D&D 5E 2020 Release Speculation Thread

[LuisCarlos17f]

A plana handbook is possible. And I would like the return of the "gate-towns". And I suggest to add some "easter egg" about time spheres and chronomancers.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Well, sorry for reviving the thread, but I'd like to input my ideas for this year's upcoming books.
(Also, I live in Washington State as well, and it is past May 4th, and the restrictions are still in place, and will remain so for awhile.)

First, I do think that there will be at least 2 more books this year. The first one will be an adventure. Someone mentioned aberration themed, and I do think that is likely, as we don't have a good Mind Flayer adventure yet. Another option could be possibly but unlikely an Eberron adventure or a Feywild adventure.

Second, the last book of the year will be Xanathar's 2.0/Planescape. I think it will be both a campaign setting book and a player options book. A lot of the recent UA subclasses have been planescape themed (Noble Genie Warlock, Astral Self Monk, Fey Wanderer Ranger, Watchers Paladin, and many others.)
Additionally, there are the new Summoning Spells UA that are also Planescape themed.
This leads me to believe that all of these subclasses and spells will be in a Xanathar's 2.0 book that is either themed like Planescape (so narrated by a planar creature, like Xanathar commented on XGtE), or it is a planescape campaign setting guide that has a large chapter for player options.

Now, at first it seems unlikely that they'd make a player option book also be a campaign setting book, but it could work. Recent 5e books have been much longer in page quantity (Rising from the Last War was 320 pages, Wildemount was 308). Xanathar's was one of the shortest books in 5e, with only 192 pages.
Only 53 pages of Xanathar's Guide to Everything were dedicated to subclasses, along with 3 pages for Feats, and 24 pages for spells. If this hybrid Xanathar's 2.0/Planescape book were to be similar in options to XGtE, it could have about 80 pages dedicated to subclasses, feats, and spells. Additionally, about 12 pages for the Class Feature Variants as well, making the Player Option section of the book around 92 pages. If they included the Artificer, it will be closer to 100 pages. That's about one-third of the book being player options if they were to do this.

Then, they could have a chapter for descriptions on the planes of existence, and there are probably around 20 planes of existence that they should give detailed descriptions on. If we're assuming that the book is 320 pages (the same length as Eberron and the 3 core rulebooks) then 100 pages are dedicated to player options, and they would have around 200 pages for plane descriptions. This would be around 10 pages per plane, with a small map of each one, and descriptions of the regions, unique rules, and possible adventure hooks. They could then have 20 pages for a small bestiary, similar to the ones from Eberron, Ravnica and Wildemount, and have the book be the same size as the core rulebooks and have both enough room for player options and plane descriptions, and be a feasible book to put together.

Any thoughts on this theory? Again, I'm not sure if they are going to do this, it's just speculation, but it seems fairly likely that either the Xanathar's 2.0 book will be planescape-themed, or be a planescape rulebook. Any ideas on why they wouldn't do this, or the book wouldn't work?

I'm wondering - is there an iconic NPC similar to Xanathar from Planescape?

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Asmodeus? Elminster? Vi (JC's gnome artificer from sigil)? Volo? There's quite a lot that could work.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

Asmodeus? Elminster? Vi (JC's gnome artificer from sigil)? Volo? There's quite a lot that could work.

I'd personally love it if it was Morte from Planescape: Torment.

 

[Weird Dave]

I think Shemeshka is a strong contender. Shemeshka's Manual of the Planes or something along those lines. It'd be a shame to have a version of D&D that didn't have a Manual of the Planes (2E has been the only one so far and that had Planescape to cover the planar content). I agree that the most recent UA articles hint at a planar content book, and I'd love to see a more detailed description of the 5E planes - even if I'm already covering them with my Codex of the Infinite Planes series on the DMsGuild!

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I'd love to see a more detailed description of the 5E planes - even if I'm already covering them with my Codex of the Infinite Planes series on the DMsGuild!

I've been eyeing those books for a while. Once employment situation is sorted, I'll definitely pick some out. My thinking for my current homebrew campaign I'm thinking they need to end up in the planes somewhere. Once I figure out which planes those are, I'll be picking up some of your books.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I'm wondering - is there an iconic NPC similar to Xanathar from Planescape?

Nordom, the modron from the videogame Planescape: Torment.

I guess after Baldurc Gate 3 the next title may be a Planescape II.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I could see a rogue modron, or Primus, or some other extraplanar entity narrating it.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I think Shemeshka is a strong contender. Shemeshka's Manual of the Planes or something along those lines. It'd be a shame to have a version of D&D that didn't have a Manual of the Planes (2E has been the only one so far and that had Planescape to cover the planar content). I agree that the most recent UA articles hint at a planar content book, and I'd love to see a more detailed description of the 5E planes - even if I'm already covering them with my Codex of the Infinite Planes series on the DMsGuild!

Hey @Weird Dave - I see you have your books in bundles. Right now the outer planes bundle has 8 in it. I guess you'll do the other 8, and then throw those into a bundle?

 

[darjr]

It’ll have monsters! It might even have stat blocks! I make my stake on it.