How I made Harry Potter D&D

A few years ago I started my Dungeons and Dragons journey. Once I got the hang of stepping into the shoes of a hero in a pre-written world of magic and monsters I started wondering if I could also use it to finally go to other worlds like I had always dreamed of. I remember from a young age I tried throwing Kamehameha’s, tried to get more candy using a Jedi Mind Trick and was sure it was a matter of time before I discovered my X-men superpower. So when I approached D&D as an opportunity to revisit all of those worlds on a whole other level I eagerly jumped at the option. First on my list was stepping into the shoes of Harry Potter and his classmates. I didn’t get a Hogwarts Letter back when I was 11 and I was going to make up for it now. I have made 3 Harry Potter one-shots which you can find for free here. When making those I started with the question: “How can I make the rules of D&D fit the world of Harry Potter?”.

What is D&D?

Dungeons&Dragons is a game in which any action is an option. You can persuade, explore and learn about the world based on the particular skills and abilities of your character. When it comes to combat there are varying creatures to fight using physical weapons and magic.

How does the HP universe match up?

Harry Potter’s magical world begs to be explored. There are ghosts, creatures and magical locations that might reveal their secrets if you have the right skills and knowledge. That lines up perfectly with how you can play a D&D character. The only difference exists in the playable Classes. Obviously physical attackers are not available if you plan on going to Hogwarts. Then I only needed to make a choice if I wanted to change the magic spells and available magic-users to all of those that exist in D&D or limit it to 1 and rewrite all spells and the magic system to the loose one of Harry Potter. I chose to employ the former and did so by providing the following explanation of the change in the world they know and love:

Backstory

Everyone in the world is familiar with the fantastic Harry Potter books. A magical world in which a boy and his friends save the magical community from a great peril, Lord Voldemort. It had adventure, an amazing world, tragedy and our heroes came out on top. That is the version of the story everyone in the world came to know. Everyone knows it because a nosy squib wanted to cash out on the tragedy that overcame the magical community. She wrote down what she read in the Quibbler and Daily Prophet, what she heard from magical friends and family and she embellished the rest. She had a lot wrong though, but Diagon Alley, Hogwarts and magic is obviously real but fairly different than how it was depicted. There are not just wizards in the world but also bards, clerics, druids, sorcerers and warlocks. Each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Although the Hogwarts in the books and movies was fairly accurate to the Hogwarts before the second wizarding war in 1998, a lot has changed since those days. The biggest change is which races are allowed to be taught magic. The magical community has matured and become more accepting of those who were previously classified as “sentient magical beasts” like the Merpeople and Centaurs or the “magical beings” like house elves and goblins.

In short: the books and movies are based on a wrong interpretation of the world and magic actually works like it does in D&D. Different races are also available and all can attend Hogwarts if they pass the tests. So, are you ready to step into the world of Harry Potter and earn your place in Hogwarts? Find out now by playing this Harry Potter D&D one-shot!