Everything you can find in Wizard’s latest D&D expansion book.
Ravenloft: The Horrors Within is an official rules supplement and setting guide for D&D 2024 releasing into early access today (2nd June 2026) and more widely on the 16th June 2026. It’s the 3rd of its kind (following Heroes of Faerun and Forge of the Artificer) but instead of delving into the settings of the Forgotten Realms and Eberron, this book dives into the horror setting of Ravenloft.
You may remember that we got a Ravenloft setting guide for the 2014 edition in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. The Horrors Within retreads some old ground, but also expands upon that supplement and also adds a hefty dose of character options. Some of these have been refreshed for the 2024 rules while others are brand new.
If you’re interested in playing D&D with horror-themed character options or in a horror-filled setting, then The Horrors Within may be what you’re looking for. Below I’ll breakdown exactly what you can expect from this latest, official D&D book.
What is Ravenloft?
Ravenloft is an official D&D setting that’s spread across dozens of demiplanes within the Shadowfell known as the Domains of Dread. Each domain is a self-contained land, blocked from other realms by shadowy mists.
The domains are all ruled by a Darklord, a powerful being who is as much a prisoner within their dread domain as their denizens. These darklords have power within their domain, but also cannot leave. Ultimately, they are tortured within their own personal nightmare by the Dark Powers, largely unknown but godlike entities that trap people within these shadowy realms.
You may be most familiar with Barovia, the domain of Strahd Von Zarovich, the namesake of the Curse of Strahd campaign. Barovia was the first Domain of Dread, created in 1983, and Strahd its Darklord.
What’s in the Horrors Within?
7 horror subclasses
There are 7 horror themed subclasses in The Horrors Within. 5 have been revamped for D&D 2024 while 2 are completely brand new. They are:
- Reanimator artificer (new)
- College of spirits bard
- Grave domain cleric
- Hollow warden ranger (new)
- Phantom rogue
- Shadow sorcery sorcerer
- Undead patron warlock
4 transformational species
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft came with 3 lineages that represented transformations you could take in place of your species. These 3 lineages have been updated to work as standard species now. There’s also a brand new species in the form of the lycanthropic lupin.
4 backgrounds
We also get 4 backgrounds; 2 brand new options and 2 returning ones:
- Haunted one
- Investigator
- Mist wanderer
- Spirit medium
2 Origin feats
You’ll get access to a couple more origin feats to go alongside the new backgrounds including:
- Sharp eye
- Survivor
9 Dark gifts
Dark gifts from Van Richten’s Guide have been updated into their own classification of feats for corrupted characters. 1 of these is brand new while the other 8 have been revised. They include:
- Aberrant anatomy
- Echoing soul
- Gathered whispers
- Living shadow
- Mist walker
- Second skin
- Symbiotic being
- Touch of death
- Watchers
17 deadly Darklords
One of the notable omissions from.Van Richten’s Guide was the lack of Darklord stat blocks. At the time, they suggested that Darklords were to be opposed not necessarily through combat and while this is true, they certainly could and should be opposed through combat too. As such, this was a strange omission. The Horrors Within fixes this with stat blocks for 17 of the main Darklords.
Notably, we also get 1 brand new Darklord in the form of the classic eldritch entity, Cthulu. It’s worth noting that Cthulu, Ebonbane and Lord Soth appear to be replacing the God Brain of Bluetspur, Nepanthe, Tsien Chiang and Jacqueline Renier from Van Richten’s Guide. Azalin Rex also seems to be making a return to Darkon.
Darklords include:
- Ankhtepot
- Azalin Rex
- Chakuna
- Cthulu
- Ebonbane
- Harkon Lukas
- Hazlik
- Ivana Boritsi
- Ivan Dilisnya
- Mother Lorinda
- Ramya Vasavadan
- Saidra d’Honaire
- Lord Soth
- Strahd Von Zarovich
- Viktra Mordenheim
- Vladeska Drakov
- Wilfred Godefroy
16 domains of dread
This is apparently the most revealing view of the domains of dread yet, though this may just be through imagery and maps. The following domains of dread are fully detailed in the book with others getting shorter entries. Again, it seems that Innsmouth, the Shadowlands and Sithicus have replaced Bluetspur, The Carnival, I’Cath and Richemulot’s entries in this book:
- Barovia
- Borca
- Darkon
- Dementlieu
- Falkovnia
- Har’Akir
- Hazlan
- Innsmouth
- Kalakeri
- Kartakass
- Lamordia
- Mordent
- Shadowlands
- Sithicus
- Tepest
- Valachan
68 Monsters
There will be 68 horror-themed monsters including returning creatures like the boneless, gallows speaker and loup garou. These will be combined with new creatures too like Mordenheim’s monster and some NPC stat blocks for the likes of Rudolph Van Richten, Madame Eva and the Weathermay-Foxgrove twins.
17 adventures
You’ll also find 17 horror-filled one shots (along the lines of similar short adventures found in Forge of the Artificer). These will be able to be inserted into your own campaigns or run as one off adventures.
And loads more
You’ll also find information on how to create your own domain of dread, your own Darklord, how to theme gameplay to different horror genres and even rules for bastions in the domains of dread.
Are you planning on picking up The Horrors Within? What are you most interested in? Let me know in the comments below.
More on Ravenloft: The Horrors Within
Check out our other guides dedicated to Ravenloft: The Horrors Within.
