Ravnica: Is This The New D&D Setting? [UPDATED & CONFIRMED!]

If so... meh?

 

[gyor]

https://youtu.be/GWfB7JzG1pw

[video=youtube_share;GWfB7JzG1pw]https://youtu.be/GWfB7JzG1pw[/video]

I like his idea of Planeswalker being a sorcerer origin, he makes a good argument for it.

 

[vecna00]

One thing to keep in mind, every setting is a product of the edition it was written for. In discussions about campaign settings, someone will always say "X doesn't belong in Y setting, because it was never there." Of course it was never there, because either it wasn't thought of yet or it wasn't part of the ruleset. Examples include: "Gnome paladins in Greyhawk are unheard of, sorcerers don't belong in Dark Sun, dwarves can't be wizards, dragonborn/tieflings/etc don't belong in Mystara." It's not that these things don't belong, they just didn't exist before or the rules didn't allow it to exist.

The way that WotC seems to be approaching things, if it's in the PHB, then it will most likely be in a campaign setting they revisit. They may say that something is rare or almost unheard of, but they won't say "You can't do the thing, because you're not allowed!" I've tried to take this approach when I worked on some conversions of Birthright and Dark Sun, because I know it's the approach WotC will take. And really, there's nothing wrong with that!

It goes without saying, no one can tell you what to do at your table. If you don't want these things, you don't have to use them. Also, this isn't meant to call anyone out or tell anyone they're wrong. This is simply just something I've realized, but have never really said out loud.

 

[QuietBrowser]

https://youtu.be/GWfB7JzG1pw

[video=youtube_share;GWfB7JzG1pw]https://youtu.be/GWfB7JzG1pw[/video]

I like his idea of Planeswalker being a sorcerer origin, he makes a good argument for it.

Whilst it does have some merit, it also flies in the face of Magic's lore, where any kind of mystic can become a planeswalker, and also opposes the guidelines presented in Plane Shift: Amonkhet, where WotC directly stated they want to avoid the issue of "one PC is a Planeswalker and uses that to usurp all of the attention".

I think it's more likely that, if we get Planeswalking mechanics at all, they will be mostly story function, as per the PS:Amonkhet rules. A sorcerous origin derived from the planeswalker mechanic is theoretically possible, but Ravnica isn't Sigil; it's no planar nexus (that role goes to Dominaria, in MtG lore), so I would suspect such an origin is of low priority, if any.

I want to say that I doubt they'll reprint the Volo's Guide Goblin, simply because it doesn't mechanically mesh up with the Ravnican goblin to the best of my knowledge, and it's one of the races that were officially branded "Unbalanced" in Volo's Guide. Still, I am kind of cynical about WotC's competence in a lot of ways. But, we know from an earlier teaser that goblins will be a new race in the game.

Angels would be tricky; I'd like to see them added, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were instead used as a reskin for Aasimar, perhaps with some new racial feats. I can easily see Fallen (or is it Scourge?) Aasimar as the Black/White Angels of the Orzhov.

Merfolk? Possible on the one hand, but they're not a really "iconic" Blue Mana race in Ravnica. We might just be told to reskin Tritons for them. Still, we've had Merfolk in several Planeshifts, so reprinting them here in the GMG sounds safe to me.

Centaurs... I'd like to see, and I think they're one of the bigger races associated with the Green Mana guilds.

Nicol Bolas as a new Warlock Patron? Well, we actually had a really cool Sorcerer-King Pact for warlocks in 4th edition Dark Sun, so it's not unprecedented. This is something I'd never considered before, and I actually really like the idea.

Spell restrictions against planar manipulating spells...? Yeah, I could buy that, given the emphasis on how Planeswalking is special.

 

[gyor]

Whilst it does have some merit, it also flies in the face of Magic's lore, where any kind of mystic can become a planeswalker, and also opposes the guidelines presented in Plane Shift: Amonkhet, where WotC directly stated they want to avoid the issue of "one PC is a Planeswalker and uses that to usurp all of the attention".

I think it's more likely that, if we get Planeswalking mechanics at all, they will be mostly story function, as per the PS:Amonkhet rules. A sorcerous origin derived from the planeswalker mechanic is theoretically possible, but Ravnica isn't Sigil; it's no planar nexus (that role goes to Dominaria, in MtG lore), so I would suspect such an origin is of low priority, if any.

I want to say that I doubt they'll reprint the Volo's Guide Goblin, simply because it doesn't mechanically mesh up with the Ravnican goblin to the best of my knowledge, and it's one of the races that were officially branded "Unbalanced" in Volo's Guide. Still, I am kind of cynical about WotC's competence in a lot of ways. But, we know from an earlier teaser that goblins will be a new race in the game.

Angels would be tricky; I'd like to see them added, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were instead used as a reskin for Aasimar, perhaps with some new racial feats. I can easily see Fallen (or is it Scourge?) Aasimar as the Black/White Angels of the Orzhov.

Merfolk? Possible on the one hand, but they're not a really "iconic" Blue Mana race in Ravnica. We might just be told to reskin Tritons for them. Still, we've had Merfolk in several Planeshifts, so reprinting them here in the GMG sounds safe to me.

Centaurs... I'd like to see, and I think they're one of the bigger races associated with the Green Mana guilds.

Nicol Bolas as a new Warlock Patron? Well, we actually had a really cool Sorcerer-King Pact for warlocks in 4th edition Dark Sun, so it's not unprecedented. This is something I'd never considered before, and I actually really like the idea.

Spell restrictions against planar manipulating spells...? Yeah, I could buy that, given the emphasis on how Planeswalking is special.

Dominaria WAS the Nexus, but the Nexus changed to a new location, I don't know where, perhaps Ravnica given that of all the MtG settings, it was chosen to be the one that becomes and official D&D setting in hardcover.

 

[M_Mandrake2012]

Dominaria WAS the Nexus, but the Nexus changed to a new location, I don't know where, perhaps Ravnica given that of all the MtG settings, it was chosen to be the one that becomes and official D&D setting in hardcover.

Yes indeed, it is said somewhere that recently there was quite a lot of planeswalking in Ravnica, as the barrier that existed during the guildpact is gone and the plane has much to offer. ( tough I can't find the source anymore ( somewhere in the archives of articles of lore )

As for the races , angels are too much of natural badasses to get the playable race treatment but in white's iconic creatures ( tough mostly selesnyan-locked in ravnica ) there are the loxodons
( which have also interesting lore in ravnica where they have an hard time living since they require pure air, and ravnica is a giant metropolis thus quite polluted )

And for blue creatures, while merfolk are quite emblematic, I think vedalken fit quite a bit more and are in magic quite as emblematic.

For black , there are devkarin elves but also gorgons...

I really like the idea of Nicol bolas as a patron, as for the idea of planeswalker being a sorcerous bloodline, well...

The problem is planeswalker are not especially sorcerors, at least not in the D&D kind of way, and at least at this point more than others on their plane of origin, nor are many other characters/creatures/people in magic even tough they do magic.

The thing is in MtG pretty much everything is magic : a barbarian could lit a fire juzst by raging...

So you could say everybody is a sorceror in magic... ( if everybody is a sorceror, nobody is...)

I mean yeah they do magic , but so do everybody else on most of the planes...

What I mean is, planeswalker spark should be a feat ( or you can also just assume that all players are planeswalkers, they are indeed the heroes of their own stories... ) , and spells to travel between planes be limited to "interior planes" such as shadow worlds and particularly Agyrem, ravnica own afterlife...

I've begun to write this message , hours ago , I'm not liable to respond to later messages...

 

[Staffan]

One thing to keep in mind, every setting is a product of the edition it was written for. In discussions about campaign settings, someone will always say "X doesn't belong in Y setting, because it was never there." Of course it was never there, because either it wasn't thought of yet or it wasn't part of the ruleset. Examples include: "Gnome paladins in Greyhawk are unheard of, sorcerers don't belong in Dark Sun, dwarves can't be wizards, dragonborn/tieflings/etc don't belong in Mystara." It's not that these things don't belong, they just didn't exist before or the rules didn't allow it to exist.

The way that WotC seems to be approaching things, if it's in the PHB, then it will most likely be in a campaign setting they revisit. They may say that something is rare or almost unheard of, but they won't say "You can't do the thing, because you're not allowed!" I've tried to take this approach when I worked on some conversions of Birthright and Dark Sun, because I know it's the approach WotC will take. And really, there's nothing wrong with that!

I sort of agree, but it depends a bit on the setting. Dark Sun and Birthright in particular went out of their way to mess with classes and especially races, in order to separate the setting from "vanilla" D&D. Most races are altered in those settings, both fluff- and crunchwise, and some are outright absent (e.g. gnomes in Dark Sun). Similarly, the discovery of arcane magic was a Big Deal in Dark Sun's history, and introducing a class based around a natural talent for it would feel wrong, though there you could at least refluff them as wasteland mutants of some sort.

 

[vecna00]

I sort of agree, but it depends a bit on the setting. Dark Sun and Birthright in particular went out of their way to mess with classes and especially races, in order to separate the setting from "vanilla" D&D. Most races are altered in those settings, both fluff- and crunchwise, and some are outright absent (e.g. gnomes in Dark Sun). Similarly, the discovery of arcane magic was a Big Deal in Dark Sun's history, and introducing a class based around a natural talent for it would feel wrong, though there you could at least refluff them as wasteland mutants of some sort.

Doesn't feel wrong to me! :-D