D&D 5E Mythic Odysseys of Theros Reviews

[Mepher]

I agree. That's my main gripe with the book. Very few options for players, limited races, and not many monsters or magic items.

That is disappointing. So I am assuming the rest of the book is the setting? How is that portion?

 

[Shardstone]

Most useful book in 5E for anything that isn't monsters or player options. It gives you good outlines for running adventures in the Underworld, nautical adventures, and adventures with meddling gods. Ravnica and Wildemont don't really teach a DM how to run a campaign in their worlds, they just give you the worlds straight up. Meanwhile, Eberron and Theros teach you how to run a game in their worlds. The difference between Eberron and Theros is that Theros doesn't have D-tier art and it feels a lot more FOCUSED. Eberron is BIG. Lots and lots and lots of space in that world. Theros is big too, but it has a thematic focus to it that Eberron loses at times.

In other words, Eberron gives you a little guide for noir or a little guide for pulp, but Theros gives you a BIG guide for odyssey's, and that's exactly what I wanted from the book.

The only other book this useful in 5E (without counting player options or monsters) is Ghosts of Saltmarsh, which is the 2nd best book in 5E not counting Xanathar's or the core 3.

EDIT: I'm glad Theros isn't just Zeus and stuff. That'd be pretty lazy and uninspiring. I have a bunch of books on greek myths. I don't need a D&D book to teach me about the myths I already know. The fact that this isn't 100% greek and is infact a fantasy world means that they could do new things, and novelty is important to a person like me. Rehashed material can be rehashed by someone else.

 

[Morrus]

I guess I would have preferred a true greek mythology setting.

There's a bunch of them available. 7 Greek-inspired settings at my count, with a couple of them being specifically Greek.

D&D 5E Games & Settings

A list of official D&D 5E settings, plus stand-alone games and campaign settings by third party publishers. Third-party games and settings are produced using the Open Gaming License, and use the D&D 5E ruleset to explore new genres and worlds. The most common setting theme is Ancient Greek...

www.enworld.org

 

[Mepher]

Most useful book in 5E for anything that isn't monsters or player options. It gives you good outlines for running adventures in the Underworld, nautical adventures, and adventures with meddling gods. Ravnica and Wildemont don't really teach a DM how to run a campaign in their worlds, they just give you the worlds straight up. Meanwhile, Eberron and Theros teach you how to run a game in their worlds. The difference between Eberron and Theros is that Theros doesn't have D-tier art and it feels a lot more FOCUSED. Eberron is BIG. Lots and lots and lots of space in that world. Theros is big too, but it has a thematic focus to it that Eberron loses at times.

In other words, Eberron gives you a little guide for noir or a little guide for pulp, but Theros gives you a BIG guide for odyssey's, and that's exactly what I wanted from the book.

The only other book this useful in 5E (without counting player options or monsters) is Ghosts of Saltmarsh, which is the 2nd best book in 5E not counting Xanathar's or the core 3.

EDIT: I'm glad Theros isn't just Zeus and stuff. That'd be pretty lazy and uninspiring. I have a bunch of books on greek myths. I don't need a D&D book to teach me about the myths I already know. The fact that this isn't 100% greek and is infact a fantasy world means that they could do new things, and novelty is important to a person like me. Rehashed material can be rehashed by someone else.

Thanks, that’s exactly what I wanted to know. It sounds like a book I will like. I will probably wait for the physical copy but it sounds like a buy for me.

 

[Parmandur]

I love it so far, though I’m disappointed in how few of each type of new options it contains. The supernatural gifts, in particular.

One thing I miss from 4e was the dragon magazine supplementary content issues, where they’d do a whole set of Asian inspired options or Fey options or Shadow options as a supplement to whatever was coming out in print form.

I get why they don’t do that still, but damn. 2 new races, 2 new subclasses, a small handful new item, and a few supernatural gifts...actually add that much.

Maybe I’m spoiled by the Eberron book, though.

I hear ya, more options would be nice.

On the Race front, they are limited by the existing Setting material.

For the Subclasses, they did test a whole parcel for Theros, just two made it through the UA gauntlet.

There are 9 Supernatural Gifts (by my quick count), and suggestions for at least 12 PHB Feats to act as the base Gift. 7 of those gifts play into the Piety system (Iconic and Oracle are straight up 4E style Themes), so that's 7 * 15 combinations once you start getting into Piety around Level 3, not counting PHB options... that's a lot of combos.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

For the Subclasses, they did test a whole parcel for Theros, just two made it through the UA gauntlet.

(Just want to point out that we have no statement for WotC saying that any of the UA playtested around the time of the Theros subclasses UA were intended for Theros in any way.)

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I hear ya, more options would be nice.

On the Race front, they are limited by the existing Setting material.

Yeah, I do wish they had some more race options or character options, though. Demigods exist in Theros, and I don't think they're mentioned in the book at all. They could be a race or supernatural gift.

Or, they could provide information on how to play a different race in Theros, like Eberron has. Like, you were Nyxborn as a unique creature, possibly like an Elf or something.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I hear ya, more options would be nice.

On the Race front, they are limited by the existing Setting material.

For the Subclasses, they did test a whole parcel for Theros, just two made it through the UA gauntlet.

There are 9 Supernatural Gifts (by my quick count), and suggestions for at least 12 PHB Feats to act as the base Gift. 7 of those gifts play into the Piety system (Iconic and Oracle are straight up 4E style Themes), so that's 7 * 15 combinations once you start getting into Piety around Level 3, not counting PHB options... that's a lot of combos.

Eh, I don’t see it that way I see it, but I don’t wanna get into a whole thing over it.

on races, though, they could have included a dryad playable race.

I wouldn’t have been sad at a demi-god option in there, as well, unless I missed one.

 

[Xenonnonex]

Where were those damn titans. They looked sick.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

on races, though, they could have included a dryad playable race.

Yeah, we could have Nymphs as a race. Dryads, Hamadryads, Oreads, so on.
They should've done more subclasses.
An Oracle as a subclass could be cool.