D&D 5E Planescape, Bigby, Phandelver and the Deck of Many Things: Covers & Details Revealed!

The covers of the upcoming D&D books — including Planescape, Glory of the Giants, and the Deck of Many Things have been revealed.

• August 15th -- Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants ($59.95)
• August 15th -- The Practically Complete Guide to Dragons ($39.95)
• September 19th -- Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk ($59.95)
• October 16th -- Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse ($TBA)
• November 14th -- Book of Many Things ($TBA)

Coming August 15th with two variants. Lore about giants, 76 stat blocks, feats, and a giant subclass.

3 hardcovers in a boxed set-- 96 page guide to Sigil, 64-page bestiary, and 96-page adventure, along with a poster map and DM screen. Coming October 16th.

224-page adventure for levels 1-12, poster map, 16 new monsters. Coming September 19th.

66 illustrated cards, 192-page book with lore, character options, magic items, and monsters, 80-page card reference guide, all in a slipcase. Coming November 14th.​

These Are Dungeons & Dragons' New Products For 2023

New books for the fantasy role-playing game include Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, and a look at the legendary Deck of Many Things.

themessenger.com

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I wonder if they’ll advance Sigil’s timeline 100 years to keep up with the Realms. I know it’s the Outer Planes and some folks will say time works differently. Well, yes, it can work differently but throughout 2E the campaign settings and Planescape pretty much ticked along at the same yearly pace. I know different worlds have a slightly different amount of days per year but this was largely hand-waived. (Because most D&D settings are Earth-like analogues with a similar number of days, I've always said that 1 year on Sigil equals “1 year on a D&D world” whether it be Toril, Oerth or Krynn.)

But it would be interesting to hear what has been happening on Sigil and the planes in those 100 years. For example, how did the Spellplague effect things? I understand everything is being reset - ie. we’re going back to the Great Wheel cosmology, we’re going back to Grey-box era Realms (albeit 100 years has advanced) - but it would still be nice to get some brief details.

I don't think they advanced the timeline for Ravenloft, Eberron (no surprise), Dragonlance, or Spelljammer, I think they will use Vecna's adventure instead to explain the retconned settings in relation to a none retconned Forgotten Realms (they can't reboot the realms).

 

[dead]

I don't think they advanced the timeline for Ravenloft, Eberron (no surprise), Dragonlance, or Spelljammer, I think they will use Vecna's adventure instead to explain the retconned settings in relation to a none retconned Forgotten Realms (they can't reboot the realms).

No, I’m pretty sure they didn’t advance the timeline for those settings - they just set them in the glory days of those campaign worlds. But Planescape is different as it’s almost certain to touch upon the current Realms.

Your theory that they’ll use the Vecna adventure to explain why the other settings were retconned is an interesting one.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I wonder if they’ll advance Sigil’s timeline 100 years to keep up with the Realms. I know it’s the Outer Planes and some folks will say time works differently. Well, yes, it can work differently but throughout 2E the campaign settings and Planescape pretty much ticked along at the same yearly pace. I know different worlds have a slightly different amount of days per year but this was largely hand-waived. (Because most D&D settings are Earth-like analogues with a similar number of days, I've always said that 1 year on Sigil equals “1 year on a D&D world” whether it be Toril, Oerth or Krynn.)

But it would be interesting to hear what has been happening on Sigil and the planes in those 100 years. For example, how did the Spellplague effect things? I understand everything is being reset - ie. we’re going back to the Great Wheel cosmology, we’re going back to Grey-box era Realms (albeit 100 years has advanced) - but it would still be nice to get some brief details.

Why would time pass at the same rate in Sigil as it does in the FR?

 

[dead]

Why would time pass at the same rate in Sigil as it does in the FR?

It used to tick along at roughly the same yearly rate but I guess you could say the Spellplague threw it out of temporal alignment. So, while only a handful of years may have passed on Sigil, 100 years have passed on Toril.

 

[Parmandur]

I wonder if they’ll advance Sigil’s timeline 100 years to keep up with the Realms. I know it’s the Outer Planes and some folks will say time works differently. Well, yes, it can work differently but throughout 2E the campaign settings and Planescape pretty much ticked along at the same yearly pace. I know different worlds have a slightly different amount of days per year but this was largely hand-waived. (Because most D&D settings are Earth-like analogues with a similar number of days, I've always said that 1 year on Sigil equals “1 year on a D&D world” whether it be Toril, Oerth or Krynn.)

But it would be interesting to hear what has been happening on Sigil and the planes in those 100 years. For example, how did the Spellplague effect things? I understand everything is being reset - ie. we’re going back to the Great Wheel cosmology, we’re going back to Grey-box era Realms (albeit 100 years has advanced) - but it would still be nice to get some brief details.

I'd expect it's more likely they will reset anything they feel like and ignore any prior canon events. Nothing outside of the DMG, PHB, and this box set is canonical for Planescape, after all.

 

[see]

Given Faction War and Die Vecna Die!, I suspect that they'll probably roll back the Planescape timeline a number of years, though I'd advance it a century for the space to rework the factions so that they all make sense as factions, not just philosophies.

 

[Vinicius Lessa]

I'm more curious about the Planescape factions. Gossip at the time was the Faction War was supposed to reset it, with a subsequent product laying down the new faction setup (which never hapenned).

If that's true I'm curious to see if they go ahead with that goal. I certainly see problems in the old factions - they're kinda all over the place IMO, and could benefit from a revision.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The metaplot about the factions will be totally frozen in Planescape. These could continue in the Gatetowns, the great forgotten ones.

Maybe the old factions could be named, althought these are totally disappeared.

My suspects are WotC would rather to writte only the main idea, and unlocking the setting in DMGuild allowing 2PP to tell more about the lore/blackground/fluff, and after getting the best ideas.

Other point is after Baldurs Gate 3 and DLC the next project by the videogame studio could be a sequel of Planescape Torment, and here we are talking about a heavy-metal team writting about the lore, maybe adding their own ideas.

* What about dragonborns based in planar dragons? Wouldn't you buy an action figure of an Elysian dragonborn with a funny duck peak?

 

[ersatzphil]

The metaplot about the factions will be totally frozen in Planescape. These could continue in the Gatetowns, the great forgotten ones.

Maybe the old factions could be named, althought these are totally disappeared.

I dunno - I don't know how hot a take this is, but for me? If it doesn't have the factions, it's not really Planescape. 'Manual of the Planes' has always been a generic D&D book, rather than the specific campaign setting that Planescape was.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I don't think WotC feels beholden to a 25-year-old game plan or metaplot. They are likely more interested in creating a new base state for campaigns, since Planescape is almost certainly a one and done situation for them, unlike the Sword Coast.

I suspect they will focus more on groups but less on individuals within those groups, so you can have, for instance, the Babbling Philosophers of Pandemonium show up in your games rather than worrying about Gag Reflex, their most prominent leader.

 

[Parmandur]

I dunno - I don't know how hot a take this is, but for me? If it doesn't have the factions, it's not really Planescape. 'Manual of the Planes' has always been a generic D&D book, rather than the specific campaign setting that Planescape was.

I have zero doubt that the Factions will be included and covered. But I am extremely skeptical that WotC is going to let the ongoing metaplot impact this product much. A total refresh to the status quo of the original box set seems likely.

 

[Parmandur]

I don't think WotC feels beholden to a 25-year-old game plan or metaplot. They are likely more interested in creating a new base state for campaigns, since Planescape is almost certainly a one and done situation for them, unlike the Sword Coast.

I suspect they will focus more on groups but less on individuals within those groups, so you can have, for instance, the Babbling Philosophers of Pandemonium show up in your games rather than worrying about Gag Reflex, their most prominent leader.

Even the Sword Coast has no metaplot I'm 5E. For all the Adventures set in the region in the 1590's DR, none of them has a canonical resolution. They are all possibilities of what could happen, not an ongoing story.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I am extremely skeptical that WotC is going to let the ongoing metaplot impact this product much. A total refresh to the status quo of the original box set seems likely.

Can it be "ongoing" if it stopped when Bill Clinton was president?

 

[ersatzphil]

I have zero doubt that the Factions will be included and covered. But I am extremely skeptical that WotC is going to let the ongoing metaplot impact this product much. A total refresh to the status quo of the original box set seems likely.

Double checking the 5e DMG (p.68), there's no mention of neither the factions nor the three letter agencies from the 3.5e DMG - I'm personally hoping you're correct. The depiction of Factol Guildmaster Rhys from Tashas also points in that direction.

 

[Parmandur]

Can it be "ongoing" if it stopped when Bill Clinton was president?

Touch. I just mean that I doubt WotC wants to pick up the threads there, rather than resetting to a solid status quo (I understand the Planescape metaplot stopped on a cliffhanger?).

Double checking the 5e DMG (p.68), there's no mention of neither the factions nor the three letter agencies from the 3.5e DMG - I'm personally hoping you're correct. The depiction of Factol Guildmaster Rhys from Tashas also points in that direction.

Yeah, that they have been reluctant to get into it now doesn't make me think they will ignore the Factions: rather, providing the Factions fir Planar Adventure hooks is probably a great selling point, WotC Settings in 5E love organizations and factions.

 

[cbwjm]

I'll be a bit disappointed if the planescape book doesn't have write ups similar to the Ravnica guilds, seems like the perfect setting for the faction rules.

 

[Parmandur]

I'll be a bit disappointed if the planescape book doesn't have write ups similar to the Ravnica guilds, seems like the perfect setting for the faction rules.

With 96 pages, it has the space to give a solid location gazateer for Sigil and the Outlands while going in-depth on those Factions.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

For what it's worth, Keys from the Golden Vault specifically mentioned two Factions:

• The Fated - noted as being based out of Sigil, which would either imply that the Factions have been allowed to return (the Fated relocated to Ysgard post-Faction War) or that we're getting a pre-Faction War remix
• The Fixers - an entirely new Faction, focused on keeping the Blood War in balance (which seems like a reasonable evolution of the old Celestial Arms Dealers plotline from back in the day)

Golden Vault also mentioned a couple of opposed planar organizations that it didn't specifically note as Factions, but could probably be argued as such:

• The titular Golden Vault itself - an organization based in the Upper Planes with rumored ties to metallic dragons, focused on covert, often illegal actions that nonetheless support good causes
• A rival organization to the Golden Vault known as the Syndicate of Terror, Extortion, Assassination, and Larceny ("STEAL", for short), said to have ties to Yugoloths

Between that and "Guildmaster" Rhys from Tasha's, take what you will regarding the current state of planar Factions and the like.

 

[Parmandur]

For what it's worth, Keys from the Golden Vault specifically mentioned two Factions:

• The Fated - noted as being based out of Sigil, which would either imply that the Factions have been allowed to return (the Fated relocated to Ysgard post-Faction War) or that we're getting a pre-Faction War remix
• The Fixers - an entirely new Faction, focused on keeping the Blood War in balance (which seems like a reasonable evolution of the old Celestial Arms Dealers plotline from back in the day)

Golden Vault also mentioned a couple of opposed planar organizations that it didn't specifically note as Factions, but could probably be argued as such:

• The titular Golden Vault itself - an organization based in the Upper Planes with rumored ties to metallic dragons, focused on covert, often illegal actions that nonetheless support good causes
• A rival organization to the Golden Vault known as the Syndicate of Terror, Extortion, Assassination, and Larceny ("STEAL", for short), said to have ties to Yugoloths

Between that and "Guildmaster" Rhys from Tasha's, take what you will regarding the current state of planar Factions and the like.

I wouldn't be shocked if those bits came straight out of the Planescape book, though STEAL and the Golden Vault are pretty clearly playing other James Bond or Mission Impoaaible tropes.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I'll be a bit disappointed if the planescape book doesn't have write ups similar to the Ravnica guilds, seems like the perfect setting for the faction rules.

I was about to say exactly this. In fact, I pretty much expect something similar in this book.

(Remember how when Ravnica was published, there were lots of posts here stating that it meant we would never see Planescape because of the similarities? Pepperidge Farm remembers...)