D&D 5E Eberron versus Multiverse

[Salthorae]

It doesn't help that consistent cosmology has been D&D's strong suit.

Good point

Isn't Ao himself specifically an overgod of Aber-Toril? And, some deities (like, say, Corellon Larethian) are present in several worlds.

Also true.

Ahh, if only Spelljammer were still canon. That helped with the cosmological load as deities could be blocked from Crystal Spheres or not (by Ao and others like him), but they had to be in the Sphere to have worshipers, etc.

 

[tetrasodium]

Besides, I am not sure FR gods would be considered gods by said Eberron denizen : if these gods found there way to Eberron (which is canonically impossible), they would be powerless cripples, not something anyone would liken to a god. Meeting Pelor or Lathander or Corellon in a bar in Sharn wouldn't even prove the existence of the gods from an Eberonnian point of view.

If one showed up calling itself a god, odds are good that the people of eberron would point & say "that's a demon" & keith pretty much said as much in one of the manifest.zone podcast episodes (sorry, I can't find it but tried). Some I pulled out that I think would be interesting & relevant to this thread are below.

Cosmology

Keith and Kristian step through a gate to explore the planes of Eberron.

manifest.zone

"The great wheel serves a particular story, and planescape then sort of updated that & did something else with that. We wanted to say that we're teling a differentkind of story with the planes & things likemanifest zones & the coterminous remote periods let the planes interact with the world in a very different way. So it was just, lets make something different that supports different kinds of stories...."

Religion

Keith, Kristian, and Wayne discuss religion in the world of Eberron.

manifest.zone

"It was a conscious choice when we created eberron to take a different approach to religion than in most of the other settings. At the tme Forgotten Realms was kind of the dominant setting & the gods interacting with the world is a very critical part of forgotten realms. You get the time of troubles & things like that. To me it's always felt in a lot of settings that the gods just end up being big monsters. Once you put stats to a deity, that sort of limits them in some ways. So with eberron we really wanted to say tat religion IS about faith. Because again if the gods just show up & walk around.. If I can cast a spell and speak with one, it's not faith anymore, it's a FACT. We wanted to say it;s not a certain thing. You have to say even as a game master if the gods exist or not. and divine magic exists, but you can't directly communicate with the gods. They don't directly take your powers away & that does two important things. The first is a goes back to our principle of player characters being remarkable. There is no.. Aureon is never going to just step down & solve a problem. We don't have that sort of safety net. The second is that it really means faith & religion become about how we see things & this goes back to eberron's general approach of shades of grey. There is no one absolute answer ... You can have things like heracies & schisms that don't make any sense in a world where you can technically just call a deity & say which one of s is right can you clear this up? ...... "

The Silver Flame and Other Religions - Keith

Kevin asks, "Can a member of the Church of the Silver Flame also be a part of other religions, like the Sovereign Host? I know Tira Miron was a paladin of Dol Arrah, but I cannot find anything that says if or how her faith was changed by it. If it didn't, has the modern Church doctrine been changed

manifest.zone

Ancient Religions - Keith

Brandon asks, "What were the ancient religions of the Dhakaani empire (or, for that matter, the giant empire of Xen'drik)? Would they be variations on the Host and the Six, or an entirely different pantheon?" Keith gives some clarifications regarding ancient religions.

manifest.zone

Religion

Keith, Kristian, and Wayne discuss religion in the world of Eberron.

manifest.zone

The Lords of Dust

Keith, Wayne, and Kristian discuss the Lords of Dust and their complex schemes.

manifest.zone

 

[Ashrym]

In Eberron, there is a spell called 'Tasha's Uncontrollable Laughter'. Why is that true? Because that spell is in the Player's Handbook and thus any players who run games in Eberron can and possibly will use that spell.

I change the names of things like that all the time, or omit them, or simply state that it's a coincidence that someone named Tasha (an obviously common name ) also came up with the same spell.

Side note on Ioun stones, I just rename them to Aureon stones for my games.

Yes. It seemed like that was common practice at one time. Renaming items or spells to match campaigns isn't a hard thing.

External gods are still gods, and their existence makes anyone inside of Eberron who says there are no gods wrong.

What made them not wrong in the first place? People in Eberron worship gods all over the place.

Those gods don't grant spells and don't interfere with world but that doesn't actually mean they don't exist either.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Don't forget that Tiamat is an Overlord in Eberron and the Spinner of Shadows is basically Lolth, so gods that can actually show up + the fig leaf of "they are Overlords not Gods" didn't hurt the setting before (and I would argue actually benefited it), so I am not sure why the fear that they will hurts it now. The fig leaf is reusable: just decide that Kord is an Arch-empyrean and Pelor is an Arch (wait, they haven't given us a NG celestial in 5e yet, ah, to heck with it, an Archangel), etc. if they show up. Since "god" isn't a type, it wouldn't even change the stat blocks.

 

[Ashrym]

...and Pelor is an Arch (wait, they haven't given us a NG celestial in 5e yet...

That's okay. No one should assume an aligment in Eberron.

 

[tetrasodium]

Don't forget that Tiamat is an Overlord in Eberron and the Spinner of Shadows is basically Lolth, so gods that can actually show up + the fig leaf of "they are Overlords not Gods" didn't hurt the setting before (and I would argue actually benefited it), so I am not sure why the fear that they will hurts it now. The fig leaf is reusable: just decide that Kord is an Arch-empyrean and Pelor is an Arch (wait, they haven't given us a NG celestial in 5e yet, ah, to heck with it, an Archangel), etc. if they show up. Since "god" isn't a type, it wouldn't even change the stat blocks.

their role is also pretty different. Using the names was a mistake because they hae so much conflicting setting specific baggage attached to the names

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Tiamat, Lolth and Asmodeus are given as examples of powerful beings you could make overlords out of if you want in Rising from the Last War.

Asmodeus is also given as an example of an interloper from outside of Eberron if you want to do cross over stuff.

If contact between Eberron and the wider multiverse is recent and limited, consider the implications for everyone involved. In the Great Wheel, Asmodeus is an ancient threat, with well-established cults, lines of tieflings, and a long history of meddling that sages might uncover in dusty old tomes hidden in remote libraries. But if Asmodeus has only just discovered Eberron and begun to influence it for the first time, there is no lore about him to be discovered on Eberron. He has no power base and needs to recruit new followers. Unusual alliances might form against him, as celestials and fiends join forces to expel this hostile outsider.

Having it loosely (And honestly that is generous) connected to the rest of the Universe just gives more opportunity for story not less.

 

[Gradine]

It's too late for some. Save yourselves!

 

[gyor]

Well almost. Some gods exist in multiple crystal
Spheres. Tiamat, asmodeus, moradin to name just a few.

We really need a manual of the Planes style book.

 

[Azzy]

Why is they always want to go faster than light. They should be bending space and not moving at all. Let the space do the work. It’s bendable and flexible.

That's the way I see it, I stand still and the universe shifts around me at its center. Of course some people say that I'm just egotistical.