Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft – The Horrors Within

It’s no secret that I have conflicting views on D&D 5.5. A really big part of me is ready to cut ties with the Dungeons & Dragons name and embrace a third-party OSR alternative. But, with all of the shake-ups at Hasbro recently (WotC’s CEO stepping down, and Dan Ayoub taking over the direction of D&D), I’m willing to see what’s going to happen in the next few months. In fact, as I write this, GenCon is currently in full swing with Luke Gygax on site to announce the 2027 roadmap for D&D. As far as I’m concerned, today’s announcements are going to be a make or break it moment for the brand. Regardless of my mixed feelings, I still find myself buying the 5.5 releases if for no other reason than to review them for this site. So today, I’m going to talk about the newest book, Ravenloft – The Horrors Within.

First, the good stuff. As has been the case with every 5.5 product, the book is extremely well crafted. The pages are gorgeous and masterfully formatted. The layout and presentation of every 5.5 release so far have been leagues better than most 5E material. Plus, this book is hefty and filled to the brim with content. Even though this hardcover boasts a cringe-inducing $60 price tag, I daresay there’s enough content here to justify it.

This release serves as the official introduction of Ravenloft to D&D 5.5. Having scoured the book from cover to cover, I had to say that a large portion of this material is nothing more than a rehash of stuff found in older 5E tomes. If you have Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft or Curse of Strahd, then you you’ve likely seen a lot of what’s included in this new book. Still, in typical fashion, much of the old material has been modernized and presented in a slightly different way. But, as we’ve come to learn with modern D&D, this isn’t always a good thing.

For a system that claims to be fully backwards compatible with older 5E material, I can’t help but feel like the some of the changes made to the monsters and personalities in this book actually seem to make them weaker or less threatening. For example, the stat block for Strahd has been reworked and rebalanced. As a result, an encounter with this legendary Domain Lord now seems way less deadly than it ever has before. And as I said above, I don’t think that’s a good thing.

But, speaking of stat blocks, this is probably one of the highlights for this release. The Horrors Within does provide stat blocks for every Domain Lord, this alone makes the book invaluable for anyone interested in running a Ravenloft campaign. And, the biggest highlight here is the inclusion of an entirely new Domain Lord; Cthulhu. That’s right, for the first time since the earliest days of 1E, D&D has printed official stats for the Lovecraftian creature, Cthulhu. This is something fans have been waiting decades to see. For many DMs, these Domain Lord stats alone are enough reason to buy the book. Of course, as I mentioned above, there are some concerns over just how balanced these encounters might be.

Now I’ve done a lot of talking, but let’s take a moment to focus on what exactly is included between the covers of this book.

The first section provides character options for a Ravenloft campaign setting. A number of previously released subclasses receive a reprint/rebalance here. However, there are two completely new options found in this chapter as well. Alongside class options, we also have 5.5 rules for Dhampir, Hexblood, Lupin and Reborn races/species.

Chapter 2 focuses on the various Domains. Details on each domain are provided as well as the stat blocks for Domain Lords (as mentioned above). Despite only receiving a few sentences in this review, this chapter contains the most useful information in the book, as far as I’m concerned.

Chapter 3 and 4 provides tips and guidance for running a campaign in the Domains of Dread and also gives advice for crafting entirely new Domains. I found these chapters to be just as valuable as Chapter 2 in terms of being a source of material for DMs to pull from. These three chapters alone make the book worth considering even if you’re a DM that doesn’t plan to transition to the 5.5 rules. The material here is well written and insightful.

Finally, the last section of the book contains a bestiary of Ravenloft specific monsters. Of the monsters presented here, 32 of them have been released in previous books. But, 19 are presented here for the first time as brand-new monsters.

At the end of the day, your view on this book is likely to vary depending on the type of game you are playing at your D&D table. If 5.5 is what you’re into, then this book should be on your shortlist of things to buy. Even if you’re not into 5.5, but you run a 5E Ravenloft campaign, there’s plenty of value that can be found in this release. On the other hand, if you’re a 5E diehard that cares nothing at all for Ravenloft or the other Domains of Dread, there’s very little in this book that you are likely to find compelling.

This book, like the other 5.5 releases, is an odd mix of both value and filler. If 5.5 is supposed to be so compatible with 5E, then why does WotC feel the need to reprint monster stats and re-present existing class options? The answer is because 5.5 and 5E are not quite as compatible as people want to think. Yes, the rules maintain a high degree of compatibility. But the power balance doesn’t.