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?

 

[gweinel]

According to the Cover I see at least Athas with its two moons (center right) and Krynn with its three moons (center down)...

If it is true, what are the left-center, left-up and right-up?

 

[Elderbrain]

Re: The title, "Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes", remember that Mordy is True Neutral and defends what he sees as the Balance; Good, Evil, Law and Chaos must be kept in equilibrium. In the past, Mordy has fought for both Good (when it was in danger) and Evil (likewise), so there's no reason he couldn't view a Celestial and the like as "Foes"... Mordenkainen has aided Evil to prevent the return of the imprisoned god Tharizdun, who wants to end all reality, judging that the ends justify the means.

 

[Parmandur]

I think it will be more in the middle, which is why I said both Locations AND threats there.

I don't think we will get descriptions on 6 different Planar creatures in depth like Volo's did for base foes, but I do think we will basically get detailed descriptions on things like The Blood Wars, The Modron March, The Gith and Illithid conflict, so on and so forth. And in these sections they will not only detail the participants (Devils and Demons, Modrons, Gith and Illithid) but also the locations where the conflicts take place (Avernus and the Abyss, Mechanus, The Astral Plane, etc). So a mix of both lore on the creatures involved as well as the places the conflicts take place.

But either way I think the main focus on all of this will be the conflicts first and foremost. Why do Gith and Illithid fight constantly? Why do Demons continuously flood the first level of the Nine Hells? How do the rest of the Planes deal with the Modron March? Hell, maybe a look at why Dragons don't rule and how Tiamat and Bahamut war against each other since Beyond just did that video on Tiamat?

If I had to guess 6 planar conflicts to be detailed (to match the detailed breakdowns of monsters Volo did) I would think these make it in:

The Blood Wars
The Gith hunt of Illithid
The Modron March (less a War and more how conflicts may come from the event)
Corellon vs Gruumsh
Tiamat vs Bahamut
Vaati vs Miska the Wolf Spider/The Queen of Chaos

But there are so many more we could get into that keeping it to 6 seems unlikely (the book has a bigger page count than Volo's after all). Elemental conflicts, Shadowfell stuff, Angels vs Devils. So many conflicts to detail.

Well, now that we know that you were right about the subrace UAs being aimed at this book, that means we know another piece if content that they playtested: Demon and Devil cults.

 

[gyor]

I see the first chapter broken down by planes, Outer Planes (Lower Planes, Upper Planes, Mechanis, Limbo, the Outlands, Sigil, maybe touching on the alien planes beyond like Positive/Negative Energy Planes and the Far Realms, Inner Planes (Earth, Fire, Water, Air, Elemental Chaos, etc...), Material Plane (Kyrnn, Athas, Toril, Greyhawk, ect...), Transitive Planes (Astral), Echo Planes (Shadowfell and Feywild), focusing on the inhabitants and their wars, while making the occasional note of interesting locations and factiods. Also likely some comment on variant ways of organizing the planes. Might also have spells/feats/subclasses/Fighting Styles.

Then races (and anything else player related) section with at least Gith, Planetouched (likely including subraces), Elven Subraces, Duegar, Shadar Kai could be a subrace of Elves or Planetouched if its in, or its own race. Maybe Rogue Modrons, Dragonlance Minotaurs, Kender, Muls, Shifters, etc...

Then the Monster section, Demons, Devils, Celestials, Elementals, Fey, Modrons, Slaadi, some weirder stuff and setting important Monsters.

 

[gyor]

Well, now that we know that you were right about the subrace UAs being aimed at this book, that means we know another piece if content that they playtested: Demon and Devil cults.

Demon and Devil cults fighting each other were mentioned during the Blood War Lore You Should Know Segment.

 

[agrayday]

and M....

This is "Marathon". The next two are "Broadway" and "Catacomb".

"Marathon" as in its a long way to the planes...... or..... it just happens to being with "M".

Trying to relate Marathon with this release. Yes i saw the post about TSR adventure numbers which actually comes pretty dang close i would think....

 

[Demetrios1453]

"Marathon" as in its a long way to the planes...... or..... it just happens to being with "M".

Trying to relate Marathon with this release. Yes i saw the post about TSR adventure numbers which actually comes pretty dang close i would think....

Until we see more about the book, the only connections I can come up with for "Marathon" would be (1) it focuses on the Great Modron March over other conflicts, or (2) the original Battle of Marathon between the Greeks and Persians standing as a metaphor for conflicts between opposing groups...

Sent from my [device_name] using EN World mobile app

 

[GarrettKP]

Well, now that we know that you were right about the subrace UAs being aimed at this book, that means we know another piece if content that they playtested: Demon and Devil cults.

Ya for sure. I expect we get a big section on the Blood Wars and how that bleeds into the material plane, where they detail the cults for us. I also expect both ArchDevils and Demon Lords to get stat blocks (for the Demon Lords it will be mostly reprints from Out of the Abyss).

 

[gyor]

Ya for sure. I expect we get a big section on the Blood Wars and how that bleeds into the material plane, where they detail the cults for us. I also expect both ArchDevils and Demon Lords to get stat blocks (for the Demon Lords it will be mostly reprints from Out of the Abyss).

I kind of want Succubi Queens/Kings as well as Archdemons and Archdevils, like Malcanthet, Shae Amori, and so on.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I hope we get Lolth stats.