D&D 5E Unearthed Arcana: Travelers of the Multiverse

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Looks like Spelljammer and/or Planescape is back on the menu!

 

[Ath-kethin]

Me: This has gotten out of hand. I'm going to stop buying 5e stuff now.

WotC: How about SPELLJAMMER?

Me: . . . sigh. Here's my wallet. Do as you will.

 

[thundershot]

i think the prospect of having dmsguild opening up Spelljammer content is just as exciting to me.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

For what it is worth, Jeremy Crawford, in a DragonTalk about the D&D cosmology, specifically identified that the D&D multiverse Material Plane worlds are on the same Material Plane. Therefore, if one has the requisite information, one could teleport (which does not transverse planes) from Krynn to Oerth, for example. I would think that if the the cosmology is retconned from the phlogiston to the Astral Plane, then there is planar travel taking place between crystal spheres that would be inconsistent with how teleport works.

In other words, even though this kind of idea is popular here, Urriak Uruk, I do not see evidence from the D&D Studio that they want to alter the multiverse cosmology in this way, the Astral Elf notwithstanding. Sometimes, the idea for different books or projects can be combined in a single UA. Or, perhaps, the D&D Studio will be attempting to do both Spelljamming and Planescape at the same time, without changing some of the fundamentals of its cosmology. For example, there can be races and people that prefer to traverse planes, ones that prefer to traverse the Material Plane through spelljamming, and then races and people that do both.

Well, my vision for how the Material Plane works in 5E is that each world on the MP is actually a "bubble" (or Crystal Sphere) that sits within the Astral Plane. You're still able to Planeswalk or teleport from bubble to bubble, but taking a direct route from one bubble to another requires a Spelljammer to traverse the Astral.

That's just my idea, but I don't think that is inconsistent with the Dragon Talk episode. Meaning, the MP Spheres are like holes in the Astral Planes swiss cheese. But the holes are still all part of the MP, even if not directly connected.

The phlogiston does just seem overly complicated when the Astral is functionally pretty similar in nature.

 

[Faolyn]

The primary issue I have with substituting the Astral for Wildspace and the Phologiston is that in the Astral, nobody needs to breathe, eat, drink, or sleep and nobody ages. All of the supply issues that come with having a ship are simply gone. There's no risk if you fall overboard because you'll be (physically) fine even if you're not rescued for years. In Spelljammer, there were risks. If you fell overboard in Wildspace, you'd suffocate. If you fell overboard in the Phlogiston, you'd calcify and possibly become an undead horror. And that's not even including the monsters that could eat you first.

So for me, in order to make Planesjammer interesting, they'd have to change how the Astral itself works. Maybe make it so that the Astral is actually toxic (in a way that doesn't affect normal Astral travelers, the type who have a silver cord). A ship's air bubble protects you and also restores real time on the ship so you need to eat and drink. If you have an air supply (perhaps using one of the Spelljammer's "gadabouts") you can travel around the Astral OK, but too-long exposure to the Astral's psychic winds can cause physical and psychic mutations.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

So for me, in order to make Planesjammer interesting, they'd have to change how the Astral itself works. Maybe make it so that the Astral is actually toxic (in a way that doesn't affect normal Astral travelers, the type who have a silver cord). A ship's air bubble protects you and also restores real time on the ship so you need to eat and drink. If you have an air supply (perhaps using one of the Spelljammer's "gadabouts") you can travel around the Astral OK, but too-long exposure to the Astral's psychic winds can cause physical and psychic mutations.

I agree with this; the Astral should be made more diverse so that some regions of it are toxic, unsafe, filled with undead, etc. I don't think the whole Plane needs to be, but it should have inherently more dangerous regions.

I also think this is compatible with MTG lore to a certain degree, as I imagine the Blind Eternities as just very dangerous areas of the Astral, which are densest around MTG planes, making Spelljammer travel there near-impossible while Planeswalking works as normal.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

We need good reasons to explain why somebody would rather the astral plane to trade or by the super-expensive Spelljammers to travel throught the dangerous Wildspace. And why goes your skyship fly alone? In the real life centuries ago the ships went together in naval convoys from the New-World to Europe to avoid the pirate attacks. The most of pirate atacks were against the towns in the coasts to catch slaves.

And maybe there are demiplanes in the elemental chaos-limbo created by dragon and giant clans.

Maybe the 1st level PCs can travel by "cheaper" spelljammers, but these with some secondary effects, like creating accidental planar gates, and this creating new troubles, and opportunities/hooks for new adventures.

If nobody gets old in the astral plane this could be used as a cosmic penal colony. Do you remember the Phantom Zone from Superman's comics? Or the richest noble houses and royal dinasties (Lannister, Baratheon, Targaryens, Tyrell..) to build their own ivory towers where to rule for centuries or millenniums.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Equally pointless to get rid of it.

And most people didn't get the reference when it was first published as well. The '90s might have been a while back these days, but, oddly, Ptolemaic astronomy and phlogiston theory weren't particularly widely held views at that point...

 

[Demetrios1453]

Well, my vision for how the Material Plane works in 5E is that each world on the MP is actually a "bubble" (or Crystal Sphere) that sits within the Astral Plane. You're still able to Planeswalk or teleport from bubble to bubble, but taking a direct route from one bubble to another requires a Spelljammer to traverse the Astral.

That's just my idea, but I don't think that is inconsistent with the Dragon Talk episode. Meaning, the MP Spheres are like holes in the Astral Planes swiss cheese. But the holes are still all part of the MP, even if not directly connected.

The phlogiston does just seem overly complicated when the Astral is functionally pretty similar in nature.

But, the DMG doesn't mention these huge spheres in the Astral either. Granted, absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence, but godly corpses and color pools are mentioned, both of which are much, much smaller than crystal spheres millions of miles in diameter.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

But, the DMG doesn't mention these huge spheres in the Astral either. Granted, absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence, but godly corpses and color pools are mentioned, both of which are much, much smaller than crystal spheres millions of miles in diameter.

I don't think these two things contradict each other, so don't see your argument?

 

[Demetrios1453]

Well well well

Dungeons & Dragons March 2022 Title: Wizards RPG Team: 9780786967865: Amazon.com: Books

At least some of our arguing could potentially be done within 3 days, it appears.