'Dungeons & Dragons' to Add Four New Playable Races in 'Magic: The Gathering' Crossover Book

Dungeons & Dragons revealed that four new playable races would be added as part of an upcoming [...]

Dungeons & Dragons revealed that four new playable races would be added as part of an upcoming collaboration with Magic: The Gathering.

Later this year, Dungeons & Dragons is releasing Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, a new campaign setting focusing on the world-sized city of Ravnica from Magic: The Gathering. Earlier today, D&D released four new races from the upcoming campaign setting for playtesting on their website.

Dungeons & Dragons releases monthly "Unearthed Arcana" packages that give players a chance to test and provide feedback on certain upcoming features. This month's Unearthed Arcana provided four Magic: The Gathering races "destined" for Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica later this year. The new races include the elephantine loxodon, the strange simbic hybrid that combines humandoid and animal aspects, the blue-skinned vedalken, and the reptilian and hot-tempered viashino.

Each of the four new races have their own perks and unique attributes. For instance, loxodons have natural armor thanks to their thick hides and have advantage on saving throws against being frightened. Simbic hybrid players gain animal enhancements at first and fifth level, giving them the ability to glide through the air, add natural armor, or attack foes with an acid spit attack. The vedalken's biggest ability is a natural advantage on all intelligence, wisdom, and charisma saving throws, while the viashino have a semi-prehensible tail that can be used as an additional weapon.

Of the four new races, the simbic hybrid and the viashino seem to be the most interesting of the four races, although the simbic hybrid is limited by only having a handful of potential customizable enhancements. The viashino's bite and tail attacks give it some interesting utility and it seems like they'll be perfect for a rogue build in Ravnica.

The general consensus is that none of the four races are particularly overpowered, and the vedalkin's stat boosts actually make it difficult to find a good class that compliments it. Still, more character race options are always nice, especially for those Magic: The Gathering players looking to get into the game for the first time.

You can download the Races of Ravnica rules here. Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica comes out on Tuesday, Nov. 20.

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