Did we get our first look at the new Forgotten Realms...?

[Gorgoroth]

yeah me 2

Double bladed battle axes have been my favorite since Golden Axe. It's hardwired into me. I just can't shake it.

Give me two blades, a riding dinosaur, and golden hair too, and a cool rolling dwarf "spring attack"-esque combat talent, and I will love 5e long time.

Also, if it makes sense to have the second blade just there for when the first gets dull during long work days to flip over before you have time to sharpen it again, why is that not "doubly" valid for having that sharp spare edge for especially long combat days? I'm not saying it makes sense mechanically, heck it probably doesn't even swing well, balance-wise. But...Rule of Cool(tm), man, Rule....of....cool. Thank you.

 

[MortalPlague]

I don't care what culture they're from, a soldier who doesn't have weapons and armor is a dead man. That's my objection, not how they're dressed generally (which I think is pretty cool in that respect).

Yes.

There seems to be a misunderstanding here.

The drawings of the people from the article? Those aren't the town guards. Those are the average people of that culture; the merchants, the peasants, the tradespeople. Those drawings were done up as an example of "this is what this culture looks like". That's why they have no weapons and armor.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Didn't care for their Orc either. But the thing that really caught my attention was the fact that he didn't bother to follow his own directions. Of the half dozen illustrations for a town guard or soldier only one had a real weapon, and none had any armor at all. (In this case I'm not counting what are probably magic staffs as 'real' weapons. YMMV.)

I don't care what culture they're from, a soldier who doesn't have weapons and armor is a dead man. That's my objection, not how they're dressed generally (which I think is pretty cool in that respect). And it was also possible, sometimes, to tell a soldier's culture by his armor and weapons, too. (Few would mistake a Roman legion for a Greek phalanx.)

Check out the article again - the *test* is to create a town guard or soldier, *based on the townspeople references provided*.

This article is posing the question, not giving the answer if that helps make the point of it clearer.

Cheers

 

[Derren]

It's a fantasy game, I know. I wouldn't use a realism argument like realistic = better. It's an aesthetic choice. I prefer realistic-looking weapons aesthetically, because I think overlarge fantasy weapons at this point are a cliche with no real impact anymore anyways. I'm not some kind of weapon expert or medieval reenactor either. I really just think they look better.

I also think the club things are not very cool-looking. The one on the left kinda looks like a plunger.

I agree with the aesthetics.
Sadly oversized, unpractical weapons have been used so long in fantasy that it is pretty much impossible to remove them as the people don't even know how real weapons look like and would be disappointed by them looking so tiny.

There is no escape from the "Rule of Cool" (Oh how I hate it. Why does "cool" have to be oversized, unpractical and silly?)

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Check out the article again - the *test* is to create a town guard or soldier, *based on the townspeople references provided*.

This article is posing the question, not giving the answer if that helps make the point of it clearer.

Cheers

Yes it does. I seem to have missed that part entirely.

 

[Grimmjow]

i don't think forgotten realms is the fun one, i like eberron and dark sun much better but odds are the forgotten realms will be the first one