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

 

[JEB]

There's so much that's available free that you don't need to buy any books, especially in terms of lore.

The thing you don't get are mechanics--that's what's behind the figurative paywall.

And you don't need to pay for mechanics either, those are also free online, along with tons of homebrew. Basically, we don't need official D&D books at all!

Which means it's in Wizards' best interest to produce material that seems worth buying. For some it's useful rules. For others it's inspirational lore. Cutting either back is not a selling point.

 

[Yaarel]

Plenty of places have a concept of a Spirit World, and while 3e presented the Plane of Faerie and Spirit World as both optional planes. I think the originally 4e concept of Feywild is both the Plane of Faerie and the Spirit World.

At least in the 5e cosmology, I see no reason for there being a separate Spirit World because a lot of it's conceptual space is already taken by Feywild.

I view the "spirit world" to be the Ethereal Plane.

Fey and Shadow are different frequencies of the Ethereal.

Fey is energized by the Positivity.

Shadow is dampened by the Negativity energy sink.

All of this coexists simultaneously at different frequencies of the Ethereal.

 

[Alzrius]

Plenty of places have a concept of a Spirit World, and while 3e presented the Plane of Faerie and Spirit World as both optional planes. I think the originally 4e concept of Feywild is both the Plane of Faerie and the Spirit World.

Fun fact: while the 3E Manual of the Planes presented "the Spirit World" as one of several optional planes, it wasn't the first D&D supplement to present such a realm. As far as I know, that distinction goes to AD&D 2nd Edition's Shaman accessory (albeit with quite the amusing twist).

Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.

 

[Yaarel]

Just a thought...

Why not have the "default" version of creatures have some basic general fluff and then allow more specific (or different) versions of creatures to be adjusted by their respective world/campaigns?

That seems to be what is happening. Each race has only a brief description in the core rules. Then each setting details it different.y.

 

[Yaarel]

Forgotten Realms and Planescape have been deeply connected since Planescape was created in 2e, and Forgotten Realms fitting into the "Great Wheel" cosmology goes back to 1e and early Realms stuff.

There were even crossover adventures in 2e, like Tales from the Infinite Staircase (PS). . .which crossed over into For Duty and Deity (FR).

In 1e, before Planescape was specifically a thing, Realms adventures went planar right into the Great Wheel of Planescape, like Throne of Bloodstone.

Planescape was always a "crossover" setting designed to weave together the multiverse, along with Spelljammer.

3e and 4e works tried to shoehorn in some new cosmology to be unique to the realms, but that was the retcon, whereas FR and PS being in the same cosmology and closely tied together was the earlier way things were done.

Yeah, in my eyes, Forgotten Realms and Planescape are different regions of the same setting.

 

[Azzy]

In Krynn, goblins are humanoids transformed by the Greygem. They have no connection to the Feywild (which shows no signs of existing in the krynnish cosmology) nor with goblins of other worlds. How is the Dragonlance setting enriched by shoe-horning in this fey connection?

The same way that the DL setting is "enriched" by shoehorning it into Great Wheel cosmology (and everything that that entails)... DL books can ignore it or try to create tome excuse around it. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

 

[Demetrios1453]

In Krynn, goblins are humanoids transformed by the Greygem. They have no connection to the Feywild (which shows no signs of existing in the krynnish cosmology) nor with goblins of other worlds. How is the Dragonlance setting enriched by shoe-horning in this fey connection?

It would be enriched by all the creative minds working on new and interesting theories on how to interweave both viewpoints. When confronted with what looks to be a roadblock, there's no need to sit on the ground and do nothing but complain it's there - come up with ways to go around it or to include it!

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Here's the thing. Preserving the status quo is not a contextually neutral choice. It means that all the people who find aspects of the product as it currently exists "less interesting or otherwise unpalatable" will continue to be unhappy because of that. And so the choice between changes and the status quo is one part moral and creative value judgment, two parts business analysis about what the larger market segment is.

I'm sure it stings for some people to have it shoved in their face that they aren't the core audience demographic anymore. But that's what happens when you get older. Generational slices get smaller the older they get, while young people are a constantly refreshing resource. Properties have to stay current if they don't want to be stuck with a fossilized and shrinking fanbase. That's why the Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons of today are made for the kids of today and not for people like me who were kids in the 80s.

WotC has made their choices about what direction is best for their business. As players, you either get on board with that or find alternative products designed to cater to your differing tastes. Goodness knows there's always someone eager to fill a niche market, if you're willing to explore small creators.

Okay, I’m not sure what made it seem like I’m unaware of any of that, but yes. Status quo is not neutral, etc.

And both criticism of the statu quo, and criticism of changes, are not only inevitable, but also completely valid and reasonable.

well. Reasonable or not based on the merits of the individual criticism, anyway.

 

[Maxperson]

We do also know that the next Setting product is being designed by Christopher Perkins, and has a special edition cover with a hamster on it. Perkins has a very refined sense of humor that fits Spelljammer to a Tee. Take a look at Witchlight.

No Planescape options were tested, just Spelljammer (and Thri-Kreen). There is no particular reason to suspect Planescape is in the cards just yet, and way less for a hypothetical "Planesjammer."

I don't remember Astral Elves being in Spelljammer, and those sound very planar to me. I tend to think it will be more of a Planejammer setting.

 

[Maxperson]

The thri-kreen they listed were almost certainly supposed to be the xichil, a Spelljammer mantid race of extreme body-modders and transhumanists (transmantidists?). But people who haven't been exposed to Spelljammer would be confused at the inclusion of the xichil if they weren't called thri-kreen.

Thri-kreen were also a Spelljammer race back in 2e.