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Needless to say that this is a long thread and I haven’t read every single one so if I’m being redundant please forgive me.
I think what Wizards has done to FR is what’s been done to too many sci-fi and fantasy franchises. Over the years a few brilliant people have given the world such great nerd-lit and art. Years down the road those who now follow in their footsteps grow jealous because they know that they don’t have the talent to do something that cool on their own so they go about “reimagining” it. Usually this results in horrible ret-cons or a badly inspired Frank Miller attempt to make something not edgy or dark edgier and darker.
FR is hit with a double whammy here because the 4th ed. rules are not really compatible with much of the twenty years of flavor.
Just my hastily thrown together opinion on too little sleep and too much coffee.
Wow, I like that interpretation (the jealous bit). That's a button I haven't seen pushed before, but I like it. :)
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Don't buy the FRCG, don't buy the novels (ok, finish out the series that are waiting for final books, but don't buy new ones!), don't buy anything with the FR label on it, even if you buy the 4e mechanics.The only series I plan on finishing is The Twilight War. The series I will not finish are: The Lady Penitent Trilogy, The Haunted Land Trilogy, The Empyrean Odyssey, and Salvatore's Transitions Trilogy. And I won't be purchasing any other FR books after Shadowrealm. All the money from that budget will likely go towards Planet Stories books instead (thank you Paizo).
The only FR book I ever intend to buy again is Steven Schend's Blackstaff Tower, and only because I enjoyed his previous one so much (Blackstaff). I'll probably end up convincing my library to get it, though, and read it from there. I would hate to spend the money and only get part way through it because I can't stomach it. It would have nothing to do with Steven's writing, though, as I like his style.
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Needless to say that this is a long thread and I haven’t read every single one so if I’m being redundant please forgive me.
I think what Wizards has done to FR is what’s been done to too many sci-fi and fantasy franchises. Over the years a few brilliant people have given the world such great nerd-lit and art. Years down the road those who now follow in their footsteps grow jealous because they know that they don’t have the talent to do something that cool on their own so they go about “reimagining” it. Usually this results in horrible ret-cons or a badly inspired Frank Miller attempt to make something not edgy or dark edgier and darker.
FR is hit with a double whammy here because the 4th ed. rules are not really compatible with much of the twenty years of flavor.
Just my hastily thrown together opinion on too little sleep and too much coffee.
Wow, I like that interpretation (the jealous bit). That's a button I haven't seen pushed before, but I like it. :)
To quote Jurassic Park:
I'll tell you the problem with the [roleplaying] that you're using here: it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you're selling it, you want to sell it!
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I like the concept of saying "Don't buy anything 4e FR", the problem with that is, yeah, if people actually did it, it would probably work...
But people being people, more than likely, they will buy it in the end...
It's like those silly boycott Exxon/Mobil emails we all get now and then, if it actually happened (the boycott), it might actually get someone’s attention. But what happens? no one does it...
I see the same thing happening here. We're all up in arms now, but when the time actually comes, the book will be purchased...
So for the record, I don't plan on buying the campaign setting book, or anything else 4e FR related (but then, I'm only human)...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
The problem is that they are including a shiny new class called the swordmage plus a few FR races in the campaign. Many people that hate the changes will still buy it for this reason alone.
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The problem is that they are including a shiny new class called the swordmage plus a few FR races in the campaign. Many people that hate the changes will still buy it for this reason alone.
If you feel torn between buying the book, and not buying 4E FR stuff, buy it used instead. Then you can both have the book, and the warm fuzzy feeling of not having given your money to WotC (directly, at least).
Personally, I'm not going to buy it. I just don't see any impending need or desire for any of the 4th Edition stuff. That's not because it's necessarily a bad game system, but rather, because I find myself thoroughly disinterested in the 4E Realms. As a result, I don't find myself any more inclined to play it than I have any other number of 'great systems' in the past, which did not correspond to interesting settings.
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The problem is that they are including a shiny new class called the swordmage plus a few FR races in the campaign. Many people that hate the changes will still buy it for this reason alone.
That's why god made photocopiers and libraries. :) If you just want a handful of pages, do it that way. Depending on how many pages, I suspect that it is well within the copyright laws as well.
I burnt my FR Bridge last year. FR 4E will not be my game.
The problem is that they are including a shiny new class called the swordmage plus a few FR races in the campaign. Many people that hate the changes will still buy it for this reason alone.That's why god made photocopiers and libraries. :) If you just want a handful of pages, do it that way. Depending on how many pages, I suspect that it is well within the copyright laws as well.
Probably about 10 pages. Probably not within copyright law, although I'm not a lawyer.
That said, holy crap dude. Your library buys new DnD books? Awesome! :)
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That said, holy crap dude. Your library buys new DnD books? Awesome! :)
Yep. :) There is one selector who, while he has no idea about the game, orders many of the newest books - usually by request, I think. He also orders lots of graphic novels and comics - which he also has no personal interest in - because they circulate like mad. Hmmm... I wonder if I should point him to the Paizo APs... that would be cool.
I'm fortunate to work for a Library that is well-funded (61 titles come up on a search of "dungeons dragons" - the newest three being the 4e core books, followed by Mr McArtor's Complete Scoundrel :) ).
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The problem is that they are including a shiny new class called the swordmage plus a few FR races in the campaign. Many people that hate the changes will still buy it for this reason alone.I like the concept of saying "Don't buy anything 4e FR", the problem with that is, yeah, if people actually did it, it would probably work...
But people being people, more than likely, they will buy it in the end...
It's like those silly boycott Exxon/Mobil emails we all get now and then, if it actually happened (the boycott), it might actually get someone’s attention. But what happens? no one does it...
I see the same thing happening here. We're all up in arms now, but when the time actually comes, the book will be purchased...
So for the record, I don't plan on buying the campaign setting book, or anything else 4e FR related (but then, I'm only human)...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
That would be me. There is always something you can find to steal. My gripe is that they did this to the Realms, but I'm not going to deprive myself of good ideas as a result. I learned that lesson after I ended my boycott of 3rd edition.
To quote Jurassic Park:I'll tell you the problem with the [roleplaying] that you're using here: it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could and before you even knew what you had you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you're selling it, you want to sell it!
I loved that line. Possibly the best line in the entire movie (which I liked).
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I loved that line. Possibly the best line in the entire movie (which I liked).
[off-topic]My best friend and I always make sure to have a "Jurassic Park Quote of the Day" whenever we get together. It usually ends up with "It could've been worse, John. A lot worse," but occasionally we have a gem here and there. "Where's the goat?" is another favorite.[/off-topic]
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Now mind given that that 4e is set a century in the future, there's nothing to prevent Salvatore and company from unleashing a new set of books in the "present" world unless WOTC specifically enjoins them from doing so. Not that this would be a major problem for Salvatore, after all what's a century to a drow?
This is perhaps less of a problem for R.A. Salvatore, and perhaps moreso for others, whose pre-existing characters are not so long-lived. Furthermore, I tend to suspect that both Mr. Salvatore and Ed Greenwood have sufficient clout to pretty much write whatever they please, in whatever era they please, much the way that Ed Greenwood's current trilogy is set in 1350s Cormyr, detailing what would be historical matters even for the 2nd and 3rd edition settings. I suspect other novelists would likely not have this sort of leverage, and would be much more likely to be given topics to write on, to promote the new setting, rather continue in the 'old', those existing trilogies that are currently 'bridging the gap' notwithstanding.
That being said, I'm sort of glad that two of my (remaining, since they killed so many others off) favorite characters of late are long-lived enough that it's not an issue - elf (Fox-in-Twilight) and alu-fiend (Aliisza).
Of course, having said that, they'll both probably get killed off in the coming months. ;)
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Oh, I know. Most people won't do it, even if they intend to. However...that's why I say at least wait until we know that their sales aren't being hurt by it, in a year or whatever. Easier to make yourself wait "just a little longer" than it is to convince yourself to never buy it. ^_-I like the concept of saying "Don't buy anything 4e FR", the problem with that is, yeah, if people actually did it, it would probably work...
But people being people, more than likely, they will buy it in the end...
It's like those silly boycott Exxon/Mobil emails we all get now and then, if it actually happened (the boycott), it might actually get someone’s attention. But what happens? no one does it...
I see the same thing happening here. We're all up in arms now, but when the time actually comes, the book will be purchased...
So for the record, I don't plan on buying the campaign setting book, or anything else 4e FR related (but I'm only human)...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
Even better. Just buy it used. That way it doesn't inflate WotC's sales figures, they don't get any money from it, and you can get your swordmage, gensai, etc.
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Except elven (including drow) life-spans appear to have been severely shortened by 4E, hence Elaine Cunningham's uncertainty on another thread regarding some of her elven FR characters.
I think she might be referring to the difference in lifespans under the original editions (where elven lifespans were in the one to two millenia range) versus later editions. 2nd edition, if I recall, reduced it to somewhere in the 350-700 range, but that was itself left somewhat nebulous (they didn't actually 'die', they just left to go elsewhere, or somesuch).
Anyway, we do know for a fact that Drizzt survives - the prologue and end of the latest novel, the Orc King, are written by Drizzt after the 100 year time skip.
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2. Several pieces of Toril exchanged places with pieces of Abeir, Toril's long lost companion world. (hence Abeir-Toril)
I've read this before, and it is perplexing to me. I could have sworn the old grey box said THE planet's FULL name was Abeir-Toril, which was often times just SHORTENED to Toril...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
2. Several pieces of Toril exchanged places with pieces of Abeir, Toril's long lost companion world. (hence Abeir-Toril)I've read this before, and it is perplexing to me. I could have sworn the old grey box said THE planet's FULL name was Abeir-Toril, which was often times just SHORTENED to Toril...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
Your probably right. The old Greybox left us with the impression that Toril's companion world was Earth.
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Except that the novelists didn't own the world setting, WOTC did... and does. It's thier job to follow WOTC not the other way around. WOTC gave them a sandbox to play in. It's totally within thier right to change it.Now mind given that that 4e is set a century in the future, there's nothing to prevent Salvatore and company from unleashing a new set of books in the "present" world unless WOTC specifically enjoins them from doing so. Not that this would be a major problem for Salvatore, after all what's a century to a drow?
Wizards certainly owns the material, I am not denying it. But certain authors (Greenwood, Salvatore) have loyal readers who are enticed by their names on the cover. If they walked away from writing for FR, Wizards would lose a big chunk of their cash-cow.
2. Several pieces of Toril exchanged places with pieces of Abeir, Toril's long lost companion world. (hence Abeir-Toril)I've read this before, and it is perplexing to me. I could have sworn the old grey box said THE planet's FULL name was Abeir-Toril, which was often times just SHORTENED to Toril...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
Hopefully the campaign book will explain this pretty well. I'd hate for it to just be dropped in with little rhyme/reason.
This is one aspect that has me kinda intrigued. (Warlock Knights is another!) :)
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Hopefully the campaign book will explain this pretty well. I'd hate for it to just be dropped in with little rhyme/reason.2. Several pieces of Toril exchanged places with pieces of Abeir, Toril's long lost companion world. (hence Abeir-Toril)I've read this before, and it is perplexing to me. I could have sworn the old grey box said THE planet's FULL name was Abeir-Toril, which was often times just SHORTENED to Toril...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
I'm fairly certain it is a case of reinterpretation. That is, taking an old, rarely used detail, and saying "well, this is what it really meant all along", even though it never meant anything before. Not necessarily a 'bad' thing, per se, but it certainly was not a preexisting part of the FR universe.
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I've read this before, and it is perplexing to me. I could have sworn the old grey box said THE planet's FULL name was Abeir-Toril, which was often times just SHORTENED to Toril...
I'll do you one better. I know that I read something by Jeff Grubb in which he said he added the name "Abier" to the name of the planet for the grey box set so that, in the Cyclopedia, "Toril" came first alphabetically.
This backs me up, but now I'm going to have to hunt down that original article.
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I'll do you one better. I know that I read something by Jeff Grubb in which he said he added the name "Abier" to the name of the planet for the grey box set so that, in the Cyclopedia, "Toril" came first alphabetically.
Now that you mention it, I recall that as well...
*EDIT*
Found a couple of things on this (the first quote comes from the "Forgotten Realms Mailing List Archive", and the second quote comes from Ed himself on the Candlekeep Forums)...
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Faerun was the name of the continent Ed's original campaign was set on,
but Ed had no name for the planet itself. I looted the name Toril from my
own campaign for the world. When we did the original grey box, we did all
the entries in alphabetical order. It made sense to put something about
the world itself FIRST, so I tacked on the Abeir title before it so it
world fall at the beginning of the catalog.I remember mentioning elsewhere that the Abeir-Toril title means "cradle
of life" in an archaic tongue. While I never stated which was which, I
always assumed that "toril" was the word for life and "abeir" was the word
for originator, cradle, or home.Finally, as a note, Toril was not my original name for my campaign back in
'75 - it was Toricandra, influenced by CS Lewis. Toril quickly became the
shorthand I used, and eventually took over entirely.
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Jeff contributed the name of the planet (Toril, to which he added the prefix Abeir to shift the world entry to the front of the alphabetical listings in the Old Grey Box) from his campaign. I had no world name because the folks in Faerun knew they lived on something that curved, but considered it all one land.
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-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
Much longer, Wizards of the Coast (Forgotten Realms department) flaming post boiled down to:
<distinctly cynical quirk of eyebrow, based upon a decade of experience of the products & editing>Edit (clarity):
Sorry David, not likely to happen. Given the previews, my opinion of those currently in charge at 4gottEn Realms is that they're running around like children amok in a candy store, throwing sweets on the floor (or cramming them in their mouths), in excitement & utter chaos.
I had a few choices on who to reply to here, I went with you Charles since you were the most recent, but I'm impressed how fast you guys got the origin of Abeir-Toril.
Perhaps I didn't explain myself that well. Obviously, Abeir hasn't meant anything in the past and is something new brought to the Realms in 4E. I'm hoping the story idea of how the world was split off and is now joined is interesting.
For the record, I'm one of those dastardly heathens who likes the new FR (was pretty ok with the old FR of course, but not a super-fan). I one or two of the old box sets, and maybe three or four of the books from 3E.
Like the Warlock Knight excerpt that was posted recently, if it is well written I'll be fine.
Cheers! :)
Edit: Plus, I really like sweets. And Chaos. ;)
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2. Several pieces of Toril exchanged places with pieces of Abeir, Toril's long lost companion world. (hence Abeir-Toril)I've read this before, and it is perplexing to me. I could have sworn the old grey box said THE planet's FULL name was Abeir-Toril, which was often times just SHORTENED to Toril...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
In the original FR books it was called Abeir-Toril, which in the ancient tounge meant world of Toril.
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In the original FR books it was called Abeir-Toril, which in the ancient tounge meant world of Toril.
Actually (after doing a little research on the subject):
I remember mentioning elsewhere that the Abeir-Toril title means "cradle
of life" in an archaic tongue. While I never stated which was which, I
always assumed that "toril" was the word for life and "abeir" was the word for originator, cradle, or home.
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
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Next year when the Pathfinder hardcover goes live I'll start up my FR Classic campaign and be done with it. I've been wanting to set a campaign in Skullport for over a decade and now I'll have a chance to do so without EVER having to worry about continuity with WoTC. Granted, the setting, any setting, is yours to have your way with regardless of what the publishers does to or with it; however, I like to keep things inline with what is going on in the published material even if it will not affect my campaign in any way. With the 4Eization of FR these problems have resolved themselves since WoTC FR material will never again be relevant and since I'll never use the 4E system wholesale I'm no longer worried about what WoTC does. (I reserve the right to vivisect 4E for the interesting bits but I do that to ALL game systems.)
I'd like to see the FR community completely ignore the 4E changes. Your choice to use 4E or 3Whatever is irrelevant. If the players start making our own FR Classic conversions of new stuff and completely ignoring the 4E timeline then the FR we all know and love will live on while the new timeline will stumble along ONLY because WoTC has married it to the 'Living' stuff. (They'd been smarter to have made the 'Points of Light' the default 'Living' setting but that's neither here nor there.) Will this have any real effect on WoTC? Doubt it. It will give us a way to carry on playing the setting the way we want to play it. The changes from Pathfinder will have more of an affect on any Fr campaign that I run than 4E.
And that's fine by me.
Forgotten Realms Classic 'the way it should be'
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Perhaps I didn't explain myself that well. Obviously, Abeir hasn't meant anything in the past and is something new brought to the Realms in 4E. I'm hoping the story idea of how the world was split off and is now joined is interesting.
I understood that's what you meant, but to me, adding something like that is akin to them telling you "that [insert your favorite character name here] is really a mind flayer and he/she has always has been a mind flayer, it's just that he/she has always just used magic to disguise his/her appearance"...
Granted, the above example is silly and extreme, but I think it illustrates my point...
Even if the name "abier" was tossed in at the last moment just so it could come up first alphabetically, it is still a part of established FR lore...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
Perhaps I didn't explain myself that well. Obviously, Abeir hasn't meant anything in the past and is something new brought to the Realms in 4E. I'm hoping the story idea of how the world was split off and is now joined is interesting.I understood that's what you meant, but to me, adding something like that is akin to them telling you "that [insert your favorite character name here] is really a mind flayer and always has been, it's just that he/she has always just used magic to disguise his/her appearance"...
Granted, the above example is silly and extreme, but I think it illustrates my point...
Even if the name "abier" was tossed in at the last moment just so it could come up first alphabetically, it is still a part of established FR lore...
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
Well, obviously it is an established bit of meta-lore, and there's the part about the word Abeir being Cradle in some archaic tongue. I can think of a few ideas right there about it getting split off somehow though.
More generally, while we might know why it is called Abeir-Toril for out of game reasons, and have some small idea for an in game explanation, I don't think what we know in the world precludes any idea of there being a split world dichtomy thing going on. Sure we haven't heard any of this before, but that goes for anything new that gets added. I'd assume you can read any FR book and find something new to the setting somewhere. If the newly added material is well written, I'll enjoy it. :)
As for having a character revealed as a mind flayer all along, well, I'd be ok with that too, as long as it was internally consistent. If no first person PoVs had ever been given to that character, or a "switch" of some sort later established I'd take it and roll with it.
I don't want to derail this thread though, this is you guys being unhappy with FR 4E. It's rude of me to interrupt your mourning.
For those who are the real die-hard FR fans (which seems to be the majority of posters in this thread) I do feel bad that a setting you really like is getting changed so drastically. If I were really attached to the setting, I'd think the 100 year jump would be the worst part, since it invalidates so much of what you already know.
It's rude of me to interrupt your mourning.ROFL
Thank you, I needed a good laugh this morning...
It's morning where you are? It's 3:30 here! Where are you located?
Except elven (including drow) life-spans appear to have been severely shortened by 4E, hence Elaine Cunningham's uncertainty on another thread regarding some of her elven FR characters.
That's the kind of thing which drives me crazy... are they going to retcon past FR history based on lifespan figures (you kinda need to add lots of numbers to Elven dynasties, Bruenor would have never been able to retake Mithral Hall, etc) or will they make up some fluff to deal with "elves just living a few centuries now"? I hope they keep the figures as they were in the Realms.
Unless they don't care about history at all in the campaign setting, which does not seem unlikely.
I've read this before, and it is perplexing to me. I could have sworn the old grey box said THE planet's FULL name was Abeir-Toril, which was often times just SHORTENED to Toril...
As you yourself (along with others) have proven, it was indeed the original name of the planet.
The whole "Abeir" second-world thingy is a completely new and made-up thing (is retcon the right word?) for 4e, and ignores/changes the original term.
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The notion that the term referred to a second, 'twin'/alternate world, is perhaps slightly better than just saying "Well, something crazy happened and continents from alternate universes got swapped around" without the added justification.
It is, however, a fig leaf at best.
There just were so many other ways they could have brought the Realms into 4th Edition, without having to resort to what I will diplomatically term 'Creative Shortcuts.'
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I'd kind of disagree. One thing about the Realms is that it's gods hardly enjoy a secure position. Many have fallen, been absorbed, or replaced. In a way, the way she went was appropriate and one that fulfilled her purpose. And it had nothing to do with the events that touched off the Spellplague.
Gods have certainly come and gone in the Realms, yes. It's certainly a fair opinion to have that the ending to Eilistraee's story was a fair one. However, that doesn't seem to be the general consensus among the vast majority of fans of Eilistraeean Drow.
Furthermore, while the Spellplague itself is unrelated to Eilistraee's death, both are part of the overall changes that are being made for the 4th Edition Realms. The designers stated that they felt there were too many gods, and that aspect made things too confusing for players. They're also retcon'ing a number of remaining gods, to the point that there will be no more separate gods for the various non-human races. For instance, Sehanine Moonbow will now just be another face/aspect of Selûne.
It's morning where you are? It's 3:30 here! Where are you located?My internal clock thought it was much earlier than it was...
But to answer your question, I'm in Southern California...
Ah, ok. Not so much time difference really. In the spirit of fairness, I'm in New Orleans. :)
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I'm morbidly interested to see what happens to Realms NPCs who are created using the limited selection of classes available at this time. Will Faerun be without druids, bards, or barbarians? Or will people who continue to buy Realms products in the future be forced to spend money on books with pages wasted revising stats to reflect changes and additions to core rules, as WotC did to those of us who bought the supplements for their first Star Wars RPG (I can think of at least three versions, for instance, of Darth Vader published to reflect changes throughout the same edition of the game in how Sith were to be created).
I'm morbidly interested to see what happens to Realms NPCs who are created using the limited selection of classes available at this time. Will Faerun be without druids, bards, or barbarians? Or will people who continue to buy Realms products in the future be forced to spend money on books with pages wasted revising stats to reflect changes and additions to core rules, as WotC did to those of us who bought the supplements for their first Star Wars RPG (I can think of at least three versions, for instance, of Darth Vader published to reflect changes throughout the same edition of the game in how Sith were to be created).
Yeah, but don't forget, as NPCs, they don't have to have classes, so if they create a druid NPC, they can just build him with elemental powers, and say he's a druid, regardless of what druids actually look like when they come out.
Of course, then you get into introducing NPCs that can do things PCs can even closely approximate until years down the road.
I'm morbidly interested to see what happens to Realms NPCs who are created using the limited selection of classes available at this time. Will Faerun be without druids, bards, or barbarians? Or will people who continue to buy Realms products in the future be forced to spend money on books with pages wasted revising stats to reflect changes and additions to core rules, as WotC did to those of us who bought the supplements for their first Star Wars RPG (I can think of at least three versions, for instance, of Darth Vader published to reflect changes throughout the same edition of the game in how Sith were to be created).
Well, if you want to stretch the ol' imagination, try imagining Storm Silverhand.
*brain promptly fries*
In the original FR books it was called Abeir-Toril, which in the ancient tounge meant world of Toril.Actually (after doing a little research on the subject):
I remember mentioning elsewhere that the Abeir-Toril title means "cradle
of life" in an archaic tongue. While I never stated which was which, I
always assumed that "toril" was the word for life and "abeir" was the word for originator, cradle, or home.
-That One Digitalelf Fellow-
This is correct. In the last number of Dragon magazine, there was a chapter about "Unsolved Mysteries in D&D", where exactly this was stated in the FR paragraph - sadly with the notion that there will be a new meaning in the near future ...
Yeah, but don't forget, as NPCs, they don't have to have classes, so if they create a druid NPC, they can just build him with elemental powers, and say he's a druid, regardless of what druids actually look like when they come out.
Of course, then you get into introducing NPCs that can do things PCs can even closely approximate until years down the road.
Whether or not NPCs being able to do things PCs can't do is a problem for you depends on your playstyle, but I think Knight has the right of it here. More than likely, most NPCs that are provided stats will not actually be given any class, just a few powers or rituals.
That said, I'd expect they already have nearly finalized versions of the Druid, Barbarian, and Bard in house. PHB II contains all of those classes (as well as Sorcerer) and is due out in March of '09. If I learned anything from 4E's release, it is that the leads for these kinds of projects are WAY longer than I expected.
Cheers! :)
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Yeah, but don't forget, as NPCs, they don't have to have classes, so if they create a druid NPC, they can just build him with elemental powers, and say he's a druid, regardless of what druids actually look like when they come out.
Of course, then you get into introducing NPCs that can do things PCs can even closely approximate until years down the road.
Which is just to say that after gaming in the Realms since the late '80s, for the first time in twenty years it's no wonder I'm not drooling like Pavlov's puppy over the release of a new FR campaign setting.