Preview of Halflings And Gnomes From Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes Surface Online

Over at Polygon they have some interesting preview images from the upcoming Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes from Wizards of the Coast. Among the things that we will see in the new book will be some expansions to halflings and gnomes. The word is that there aren't any major revisions to the races, but that the new content will build upon what is already in the Player's Handbook.

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They say about the book "Tome of Foes is narrated by Mordenkainen, a wizard created by D&D co-creator Gary Gygax for his World of Greyhawk campaign. It will contain lots of new content for the 5th edition, including a lengthy investigation of demons, devils, several kinds of elves and duergar, the infamous dark dwarves."

"Also included in the book will be new tools for building player characters, including halflings and gnomes. Both races of tiny folk were included in the 5th edition Player’s Handbook, which was published in 2014. Tome of Foes doesn’t revise them, but simply adds more depth and color to each race’s backstory."

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The release date for Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes is May 29, 2018.

 

[Yaarel]

Compare head proportions.

In the first image, the head is about half the size of the torso.

In the second image, the head is about 3/4 the size of the torso.

Heh, the first picture looks like the skull is all face and no brain. It seems like adding the forehead and crown, while keeping the same-size face, is what makes the head so big relative to the rest of body.

 

[Aguirre Melchiors]

i really like much more hobbit like halflings than kender like.
i like this art
they are not supposed to be badass, but kinda unlikely heroes

 

[Schmoe]

I love this halfling art style. Someone else put it well, it's like a Norman Rockwell, and I think it does a fantastic job of capturing a certain bucolic ease. I find most fantasy art to be stylistic in one way or another, from spikes everywhere, to cartoon expressions, to weapons that weigh thousands of pounds, so I'm really not turned off by little feet and big heads.

 

[DaishoChikara]

I'm not a fan of the 5e Halfling art, but I find it's as simple for me as mentally replacing it with images of my choosing from the past, and poof, Halfings are just fine again. This is, after all, a game of imagination. If art doesn't inspire you, find different art.

This is not meant to invalidate anyone's feelings, just how I reconcile a beloved race with new art that I'm not fond of, and I hope perhaps my perspective is helpful to some.

 

[Fitz Mac]

Kelanen, and his swords..great hero-deity....

 

[Gradine]

I'm not a huge fan of the big-head halfling art in the PHB (nor do loathe it the way many others do), but I absolutely love this picture. The style is the great, and the proportions just feel much more right; yes the heads are big, but they're not unnaturally so like a lot of the PHB halflings tend to read.

 

[Mistwell]

Grrrr. They kept with the hideous PHB Halfling art style. That is a major turn-off.

Not quite. This is another picture of a Halfling from the book, and I don't think it's the same art style from the PHB:

 

[lall]

I'm not a fan of the 5e Halfling art, but I find it's as simple for me as mentally replacing it with images of my choosing from the past, and poof, Halfings are just fine again. This is, after all, a game of imagination. If art doesn't inspire you, find different art.

This is not meant to invalidate anyone's feelings, just how I reconcile a beloved race with new art that I'm not fond of, and I hope perhaps my perspective is helpful to some.

So long as it doesn’t someday result in a mechanical penalty, I’m okay with this approach. “Other races find you repulsive. You have disadvantage on all Charisma checks with other races. In addition, subtract 10 from the result.”

 

[Blue]

Not quite. This is another picture of a Halfling from the book, and I don't think it's the same art style from the PHB:

That one's better -- you don't have heads larger than torsos.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/10814359/Halflings1.png

 

[Wulffolk]

I like it. It feels like a halfling Norman Rockwell painting his own people.

Is there a way to take XP away from people? ;-)

I absolutely loath and revile the Halfling artwork in 5e. The fact that Gnomes are even mentioned, let alone have artwork devoted to them, is almost enough for me to burn my books. Fahrenheit 451 for the win!

That was another joke. Explanation offered in anticipation of Troll attack.