Considering the game takes its name from the creatures, it's a bit surprising that a Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook like Fizban's Treasury of Dragons is just releasing now, several years into Fifth Edition's life. After all, dragons are at the very heart of D&D, with most adventurers encountering at least one on their journey, whether they're venturing through the Forgotten Realms or a homebrew setting. With so much information on dragons already in the game, though, a book focused solely on them could have felt like overkill.
Luckily, Fizban's Treasury of Dragons is a sourcebook that provides far more than just a reintroduction of older concepts mixed with a couple of new player options and monster stat blocks. Instead, the book serves as an excellent resource for Dungeon Masters looking to truly bring these majestic creatures to life and fully incorporate them into a game world like the epic beings they are.
While last year's Tasha's Cauldron of Everything focused on giving players more character creations options, from nearly two dozen additional subclasses to a reworked approach to race through custom origins, Fizban's Treasury has far less to offer the average player. Still, what the sourcebook lacks in quantity it makes up for in focus. As it's title indicates, the theme of Tasha's Cauldron was its lack of a theme, instead providing a little bit of everything. Meanwhile, everything in Fizban's Treasury is laser-focused on dragons and their massive influence on the world.
Outside of the newly-added gem dragonborn heritage for the existing race, two new subclasses in the Way of the Ascendant Dragon Monk and Drakewarden Ranger, and a handful of new spells and items, there are Draconic Gifts. These are essentially powers that manifest in a character as the result of a dragon's death -- a symbol of how powerful these creatures are and how monumental slaying one truly is. As the book explains, the recipient can be the dragon's killer or hand-picked heir, opening the door for creative storytelling opportunities. While Fizban's Treasury offers several options (such as gaining a draconic familiar or becoming a dragonborn), it also proposes using a feat as a Draconic Gift, which makes them even more flexible.
However, where this sourcebook really excels is in its resources for Dungeon Masters looking to create the most epic and memorable dragon encounters possible. Much of Fizban's Treasury is dedicated to breaking down how to role-play dragons or build a campaign around them. While it doesn't include an actual pre-made adventure to run, the book has plenty of suggestions for those looking to craft their own dragon-centric stories or flesh out an existing campaign. In fact, this should probably be considered required reading for anyone running Wizards of the Coast's own Tyranny of Dragons.
Fizban's Treasury covers pretty much anything a DM looking to create a dragon -- whether they're friendly NPCs or fierce adversaries -- might need in the Draconomicon. Similar to Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft's section on creating a Darklord or Domain of Dread, this goes through personality traits and ideals that type of dragon may possess, potential adventure hooks and connections to the world at large at different ages, and (of course) what kind of lair and treasure they might have, providing tables similar to ones a player might use to create a character. The Draconomicon also makes the differences between the different kinds of dragons incredibly clear, dedicating around four or five pages to each color dragon, whether they're the chromatic and metallic dragons that have been in 5e since the start or the gem dragons, which haven't been part of D&D since Third Edition.
All of these tools make Fizban's Treasury of Dragons the kind of D&D supplement every DM should have in their collection. Players are, of course, coming to D&D to feel like epic fantasy heroes, so it should go without saying that a dragon encounter needs to be a big deal. Dragons should feel like the grandiose powerhouses that they are meant to be, and Fizban's Treasury is both easy enough for newer Dungeon Masters to take inspiration from, while still having enough complexity and detail for veterans to find something new too.
Fizban's Treasury of Dragons releases on October 26. A review copy was provided by the publisher.