D&D 5E Mythic Odysseys of Theros on DNDBeyhond

[Parmandur]

I think this book has some great ideas, I love the whole piety mechanic and supernatural gifts and can imagine using these in other settings. Mythic monsters are awesome and a great way to include boss fight phases in the game.

Since you've mentioned anvilwrought this brings up one of the things I find annoying about the 5e books, they don't always include artwork for a monster. I have absolutely no idea what a burnished hart is because it has no artwork and the description doesn't provide much detail. I guess it might be some sort of deer or ram but I honestly have no idea.

They have the art resource, probably wasn't room for it:

 

[dave2008]

So how does the bestiary for Theros compare to Ravinica?

Ravinica is a great source of monsters, and based off the table of contents and comments in this thread I am optimistic that this book is going to be good, for the bestiary at least.

The bestiary is my favorite part. The only thing I was disappointed with was the hundred handed, I think that could use the mythic treatment. It like it a little better than the Ravnica one, but there close.

As an aside, one aspect about D&D design over the editions, is the designers oft ignore developments that came before. Monsters that have tactical, or cinematic alterations as a result of damage or having particular effects applied to the monster, has been in some monsters from 1e, (golems), was explored more in 3e with MM 6 or so, and then 4e heavily leaned into it.

Why 5e didn’t continue with the trend is a mystery. A zombie that explodes into a swarm of undead leaches when a critical hit lands...is no longer just a big bag of Hit Points.

Well, there back now and we have template to apply the idea to any monster in 5e now.

 

[cbwjm]

They have the art resource, probably wasn't room for it:

View attachment 122525

An elk. I guess I was close, thanks for posting it. They may not have been able to fit it in, I'm not sure how easy it is to play around with page layouts but I still wish they included it.

 

[Xenonnonex]

The only thing I was disappointed with was the hundred handed, I think that could use the mythic treatment. It like it a little better than the Ravnica one, but there close.

Bastard does not even have a hundred hands. All lies.

 

[Todd Roybark]

Hundred Handed One...99 problems but blocking is not one of them.....at least in MtG.

 

[Dire Bare]

Yeah I would love mythic updates to a bunch of the big boss monsters like the Demon Lords and Tarrasque.

Sounds like a product idea....

Ask, and the DM's Guild will answer . . . . "Mythic Encounters" - Classic D&D beasties mythified for your enjoyment, currently #5 under "most popular".

 

[Xenonnonex]

Ask, and the DM's Guild will answer . . . . "Mythic Encounters" - Classic D&D beasties mythified for your enjoyment, currently #5 under "most popular".

That full-size preview has a sample of 106 pages. So less of a cash grab. There is some good stuff there.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think this book has some great ideas, I love the whole piety mechanic and supernatural gifts and can imagine using these in other settings. Mythic monsters are awesome and a great way to include boss fight phases in the game.

Yeah I found this aspect rather interesting and sort of atypical with 5E books. It's a bit lacking in the race/class department (three recycled races, two new, none exciting, and one good and one bad subclass), but it's full of other interesting ideas and as a setting it's quite interesting. It feels more TSR-ish, or late-3.5E-ish than anything we've seen so far. That's not completely a good thing but it's definitely not a bad thing either.

 

[Xenonnonex]

Yeah I found this aspect rather interesting and sort of atypical with 5E books. It's a bit lacking in the race/class department (three recycled races, two new, none exciting, and one good and one bad subclass), but it's full of other interesting ideas and as a setting it's quite interesting. It feels more TSR-ish, or late-3.5E-ish than anything we've seen so far. That's not completely a good thing but it's definitely not a bad thing either.

Wes Schneider is a lead designer on this book. He was a principal designer of Pathfinder. Might have something to do with it.

 

[Marandahir]

The bestiary is my favorite part. The only thing I was disappointed with was the hundred handed, I think that could use the mythic treatment.

Yeah, I was disappointed too - Hekatonkheires should look more like this:

But with these MtG books they have to adapt as closely from the cards as possible. Usually that makes for phenomenal hits (the artwork in Magic is usually a really, really good resource for fantasy gaming), but sometimes they're real duds, like here.