D&D 5E Vecna: Eve of Ruin Coming May 21st!

[TalosTheStormLord]

Mordenkainen and Elminster are Old School. I don't think they will get the focus of the actual storylines going forward. They will be honored in historical lore and efforts, like book titles. I think Wizards wants to branch out and make other Archmages more prominent. I also think the story will center on the Forgotten Realms, and they will not go with Elminster or Halaster. With that in mind...

I predict the Forgotten Realms archmage will be Laeral Silverhand, the current Open Lord of Waterdeep. She's a central figure surrounded by the Sword Coast storylines, and is a known meddler.

I think Tasha will be the Greyhawk archmage of the story. She's getting a lot of play recently, and the writers really need to add more to her redemption story, so that it eclipses her past villainy (being Iggwilv, the consort-peer to Graz'zt, and mother of the demon-spawn Iuz). She likely has good Vecna experience, as he originates in Greyhawk as well.

Not sure if there will be other archmages or other characters of power at the core of the effort to stop Vecna, but when the Heroes travel to other worlds, they may encounter local luminaries.

I suspect it might:

• Mordenkainen
• Tasha
• Bigby

They’re archmages. They have “universally applicable” 5e products named after them. And they have a shared history with each other, and Vecna (or at minimum they’re from his homework of Greyhawk).

 

[Reynard]

Matthew Colville has really cool Psionic rules, called The Mystic

The Talent?

 

[Parmandur]

that is already a significant rework with a lot less battlemaps, room descriptions and everything that comes with that. So yeah, that could fit, but it would miss half the stuff that makes up the content of a 5e adventure. 3e came the closest (still sparsely illustrated compared to 5e), and that needed three 200+ page books... (with the last one being the largest at 300 pages)

This is the Xak Tsaroth map of the Anniversary book, the description is 4.5 pages of text, no separate rooms, etc.

View attachment 345997

Fair, though just combining tje page count of the relevsnt 1E modules suggests the 4E approach was a bit...bloated.

 

[Parmandur]

true but he was one of the 5e designers

Yes, but not for half a decade. I am glad Mearls is landing on his feet, but his presence at WotC had no impact on D&D recently.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I suspect it might:

• Mordenkainen
• Tasha
• Bigby

They’re archmages. They have “universally applicable” 5e products named after them. And they have a shared history with each other, and Vecna (or at minimum they’re from his homework of Greyhawk).

The list is not going to just be wizards from the same setting, its going to involve Archmages from multiple settings.

Maybe Archmage Gromph Baenre too.

 

[mamba]

Fair, though just combining tje page count of the relevsnt 1E modules suggests the 4E approach was a bit...bloated.

3e I assume, yes, they expanded the original modules somewhat (would not mind that carrying over to 5e...) , Even the 2e combined modules came as three books of 150 pages each however, with more art etc. to match the other 5e adventures that probably would be around 192 pages for 5e.

 

[Parmandur]

3e I assume, yes, they expanded the original modules somewhat (would not mind that carrying over to 5e...) , Even the 2e combined modules came as three books of 150 pages each however, with more art etc. to match the other 5e adventures that probably would be around 192 pages for 5e.

Quite doable.

 

[mamba]

Quite doable.

oh yes, but as three books, not as one

 

[Parmandur]

oh yes, but as three books, not as one

Well...no. Sorry, misread you there. 5E books are page space efficient than 1E or 2E, so it could be done in one book.

 

[Queer Venger]

Yes, but not for half a decade. I am glad Mearls is landing on his feet, but his presence at WotC had no impact on D&D recently.

I get that, but 5e is his creature. He was part of the design team, 2014 D&D is still his credit.