, telling players everything they need to know. Fizban's Treasury of Dragons is set for an October 19 release date, but here's everything revealed about the book's contents at D&D Live.
D&D: Contents of Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
Wyatt says will put the "dragons" back in Dungeons & Dragons. The new sourcebook is providing players a complete compendium of all Dungeons & Dragons drakes and dragon-adjacent creatures in its universe. This includes stats, backstory, and other pertinent information around dragons players already know about, as well as on new creatures. The Moonstone Dragon and the ancient Silver Great Wyrm were teased, though few specific details were revealed. D&D Live viewers got a brief insight into the new Elder Brain Dragon, a combination of the mind flayers' Elder Brain transplanted into the body of a dragon.
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons also expands on existing Dungeons & Dragons lore and knowledge of the winged beasts. Most interesting is a dragon's effect on the land around its lair, as their magic will seep into and empower its surrounding environment. This effect goes even deeper than that, however, as Wyatt describes it as an echo throughout time and dimensions. Individual dragons that exist across different settings in the D&D multiverse can communicate with one another, resulting in Great Wyrms that are fearsome beyond belief. The sourcebook will also give players the true story of the First World and how Bahamut and Tiamat made and destroyed it.
The sourcebook will also add several stats and features for players to use in their campaigns. Fizban's Treasury of Dragons is introducing new Dungeons & Dragons dragonborn races for characters to select, where currently there are only two subraces to choose from - albeit with 10 draconic ancestry options. Dungeons & Dragons will also be offering draconic subclasses, though specifics have not yet been detailed. According to Wyatt, the goal is to make it possible for any Dungeons & Dragons player to be able to incorporate draconic abilities or ties into their character.
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons releases on October 19.
Source: D&D Live