Welcome back to the Gallant Goblin! I'm Theo.
"The Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica" is the new campaign setting book for 5th edition D&D.
This is the Icons of the Realms prepainted miniature set that goes along with it.
This contains 44 figures representing the 10 guilds that control this worldwide cityscape of Ravnica,
inspired by Magic: The Gathering.
We're going to open it up, tell you about the guilds, tell you about the miniatures that come along with this,
and hopefully inspire some ideas for your campaign at home.
So let's go ahead and take a look and see what's inside.
The Azorius Senate consists of Ravnica's judges, legislators, and law enforcers.
This guild is mostly lawful neutral.
Their goal is to bring order to chaos, whatever the cost.
They do so by creating and enforcing laws.
They can be a force for good or a Kafka-esque nightmare.
This guild is recommended for those who want to play hard-bitten police officers,
someone who wants to use magic to control enemies,
or people who like to play enchanting wizards, clerics of law, or unbending paladins.
The Precognitive Mage is a rare type of spellcaster who can see glimpses of the future.
They are employed by the Azorius to anticipate the actions of wanted criminals to assist in their arrest.
They may go as far as arresting criminals before they commit a crime.
Precognitive mages aren't necessarily active in the field,
as lawmages provide most of the magical firepower for the law enforcement.
But if engaged in combat, a precognitive mage has a challenge rating of 3.
The one-eyed homunculi crafted by Azorius lawmages
are most often used to perform menial tasks in Azorius buildings.
They use the stat block of a regular homunculus from the Basic Rules
with the modification that they are wingless and thus have no flying speed.
Though not mentioned in the guide book,
there is a notable Azorius homunculus in Magic lore named Fblthp
who made his first appearance in 2013 as a cute creature who had gotten lost in a crowd.
He subsequently featured in a story published on Wizards' website.
As a result he's a bit of a fan favorite, resulting in speculation that he could be a dark horse planeswalker.
Azorius Arresters are typically fighters of any martial archetype
or paladins who've sworn an oath of vengeance.
They're part of the Lyev Column, the Azorius branch dedicated to law enforcement.
They seem themselves as a forge for law and order, fighting crime on the streets and in the halls of power.
They may work a beat stopping petty crime in the city, or work to stop Orzhov extortion,
or root out Dimir spies or hunt down Golgari assassins.
Some may take orders from precognitive mages who receive unpredictable and cryptic visions
of possible future crimes that they have to try to prevent.
Arresters maintain peace by removing threats, real and perceived, and can be indiscriminate in doing so.
This mini can also be used as Lavinia, Steward of the Guildpact,
an Azorius arrester who is deputy to the Living Guildpact.
The sculpt appears to be based on her card art.
Azorius arresters use the stat block of either a veteran or a knight.
Both are from the Basic Rules
with a challenge rating of 3.
The Sphinxes of Judgment
are part of the Azorius Senate
and use hieromancy, the power of law magic, to sit in judgment of criminals and compel truth from them.
They use the stat block of a gynosphinx from the Basic Rules, giving them a challenge rating of 11,
but on top of the gynosphinx's abilities and stats, sphinxes of judgment have 15 wizard spells.
In appearance this miniature could double
for Isperia, the Azorius guildmaster,
but Isperia is a gargantuan-size creature
and this miniature is merely large.
An Archon of the Triumvirate is an
Azorius celestial with a rigid sense of justice
who is ruthless in his pursuit of lawbreakers.
They fly on winged felidar mounts which resemble white lions or Falkor from The Neverending Story.
Archon and mount are almost always together
and if the archon is thrown from the saddle, it can teleport back atop the mount
as a single legendary action.
Archons don't requre food, drink, or sleep.
They are magically able to tell if anyone nearby has broken a law
and they can pacify and charm creatures within 120 feet as well as cast Command and Calm Emotions at will.
They attack with a mighty hammer
and have a challenge rating of 14
which puts them on par with an adult copper dragon.
The Cult of Rakdos is a demon-led hedonistic guild
focusing on entertaining and being entertained.
Death comes for everyone and order will inevitably disintegrate into chaos,
so why not just live life in the moment?
Fulfilling the role of court jester and Jack the Ripper to Ravnican society,
the Cult performs in elaborate, blood-soaked carnivals and is usually chaotic evil.
They are recommended for those who enjoy mayhem,
like playing showy, dramatic characters who are
often the center of attention,
who are drawn to bards or warlocks
or think finding a heroic way to participate in
a demonic cult sounds like a fun challenge.
Cacklers are small demon jesters
from the Rakdos guild.
They are incessantly laughing, even at monstrous, terrible spectacles that can drive others mad.
Some are masters at mimicry and can fool people who roll less than an 11 on an Insight check.
And they can cast
Tasha's Hideous Laughter and Fire Bolt.
They also carry a spiked chain
with which they can attack.
They have a challenge rating of ½.
While the "Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica" does list the ogre from the Basic Rules as a possible creature
for inclusion in the Rakdos guild, many Rakdos ogres wear hooked chains and spikes,
causing immense damage when
the Rakdos bloodlust overcomes them.
As a result, the Ravnica source book also recommends using the ogre chain brute stat block
from Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes,
with a challenge rating of 3,
which seems far more appropriate for this miniature.
These Rakdos ogres help carry and set up
tents and stages.
The Rakdos guild was allowed to exist as a way to channel the impulses
of demons, giants, ogres, and humans into an acceptable direction,
an intention that never fully succeeded.
Rakdos Performers are street artists of various types,
all carrying the message of Rakdos:
"Indulge one's desires."
There are 3 performer types:
blade juggler, fire eater, and high-wire acrobat.
Blade jugglers can make 3 dagger attacks
per turn, melee or ranged
Fire eaters make 2 attacks per turn with a bladed chain
and can also exhale a cone of flame.
And high-wire acrobats make 2 attacks
each turn with a barbed pole
that, upon hit, allows the acrobat to jump 20 feet
without provoking opportunity attacks
All performers have a challenge rating of 1.
The Boros Legion is Ravnica's standing army.
In contrast to the unbendingly lawful, usually neutral Azorius,
Boros consists of usually good, lawful characters.
Filled with righteous zeal, they take up arms to fight corruption and lawlessness,
seeking to build a more just and healthy society.
They are led by angels while noble minotaurs form the backbone of their ranks.
The Guide recommends this guild for players drawn to knights in shining armor,
those who enjoy playing clerics,
paladins, and disciplined fighters,
and those who want to protect the innocent, fight for justice, and smite foes with holy radiance.
Firefists are Boros Legion spellcasters
who buff their allies in combat,
but are formidable soldiers in their own right.
The average Boros legionnaire rarely engages with the Legion's angelic leadership
unless on the front lines of combat
and firefists are often the intermediaries between the angels and the rest of the guild.
Firefists have a challenge rating of 7.
Skyjec Rocs are mounts for the Boros Legion,
allowing their skyknights to fly
alongside the angels who lead the guild.
This particular mini is not sculpted
to allow a mini to fit on the saddle
but there may be space between the wings
to place one there.
The skyknights who ride the rocs carry out reconnaissance missions,
bombard enemies on the ground,
and engage flying foes.
The skyjec roc by itself is capable of 2 attacks per turn,
one with its beak and one with its talons.
It has a challenge rating of 2.
A skyknight has the stat block of a knight from the Basic Rules, which has a challenge rating of 3, mounted on a skyjec roc.
Frontline Medics are Boros Legion healers.
There is no art for this character in the source book
but it appears to be based on a Magic card of the same name
from the Gatecrash set in the Return to Ravnica block.
They are heavily armored with an AC of 20.
Frontline medics use a mix of magical healing and mundane medicine to keep their compatriots alive.
Frontline medics have a challenge rating of ¼.
The Boros Legion believes justice is the highest ideal
and tirelessly fight the forces of corruption and exploitation and lawlessness.
The reckoners serve as the shock troops for the Legion, combining brute force with magic.
They can charge their body with lightning
and unleash it at their foes in offensive and defensive ways.
They're 5th level spellcasters who focus on lightning-based attacks.
They have a challenge rating of 4.
The Orzhov Syndicate is Ravnica's dominant religious institution and bank,
though these days, the Orzhov use piety solely to mask their greed.
For them wealth is the ultimate form of power
and the most senior guild members will cling to their riches long after death,
remaining as ghosts basking in luxury,
heedless of the indebted masses upon whom they've built their penthouses and basilicas.
The Orzhov are usually lawful evil.
The Guide recommends an Orzhov character
for those who want to move through the corrupt underbelly of society
and make respectable people squirm in their presence,
those who enjoy playing fearsome or decadent creatures,
and those who want to strive for wealth, lavish beauty, or both.
Indentured Spirits are creatures who died before they paid off their debts to the Orzhov Syndicate.
They must work for the Syndicate until they pay off their debts, which can require years or even millennia.
They wear black cloaks and a hood to hide their identity
as well as chains around their arms and chest to indicate their servitude.
They may be indebted to a deathpact angel specifically,
in which case they may earn their release by sacrificing themselves to return the angel to life
if it ever falls in combat.
Or the spirit may belong generally to the Syndicate.
Indentured spirits have a challenge rating of 1.
Blood Drinker Vampires prowl alleys and sewers,
preferring to strike those who have wandered from the city's crowds.
While not exclusively tied to the Orzhov Syndicate like mind drinker vampires [are to House Dimir]
they tend to join the Orzhov so they can demand blood as tithes or payments from debtors.
Once they drink a victim's blood, they can exert some amount of magical influence over them.
Blood drinker vampires are armed with rapiers and have a challenge rating of 8.
Orzhov Advokists are lawyers.
They find loopholes in the law for the Syndicate to exploit.
They use the stat block of a mage from the Basic Rules,
though you can supplement their spell list with Orzhov guild spells
such as Friends, Illusory Script, Command, and Zone of Truth.
A mage has a challenge rating of 6.
The Orzhov Syndicate attracts and entraps beings of all kinds
from lowly bats and manufactured thrulls to brutal giants and exalted angels.
Orzhov gargoyles, animated by magic that manifests as a green, smokey glow in their eyes and gaping mouths,
keep watch over banks and basilicas.
A gargoyle has a challenge rating of 2 and is found in the Basic Rules.
Deathpact Angels are lawful evil celestials who belong to the Orzhov Syndicate,
which embodies corruption and decadence.
The Syndicate takes advantage of angels when they begin to question
their devotion to the cause of good and justice,
offering them status, respect, and power to join and become corrupted.
Deathpact angels pose as benevolent gods
who accept petitioners asking for health, prestige, wealth, and other gifts.
Believing themselves generous, they attempt to fulfill requests using their abilities and accumulated wealth
but they do not do so out of the good of their soul
but in an effort to build a following of fanatical supplicants.
Those who accept the gifts incur a debt that is rarely paid off, even in death,
when the petitioner must continue to serve the deathpact angel as indentured spirits.
The deathpact angel has a number of enchantments and other spells at its disposal and is resistant to magic
It can attack with its scythe and can exact a steep physical toll on anyone under its sway.
Deathpact angels have a challenge rating of 14, which puts them on par with adult black dragons.
There are not many giants among the Orzhov Syndicate
but those who join act as guards, executioners, and thugs,
serving as the mafia-like guild's muscle.
It is a large creature who can pick a single target as its focus,
adding a d4 to its attack roll against that target.
It makes 2 greataxe attacks per turn and rolls damage 3 times instead of twice on a critical.
It can also throw a rock if it needs to make a ranged attack.
The Orzhov giant has a challenge rating of 6.
The Selesnya Conclave is a nature-based guild
seeking to create a harmonious union between nature and civilization.
Their philosophy is reminiscent of Gaianism
where people are an extension of Mother Nature.
Though Selesnyans take a long view of life,
they are not above violence and believe they must maintain a standing army to protect themselves
from the destruction wrought by other guilds.
They are usually neutral good.
This guild is good for players who like playing a part  in a huge, peaceful community,
who like playing druids, rangers, or spiritual monks,
who believe in victory through respectful teamwork, overwhelming numbers, or both,
players who want a spiritual connection to something bigger than just their own character.
The Selesnya Conclave is a nature-based guild which makes them a natural fit for druids.
This mini appears intended as a player character or generic NPC
as there is no specific entry for a "Selesnya Druid" in the guide book.
The Selesnya-themed player mini in the Starter Set is a loxodon cleric
which is sufficiently different in appearance that they may have been inspired to create a second player option
for those who are less elephantine-inclined.
A druid NPC from the Basic Rules has a challenge rating of 2.
Dryads serve as visionaries and spiritual intermediaries for the Selesnya Conclave,
believing they are attuned to Mat'Selesnya, the Soul of the World.
Though not depicted in this mini, they lead their guild into battle riding magically summoned mounts
woven from living plants and imbued with fey spirits.
The mount would use an elk stat block from the Monster Manual except it's a plant
and has intelligence of 6 and it understands but can't speak Sylvan.
Dryads can multiattack with a vine staff or longbow.
They can also suppress all magical properties of any non-artifact item for 10 minutes.
They are magic resistant and have innate spellcasting abilities.
Conclave dryads have a challenge rating of 9.
In the Ravnica source book, the Ledev Guardian is given the stats of a knight mounted on a dire wolf,
both from the Basic Rules.
The Ledev order defended the roads from before the time of the original Guildpact
and were slowly absorbed into the Selesnyan Conclave.
They share a deep bond with their intelligent wolves
to the point where people might think they have a telepathic bond, though they don't.
Of late, rather than being an independent paladin order seeking to resolve injustices and protect travelers,
the Ledev have become more guards and soldiers for Selesnyan officials,
leaving members concerned their order may lose its identity altogether.
There is no specific stat block or reference to a Selesnya Healer
though healing is a core part of the Selesnya's identity.
This can easily be a player character mini
but it appears to be based on the art for an elf priest named Emmara Tandris
who is committed to pursuing peace between the guilds.
Emmara plays an active role in her community
and she has many non-Selesnya friends aside from the [Living] Guildpact.
One of the most active advocates of cooperation among the guilds,
she is relying on personal connections with members of other guilds to help that effort.
[For alternate uses of this mini's appearance] The stat block of the horncaller may be most appropriate.
The horncallers are specialized shamans
who use their magic to call wild beasts to fight alongside Selesnya troops.
In quieter times they tend the animals associated with Selesnya enclaves and parks.
The horncaller has a challenge rating of 1.
Trostani is composed of three dryads,
sisters whose bodies are connected to a central trunk.
They communicate the will of the World Soul with one voice but retain their distinct personalities.
Of late the three have been in conflict about how to respond to the changes sweeping Ravnica.
Despite having no legs, Trostani can move 30 feet each turn
and can also teleport between large-sized trees.
She is an innate spellcaster focusing on druidic spells
and can command trees and plants nearby to grasp and attack hostile creatures.
She is also able to suppress the magical qualities of items she can see.
Trostani has a challenge rating of 18, which puts her on par with a demilich or Yan-C-Bin.
House Dimir is for those who suck...
...literally—this guild is filled with vampires.
Dimir maintains an official front as messengers and reporters
but they are actually a secretive guild of spies and assassins
who seek to infiltrate and undermine the other guilds to seize power
and for them, knowledge is the ultimate power.
They have no scruples, willing to assassinate and wipe the minds of their own members
if it advances their goals.
This is usually a true neutral though sometimes evil guild.
Players are directed toward Dimir if they love subterfuge, intrigue, and deception
and like to play rogues, spies, and assassins.
There is a special place here for those who want to steal thoughts instead of treasure
and Dimir characters can deceive fellow players without necessarily betraying them.
House Dimir, the secretive guild of assassins and spies, was founded by the first of the Mind Drinker Vampires.
They're regular vampires who, upon joining House Dimir,
learn to siphon mental energy and memories from their victims.
If they ever leave the guild they are mercilessly hunted down.
They're often the leader of a cell of Dimir agents
but monitor their subordinates with deep suspicion.
Mind drinker vampires have a challenge rating of 4.
The Duskmantle Assassin is a generic NPC for House Dimir.
Duskmantle is the guild hall for House Dimir.
The original hall was lost when Dimir's founder died
but it was recreated elsewhere in Ravnica's undercity by Dimir's new guildmaster, Lazav.
It is shielded with potent energy wards.
The Duskmantle assassin uses the same stat block as an assassin from the Basic Rules
and has a challenge rating of 8.
Lazav is a shapechanger,
allowing him to take on disguises and gather information in ways no other Dimir agent can rival.
His true form is unknown, though he may be a doppelganger.
He is a medium-sized creature with legendary actions.
No attack role can have advantage on him unless he is incapacitated.
He is armed with a shortsword and is an innate spellcaster.
He can transform himself into a number of nightmarish creatures
and lash out to anyone around him, doing different types of damage.
He has a challenge rating of 17, putting him on par with an adult red dragon.
The Nightveil Specters of Ravnica
are hooded, undead Dimir agents that ride flying creatures called gloamwings.
Their responsibilities include keeping people away from Dimir meetings
and tracking and killing those who trespass onto Dimir property or activities.
They have limited sentience as they are created from people whose minds are wiped.
If a specter's gloamwing is killed, it becomes fixated on destroying those responsible.
It can create a new gloamwing over the course of a month, during which time the specter is incapacitated.
It can erase up to 1 hour of memory from an incapacitated foe.
The Nightveil specter has a challenge rating of 10
while the gloamwing has a challenge rating of 8.
Over 10,000 years ago the Gruul guild was entrusted with protecting Ravnica's wild spaces
but as the city encroached on nature over the years, the Gruul became a collection of barbaric, warring clans
living by the doctrine of survival of the fittest.
They haunt alleyways and abandoned areas of Ravnica
as well as a series of ruins called the rubblebelt
where nature has begun to reclaim parts of the city.
Gruul characters are usually chaotic neutral.
The Guide recommends this guild for players who enjoy playing rage-mad barbarians and savage druids,
those who want to throw off the shackles of civilization and indulge their inner beast,
and those who enjoy playing a force of chaos who keeps things moving.
Rubblebelt Stalkers are scouts and skirmishers for the Gruul clans.
They excel at moving over difficult terrain and favor ambushes over direct confrontation.
They have special abilities in combat.
As an ambusher they have advantage on attack roles in the first round of combat
against any creature that hasn't taken a turn yet.
They can disengage or hide as a bonus action each turn
and they have advantage on stealth checks to hide in ruins
and their speed is not reduced in difficult terrain composed of rubble.
Rubblebelt stalkers have a challenge rating of ½.
Druids of the Old Ways maintain ancient Gruul traditions and are devoted to animal gods.
They are normally led by Nikya, a centaur druid
who is a rival to Borborygmos for influence amongst the Gruul clans.
They believe in a coming apocalypse called the End-Raze
when the boar god, Ilharg, will trample Ravnica's buildings to rubble
and allow the world to revert to nature and savagery.
Druids of the Old Ways act as 12th level spellcasters
and can manipulate plants as well as conjure animals and elementals.
They also make melee attacks with a quarterstaff and have a challenge rating of 7.
Ogres are a common sight amongst the Gruul clans
along with hill giants, stone giants, cyclopses, ettins, and fomorians.
One clan, the Bolrac, consists entirely of such giants.
There isn't anything notable about the Gruul ogre in the source book
and they use the standard ogre stat block from the Basic Rules, giving them a challenge rating of 2.
However it's worth noting that if you're willing to cover this miniature's eyes with a single googly eye
it would be a decent stand-in for Borborygmos, the cyclops Gruul guildmaster.
Apart from the extra eye and being large rather than a huge miniature,
this ogre otherwise very closely resembles Borborygmos down to his helm, outfit, and the weapons he's wielding.
Anarchs are the rank and file members of the Gruul clans.
They hate civilization and want to tear it all down.
They scavenge their belongings, from armor to weapons, and are a common sight in the rubblebelts.
They are extremely aggressive, able to use their bonus action to double their speed
and they can double their damage against objects and structures.
Gruul anarchs have a challenge rating of ¼.
Gruul Anarch is also one of the new player backgrounds available in the source book.
With this background you can become intimately familiar with the rubblebelt
and are able to find food, water, and shelter there for your party.
The Simic Combine is the guild responsible for maintaining public health.
Like Selesnyans, they have a vision of nature and civilization coexisting in harmony,
but the Simic take active measures in achieving their goals,
performing biological experiments to make what they perceive as improvements to existing life forms.
In that sense they have quite a bit of Izzet in their identity
though their labs tend to see less explosions and more tentacles.
This guild tends to be true neutral
and is recommended for players who are drawn to the image of mad scientists
tinkering with the fundamental forces life,
who like playing curious wizards, druids,
or mutants—though think less Wolverine and more Leela from Futurama.
They're also good for players who enjoy prying into secrets and mysteries
or who want to make the world a better place through research.
Simic Hybrids are soldiers created by the Guardian Project,
an initiative undertaken by the Simic to defend themselves from interguild conflict
which they believe will escalate into existential crisis.
Hybrids are also called guardians
and are created from human, vedalken, and elf guild members who volunteer to be transformed.
There are stat blocks for 5 different types of hybrids.
Hybrid spies have a challenge rating of ½.
Hybrid shockers and poisoners have a challenge rating of 1
and hybrid brutes and flyers have a challenge rating of 2.
The Simic Hybrid is also a playable race with various animal enhancements
like the ability to glide, climb, or breathe underwater.
The Category 1 Krasis is a medium-size creature, making it the smallest of the 3 categories of krasis.
They are creations of the Simic Combine,
formed by combining aspects of multiple organisms.
Some are unique and can't reproduce
while those that can may be assimilated into the guild's menagerie.
GMs can create a krasis by rolling on 2 tables:
Major Adaptations and Minor Adaptations.
Those determine key features of the krasis
while the category determines its power.
The krasis depicted here is specifically a shambleshark, which is a shark-crab hybrid
but a medium—or category 1—krasis can be any combination of creatures.
All krasis can breathe air and water.
A category 1 krasis has a challenge rating of 1.
The Category 2 Krasis is a large-size creature.
A krasis is formed from combining a major adaptation and a minor adaptation.
The one depicted here is a crocanura, which is a crocodile-frog with leaping legs and armored hide.
Other combinations can give you acidic skin, flight, regeneration, heightened awareness,
among many other abilities.
The large category 2 krasis has a challenge rating of 6.
The Golgari Swarm is in charge of managing Ravnica's agriculture and waste
but their focus on necromancy led them to embrace death as part of nature's cycle.
They are pragmatic above all else
and a natural home for the downtrodden seeking basic subsistence.
However, they believe that by embracing the unsavory aspects of nature
and gathering strength in their numbers,
they can emerge from beneath the streets to claim their time in the sun.
The Golgari are usually true neutral or neutral evil.
The Guide says that Golgari is for those drawn to the darker side of nature
or the greener side of necromancy.
Also for those who like sinister, creepy, or grim characters
and people who like to play elves and druids but want to explore them in an unusual direction.
Fungus Drudges are created by the regional effects of a Golgari lair.
The Golgari and Rakdos guilds have a unique mechanic where they can turn their territory into a lair
if they have at least 6 guild members present and that group consists of at least 1 of the correct type of NPC.
In the Golgari's case the group must contain Jarad, their guildmaster, or
at least 1 shaman, kraul death priest, undercity medusa, or Devkarin lich.
The lair is infested with mosses and strange fungi.
Whenever a small or medium humanoid dies within the lair
a die must be rolled and on an odd number, the body rises as a fungus drudge.
The fungus drudge survives for 1d8 hours unless killed before then
and has a stat block of a zombie from the Monster Manual with a challenge rating of ¼.
Kraul are a six-legged insect species that is gaining power within the Golgari swarm.
They have their own language and a caste-based society.
Kraul warriors normally do not have wings but can spider climb.
They utilize pack tactics and attack with spears that can be used in melee or thrown.
Winged kraul warriors use the same stat block as a regular kraul warrior but have a flying speed of 40.
Their wings give them a higher status among the kraul soldiers
and they serve as Golgari scouts and shock troops.
All kraul warriors have a challenge rating of ½.
Jarad Vod Savo is the guildmaster of the Golgari Swarm.
He was an accomplished archer and hunter in life and the brother of the previous guildmaster.
He trained as a necromancer so he could rise as a lich after sacrificing himself
to save his son from a Rakdos sacrifice.
He's a powerful lich with a large number of assassins, guards, and soldiers of various kinds under his control.
He's a legendary monster with legendary actions and resistances.
He's a 14th level spellcaster focusing, obviously, on necromancy.
As a lich he doesn't need air, food, drink, or sleep.
He has a challenge rating of 22, which puts him on par with an ancient green dragon.
Note that this mini can also be used as a Devkarin lich, which is another legendary Golgari undead creature
with a challenge rating of 14.
Undercity Gorgons, also known as medusas,
have the ability to petrify living creatures into stone with their gaze.
This power gives them significant influence amongst the Golgari Swarm
allowing many to rise to positions of leadership.
Gorgons are innate spellcasters with magic resistance.
One such gorgon is Ludmilla, the Tunnel Viper.
She is the last surviving member of the Sisters of Stone Death,
the trio of power-hungry medusas who slew Svogthir, the original guildmaster of the Golgari Swarm.
Ludmilla no longer has the collective power of her medusa sisters
so she's forced to lurk in Ravnica's undercity surrounded by hundreds of her petrified victims.
She dreams of one day reclaiming control of the Golgari Swarm
or at least causing pain to its current guildmaster, Jarad Vod Savo
whose own sister displaced the medusas from their position.
Undercity gorgons have a challenge rating of 6.
The kraul are an ascendant power group within the Golgari Swarm.
Long content to linger in the margins of the undercity
but now increasingly making their buzzing voices heard throughout the subterranean Golgari guildhall.
These six-legged insectile beings are hard-headed and literal-minded
with little grasp of metaphor or nuance.
The death priests occupy the highest role in kraul society.
They lead the buzzing chants of the kraul rites.
Their inscrutable clicks and buzzing can summon crippling necromantic magic
and the presence of death seems to fortify them.
They draw power from the defeat of their enemies and channel it to their followers
ensuring the continuation of the cycle.
The current leader of the death priests is Mazirek
and it's his card art that inspired this mini.
The death priest has a challenge rating of 4.
The Izzet League is a guild of mad scientists and tinkerers.
They're responsible for the astounding public works that support the city
giving Ravnica all manner of modern amenities.
However, they also like to experiment and don't mind when a day's work ends in a huge explosion.
The Izzet are usually chaotic neutral.
They are for players who like to make things happen without worrying about the consequences,
who are drawn to wild magic and dangerous explosions,
who want to be innovative geniuses
and who relish the madcap high jinks of goblins.
Weirds are the products of Izzet League experiments combining 2 opposing elemental types.
The goal was to create more stable elementals
but instead, weirds are even less predictable than standard elementals.
Nevertheless they are used as guardians and will fight on their creator's behalf.
Blistercoil weirds are formed from water and molten rock.
They can absorb magical fire attacks and grow in size [from being hit].
If one starts its turn at gargantuan size, it will release the energy it has absorbed in an explosion
damaging anyone nearby.
It also sheds bright light, can squeeze through narrow places,
and deals fire damage to creatures who are near it or touch it with a melee attack.
The blistercoil weird has a challenge rating of 4.
The Arclight Phoenix resembles a bird of prey made of electrical energy.
These beings were created during Izzet laboratory mishaps.
It is not particularly graceful or majestic
but moves rapidly in a lightning form with a flying speed of 120 feet.
It doesn't require air, food, drink or sleep
and when it dies, it explodes and leaves behind an egg
from which a new arclight phoenix will hatch if the egg is exposed to certain lightning or arcane energy.
It has a challenge rating of 12.
Blastseekers are Izzet guild members who test the devices their chemists invent
with their name indicating their affinity for explosions.
There are 4 types of blastseekers:
cosmotronic, counterflux, flux, and galvanic.
The galvanic blastseeker is
an unpredictable lightning-based spellcaster
who can just as easily electrocute
himself rather than his foes.
The cosmotronic blastseeker is an empowered spellcaster armed with a warhammer.
The flux blastseeker has fire- and cold-based spells
and an unpredictable teleport effect.
The counterflux blastseeker has access to several abjuration spells, among others,
and can create a dome around himself that either makes him and his group more, or less, susceptible to magic
depending on the dice roll.
The blastseekers have a challenge rating from between 2 to 5.
The following creatures aren't associated with a guild.
Many citizens choose not to join a guild,
some because they can't be bothered
and others because they have philosophical objections to the very idea of guilds.
The so-called guildless are especially common in areas that might be considered rural
but even in the city's heart some guildless citizens actively oppose the influence of the guilds,
blaming the world's strife and suffering on an elite hierarchy
that seeks to take control, consolidate wealth, and fragment a populace against itself.
About half the population of Ravnica is guildless.
I couldn't find a Wind Drake in any of the D&D source books, including the Ravnica setting.
The mini appears to be inspired by the Wind Drake Magic: The Gathering card
from the Gatecrash set in the Return to Ravnica block
which chronologically takes place right before "The Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica" setting book time period.
I would recommend using the stat block of one of the dragon wyrmlings depending on
which elemental breath attack you would like it to have.
The dragon wyrmlings have a challenge rating of between 2 and 4.
Krenko is a character in the intro adventure module in the "Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica" book.
He has a challenge rating of 1 and is able to redirect attacks against himself to another goblin.
He's armed with a scimitar and a shortbow and can attack twice with a scimitar.
Bonus fact: he's famous in Magic: The Gathering for being the centerpiece of a style of deck
focusing on aggressively swarming your opponent with goblins.
What we had here was a case of minis.
A case is made of 4 bricks and a brick is made of 8 booster boxes.
Each [booster] box contains 4 miniatures.
In any given brick you're supposed to receive 3 rare minis.
If you purchase a case, you should get 3 different rare minis in each brick, giving you the full set.
Now if you're going to get a full set it's important to get the particular 4 bricks that comprise the case.
You can't just buy any 4 random bricks.
The way to be sure you have a full case is to look for it to arrive in its original packaging
which looks like this.
It will have printing like this designating which set the case is from
and it'll be sealed with WizKids tape.
The bricks inside are not wrapped together so once they are out of the box, you have no way to tell
which 4 comprised the original case
so if you're ordering a case from a local game store, be sure to specify that you want an unopened box.
When compared to older sets, this one seems to be more refined.
More dynamic poses and better paint jobs.
One did arrive detached from its base and had to be re-glued.
The Nightveil specter lost his head and cape as we were moving them around so that had to be reattached.
A few were a bit bent, including the Jarad mini because apparently he skipped leg day—
his thin legs bend very easily.
The left wing on the deathpact angels was bent inward at varying degrees.
These issues are fairly easily fixed by placing the minis in hot water, reshaping them,
and then placing them in ice water to reset.
The choice of what to include was interesting.
There was a good cross section of Ravnican creatures
and many of the chosen creatures can still be appropriated for other 5th edition campaign settings
if you have no interest in running your game in Ravnica.
Notable exclusions include good-aligned angels,
some of the larger insectoid-like horrors,
some of the more creative Izzet creations like the fluxcharger and the galvanic weird.
No thrulls were included though you could potentially substitute a homunculus or a gargoyle mini for them.
It's also a shame that no huge or gargantuan creatures aside from Niv-Mizzet, the premium figure, were included in this set.
The skyswimmer and the various wurms would've been fun to see.
If a full, official adventure is released for the campaign setting sometime down the line
we'll likely get another set of minis to fill in some of these gaps.
Speaking of gaps, some guilds were better represented than others.
Here's a list of minis by guild.
Notably the Simic and the Rakdos guilds only got 3 minis apiece.
Izzet is represented by 4 if you include Niv-Mizzet, the premium figure.
By contrast, Orzhov received 6 minis.
In the past few Icons of the Realms sets, there have been 8 large uncommons
but in this set there is 1 fewer large uncommon—it was replaced by a medium.
So because there are only 7 large uncommons and 1 large figure is promised in every box,
for all intents and purposes, it makes the large uncommons into commons.
For us that meant we got 5 Ledev guardians and 5 Orzhov giants.
Also this set does not include variants.
In previous sets for certain creatures you may have an "A" and a "B" variant for a single numbered creature.
The variant would be essentially the same mini but holding a different weapon
or maybe painted a different color.
It added some variety to the set.
The downside was when they had variants but didn't classify them as [e.g.] "12a" and "12b"
but rather gave each mini its own number.
For example, in Dragon Heist, both numbers 2 and 15 were darklings.
They were the same except one was slightly greener and had a dagger in his offhand.
So we ended up with a ton of darklings.
So in the Ravnica set, all of one mini looks exactly the same
but there are overall more unique creatures than in previous sets.
They included 4 out of the 10 named guildmasters.
For the ones they left out
the Azorius Senate guildmaster is Isperia, a gargantuan sphinx.
This set doesn't include huge or larger figures
but it does include a sphinx that can double for her.
The Boros Legion guildmaster is Aurelia,
a pretty standard-looking angel so you could probably substitute another angel or aasimar mini for her.
The Gruul Clans guildmaster is Borborygmos, a huge cyclops.
In a pinch you could use a cyclops from Monster Menagerie III for him
though he's a little underdressed.
The Orzhov Syndicate is led by a ghost council called the Obzedat
so you can use any number of ghost or invisible creature minis.
The Cult of Rakdos is led by a huge, demonic fiend.
The closest recent possible substitute would be the Pit Fiend from the Dragon Heist set.
The Simic Combine is led by Prime Speaker Zegana, a merfolk.
She could've been a very cool mini based on the art in the book.
If another set comes out in the future I think she should be at the top of the list to be included.
It's hard to find a substitute for her.
There was a merfolk in Monster Menagerie 1 and a merrow in the Tomb of Annihilation set
but they don't really do her justice.
The setting book cuts out planeswalkers pretty much altogether
as they would've been considered overpowered for the street level stories that the Guide is meant to support.
And there are no named planeswalkers in the miniature set either.
But there are 3 planeswalkers who are native to Ravnica
and who are major members of their guilds.
All 3 managed to sneak their way into this miniature set.
All 3 are rares and appear to be based on their art from Magic: The Gathering.
Vraska is a gorgon assassin of the Golgari guild
who eventually becomes guildmaster of the Golgari.
She's a vigilante who fights for the downtrodden
and brings death to the powerful in forms befitting the crimes they committed.
The undercity gorgon is based on her art
as she appears to be the only gorgon in Magic with the red stripes in her hair.
Domri Rade is a Gruul beastmaster who earned the respect of Borborygmos himself
after driving the Orzhov Syndicate out from an attempted incursion into the rubblebelt.
The Gruul anarch is based on his art.
Ral [actually pronounced like "gal"] Zarek
is a major faction leader in the Izzet guild and is as key to most of the Izzet storylines in Magic as Niv-Mizzet is.
He was integral to Jace becoming the Living Guildpact
and despite being a planeswalker, consistently stays in Ravnica
and so is not absent for long periods of time like other planeswalkers.
The galvanic blastseeker is based on his art.
There you have it.
We're going to be making 2 more videos to complete this set.
One that shows you the premium figure for the set, Niv-Mizzet, who is the guildmaster for the Izzet League.
We're also going to make a video about the 2 starter sets that they came out with.
Each one has 5 characters for 10 minis [total]
and they represent 1 from every guild so you have player character choices.
If you'd like to see those videos when they come out, you can click the "i" in the corner of the screen
and see them there.
Also if you want to subscribe to the channel, you can click the little bell down by the subscribe button
and get notifications when our videos go live.
Also if you'd like, you can follow us on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook where we
have conversations about some of the products,
we show behind the scenes pictures and teases of what's to come.
We're going to be making full set videos for other Icons of the Realms sets and maybe something different
sometime soon, so if you want to watch those, please subscribe.
Otherwise we hope to hear your feedback as well.
If you have ideas for future videos,
if you have extra lore for some of these minis that we didn't share in this video and you'd like to share with us,
please leave some comments down below.
And otherwise we hope you're doing well and we'll see you next time on the Gallant Goblin!
