Mechanics of Revived Settings; your thoughts?

[QuietBrowser]

As can be seen from the recent threads speculating about the release of Dark Sun or Mystara for 5e, people really, really want WoTC to finally publish an official setting type book for something that isn't the Forgotten Realms. But... one of the big reasons why people want setting books, despite WoTC's official stance that you can back-mine the older books on DM's Guild for fluff, is because they would provide official mechanics for various things unique to that setting, such as psionics rules and thri-kreen PC stats for a Dark Sun 5e sourcebook.

I want to ask folks exactly what settings they want to see 5e revive, and what mechanical additions to 5e's library those settings would bring with them. Races, subclasses, new subsystems, iconic spells or magic items, just anything you really want to see 5e bring back so you no longer have to deal with DMs going "no homebrew allowed".

By example, I really want the Nentir Vale Gazetteer to return (we were supposed to get a series by that title in 4e, before Mearls) as a 5e sourcebook that brings back the Nentir Vale setting. In terms of mechanics, I'd want the following to be in it:
PC stats for: Gnolls, Minotaurs, Shardminds, Wilden, Vryloka, Deva
The return of the Avenger class in some fashion.
The return of the Invoker class.

And that's just what immediately jumps out as being both unique to the Nentir Vale and actually likely to get an update.

So, what settings do you want to see come back, and what do you want those settings to bring with them?

 

[hbarsquared]

I want an Eberron mega-adventure, with about a third devoted to updating mechanics.

A uniquely pulp-noir style adventure. Something in the style of Nicolas Logue's "Chimes at Midnight"-"Quoth the Raven"-"Hell's Heart" trilogy.

Minimal fluff otherwise, just enough to give a general idea about the setting and provide context for the mechanics.

• Races: warforged, shifters, changelings, kalashtar
• Backgrounds: Favored in House, nationalities, religions
• Classes: artificer, magewright
• Dragonmarks, hopefully not as feats but as "blessings"
• Equipment: dragonshards, airships, glamerweave, House guild services
• Monsters: daelkyr, living spells, quori/Inspired, magebred

Finally, anything that Keith Baker wants to include. Anything at all.

 

[cbwjm]

I wouldn't mind seeing dragonlance, mystara, and darksun come back. Darksun would bring psionics since they are a core part of the setting.

Not sure I'd what mechanics I'd want in the other two settings. My first thought was an arcane tradition for the wizards of high sorcery but I'm not sure if they really need it. Just join an order and gain access to the power of the moons. I think the orders of high sorcery and knights of solamnia would fit better as just factions rather than requiring mechanics for their classes.

Mystara has plenty that could be brought over, I'm sure. They had a plethora of races and things like the secret crafts of Glantri would make good alternate arcane traditions. I think there is just so much good stuff in mystara (or really any setting) that can be mined and brought into 5e.

 

[Hjorimir]

Al-Qadim for the Sha'ir and Mystics of Nog. Neither of these map particularly well to 5e classes.

 

[Eltab]

I think the orders of high sorcery and knights of solamnia would fit better as just factions rather than requiring mechanics for their classes.

Knights of Solamnia would be a way to introduce a 'flying mount' sub-class (for Paladins), similar to how the Cavalier can be seen as a 'ground mount' sub-class (for Fighters).

 

[Eltab]

If WotC ever got around to a 5e book for Gamma World, they would need Psionics (a.k.a. Mental Mutations) AND High-Tech rules.

One reason I encourage publication of quality Psionics rules is that it gets me closer to where I really want to go.

 

[Satyrn]

I'm gonna say Maztica for the Pluma and Hishna magic mostly, but I'd like if they expanded it to include a couple more of these "schools" of magic. I don't know what they'd add, but I want more than just Good feather magic vs Evil claw magic.

Jaguar and eagle knights, or a "totem knight" fighter subclass that coukd encompass more options would be awesome, too

 

[Ath-kethin]

Al-Qadim for the Sha'ir and Mystics of Nog. Neither of these map particularly well to 5e classes.

I've seen a few takes on the sha'ir as a warlock, and I think it fits well enough. Thy Mystic of Nog works as a monk discipline.

A challenge with many of the Al-Qadim wizard kits is that many didn't cast spells, they used spell slots for other stuff. Those, in my opinion, are the real tricky cases for conversion to 5e.

For example, I hadn't seen a take on the Clockwork Mage that I liked, so I did one myself as a rogue subclass: The Clockwork Mage.

It playtested well and I like it. YMMV.

 

[hbarsquared]

For Eberron, it would also be cool to see more distinct write-ups of goblins and orcs as PCs.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Subclasses and races are about all we need--and only the ones that can't already be satisfactorily modeled. Who decides what counts as "satisfactory"? Why, me of course!

The Mystic psion class is already in design, so it doesn't need mention. Also, I'm not recounting things we already have in current D&D books, like Kensai, Samurai, Ninja (the word "Ninja" is literally right there in the PHB for Way of Shadow).

Dragonlance
Races:
-Kender
-Krynn Minotaurs
-Irda
Subclasses:
-Knight of Solamnia (This one is hard since you have to move up the ranks, and the first rank doesn't get spells. One could build it with current materials by saying you start as a Fighter, and have to switch before 3rd level to paladin if you don't want to stick with order of Crown (in which case you take Knight). Then you take Devotion if you want to stick with Sword, and if you take more fighter it has to be Knight). If you want to go Rose you take Oath of the Crown, and then can advance in paladin and fighter, and if you take more fighter you have to take banneret (Purple Dragon Knight). It's kind of a mess that way though.)
-Wizard of High Sorcery (Wizard)
-Maybe 5th age mystic as a cleric subclass, but I don't particularly care about 5th Age, so we could skip all that material.

Dark Sun
Races:
-Half giant
-Thri-kreen
-Mul
Subraces:
-Athasian elf
-Most likely the rest can use existing subraces
Subclasses:
-Templar (Cleric) (Could possibly just go War Domain)
-Maybe Gladiator (Can probably just go with Battle Master)
Feat:
-Defiler

Mystara
Races:
-Dog people (don't recall the name)
-We already have Tortles and catfolk, so we're fine there

Greyhawk
-Nothing

Eberron
-I don't know much about the setting, but I can't imagine we need more classes than the Artificer. Races, subraces, subclasses, and feats, as needed.

Al-Qadim
Subclasses:
-Sha-freaking-'ir (Warlock) (It's absurd that we don't have this yet, as it's absolutely essential)
-We really don't need the rest--that book was full of kit bloat. Some fluff mentioning some of the more prominent character themes would do it.

Kara-Tur/Oriental Adventures
Races:
-Spirit folk
-Hengeyokai
-Maybe Vanara
Subraces:
-Korobukoro
Subclasses:
-Shu[g/k]enja (Cleric)
-Wu-jen (Wizard)
-Maybe Sohei (Paladin) (Can probably just use existing subclasses)

That's all I can think of at the moment. So for 7 settings, that's a grand total of:
9 races + Eberron
2 subraces + Eberron
1 class
4 or 5 subclasses

Don't bloat us. That's all we need to be consistent with 5e design.