D&D 5E D&D Lore Changes: Multiversal Focus & Fey Goblins of Prehistory

WotC's Jeremy Crawford revealed a couple of the lore changes in Monsters of the Multiverse.

• The big shift is toward the multiverse as the game's main perspective rather than a specific setting. The game is shifting towards a multiversal focus, with a variety of worlds and settings.
• Universe-spanning mythical story beats, such as deep lore on goblinoids going back to 1st Edition, and the gods they had before Maglubiyet. Prior to Magulbiyet unifying them, goblinoids were folk of the feywild in keeping with 'real-world' folklore.
• Changelings aren't just Eberron, but they've been everywhere -- you just don't necessarily know it. Their origin is also in the realm of the fey.

D&D 5E - A Compilation of all the Race Changes in Monsters of the Multiverse

Over on Reddit, user KingJackel went through the video leak which came out a few days ago and manually compiled a list of all the changes to races in the book. The changes are quite extensive, with only the fairy and harengon remaining unchanged. The book contains 33 races in total, compiled and...

www.enworld.org

 

[doctorbadwolf]

My last comment on this, as clearly we won't agree....but I can go to lots of planes and places with differences in gods, how magic works, etc. in any edition of the game, regardless of how the multiverse is set up.

You’re clearly not even trying to understand what I’m saying.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Both Teleport and Plane Shift are 7th level spells - and you need to know something about where you're teleporting to. I don't see this as a meaningful difference in difficulty.

Nit picking is never a valid response to a comment with actual content.

 

[Alzrius]

Nit picking is never a valid response to a comment with actual content.

Actually, "nitpicking" is one word, not two.

No irony intended.

 

[Zaukrie]

You’re clearly not even trying to understand what I’m saying.

that is 100% not cool. Of course I am. I disagree.

 

[Azzy]

So goblins, regardless of campaign setting, will be presented as having the same mythical origin story and worshiping the same gods?

The funny thing is that you pretty much described the situation before this "change". 1's Deities & Demigods (later, Legends & Lore) onward, Maglubiyet has been the main deity of the goblinoids, with some lore and pantheon expansion in Dragon, issue 63. This lore was assumed default and had remained intact (with little additions here and there) until 4th edition (I have no clue how much 4e changed the status quo). So, I'm like .

 

[Malmuria]

The funny thing is that you pretty much described the situation before this "change". 1's Deities & Demigods (later, Legends & Lore) onward, Maglubiyet has been the main deity of the goblinoids, with some lore and pantheon expansion in Dragon, issue 63. This lore was assumed default and had remained intact (with little additions here and there) until 4th edition (I have no clue how much 4e changed the status quo). So, I'm like .

It's sort of a weird stance from them to be taking with regards to essentialism, because it gives all of X creature not only a shared identity within each campaign world, but a shared cosmic identity across the many 'verses. And, if gods were real in tangible ways, why wouldn't all creatures just choose from all known gods, instead of species-specific gods. But I suppose presenting it as unity-then-fracture allows for both essential definitions and setting-based variety. But yeah,

 

[Neonchameleon]

Nit picking is never a valid response to a comment with actual content.

Accusations of nit picking aren't a valid response in reply to a rebuttal that destroys one of your claimed premises.

To expand on why you are wrong trying to teleport to Mars takes almost exactly the same level of spell prep as plane shifting to mirror earth - and you need to know about the end conditions at both (because Mars e.g. has no atmosphere and is incredibly cold). In both cases you need a 7th level spell plus research about and preparation for the conditions at the other end. This is unless "mirror-earth" is made of antimatter of course.

However there's a major difference between going to Mars and going to an alternate earth-style plane. And that's that entities who live on Krynn are in general similar to those on Eberron (just picking two worlds at random) in terms of what they find a habitable environment and vise-versa. The same does not apply to Earth and Mars. Therefore there is (a) far more of a reason to want to set up trade or tourism between the two, (b) require a whole lot less specialist equipment to be transported with you just in order to survive, and (c) mean it's much more likely that someone could go there and back by accident. "I'm a stranger who got here from Earth by random portal" is a time-honoured D&D background while "I'm a martian" is much more a sci-fi or superhero background especially given the necessary biological differences.

In the real world we can send a rocket to Mars - but don't even know if parallel planes exist at all. It's the difference between a 7th level spell and the spell not existing at all in the real world. In the Star Trek cosmology it's much harder to get to the mirror universe than travel by warp. In D&D cosmology plane shift and teleport are the same level of spell. So the one with livable atmospheres, civilisations, and people is what's going to happen.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Lol yeah needing to know the world exists and do research is definitely the same as needing a physical object from a world no one on your world has ever visited.

edit: never mind that teleportation circle is not a 7th level spell, and only requires research. (Next the nitpicking will continue about not specifying which teleportation spell I had in mind )

Or the fact that there are vehicles that can travel through the prime material between settings, and don’t require that you be high level to operate them.

Or the very weird nitpicking about how real life space works!?

 

[the Jester]

In that it creates a speace that excludes those that choose not to use WotC lore. I don't mean it in a way that implies gatekeeping based on any particular cohort.

This line of defense for WotC is always very frustrating for me. It is dismissive and more than a little selfish. Of course a DM "doesn't need permission." But many, many of us really benefited from the DM support built into previous editions and I for one think it is missing the point on WotC's part not providing that to new DMs. DMs make the game. You can't have it without them. helping them learn the art and craft should be at least as important to WotC as providing players with piles upon piles of character options. There's a thread of the main page now celebrating the contribution of Jannelle Jaquas and among her most beloved works is The Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide. That book is beloved for a reason.

People who have been playing the game for decades (like me) should not just dismiss new GMs and assume they'll "pick it up."

Have you read the 5e DMG? It's full of advice and all kinds of tables for the DM. I almost never see anyone mention it, but it's full of the type of "here's some help doing the work" stuff that you seem to be asking for.

Which isn't to say that more DM support wouldn't be good. We do get some in various places. For instance, Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft could almost be retitled "Tips for DMing Horror Games".

 

[CleverNickName]

My first thought when I watched that YouTube video was "Wait, you mean goblins weren't fey creatures all this time?" Seriously--I've always thought that goblins were Fey creatures, even back before "fey" was a common D&D term. From Puck the Hobgoblin in Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" to the poem "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti, I have always associated goblins with elves and pixies and faeries.

It's great to finally have clarification I guess, for those who needed it in their games. I must have been ahead of my time.