D&D (2024) Here's The New 2024 Player's Handbook Wizard Art

 

[AstroCat]

This art does not represent the "D&D" aesthetic we play in our groups. If it represents your D&D aesthetic then that's awesome, enjoy the art that is being maybe specifically for you. We enjoy a more 1e/2e/Shadowdark/DCC/Easley/Elmore/Otus/Frazetta, etc... "D&D" aesthetic for our games, which this is very much not. Maybe there will be some other new "official wotc" art that speaks to our preferred aesthetic moving forward, chances?

 

[occam]

But, if you have something in place, all I'm saying is magic can do it, too, if it already doesn't. I had lasik 20 years ago, and have 20/20 vision still, only using glasses sometimes to drive at night. If I could have a procedure again (and afford it now) so I wouldn't even need the glasses at night, I certainly would. I mean, I look decent in glasses, but I find wearing them inconvenient at best. Why wouldn't I fix them if I could?? Makes no sense to me.

I have myopia, and I've come to appreciate its virtues, to the point that I sometimes feel sorry for those who can't share my experience. I tell you what, being nearsighted comes in pretty handy when plucking a tiny splinter out of someone's finger, or painting a miniature, or doing other up-close work. And there are moments when I prefer the blurry view of the world I get by just removing my glasses; lit-up Christmas trees offer a different experience to the nearsighted.

I have no plans to get Lasik, aside from any concern over risks. I've been wearing corrective eyewear for nearly half a century, and I plan to go on doing so, even with the existence of a near-magical "fix".

 

[Chaosmancer]

I think it’s good but not to my taste—-glasses are a pet peeve of mine.

I legitimately don't understand the criticism of the glasses. Sure, high level magic could potentially "fix" her vision but... that just makes it a choice? Maybe she likes how she looks with glasses. Maybe she isn't even near/far-sighted and just wears them as an accessory.

Just because YOU wouldn't want to have glasses if you didn't need them does not mean that other people can't make other choices.

 

[Scott Christian]

This art does not represent the "D&D" aesthetic we play in our groups. If it represents your D&D aesthetic then that's awesome, enjoy the art that is being maybe specifically for you. We enjoy a more 1e/2e/Shadowdark/DCC/Easley/Elmore/Otus/Frazetta, etc... "D&D" aesthetic for our games, which this is very much not. Maybe there will be some other new "official wotc" art that "speaks to our preferred aesthetic moving forward, chances?

In the thread that discussed what people would like to see in the new DMG, I mentioned having a large chapter on playstyles. In that chapter, variant rules and art that matches those styles would definitely be welcome (imho). I think older players would get a kick out of seeing five pages of Sword and Sorcery or Gritty Realism.

 

[AstroCat]

In the thread that discussed what people would like to see in the new DMG, I mentioned having a large chapter on playstyles. In that chapter, variant rules and art that matches those styles would definitely be welcome (imho). I think older players would get a kick out of seeing five pages of Sword and Sorcery or Gritty Realism.

As much as this is a great idea, I don't think wotc would ever let it happen. I only base this on their own public comments and recent content releases.

 

[Reynard]

This art does not represent the "D&D" aesthetic we play in our groups. If it represents your D&D aesthetic then that's awesome, enjoy the art that is being maybe specifically for you. We enjoy a more 1e/2e/Shadowdark/DCC/Easley/Elmore/Otus/Frazetta, etc... "D&D" aesthetic for our games, which this is very much not. Maybe there will be some other new "official wotc" art that speaks to our preferred aesthetic moving forward, chances?

I assume that if that is your aesthetic preferene, your gameplay preferences also lean toward 1e/2e/Shadowdark. Why are you playing 5E, then? 5E is fine for what it does, but it takes a lot of work to get it to play like old school D&D. It seems liked mismatched preferences.

 

[DarkCrisis]

The art, tone, and style have moved on since Elmore.

Players today are more likely to think of Dragonball, SpongeBob, and Isekai stuff then Conan, Merlin, and Bilbo.

Times change. Flavors change. Fandoms change. Games change.

I often wonder when I DM how the youngest members of the group are picturing it in their heads compared to how I visualize it. Conan or Goku?

 

[Chaosmancer]

Right. Sorry, yes. Forgot that one. Gold and white are somehow cleric colors.

I will say, there is a scrap of legitimacy to that argument. I think it is overblown, but there is precedence.

Gold and White are colors of "purity". Gold is associated with light, the sun, and goodness, as is the color white. So, it is very often used for religious motifs. Temples often use white and gold (in fantasy art) to call to mind the wealth of the Catholic church and the austere purity of ancient greek and roman temples, the idea of cleanliness, ect.

Now, can wizards wear white and gold? Absolutely, because they can channel those same ideas. Looking at the art I can see the arch of a dome behind her, she could be working in a sacred library or in a magical study that emphasizes some of these ideas of purity, cleanliness and good. But what I think is more striking about the argument isn't that wizards can't wear white, but that clerics are so tied to a monotheistic idea of purity and light, that their color scheme seems so limited. Clerics of Light or The Sun would likely be white and gold, but clerics of death, the sea, fire, agriculture... these would have different color schemes. A cleric of law or civilization might be white/gold, or they could be black/white, or black/silver.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Maybe there will be some other new "official wotc" art that speaks to our preferred aesthetic moving forward, chances?

I don't think there's much evidence this is the dominant aesthetic, but we shall see. My guess, if I have to guess, is that the dominant aesthetic of 5E 2024 will be somewhat similar to that of the Netflix animated series Arcane, but that it'll have a lot of art pieces considerably divergent from that - like the backgrounds and the silver dragon are within shouting distance of Arcane, as is this (but only just) - but the Champion Fighter art is more like something from 3E or 4E even.

As much as this is a great idea, I don't think wotc would ever let it happen. I only base this on their own public comments and recent content releases.

I actually wouldn't be at all surprised if they did, because it would be such a "free win" as it were. I don't think there'd be a huge amount but I could easily see some. I feel like at least one RPG, possibly as far back as the 1990s has already done something like this - possibly more than one RPG. Pushing against this possibility would be the desire for a unified aesthetic from teams like the very large 3D VTT team - but if they were forward-thinking, they should be for it - because more aesthetics more chances to sell microtransactions based on those aesthetics - just look at MtG and release the same cards with different art - like the anime versions of a bunch of cards. It's free money! So if they really think hard and think forward, they should do that, because it's future money in the bank, as it were.

Hell they could re-release entire special, limited editions of the PHB and so on with different aesthetics at higher prices and people would probably buy the hell out of them lol. All the while grumbling but handing over hundreds of dollars!

Also not to blow the wheels off this but I notice that looking at the art for the backgrounds, those currently include your stat bonuses, and presumably that'll go live, and unless WotC, like with 5E, makes it so custom backgrounds are "the norm" and these are merely "example", hoooo boy that is not going to go down well.

 

[AstroCat]

I assume that if that is your aesthetic preferene, your gameplay preferences also lean toward 1e/2e/Shadowdark. Why are you playing 5E, then? 5E is fine for what it does, but it takes a lot of work to get it to play like old school D&D. It seems liked mismatched preferences.

Actually we have found for years, since 2014, including many epic full campaigns that the 2014 5e has done a great job as a good "middle school" game.

But now that DCC and Shadowdark are in full swing and 5e has gone off in a radically different direction than the 2014 version we are thinking when our 2 current campaigns end, Shadowdark will be the system of choice for our next big campaign.

We'll still play 2014 5e, it's a great game, and there is content for lifetimes out there we'll be fine without continuing to follow the very recent 5e, or the next 6e follow up, which just pushes the the things we don't like to 11.