D&D 5E 5e Cosmology

[Shemeska]

http://imgur.com/a/W5BQl

It looks like a lot of the Great Wheel with some elements of the 4e World Axis put in. It isn't perfect, but I can work with this, and would happily write for it given the opportunity.

I really dig the incorporation of the 2e Planescape symbols for the various outer planes, that's a surprise to see, and it made me smile. While I can appreciate the 3.x simplification of the Astral/Outer and Ethereal/Inner split as regarding transitive planes, 5e going back to that system is again a surprise and something that's kinda cool to see.

As possibly the internet's biggest fan of yugoloths, it makes me so so so so so incredibly happy to see Gehenna, the Waste, and Carceri back rather than the 4e Blood Rift.

I wouldn't have included as many 4e elements (quite possibly none of them to be honest), I would have handled 5e tieflings in a -much- more inclusive way rather than inexplicably making them devil-blooded only and thereby completely excluding 2e/3e style tieflings, and I still don't like the name Shadowfell rather than the Plane of Shadow... but I think that I can live with it.

I'm also rather pleasantly amused to see the 5e Feywild and Shadowfell as Material plane reflections between the Material plane and the Positive and Negative energy planes, which is exactly how Pathfinder's cosmology has handled its own fey realm of the First World and its own Shadow Plane.

More reactions once I get my hands on a copy (and if for instance anyone has a physical copy of the book and finds out more details on anything specific, lemme know).

 

[kenmarable]

The mashup of Great Wheel and 4e cosmology definitely a "it's your game, use what want" vibe to it and the language used reflects that. Have to look at exact wording when I get back home, but it definitely had the underlying feel of "here is a bunch of ideas, use what you like" that is pretty common in 5e.

Also there's mention of Sigil (and portal keys), Outlands, and gate towns. Just a couple paragraphs but clear nods towards the past without trying to reinterpret it. Good stuff.

Also interesting mention that the Outer Planes are mostly spiritual/thought and only partially physical. Also a throw away reference towards these being some of the possible Outer Planes. Again, inspiring ideas for your games rather than dictating canon.

I like it.

 

[gyor]

Its interesting.

Things I noticed, no para or Quasi elemental planes listed, but those were more junctures then true planes of thier own. No sure what happened to the other border planes like the fire one Mike Mearls had, but it maybe related to the rearrangement of the Planes.

Noticed that the Positive and Negative Energy Planes are no longer inner planes, but rather, Outer Planes, in fact the outer most planes, beyond even Arborea and the Abyss.

Speaking of the Abyss it got yanked out of the Elemental Chaos, although the Elemental Chaos still survives.

The Feywild, Shadowfell, Elemental Chaos are basically 4e Elements, which along with the strange shift of fhe energy planes, are used to spice up the Planeacape Cosmology.

The Far Realms aren't shown, but techinically the Far Realms are external to the cosmology.


Natives from the upper planes are celestials, natives of the lower planes are fiends, natives to the Elemental Chaos and the elemental planes, and Fey to the Feywild, but do beings native to the Shadowfell, Astral Plane, Energy Planes, Mechanus, and Limbo catogorized as Keyword wise in this edition?

Also I noticed a subtle association between the Negative Energy Plane and the Lower Plane, and the Positive Energy Plane and the Upper Planes. I think its meant to suggest that the traditional outer planes draw upon the energy planes. I hope they do something interesting with the energy planes.

I also wonder how this will work with settings like FR and Eberron.

 

[Paraxis]

It is probably just me, but the whole cosmology thing has never mattered one single bit. I liked the Feywild and Shadowfell in 4e, I liked the shadow world in Birthright, and I guess Ravenloft is cool, but where those things are and how some artist draws them never mattered.

I mean I was in a three year long Planescape campaign, and it didn't matter and a two year Spelljammer game back in the day. I understand it is important to some people and I am glad they are happy, but I never understood why this is something people cared about. The party just goes where the story takes them, doesn't matter much if it is by foot, horse, ship, airship, teleportation circle, spell, planer gate, or spelljammer all that stuff can make things a bit more interesting sometimes but where point A is and point B is on some great wheel thing never registered as all that interesting to me.

 

[Kinak]

Looks like a pretty solid mash up. I like the fey plane and shadow plane having places in the cosmology, even though I never really liked the names Feywild and Shadowfell.

About the only thing I don't like is the "Positive Energy = Good; Negative Energy = Evil" way those are set up. I always really liked the "birth isn't good, death isn't evil" line of thought but it's a pretty minor complaint.

Also, it's pretty. So there's that

Cheers!
Kinak

 

[TarionzCousin]

I very much prefer the Astral Plane and won't miss the Ethereal Plane. The Elemental Chaos was well done, in my humble opinion, in 4E--so I'm happy to see it included.

And I, too, am happy to see the return of some original outer planes.

In short, I'm pleasantly surprised by this setup and hope they keep it intact through 6E and 7E.

 

[Sonny]

http://imgur.com/a/W5BQl

It looks like a lot of the Great Wheel with some elements of the 4e World Axis put in. It isn't perfect, but I can work with this, and would happily write for it given the opportunity.

I really dig the incorporation of the 2e Planescape symbols for the various outer planes, that's a surprise to see, and it made me smile. While I can appreciate the 3.x simplification of the Astral/Outer and Ethereal/Inner split as regarding transitive planes, 5e going back to that system is again a surprise and something that's kinda cool to see.

As possibly the internet's biggest fan of yugoloths, it makes me so so so so so incredibly happy to see Gehenna, the Waste, and Carceri back rather than the 4e Blood Rift.

I wouldn't have included as many 4e elements (quite possibly none of them to be honest), I would have handled 5e tieflings in a -much- more inclusive way rather than inexplicably making them devil-blooded only and thereby completely excluding 2e/3e style tieflings, and I still don't like the name Shadowfell rather than the Plane of Shadow... but I think that I can live with it.

I'm also rather pleasantly amused to see the 5e Feywild and Shadowfell as Material plane reflections between the Material plane and the Positive and Negative energy planes, which is exactly how Pathfinder's cosmology has handled its own fey realm of the First World and its own Shadow Plane.

More reactions once I get my hands on a copy (and if for instance anyone has a physical copy of the book and finds out more details on anything specific, lemme know).

It mentions that the Shadowfell is also known as The Plane of Shadow. Also the (brief) description matches the Plane of Shadow from older editions more then the Shadowfell of 4e.

 

[Lawngnome4hire]

They did a pretty good job with it this time around. I like the inclusion of the shadowfell, feywild and elemental chaos. And while I liked the 4e origin story for the abyss I understand why they had to pull it out of the elemental chaos to make it work with this cosmology. It's not shown but they said somewhere that Sigil still exists so I'm hoping that they've kept the outlands also, always liked the idea of the outlands.


My only beef, and it's a minor one, is I would prefer that there only be 8 outer planes. The way the cosmology is set up it seems like it would make more sense if there was only 1 plane for each alignment, with the outlands in the middle being true neutral.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

I wish they'd kept 4E cosmology. While I have a strong dislike for 4E in general, I thought the cosmology was one of the things that was really cool about the game. I can work with this though. The kept Feywild and Shadowfell, and those were my two favorite bits.

 

[Steely Dan]

The Feywild, Shadowfell, Elemental Chaos are basically 4e Elements,

The Feywild (Plane of Faerie) and the Shadowfell (Plane of Shadow) actually started in 3rd Ed.