D&D (2024) Forgotten Realms Player Guide

[Maxperson]

Anyone else hope they add some FR races to the setting like Saurials, Wemics, Shades, etc...?

I would like to see the Saurials and Wemics, but not Shades and Fey'ri. I love the latter two races far more than the former two, but Shades and Fey'ri were powerful races far beyond the bog standard PHB races. 5e, though, is allergic to creating races that have more power, so if they did make them, you'd end up with Shades being on par with Gnomes, Halflings and Humans. That would bug the hell out of me.

What I'd also like to see, though, are more FR subclasses like Red Wizard and Witches of Rashemen. And some of the FR specific magic items.

 

[Valetudo]

I'm guessing they will take another swing at all those bad sword coast sub classes.

 

[Parmandur]

Coming back to this, as I've been reading the DMG, Tiamat is mentioned (and illustrated) quite a bit. I know she's somewhat outgrown her origins, but she still remains a Mesopotamian deity at her core, which may indicate that perhaps the Mesopotamian/Untheric deities might not be off the table. Or, conversely, deities that have taken on a D&D life of their own (like say Tyr) are still permissable despite their origins. I guess we'll see next year. It's going to be interesting to see how all this is handled.

Well, also the ancient Mesopotamian religion is a bit different in that it is quite forgotten, be entirely a re-discovery of modern archeology. Very different from Greek, Norse, Egyptian, or worse Hindu religion.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I would like to see the Saurials and Wemics, but not Shades and Fey'ri. I love the latter two races far more than the former two, but Shades and Fey'ri were powerful races far beyond the bog standard PHB races. 5e, though, is allergic to creating races that have more power, so if they did make them, you'd end up with Shades being on par with Gnomes, Halflings and Humans. That would bug the hell out of me.

What I'd also like to see, though, are more FR subclasses like Red Wizard and Witches of Rashemen. And some of the FR specific magic items.

Fey'ri are flavours of Cambion, Shades would be fine if you represented any racial powers beyond the basic ones as feats.

You could do Wemics as a mechanical update of Leonin, who actually do a good job as stats for Wemics to begin with even if Wemics have more legs.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Coming back to this, as I've been reading the DMG, Tiamat is mentioned (and illustrated) quite a bit. I know she's somewhat outgrown her origins, but she still remains a Mesopotamian deity at her core, which may indicate that perhaps the Mesopotamian/Untheric deities might not be off the table. Or, conversely, deities that have taken on a D&D life of their own (like say Tyr) are still permissable despite their origins. I guess we'll see next year. It's going to be interesting to see how all this is handled.

This is completely a series of rationalization foe double standards, Zeus has appeared in far more fictional media then Tyr with no real blowback including far, far more insulting appearances then anything in D&D.

And the only Hindu complaint in Media I've seen was the one from Xena where the complaint was from more homophobic elements of India, I won't go into the details.

 

[Corinnguard]

You could do Wemics as a mechanical update of Leonin, who actually do a good job as stats for Wemics to begin with even if Wemics have more legs.

A Wemic would have the feline equivalent of the Centaur's Equine Build trait in addition to all of the Leonin traits.

• Equine Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push or drag. In addition, any climb that requires hands and feet is especially difficult for you because of your equine legs. When you make such a climb, each foot of movement costs you 4 extra feet, instead of the normal 1 extra foot.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

A Wemic would have the feline equivalent of the Centaur's Equine Build trait in addition to all of the Leonin traits.

• Equine Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push or drag. In addition, any climb that requires hands and feet is especially difficult for you because of your equine legs. When you make such a climb, each foot of movement costs you 4 extra feet, instead of the normal 1 extra foot.

Lions have no problem with steps unlike Horses, so no need for that, cats have no problem climbing stuff they have no business being able climb.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Now that the MM is out and with the revelation that the drow stat blocks from the 2014 MM will be moved to the FR guides, it's a good time to start really speculating on what monsters will be appearing in these books (and will they be in the Player's Guide, DM's Guide, or split between the two?)

We know the drow stat blocks from the 2014 MM will be in there. What about the duergar stat block from the 2014 MM? Will the drow (and duergar) stat blocks from MotM be updated as well? Many of them are very FR flavored and inspired.

Presumably important FR monsters that haven't been updated so far should appear. These would include creatures like the phaerimm, sharn, malaugrym, deepspawn, and so on. What other creatures might appear?

Since we're going to have a Thay-flavored subclass, I assume that we'll see some Red Wizard stat blocks. Will Szass Tam himself get a stat block as well?

And speaking of individuals, how about other important Realms NPCs? Neither Elminster nor Drizzt have had official 5e stats as of yet, and this would be the perfect place for them, along with others.

And since Baldur's Gate is a featured region, and since they've said they've had them ready to go since at least Descent into Avernus, I'm going to say that we'll be seeing stat blocks for the Dead Three (Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul). Perhaps they'll reprint some or all of their cultists from that adventure as well.


And, on a slightly different note, do you think the DM's Guide is a trial balloon for future books that will feature iconic Realms areas that can be cut-and-pasted and used as inspiration for similarly-themed areas for homebrew? This book will touch on highly-thematic areas, but there are still plenty of similar themes that could be explored in future compilations. Classic feudal kingdom? Cormyr. Magitech land? Lantan. Evil Magocracy? Thay. Fantasy Egypt (since we're getting Fantasy Arabia in these books)? Mulhorand. Jungle? Chult (or since that's been covered, perhaps other locations on the Chultan peninsula). Desert without the 1001 Nights theme? Anauroch. And so on. There's definitely room for at least another book or two if they follow this format.

 

[ECMO3]

I'm guessing they will take another swing at all those bad sword coast sub classes.

I think they will be focusing on those in the new UA. That includes PDK and Bladesinger, but not Battle Rager, Arcana Cleric or Undying Warlock.

 

[Parmandur]

Now that the MM is out and with the revelation that the drow stat blocks from the 2014 MM will be moved to the FR guides, it's a good time to start really speculating on what monsters will be appearing in these books

I suspect this pair was at one point conceptualized as a Spelljammer/Planescape style box, so I reckon a big Bestiary is likely, enough for a 64+ page book.

and will they be in the Player's Guide, DM's Guide, or split between the two?)

All DM material I reckon will be in the SM book, extended DMG type content and NM type content: we know that the players guide will have Faerûn Gazateer, but anything behind screen is probably for the other book.

Since we're going to have a Thay-flavored subclass, I assume that we'll see some Red Wizard stat blocks. Will Szass Tam himself get a stat block as well?

None of the Subclasses tested thus far were Thayan: I do expect we will see a Red Wizard Background and Irigin Feat similar to the Level 1 Feat in the 3E FRCS.

NPC blocks specific to each region seem probable, so yes Red Wizards, Zhents, Dead Three Cultists, Iluskan Vikings, etc.

And, on a slightly different note, do you think the DM's Guide is a trial balloon for future books that will feature iconic Realms areas that can be cut-and-pasted and used as inspiration for similarly-themed areas for homebrew? This book will touch on highly-thematic areas, but there are still plenty of similar themes that could be explored in future compilations. Classic feudal kingdom? Cormyr. Magitech land? Lantan. Evil Magocracy? Thay. Fantasy Egypt (since we're getting Fantasy Arabia in these books)? Mulhorand. Jungle? Chult (or since that's been covered, perhaps other locations on the Chultan peninsula). Desert without the 1001 Nights theme? Anauroch. And so on. There's definitely room for at least another book or two if they follow this format.

I think we will see that the 5 areas detailed in the DM Guide will line up very similar to the Greyhawk City and Region Gazateer in the DMG, content wise. The designers told @Christian Hoffer recently that each of those regions is getting a set of low-prep Adventure outlines similar to those in the DMG.