D&D 5E (2014) The Minsc and Book product

[darjr]

Yup, my guess is this book is a charity offering tie in to the book with the swanky cover. I’d bet a new announcement is imminent.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

Seeing that this book has stats for Cryonax, Mephistopheles, and Ssendam changed my impression from "not for me" to "must own".

 

[Demetrios1453]

Well, intriguingly, in the list of "strange companions" that Minsc can convince to adventure with you is a blind beholder. Hmmmm....

 

[Professor Murder]

Will this end up on DnDBeyond like other Extra life offerings?

 

[Demetrios1453]

Will this end up on DnDBeyond like other Extra life offerings?

I was wondering that myself. I would really like to have the stat blocks available on D&D Beyond for sure...

 

[Professor Murder]

I was wondering that myself. I would really like to have the stat blocks available on D&D Beyond for sure...

I want these monster stats.

 

[pukunui]

I think I want to get this just for the stats and maybe the info on Athkatla, since Amn is not a place that WotC has officially visited in the 5e era yet.

Interesting that Aribeth is in there. Did she cross over from NWN to the BG series or something?

 

[Urriak Uruk]

I want these monster stats.

So Baalzebul is CR 26, Bhaal has two forms (the Slayer and Ravager) which are CR 20 and 24, Cryonax is CR 22, Mephistopheles is CR 27, Pazuzu is CR 25, and Ssendam is CR 23. All have lairs, lair actions, and a full-page statblock.

For comparison, Orcus, Zariel, and Demogorgon are all CR 26. So these are some really, really dangerous enemies.

EDIT: Plus, they each get a full page art piece.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

It's sort of by WotC.

It's published by WotC via DMsGuild (like for example any of the much shorter products they've put out to benefit the Extra Life charity, or like the Wayfinder's Guide). But it doesn't look like anyone on the WotC RPG team worked on it. Instead, its lead designer was James Ohlen, who was one of the folks responsible for the original Baldur's Gate I & II games. He released a DMs Guild setting guide / adventure based on those games through DMs Guild a while back ("Heroes of Baldur's Gate")—then got hired by WotC in their video games division. I wonder whether perhaps this new book, seemingly a follow-up to "Heroes," was already under independent development by Ohlen and then the decision was made to release it "by" WotC since Ohlen was now a WotC employee.

Still, this is interesting—to my knowledge it's the first ever new book-length product (albeit half the length of a regular WotC 5e book) that WotC themselves have released on DMsGuild with a print-on-demand option. I wonder if a door is opening...

The Classic Settings next year are a new print Format and not only digital, a book that is Print on Demand would fill both of those requirement. This could be a test case first.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

One thing I don't like while reading this; it doesn't just reuse art from Heroes of Baldur's Gate (which I don't really mind)... it also reuses art from Odyssey of the Dragonlords. There are a couple of NPCs that use art from that book, and although it is great art, they're dressed as Greek heroes. It clashes with the rest of the book, and although someone who hasn't seen Dragonlords may not notice (or just be confused) it really doesn't fit well.

Okay I'm not sure this is even official, maybe semiofficial at best.