D&D General The Purple Dragon Knights are tied to an Amethyst Dragon (confirmed)

[I'm A Banana]

Because if a character reaches the natural end of their narrative and that end is death then undoing it is bad.

So much depends on the context and execution.

Like, the "good" ending of FFX-2 was pretty well done, but so much of both that game and the one before it were about dealing with grief and loss that it felt kind of cheap, like a forced happy ending.

And, "Somehow, Palpatine returned" is a meme for a reason (the reason being that it's dropped like a brick into the storyline and is clearly more about "Hey, I recognize that reference!" brand appeal than about the needs of the story).

But, like, Sauron returning to Middle-Earth and being a threat again was a pretty cool idea. And I like that part of Zargon's myth-making is that he is "the Returner," he is just not a creature that can be defeated easily. And, D&D has enough comic book shenanigans in it that coming back isn't a HUGE curve ball (maybe he's a CLONE!).

It might really cheapen the original storyline if he's back in a silly or unearned kind of way, but I think there's a bunch of paths I'd be OK with, especially if it means I get to have an adventure where I smack around Sammaster and some dracoliches or something.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

The main thing I dislike about iconic villains coming back from the dead no matter what is that it reduces the satisfaction of defeating them. No matter how much the PCs hate Sammaster and want to destroy him, if they are paying attention to the lore they know any victory is just temporary.

For some villains that's OK, like a central element of Strahd's and Ravenloft lore is that the darklords always return. But if every villain in every setting can come back just by being cool enough, it starts to feel really cheap and contrived.

 

[TiQuinn]

The conversation is about the importance of narrative integrity within new official publications as they continue previous stories.

I don’t expect or place a great deal of importance on narrative integrity of lore in a setting across its entire 40 year published history, especially one that’s as haphazard as the Forgotten Realms.

 

[Necropolitan]

The main thing I dislike about iconic villains coming back from the dead no matter what is that it reduces the satisfaction of defeating them. No matter how much the PCs hate Sammaster and want to destroy him, if they are paying attention to the lore they know any victory is just temporary.

For some villains that's OK, like a central element of Strahd's and Ravenloft lore is that the darklords always return. But if every villain in every setting can come back just by being cool enough, it starts to feel really cheap and contrived.

Yeah, the whole point of a Lich villain is they can keep coming back UNTIL their Phylactery is destroyed. Bringing them back after that defeats the whole point of them.

Sammaster met his final end in The Year of the Rogue Dragons novels and it involved a civilization-ending draconic apocalypse, multiple armies from all over the world AND other Planes, caused the deaths of numerous important named characters, and was in the background of numerous other novels because of how massive an event it was.

The Dracorage Mythal is gone forever, Sammaster can't pull that scheme again. Sure he's still a threat as a Lich with a fanatical cult, but he was previously a world-ending threat so he's been massively downgraded.

So bringing him back is like the MCU having Thanos as the main villain trying to destroy half of all life after Avengers: Endgame except this time the Infinity Stones are gone so he's back to conquering and halving the populations of planets with his army.

If villains with profit potential can never stay dead then fighting them loses all meaning because any victory against them will inevitably be undone.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, the whole point of a Lich villain is they can keep coming back UNTIL their Phylactery is destroyed. Bringing them back after that defeats the whole point of them.

Sammaster met his final end in The Year of the Rogue Dragons novels and it involved a civilization-ending draconic apocalypse, multiple armies from all over the world AND other Planes, caused the deaths of numerous important named characters, and was in the background of numerous other novels because of how massive an event it was.

The Dracorage Mythal is gone forever, Sammaster can't pull that scheme again. Sure he's still a threat as a Lich with a fanatical cult, but he was previously a world-ending threat so he's been massively downgraded.

So bringing him back is like the MCU having Thanos as the main villain trying to destroy half of all life after Avengers: Endgame except this time the Infinity Stones are gone so he's back to conquering and halving the populations of planets with his army.

If villains with profit potential can never stay dead then fighting them loses all meaning because any victory against them will inevitably be undone.

That works for RPGs in a way that it doesn't for fiction worlds, because RPG products are just menus of options for DMs to mine for material. Canon is just a suggestion.

Now, will they have some hokey comic book plot explanation of his he came back? Sure, probably, that's how the FR and D&D works, and we know that time travel is a theme in this set of books so literally anything and everyone is on the table.

 

[Necropolitan]

we know that time travel is a theme in this set of books so literally anything ans everyobe is on the table.

If "anything" can happen because of time travel and the multiverse then there are no stakes.

D&D shouldn't be like DC or Marvel where no named character ever stays dead.

 

[Parmandur]

If "anything" can happen because of time travel and the multiverse then there are no stakes.

D&D shouldn't be like DC or Marvel where no named character ever stays dead.

It works for D&D in a way that it is a problem for the MCU because these are RPG products for making games...not fiction. And the FR and D&D have never, wver been "above" DC and Marvel comics.

 

[Nikosandros]

That works for RPGs in a way that it doesn't for fiction worlds, because RPG products are just menus of options for DMs to mine for material. Canon is just a suggestion.

Now, will they have some honey conix book plot explanation of his he came back? Sure, probably, that's how the FR and D&D works, and we know that time travel is a theme in this set of books so literally anything ans everyobe is on the table.

I'm actually still sore that, even though I lucked out on my saving throw and killed Bargle right in my first adventure, he still was around in later products!

 

[Nikosandros]

It works for D&D in a way that it is a problem for the MCU because these are RPG products for making games...nit fiction. And the FR and D&D have never, wver been "above" DC and Marvel comics.

Indeed. Novels are novels, but my campaigns certainly aren't shackled to them.

 

[Necropolitan]

It works for D&D in a way that it is a problem for the MCU because these are RPG products for making games...nit fiction. And the FR and D&D have never, wver been "above" DC and Marvel comics.

It's still bad storytelling and D&D was better about it than DC and Marvel comics.

Make new characters instead of endlessly reviving old ones.