D&D General Assumed Lore/Sacred Cows you've changed +

[pogre]

So, for me.

• Gnolls. I never bought into the whole demon spawn/reproduced backstory of gnolls. For some? Sure. But I always ran them as any other intelligent humanoid species. Reproduced like any other species. I've always liked them the most of all the humanoids. In fact, recently I have a key recurring NPC by the name of Fleabag, that has a role similar to Volo in FR.
• I am on board with the elimination of default alignment for many reasons (go see those threads if you want to know why), and have been doing something similar in my games for years. Most are evil/bad, but many are not. Been doing that ever since I played UK1, The Sentinel back in the day, and felt bad for the "bad guy".
• Spell components. I have always ignored these, regardless of edition, unless it was something super rare or special. Yes, it makes MUs more powerful when you take away that mitigating factor, and it's a big one, but I just don't like the bookkeeping aspect of it. Let mages cast spells they prepared.

You stole my post! Exactly the same changes I made.

 

[Vaalingrade]

• Alignment got taken out back and Ol' Yeller'd twenty years ago.
• Drastically reduced the planes; one combined Elemental Plane, a layered afterlife based on how tethered the soul is to the mortal world, a natural moon, two parasite moons, and a Faerie.
• Magic is fantastic instead of rare and special. It is treated like an esoteric science.
• Spellpoint magic instead of Vancian.
• Fighters get to be fantastic, cleaving stones in half and jumping fifty feet.
• Dragons are NOT color coded for your convenience. They all jut to be jackholes, some still are, some are trying to be better.
• Races are all shorter lived, with dwarves topping out at 320.
• Standard death is TKO, out of the encounter unless the party can't get your body/doesn't have the rituals or items to fix you in time. You only really die if the entire party fails at all levels, or you want them to die.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I've eliminated the multiverse. There is only one Prime Material plane, and my campaign world is the only inhabited planet on it.

 

[the Jester]

Clerics and paladins must follow a religion that exists in the setting, almost always including a god. Also, paladins and clerics who violate the tenets of their deity may face divine repercussions. (These are old-edition holdovers, but still.)

The courts of the Feywild are very different from 4e/5e lore.

My cosmology is a mix of the Great Wheel, the 4e World Axis, and homebrew stuff. And nobody really knows the truth of it all anyhow.

 

[Voadam]

That's pure gold.

I love how the new ancestries proposed by WotC can have more than 1 type, but yours is pretty much better.

Thanks! I really liked types and descriptors as a concept but I saw a bunch of small ways to change 3e's execution more to my own taste.

 

[Ancalagon]

Ooooh, the PCs as treasure, I like it!

well, the PC ended up dying (ON PURPOSE). The body was brought back to a temple and via the use of gentle repose, preserved for the future. The players believe it's in case the player who left the game might come back...

... but the in game reason is that the slugmen couldn't pass up a source of elven blood in case of great need.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

No Great Wheel. No Blood War, no demon princes, no archdevils.

There are only 2 deities remaining, cooperatively holding creation together. Cleric Domains fall under specific orders of the Dyadic church.

Planes are arranged in a concentric layers, also, but starting at the center and going out is the Sunless Fire (elemental fire, devils, fire giants), the Darkness Below Stone (elemental earth, “underdark”, hill giants), The World (elemental water, the campaign setting), the Hanging Mountains (elemental air, “frostfell”, cloud and frost giants ), the Vault of Stars (“Astral Sea”, demons, far realm pockets, celestials).

Like others mentioned earlier, I too merged Shadowfell and Feywild and call Otherworld, I read that in the DMG and swiped that. Otherworld is parallel to every concentric plane.

Elemental Entropy is also parallel to every concentric plane

Dragons are not intelligent to be spellcasting. No Chromatic or metallic scale exterior.

No drow, shifted the spider-theme onto aranea.

Standard “evil” humanoids (gnolls, orcs, goblinoids, etc. and others) are infected by a curse from outer evils beyond the Vault of Stars. The curse is held in place by a MacGuffin (cough Starseed) and if it can be found and destroyed that tribe under that curse is cured and lose the compulsion for destruction, violence, and chaos. The “cursed” are also compelled to convert everyone not under the influence of their clan’s Starseed.

Only dwarf is hill dwarf, only elf is high elf, only gnome is deep gnome. Halflings must come from Otherworld (borrowing this from Birthright). I came up with breath weapon replacements for dragonborn.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

No Great Wheel. No Blood War, no demon princes, no archdevils.

There are only 2 deities remaining, cooperatively holding creation together. Cleric Domains fall under specific orders of the Dyadic church.

Planes are arranged in a concentric layers, also, but starting at the center and going out is the Sunless Fire (elemental fire, devils, fire giants), the Darkness Below Stone (elemental earth, “underdark”, hill giants), The World (elemental water, the campaign setting), the Hanging Mountains (elemental air, “frostfell”, cloud and frost giants ), the Vault of Stars (“Astral Sea”, demons, far realm pockets, celestials).

Like others mentioned earlier, I too merged Shadowfell and Feywild and call Otherworld, I read that in the DMG and swiped that. Otherworld is parallel to every concentric plane.

Elemental Entropy is also parallel to every concentric plane

Dragons are not intelligent to be spellcasting. No Chromatic or metallic scale exterior.

No drow, shifted the spider-theme onto aranea.

Standard “evil” humanoids (gnolls, orcs, goblinoids, etc. and others) are infected by a curse from outer evils beyond the Vault of Stars. The curse is held in place by a MacGuffin (cough Starseed) and if it can be found and destroyed that tribe under that curse is cured and lose the compulsion for destruction, violence, and chaos. The “cursed” are also compelled to convert everyone not under the influence of their clan’s Starseed.

Only dwarf is hill dwarf, only elf is high elf, only gnome is deep gnome. Halflings must come from Otherworld (borrowing this from Birthright). I came up with breath weapon replacements for dragonborn.

Only deep gnomes makes me sad (forest is best gnome), but that’s a cool setting!

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Only deep gnomes makes me sad (forest is best gnome), but that’s a cool setting!

Sad to say gnomes barely made the cut at all for PC races. But I found a spot to squeeze deep gnomes on.
The players currently completed a campaign that finished at 17th level. Over the course they saved a pair of peaceful “gnolls” (hutaaka/lupin, borrowed from Mystara) captives of the cult of Yeenog gnolls about to be converted by ritual. Also saved hundreds of orc slaves from a similar fate and lead them hundreds of miles, chased by the captor giants. I tried to copy The Chain of Dogs from Deadhouse Gates, dunno how well it worked. ¯\(ツ)/¯

Both opened up the option of playing those species in the coming new campaign. I could see a scenario where we find forest gnomes might be the same thing in where of the PCs rescue a clan of forest gnomes it’ll open it as a choice in subsequent campaigns!

There are arcane changes unmentioned earlier. The Dyadic church blames specific arcane traditions for an apocalypse that killed all gods but the remaining 2. There is an inquisition hunting practitioners of Conjuration, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, Necromancy. The remaining wizard traditions, plus bardic colleges and artificers are under the influence of the church and ‘blessed’ to practice openly.

 

[Arilyn]

Wizards can copy their spells into their books without cost, and I've pretty much ditched material components, except for a very few potent ones. I've also ditched concentration. I don't argue about it. Just don't like it and ditching it has not hurt our game at all.