Fizban's Treasury of Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition

by Wizards of the Coast

Discover how dragons embody magic across the worlds of D&D and how you can bring them to life at your table in this quintessential reference guide for the world’s greatest roleplaying game.

Meet Fizban the Fabulous: doddering archmage, unlikely hero of the War of the Lance, divine avatar of a dragon-god—and your guide to the mysteries of dragonkind in the worlds of Dungeons & Dragons.

What is the difference between a red dragon and a gold dragon? What is dragonsight? How does the magic that suffuses dragons impact the world around them? Here is your comprehensive guide to dragons, filled with the tips and tools Dungeon Masters and players need for their encounters with these dangerous magical creatures.

Dragonslayers and dragon scholars alike will appreciate the new dragon-themed options for players eager to harness the power of dragon magic and create unique and memorable draconic characters. Dungeon Masters will discover a rich hoard of new tools and information for designing dragon-themed encounters, adventures, and campaigns. Discover a host of new dragons and other creatures. Learn about the lairs and hoards of each type of dragon, and how hoards focus the magic that suffuses dragons and connects them to the myriad worlds of the Material Plane. Discover everything there is to know about the most iconic monsters of D&D with help from Fizban, your expert advisor on dragonkind!

Introduces gem dragons to fifth edition!
Reveals the story of the First World and the role Bahamut and Tiamat played in its creation and destruction.
Adds new player character options, including unique draconic ancestries for dragonborn, dragon-themed subclasses for monks and rangers, and new feat and spell options.
Offers everything a Dungeon Master needs to craft adventures inspired by dragons across the worlds of D&D, with new dragon lair maps and details on 20 different kinds of dragons.
Presents a complete dragon bestiary and introduces a variety of new dragons and dragon-related creatures, including aspects of the dragon gods, dragon minions, and more.

On the Cover
Fizban the Fabulous protects a group of innocents as a crystal dragon and a red dragon clash in the sky, in this painting by Chris Rahn.

Genres: Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games, Fantasy, Reference, Gaming, Games, Fiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2021

About the author

Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC /ˈwɒtˌsiː/ or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington in the United States.[1]

Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.

Reviews

[Kaitlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Both covers for this sourcebook are GORGEOUS.

Its interesting how each dragon supplement book has a different structure and tone. The 3.5e and 4e versions were more geared as a naturalist text, while this is very heavy on tables and character generation. This book is simultaneous more, and less, varied/broad in content than its predecessors.

The Good:
-The book leans in hard on the magical rather than animalistic elements of dragons, making them feel more unique and powerful and less like dinosuars. Dragons in general are just more complex than in previous versions.
-The book presents dragons as individuals, continuing WotC's move away from races/species being inherently of one mind/alignment.
-The new dragons and dragonkin are fucking baller. Its good to see the draconians return, and the elter brain dragon is goddamn terrifying.

The Less-Good:
-I really loathe the organization. If I want to develop a blue dragon, for instance, there's at least 3 if not 4 different chapters in the book for that. I much preferred 3.5e Draconomicon in terms of "All shit related to this dragon is located together" approach.
-I am bummed that some dragons, such as the brown, steel, grey, mercury, etc. were dropped.
-Some of the tables are incredibly repetative. I think every dragon type has a few entries for " worships it as a god" and "Captured to manipulate its parents." The tables take up a lot of real estate, so either collapse them together or make them more varied.

The Missed Potential: I'm not really docking points for this, nor am I really disappointed or surprised, but...
-I really wish they leaned more into the dragon-centered classes. That would have made this a more unique dragon supplement. Drakewarden and dragonmonk are neat, but really wanted dragon-centric warlocks and druids, too. They are crazy popular homebrew classes.
-This book mentions in multiple places half-dragon hybrid and mixed species dragons (e.g., blue and bronze) but gives no templates, stat blocks, or other information. I'd love to see this expanded as it hasn't been discussed much since 2e.

Overall, very fun to flip through and full of prompts and hooks for a dragon-centric campaign.

[Jonathon Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

The nods to DragonLance with the Fizban narrations signals that there perchance be a new generation to discover the classic D&D worlds I loved in my youth. Also there be dragons!

[Madison Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many dragons. Can’t wait to have to roll a new character after fighting Tiamat.

[Greta Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iha ingevoimane teos. Hohkaa magiaa.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been fairly underwhelmed by some of the most recent source books from Wizards, but this was a legitimately interesting expansion to the existing material. I have always had an issue running dragons simply as "big sacks of hitpoints", while neglecting any of the interesting story details that are associated. Fizban's not only adds additional stat blocks and class features, but also provides really solid advice on running dragons. There was definitely some fluff added to hit the length requirement, but overall, solid! 4/5

[Julian Meynell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember getting the Dragonomicon for 3rd edition and absolutely loving it. It had such things as Dragon anatomy which, perhaps is not all that useful, but makes you excited about Dragons. This book does not have the feeling that that book did. That book felt like it was written by people who were both obsessed with and loved dragons, this one feels more work-a-day. It is focused on practical things that can be applied. The most important part is a bestiary of additional dragons and dragon related monsters. These are a little bit disappointing, especially the gem dragons where the cartoony art and focus on hovering crystals, sort of sucks to be honest and makes it hard to be excited about them. I was surprised that there wasn't more that was exciting. There are lots of lairs here. Maybe too many to be frank. The other parts, such as dragon related treasure, spells and so on is fine. The new dragon lore around their origins and so on I didn't care for and won't be using.

The bottom line for me about this book is that it's all useable, but none of it is the kind of thing that inspires you to build a big chunk of a campaign around. So I suspect that I will dip into it from time to time, using this and that, but it wouldn't really inspire me to write an adventure around any of it, let alone a campaign.

[ik.ben.henri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not that much information is given in this book in terms of lore.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dragons are powerful and always fascinating to read about. The lairs are a great added bonus.

[Santi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m truly surprised with how good this book is. There are so many lovely details about it that it makes me think the people in charge put a lot of extra care and love when making it. Maybe my favourite 5E book so far.

[Lana Meeren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very excited to put this to good work in my games. I wish they'd been kinder to the monk subclass though, but it is what it is.

[Zbigniew Zdziarski · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love D&D and dragons, this is a must read. The illustrations are fantastic too.

[Benjamin]

This review is from a very quick flip through of a library book, for a game system that I understand but haven't really used much, so, caveat lector.

Many of the D&D 5e books are mixes of information, some for the player (like player options--new classes, new spells), some for the DM (monster info, setting info). Fizban's Treasure of Dragons follows that pattern, with a few notes on PC race, class, spell options; and a lot of info for the DM about new monsters, how to play dragons, sample dragon lairs, and a lot -- a lot -- of random tables for creating dragon personalities and adventure hooks.

There is also a few notes--that I think you can easily strip out--about an alternate dragon history, where (I think) dragons lived in the First World but then destroyed it, which sent out dragons to other worlds and maybe separated their essence across dimensions, kind of like the Jet Li movie "The One".

And even though you can ignore that, it sort of points to the reason for my conflicted feelings about this book: there's a lot of info here that might be useful, depending on your campaign and characters, but unless your characters are going to be semi-constantly running into dragons, I can't see how you would use the whole book. I do wonder if some DMs might be better served not by a whole book full of dragon lairs and personalities, but by a smaller pdf detailing, say, a single specific black dragon in a single specific lair, maybe with some random tables or alternate ideas (which is what random tables are) about that particular dragon's personality and how it might hook the PCs into adventure.

Or put another way: this is very much a toolkit box, with a lot of pieces that you can use in your game, but not really much of a POV beyond "dragons are powerful," and by nature of it being a toolkit, is going to have a bunch of things that aren't useful to you right now.

[Sic Transit Gloria · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thoroughly ehhhhh attempt to bring a dragon related book to DnD 5e.

Let's start with the good: a lot of statblocks for cool and iconic monsters. Our first real introduction to some of the more exotic dragon types to 5e. Magic items and boons are useful for DMs. And a much needed rewrite for dragon born.

Unfortunately, most of what I just referenced are snippets. Tidbits of dragon-y goodness in an otherwise bland book. See, I think the writers of Fizban's we desperately lacking passion for the project. Because reading through the text, it feels like reading a corporate report. Especially, when the largest chunk of the book is tables upon tables.

Ah yes, the tables. I slogged through them like a good little DM, waiting for those Cool Dragon Facts (TM) that had to be afterwards. Except, they weren't there. The tables, pages and pages of inventive but vague ideas, was all that there was for the extra special info on the dragon species.

The frustrating part is that there was totally room. Without cutting the art or raising the page count, Wizards of the Coast could have fit in so much more. How? Going back to the old, smaller font size (which has the added benefit of not making me feel like a geriatric with a large print book). Seriously, look at Volo's Guide or Mordenkeinen's Tome of Foes. You can see how many more words they squeeze in with the reasonably sized font!

I bought Fizban's because I like dragons, fully understanding of its issues. From what I've heard, things haven't improved in the books since then. Until quality returns, this will be the last DnD book I buy.

[Itamar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a nice resource for players and GMs that want Dragon-flavored "stuff". I don't know what I was expecting, but I felt somewhat underwhelmed with this, even though I have few specific criticisms.
Chapter 1 has some class and race options for players which I found uninteresting and seemed like "let's have something something dragon-themed".
Chapter 2 has some nice ideas about magic items ion dragons' hoards, so it's cool.
Chapter 3 is great, looking at the motivations and depictions of dragons in a game. I wish there was more of it. The whole idea of dragon echoes doesn't really seem interesting to me and I'm unsure how to make it so, but the whole idea is underdeveloped, in my opinion, so maybe it would sound better if it had more meat on its bones.
Chapter 4 is very cool and tries to make lairs and hoards more interesting, but it's too short for my liking.
Chapter 5 goes into more depth regarding hooks and quirks for specific kinds of dragons, but I found it odd that they split information between chapter 5 and 6 (where the stat blocks are located).
Chapter 6 is mostly dry and mainly has stat blocks and basic monster info. While they are useful, I found no monsters very compelling, with the possible exception of the Egg Hunters.

Overall, I found the writing good, the hooks and ideas very nice, but spread of information between the chapters a bit confusing and the Fizban quotes largely uninspiring and not funny. I also think more world-specific information would have been a great addition.

[Pádraic · Rating 4 out of 5]

As you would expect, a big heaping helping of dragon-related content, most of it very good. The dragonborn subraces make dragonborn already more cool than they already were, basically unfair to everybody else, why not be a dragonborn all the time, I say. The two new subclasses are excellent, turning the monk into a dragon-channelling badass, and the ranger gets the best kind of dog. The new spells, feats, items, etc., are all pretty interesting and thematically appropriate too.

I don't care a great deal for the established lore of any of the 'official' settings, but the resources presented here for running dragons in play are stupidly thorough. There are dragon tables galore, tables for personalities and quirks, tables for bonds and flaws, tables for goals and campaigns, tables for minions and associates, even a name generator, praise be. Pages and pages of useful stuff, even before we get to the statblocks. Most of those are high level, but there's a good spread, and though they're all dragon-related, they're not all dragons per se: there's some undead, some constructs, even an ooze.

A completely single-minded supplement, but if you're on that track, it's got everything you could want. I'm now very taken with the idea of running a souped-up version of Tyranny of Dragons, with the resources here backing it up and expanding it. Perhaps even with a dragon-themed party, now we've got enough draconic subclasses to field at least a small group.

[Francisco · Rating 4 out of 5]

A D&D sourcebook that goes in depth into dragons, dragon lore and dragon-like beings, it's a pretty fun book and a particularly useful one for DMs who want to feature Dragons heavily in their campaigns. Even if you are not creating a world from scratch and are using a pre-made campaign which features dragons (and many do), this book has plenty of ways to flesh out those beings which should always be pretty impactful in a D&D game. They are, after all, half the name of the game.

The Fizban of the title works as a guide through the world of dragons, and he does this by giving comments on the side of the book. If you have read Dragonlance novels you will know Fizban as a seemingly doddering old magician who is, in fact, the Platinum dragon god Bahamut (known as Paladine in Krynn), so he knows a thing or two about dragons, and his droll but knowledgeable commentary is pretty fun to have.

Probably the most impactful introduction in this volume, however, are the neutral Gem Dragons, not evil like the chromatic or good as the metallic dragons, these gem dragons are pretty fascinating beings, mainly interested in knowledge and often standoffish when it comes to the affairs of non-dragons, they add a new dimension to 5th edition (they had been around in previous editions of the game). All in all a pretty good book and a really useful one if you are using dragons to a large extent in your adventures.

[Ross Kitson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd been excited about this book more than any of the other releases last year, and it didn't disappoint. Keeping the theme of something for everyone from 'splat' books like Tasha and Xanathars, but then with a dash of the monster compendiums, we get a curious hybrid.
Although there's a couple of new classes, and Dragon flavoured spells, as well as Dragonborn tweaks, the main chunk of the book is for DMs (which suits me).
There's a magic item section, a section on dragon themes/ personas/ hoards/ encounters/ plot hooks which is table and idea rich. Some great material here, and the evolving of the multiverse theme (they are so heading towards a Planescape book), which I loved (as I may use it to develop Iymrith further after her death in my campaign).
The lair section is well done, although perhaps a touch long, but they make up for it in the bestiary. The gem dragons are so welcome, as are the greatwyrms and expansion of Dragon Turtles. Glad to see mythic levels entering, and also not to see the latest decision to bin spells for actions come in here. There's some wondrous monsters in this section, mixing favourites like beholders and elder brains with dragons.
All together, really pleased with it as a DM who jumped from 1st Ed to 5th. Be good to see more books like these.

[S.M.M. Lindström · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like dragons and you play the 5th edition of Dungeons and Dragons, I recommend this book to you! It's got fun extra options for lairs, lore, feats, magic and lot of fun new creature stats for your campaigns. The gem dragons and the gem based dragonbrons are a personal favorite. They'll be a fun contrast those those similar critters I've got my hands on from Strongholds and Followers.

I'm also happy to see they're going ahead with the promise of discontinuing the "all X creatures have Y alignment", leaving only creatures such as dragons with a suggested/typical alignment. I think most of people who DM and/or play D&D have been ignoring the "all red dragons are Always Evil" rules forever, but it's nice to have that officially acknowledged.

[Ogre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compared to much of WotC's material, this is stellar. New monsters, an update to a lackluster race, two new subclasses that are interesting and not just "throw the idea against the wall and see if it sticks". A few new spells that are thematically fine, but I don't think they were well thought out in a game-balance way. The one thing that's frankly awful is the one thing WotC has usually been doing well and that is the lore behind dragons. It's totally new, goes against much of previous lore in D&D, and isn't really that interesting or useful. A step above what they've been doing, but honestly it's no Volo's or Mordenkainen's.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really fun book of lore for all things draconic: history, classes, subraces, magic, lairs, monsters, etc. Dragons are eponymous ("Dungeons&Dragons, duh) so they get a great treatment in this book. So much information and inspiration! Had I had this book when I ran my first 5e campaign, Hoard of the Dragon Queen, I may have made the dragons a bit more...robust than I did. Live and learn.

[Blaise Birchem · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do I start this review off? How do I put into words, how much I LOVE this book? The plethora of blessings, items, stat blocks and new lore additions are outstanding. This book feels like a love letter to people who love old and new lore for dragons. The hoards dragons protect have new meaning and implications. It sets the stage for well meaning tier 3-4 gameplay for aspiring DMs. If you have time to look into or read this addition to 5th edition, please do yourself a favor and just do it! *insert just do it memes*

[Jamie CULPON · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall this is a beautiful sourcebook with a lot of great ideas for incorporating more dragons into your dungeons and dragons (or other fantasy TTRPG) games. Updated Dragonborn are much nicer than the original version and fit better in the “modern” 5E style of encounter/adventure design than the originals. I’m less convinced the other rules are as useful at the table, but it’s a nice addition for any group that wants to see dragons as dynamic parts of their adventures.

And let’s be honest: that should be most if not all play groups.

[Ian Mathers · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do like dragons, and this does make me want to run a dragon-centric campaign (not least for galaxy brain ideas like "dragons exist on multiple prime material planes and the really powerful ones know and can take advantage of this"), but I appreciate how the way this book demonstrates thinking through how to build out an important powerful monster/NPC are... pretty transferable to your preferred creature with a little ingenuity. Loved all the lairs, loved that we get crystal dragons back, loved most of the magic items/bestiary/class stuff (although when will monks get justice, when).

[Geordie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A guide to all things dragon related for Dungeons and Dragons.

It's not bad, a lot of the item descriptions and adventure ideas were quite clever. The only two problems; some of the concepts (and comedy) are pretty lackluster (but hey, nothing stinks!). Also, being about unrelated dragons and various things draconic, a busy dungeon master could play regular D&D for decades and only use about 10% of this book. A few adventures or adventure ideas that linked together various dragons and dragon factions might have made the hefty investment a little more reasonable.

[Drew Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is impossible to go wrong with dragons in Dungeons and DRAGONS. The lore sections are great for making dragons even cooler than they are and add a lot to their permanence across the worlds. The real standout features of this book are the lair sections and the bestiary. Each dragon type has its lair characterized (often with an accompanying map) and there is a litany of adventure hooks that can be used to create entire adventures around for each type.

[Jon Allanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading through this. Less a rules manual, to me at least, and more a collection of inspirations for games to come. A wide variety of fertile ideas and kernels of story just waiting to be expanded upon. Interesting, and to me rather fitting for a ruleset that's been around for a bit. Not at all necessary for playing, but good fodder if you are building your own worlds and adventures from scratch.

[Jerrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm excited to add the different dragons into the world, but let me tell you... WotC power creep is bullshit. This company is pushing hard for that day where players beg them to release the next edition to 'balance' the game... and they won't just recognize that unbalancing the game is by design. This book for players should be called "Flying, Flight, Fly, you get flying... EVERYONE GETS FLIGHT!!!" Love this game, but F capitalism. F WotC.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is pretty great. Adding new mechanics, fleshing out lore, and otherwise just providing useful inspiration and information from the official mythologies, Fizban's is a great resource for players and DMs who want to do a bit more with dragons in their campaigns. Big fan, and now I want to do a character with draconic influence.

[Daniel Macgregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Provides great supplementary material for a half of the name of D&D (and the other half considering the great focus on dragon lair's that make great dungeons). Highly recommend for DM's, not as much material for players only though there are two new sub classes and some new spells and focus on playable dragon based races (i.e.dragonborn).

[Ali Jon Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was dubious about buying a book just about dragons. I mean, what exactly more is there to say about them? However, I was impressed by the personality details and plot hooks delivered. I've already drafted 3 dragon-based adventures to take my players on. And after all, I guess that's the main thing you want from a D&D source book - Inspiration!