RPG Review: D&D: Mythic Odysseys of Theros

Wizards of the Coast takes a second dive into the worlds of Magic: The Gathering with Mythic Odysseys of Theros, the newest supplement to D&D. Set in a Greek-mythology inspired world, Theros is very different than anything we’ve seen in D&D before.

Their previous MTG setting book, Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica showed you a world-city of guilds. Here, the central focus is around the gods of the setting.

In Theros, if something is believed enough, it becomes manifest. The gods themselves are living embodiments of belief, and take a direct role in the world.

Character creation features a whole new mechanism: Supernatural gifts. Each character chooses one, which provides further customization and options. Your character can be both human and Anvilwrought, meaning they are a mechanical being. They could be both a Centaur and Nyxborn, a creature born from the mind of a god. These each grant some major features. They aren’t backgrounds, you’ll still choose those. Instead, if you are an Unscarred, you can take less damage. As an Oracle, you can cast Augury or Divination. Characters in Theros will be a bit more powerful than in other D&D settings, making you feel mythic.

Races available in the setting are Humans, Centaurs (previously seen in Ravnica), Leonin (cat people that are distinctly different than Tabaxi), Minotaurs (also seen in Ravnica), Satyr, and Tritons.

The new subclass options are The Bard College of Eloquence and Paladin Oath of Glory. They are both great new options, and fit really well into the world.

The real core of the book is the gods themselves. There are 15 of them, each generally covering two Cleric Domains, though one covers three, and a few are only a single domain. There’s lots of overlap between them, so it’s not beyond a hero to worship multiple gods and gain piety through them.

Piety is another new mechanic. As you accomplish tasks in alignment with your god, you will steadily gain piety. Displeasing them loses you piety. As it increases, you gain benefits from that god. The chapter on each god gives you information about each, rules for what you gain based on your piety score, as well as myths about those gods, which make great story hooks.

The gazetteer section of the book covers the calendar, the various nations, histories, the realms of the gods and more. It’s well fleshed out, but, i feel, could have used more detail. The problem is, there is so much important content in the book, I wouldn’t want to remove anything to fit more in here. I imagine we’ll get a lot more info provided on DM’s Guild as time goes on.

The chapter on creating adventures is completely chock-full of content. It returns to each god and speaks of them each as villains and challenges for your heroes. What kinds of monsters serve this god? How best could they work as a campaign villain? Each has a temple, shrine or dungeon map, providing you with a ton of locations. I’d have liked to see this chapter combined with the previous chapter on the gods. I’m not sure why it is they’re separated.

There is a new short adventure as well, No Silent Secret, which takes your characters uncovering a mystery surrounding a mask, and venturing to a forgotten temple.

There are a few new magical items and artifacts, thoughnot as many as I’d like. The artifacts of the gods are really cool, and tie into the piety mechanic. these can be given to the heroes for serving as that god’s servant, or perhaps stolen from them, if the heroes are feeling particularly courageous.

The book, in its bestiary, gives a good breakdown of how different Monster Manual monsters fit into the setting, before providing you with 49 new creatures to test your mettle. There are a few mythic monsters here, powerful terrors that are meant to be major plot points in your campaign, even final session bosses.

I really love this new book. There are so many fantastic elements for you to use. I’m a huge fan of the setting, and a huge fan of the Greek-Mythology-adjacent elements. While the Ravnica book didn’t inspire me to start a completely new campaign, this book definitely does. I could see making this my primary setting, and I’m already trying to figure out how to convert the Tyranny of Dragons campaign into this world.

Mythic Odysseys of Theros releases today, July 21st, with an amazing alternative cover available only at your friendly local game store. If you can safely get there, or if they do curbside pickup, I encourage you to support your FLGS.

It is also available as a digital download on D&D Beyond, Fantasy Grounds, and Roll20, which might be your best bet nowadays.

Dice Monkey was sent a copy of Mythic Odysseys of Theros for review.