D&D 5E (2024) WotC Should Make 5.5E Specific Setting

[Zardnaar]

That Dragon isn't unique. There is only one that has fully transformed, but every Sorcerer-King is somewhere along the process of transforming into another one.

Dragonborn look a lot less like the dragon than a lizard. People wouldn't make that connection. The transformed dragon isn't in any way humanoid or color coded like Dragonborn are.

Colour coded dragonborn shouldn't exist on Athas. Maybe as mutants.

Other Dragons exist. That knowledge isnt public.

You've never read the story "A Little Knowledge"? It basically defines the settings major themes.

Its why WotC keeps Spelljamming things up.

 

[Hussar]

My group has only encountered one, and that one is the head of Candle Keep.

The head of Candlekeep is Janusi - a human. There is a dragonborn First Reader, that's true. Doesn't actually ever appear in any of the adventures, but, sure, he's there. So, sure, you can ignore canon. But... here's a question. Where does Bookwyrm come from? What is his history? Does he have any history at all?

Now, here' s another question. Using ONLY canon, what can I, as a player, do to connect my character to Bookwyrm? You must not add a single detail that is not canon. See, if I wanted to connect my character to Janusi, I know that he is a devoted follower of Deneir. Which means I could be a Monk of the Ordered Way with connections to Janusi. But, we know nothing about Bookwrym other than he is a Green Dragonborn. He's a wizard (well sage) and not a priest at all. He has virtually nothing to connect him whatsoever to the setting. The fact that he's dragonborn doesn't actually matter.

 

[Hussar]

Greyhawk didn't back in 1E.

It what way did it not? Both gnomes and halflings are called out as living in all sorts of regions. And, we're not living in 1982 anymore. Greyhawk has expanded considerably since then.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Sometimes I ponder making a poll of the different types of setting styles, genre, flavor and which ones would people be interested in as a 5.5e setting.

• Flavor
  • Heroic Fantasy
  • Sword and Sorcery
  • Epic Fantasy
  • Mythic Fantastic
  • Dark Fantasy
  • Intrigue
  • Mystery
  • Swashbuckling
  • War
  • Wuxia/Anime
• Cultures
  • Monoculture Species lol no
  • Dual Culture Species (every species has 2 main cultures)
  • Tri Culture Species (every species has 2 main cultures and 1 dark/evil culture)
  • Divine Culture (every culture is based on the tenets of a dirty and the species follow the culture of who they worship)
  • Narrative Cultures (cultures are independent of species or deity. Species get in where they fit in)
• Planes
  • Wheel
  • Tree
  • Axis
  • Omniverse
  • Orrery
  • Road/Barge
  • Mountain
  • Single plane
  • Otherworld

Please do.

 

[Maxperson]

The head of Candlekeep is Janusi - a human. There is a dragonborn First Reader, that's true. Doesn't actually ever appear in any of the adventures, but, sure, he's there. So, sure, you can ignore canon. But... here's a question. Where does Bookwyrm come from? What is his history?

No idea. As an NPC he doesn't need that history in his position. He has a history, but it's up to the DM to provide it if for some obscure reason it becomes relevant.

Now, here' s another question. Using ONLY canon, what can I, as a player, do to connect my character to Bookwyrm? You must not add a single detail that is not canon. See, if I wanted to connect my character to Janusi, I know that he is a devoted follower of Deneir. Which means I could be a Monk of the Ordered Way with connections to Janusi. But, we know nothing about Bookwrym other than he is a Green Dragonborn. He's a wizard (well sage) and not a priest at all. He has virtually nothing to connect him whatsoever to the setting. The fact that he's dragonborn doesn't actually matter.

You can write up as part of your background a connection to Candle Keep and how you befriended Skoda(Bookwyrm), staying up late at night discussing X, Y and/or Z that interests your PC in some way. Perhaps by bringing him some rare tome(s), since he's in charge of expanding Candlekeep's literary resources and knowledge base, and acquiring writings is his job.

When you go to the Keep you and he will talk about old times. You would probably even enjoy some discounts or perhaps free entry into the keep. Perhaps he contacts you if the Keep needs something, leading to adventures.

I also disagree with your assertion that his being Dragonborn doesn't matter. That fact connects him to the various mercenaries around the Realms, especially in nearby Baldur's Gate, so he probably has contacts in that regard. It also connects him to his homeland Tymanther and its plight. Both of those things could end up being something that comes up in game play.

If you wanted more, as the DM I would come up with more background for him and you could use that. There's quite a bit already above, though, for a single contact in your background.

 

[Maxperson]

Colour coded dragonborn shouldn't exist on Athas. Maybe as mutants.

There's zero reason for them not to exist as color coded. There are no color coded dragons, so the color coding would just be something that is a part of their race, not something connected to color coded dragons. Color coding therefore would not be anything the people would use to connect them to The Dragon.

Other Dragons exist. That knowledge isnt public.

Not really relevant. They don't look like The Dragon and there are lots of weird races around. Dragonborn aren't as odd as Thri-kreen and those are accepted.

You've never read the story "A Little Knowledge"? It basically defines the settings major themes.

Enlighten me. How does it connect Dragonborn to The Dragon?

 

[Parmandur]

It what way did it not? Both gnomes and halflings are called out as living in all sorts of regions. And, we're not living in 1982 anymore. Greyhawk has expanded considerably since then.

But not as commonly as the other options. Ot every option a player has needs to be equally likely in a Setting.

 

[Parmandur]

I mean, that works too.
The tendency to want some species be rare and others common is leftover nonsense from previous editions, beholden to "realism" in a world that doesn't warrant it.

You could reverse which are common or rare in a given Setting, the rules don't imply anything about it either way. A new Setting made just for 2024 rules could.jave any commonality for any Species option, the rules are agnostic.

 

[Reynard]

You could reverse which are common or rare in a given Setting, the rules don't imply anything about it either way. A new Setting made just for 2024 rules could.jave any commonality for any Species option, the rules are agnostic.

Right. The rules don't say any species are more rare than others. So don't design a setting in a way that forces players to contort their backstories just to play a specific species. Make the setting cosmopolitan and species agnostic. Or at the very least write each species in a way that every choice is a good choice.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Gnomes, Tieflings and Aasimar have never been common in any setting, even Planescape.

Tieflings are quite common in Planescape they're one of the "Original 3" of species introduced in Planescape, Aasimar are less common because they came up with the idea for them later, and Genasi even less common because they were conceived near the end of the run.

They had shorthand abbreviations for the NPCs and "Tf" is fairly frequent in the 1-line stat blocks throughout the product line, maybe not as frequent as "Hu". Githzerai and Bariaur of the other 2 "Original 3" do make a lot of appearances too, but certainly less frequently than Tieflings.

Planescape had some reasoning for why Gnomes, Elves, Dwaraves and Halflings weren't PC options as Planar Origin characters and were mostly "Primes" instead. And it's one I personally disagree with. Half-Elves didn't have the restriction of Prime only, and Half-Orcs were rare because 2e removed them for the Core rules.