Coming in May: Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes! [UPDATED!]

So they just gave the title and showed the cover mock-ups; no specific info till Monday?

 

[Parmandur]

Anybody know what time the update will happen tomorrow?

No, But I'd reckon noonish Pacific Standard, give or take a couple hours.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Is there a reason that no one has yet mentioned that Drizz't is lower front and center on the special edition cover? I know he has been part of some wars and is an "icon" of the Realms, but still.

 

[dalisprime]

In FR at least it restarted with Sundering reordering the FR cosmos. The twist is I think some of the Succubi may have rebelled against Asnodeus, so now they aren't demons or devils, ironically making them impossible to summon by Wizards or Warlocks short of a Gate Spell (which confers no control over them), now only Clerics and Divine Souls with Planar Ally can summon them, which is also true for Yugoloths, Rakashas, Night Hags, Nightmares, and Cambions.

Went scouring around the DMG and the Blood War isn't even mentioned by name there in the description of the lower planes. What it does say is that now that Baator and the Abyss are accessible via the river Styx, the demonic forces can invade Avernus again, but the wording seems to indicate they haven't. Likewise the description of Avernus makes it sound like a battlefield of the past not a battlefield in an ongoing conflict. FR wiki also makes no mention of the conflict reigniting. I get that Sundering restored a lot of cosmology back to how it was, but there seem to be some remnants left behind.

As for people mentioning why the other gods had not ended the conflict the way Asmodeus did, the answer is simple - they had no vested interest in doing so. If anything, forces of good were helping fuel the conflict to keep either of two sides from turning on them (although again I don't recall any shift in the lore indicating an attack on the upper planes following the end of the Blood War so perhaps their fears were unfounded) and there weren't any major deities in the Abyss when it was cast into Elemental Chaos - Lolth straight up took Demonweb Pits and relocated it if I recall. Unless I'm mistaken other evil deities resided in other planes.

 

[GarrettKP]

Is there a reason that no one has yet mentioned that Drizz't is lower front and center on the special edition cover? I know he has been part of some wars and is an "icon" of the Realms, but still.

Probably because we don’t know if it’s actually Drizzt or not?

 

[Demetrios1453]

Is there a reason that no one has yet mentioned that Drizz't is lower front and center on the special edition cover? I know he has been part of some wars and is an "icon" of the Realms, but still.

I've seen that said elsewhere, but the two swords that they are claiming to be held by the person in the front appear to be held by two separate people (the one on the left appears to be held by the front character while the one on the right appears to be held by someone further back, at least in my squinting view of the picture). Why would be be he be in a "Tome of Foes" anyway? Have he and Mordenkainen had an encounter that I haven't heard about?

 

[Demetrios1453]

Went scouring around the DMG and the Blood War isn't even mentioned by name there in the description of the lower planes. What it does say is that now that Baator and the Abyss are accessible via the river Styx, the demonic forces can invade Avernus again, but the wording seems to indicate they haven't. Likewise the description of Avernus makes it sound like a battlefield of the past not a battlefield in an ongoing conflict. FR wiki also makes no mention of the conflict reigniting. I get that Sundering restored a lot of cosmology back to how it was, but there seem to be some remnants left behind.

The Blood War is explicitly mentioned by name in the Yugoloth entry in the 5e Monster Manual, on page 312 to be exact, under the Ultraloth entry...

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I've seen that said elsewhere, but the two swords that they are claiming to be held by the person in the front appear to be held by two separate people (the one on the left appears to be held by the front character while the one on the right appears to be held by someone further back, at least in my squinting view of the picture). Why would be be he be in a "Tome of Foes" anyway? Have he and Mordenkainen had an encounter that I haven't heard about?

Yes, it is hard to see, but the two swords look identical to me, even if there is a chance they are being held by the beings behind the Drow. But what other male Drow would get front and center like that? None I know of.

Also, the book is not about Mordenkainen's foes. He is recounting several planar and multi-planar wars and conflicts. And the two, or more, sides in each conflict are Foes of each other. So I would expect that there should be monsters and major NPCs of all types and alignments in the book.

 

[Parmandur]

Yes, it is hard to see, but the two swords look identical to me, even if there is a chance they are being held by the beings behind the Drow. But what other male Drow would get front and center like that? None I know of.

Also, the book is not about Mordenkainen's foes. He is recounting several planar and multi-planar wars and conflicts. And the two, or more, sides in each conflict are Foes of each other. So I would expect that there should be monsters and major NPCs of all types and alignments in the book.

If they are covering things Elven, which what we have seen suggests, Driz'zt as the archetypal PC Drow and near-prophet seems appropriate to come up for Drow.

I can't make out anything in the special cover, though.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Yes, it is hard to see, but the two swords look identical to me, even if there is a chance they are being held by the beings behind the Drow. But what other male Drow would get front and center like that? None I know of.

They aren't identical. The right one has a spike on the lower middle edge and is broader in the area before the tip, compared to the left. And looking even closer, the left sword looks like it may even be being held by the person behind the front figure, who may indeed be wielding neither of the swords.

The front figure might not be a male drow, or a drow at all, although it does look like one from what we can see. It's really far too fuzzy to make any definitive conclusions though. Hopefully we'll get a closer look at it tomorrow, since the figures will help give us an idea of what will be contained in the book...

 

[vpuigdoller]

Went scouring around the DMG and the Blood War isn't even mentioned by name there in the description of the lower planes. What it does say is that now that Baator and the Abyss are accessible via the river Styx, the demonic forces can invade Avernus again, but the wording seems to indicate they haven't. Likewise the description of Avernus makes it sound like a battlefield of the past not a battlefield in an ongoing conflict. FR wiki also makes no mention of the conflict reigniting. I get that Sundering restored a lot of cosmology back to how it was, but there seem to be some remnants left behind.

As for people mentioning why the other gods had not ended the conflict the way Asmodeus did, the answer is simple - they had no vested interest in doing so. If anything, forces of good were helping fuel the conflict to keep either of two sides from turning on them (although again I don't recall any shift in the lore indicating an attack on the upper planes following the end of the Blood War so perhaps their fears were unfounded) and there weren't any major deities in the Abyss when it was cast into Elemental Chaos - Lolth straight up took Demonweb Pits and relocated it if I recall. Unless I'm mistaken other evil deities resided in other planes.

I can’t see the image clearly but who else is in the special edition cover? Besides Drizzt I mean.