D&D 5E Discussion

[J1M]

I didn't mention this in my initial comments about the PHB, but it is worth pointing out that I noticed it right away. There were definitely multiple passes done on the artwork choices for this book to ensure it was ultra politically correct.

For example, there are 8 gendered races in the book. (Dragonborn are androgynous.) All but the half-elf have illustrations of female characters. Aside from the half-elf, the only male character to appear in this chapter is Drizzt. The human female is also black, just like the human featured on the first page inside the cover. Mulan appears on the Soldier background. Persian Mulan appears next to the weapons table, etc. And no, this isn't a book full of subverted expectations. There are no female illustrations for the Hermit or Street Urchin backgrounds.

Given that RPGs are a primarily male hobby, and will remain a primarily male hobby, I don't understand their choices.

Additionally, other reviewers and commentators that I've seen have mostly fawned over the artwork/layout. The font/color/layout choices all work pretty well, but the color images that adorn the majority of the book are not that great. The best artwork is easily the pencil sketches found in the status conditions appendix and equipment chapter. It more accurately fits the theme of this being a combat manual and are of generally higher quality than the color paintings found elsewhere.

 

[Alchemist]

I didn't mention this in my initial comments about the PHB, but it is worth pointing out that I noticed it right away. There were definitely multiple passes done on the artwork choices for this book to ensure it was ultra politically correct.

For example, there are 8 gendered races in the book. (Dragonborn are androgynous.) All but the half-elf have illustrations of female characters. Aside from the half-elf, the only male character to appear in this chapter is Drizzt. The human female is also black, just like the human featured on the first page inside the cover. Mulan appears on the Soldier background. Persian Mulan appears next to the weapons table, etc. And no, this isn't a book full of subverted expectations. There are no female illustrations for the Hermit or Street Urchin backgrounds.

Given that RPGs are a primarily male hobby, and will remain a primarily male hobby, I don't understand their choices.

Yeah I agree they went a bit overboard with the SJW pandering, based on what I've seen so far.

 

[nikolokolus]

I'm certainly biased towards the art of the TSR editions, so whatever I say should be taken with a grain of salt, but damn there's just something so corporate and bland about the illustrations that I've seen so far in 5e. All I have to do is flip through a copy of DCC RPG, or any of my Necromancer/Frog God Games stuff and it's laughable how much more evocative they are.

Bad, banal or socially conscious art doesn't invalidate the rules (which I think are pretty good actually) but to want to invest in and own a dead-tree copy of these books, the quality of the art is a huge factor and it definitely hasn't grabbed me.

 

[Jaesun]

So the artwork they use is MORE important than the rule set of D&D 5ed?

 

[nikolokolus]

So the artwork they use is MORE important than the rule set of D&D 5ed?

Nope. All I'm saying is that I've got plenty of elf games on my shelf and while some of the mechanics seem good in 5e, it's looking more like a pdf purchase for me at this point.

 

[Jaesun]

So the artwork they use is MORE important than the rule set of D&D 5ed?

Nope. All I'm saying is that I've got plenty of elf games on my shelf and while some of the mechanics seem good in 5e, it's looking more like a pdf purchase for me at this point.

What mechanics do you like?

 

[nikolokolus]

I like the advantage/disadvantage mechanic. I like the idea of saving throws being tied to every ability score (Castles and Crusades got their first) I think reintroducing a decent amount of randomness back into character creation as the default is good, I like some of the traits/background stuff and it "feels" like D&D again after going off the rails with 4th.

So I'm not saying people shouldn't buy it or shouldn't play it, but a huge part of the appeal of buying dead-tree, RPG books (for me) is the idea of collecting something of quality or something that feels kind of unique. Frog God Games makes bullet-proof books with great content and great artwork, Goodman Games' DCC stuff is worth owning, Runequest 6 in hardcover was worth a purchase for its great mechanics and equally great presentation.

 

[Shannow]

What the hell is he even doing these days anyway? I know he wrote Transitions that pissed everyone off, and he didn't get paid for Kindoms of amalur. Is he still hacking out crap or did someone finally fire him ?

http://www.amazon.com/Night-Hunter-...&qid=1407914023&sr=1-3&keywords=r.a+salvatore
http://www.amazon.com/Companions-Su...&qid=1407914023&sr=1-4&keywords=r.a+salvatore
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Threshol...&qid=1407914023&sr=1-5&keywords=r.a+salvatore

His last 3 books. All getting at least 4/5 on average by sheeple reader reviews. Why would anybody fire him? He's still raking in the money.

 

[Caim]

I didn't mention this in my initial comments about the PHB, but it is worth pointing out that I noticed it right away. There were definitely multiple passes done on the artwork choices for this book to ensure it was ultra politically correct.

For example, there are 8 gendered races in the book. (Dragonborn are androgynous.) All but the half-elf have illustrations of female characters. Aside from the half-elf, the only male character to appear in this chapter is Drizzt. The human female is also black, just like the human featured on the first page inside the cover. Mulan appears on the Soldier background. Persian Mulan appears next to the weapons table, etc. And no, this isn't a book full of subverted expectations. There are no female illustrations for the Hermit or Street Urchin backgrounds.

Given that RPGs are a primarily male hobby, and will remain a primarily male hobby, I don't understand their choices.

Fanservice, I guess. If it's the other thing, I'm having flashbacks to Redgar, the "signature" male human fighter from two editions ago. The higherups demanded that there was a male human fighter for the target demographic to identify with... so the art team complied with pretty much all art of him featuring him having his ass kicked.

But what's this about Dragonborn being androgynous? Sure, the dragon tits from 4e was a bit silly, but did they just got rid of gender entirely?

 

[J1M]

I didn't mention this in my initial comments about the PHB, but it is worth pointing out that I noticed it right away. There were definitely multiple passes done on the artwork choices for this book to ensure it was ultra politically correct.

For example, there are 8 gendered races in the book. (Dragonborn are androgynous.) All but the half-elf have illustrations of female characters. Aside from the half-elf, the only male character to appear in this chapter is Drizzt. The human female is also black, just like the human featured on the first page inside the cover. Mulan appears on the Soldier background. Persian Mulan appears next to the weapons table, etc. And no, this isn't a book full of subverted expectations. There are no female illustrations for the Hermit or Street Urchin backgrounds.

Given that RPGs are a primarily male hobby, and will remain a primarily male hobby, I don't understand their choices.

Fanservice, I guess. If it's the other thing, I'm having flashbacks to Redgar, the "signature" male human fighter from two editions ago. The higherups demanded that there was a male human fighter for the target demographic to identify with... so the art team complied with pretty much all art of him featuring him having his ass kicked.

But what's this about Dragonborn being androgynous? Sure, the dragon tits from 4e was a bit silly, but did they just got rid of gender entirely?

Nope. The only illustration that one might consider fan service would be the female druid.

My feeble human mind could not determine if the dragonborn illustration was male or female. Their section contains no information about sexual dimorphism.

 

[Echo Mirage]

What the hell is he even doing these days anyway? I know he wrote Transitions that pissed everyone off, and he didn't get paid for Kindoms of amalur. Is he still hacking out crap or did someone finally fire him ?

http://www.amazon.com/Night-Hunter-Companions-Codex-I/dp/0786965118/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407914023&sr=1-3&keywords=r.a salvatore
http://www.amazon.com/Companions-Sundering-Book-Forgotten-Realms/dp/0786965223/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407914023&sr=1-4&keywords=r.a salvatore
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Threshold-Neverwinter-Forgotten-Realms/dp/0786963743/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407914023&sr=1-5&keywords=r.a salvatore

His last 3 books. All getting at least 4/5 on average by sheeple reader reviews. Why would anybody fire him? He's still raking in the money.

In The Companions R. A. Salvatore brought Drizzt’s old friends The Companions of the Hall back to life. He did this in an amazing original way. Our heroes were not simply resurrected, instead they were given the chance to come back as newborn children. When they were born they had all of their memories of their past life and were fully conscious of this from the moment of birth. The book followed the first twenty-one years of the new lives of Cattie-Brie, Bruennor, and Regis as they grow and develop in their new personas. Each of them faces challenges and each of them grows in understanding as they prepare to meet again in Icewind Dale to stand beside their friend Drizzt.

in an amazing original way

 

[nikolokolus]

Hahahahahahaha! Oh that's amazing. I hadn't read a Salvatore novel in probably fifteen years. So he retconned all of his Icewind Dale characters? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

[mondblut]

In The Companions R. A. Salvatore brought Drizzt’s old friends The Companions of the Hall back to life. He did this in an amazing original way. Our heroes were not simply resurrected, instead they were given the chance to come back as newborn children. When they were born they had all of their memories of their past life and were fully conscious of this from the moment of birth. The book followed the first twenty-one years of the new lives of Cattie-Brie, Bruennor, and Regis as they grow and develop in their new personas. Each of them faces challenges and each of them grows in understanding as they prepare to meet again in Icewind Dale to stand beside their friend Drizzt.

Jesus...

 

[Azalin]

In The Companions R. A. Salvatore brought Drizzt’s old friends The Companions of the Hall back to life. He did this in an amazing original way. Our heroes were not simply resurrected, instead they were given the chance to come back as newborn children. When they were born they had all of their memories of their past life and were fully conscious of this from the moment of birth. The book followed the first twenty-one years of the new lives of Cattie-Brie, Bruennor, and Regis as they grow and develop in their new personas. Each of them faces challenges and each of them grows in understanding as they prepare to meet again in Icewind Dale to stand beside their friend Drizzt.

Jesus...

Thank God I haven't read a single Salvatore novel

 

[nikolokolus]

In The Companions R. A. Salvatore brought Drizzt’s old friends The Companions of the Hall back to life. He did this in an amazing original way. Our heroes were not simply resurrected, instead they were given the chance to come back as newborn children. When they were born they had all of their memories of their past life and were fully conscious of this from the moment of birth. The book followed the first twenty-one years of the new lives of Cattie-Brie, Bruennor, and Regis as they grow and develop in their new personas. Each of them faces challenges and each of them grows in understanding as they prepare to meet again in Icewind Dale to stand beside their friend Drizzt.

Jesus...

Thank God I haven't read a single Salvatore novel

The Original Icewind Dale stories were kind of dumb, pulpy fun and I remember I enjoyed them as a teenager. I also sort of enjoyed his Dark Elf Trilogy, but that's where it ends for me; I read maybe two or three of his books after that and they were all complete shit-shows.

 

[Melan]

I tried to read the Dark Elf Trilogy, but couldn't get through the second book. I was something like 14, but even then, I knew it was bad for me.

It didn't help that in the early 90s, Hungary also had an AD&D-based novel series (in the first book, you could even recognise which TSR modules they originally played), and it was in a completely different league than TSR's milksop novel lines. Instead of the usual heroes, it featured a cast of amoral, backstabbing lowlives, and starred a half-orc fighter-cleric who served the God of Chaos, performed human sacrifice, and had a worn cloak that ''reeked of chicken guts''. There was just no contest between that kind of stuff and Dragonlance, or stories about a self-hating drow. That was AD&D as hell, risque demonic stuff included.

 

[Kahlis]

Wow what if the Sphinx wants to be neither?

 

[nikolokolus]

Typical cis white male entitlement.

 

[Don Peste]

Why don't they recover this?

 

[Alchemist]

Where is that Pseudowoman entry from Don Peste ? Looks like a good book...

Here's a preview from the 5E Monster Manual - The Umber Hulk:

Something's not quite right about the eyes. Not insectoid enough...

 

[Night Goat]

The tarrasque:

Spoiler

Notice the Legendary Resistance - this means that casters will counterintuitively use their weaker spells first against the rampaging giant monster. The tarrasque isn't the only creature to have this - the dragons and vampire here have it too.

 

[Grunker]

I like the Umber Hulk art.

Notice the Legendary Resistance - this means that casters will counterintuitively use their weaker spells first against the rampaging giant monster.

Cool concept.

 

[Don Peste]

Where is that Pseudowoman entry from Don Peste ? Looks like a good book...

I think it was All the Worlds' Monsters Vol. 1., user-made monsters for D&D published by Chaosium (?).
I found it here but I deleted it, and the link is down: http://rolarqueologia.blogspot.com/

 

[Alchemist]

Here's the Bulette for your perusal:

Spoiler

Also apparently they are giving out the Monster Manual at GenCon as part of a D&D weekend pass - so it's already out in the wild now:

 

[J1M]

Doing that a month and a half before street date is basically asking 99% of their customers to download a PDF. Good to know WotC supports file sharing.