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]

They're attached to the inside of the crystal spheres. Well, some of them are attached to things that move around on the inside of the crystal spheres.

So flying glow sticks.

Hey, I’m all for weird stars. I just want there to be stars when I’m flying through space. Oh, and space.

I do have an idea no for a world where the stars are great lanterns, or ships carrying many lanterns, floating high above the cloud level, in a world with no “outer space”, just infinite airy space where you can just keep flying and fly forever out into the black.

 

[TerraDave]

The tealeaves suggest that straight, gonzo Spelljammer is incoming.

Monsters of the Multiverse, which is full of planar races, proves that?

You don't need that with "straight spelljammer". You don't need planes. Yet this book is about the planes.

Crawford said nothing about traveling between mortal worlds.

Seriously, will there be a Feywild or Ravenloft crystal sphere, is that your call? Crystal Spheres for MtG settings (which has a multiverse made of planes, and planeswalkers).

It does not add up at all.

 

[Argyle King]

So, exactly how its functioned for years?

No. For years, there has been a "default" setting. (In the past, that has been Greyhawk-but-not for 3rd; Nentire* Vale for 4th; and Forgotten Realms for 5th.)

Then, even when a "different" setting is approached, it usually gets twisted to fit whatever the default approach is.

I think the "default" should change to fit the individual setting rather than the individual settings having a requirement to fit the default.

(*I'm okay with Nentire Vale because I feel it gave enough info to get a game moving, but vague enough that it allowed a group to modify it to their tastes/needs.)

You mean, how they're still going to be doing it?

That's not how they've been doing it for a while. In several books, they talk about that, but it's not typically done.

 

[Parmandur]

Monsters of the Multiverse, which is full of planar races, proves that?

You don't need that with "straight spelljammer". You don't need planes. Yet this book is about the planes.

Crawford said nothing about traveling between mortal worlds.

Seriously, will there be a Feywild or Ravenloft crystal sphere, is that your call? Crystal Spheres for MtG settings (which has a multiverse made of planes, and planeswalkers).

It does not add up at all.

No, the Unearthed Arcana full of Spelljammer material, and the next unannounced book having a special cover with a hamster. This book of reprints isn't relevant on that front.

 

[doctorhook]

My Eberron knows no multiversal impurities

 

[Jackdaw McGraw]

Not an approach I'm excited about.

BUT I do remember being a teen who adored crossover multiverse storytelling, imagining the interconnections of damn near every character and IP. So I'm sure people in that zone will get a serotonin kick seeing official 5e lore move this direction. I hope they have fun with it.

 

[overgeeked]

If so, the video doesn't express that very well.

I'm of the impression that the "multiverse" itself is being approached as a setting (with whatever setting-specific approaches come with that). I think that's different.

Must have been the second video about PC races they put out today with that info then. They specifically talk about stripping culture out and putting in only the basics of the race, leaving culture to the setting and/or DMs.

 

[DarkCrisis]

You know edition did really well with a lot of campaign settings: 2E

Oh wait…

 

[overgeeked]

You know edition did really well with a lot of campaign settings: 2E

Oh wait…

It’s weird. I never played 2E but collected many of the settings, which we used in AD&D. I am having such a fit of nostalgia for 2E. Not the settings, per se, but the core books and game. Low hit points. Level drain. Slow healing. Hmm.

 

[DarkCrisis]

It’s weird. I never played 2E but collected many of the settings, which we used in AD&D. I am having such a fit of nostalgia for 2E. Not the settings, per se, but the core books and game. Low hit points. Level drain. Slow healing. Hmm.

Yup. I’ve already told group if/when I DM again it’s AD&D or nothing. Someone else can run 5E if they want. I’ll play it but I’m done running it