Along with the Baldur’s Gate: Descent Into Avernus adventure book, Wizards of the Coast has brought forth the usual accessory pack to accompany the book. Combining some recent efforts (the Tomb of Annihilation dice pack and the Maps and Miscellany that accompanied Guilds of Ravnica and Dungeon of the Mad Mage), Descent Into Avernus brings us Dice and Miscellany, a collection of … well, dice and miscellaneous other things.

It is an axiom of the universe that RPG players can never have too many dice, and so Descent Into Avernus brings a full set plus a few extra d6 (I imagine that these are for playing a dice game that comes up during the course of the adventure). The numbers on the dice are a straightforward gold, but the body of the dice are both nicely-textured and of shifting hues of reddish-brown. Matching the dice is the sturdy interior packaging, with both the body and lid designed to be used as dice trays, including a sound-dampening felt (all of the descriptive and legal content is on the outer plastic packaging, so the interior box and lid just sport a D&D logo on one side and the Baldur’s Gate/Bhaal logo on the other).

The miscellany consists of three categories. First, there’s a mini-poster with a map of Avernus on one side (the same one as in the adventure book) and a size comparison chart of various demons and devils on the other. Second, there are about sixteen cards (square, like the box) presenting different types of demons and devils, with an illustration on one side and a write-up from Volo on the other. These write-ups, delivered with Volo’s trademark combination of wit, obliviousness, and sense of self-importance, are rather amusing. Third, there are a couple other cards with random tables (encounters, trinkets, and such). I continue to have little use for random encounter tables, especially since Descent to Avernus is probably best played hopping through the planned encounters at breakneck pace, so these are a bit of a waste for me.

All told, the Descent to Avernus Dice and Miscellany present a handsome set of dice and some cards with amusing text for the DM on one side and a handy visual reference for the players on the other. There isn’t anything you’d ever need in here, so this remains a ‘luxury’ purchase – but I think that’s a good thing, because it’s an optional purchase, not something that you have to go get in order to fully use the book you already bought.

Promotional consideration was provided in the form of a review copy.