D&D 5E Two New D&D Books Revealed: Feywild & Strixhaven Mage School

Yaarel · Jun 9, 2021

Marandahir said:
The Fili of Ireland were not Bards, and they didn't exist outside of the Gaelic realms. Fili were trained in Christian Monasteries; Bards were trained in Bardic Orders as masters and apprentices. The Fili rose up to greater prominence in later medieval period in Ireland while the Bard term was denigrated down into low-level entertainers and satirists, but the Bards were the source of the cycle history, the Fili were a later invention, a product of Christianization. Note that originally Bards had both the roles of satirists to ruin the lives of their enemies and as hype-men and history-makers for their patrons (making sure the people who paid them looked good in the annals of history by telling really good stories about them). And of course if the patron does bad by them, they could turn around and make the patron look bad…

The Bards however indeed were a shamanic tradition, and coterminous with the •owatis or Vates referred to by Strabo, which are themselves coterminous with the Druids. But the term Owatis or Watis has more in common with the lyrical and musical inspiration of the Bards than it does with the oakey-nomiclature of the Druids. And Posidonius, Strabo, and others saw a bit of a distinction, with the Druids more as natural philosophers, scientists, and theologians, and Vates as seers, prophets, and sages (and the Bardos as hype-men to nobles). We can probably understand the roles as semi-interchangable but more and more distinct with the passing of time, roles that arose out of a single priestly or literati class (akin to the Brahmins of India).

Thanks for the update about the Fili. It is a bit different from what I have read, but it sounds like a clearer assessment.

Somewhat relatedly, there has been a reassement about the Norse Skald. Earlier scholars perceived a common bard-like Indo-Euro tradition, that the Norse shared. But recently, it was shown that among the Norse, the more ancient songs were quite simple musically. While the more recent songs became increasingly sophisticated (complex meters, more literary in allusion to texts, etcetera). Thus the Skald genre turns out to be recent, and importing directly from the British Isles, precisely to enhance the prestige of the new national monarchy that emerged in full, mainly from about the 1100s on. There are Skald from the 800s and so on, but it seems the Norse arrived late to the scene.

But the shamanic tradition, that is much older.

carmachu · Jun 9, 2021

Fey books sounds fun. Fey really are untapped for the most part. Few third party books with fey, but not alot. Guess I will bug the kids for that for my birthday.

Hard pass on magic setting.

Whizbang Dustyboots · Jun 9, 2021

It occurred to me earlier than one of the best parts of Strixhaven will be the explosion of magic school stuff on DMs Guild this fall. I expect to see lots of print-and-play documents (you may never get your letter from Hogwarts, but you can definitely get your letter from Strixhaven!), magical curricula, new spells, additional play aids for the magical sport (I already forgot its name), and so on. Lots of fun stuff coming.

THEMNGMNT · Jun 9, 2021

darjr said:
Yea and the twists are important. The adventures are now “events” and common seasons. Even if that’s kinda blurring now. The settings are made for prexisting fans and contain things fans of other things might want, they are not completely siloed. And finally the company actively seeks out fans and where they “hang out”. Not like in 3e by individuals out in a limb, but by boosting those fan areas or taking part as a company. See the more focused convention support and the CR participation. Even the store support and DMSGUILD is part of this.

Agreed. Those are the innovations that make this strategy viable in a way that maybe it wasn't in the 2E era.

Mind of tempest · Jun 9, 2021

Yaarel said:
I am unsure if the elementals are animistic or not.

They can be.

But only if the "elemental planes" are part of the Material Plane. Like fire elementals, literally inhabiting every volcano and hearth.

For a rock formation, the desire of the elemental is simply to be that rock formation. Occasionally something happens that motivates the rock to get up an move around, but that is highly unusual.

If the elemental planes are too far away, then they are no longer part of nature.

It has to be the actual rock, the actual tree, and so on.

that is like asking if the universe part of the world?

Rikka66 · Jun 9, 2021

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
additional play aids for the magical sport (I already forgot its name)

I understand why they worked so hard to separate the setting from Potter, but one idea they should have taken was giving their fake sport a memorable name.

Henadic Theologian · Jun 9, 2021

Whizbang Dustyboots said:
The big question for me now: What do they announce the rest of the week? They've already announced the two big books. Are they going to "announce" August's dungeon screen and September's Witchlight dice?

The Dungeon Screen is already announced before this week.

I think today's announcement will be video game related, but it could be the Witchlight Accessory. Outside chance it's James Wyatt's book, but that I think is being saved for last.

Henadic Theologian · Jun 9, 2021

Rikka66 said:
I understand why they worked so hard to separate the setting from Potter, but one idea they should have taken was giving their fake sport a memorable name.

Mage Tower isn't that bad.