D&D 5E WotC Announces An Impending Announcement: New Setting, Storyline

Early this week, WotC announced on Twitter that today there would be some kind of announcement on their Twitch channel. Those who heard that announcement and tuned in were treated to an announcement that the new storyline will be announced at a live event in June.

The press release announcing the impending announcement also mentions a new setting, as well as the storyline, so it sounds like it might not be set in the Forgotten Realms (or maybe is in a new region - to 5E - of the Realms, such as Icewind Dale). The adventure and the setting might be the same thing, or they might be completely different things. Recently, WotC has released a bunch of settings: Eberron, Ravnica, Wildemount, and the upcoming Theros.

Fans of D&D will learn all about the new setting and storyline

The new storyline specifically will be revealed at 12pm PST (8pm GMT) on Thursday, June 18th.

The June event will raise money for Comic Relief, and will feature celebrities including Brandon Routh (Superman), and will preview the brand new storyline. It takes place June 18th-20th. Other names involved include Felicia Day, Deborah Ann Woll, Amy Acker, David Harbour, Matthew Lillard, and more.

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 PRESS RELEASE

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RENTON, WA – May 21, 2020 – People all over the world continue to stay safe by staying home, but that doesn’t mean the adventuring has to stop. Dungeons & Dragons is more popular than ever because it allows people to weave compelling stories together even when they’re physically apart through online videoconferencing. Now, Wizards of the Coast brings the stars to this virtual table with D&D Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage. An amazing cast of characters led by expert storytellers preview the latest D&D storyline with live gaming sessions, all while raising money for Red Nose Day to help the most vulnerable children across the US and around the world, who have been so affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.The adventure begins 10:00am PT on June 18, 2020 and will run through June 20, 2020 at dungeonsanddragons.com.

D&D Live 2020: Roll w/ Advantage features big personalities playing elves, wizards and fighters to accomplish quests using their imaginations. Funny people like Brian Posehn, Kevin Sussman and Thomas Middleditch will work together to solve problems or, more likely, cause some hilarious new ones. WWE ® Superstars Xavier Woods ®, Tyler Breeze ®, Ember Moon ®, Alexa Bliss ® and Dio Maddin ® will contend with beefcake destroyer Jeremy Crawford, a.k.a. Principal Rules Designer for D&D. Deborah Ann Woll will lead a group of actors in improvising a way to help people in a fantasy world not that different from ours. And principal D&D writer Chris Perkins takes players

Fans of D&D will learn all about the new setting and storyline as well as accompanying new products plus tons of unique gameplay available on June 18, 2020. D&D Adventurers League has four new short adventures everyone can enjoy. By donating a small amount to Red Nose Day, fans will have access to sign up for D&D sessions with players around the world! During #DnDLive2020, fans will also be able to choose the character best suited to help the region through Reality RP, a mashup of fantasy storytelling, community engagement, and reality television.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah that smells like the ten towns of Icewind Dale. And the "characters" will all have instagram accounts released this week (Facebook says a character a day starting today) so we will likely see that confirmed soon.

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Interesting that one of the characters is secretly a cultist. A cultist of the mind flayers perhaps? Or something else?

In the recent podcast episode, Perkins did mention offhand that some Humans worship the Mindflayers to seek favor and power...

 

[darjr]

If you want a Xanathars 2.0 I think the best thing you can do is playtest the UA material with as many folk as you can and fill out those surveys. And if you can stream or podcast them, even better.

 

[Parmandur]

Only 2 are known to be for Theros, and psionics could be for Xanathar's 2.0, though I doubt it.

We have 24ish new subclasses, excluding the Theros ones. XGtE had 31 subclasses. I think we'll get a bit more subclasses UA and more revisions to old ones in upcoming UA.

Yep.

We had 15 Subclass options last year (post-Eberron stuff). 2 were published, 4 have been revisited this year, and at least 2 are DOA entirely. Smart money for the remaining 7 is they didn't make it into Theros.

That brings us to 15 Subclasses in this year's phase of testing. We might see as few of 2 of them gt published in the end. Just b cause they test 15 options doesn't mean they all reach 70% approval. A rather large percentage of Subclasses tested did not make the mark for XGtE.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

If you want a Xanathars 2.0 I think the best thing you can do is playtest the UA material with as many folk as you can and fill out those surveys. And if you can stream or podcast them, even better.

I don't playtest them, I simply don't have the time or opportunity, but I do know how to tell if they're balanced or not, so I do give feedback.

 

[Parmandur]

I don't playtest them, I simply don't have the time or opportunity, but I do know how to tell if they're balanced or not, so I do give feedback.

Balance isn't a consideration at the UA stage, that comes in later drafts. The UA test is to see if people like certain character concepts or mechanics in principle. If they like them, then they balance them. If people don't like them, then they don't move forward.

For reference, the Order Cleric was made by Mearls on stream in about an hour's time, and then put straight into UA. When that passed muster, then they balanced it and put it in a book.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Okay, I'm going to list them out here:

1. Wild Soul Barbarian and Astral Self Monk
2. Aberrant Mind Sorcerer (Now Psionic Sorcerer) and Lurker in the Deep Warlock
3. The subclasses in Theros, so these won't be in a Xanathar's 2.0 most likely. (They did take some SCAG subclasses and put them in XGtE, so this isn't a 100% given, but is still fairly unlikely, unless they were to put all setting-subclasses into Xanathar's 2.0)
4. Twilight Cleric, Wildfire Druid, and Onomancer Wizard (dropped, but probably will be converted to something else in a future UA)
5. Rune Knight Fighter, Revived Rogue (now Phantom), Swarmkeeper Ranger.
6. Class Feature Variants (no UA, but will probably be in Xanathar's 2.0)
7. First Psionic subclasses. The Psionic Wizard is dropped, and kind of became the Psionic Sorcerer when it was combined with the Aberrant Mind Sorcerer later on.
8. Mercy Monk, Beast Barbarian, Watchers Paladin, Noble Genie Warlock (Now Genie Warlock)
9. Creation Bard, Unity Cleric, and Clockwork Sorcerer.
10. Armorer Artificer, Stars Druid, and Fey Wanderer Ranger.
11. Tattoos and Summoning Spells, probably will be in Xanathar's 2.0.
12. Psychic Warrior Fighter, Soulknife Rogue, and Psionic Sorcerer, with feats and spells.
13. Phantom Rogue, Genie Warlock, and Scribes Wizard (revised Archivist)

So, Aberrant Mind was changed, Onomancer dropped (probably converted soon), Revived is now Phantom, Noble Genie is now Genie.
Our grand total of current acting subclasses in UA in the past year that could be in Xanathar's 2.0 is 22 subclasses, counting the Psionic subclasses.

So, how could WotC get to an amount of subclasses similar to XGtE? Easy. Take some subclasses from the campaign setting books, and put them in Xanathar's 2.0, which they did for XGtE with a few subclasses. So, the next UA will probably have 3-4 subclasses, most of them just revised versions of previous UA subclasses, and some of them complete class transfers, possibly, so my guess is that the end total subclasses from these UA into Xanathar's 2.0 will be around 24 subclasses, so around 2 for every class. Then, add the Order Cleric, Spores Druid, the Artificer class with a couple new subclasses possibly, and the Wildemount and Theros subclasses, the total number of subclasses in Xanathar's 2.0 is between 32 and 34 subclasses.

Granted, this is more than XGtE, but that's because this book is likely to be larger in page count, and has the Artificer, so the amount of new subclasses needed will be higher than before.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Balance isn't a consideration at the US stage, that comes in later drafts. The UA test is to see if people like certain character concepts or mechanics in principle. If they like them, then they balance them. If people don't like them, then they don't move forward.

They do test them to get balance information. The 2 main things they playtest them for in UA is because of the overall theme of the UA and the mechanics. Balance is considered, but not multiclassing.

 

[Parmandur]

Wild Soul Barbarian and Astral Self Monk

Probably didn't meet the threshold, otherwise they would be in Theros. DOA.

Aberrant Mind Sorcerer (Now Psionic Sorcerer) and Lurker in the Deep Warlock

Lurker is DOA, the Aberrant Mind got a second chance, so 1.

Twilight Cleric, Wildfire Druid, and Onomancer Wizard (dropped, but probably will be converted to something else in a future UA)

They were pretty clear that the Onomancer is dead explicitly in the Psionics UA recently. The other two are also probably DOA, since they weren't in Theros

Rune Knight Fighter, Revived Rogue (now Phantom), Swarmkeeper Ranger.

Two of these are DOA, but Revived has a scone chance now as a phantom. So, 2.

Class Feature Variants (no UA, but will probably be in Xanathar's 2.0)

These were apparently the single best received UA test ever, so will undoubtedly be in the Q4 targeted product.

1. Mercy Monk, Beast Barbarian, Watchers Paladin, Noble Genie Warlock (Now Genie Warlock)
2. Creation Bard, Unity Cleric, and Clockwork Sorcerer.
3. Armorer Artificer, Stars Druid, and Fey Wanderer Ranger.
4. Tattoos and Summoning Spells, probably will be in Xanathar's 2.0.
5. Psychic Warrior Fighter, Soulknife Rogue, and Psionic Sorcerer, with feats and spells.
6. Phantom Rogue, Genie Warlock, and Scribes Wizard (revised Archivist)

So, this brings us to 15 active possibilities. Not all will make it. For comparison, SCAG had 11.5 Subclasses (with the Totem Barbaran variants). This book they are working on could easily have fewer options than SCAG.

 

[Parmandur]

They do test them to get balance information. The 2 main things they playtest them for in UA is because of the overall theme of the UA and the mechanics. Balance is considered, but not multiclassing.

They have more rigorous methods for determining balance. UA is all about feeling, and if people like something.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

They have more rigorous methods for determining balance. UA is all about feeling, and if people like something.

It's not all about feeling. They wouldn't ever do 2 versions of one thing with just mechanical changes if they don't have UA for mechanical changes.