D&D 5E Check Out Planescape's Table of Contents & More!

Brandes Stoddard has received a copy of Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse (which come out in two weeks!) and is posting loads of photos over on Blue Sky. You can check out his feed for the whole treasure trove--here's a look at the table of contents.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Never said it didn’t matter, just that it ultimately was not very important. The few real world gods that have mattered in the various settings tend to be quite changed.

Let’s use Tyr a prominent member of the Forgotten Realms Pantheon. He has little in common with Norse Tyr who is traditionally depicted as a god of war, military strategy, and victory. FR Tyr is instead the blind and maimed god of justice.

That’s less about deliberate divergence than D&D bring terrible at representing anything even close to a historical religion.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

That’s less about deliberate divergence than D&D bring terrible at representing anything even close to a historical religion.

I don't think it wants to that.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Someone has issue with a WotC product, and you disagree? No, I'm not surprised. Why do you ask?

Mod Note:

Please don’t make it personal like this.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

All religions are made up, and all mythologies equally valid for applying CR and class abilities. Humans have broken pattern recognition software and "religious experiences" are literally, scientifically no different than hallucinogenic drug trips.

So how about we not poke the Mod Bear by arguing about whether Jesus or Thor has higher CR.

Mod Note:

How about we not poke the Mod Bear by lobbing bon mots like your opening sentence.

Statting out entities from active RW religions in RPGs is fine. But calling active religions “made up” is unnecessarily inflammatory.

 

[dave2008]

Yes, although I've focused more the other two books so far.

From what I saw the adventure seems mediocre at but I didn't do a deep dive.

The Beastairy is... Functional, but completely uninspired so far.

There are traits, but alot are ribbons, but some aren't so it feel unbalanced between the Planes. The only template/traits that change creature type are Petitioner, Fiend or Celestial, it's like they forgot the neutral planes exist, despite referring to them. Anything except Celestials and Fiends can be Petitioners, which leads to the possibility that Animated Armour could be a Petitioner as could a Slaad, but not a half mortal Cambion whose a Fiend. Also mentions Celestials and Fiends, including petitioners are reborn on their home plane after 100 years, unless they decide to merge with the Plane.

Planar Incarnations are surprisingly boring and uninspired, like much of the books. They can blast, slam, teleport as a reaction, give you a reaction based dirty look that deals fire damage, fly, true sight, speak all languages, spit Energy damage breath, but horrifically don't have Spellcasting. In addition to acting as the Avatar of the Plane itself when attacked or otherwise having the plane threatened, and in Sigil and the Outlands, it's shown Gods can create Planar Incarnations as Avatars as well, which given that Outer Planes were traditionally Divinely Morphic makes sense. This really needed something cool like Shapeshifter or possession. Oh what worse is they have a trait that makes them a Fiend on Lower Planes and a Celestial on Upper Planes. The creature type should not change just because you cast Planeshift on them to the opposite sort of Plane. And how does this trait work on a none Upper or Lower Plane like the Feywild or Limbo or Elemental Chaos? It's also not incorporeal, dispite being discribes as energy, it's made from solid stuff. It doesn't even cast light.

Speaking of which they use Ghosts stats. On Outer Planes of all things. Problem with that is Ghosts are reliant on the Ethereal Plane, and there no Ethereal Plane around the Outer Planes which means they don't work. Plus they only possess Humaniods, but the Spiritors are said to possess beings like Saytr, statues, and shrubs, things Ghosts can't do. Honestly even the Eldrane's monsters felt more inspired.

Exalted is wicked, but alot of the other cities feel not as good. Sylvania feel like a glorified fey crossing, the temples that defined it before are gone, one turned into a Feast Hall (I wonder if they remembered that Feast Hall is code for Brothel). Super generic Feywild location, like if no one told you it had a portal to Aborea you wouldn't know it isn't the Feywild.

Not mention no mention of the Olympic Gods outside of the name of the Plane, like in the adventure an obvious reference to Zeus as the father to a pair of Empyreans Daughters refers just says their Father is a Storm God. Pathetic, just absolutely pathetic. The same thing with the Thethbys in the Outlands founded by an "God of Knowledge", so the whole river Ma'at thing (which btw is the name of an Egyptian deity), has been stripped of Egyptian flavour beyond the names.

In fact that only region not made flavour less is the Norns, who are also equated with the Fates and Gracea.

The Gatetowns, outside of the Lower Planes ones, Automata, and Exalted feels like visiting run down 1 dimesional Theme Parks at Disneyland. But with more booze in the case of Sylvania which has been reduced to a Feywild feeling party town.

As for Sigil the least exciting parts were were the factions btw the Factol of Society of Sensation, Erin, is now a sad pathetic Quasi Bard of CR3, instead of a power Cleric, her God unmentioned. Compared to the Guilds of Ravnica or the Factions of FR they were utterly pointless. No meaningful plothooks, a weird disconnect between philosophy and civic function except for Society of Sensation and Havok. None of the Factions seem to have the slightest ambition at all. They were left meaningless outside of Sigil, and even Sigil your better off focusing on stuff like the Bank of Abbothar, Planar Energy Coopative ect..., like the actual factions felt the bit background players compared to some of the none Faction Institutions. They problem existed in 2e, but not only did they do nothing to fix it, they left out alot of what interesting things they did have.

Compare this to the Guilds of Ravnica and the Factions of Wsterdeep/FR which have Philosophies backed up by act ambitions and goals beyond the personal, etc..., or even FR religions, I mean the Athar man enemies were given as the Temples of Sigil, which then gets completely unexplored.

I need to stop spending money on WotC half assed products and more on Theapy to figure why I hate myself enough to keep doing business with WotC.

At least it was better then Spelljammer.

I'm to the point where unless they contract out most of the work like they did with Eberron and Exandria, I don't want WotC touching a FRCG anymore, they simply aren't up to the task for anything they don't playtest heavily.

Why are they amoung the worst in the business, yet they control canon. ****

Goodness you're selling me on this book! I will wait to I see it in person at my flags - but I like what your previewing!

 

[dave2008]

So Asmodeus comes straight from Christian mythology, although in some editions he also had Zoroastrian traits.

Perhaps mythology, but not religion. Asmodeus does not appear in the bible (new or old testaments)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I make no claims about the capital-t Truth about religious experiences, but the verifiable fact is they are neurologically identical to hallucinatory experiences. Take that as you will.

Mod Note:

Let’s not pretend: equating religious experiences and hallucinations IS a pretty strong claim about the “capital-t Truth” nature of them.

How about we step back from that particular ledge? (And not go near it again?)

 

[dave2008]

I disagree. D&D is what got me interested in mythology in the first place.

I don't know if D&D got me interested in mythology, but it was definitely a big influence on my interest in mythology. If I did a Deities and Demigods it would include everything from the 1e book and at at least the "Abrahamic Mythos" and several D&D setting "Mythos" and possibly some other RL "Mythos."

But that would be for me. I don't think that is something that should be produced by WotC or by any company that is the steward of D&D. I am absolutely fine with them removing RL mythologies/ religions from the books. Zeus being replaced with a "storm god" doesn't hurt anything. That "storm god" can be Zeus to me or anything else I want.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I don't know if D&D got me interested in mythology, but it was definitely a big influence on my interest in mythology. If I did a Deities and Demigods it would include everything from the 1e book and at at least the "Abrahamic Mythos" and several D&D setting "Mythos" and possibly some other RL "Mythos."

But that would be for me. I don't think that is something that should be produced by WotC or by any company that is the steward of D&D. I am absolutely fine with them removing RL mythologies/ religions from the books. Zeus being replaced with a "storm god" doesn't hurt anything. That "storm god" can be Zeus to me or anything else I want.

So you think it was wrong for TSR and WotC to use these for decades prior to now?

 

[Parmandur]

Perhaps mythology, but not religion. Asmodeus does not appear in the bible (new or old testaments)

Neither here nor there really, but Asmodeus is a demon in the Old Teatament for most Christians, central to the Book of Tobit as a foil for Raphael.