Alternate Alignment/Cosmology concept

[LoneWolf23]

Here's an interesting idea I had for a replacement to the standard cosmology of D&D..

Dividing the Deities and their servant entities into three distinct camp:
-The Celestial deities, who dwell in the Heavens, who govern everything above the Earth: birds, weather, sunlight, and even the stars. And since the stars govern mortal destiny, the celestial gods also have substantial influence on mortalkind. They manifest as beings of light and angelic creatures.
-The Terrestrial deities, who dwell on the Earth's surface, and who govern the lives of animals and plants, and the fertility of the land. They manifest with animalistic or plant-like traits. The Fae are also connected to the Terrestrial deities.
-The Infernal deities, who dwell in the Underworld and rule mainly over the darkness and the dead. As they are also harsh and vengeful, Mortals rarely pray to them unless it's out of a desire for vengance, or more often to beg them not to do something or give thanks for their mercy. They manifest as dark, brooding beings, often demonic-looking.

Now, here's the kicker.. Not every Celestial is good, and not every Infernal is evil. As before the rise of monotheism, the gods are basically neutral for the most part, divided into their own distinct camps, interfering in mortal lives for their own agenda.

Now, this major change would seriously affect the system, making alignment-related abilities and spells irrelevent. So I'd replace them with Celestial/Terrestrial/Infernal allegiances, and fit the various classes into it..

Paladins would become servants of the Celestial gods, and they could detect and smite Infernal beings. Rangers and Druids would obviously become servants of the Terrestrial gods, and Warlocks (and perhaps Sorcerors) would serve the Infernal gods. Spells that effect Good/Evil or Holy/Unholy would essentially become Celestial/Infernal..

 

[Vrecknidj]

Sounds good for a home campaign. It deviates from the core just enough that it might require tweaking to some spells and abilities, but it adds enough flavor to be worth it.

I don't know if I like the idea that Sorcerers are servants of the Infernal gods, but, if the campaign makes it so by fiat, then that's the way it is.

Dave

 

[erf_beto]

Mostly I do something like that in my games, rarely going for the chaotic evil lawfull good thing, only most celestial are good, infernals are evil and terrestrials are neutral, like animals (most, but not all . It's easier to present the game to newcomers that way...

But the idea of Chaotic Evil Celestials is not new to me: there's a game in brazil called Trevas, wich is about magic and the supernatural on our very own (modern) Earth. I never got to play it, but in Trevas' setting, there are basicaly 3 worlds, something like Heaven, something like Earth and something like Hell (called Arkanum), and each plane feeds on the other. Ages ago, Arkanum was just like Earth but since magic is fuelled one level lower, magic use (and abuse) on earth and heaven turned it into a decayed land (very much like we hear Hell is all about). Now demons from Arkanum struggle to survive, often moving to Earth, while angels try to drive them away in order to mantain they're own world intact - they only 'protect' our world because it's the source of their power. I don't recall the existence of gods per se, but angels are not goodie-goodies and sometimes a demon could be your best friend...

 

[GreatLemur]

I dig this a lot. You might even skew the flavor further away from the usual alignments y calling celestial beings "empyrean", and infernal beings "chthonic", so it's less about heaven and hell than about the sky and the depths of the earth. For that matter, maybe the whole arrangement is less about gods than about "spirits", or even less well-defined entities (although they might still be worshipped). Beings that are weird and inhuman, and not especially united in their purpose, even when they're of the same type, with no overwhelmingly powerful gods to serve as moral centers.

If you're going to go so far as to fit Sorcerers and Warlocks into the system, maybe there is no arcane magic in the setting? Maybe even the Wizards have to bargain with spirits for their power?

For that matter, this cosmology setup could be linked to or even replace the elemental system. Or maybe the schools of magic could be tied into it? Hm...