How much of the older published material is canon in 5th ed?

[originalcoconut]

This post has SKT spoilers after chapter 3, you've been warned. So i've been doing some research on other factions and groups that have come up SKT since there isn't much in the book about them, specifically the cult of the dragon, since, when the adventure's leave the eye of the all-father they are greeted by the cult of the dragons and given an airship and their services. Now i ask 'coz it's not mentioned in any of the 5th ed books that are published but I know its been published in earlier editions that one of the major enemies of the Order of the white gauntlet is the cult of the dragon, and since 2 of my party i DM are part of the order of the white gauntlet, and have been since their birth, they would know this, but since the cult of the dragon isn't fleshed out in any 5th ed book, only in previous editions, i don't know if i should make it an issue in game? There are similar events and places this question comes up again pertaining to other groups and factions, so i was seeing if anyone knows how much of older published material is canon in 5th?

[Findulidas]

Why dont you decide whats canon for yourself in your game? If you guys playing like to keep the old lore why not stick with it?

[Logosloki]

Unless 5th Edition has something to say on something already I personally refer back to older editions for fluff. Except where 5th Edition went with Domains. I think they were being misers and fully go back and pull old domain lists and ad hoc which 5th edition domains a deity has.As well as letting the player justify why they have a particular domain with a particular deity, because I like it when people either find new and interesting ground or find new ways to stretch.

Finally, you are the Ringmaster, make a call on whether it feels right for your campaign and include it, exclude it or allude it.

[mephnick]

Honestly, the Klauth airship and all that is so randomly forced into the plot I just dropped it entirely. My one problem with SKT is the few times big things happen for absolutely no reason and with no foreshadowing.

But I'd stick to old fluff if it's more interesting for you guys. Having the airship show up and your players refusing it could be interesting.

[Falcon X]

5e draws heavily from prior lore. It is assumed that the lirenstacks on top of itself and they even have in-universe reasons why magic and the universe changes a bit between generations.
(Wikipedia The Time of Troubles, Die Vecna Die, The Sundering, and The Spellplague for the biggest examples)

There are also more minor descrepancies such as monster origins, look, and personality.
These are explained by a go-to rule: ALL D&D books are considered written by a person who has limited or biased experience.
Volos Guide is filtered through Volos perspective.
3e Book of Vile Darkness is written with Asmodeus's propaganda in mind.
3e Monster Manual 1 was written by a guy who wanted to focused more on the combat dangers of the monsters than the fluff, and thus it is relaxed on its accuracy of the fluff.

[SiCK_Boy]

You may want to look at the Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat modules for updated information on the Cult of the Dragon. The Cult was the main opponent in that storyline.

One key change about the Cult versus "historical" information is that they have a new leader and are now focused on working with evil dragons and trying to further Tiamat's agenda in the Realms rather than dedicating their efforts to the creation of dracoliches.

Depending how you want to interpret the results of the HotDQ/RoT storyline, you could have the Cult infested with internal strife between old school and new school approach.

[Honest Tiefling]

I'm going to guess that while a lot of lore has been kept, a lot has changed because I don't think that the Order of the Guantlet even existed prior to 5th. Tyr was also mildly dead in 4th, so that's a thing. Also, the Cult of the Dragon didn't worship Tiamat exclusively in 3rd, with Bane, Shar, and Talos (of all people) having more clerics in the organization individually then Tiamat did.

Since the idea that Bane has more heretical priests in the Cult of the Dragon then the goddess of dragons, undead or not, is really silly, I'm just going to second making a decision on what happens in YOUR setting. 4th was such an extreme change to things that even if 5th tried to put things back together the way it was there's still going to be some hiccups. Even using 2nd edition lore in a 3rd edition game leads to a lot of problems. You can't just use all editions without judicious editing, so why not focus on making the game fun for your players?