D&D 5E Considering Bigby's Big Book of Giants: How much use did you get out of Fizban's Big Book of Dragons?

[jgsugden]

I think I prefer the real title of the book to the fake title in this thread. Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants sounds fine but Bigby's Big Book just sounds like some genre of porn to me.

Is it just me?

 

[Stormonu]

I think I prefer the real title of the book to the fake title in this thread. Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants sounds fine but Bigby's Big Book just sounds like some genre of porn to me.

Is it just me?

Bigby's Handbook? Eh, that sounds worse...

 

[Mind of tempest]

Bigby's Handbook? Eh, that sounds worse...

there is no possible way to make anything with Bigby sound professional in any situation.

 

[ersatzphil]

I'm usually pretty picky about what new D&D releases I pick up - I haven't picked up a new book since Fizbans, as example. However, in 2021 I picked up nearly every release, only skipping out on Strixhaven. It was interesting to see how the releases actually do a pretty good job of foreshadowing forthcoming releases: Tashas had a bunch of easter eggs for the upcoming Witchlight book, and Fizbans in retrospect had a bunch of things hinting at a Dragonlance book. Has anyone noted anything more recently that could hint at an upcoming book? Any old characters make a seemingly incongruous appearance?

edit: examples of the order domain cleric in Tashas having a wanted poster for Kelek on his shield:

Example from Fizbans of Laurana and Kitiara duking it out:

 

[Stormonu]

Tasha's had a picture of Azalin it under the "Lich Patron", before Van Richten's came out and one of the Planescape Factols in it, in the Patrons section (she was training some newbs in a gym).

Have a feeling this image (from Tasha's) was a foreshadowing of Radiant Citadel

 

[ersatzphil]

Tasha's had a picture of Azalin it under the "Lich Patron", before Van Richten's came out and one of the Planescape Factols in it, in the Patrons section (she was training some newbs in a gym).

Aah, how did I forget about seeing Factol Guildmaster Rhys - they even had the correct symbol for the Transcendent Order, and had them running what I assume is the Great Gymnasium in Sigil. I do hope that indicates that they're hewing closer to the original box set, rather than the stuff that came later.

 

[Stormonu]

Oh, and let's not forget the BIG foreshadowing of Spelljammer in Rime. There were even miniatures...

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I'm pretty sure those are both books' names. No, I'm not double-checking.

So, I got the digital version of Fizban's, partly for a player who's running a Dragonborn in one of my games, but partly because I had a lot of good memories of the 3E Draconomicon, which is one of the all-time great D&D books. Completely gorgeous, tons of lore about every aspect of dragons, a ton of player-facing content and so many great monsters.

Fizban's, let's say, did not measure up for me. It's fine, don't get me wrong, but boy, it does not measure up. It is a C/C+ book when I was hoping to see another A+ book.

But maybe that's just me. I have one major dragon in my main campaign, and while I will be throwing in every trick in the book when the PCs finally fight her, beyond that, there's not much draconic content I can see using after that.

Considering that Bigby's is likely to be very similar in structure to Fizban's, am I alone in this? Did you get a lot of value out of Fizban's? If so, what did you do with it? If you're excited about Bigby's, tell me why.

Speaking as someone who doesn’t really care about past editions and their deep dives, and so who is not really comparing the new books, I loved Fizban’s. It’s precisely what I want from a D&D supplement.

Which is really high praise, considering how much I despise the Planescapification of the entirety of D&D in this edition, and have always especially despised “this god is actually just a pen name for this other god”, and tbh find Paladine and Takhisis to be quite different from Bahamut and Tiamat.

Bigby’s (weird choice. Is Bigby associated with giants?) I am excited for because giants are fairly interesting, and I’m curious what player options and new giantish stuff they’ll put in. What oddball stuff from D&D’s past will get spruced up for inclusion in the book? How will they tie giants to the larger multiverse, and what left field weirdness will they come up with that splits fans between excitement and rage?

 

[Parmandur]

weird choice. Is Bigby associated with giants

Bigby' Giant [full in the blank] is a historical set of Seplls, most I can think of. That, and he was Gygaxes backup PC.

Another point is that there is currently a 100% record of the named NPC in a supplement title showing up in an Adventure the next year...so that may be a clue to 2024 plans.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Bigby' Giant [full in the blank] is a historical set of Seplls, most I can think of. That, and he was Gygaxes backup PC.

So just the naming convention? Like, he liked his magical hands really big, so put him on the Giants book?

Another point is that there is currently a 100% record of the named NPC in a supplement title showing up in an Adventure the next year...so that may be a clue to 2024 plans.

Yeah, I really wish there were more well known female named characters to name books after. It’s pretty sad that of all these books’ titular characters, the same number of books have genderless creatures born from nightmares as women.