I will answer 10 questions about Mordenkainen's Tome

What comprises the list of all new player options (races, archetypes, feats, spells, etc.) in the book?

 

[Parmandur]

It is not to my knowledge, and the way that it's described from what I've seen with respect to the Marut teleporting people there is straight up -impossible- without retconning some core Planescape lore (you cannot enter Sigil by any means outside of the Lady of Pain's portals).

WotC, retcon lore. Noooooooo, say it ain't so.

 

[Yaarel]

At some point, you just have to make that choice. For me, I chose homebrewing, but you've got to make your own call and decide if it is worth the investment of time and energy.

And the more 5e slashes and burns customization, and the more 5e bakes in unwanted flavor, the more time it takes to rewrite 5e for homebrew, and the less worth an investment is.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

And the more 5e slashes and burns customization, and the more 5e bakes in unwanted flavor, the more time it takes to rewrite 5e for homebrew, and the less worth an investment is.

What exactly is your issue here. That Eladrin don't have a +1 to Int. High Elves already had that so it make sense not to repeat it.

Introducing more races means more customization not less.

 

[Yaarel]

What exactly is your issue here. That Eladrin don't have a +1 to Int. High Elves already had that so it make sense not to repeat it.

The +2 is necessary.

The issue is the flavor that the mechanics defacto establishes. The problem is 5e transmogrified the diverse elf traditions into a mundane creature that excels *physically* (+2 Dexterity) but is only average mentally and magically (+1 Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom). In 5e, recall, average humans get +1. The flavor of +1 is average.

The elf who is innately excellent at magic (+2 Charisma, +2 Intelligence) is officially dead. This elf that goes back to 1e grey elf, that exhibits extraordinary *mental* affinity for magic, the 5e designers murdered this tradition. (In 1e, +1 Intelligence was a big deal, often considered broken, because of the resulting benefits to spellcasting.) This elf archetype that is all about magic remains valuable to me.

 

[LordEntrails]

[MENTION=58172]Yaarel[/MENTION], Dude, move on. Stop whining. If 1E has the elf that you demand to play, then go play 1E. 1E has more content than you will be able to play in a lifetime. Go play it.

 

[Chaosmancer]

And the more 5e slashes and burns customization, and the more 5e bakes in unwanted flavor, the more time it takes to rewrite 5e for homebrew, and the less worth an investment is.

Then quit playing.

You aren't the only one who has to deal with flavor that doesn't match their game, or rules who wish were different. But, you seem on a crusade at times about it. If you aren't having fun and you find it more work than it is worth, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Personally, I'm still having a blast over here rewriting all that lore and twisting things into shape.

 

[Yaarel]

@Yaarel, Dude, move on. Stop whining. If 1E has the elf that you demand to play, then go play 1E. 1E has more content than you will be able to play in a lifetime. Go play it.

I have been playing and enjoying D&D for years. And 5e does a number of important things right. It would be a shame if the desire of 5e designers to enforce corporate branding ruins the game, and makes it no longer what D&D is. A game whose only limits are your imagination. A game where *you* use the rules to create worlds. A game where you use the rules to customize concepts of hero.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

The +2 is necessary.

The issue is the flavor that the mechanics defacto establishes. The problem is 5e transmogrified the diverse elf traditions into a mundane creature that excels *physically* (+2 Dexterity) but is only average mentally and magically (+1 Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom). In 5e, recall, average humans get +1. The flavor of +1 is average.

The elf who is innately excellent at magic (+2 Charisma, +2 Intelligence) is officially dead. This elf that goes back to 1e grey elf, that exhibits extraordinary *mental* affinity for magic, the 5e designers murdered this tradition. (In 1e, +1 Intelligence was a big deal, often considered broken, because of the resulting benefits to spellcasting.) This elf archetype that is all about magic remains valuable to me.

Wait your issue is that elves don't get a +2 to Mental Scores. Despite having at least one sub race that gives a bonus to them. Seriously it's a +1 it's not a big deal. And a plus one is a big deal.

Seriously this is a minor issue. The Elf who is good at magic is not dead. Humans get the +1 cause they are verstile and one of them may be good at anything. (Though it's unlikely they will be good at everything.) Elves meanwhile are best at dexterous work and magical work.

 

[Yaarel]

Enworld is a place where we the gamers can review products.

There are products that I like. There are products that I dislike.

5e just published a product, Mordenkeinen's Tome of Foes.

That product deeply disappoints me.

I am unsatisfied with the direction that the designers are heading.

The designers destroyed an important part of the D&D tradition that I like.

The designers fail to write rules-as-written that assist me in customizing options to build settings and characters to recover from the damage that the designers did.

́

Then quit playing.

Turning disagreements into and ‘us’ versus ‘them’ groupthink, is part of why 4e failed.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Enworld is a place where we the gamers can review products.

There are products that I like. There are products that I dislike.

5e just published a product, Mordenkeinen's Tome of Foes.

That product deeply disappoints me.

I am unsatisfied with the direction that the designers are heading.

The designers destroyed an important part of the D&D tradition that I like.

The designers fail to write rules-as-written that assist me in customizing options to build settings and characters to recover from the damage that the designers did.

You have yet to read the whole product. I don't get how you can consider this to be destroying a part of D&D tradition that you like. Also they do provide rules as written in the DMG for situations like this. (Which is pretty much just give it a +2 if it bugs you so badly.) I am guessing you hated 3e as well for how elves as a player race were presented.

Honestly the posts you have been making kind of make me feel you are currently unwell. As if you were off some medication or something.