D&D 5E 16 More Details About Theros

The latest edition of WotC's online magazine contains some juicy tidbits about Mythic Odysseys of Theros!

1. It features Volothamp Geddarm.
2. It was headed up by James Wyatt, who used to work on D&D, and now works on Magic: The Gathering. He worked on the 3E Deities & Demigods.
3. It's based on a novella, which Wyatt spent considerable time researching.
4. He also read about the government of Athens, and the Greek calendar.
5. Subclasses include the College of Eloquence bard ("the philosopher ideal'), the Oath of Heroism paladin, and the Forge and Grave cleric domains.
6. The DMG piety system has been "blown up into a huge thing"... "That includes all sorts of rewards and restrictions for characters who choose to devote themselves to a god and track their piety.”
7. New magic items of the gods - artifacts and weapons.
8. “Everyone gets this extra leg up that is a gift of the gods, which is separate from the usual character background. It may be a magical thing about your nature, such as you have the mind of a sphinx and your thoughts can’t be read. Or you might be an oracle, which is an opportunity for your Dungeon Master to give you plenty of adventure hooks. It’s a straight power-up but not a huge power-up”
9. A table of omens with 100 entries.
10. Minotaurs, centaurs, merfolk (tritons from Volo), satyrs, leonine.
11. “The leonin is a different, stronger cat person, not just a tabaxi!”
12. "Satyrs are pretty much as you would expect. They’re party animals with good Dexterity and Charisma, they have a headbutt attack, they’re fast, they’re fey, they resist magic and they have musical instrument proficiency and persuasion."
13. Different lore for D&D creatures to match the Greek setting.
14. Mythic threats are boss fights. More than legendary. Aresta of the Endless Web is a spider. Has baby spiders which fight you.
15. Dyson Logos did the maps.
16. "There’s a temple of Athreos in two parts, split by the river that flows between the mortal world and the underworld."

 

[JeffB]

I just mostly prefer to keep them separate. I'm mostly okay with the level of crunch we're getting, but I don't love having to buy huge lore books I'm mostly uninterested in because I play in the FR just to get bits of crunch that I would maybe want to use in my campaigns.

My understanding is you can buy the crunch separately on D&D Beyond? At least that is what I was told when I inquired about the new Wildemount book as the setting doesn't seem to be anything I would be interested in , but some of the new magic crunch did.

 

[JeffB]

A lot of it looks so similar to Greek lore that I almost wonder why not just use the Greek stuff straight up, rather than creating a version of Athens, and a version of Sparta, and a version of Odysseus, and a version of the Trojan Horse, and so on.

On Sale and a very good reference.

HR6

 

[dave2008]

Am I the only one who dislikes how they keep mixing small amounts of crunch with large amounts of lore for random campaign settings in these releases?

No your not alone, but the current set up seems to be working for WotC. Its got me buying them and I never bought adventures or setting books before. Interestingly, previously I might have had the same request as you (separate crunch and fluff); however, I've found the fluff parts that I usually ignore very interesting and a value I didn't expect.

 

[Azzy]

My understanding is you can buy the crunch separately on D&D Beyond? At least that is what I was told when I inquired about the new Wildemount book as the setting doesn't seem to be anything I would be interested in , but some of the new magic crunch did.

You are correct. Let's take Ravnica for instance, for crunch there are 10 backgrounds, 2 subclasses, 45 magic items, 78 monsters, 5 races, and 1 spell. You can buy each component idividually at $1.99 per (like the minotaur race), or buy a collection of one type (all 5 races for $5.99). The more items there are in a collection (there are 78 monsters, for instance), the cheaper it is to buy the collection than it it to buy each item individually (the monster collection for this book is $10.99).

Of course, if you want ALL the mechanics, it can come out as more expensive than just buying the full book depending on the amount of crunch/fluff ratio (for Ravnica, buy all the crunch would theoretically cost $37.94 as opposed to the $29.99 of the full cost of the book). The good thing, however, is that each component purchase is subtracted from the cost of the collection and from the full cost of the book, so you'd never actually pay more than the full cost (for instance, if you bought 1 monster for $1.99, the cost for buying the rest of the monster collection would be reduced $9.00, and if you purchased the full monster collection for $10.99, the cost to purchase the rest of the full book is $19.00).

So, whether or not it's worth it to buy the components depends on how many components there are, how many you actually want, and what the combined price of the components costs in comparison to just buying the full book. With the Ravnica example, If you wanted all of the mechanical options you might as well buy the full book (because you'll unlock the full book before you finish buying the mechanical options piecemeal). However, if you just wanted the two subclasses, spending $3.99 isn't a big deal.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

(for Ravnica, buy all the crunch would theoretically cost $37.94 as opposed to the $29.99 of the full cost of the book).

Wait, on D&D Beyond, the cost of the book is less than the retail price in a store for the dead tree version? That's been one big barrier to me getting into D&DB (that, and I don't own a tablet).

 

[Azzy]

Wait, on D&D Beyond, the cost of the book is less than the retail price in a store for the dead tree version? That's been one big barrier to me getting into D&DB (that, and I don't own a tablet).

Oh, yeah. $29.99 is standard for the sorcebooks, and the adventures tend to be a little less than that.

It's still more than I would prefer, but I can live with it.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Oh, yeah. $29.99 is standard for the sorcebooks, and the adventures tend to be a little less than that.

It's still more than I would prefer, but I can live with it.

Guess I need to get a tablet then

 

[Davinshe]

Point #8 is the most interesting to me. It reminds me a bit of 13th age "One unique thing" except with some actual hard rules. A special distinguishing feature that will separate you from most other characters is something 5th edition hasn't really had yet. I might cannibalize that part for my own campaigns.

 

[Eubani]

I have read a lot on how Theros is similar to Greek Mythology, but where does it differ?

 

[DEFCON 1]

I have read a lot on how Theros is similar to Greek Mythology, but where does it differ?

The stories and myths. And gods. And the fact you will have "heroes" that are potentially centaurs and minotaurs, and nymphs.

And that most DMs don't actually know that much about real Greek mythology and thus the games will end up looking and running and playing just like any other fantasy D&D game. Heck... as soon as that first player says "I'm buying my paladin platemail"... the connection to Ancient Greece is wiped away. LOL.