D&D 5E WotC Explains 'Canon' In More Detail

Recently, WotC's Jeremy Crawford indicated that only the D&D 5th Edition books were canonical for the roleplaying game. In a new blog article, Chris Perkins goes into more detail about how that works, and why.

This boils down to a few points:

• Each edition of D&D has its own canon, as does each video game, novel series, or comic book line.
• The goal is to ensure players don't feel they have to do research of 50 years of canon in order to play.
• It's about remaining consistent.

If you’re not sure what else is canonical in fifth edition, let me give you a quick primer. Strahd von Zarovich canonically sleeps in a coffin (as vampires do), Menzoberranzan is canonically a subterranean drow city under Lolth’s sway (as it has always been), and Zariel is canonically the archduke of Avernus (at least for now). Conversely, anything that transpires during an Acquisitions Incorporated live game is not canonical in fifth edition because we treat it the same as any other home game (even when members of the D&D Studio are involved).

D&D Canon | D&D Studio Blog | Dungeons & Dragons

In this D&D Studio Blog, Chris Perkins describes the D&D Studio's position on canonicity.

dnd.wizards.com

D&D General - WotC: Novels & Non-5E Lore Are Officially Not Canon

At a media press briefing last week, WotC's Jeremey Crawford clarified what is and is not canon for D&D. "For many years, we in the Dungeons & Dragons RPG studio have considered things like D&D novels, D&D video games, D&D comic books, as wonderful expressions of D&D storytelling and D&D lore...

www.enworld.org

 

[J.Quondam]

Atheists are often discriminated against because of their beliefs. Often told that a just and good being will torture them for all eternity for their lack of worship. In the real world.

"Being told" something is not discrimination.
Being excluded from housing, or charged a different rate on a loan, or being beaten for wearing certain clothes, or being hung from a tree for your skin color? That is discrimination.

 

[Remathilis]

And other RL groups are offended by and have protest agains the very existance of magic and multiple deities and by extension the very game itself. You can't please everyone.

This is a good point. I remember a player who was heavily religious and while they liked fantasy (like Tolkien or such) they were very turned off by polytheism and demons/devils being in the game. To them, that stuff was infecting fantasy with Satanic elements.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Really?

See, this is where I don't think it's a Thermian Argument to say that the Wall isn't a problematic element in the setting.

This is a setting where religion MATTERS. It is very, very important. FR gods are powered by faith. That's the canon explanation and the in game reason why athiests are punished. The out of game reason is pretty simple - it's a GIANT NEON SIGN that tells the players, "Hey, if you want to play in this setting, DON'T PLAY AN ATHEIST. Atheism has no place in this setting". To me, trying to play an atheist in FR is no different than wanting to play a Jedi or a Mecha Pilot. It's not what this setting is about. This is a setting where faith and religion play very key roles in virtually every adventure. Good grief, how many RSE's are based on the gods getting frisky about this or that?

So, if you want to play an atheist, there are all sorts of perfectly plausible settings - Eberron being a prime example, and honestly, Greyhawk as well. But, Forgotten Realms? The setting where dieties walk around and appear on a fairly regular basis and the Chosen of the Gods playing key roles all over the place? That setting? That's the setting you think an atheist character fits in?

Who cares if you think my character fits?

And, it actually is problematic in the setting, because while faith matters, so does GOOD. Imagine for a moment a writer took Superman and decided "You know, Superman is working constantly to protect people, but he still has needs. He should impose a tax on people, have them pay for his protection. And if they don't pay he kills them and their relatives by blasting them from space. Yeah, its important that people pay, because the good guys need all the help they can get."

Would you be okay with seeing that, and seeing the author and everyone else still saying Superman is the paragon hero he is supposed to be? Yes, faith is a massively important element to FR, but good people don't torture and destroy people who don't actively support them. And I hold fictional gods to the same standard

 

[Faolyn]

Do you really believe that is what the writers were saying?

I literally have no idea. They apparently thought that choosing to horribly punish people based on their lack of belief was good enough that--according to what I read--when Kelemvor tried to remove the wall, Ao made him put it back.

 

[the Jester]

This might have been dropped by the time I respond (I'm five pages back), but I think you are missing some very very obvious parallels here.

The Wall of the Faithless is saying that a good and just being, for the sake of the balance of the world, must horrifically punish and torture people for their beliefs.

What good and just being? The god Myrkhul, who was evil and created the wall, or the god Kelemvor, who was good as a mortal but became inhuman and uncaring as a god, who now oversees it (assuming you keep it in your game)?

To the best of my knowledge, the guy in charge of the WotF has never been "good and just".

 

[the Jester]

I literally have no idea. They apparently thought that choosing to horribly punish people based on their lack of belief was good enough that--according to what I read--when Kelemvor tried to remove the wall, Ao made him put it back.

First, do you think that when a writer depicts Sune's clergy preaching that physical beauty is the measure of goodness, that the writer believes that? Or is it maybe just the writing?

I kinda feel that assuming that the people who wrote about the WotF are in favor of it is like saying that the people who wrote about Strahd are in favor of stalking and drinking the blood of humans.

Also- has the WotF ever been depicted as a good thing? It was made by an evil god for an evil purpose, taking it over helped shift the new god of death away from goodness... it doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement to me.

 

[Mirtek]

Also the question is open anyway if doing away with the wall would change anything for the faithless.

Just because they won't be stuck in the wall as the default punishment doesn't mean the deities would just let them leave.

Maybe Jergal before Myrkul and Myrkul before he came up with the wall just personally ripped apart each and every faithless soul. Until Myrkul got tired of having to do this all the time and just build the wall to automate the process.

lord of death: OK, you win. The wall shall be no more!
<wall crumbles to dust>
PCs: "Hooray, we torn down the wall! Wait!?! What's the new device that's being build over there?"
lord of death: "Oh, that? That's the new soulgrinder where from now on we throw all faithless souls into"

 

[lingual]

One difference between Earth religion and DnD religion, is that there is direct evidence of at least some sort of supernatural power(s) in DnD. I would certainly not be an atheist in DnD land since I actually see clerics performing miracles with glowy magic and all. At the very least I would be more inclined to believe in deities.

In real life, I would be first in line at the church that had their clergy fly or shoot lasers out of their eyes.

 

[Maxperson]

This might have been dropped by the time I respond (I'm five pages back), but I think you are missing some very very obvious parallels here.

The Wall of the Faithless is saying that a good and just being, for the sake of the balance of the world, must horrifically punish and torture people for their beliefs.

Neither Myrkul(evil god), nor Ao(neutral overgod) are good and/or just beings. They created the wall.

You can try and argue that atheism is not a set of beliefs, but that gets into very very thorny territory. And, you say that the offense comes from the -ism that it is, from reinforcing patterns? Atheists are often discriminated against because of their beliefs. Often told that a just and good being will torture them for all eternity for their lack of worship. In the real world.

The wall isn't about atheism, despite what Greenwood said. In D&D it's simply about being faithless(not choosing a patron god and being faithful to that god).

I find that just as discriminatory and disgusting as Sune's insistence that physical beauty is the only pertinent measure of a person, or if there was a Lawful Good deity who believed in "human purity" and concerned themselves with bloodlines. It all is terrible.

It is, but it's also make-believe. It's not real and has nothing to do with the real world outside of the group playing. If you don't like it, change it. If you do like it, keep it. If a player has personal body issues, don't use Sune. If none have those issues, Sune and her discriminatory beliefs are fine.

 

[Chaosmancer]

You asked what made them different from Demons and Devils. All of the bolded stuff are things that Demons and Devils can't do.

Not Paul but... you didn't really.

Gods exert influence over the world by granting divine magic to their followers and sending signs and portents to guide them -> Yep, this is a thing Demons and Devils can do. Fraz-urb'luu in Out of the Abyss is specifically called out as masquerading as a god (meaning he's granted clerical powers) and there is a long tradition of priests of various demons and devils. Also, beings like Yeenoghu and Orcus constantly send signs and portents to their followers.

Each god claiming dominion over an aspect of the world, such as war, forests, or the sea. -> Yep, they do this too. Easiest example is Yeenoghu and Baphomet with their dominion over Gnolls and Minotaurs respectively. But if you want to go for more esoteric things you have Orcus ruling over undeath, Obox-Ob being a lord of Poison, Zuggtymoy rules fungus, Jubilex is the ruler of all oozes, ect ect ect.

The gods are real and embody a variety of beliefs,-> Yep, this is true for the Archdevils and Demon Lords too.


So, there is no difference.