D&D 5E Any fluff from various editions you want to see carried forward in 5e?

Andor · Feb 11, 2012

Whatever fluff they need to give me back my Binders again.

Mechanically it was a cool but slightly sub-par class, but my God was it rp inspiring!

I also loved Totemists but they could be refluffed while Incarnum dies from loneliness and enuui.

Eberron.

Artificers. Probably not returning with the 5e deemphasis on magic bling, but maybe they can be reworked for the new ethos.

Mercule · Feb 11, 2012

I'd like to say "Greyhawk", but I've come to the conclusion that only Gygax could do the setting integration justice. I would love to see the Forgotten Realms exiled even more remotely than Oerth, though. Integration with the Realms would be more likely to turn me off than anything they could do, mechanically.

I think I also prefer the 4e planar landscape more than earlier editions. I'd say cosmology, but I really hated the 4e angels and some similar elements. The Feywild rocks.

Ageless elves. I really liked the 1500 year age span for 1e high elves. Keep the resistance to mind control, too. Most of the 1e racial fluff (for all races) was awesome. This is one area the game has really degraded. Non-humans should be different from humans.

I actually grew to like the dragonborn. Keep them. Tieflings need to go back to their earlier appearance (origin optional), but I'd be okay keeping them as a core race. I'm also okay with the elf/eladrin split -- I always pictured high elves as eladrin, but there are enough people who disagree, it'd be best to keep both.

Limited edition, named demons and devils, as per 1st edition (Marilith and Balor are individual names, not types). Asmodeus is not a god. Demogorgon is the prince of demons.

Remathilis · Feb 11, 2012

Actually, I'd like to see some of the stuff go BACK into their respective settings, rather than get slammed together into the core. Each campaign setting had cool elements to it (Vistani and Strahd in Ravenloft, Sigil and tieflings in Planescape, draconians and death knights in Dragonlance, Warforged and Shifters in Eberron, Mordenkainen and Pelor from Greyhawk etc) that got ripped out of their native homes, run through the setting bleach, and presented in the core devoid of all its original interesting fluff and place. I guess it makes sense to cherry-pick the best from the settings you have, but reducing vistani to "just a gypsy clan (that allows halflings!)" or making warforged just another monster (or PC race) destroys the unique setting elements that they had in there respective worlds...

Mercule · Feb 11, 2012

Remathilis said:
Actually, I'd like to see some of the stuff go BACK into their respective settings, rather than get slammed together into the core. Each campaign setting had cool elements to it (Vistani and Strahd in Ravenloft, Sigil and tieflings in Planescape, draconians and death knights in Dragonlance, Warforged and Shifters in Eberron, Mordenkainen and Pelor from Greyhawk etc) that got ripped out of their native homes, run through the setting bleach, and presented in the core devoid of all its original interesting fluff and place. I guess it makes sense to cherry-pick the best from the settings you have, but reducing vistani to "just a gypsy clan (that allows halflings!)" or making warforged just another monster (or PC race) destroys the unique setting elements that they had in there respective worlds...

Oh, heck yeah. I saw this trend in some of the 4e setting books. Why are there warforged clerics in Dark Sun? Don't know, but at least you can do whatever you want.

grimslade · Feb 11, 2012

Um I would like all of my fluff please. All of it. Why are we relegating some fluff to the darkness? I want Meepo to sell illicit rituals (Cheepo!) outside the Hamlet of Hommlet where I can pry a map to the Isle of Dread from Redgar's corpse.