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

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

 

[Parmandur]

So... does anyone know when the survey for this UA comes out?

Probably next Thursday ish.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

It is, actually. Rules for it, monsters that lived in it, the whole shebang.

. . . Just because something has rules and one or two creatures from it, doesn't mean that it's a major part of it. I meant more that the idea of Spelljammer as "D&D in Space" doesn't depend on the Phlogiston.

Now sure, it could be easily replaced with the Astral Sea, but then again, you could easily replace the Great Wheel with the World Tree in Planescape and it would work "just as well." The question is, does doing either of these things improve the setting? And that's up in the air.

I disagree. One is a minor change to the medium that you sail through to travel world-to-world, while the other is a major change of structuring the planes. False equivalency, IMO.

But tou would have to refluff the astral sea to be part of the prime material right?

No. There's no reason why the Material Plane can't just be scattered across the Astral Sea and not still be a part of the Material Plane.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Again,

"the City of Doors" for the sheer number of portals, but was also called "the Cage" for the difficulty to enter or exit the city"

So... people live there because they can't find a door to leave from the City of Doors? It's more of a giant trap that people enter but never leave?

Sorry, that doesn't seem to be how it is actually presented in the material

 

[Maxperson]

So... people live there because they can't find a door to leave from the City of Doors? It's more of a giant trap that people enter but never leave?

Sorry, that doesn't seem to be how it is actually presented in the material

I just quoted you the material. Again.

"the City of Doors" for the sheer number of portals, but was also called "the Cage" for the difficulty to enter or exit the city"

Your idea that Sigil is some sort of multiversal highway for easy travel and trade is soundly rebutted by the facts of the city. That sentence overcomes everything that you've said.

 

[Chaosmancer]

There were a few of us!

The problem I see with Spelljammer is simple: The destinations are boring and "Go and invade another campaign setting" has never been a selling point of it. Spelljammer's strength has always been on the travelling aspect, the adventures in space.

How do you make the adventures in space better? Give them somewhere to care about as a destination. Like say, all of those other dimensions and planes you can go to and are specifically linked to the Astral Sea. Also adds in "Go to strange unusual plane, have your ship as a base of operations" to work with

I think there are two ways to make the destinations better. The first actually ties into the thing everyone seems to be for. Make the Phlogiston the Astral sea. That makes it a lot easier to go to things floating in "space", because with the environment being less hostile, you don't mind staying "on the seas".

Second, think about who else is living and moving through it. Morkoths, Gith, ect. You can make a lot from encountering other travelers and "floating debris" without needing to have a lot of different ports. Because I think the majority of ports are going to be samey. But you can do a lot with "islands" in the sea, instead of places like ports, and realities.

Thirdly, you could pull an element from Star Frontier, and have a more over-arching villainous group, but that is a bit hard considering the sheer number of "absolute evils" already present.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I just quoted you the material. Again.

"the City of Doors" for the sheer number of portals, but was also called "the Cage" for the difficulty to enter or exit the city"

Your idea that Sigil is some sort of multiversal highway for easy travel and trade is soundly rebutted by the facts of the city. That sentence overcomes everything that you've said.

Yeah, it is so difficult that people do it by accident, and entire organizations of people leave to expeirence the multiverse and come back to let others experiences their memories. I mean, I'm sure the people of the factions never leave, never come back and don't go out to study or spread their views of the multiverse.

Your sentence ignores the reality of the situation.

 

[Maxperson]

Your sentence ignores the reality of the situation.

 

[Faolyn]

. . . Just because something has rules and one or two creatures from it, doesn't mean that it's a major part of it. I meant more that the idea of Spelljammer as "D&D in Space" doesn't depend on the Phlogiston.

For what it's worth, I counted 11 monsters that specifically have phlogiston listed as their Climate/Terrain (and didn't count monsters that had "any" or "any space").

So why exactly do you not think that Spelljammer doesn't "depend on" the phlogiston--or why do you think that it's better to replace it with the Astral? How does that make Spelljammer--or Planescape--better or more interesting?

To me, I think that while it could very well be done that way, I think it kind of cheapens both settings. I don't feel that outer space (even one as fantastic as Spelljammer) and the afterlife (even one as physical as Planescape) should really be combined in this way.* To me, they're such separate concepts that combining them will either do too much for one setting or will end up removing the sci-fi parts of Spelljammer and/or the wonder of Planescape.

*Unless you were going for an Event Horizon type of thing.

 

[Maxperson]

For what it's worth, I counted 11 monsters that specifically have phlogiston listed as their Climate/Terrain (and didn't count monsters that had "any" or "any space").

So why exactly do you not think that Spelljammer doesn't "depend on" the phlogiston--or why do you think that it's better to replace it with the Astral? How does that make Spelljammer--or Planescape--better or more interesting?

What he's saying is that you can easily do D&D in space without the phlogiston. It can all be done at the setting level and still have the space D&D feel. That said, I would personally prefer that it remain with the setting. I enjoyed that aspect and it's not as if it's overly complicated for 5e.

 

[Faolyn]

I just quoted you the material. Again.

"the City of Doors" for the sheer number of portals, but was also called "the Cage" for the difficulty to enter or exit the city"

Your idea that Sigil is some sort of multiversal highway for easy travel and trade is soundly rebutted by the facts of the city. That sentence overcomes everything that you've said.

It should be noted that entry and exit is difficult only for those who lack keys. However, since the Planescape Campaign Setting boxed set makes note that Sigil's biggest money maker is tourism, it's not quite as hard as you might think.

(Also, it's easy to leave Sigil--jump off one of the roofs into the nothingness outside the torus; it will send you to a random plane. Now, that's very likely to be a death sentence to just about anyone who tries, but it's still possible.)