D&D 5E D&D Lore Changes: Multiversal Focus & Fey Goblins of Prehistory

WotC's Jeremy Crawford revealed a couple of the lore changes in Monsters of the Multiverse.

• The big shift is toward the multiverse as the game's main perspective rather than a specific setting. The game is shifting towards a multiversal focus, with a variety of worlds and settings.
• Universe-spanning mythical story beats, such as deep lore on goblinoids going back to 1st Edition, and the gods they had before Maglubiyet. Prior to Magulbiyet unifying them, goblinoids were folk of the feywild in keeping with 'real-world' folklore.
• Changelings aren't just Eberron, but they've been everywhere -- you just don't necessarily know it. Their origin is also in the realm of the fey.

D&D 5E - A Compilation of all the Race Changes in Monsters of the Multiverse

Over on Reddit, user KingJackel went through the video leak which came out a few days ago and manually compiled a list of all the changes to races in the book. The changes are quite extensive, with only the fairy and harengon remaining unchanged. The book contains 33 races in total, compiled and...

www.enworld.org

 

[Yaarel]

I've been reading through the 2e Complete Book of Elves and it isn't even a fact that the tree shown in this thread is true. It's just a theory.

"If it were true that the elves did originate from one world, it should come as no surprise that they deny it. Having seen what other races have done to their worlds and how many of these worlds are now obliterated, the elves would naturally want to make sure that none of these races would discover and then destroy the elf homeworld.

Conversely, another theory states that elves only learned to live in harmony with their new worlds through the destruction of their original home. This, the critics claim, is the elven shame, and they hide the planet because they don't wish it known that they weren't always as insufferably perfect as they are now."

And then later in the world creation section...

"Maybe they were created as the Story of Creation in Chapter One suggests, from the blood of Corellon Larethian as he battled the evil orc god Gruumsh. Maybe the elves simply sprang from the world and are the true children of the earth. Whatever the truth, the DM must explain the existence of the elves and how they have come to be as they are and where they are today."

So even in the Complete Book of Elves it isn't any sort of established fact that the elves all sprang from one root and spread out. That tree is just another theory as to the origins of elves for the DM to adopt or not.

The possibility of different settings doing their own thing is vital for DM worldbuilding, and tone, and mood, and tropes, and hopes.

One setting might have elves be animistic living sunlight, an other setting might them spring from the blood of a god, an other setting might have them magically-altered transhumans, an other setting might have elves diverge via evolution from humans, an other setting might have them be an alien species. ... And so on.

If 5e is moving toward a Multiverse, then somehow all of these possibilities need to be able to be true simultaneously.

A form of Schrodingers Cat phenomena allows possibilities to exist or to never have existed, depending on the nature of the reality of a particular setting.

When traveling between settings, jumping from one kind of reality to an other, is fine. But reducing imagination by forcing every setting to have the same origin is problematic.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Why do you think WotC is marketing to those people?

It's a serious question. All products are marketed to someone. An RPG is a luxury product. There's no need for it. At what point is there any impetus at all to market to someone who can't afford a 10 dollar meal? I know that's not particularly nice to say, but, it's still the reality.

Well, D&D/TTRPGs is a hobby that people engage with over a long time. Most folks aren’t that broke their whole lives. Statistically, IIRC, most adults who are destitute only stay that way for a couple years or less.

But also, every single person I have ever known that broke still buys luxury items when they have a little extra.

And D&D can be played at many public libraries, and or free if you can get a hand me down computer and download the free Basic Rules.

It’d be hard to make D&D more accessible than it is, without just giving up on making money.

2) The folks I'm talking about generally have to reserve new video games as rare, special treats as well. Do we want them to chose between D&D and the newest, hottest video game? I'm not sure that choice favors D&D.

I’ve been that broke. Rerolling cigarettes from parking lot discards, asking the graveyard shift guy at 7-11 for the food he was gonna throw out, etc. sharing rent with 4 people in a town that isn’t that expensive to live in, hustling to make rent anyway.
D&D is the most accessible folks in that kind of spot that it’s ever been.

I think you are overestimating the amount of long-term value calculations that most folks on a budget make when buying a special treat. Not to mention whether or not D&D is going to appear to be the best value even for those that do. You and I know you can get tons of value out of D&D, but to a new person it's competing with lots of other options. I'd rather not make it a less appealing option, if possible.

New people have a starter set that they can get online for 15$, and a Basic Rules PDF, and probably a game store with pick-up games or a friend who already plays.

To a new person such as you describe, the Starter Set at Target is the actual intro price.

Well, if they don’t access to a public library computer desk with free printing on small prints (for character sheets), or don’t have a smart “Obama-phone” with an internet browser, etc. if they do, the intro price is a little time.

 

[pukunui]

I've been reading through the 2e Complete Book of Elves and it isn't even a fact that the tree shown in this thread is true. It's just a theory.

"If it were true that the elves did originate from one world, it should come as no surprise that they deny it. Having seen what other races have done to their worlds and how many of these worlds are now obliterated, the elves would naturally want to make sure that none of these races would discover and then destroy the elf homeworld.

Conversely, another theory states that elves only learned to live in harmony with their new worlds through the destruction of their original home. This, the critics claim, is the elven shame, and they hide the planet because they don't wish it known that they weren't always as insufferably perfect as they are now."

And then later in the world creation section...

"Maybe they were created as the Story of Creation in Chapter One suggests, from the blood of Corellon Larethian as he battled the evil orc god Gruumsh. Maybe the elves simply sprang from the world and are the true children of the earth. Whatever the truth, the DM must explain the existence of the elves and how they have come to be as they are and where they are today."

So even in the Complete Book of Elves it isn't any sort of established fact that the elves all sprang from one root and spread out. That tree is just another theory as to the origins of elves for the DM to adopt or not.

Fair enough. I remembered the tree but didn’t bother to read the accompanying text before posting the picture.

I shall concede defeat.

 

[MaskedGuy]

Hmm dunno how I like individual settings losing their distinctiveness, but I overall like idea of focus on more of "D&D as multiverse" than as "D&D is forgotten realms".

I guess this also explains why Warforged were in BG 3's files briefly even if they don't make it to game, devs were aware of Wizards' plans

 

[Yaarel]

I like the idea of jumping between settings.

Yet an ongoing concern is, the current multiverse approach risks turning every setting into a Wheel/FR/Planescape setting.

Each universe needs to be able to function differently and to have come into existence differently. Different cosmogonies for different universes. What one knows is true in one universe might turn out to be factually untrue in an other universe.

A universe like Forgotten Realms might have gods create and control everything in that universe. But an other universe might have come into being without any gods at all. And so on.

This cosmic uncertainty principle allows the multiverse to handle any setting, whether FR, or Dark Sun, or Eberron, or Magic The Gathering, or reallife Earth (which is actually canon in novels via visitors to and from our Earth).

The cosmic uncertainty principle also explains the common D&D trope of there being different opinions about the origins of something. How is this even possible? Scholars can use magic to divine a yes-or-no answer to any question. Or timetravel to the where-and-when of the origin in question. Yet, the magic itself taps into the potential realities that are possible, and all of the opined explanations are potentially able to have happened that way, making it difficult to resolve which origin is the one that actually happened. In a way, magic works too well, and thus while enlightening certain question also brings to the answer the uncertainty of infinite possibilities.

 

[Jer]

I guess this also explains why Warforged were in BG 3's files briefly even if they don't make it to game, devs were aware of Wizards' plans

Warforged were very likely in there because Warforged are cool and the devs wanted to have cool character types in their game.

Much more fun than adding yet another kind of elf to the game

 

[Jer]

I like the idea of jumping between settings.

Yet an ongoing concern is, the current multiverse approach risks turning every setting into a Wheel/FR/Planescape setting.

Each universe needs to be able to function differently and to have come into existence differently. Different cosmogonies for different universes. What one knows is true in one universe might turn out to be factually untrue in an other universe.

Back in the day (the old man mumbles) when there was a distinction between AD&D and D&D, the BECMI D&D default setting had a completely different planar setup than the AD&D one. There was no "great wheel" and the Outer Planes were potentially infinite in number in the BECMI default setting. Traveling between the D&D gameworld and the AD&D gameworlds was called out as possible in various sources, involving either a dimensional shift to a parallel world (and a suitable rejiggering of your character into AD&D stats) or planar travel through the Ethereal or Astral planes (depending on the author and honestly I think when in the publication timeline the article or supplement was written).

To me that's D&D. All of the settings are potentially connect if the right handwavium magic is involved. And they're also all distinct and never have to touch each other at all if nobody at the table wants to have a game like that. I could be running a game of cross-dimensional privateers visiting alternate worlds through the Astral Sea at my table, and someone else can run a straight up old school Greyhawk game at their table and our two visions never have to interact at all.

 

[Yaarel]

Back in the day (the old man mumbles) when there was a distinction between AD&D and D&D, the BECMI D&D default setting had a completely different planar setup than the AD&D one. There was no "great wheel" and the Outer Planes were potentially infinite in number in the BECMI default setting. Traveling between the D&D gameworld and the AD&D gameworlds was called out as possible in various sources, involving either a dimensional shift to a parallel world (and a suitable rejiggering of your character into AD&D stats) or planar travel through the Ethereal or Astral planes (depending on the author and honestly I think when in the publication timeline the article or supplement was written).

To me that's D&D. All of the settings are potentially connect if the right handwavium magic is involved. And they're also all distinct and never have to touch each other at all if nobody at the table wants to have a game like that. I could be running a game of cross-dimensional privateers visiting alternate worlds through the Astral Sea at my table, and someone else can run a straight up old school Greyhawk game at their table and our two visions never have to interact at all.

Because the 5e Astral Plane is officially a realm that is made out of thought, I feel it is the correct location where any kind of universe can emerge. This Astral Plane is infinite ... "Imagination is your only limitation". The Wheel and its denizens are only one domain within an infinite sea of possibilities.

By contrast, the Ethereal Plane is part of the forces that form the building blocks of a world. It feels more specific to a particular universe, like Forgotten Realms. So it makes sense that the ether can transport to the elemental planes as well as the spirit world (Fey/Shadow) that echoes the FR material world. But the ethereal makes less sense to travel to other universes, I think.

The Astral Plane is great for imagining and realizing (making real) anywhere.

 

[SehanineMoonbow]

Just watched this video and the one about changes to player races. I haven't been following much D&D news lately, but I happened to come across this.

I have mixed feelings about it make more multiversal. On the one hand, I think it's cool they're exploring the multiverse more, but on the other hand, tying all the races to one origin, rather than keeping their more settings-specific origins, could hamper some variety. I guess I'll have to see how they actually do it.

I wasn't a huge fan of the seemingly random changes MToF made to the elf and drow lore (previously, Arvandor was a reward, not a temporary paradise that souls stay in until they're forced to reincarnate), so I'm a little wary of another Mordenkaien book, but we'll see. While I wasn't happy with the lore changes, the fact that they're actually incorporating the trance and connecting with elven ancestors is kinda cool.
I do wish they would keep racial cultures, though. That's part of the flavor and uniqueness of each race, and in the mythic histories and lore that Crawford referred to, those histories would doubtless create cultures. Of course an individual can grow up in a culture different from their own, but elves, dwarves, halflings, etc, are generally united by at least some cultural traits. I'm not saying they should be monocultures or that every member of a race should be an archetype, but it sounds like they're being reduced to appearance and some special mechanical traits. An elf can be an individual and still be part of elven cultural (and again, using elves as an example, if they're going to be connected to their ancestors, that would doubtless create a racial culture).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

, using elves as an example, if they're going to be connected to their ancestors, that would doubtless create a racial culture).

more likely many racial cultures, and even then environment would be just as informative. Which is why it makes sense that the only common traits are the ones in mmotm