D&D 5E Sword Coast Adventurers Guide: Hidden hooks for Future Storylines?

[akr71]

Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. I've always thought of mindflayers as something 'borrowed' from Lovecraft. I did not realize the Illithid was a Gygax creation.

From Wikipedia

Licensing
The illithid is considered "Product Identity" by Wizards of the Coast and as such is not released under its Open Game License.

Publication history
Mind flayers were created by Gary Gygax, who has said that one of his inspirations for them was the cover painting of the book The Burrowers Beneath by Brian Lumley, a story grounded in the Cthulhu Mythos created by H.P. Lovecraft.

 

[Eejit]

For all his might Larloch is no deity, not even an archfiend.

Given where 5e placed Tiamat and Orcus, Larloch should be CR 21-25 in 5e

Both Orcus and Tiamat would have been bored in 2e casualy stepping on Larloch. 5e would reduce the gap between them, since it no longer has the room for the proper difference in their power

That was tongue in cheek.

However deities are far from omnipotent outside their portfolio in Forgotten Realms, and Larloch is written as being stupidly powerful and well-equipped.

 

[Parmandur]

Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. I've always thought of mindflayers as something 'borrowed' from Lovecraft. I did not realize the Illithid was a Gygax creation.

From Wikipedia

Yeah, the list of "product identity" monsters is fairly small, and all of them will probably be prominent in an AP, just for branding purposes if nothing else: note also the extensive featuring of Modrons in the core books, and references to the March of the Modrons.

 

[Eilserus]

Yeah... no.

(Not as in "you're wrong" but as in "yeah, right, as if WotC will ever make the mistake of inflating the level range beyond 30 or so even for the most legendary of opponents"


I'm pretty sure 5E will never feature a foe a level 20 party won't stand a chance against.

Yeah those are 2E terms, not sure how that would translate to 5e. I've always viewed those two as the closest thing to a god a mortal can get. Srinshee is effectively dead at the moment anyway and the whole rule bring the world into darkness and i'm your master isn't really Larloch's style. He made his play for the Weave and lost. I doubt we'd hear anything from him for a long time. It'd be fun to have to find him and seek his help.

Considering the barbarian mounds (Uthgardt I imagine), I really wish they'd consider placing an AP somewhere other than the Swordcoast/North. Say the Great Rift with dwarves. Or the Moonsea/Dales area etc. Chult, Shoonach, etc. So many places to pick from.

 

[Raunalyn]

I don't think it would be possible to kill him permanently, he's too smart to have his phylactery just laying around for adventurers to find. As far as we know he's the most powerful spellcaster (Ioulaum might give him a run for his money though) active in the Realms to date, be a shame to permanently kill him. To each their own of course.

I thought Gary Stu (oops, I mean Elminster) was the most powerful spellcaster. Did I miss something?

Something involving Najara would certainly be cool. Trashing a serpent kingdom sounds fun.

Maybe a new adventure path that is a retelling of Against the Cult of the Reptile God (in the same vein as Princes of the Apocalypse was a retelling of Temple of Elemental Evil) is in the works?

 

[Mirtek]

That was tongue in cheek.

However deities are far from omnipotent outside their portfolio in Forgotten Realms, and Larloch is written as being stupidly powerful and well-equipped.

Larloch was level 26 in 2e (Volo's Guide to the Swordcoast, the only time he was officially stated in 2e. Ed once said on a mailing list he would peg him at level 46, but that never made it into a published sourcebook) and level 32 in 3.x, in neither edition could he hold a candle to a true deity (not even at 46)

I thought Gary Stu (oops, I mean Elminster) was the most powerful spellcaster. Did I miss something?

He never was the most powerful spellcast. Around 4th to 6th powerful (among the really active ones, not counting ancient netherese arcanists still in hiding somewhere), but never number 1

 

[Eejit]

Larloch was level 26 in 2e (Volo's Guide to the Swordcoast, the only time he was officially stated in 2e. Ed once said on a mailing list he would peg him at level 46, but that never made it into a published sourcebook) and level 32 in 3.x, in neither edition could he hold a candle to a true deity (not even at 46)

Sure but 5e includes appropriate magical item effects in CR. Larloch was loaded in that respect e.g two dozen ioun stones in use at any one time

 

[Parmandur]

Pretty sure CR 30 is the cap in 5E, and Larloch's abilities are likely to be retconned to fit 5E assumptions, at any rate.

Amusingly, Windows Phone wanted to correct "Larloch" to "Warlock," which fits the in-game etymology!