Baalzebul is back to normal (And other new lore discoveries.)

[Chaosmancer]

That WotC addressed the gnome pantheon gender balance is entirely natural and reasonable.

That they did not add more god(esse)s is also quite understandable if they gathered the number were sufficient already.

Genderswapping some gods is the obvious fix. It does not irritate me in the least.

It is a minor irritant to me, because the missing goddesses was a bit of a plot point in my world (they were binding an ancient Titan, and it was kind of a big deal) but I've already gone about mucking with Pantheons and my world did just finish a cataclysmic event (woohoo level 20 campaigns) so I might be able to rework it.

Plus, the only gnome to play in my world was definitely not interested in any of my world's lore, so it's not like I'll be retconning someone's play experience.

 

[gyor]

I'm not a fan of revision to address racist/sexist trends like the male gnome Gods... I swish they'd just added female gnome Goddesses to the pantheon... Maybe even as a conflicting pantheon. It feels patronizing to "give them one" rather than let them build ones.

It wasn't racist or sexist, it was intended as a mystery, there are Gnome Goddess, but they left upon an important quest to save the multiverse and haven't returned yet. That is a plot hook, not sexism. What was the threat, why could only women confront it? Where did they go and why haven't they been able to return yet?

 

[jgsugden]

It wasn't racist or sexist, it was intended as a mystery, there are Gnome Goddess, but they left upon an important quest to save the multiverse and haven't returned yet. That is a plot hook, not sexism. What was the threat, why could only women confront it? Where did they go and why haven't they been able to return yet?

It can be both a mystery and create a sexist issue. There were a lot of things written in the past (with absolutely no foul intent) that that are laced with dated concepts of gender equality that do not sit well with people today. When we revisit these ideas, there is pressure to modernize the concepts and create a more inclusive revision. That appears to be what took place here - "All male - not good optics. Let's update some of them to female."

I'd rather they said, "All male - not good optics. Let's make some women and add them to the mix and say they returned."

There are a lot of ways they could have done it - the Women Folk return from the Far Realm and are crazy corrupted versions would have been fun - but I'd rather see it than see them do what Marvel did.

 

[Demetrios1453]

It wasn't racist or sexist, it was intended as a mystery, there are Gnome Goddess, but they left upon an important quest to save the multiverse and haven't returned yet. That is a plot hook, not sexism. What was the threat, why could only women confront it? Where did they go and why haven't they been able to return yet?

Since I know you are a big FR fan, I don't really think it changes the status quo in the setting, since SCAG specifically brings up this point. As specific always trumps general, and SCAG is specific (to the setting) while MtoF is general (as it references all settings), the info in SCAG on the gnome deities would logically still hold for the Forgotten Realms. MToF actually says on several occasions that it's giving a general overview and things on specific setting worlds might be different. As another example, it lists both Marthammor Duin and Muamman Duathal separately in the dwarven deity list, but in the Realms, the latter is just another name for the former (and it's implied that they're just different names for the same being, with Marthammor Duin being his name in the Realms and Muamman Duathal elsewhere). So it's no big leap to assume that the gnome pantheon in the Realms still remains all male, as per SCAG, even if MToF says something different, since MToF itself says that anything in it can be overruled by setting-specific lore...

 

[Kendra Lawrence]

So the MToF is kind of a lumping of info for the various settings into one book, rather than printing a detailed book for each setting, seems like.

I'm still not thrilled about changes to the elf and drow lore, particular in regards to the souls. Yeah, I can live with the elven one, since it doesn't entirely contradict old lore, but the drow...I guess I will actually have to read that part myself.

 

[Demetrios1453]

So, Inevitables are still a thing, apparently. The Marut's stat block is "Large construct (inevitable), lawful neutral", and the fact it is an Inevitable is mentioned in the flavor text. The Kolyarut is mentioned as well, but as a singular creature, and not given statistics.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Our first indication of a hierarch modron (other than Primus) in 5e! The Steel Predator flavor text mentions that they were originally created by a hexton modron, and in fact, the hexton was exiled from Mechanus to Sigil after its creation went awry. The hexton now has a shop where you can have it create steel predators for a price. Hope springs eternal that we'll see the hierarch modrons detailed soon!

 

[jgsugden]

I imagine that the next book of this type will have more goodly and lawful creatures, such as Inevitables, Modrons, Guardinals, etc...

 

[Umbran]

It wasn't racist or sexist, it was intended as a mystery, there are Gnome Goddess, but they left upon an important quest to save the multiverse and haven't returned yet. That is a plot hook, not sexism. What was the threat, why could only women confront it? Where did they go and why haven't they been able to return yet?

If they didn't ever *do* anything with that mystrey in the canon, over 40+ years, it is time to let it go, make the canon more representational, and move on.

 

[Demetrios1453]

So the MToF is kind of a lumping of info for the various settings into one book, rather than printing a detailed book for each setting, seems like.

I'm still not thrilled about changes to the elf and drow lore, particular in regards to the souls. Yeah, I can live with the elven one, since it doesn't entirely contradict old lore, but the drow...I guess I will actually have to read that part myself.

Well, you an rest assured that it hasn't really changed. Upon closer reading, the yochlol section in the drow chapter mentions the possibility that yochlol are created from some of the drow souls that go to the Demonweb Pits, so the book does seem to definitively state that drow souls go there after death.