Plane Shift Ixalan

[Rogerdodger557]

https://media.wizards.com/2018/downloads/magic/plane-shift_ixalan.pdf

It's been revealed.

[Garfunion]

Interesting. Another one to add to my collection.

[Kite474]

I am a big fan of everything!!.... Except for the color of magic section. MTG color pie does not at all really mix with alignment. Mainly because of how the color pie is much less about morality than it is what people value. (For example the Protagonist of Kamigawa block was a black aligned character while the villian was white. This is due to the protagonist being an ambitious sort while the villian was a tyranical ruler who valued his order above all else)

For example while Mardu is an incredibly aggressive set of colors it can absolutly be the value set of a good person.

Meanwhile something like Izzet can be the values of someone incredibly dangerous because those values give little to no **** about boundries or responsibilities

[the_brazenburn]

I am a big fan of everything!!.... Except for the color of magic section. MTG color pie does not at all really mix with alignment. Mainly because of how the color pie is much less about morality than it is what people value. (For example the Protagonist of Kamigawa block was a black aligned character while the villian was white. This is due to the protagonist being an ambitious sort while the villian was a tyranical ruler who valued his order above all else)

For example while Mardu is an incredibly aggressive set of colors it can absolutly be the value set of a good person.

Meanwhile something like Izzet can be the values of someone incredibly dangerous because those values give little to no **** about boundries or responsibilities

Also, according to the alignment section, it is impossible to get Chaotic Good without delving into three colors (Naya?)

[Aett_Thorn]

It's got a three-headed Tyrannosaurus! What's not to like!?

[Kite474]

It's got a three-headed Tyrannosaurus! What's not to like!?

A three-headed Tyrannosaurus that shoots lightning!!!!

[Ventruenox]

Fascinating supplement. I applaud the effort put into translating core concepts of MtG to D&D, though I need to study it in more detail at a later time.

I am excited to build a Ixalan Vampire as a Spore Circle Druid. It fits perfectly for a Plague Doctor build I've been wanting to make for years. The Green/Black combo makes me Nostalgic for my 20 year old MtG Poison Counter deck.

[Ivor_The_Mad]

Fascinating supplement. I applaud the effort put into translating core concepts of MtG to D&D, though I need to study it in more detail at a later time.

I am excited to build a Ixalan Vampire as a Spore Circle Druid. It fits perfectly for a Plague Doctor build I've been wanting to make for years. The Green/Black combo makes me Nostalgic for my 20 year old MtG Poison Counter deck.

I agree ive been wondering why they havent mixed the two games more.

I think this is going to be a cool location in the vast world of D&D. Very colorful too.

[toapat]

Except for the color of magic section. MTG color pie does not at all really mix with alignment

the MTG color Pie does have some degree of alignment represented, but it doesnt map how anyone "naturally" maps it.

in DnD terms, every color has a Good and Evil alignment, typically described as either the Positive/Negative bias or Progressive/Regressive state of those colors.

While Order and Chaos explicitly map to White/Red respectively, they only map to those colors under certain perspectives. IE, you can have an incredibly passionate Civil Rights lawyer who in DnD logic would be Lawful Good, but in MTG terms would be Black/Red, because they fight the law on the law's terms for the Good of themselves, the good of others, and for personal freedoms, despite red being the Color of Chaos. This is despite Demons, Devils, (the terms are inverted in MTG from DnD too just to screw with people) and BR generally being massively evil,

like:


ColorGoodEvil
WhiteHeroic ClericEnslaver
BlueScientistIllithid
BlackRevolutionaryMegalomaniac
RedLove DoctorNoise Marine
GreenPreserver druidEco-Terrorist

[Diego]

The monster entries are *deeply* disappointing compared to their MtG card equivalents.

It really looks like they just handed DnD developers the art and said "make this monster" rather than try and translate what their MTG abilities might mean in DnD terms.
If I were guessing, Zacama should have some kind of throwing lightning ability, anti-magic and anti-magic item ability, and some form of healing or tempHP to allies.

[Joe the Rat]

It really looks like they just handed DnD developers the art and said "make this monster" rather than try and translate what their MTG abilities might mean in DnD terms

That is exactly what this is. James Wyatt writes up a D&D setting document for the latest Art of Magic the Gathering book. I expect there's a lot of thumbnail balancing, and trying to catch and keep the flavors. It's not perfect, but usually a pretty good first take.

Wyatt was also the guy who said baby owlbears are called chubs. So I consider him a bit of a genius.

[MxKit]

I'm loving the "reasons for cooperating" table at the beginning. Unless I missed it in one of the other Plane Shifts (I know it's not in Amonkhet, Kaladesh, or Zendikar!), that's new, isn't it? It's a really good idea, and I hope this isn't the only thing they use it in! The new setting-specific Ideals and Bonds are also really, really good. The three different groups and their suggestions, as well as the Tenets of Blood, are really cool as well!

Moving on to the races...


Humans are just PHB default humans, which is... fine? But makes the reprint feel a bit unnecessary. The bit of historical information and language options are nice.
The Merfolk are neat; I like the idea of an amphibious race that's split into subraces that favor the land and the water, respectively. Their subrace features are good as well, not totally boring but understated, not super flashy either. Green seem inclined towards Druids, while Blue lean hard towards Wizards. Side note: Does it feel like Wizards is switching up the stat bump formula to anyone else? This isn't the first time I've seen the main racial adjustment being +1 and the subrace adjustments being +2 in UA material.
The Vampires and their racial feat are actually very cool; there's nothing about their stat adjustments that scream "make me a grappler!" but their racial abilities sure do! Which I think makes them more balanced than just giving them a +2 Str or even +2 Dex would. They also feel much more flavorful than the other Plane Shift Vampires. They'd make good Paladins (as seems to be intended, given the Tenets of Blood), but also great Bards, Sorcerers, and Warlocks, which also makes sense. I feel like they also wouldn't do badly as Monks.
Orcs! On the one hand, this makes me feel like Wizards heard all the complaints about the official Volo's Orcs... on the other, they just flat-out are using Half-Orcs and calling them Orcs. Which is fine, but not exciting. I'd have switched out Menacing for Aggressive, at least. Oh, well.
Goblins again! These I like a lot better than the Orcs, especially the flavor of them as pirates and almost gnome-like pranksters; I like the alignment note especially. +2 Dex by itself feels weird, and it's a shame to lose 5 feet of speed, Fury of the Small, and Nimble Escape, but I can't say that Agile Climber isn't super thematic! I'd probably have given them the +1 Con and 30 foot speed myself, since they'd still be a bit less powerful than Volo's Goblins, but that's just me. Rogue is really the class that feels most fitting for them; +Dex also makes good Fighters and Monks and things, but the climbing speed more makes me think of positioning for Rogues. Maybe that's just me.
And finally, Sirens. Totally new races like these are what I get most excited for wrt Plane Shifts, and the Siren is a good 'un. +2 to Charisma again, there are a lot of Charisma-heavy races these days, but that's totally fitting here so I can't complain. Is it just me, or is Wizards really trying to figure out how to best balance flight? I think they've done it fairly well here. I like the automatic friends cantrip with no material components, though I'm surprised that Siren's Song isn't like their own racial ability, that either stuns an enemy or gives it a watered-down Sympathy effect (from antipathy/sympathy centered on you, or something, maybe usable once per rest. But friends fits perfectly well, and I think is a lot simpler to keep track of, so I like it! They'd make great Swashbucklers, as well as Bards and Warlocks of all stripes.

This time around, I think the races given here are surprisingly well-balanced! I also do like the "Planes and Subraces" section, and how it lets you make all the Plane Shift Goblins, Merfolk, and Vampires part of one race (well, one race per... race, you know what I mean), just with individual subraces.

The Geography and Treasure bits are nicely flavorful and have some good tables. They're a bit short, but good enough to get a DM started, I think.

SO MANY DINOSAURS IN THE BESTIARY! I love it! I also sincerely love the Frilled Deathspitter getting its Jurassic Park totally-historically-inaccurate claws all into everything. Gishath and the Elder Dinosaurs are intensely cool. Finally, I just want to add that the dino pictures having all kinds of feathers and making them super colorful makes me incredibly, stupidly happy.

For other bestiary notes, the sunbirds are really cool, I love the whole night terrors idea/flavor, and the chupacabra especially is great. That art, too! And I love how it gets into what kinds of creatures, even everyday animals, can be found where; it gives the DM an even more clear idea and mental image of the world.

I don't even have a real problem with the Colors of Magic section, honestly. It makes it clear there's no real rules weight to it and that it doesn't lock your character into a specific personality, alignment, or spell selection. I like the ideas that each color throws forth, what kind of people might think of themselves as aligned to that specific type of magic, the extra personality traits and ideals to choose from. My biggest gripe is that Black is being pushed towards Solely Evil, which is honestly just boring; I think it'd work better as a true counterpoint to White, making it "chaotic (any) or evil (any)."

Overall, though, this is an incredibly solid Plane Shift and gives us some really nice stuff. I like it!


Also, according to the alignment section, it is impossible to get Chaotic Good without delving into three colors (Naya?)

I noticed this, too, and it's really weird and doesn't make any sense. If White is Lawful (any) or Good (any), and Red is Chaotic (any), then why would combining White with Red make it "more zealously Lawful Good"? Shouldn't combining White and Red be a way to get Chaotic Good? That's definitely the way I'd rule it, anyway.

[toapat]

I'm loving the "reasons for cooperating" table at the beginning. Unless I missed it in one of the other Plane Shifts (I know it's not in Amonkhet, Kaladesh, or Zendikar!), that's new, isn't it? It's a really good idea, and I hope this isn't the only thing they use it in! The new setting-specific Ideals and Bonds are also really, really good. The three different groups and their suggestions, as well as the Tenets of Blood, are really cool as well!

only just reading the meat of the document so i cant reeply beyond this:.

Zendikar is DnD World, you are playing a character with the Ally Subtype. youre a professional explorer/adventurer who is with your Adventuring Company for gains, so theres no reason for any serious background of why youre all hanging out.

Innistrad: you probably arent going to be on different philosophical sides on the nature of necromancy.

Kaladesh: Players pick one of the factions. Very hamfisted Organization but eh.

Almondcat: players are likely Crop-mates, since theres even less to do as a Vizier, since unlike proper Viziers, one does not have inherent Chronic Backstabbing Disorder as a Vizier of Nakatum, since the world is a Pure Meritocracy with idealized Command Economy

Ixalan: most of the factions dont actually know the continent of Ixalan. Then you have Spanish Vampire Conquistadors, Dino-riding Sun Empire members, English, Goblin, Orc, and Harpy Pirate Exiles from "Not-Spain", trying to make a life for themselves in "Amazonian Austrailia". And then you have "Definitely Not Water-Elves" Merfolk who know the continent better than most others but dont have mastery either.

My problem is with the Planeshift and the UA on the same day, its just like: INFO!

[Vaz]

CHARACTER OPTIONS

Hadrosaurus (VGtM) is now considered an option available for "Find Steed" for Human Paladins from the Sun Empire
Pteranodon, Dimetrodon (VGtM), Velociraptor (VGtM) are now considered an option available for Human Beast Conclave Rangers from the Sun Empire

RACES

Ixalan Merfolk; +1 Cha, 30ft Walking + Swimming Speed, Amphibious, Subrace Choice, Green or Blue Subrace
-- Green = +2 Wis, Wild Elf "Mask of the Wild" hide ability, gain knowledge of one Druid Cantrip (Wis stat)
-- Blue = +2 Int, Prof; History & Nature, gain knowledge of one Intelligence Cantrip (Int stat)

Ixalan Vampire; +2 Cha, +1 Wis; 60ft, Darkvision, 30ft Speed, Resist Necrotic, Can bite attack against a target you have grappled, incapacitated, or restrained (1 piercing, +1d6 necrotic, reduces target's max hp - regained on a long rest - heal the same amount of hit points as necrotic damage dealt - speed increases by 10ft, and gain adv on Str and Dex checks for 1 minute)

Ixalan Goblins; Nothing like the Volo's Goblins; +2 Dex Only, 25ft walk and climb (unarmoured or light armoured only), 60ft darkvision,

Siren; +2 Cha, 25ft Walking Speed, 30ft Flying Speed, Friends Cantrip (no material component needed)


CREATURES

Frilled Deathspitter; Beast, CR1/2 - Multi Attack; 1 Bite+2 Claws (all +5 to hit, 1d6+3 damage), Spit Poison (ranged attack, +5 to hit, DC13 on hit or be blinded until end of Deathspitters next turn and take 4d8 poison damage - not blinded and half on save)
Gishath, Sun's Avatar; CR10 Suped Up-Tyrannosaurus Rex with Legendary Resist and Actions, Swallow, Can Knock Prone with Stomp in multi-attack or Legendary Action; or Roar (120ft Frighten for 1 minute)
Elder Dinosaur; one base statline Gargantuan Monstrosity (Titan), with 6 modifications - intended to be tarrasque equivalent
-- Zetalpa, Primal Dawn; 60ft fly, resist Radiant, 5 Multi Attacks at +19
-- Nezahal, Primal Tide; 60ft swim (4 hours hold breath), 5 Multi Attacks at +19
-- Etali, Primal Storm; While outdoors, surrounded by Call Lightning effect when angry, Multi Attack calls down 2 Lightning Strikes (DC20 6d6 Lightning Damage) & 3 Attacks at +19
-- Teztimoc, Primal Death; deal 2d6 Thorns damage when hit be melee attacks, 5 Multi Attacks at +19, or replace any number of attacks with with 100/300ft +9 to hit Tail Spikes (40 amunition)
-- Ghalta, Primal Hunger; 3 Double damage (give or take) Multi Attacks,
-- Zacama, Primal Calamity; 3 Headed City sized T-Rex, Triple Bite Attack+Swallow
Sunbird; Gargantuan Monstrosity, Phoenix by another name. Looks like angry owl
Ixalan Harpy; replace Harpie's Club attack with Bite attack, causes disease on a DC11 save, reducing HP max by d6 every 24 hours
Chupacabra; CR3 Monstrosity, Sunlight Sensitive, Resists Non Magical BPS damage, Drain blood attack similar to vampire, and can take a reaction to try and knock a creature prone if it tries to stand up - largely pointless unless it has Sentinel

/ / / / /

Largely think the Elder Dino's are over CR'd, but think they'll make a decent "monster hunter" bait. Zetalpa, Etali, and Nezahal seem to be the most threatening.

[Pharaon]

CREATURES
Gishath, Sun's Avatar; CR10 Suped Up-Tyrannosaurus Rex with Legendary Resist and Actions, Swallow, Can Knock Prone with Stomp in multi-attack or Legendary Action; or Roar (120ft Frighten for 1 minute)

Gishath is also a beast, so it ought to be available for polymorph at level 10. Multiattack is a bit conditional about separate targets, but 10 to 15 ft reach makes that better (15 ft reach from a gargantuan creature leads to a crazy large threat range). Combined with great stats, this is a solid polymorph choice.

[Garfunion]

I'm kind of surprised. This plane shift actually has a map of the land it represents.

[Coidzor]

I'm kind of surprised. This plane shift actually has a map of the land it represents.

It's definitely a nice touch.


CHARACTER OPTIONS

Hadrosaurus (VGtM) is now considered an option available for "Find Steed" for Human Paladins from the Sun Empire
Pteranodon, Dimetrodon (VGtM), Velociraptor (VGtM) are now considered an option available for Human Beast Conclave Rangers from the Sun Empire



Oh, nice! I missed those entirely on my read-through.

[toapat]

*Snipith*

The Sun Empire Paladin/Ranger options are neat.

Races: Theres an obsession with dual mental stats races among this run.

Merfolk: Green make good Clerics with natural Sheilagh, Blue merfolk are interesting for many more choice options. I cant actually see practical exploists for the mental stats.
Vampires: Good charisma casters, good grapplers. Id like to see the Grapple Rogue build for this. Drink ALL THE BLOOD!
Orc: Now with 50% less Half.
Goblins: Id call them spidermonkeys more than goblins. not getting a +1 seems weird.
Sirens: Auto-Flying decent Cha-Caster race.

Wyatt's Pride and Joy, the Giant Crocadile, is now playing the part of the Spinosaurus

Frilled Deathspitter: this looks more like CR 2? CR 1/2 seems terrifying for a creature that makes 3 attacks to deal 3d6+9. Maybe im overvaluing its risk? that poison seems devastating.

Sun's Avatar: My only comment: On the card, He looks Much more Swole.

id rank the Primal Dinosaurs in order of Storm > Death > Calamity > Dawn >>> Hunger > Tide. Storm clearly has the best option with a persistent Concentration spell for free. Death's Ranged attack boosts its danger rating severely because of the fact the tail spikes hit 2 players with each shot and not 1, so definitely a good early burst while its getting into melee. Calamity can just delete 3 players with its multiattack because of Swallow, and Dawn is strictly the highest Damage after Storm in direct combat. Hunger and tide suck.

Id probably estimate the Elder Dinosaurs range from CR 15-18.

[MxKit]

Orc: Now with 50% less Half.

You keep saying the absolute best things on this forum.

[toapat]

You keep saying the absolute best things on this forum.

well WotC needs to stop making such easy Quip-fodder

[Rogerdodger557]

I'm kind of surprised. This plane shift actually has a map of the land it represents.

It helps that the only place we see in the story/cards is the island.

[toapat]

It helps that the only place we see in the story/cards is the island.

it helps that WotC commissioned a map design of a continent the size of australia.

When compared to say, Innistrad where the plane's mapped location is the size of Germany, or Zendikar where a map is outdated if its 15 minutes old, or ALmondcat where the city's layout is arbitrary to the scene, as you can see from the basic lands.

[Finback]

Gishath is also a beast, so it ought to be available for polymorph at level 10. Multiattack is a bit conditional about separate targets, but 10 to 15 ft reach makes that better (15 ft reach from a gargantuan creature leads to a crazy large threat range). Combined with great stats, this is a solid polymorph choice.

For me as DM, I wouldn't allow that polymorph given Gishath is a unique individual, not representative of a population. It's like having a player wanting to turn into an fire giant, versus wanting to turn specifically into the Fire Giant King, just to get their specific boosts.

[Cynthaer]

Also, according to the alignment section, it is impossible to get Chaotic Good without delving into three colors (Naya?)

I think you're working it backwards. The idea isn't that if you fall into X alignment, you are therefore Y colors; it's that if you're Y color(s), you're probably (probably) X alignment. So a RGW (red/green/white) character's alignment is probably somewhere around CG, but the vast majority of CG characters aren't RGW.

The mapping only really works in this direction (and even then it's still fuzzy), because M:tG's color pie is much more concrete and well-defined than alignment is, and it tells you more about a character. This is probably because color is the central mechanic in M:tG that defines almost every aspect of the game's balance and flavor, whereas D&D's alignment is basically unnecessary except for flavor and sometimes cool planar cosmology stuff.


I noticed this, too, and it's really weird and doesn't make any sense. If White is Lawful (any) or Good (any), and Red is Chaotic (any), then why would combining White with Red make it "more zealously Lawful Good"? Shouldn't combining White and Red be a way to get Chaotic Good? That's definitely the way I'd rule it, anyway.

This is related to my comment above, about color being more specific than alignment. Think about it like math, where converting from color to alignment involves a bit of "rounding". If you "round" first (W -> L/G, R -> C, therefore RW -> CG) you get potentially weird results, so you're better off doing all the operations first and then converting to alignment at the end.

In this case, I think you could certainly have a character who is RW by the color pie and CG by the alignment system, but if you look at RW cards generally in M:tG, they're almost always super aggressive (https://magiccards.info/query?q=t%3A%22Creature%22+c%21wrm+%28e%3Axln%2Fen +or+e%3Ahou%2Fen+or+e%3Aakh%2Fen+or+e%3Aaer%2Fen+o r+e%3Akld%2Fen+or+e%3Aemn%2Fen+or+e%3Asoi%2Fen+or+ e%3Aogw%2Fen+or+e%3Abfz%2Fen+or+e%3Adtk%2Fen+or+e% 3Afrf%2Fen+or+e%3Aktk%2Fen+or+e%3Ajou%2Fen+or+e%3A bng%2Fen+or+e%3Aths%2Fen+or+e%3Adgm%2Fen+or+e%3Agt c%2Fen+or+e%3Artr%2Fen%29&v=card&s=cname).

These are creatures that want to attack. They get stat bonuses when they attack, they give effects to other creatures that attack, they make cool things happen when a bunch of your creatures attack, they stop attacking creatures from taking damage, they have abilities like trample, menace, haste, and first strike that make them attack faster and better.

Red and white together usually means war. If you need some law and order, they will bust down the door and beat some law and order into your FACE.

Red brings aggression to white's desire for order, and white brings purpose to red's chaotic energy.

All of this is why RW is broadly categorized here as "LG, but with extra zeal".

That said, there are other aspects to both Red and White that can combine in other ways. Both M:tG and D&D are very combat-heavy, so obviously the combat-related parts of the color identity get the most attention, but they might not be the defining aspects of your character.

For instance, aside from the destructive or chaotic aspects, Red is the color of emotion, humor, and creativity. And aside from the stuff about laws and structure, White is also the color of truth, light, and pure ideals.

Some of these ideas might easily combine in a noble artist or craftsperson (Forge Clerics spring to mind), which even resonates mechanically with Red and White's common affinity for artifacts (i.e., equipment and technology) in M:tG. This character might be anywhere on the L or G spectrum, including CG.

Or in Ixalan specifically, imagine a lone Vampire who has become horrified by the corruption of the church and now vows to reveal the injustices and lead a reformation. This character could also be RW, and might easily be CG, especially if they are torn between actually reforming the church or tearing the whole thing down.


Orcs! On the one hand, this makes me feel like Wizards heard all the complaints about the official Volo's Orcs... on the other, they just flat-out are using Half-Orcs and calling them Orcs. Which is fine, but not exciting. I'd have switched out Menacing for Aggressive, at least. Oh, well.

I think all planeshift orcs are going to mechanically be half-orcs, and it's probably correct to keep it that way.

After all, the only reason the PHB race is half-orcs instead of just orcs has to do with social implications and the presumed default setting. For whatever reason, they prefer to keep orcs as a fully "savage" "other" (which has some troubling implications, frankly), and have half-orcs as "orcs you would actually play".

Mechanically, half-orcs are basically "player orcs", and full orcs are "double orcs". So for planeshift settings, where you don't need monstrous "savage orcs" for contrast, it's appropriate to use the "player orc" stats and features.

[opaopajr]

Plane Shift Ixalan: The Official WotC setting where you can punch a dinosaur in the face! (you know you want to...) :smalltongue:

[Regitnui]

Plane Shift Ixalan: The Official WotC setting where you can punch a dinosaur in the face! (you know you want to...) :smalltongue:

Eberron could do that. Heck, you can be a robot ninja pirate who punches dinosaurs in the face. (Warforged Assassin Rogue with the Sailor background).

[opaopajr]

Eberron could do that. Heck, you can be a robot ninja pirate who punches dinosaurs in the face. (Warforged Assassin Rogue with the Sailor background).

Hmm, this feel like it's approaching Mighty Morphin(e) Power Rangers, and that's dangerously stepping upon DnD 4e's toes... :smalltongue: And then we'd have to talk about Minion rules and all heck would break loose. Some strange lady with a big hat from the moon will throw a staff at a gecko and, well, we'd all just be through! :smallcool: