D&D 5E Xanathar's Guide to Everything -- new mechanical expansion/UA book! -- November 10 with a limited-edition cover by Hydro74

[Shasarak]

The map? No changes.

There have been changes to the maps already depending which book you buy so how exactly is that "no changes"

If I get a 2e Planescape books and a 4e Planes book, whoops plenty of changes there.

I could go on and on without even mentioned the actual important stuff that differentiates settings from each other but really a Warforged is just the same as a Half-Giant is the same as a Dragonborn, right?

Sure no changes, you guys crack me up.

 

[Azzy]

I could go on and on without even mentioned the actual important stuff that differentiates settings from each other but really a Warforged is just the same as a Half-Giant is the same as a Dragonborn, right?

I guess you missed this:

You do realize I was talking about history and not mechanics, right? I mean, if you didn't read further back in the thread and were just reacting to my very last post, I can understand why you might not have picked up on the subtleties of the conversation. Where the point was that a single book that gave the necessary game mechanics for running games in each the various settings with maybe a small section on basic information on these settings was all that was really going to be made available in this day and age of WotC publishing. And that the thing we weren't going to get is a 300+ page tome for each and every setting because that's just 90% a photocopy of information already available on DMs Guild. You got all that, right?

 

[Shasarak]

I guess you missed this:

I dont know if you listen to the Dragon Talk podcast because Chris Perkins specifically talks about things that the team have changed or adapted or even reinvented (like Demon Gnolls for a popular example) to make them "more DnD" while quietly ignoring the crap stuff.

So other then the stuff that is different, exactly the same.

 

[Jester David]

There have been changes to the maps already depending which book you buy so how exactly is that "no changes"

In Eberron? I believe that was what I was talking about. No map changes that I recall. Or lore changes. Or timeline changes.
(Okay, dragonborn and eladrin were added. But that's an addition, not a change.)

In the Realms, the 5e Realms is much, much closer to the 1e/2e Realms than either the 3e or 4e Realms.
There was a post a while back that overlaid the SCAG map over the old 2e boxed set maps and they were almost identical: http://www.enworld.org/forum/conten...alms-Map-From-SCAG!&p=6750173#comment_6750173

If I get a 2e Planescape books and a 4e Planes book, whoops plenty of changes there.

But it changed back! So that's easy to ignore. Since we're talking about using 2e Planescape books with a modern campaign, what 4e did or did not do is irrelevant to the discussion.
Again, all the lore in the 2e books works just fine.

I could go on and on without even mentioned the actual important stuff that differentiates settings from each other but really a Warforged is just the same as a Half-Giant is the same as a Dragonborn, right?

Sure no changes, you guys crack me up.

Some worlds changed. Dragonlance for one. Events happened in the novels that were not reflected in the last published game book. But, if you're a Dragonlance fan planning in playing in that era, you likely have the novels.

You play worlds for the worlds. The setting. The place names, the type of stories you can tell, the lore and backrgound of the world. None of that changes between editions.

I used my Ravenloft books just as easily in Pathfinder and 5e as I did for 2e, because the setting itself didn't change. The fact that the fighter now gets Action Surge doesn't mean that Il Aluk is no longer the Necropolis or that Vancian casting works different doesn't change the location of the Nocturnal Sea. The setting doesn't become a hopefully happy place because the rule system is different. The stories I want to tell and the type of game that the setting works with are the important elements.

What do I need to play Ravenloft in 5e? Well, I don't *need* anything. Even if converting my old groups to 5e, none of them really happen to use any options that don't exist. It would be nice to have some rules for Powers Checks and a couple races. So 5 pages in total.
What would be a nice perk for Eberron? A handful of races and the artificer. But, again, unless you're updating an existing campaign that makes use of a warforged artificer, it's not a big deal and you can play just fine with the existing 5e content. Worst case scenario, you have the playtest of the artificer class and the warforged (and Kobold Press have their gearforged race as an alternative).

 

[Azzy]

I dont know if you listen to the Dragon Talk podcast because Chris Perkins specifically talks about things that the team have changed or adapted or even reinvented (like Demon Gnolls for a popular example) to make them "more DnD" while quietly ignoring the crap stuff.

So other then the stuff that is different, exactly the same.

Yeah, and you can ignore all that, and use the older lore instead. I know, my gaming group does this.

 

[DEFCON 1]

So other then the stuff that is different, exactly the same.

Yep. And guess what? There is nowhere near enough different stuff to warrant spending 2 years designing, developing, writing, drawing, cartographying, editing, and printing a new 256 page campaign setting "tome" for each of the other settings. I know you don't want to believe that-- or perhaps you believe they should be made anyway because you don't want to have to be bothered with doing it yourself... but it ain't happening. Not for 5E. Complain all you want about it, but it is what it is. Sorry, end of story.

 

[Aldarc]

In Eberron? I believe that was what I was talking about. No map changes that I recall. Or lore changes. Or timeline changes.
(Okay, dragonborn and eladrin were added. But that's an addition, not a change.)

Also, while not "official," I recall that Keith Baker also provides alternative explanations on his website that a GM can use for various new races, such as the tieflings, dragonborn, or eladrin.

What would be a nice perk for Eberron? A handful of races and the artificer. But, again, unless you're updating an existing campaign that makes use of a warforged artificer, it's not a big deal and you can play just fine with the existing 5e content. Worst case scenario, you have the playtest of the artificer class and the warforged (and Kobold Press have their gearforged race as an alternative).

Not to mention mechanics for the Dragonmarks and the Mystic (for Kalashtar/Inspired and Riedra, in particular).

 

[Jester David]

Also, while not "official," I recall that Keith Baker also provides alternative explanations on his website that a GM can use for various new races, such as the tieflings, dragonborn, or eladrin.

Tieflings would have already been there. Being around since before Eberron. (And you don't really need to explain hybrid races.)
And they already had a faerie plane, so Eladrin would have been easy.

The only tricky race would have been dragonborn...

Not to mention mechanics for the Dragonmarks and the Mystic (for Kalashtar/Inspired and Riedra, in particular).

The kalashtar is pretty much the only race that is lacking.
Dragonmarks were also in Unearthed Arcana, but I didn't much like that approach. I kinda sorta did my own thing...

 

[Aldarc]

Tieflings would have already been there. Being around since before Eberron. (And you don't really need to explain hybrid races.)
And they already had a faerie plane, so Eladrin would have been easy.

The only tricky race would have been dragonborn...

Yes and no, in regards to tieflings. They had been around before Eberron, but 4E is what thrust them into PHB level of "core," even more so than Planescape. I do agree that the Eladrin and Dragonborn are relatively easy, but I do think that the nature of their inclusion into Eberron (a sort of compilation of 4E's assumptions shoehorning itself into settings) slightly miffed the almighty Hellcow.

The kalashtar is pretty much the only race that is lacking.
Dragonmarks were also in Unearthed Arcana, but I didn't much like that approach. I kinda sorta did my own thing...

I would say that that entire Unearthed Arcana, which attempted to provide Eberron options, was so widely criticized - a resounding belly-flop from WotC - that I would not dare touch it.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Nah, your cool bro. All that stuff in a 3e Eberron book or a 2e Dark Sun book will work exactly the same in a 5e game!

I would love to see the face of the poor sap that follows your advice.

I'm running an Eberron campaign from a mix of 3.5 and 4e books right now, and it's one of the best campaigns I've been involved in in years. The only challenge is converting mechanical options with no existing 5e equivalent, but even that has gone very smoothly so far.