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?

 

[gyor]

Just listened to the Dragon+ interview with Mike Mearls (it's 60% or more about foot balls despite saying it's about MTOF and most of the rest is about other D&D stuff, they only talking about MTOF a tiny bit).

Moloch and the Eidolon are in MTOF and share some back story (both we're based on the original cover art the one with the eyes being pried out of the Idol), Moloch is a unique devil, powerful, but not one of the nine, and an Eidolon like in 4e is a Idol Construct.

This makes me think it's even more likely that Malchanet is in MTOF if a devil like Moloch is in.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Eh, not quite. The names were recycled, but a 4e "Coure" was quite different from a 2e Coure; among other things, the 4e version is human sized while the 2e version is the size of a pixie and had wings. Old school Eladrin didn't just have different ranks per name, they had different sizes and body shapes, not just different powers, in the same way that a Mane differs in size and shape from a Marilith, a Balor, or a Yochlol. They're all demons, sure, but the difference between a Marilith and a Balor is more than just rank, they physically differ. If 4e had taken the same approach to demons that it took to Eladrin, they would all be the same size with the same body plan. (i.e. all 4e Eladrin are medium-sized and human-shaped, with no wings, etc.) And I can't recall any statement in old-school lore to the effect that Elves never become Necromancers, but maybe I missed it. If the 5e Eladrin in Arborea turn out to be the 4e "super" Eladrin, I will be sorely disappointed... Remember, originally Eladrin were NOT elves (nor were Shadar-Kai, which were Fey but not elves).

I have to think that they will be more like the 2e eladrin. This edition often tends more towards old-school when it comes to its monsters. And I can't see them making 5 -6 "Super Eladrin" that are basically all the same, just one more powerful than the next. Crawford's discussion on how all the various elven forms are just reflections of their ancient ability to take on different forms would likely be reflected in the various eladrin forms as well...

 

[Olive]

I'm a bit grumpy as I was keen to get the limited edition cover but the game shop I would normally get it from is charging A$80 for it as opposed to A$60 for the normal cover. I'm sure he'll seel them but I thought the point of the covers was that you could only get them in game shops and so you'd go there, not Amazon/Book Depository not to gouge for limited editon covers.

Is this normal FLGS practice elsewhere?

 

[Kobold Avenger]

It's doubtful it'll touch much on Spelljammer (and there's things about how space works in SJ that I'm not a fan of) but I feel that the idea that there's an Elven Imperial Navy should establish that Elves sort of have an loosely affiliated multi-world empire, even if they aren't dominant on most worlds.

On the subject of monsters, I feel Archons are likely, Guardinals maybe, but I wouldn't be surprised there are no Rilmani as they're generally the last ones considered of the "alignment races". I'd like Ethergaunts and Kaorti to show up was they were my favourite of the new monsters in 3e's Fiend Folio. Psurlons could from Dark Sun could show up, but likely not given their psionic nature and how they seem to make the Astral Plane overcrowded with threats.

If they haven't announced all the PC races, then maybe the Genasi get reprinted, I think 4e tried to make the Jann into Genasi, and Dark Sun's Rukova(?) are most likely Genasi too.

 

[Ibrandul]

I'm a bit grumpy as I was keen to get the limited edition cover but the game shop I would normally get it from is charging A$80 for it as opposed to A$60 for the normal cover. I'm sure he'll seel them but I thought the point of the covers was that you could only get them in game shops and so you'd go there, not Amazon/Book Depository not to gouge for limited editon covers.

Is this normal FLGS practice elsewhere?

All the local game stores around me (southern New England, USA) have sold the alternate covers for full MSRP, whereas they usually mark the regular versions at some kind of discount in order to compete with online retailers (even though they never discount the regular books as heavily as e.g. Amazon).

This seems fair to me, and I've happily paid full price for the alt covers. But I would be irritated to see any markup higher than MSRP, at least if the book wasn't more than a few weeks old.

Your situation might be complicated by your location outside the USA, if there's no hard-and-fast MSRP set for your region. But the price difference you cite is roughly equivalent to the difference hereabouts between MSRP (49.95 USD), which I've been paying in local stores for the alt covers, and the going rates for the regular versions of the same books in the same stores (35.00-40.00 on average). Hope that helps set your mind at ease!

 

[darjr]

[MENTION=1297]Olive[/MENTION] That unreasonable markup may also be in violation of their WotC WPN agreement and put them in peril of losing their WPN status. Without WPN they couldn’t sell that book at all and lose a ton of magic events and other instore D&D events.

 

[Swift Nimblefoot]

Wow. This all sounds so, so... 4E like. Shadar-Kai, Shadowfell, elves as shapeshifters? Noooot sure I want this right after I was glad that 5E moved back to the 2E ways.

 

[Parmandur]

Wow. This all sounds so, so... 4E like. Shadar-Kai, Shadowfell, elves as shapeshifters? Noooot sure I want this right after I was glad that 5E moved back to the 2E ways.

I'll take this reaction as a good sign, since the 4E guys were just grousing about how 2E it sounds.

 

[Charlaquin]

Wow. This all sounds so, so... 4E like. Shadar-Kai, Shadowfell, elves as shapeshifters? Noooot sure I want this right after I was glad that 5E moved back to the 2E ways.

Yeah, I don’t know what this is like, but it’s not 4e.

Which, to be clear, I don’t consider a bad thing. Or a good thing. If we could all just stop judging 5e by how much or little it resembles 4e and just judge each edition on its own merits, that would be lovely.

 

[Li Shenron]

What is the source that says 150 new monsters? The product description says only "dozens" of new monsters, which sounds to me a lot less than 150.