Dungeons & Dragons Announces Arcana Unleashed, New Magic-Themed Sourcebook at $49.99 Price Point

[Parmandur]

Getting more info on Algarond and Rashemen would make me very happy. Especially if it also has some magic items and maybe means some bits in AU are inspired by Rashemen!

Working backwards now with the knowledge that the Unearthed Arcana playtests were for inclusion in a campaign companion set in this region...the fits for Agalrond and Rashemen make a lot of sense of the choices.

 

[Parmandur]

As of VEoR, she lives in Sigil.

I suspect she go tired of politics.

My apologies, I got Alustriel confused with her other sister, Lareal. Alustriel is the former Queen of Silverymoon who is now a wandering Chosen of Mystara doing the Gandalf thing for the Harper's.

Still personally tied to the region the Campaign this book is tied to, and the crunch is still thin compared to the page count.

 

[mamba]

It's a relatively short book, judged by the price point.

it’s $50 rather than $60, so maybe 160 pages instead of 200. I am not sure how they will fill that with just crunch, they certainly won’t be able to with what they mentioned so far.

Note that its also possible to buy Deadfall without buying Arcana Unleashed. Ergo it must include all setting information required to run the adventure.

An adventure can contain a lot less setting information than the previous big ones did, they served double duty as a gazetteer and/or introduced new rules.

The adventure will contain the maps, the adventure text, and the monsters. As you said it has to be able to stand on its own.

That does not mean that the other book cannot contain anything that benefits the adventure and that is not just generic crunch that could be equally used in any other adventure.

If the price points / page counts were reversed I’d say this is the equivalent to the Eberron book with Deadfall being close to a full adventure, just a tad shorter, but they are not. I am not sure there is enough crunch to fill 160 pages…

 

[mamba]

I would expect more about Agalrond, the Magocracy that operates as a bulwark against Than in-settingand the probable home base for the Adventure.

no objections, I meant more a tie in to the Thay adventure, that does not need to be limited to Thay. It’s probably more the whole Arcane Empires region rather than just Thay

 

[Parmandur]

it’s $50 rather than $60, so maybe 160 pages instead of 200. I am not sure how they will fill that with just crunch, they certainly won’t be able to with what they mentioned so far.


An adventure can contain a lot less setting information that the previous big ones did, they served double duty as a gazetteer and/or introduced new rules.

The adventure will contain the maps, the adventure text, and the monsters. As you said it has to be able to stand on its own.

That does not mean that the other book cannot contain anything that benefits the adventure and that is not just generic crunch that could be equally used in any other adventure.

If the price points / page counts were reversed I’d say this is the equivalent to the Eberron book with Deadfall being close to a full adventure, just a tad shorter, but they are not. I am not sure there is enough crunch to fill 160 pages…

This so the same price point as the PC facing FR book, which was 192 pages.

• Per my estimate up thread, expect the Subclasses, Backgrounds, and Feats will be ~32-35 pages.
• The 2024 DMG has over 400 magic items in about 100 pages. The supplement with the most magic items is Book of Many Things, with about 50. So let's say 30 pages of magic items as rough guess.
• Tasha's had about 10 pages of Spells, and Xanathar around 25 pages. Let's call it 30 for Arcane Unleashed as a guess.

That napkin math gets us to 95 pages out of 192.

 

[Parmandur]

no objections, I meant more a tie in to the Thay adventure, that does not need to be limited to Thay. It’s probably more the whole Arcane Empires region rather than just Thay

Another point is that cover the ming matches the FR books: a DM book with the BBEG versus a player book with a major PC ally and patron.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'm not going to argue the point here - it seems really very silly - the book is clearly going to be BOTH for generic use-it-how-you-will Arcane stuff, AND as a supplement for the Thay Adventure.

I really don't see the point in arguing the granularity of exactly how much of each it will contain.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Working backwards now with the knowledge that the Unearthed Arcana playtests were for inclusion in a campaign companion set in this region...the fits for Agalrond and Rashemen make a lot of sense of the choices.

I will have to look at the UAs again with an eye toward this.

My apologies, I got Alustriel confused with her other sister, Lareal. Alustriel is the former Queen of Silverymoon who is now a wandering Chosen of Mystara doing the Gandalf thing for the Harper's.

Still personally tied to the region the Campaign this book is tied to, and the crunch is still thin compared to the page count.

Dont feel bad, there are 7 and a half sisters. Easy to mix them up.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm not going to argue the point here - it seems really very silly - the book is clearly going to be BOTH for generic use-it-how-you-will Arcane stuff, AND as a supplement for the Thay Adventure.

I really don't see the point in arguing the granularity of exactly how much of each it will contain.

It is a rainy Saturday afternoon, and I enjoy speculation.

You are right, though, it is just interesting to note that even accounting for all possible Subclasses, and assuming this book has the most Backgrounds of any book yet released, the most Feats of any book yet released, the most Spells of any book yet released, AND the most magic items of Amy book yet released...that only accounts for about half the page count.

 

[Parmandur]

I will have to look at the UAs again with an eye toward this.

Well, worth recapping for speculative purposes!

I I am not going to consider the Psion or "Apocalyptic" options, as I think that is for a different product (though maybe Psion could fit here, time will tell), and the Horror seems certainly intended for Ravenloft. Which leaves us the following:

• Arcana Domain Cleric (excellent fit for Agalrond specifically given the strong associations with Mystara and their use of Clerical magic against the anticlerical Thayan)
• Arcane Archer Fighter (strong fit for the Elven forests of Agalrond, and fitting enough for Rashemani warriors)
• Hexblade Patron Warlock (good fit for the Sword & Sorcery war theme of the region)
• Conjurer, Enchanted, Transmuter, and Necromancer Wizard (strong fit anywhere, but particularly in a bunch of Magocracies)
• Tattooed Warrior Monk (very strong fit for Rashemen)
• Ancestral Sorcerer (very strong fit for the land of the Simbul, Agalrond)
• Path of the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian (strong fit for Rashemen)
• Path of the Storm Herald (also a strong fit for Rashemen)
• Cavalier Fighter (not so specific, but fits Agalrond army well enough)
• Warrior of Intoxication Monk (go for the eyes, Boo...?)
• Oathbreaker Paladin (eh)
• Warrior of the Mystic Arts Monk (strong fit for Agalrond's Elven Magocracy)
• Oath of the Spellguard Paladin (like a glove for Agalrond)
• Magic Stealer Rogue (strong fit for the region, maybe for a renegade Thayan not beholden to the Red Wizards even)
• Vestige Patron Warlock (good fit for a land where gods and wizards have been clashing for centuries)

So on review, that's potentially up to 18 Subclasses ftom UA that may or may not make it in to this book (though some may be for other upcoming boos, Oathbreaker might fit Ravenloft perfectly) , so I'll up my guesstimate to ~100 pages out of 192 for the suggested crunch.