Wild Beyond the Witchlight Adds Delightful 5E D&D Race Options

Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted cross over into the Feywild for a look at two new fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons races. The Fairy and Harengon both can be found within Wild Beyond the Witchlight, the latest 5E D&D campaign adventure. New character options always get players excited and in particular I appreciate linking new player content to broader material like a setting or adventure. Let’s hop into it.

New 5E D&D toys for players and Dungeon Masters alike

In the video Dave and Ted discuss the fairy and harengon race options and go over all their traits and features. The conversation also includes some fun ideas for Dungeon Masters on how to incorporate these two new 5E D&D races into your own settings. They share some adventure hooks inspired by the fairy and harengon as well.

Because Wild Beyond the Witchlight centers around a magical carnival traveling the planes it’s super easy to include the material in any setting. This is a trend I hope to see continue in future releases too, and I won’t have to wait very long at all. The upcoming Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos follows a similar model with the university for the study of magical things representing a relatively self-contained campus location ready to add to any campaign setting.

Other setting books like Mythic Odysseys of Theros and Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica, which encompass entire settings, provide curated selections of race options appropriate for those places. This kind of guidance is very useful not only for those particular settings but also as an example for DMs how considering character options in a homebrew setting helps inspire the worldbuilding. At any rate Wild Beyond the Witchlight presents a different perspective. Along with new character background options the players in this campaign can create some very interesting and invested characters together for the whimsical adventure.

“All the character races presented in the Player’s Handbook are well suited for this adventure, as are fairies and harengons (both presented below). If you allow players to create fairy or harengon characters for this adventure, they should assume that their characters are from the same world as the other player characters and have never set foot in the Feywild despite their fey heritage.” — Wild Beyond the Witchlight introduction, Into the Feywild

Fairy

But they’re not Tiny! This seems to be a sticking point for players out there, which of course they can easily change for their own games and deal with the mechanical ramifications. For everyone else (and there’s a lot of us!) the fairy race makes a fantastic addition to 5E D&D character options. Along with a feat like Fey Touched a fairy character of any class can really become a paragon of all fairy kind, which is a D&D concept I’ve long enjoyed.

Included a table for unique Fey Characteristics shows up and these are always much appreciated. Players have always been free to incorporate fun flavor into their characters but it’s especially important for newer players to see this sort of content. There’s a lot to take in when it comes to D&D and when this sort of explicit license to exercise the imagination shows up in official capacity that’s important.

Fairy characters in 5E D&D are Small and the Fey type with a walking speed of 30 feet. They can also fly as long as they’re not wearing medium or heavy armor. (This is another gripe I’ve seen because the illustration in Wild Beyond the Witchlight shows a fairy wearing armor.) Their ability score increases follow the new direction found in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything wherein players are free to increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. Fairies know Common and one other language, which I’m thrilled to see suggests the player and DM agree together is appropriate for the character.

Fairies are traditionally quite magical so of course this fairy race includes some spellcasting in the form of druidcraft, faerie fire and enlarge/reduce. This is a fantastic selection of spells to represent a fairy character. I’d be lying if I didn’t share how I’ve got a fairy Mischief Maker ready to go for an adventure. These spells can be cast once per long rest through this trait and also by using a spell slot if the character has them and players are free to choose Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma as the spellcasting ability for these spells.

[Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]

Harengon

Love them or hate them there’s no shortage of anthropomorphic animal races in 5E D&D and Wild Beyond the Witchlight adds one more. Harengon are rabbitfolk with origins in the Feywild and a penchant for hopping into other worlds and bringing fey energy along with them. If you play a harengon character or there’s one in your game it’s not a bad idea to refresh yourself with the rules for jumping too. Protip: no ability check required!

If I’m honest I’m a little disappointed there’s no table for unique characteristics included with the harengon like there is for the fairy. The truncated lore included in the entry inside Wild Beyond the Witchlight seems to suggest harengon have an affinity for languages so maybe something related to this would be neat. Perhaps a harengon picks up a phrase from an obscure language during their travels. This could make for some fun roleplaying and maybe even engaging interaction along the way.

Harengon characters in 5E D&D are Medium or Small (players’ choice) with a walking speed of 30 feet. They also possess tremendous jumping power, which they can use a number of times equal to their proficiency bonus per long rest. The entry does not specify whether this is a long jump or a high jump, which means it’s either one they can do as a bonus action and clear a distance equal to five times their proficiency bonus. During lower levels and for characters with high Strength scores this Rabbit Hop trait is probably outshined by the standard jumping guidelines. However, using this trait does not provoke opportunity attacks

The puntastic Hare-Trigger trait means harengon add their proficiency bonus to initiative rolls and they also get proficiency in the Perception skill. They also have a trait allowing them to use their reaction to roll a d4 and add it to a failed Dexterity saving throw. This is very much like the Protection of the Talisman Eldritch Invocation and some other character features. The way I generally play and those I play with kind of make these sorts of features wonky because there’s rarely a discreet DC involved. It’s one of the pitfalls of the improvisational method we love here at Nerdarchy. This came up quite often during Dungeons & Delving with the Pact of the Talisman warlock I played in Ted’s campaign.

[Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]

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