FR Update at WotC-Year of the Ageless One

[Imban]

I've been out of FR for a while... are Shades something already FR-specific? (versus just a generic undead?)

Yeah, they're actually not undead at all. They're humans from an ancient kingdom of mages called Netheril who happened to have their floating city on a trip to the Plane of Shadow when magic went haywire and Netheril fell thousands of years ago.

Now they have cool shadow powers and are led by Telamont Tanthul, a guy who could quite probably take Elminster in a knock-down-drag-out fight, and they're finally back on Faerun. (And apparently, as of 4e, taking it over.)

 

[Reaper Steve]

Yeah, they're actually not undead at all. They're humans from an ancient kingdom of mages called Netheril who happened to have their floating city on a trip to the Plane of Shadow when magic went haywire and Netheril fell thousands of years ago.

OK, I didn't realize all that was already part of the backstory. I recognized the name Netheril, but I thought the rest was newly crafted in the 4E article. Guess that's not the case.

So, where does that leave my last few posts? Well, it looks like the Shades have some close similarities to the Shadar-Kai, but maybe that's it, just similarities.

Thanks for the education!

 

[helium3]

That said, I thought this article sounds like something a tween-age DM would come up with. Its just "lame".

Heh heh. I don't care about the realms one way or the other, having never played in or ran a FR game, but I do agree with this statement.

There's something about about massive cataclysmic devastation wrought by magical catastrophe that totally reminds me of when I was fiddling around with campaign worlds when I was in high school.

I thought the reveal on the Dragonborne origin was lame. They should've done what they did with Ebberon and the mournland and left it up to the DM to flesh out.

 

[Mighty Veil]

Which FR characters you hope made it

Here's a question: Which FR characters do you *want* to be in 4e?

Myself; Manshoon (Zhent clone), actually as much of the 1e Zhent team as possible (Fzoul and Semennon kiss and make up). The saurials, Amn's council of 6, A grandson of that Waterdeep Paladin city lord, Azoun V sounds fine to me. And Red Wizards, esp. Sazz Tam. That might be it for me.

I just History of the Realms. Why is there a picture of a warforged??

 

[Teemu]

I thought the reveal on the Dragonborne origin was lame. They should've done what they did with Ebberon and the mournland and left it up to the DM to flesh out.

Again, I gotta point out the origins of elves, dwarves, orcs, and Mulan humans. They all came from another world.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Again, I gotta point out the origins of elves, dwarves, orcs, and Mulan humans. They all came from another world.

It's not out of line for FR but it does seem kind of lazy. Another Mystra frag (I suppose it's becoming a tradition), another interdimensional import.

 

[Reaper Steve]

It's not out of line for FR but it does seem kind of lazy.

Out of curiosity, what wouldn't be lazy?

 

[Incenjucar]

Out of curiosity, what wouldn't be lazy?

Almost anything else?

This is essentially "They fell out of the sky."

At least the Sauriels were kidnapped.

 

[Mirtek]

Interesting also that he stated the city-state of Shade went to the Plane of Shadow. Is that old language, and he really meant to state 'went to the Shadowfell?' Or maybe the Plane of Shadow merged with the Shadowfell, which allowed the city to regain contact with Toril (now Abier-Toril.) I kinda like that thought. Or maybe he really did mean Plane of Shadow, which is FR-unique and separate from the Shadowfell. Curious...

I really hope that 4e FR will ignore the Shadowfell. Feywild is no big thing, the plane of Faerie was part of FR history anyway.

But the whole Shadowfell concept simply doesn't fit within FR, the FR deities take the souls of their followers to their realms. They don't leave them standing on some odd plane until the vanish to Nirvana

 

[Imban]

Here's a question: Which FR characters do you *want* to be in 4e?

Myself; Manshoon (Zhent clone), actually as much of the 1e Zhent team as possible (Fzoul and Semennon kiss and make up). The saurials, Amn's council of 6, A grandson of that Waterdeep Paladin city lord, Azoun V sounds fine to me. And Red Wizards, esp. Sazz Tam. That might be it for me.

I'll go with... most of the Interchangable Masked Power Figures can stay - ditching them wouldn't really change anything but would confuse people who seem to remember the Masked Lords or Council of Six or whatever. Elminster, Drizzt, and Artemis have to stay since they sell books. Maybe not Artemis, but he IS a Shade now. I'd probably keep the more useful and memorable of the Seven Sisters, like Alustriel and the Simbul around.

I'd actually prefer to have kept most of the non-stupid Gods, but we knew 4e wasn't going that way for a while. I mean, Ghaunadaur can slime off and reveal he was Juiblex all along, and I always really had it in for Kieransailee, but I *liked* Vhaeraun.

As far as bad guys, Szass Tam and Manshoon are definitely big names that need to stay. Maybe we can even get less incompetent and more active Zhentarim in 4e, so that Manshoon can be doing stuff - the guy has a great character design, and should totally be used more. I actually hate Telamont Tanthul with a fiery passion, but I was pretty dang sure he wasn't leaving the Realms, and lo and behold he sure didn't. I probably would have kept Halaster around instead of having him go out like a mook, but whatever.

For most of the Random Super Archmages (Ioulaum, Larloch, Arthindool the Terraseer, Aumvor the Undying, the list goes on), I wouldn't declare them dead, but I'd quietly not mention them again. Especially with Ioulaum, Arthindool, and Aumvor, who stay hidden all the time anyway. That way, people who actually liked those guys - for example, I always liked Larloch - can put them in their Realms if necessary, people who are just starting out won't know about these guys unless they become important, people who disliked them can always consider them dead, and if I felt like going back on this design decision later - for example, I had just the place for Aumvor the Pillsbury Doughlich in this module I was writing - well, he was never really gone.

I just History of the Realms. Why is there a picture of a warforged??

Beats me. It's got nothing to do with the Realms. Heck, it's got nothing to do with its own caption. A good few Grand History of the Realms pictures suffered severely from this, with the "destruction of Jhaamdath" or whatever being a bunch of mages sitting around and chilling out with no destruction in sight, the Warforged, and other questionable art choices.