D&D 5E Mike Mearls did an interview for Escapist Magazine and reveals PHB classes, races, and much more

[Giltonio_Santos]

Guys, can we please not argue over which popular thing is secretly not popular?

It's hard, when someone is arguing that Orcus is more popular than Drizz't. Among all things villainous in D&D - and there's plenty of it - I don't know if Orcus would make the cut to the top 10...

 

[jadrax]

It's hard, when someone is arguing that Orcus is more popular than Drizz't. Among all things villainous in D&D - and there's plenty of it - I don't know if Orcus would make the cut to the top 10...

Its odd how D&D seems to really lack any publicly recognizable villains.

Tiamat is probably top of the list, and most of her Brand Marketing was done by the Mesopotamians.

 

[Giltonio_Santos]

Its odd how D&D seems to really lack any publicly recognizable villains.

Tiamat is probably top of the list, and most of her Brand Marketing was done by the Mesopotamians.

And Venger. Let's not forget about Venger, even if I don't know if he's a D&D villain, technically...

 

[Remathilis]

Its odd how D&D seems to really lack any publicly recognizable villains.

Tiamat is probably top of the list, and most of her Brand Marketing was done by the Mesopotamians.

I'm sure Strahd, Lord Soth, Vecna, Lolth, and Takhisis all might question that statement.

I would like to see some more Accerack, King Snurre, Vol, and Bargle the Infamous love though.

 

[am181d]

And Venger. Let's not forget about Venger, even if I don't know if he's a D&D villain, technically...

And Warduke!

 

[am181d]

I'm sure Strahd, Lord Soth, Vecna, Lolth, and Takhisis all might question that statement.

I would like to see some more Accerack, King Snurre, Vol, and Bargle the Infamous love though.

Although, to be fair, Takhisis basically IS Tiamat.

 

[Zaukrie]

Forgotten realms flame wars are as tiresome as edition wars....

 

[the Jester]

I dunno, I won't dismiss a cool organization just because it's tainted by FR cooties. My home games might welcome red wizards and harpers, even if I completely remove them from their contexts. Or even port their contexts over with them, just disentangled from FR. But I am enamored of organizations and D&D has generally second-tier'd them, so that might be personal bias. At any rate, it doesn't seem like something they'll be pushing in the home games.

Well, just because it's FR doesn't mean I won't use it; but FR organizations are pretty tightly woven to the Realms, IME. In addition, I have a persistent campaign setting that I've run since the mid-90s with a flavor and style very different from the sort of Renaissance-fantasy tone of the Realms. Zhentarim, the Cult of the Dragon, the Harpers, the Red Wizards... they're tied pretty tightly to setting elements or conceits that don't work very well in my game.

Which isn't to say that's always true; in a previous era of the campaign, one where the conceits behind Red Wizards were more compatible, I was willing to go for it. And a splash of setting didn't discourage me from picking up e.g. the Forgotten Realms Drow of the Underdark book in 2e, or the 3e FR Monster Manual softback. But usually, the amount of use I get from a Realms product is inversely proportional to how much of the Realms it actually features.

I'll totally agree with a love of organizations in D&D, though, and I am actually going to be using factions heavily in an upcoming urban campaign (probably my first post-playtest 5e game). They'll just be factions that I've mostly designed myself.

 

[Dausuul]

Mystra tried to stop it, got run over and died again, setting up the next Realms-Shattering even coming 2016.

Too true.

If I were going to run a campaign in the Forgotten Realms, I think the plot would be, "Identify and defeat the villain behind the barrage of world-shattering apocalypses."

 

[GX.Sigma]

I think we can all agree that the most important question is:

Will by elf sub-race be able to teleport once per encounter.

Well, since High Elves get one cantrip, all they have to do is add a cantrip that lets you teleport.

...Hmm. Doesn't seem very likely.