D&D 5E (2024) Next issue of Game Informer will have details on the two upcoming Forgotten Realms books

[Henadic Theologian]

I think having the direct verbiage might clear this up. Can someone with access to the article post exactly what they said about the 10 regions and their relationship to the five mini settings (if anything for the latter)?

The main reason I would currently argue that the 10 regions would all be large sections of the setting and the 5 mini settings each would be just a part of one of those 10 regions is that splitting Faerûn into 10 large regions would actually be around the number that makes sense thematically for large subdivisions, while only have 5 large subdivisions after subtracting out the 5 smaller mini settings would result in shoving a whole bunch of disparate and far-flung regions into a single subdivision. Faerûn is significantly larger than the Flanaess in Greyhawk, and they still needed 5 there in the DMG. And going by that example, the mini setting of Greyhawk City and environs wasn't broken out into its own separate region, but was just a part of the larger Central Flanaess region.

It would be great, but honestly I'm pretty sure I'm right. In 3e terms FR: HoF and FR: AiF are akin to Player's Guide to Faerun and Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting respectively (with FR: AiF it seems having the same page count as FRCS), but it less redundancies and the fact that unlike PGF the FR: HoF doesn't have to cover adding races or exploring a separate for FR Cosmology, so FR: HoF can be smaller then PGF, instead being SCAG sized. That really seems to be the model that inspired then.

 

[Parmandur]

It would be great, but honestly I'm pretty sure I'm right. In 3e terms FR: HoF and FR: AiF are akin to Player's Guide to Faerun and Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting respectively (with FR: AiF it seems having the same page count as FRCS), but it less redundancies and the fact that unlike PGF the FR: HoF doesn't have to cover adding races or exploring a separate for FR Cosmology, so FR: HoF can be smaller then PGF, instead being SCAG sized. That really seems to be the model that inspired then.

Also Monsters of Faerûn in the DM book. That could be a significant chunk of the page count, easily.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Also Monsters of Faerûn in the DM book. That could be a significant chunk of the page count, easily.

The FRCS had a beastairy, although I suspect this one will be bigger. Also 5.5e monster stats tend to I think be more space effient, so I think there will be plenty of monsters. I don't know about 60 pages worth however. Alot of other stuff is competing for space I think. Maybe 30 to 40 pages. I know Spelljammer & Planescape got like 60 pages of monsters, but it's not as important for defining the FR setting as it is for those 2, so FR doesn't need as many. Plus same likely ended up in the DLCs.

 

[Parmandur]

The FRCS had a beastairy, although I suspect this one will be bigger. Also 5.5e monster stats tend to I think be more space effient, so I think there will be plenty of monsters. I don't know about 60 pages worth however. Alot of other stuff is competing for space I think. Maybe 30 to 40 pages. I know Spelljammer & Planescape got like 60 pages of monsters, but it's not as important for defining the FR setting as it is for those 2, so FR doesn't need as many. Plus same likely ended up in the DLCs.

I'd bet well north of 60 pages, particularly if they are going as gar field as Spirit Dragons. This might have a huge bestiary.

 

[Demetrios1453]

The FRCS had a beastairy, although I suspect this one will be bigger. Also 5.5e monster stats tend to I think be more space effient, so I think there will be plenty of monsters. I don't know about 60 pages worth however. Alot of other stuff is competing for space I think. Maybe 30 to 40 pages. I know Spelljammer & Planescape got like 60 pages of monsters, but it's not as important for defining the FR setting as it is for those 2, so FR doesn't need as many. Plus same likely ended up in the DLCs.

Spelljammer, Planescape, Bigby's, and Fizban's all had 60 -70 page bestiaries. It seems to be the standard for releases like this.

Just throwing in a few dragons will start moving the needle on the bestiary page count pretty quickly! Beyond the spirit dragons, yellow and brown dragons are old Realms standbys, and if they reverse that ridiculous statement in Fizban's that steel dragons don't really exist (it's just stupid humans mistaking silver dragons for something else) by putting them here, I would be very happy indeed.

But beyond that, I could probably come up with a list of at least a couple dozen of FR monsters that need to be updated (phaerimm, sharn, malaugrym, deepspawn, and tressym come immediately to mind), and they'll probably have a good selection of NPC stat blocks for Red Wizards and the like.

 

[pukunui]

... and if they reverse that ridiculous statement in Bigby's that steel dragons don't really exist (it's just stupid humans mistaking silver dragons for something else) by putting them here, I would be very happy indeed.

Agreed. That was a silly statement since there's an actual steel dragon in Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage.

Spoiler

On the Terminus Level, there is an adult steel dragon who can shapeshift into a duergar. She is the wife of the duergar leader on that level. The book says to use the adult silver dragon stat block but to add some duergar traits and change the breath weapon to a line of acid. It also describes her true form as being "a slender, 30-foot-long dragon with shiny steel-gray scales covering her body, steely talons, and blade-like horns that sweep back from her narrow head".

 

[TravDoc42]

So, if the Dalelands are being focused on, what does that mean for the Lost Dale (and the saurials within)? I don't know much about the Dalelands, to be honest. Anyone with more knowledge have any input?

 

[TravDoc42]

But beyond that, I could probably come up with a list of at least a couple dozen of FR monsters that need to be updated (phaerimm, sharn, malaugrym, deepspawn, and tressym come immediately to mind), and they'll probably have a good selection of NPC stat blocks for Red Wizards and the like.

I could see those on your list being included for sure!

A few others I can think of (although some of these may be hopeful optimism) include wemics, Beasts of Malar, spell weavers(?), and the goofy monsters that I love so much, the winged wonder.

 

[Parmandur]

they'll probably have a good selection of NPC stat blocks for Red Wizards and the like.

Given how much they are leaning into factions, probavly a ton of unique NPCs.