D&D 5E Cosmological Layout

[machineelf]

And apparently worth 1.68 million pixels. I'm actually surprised the forums don't have an attachment size limit for posts.

The limit is 1.69 million pixels ...

 

[dave2008]

isnt that the 4e crap? Because that isnt anything like the planes as I learned them

1) No, this is homebrew.

2) The cosmology described in 4e (world axis) wasn't crap and is still available in 5e.

3) Just because you don't like something, that doesn't mean it is crap.

 

[Jer]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words....

I mean, I guess, but it only leaves me wanting explanations

When it says the "Material Planes" is this like a Spelljammer "crystal spheres floating in phlogiston" set of planes? Or is each material plane its own planet? Or is something else going on there? And how are the various other planes in the middle band connected - are Shadow and The Bright and the Inner Planes "just" other material planes or are they special? (And is The Bright your own take on the Feywild or something else?)

Are the Astral Dominions where the gods live? Does your cosmology have Devils? If so, where are they - astral or in the Abyss. And what's Limbo in your cosmology? And are the Spirelands the entirety of the Great Wheel cosmology from 1e/2e or is it just the outlands? Or is it something different and you chose that image to be more evocative of an idea than a way to incorporate Planescape material into your cosmology?

So many interesting questions raised by an image - thanks for posting it!

 

[SkidAce]

[MENTION=7706]SkidAce[/MENTION], despite my stupid joke, I do think that is a cool conceptualization of the planes.

Question about the Astral Sea, what exactly are Astral Dominions and why the triangle symbology?

Your joke was fine, no worries.

The Astral Dominions are the realms of the gods, or other naturally occurring weird planes. In the local area of my homebrew campaign, I currently use Elysium, Mount Celestia, Arvandor, Ysgard, Acheron, Tytherion, Carceri, The Nine Hells, Hades, and Mithardir. There is also a large free floating semi-intelligent ocean area that has no name yet, other than "The Living Ocean".

Since the Ethereal is the first "layer" of the Astral, where "belief" or god power flows from the material planes, a demigod would likely have a small "dominion" in the Ethereal adjoining to the sphere/world of their origin/influence.

The triangles, nothing significant. Mostly since the worlds of the material planes are spheres/solar systems, I just decided a different shape would set them apart.

 

[SkidAce]

Very pretty, though I've no idea how I'd ever be able to make it work for me. (my cosmology has a *lot* more outer planes, using the 1e cosmology as a starting point)

And I second the question of the previous poster: what's going on in your Astral Sea? Are the triangles there to indicate connections to higher and lower planes?

Lanefan

See the post about triangles above. Once you mentioned it I recalled that I did use an upward triangle as a shortcut to symbolize for "good" inclined dominions, and downward for "evil" inclined.

There are just two for representation, I am working on a relational map of the Astral next, its done, but not converted to a style I like, its pretty ugly.

 

[SkidAce]

I still get super confused about the cosmology of 5e. I didn't think that the ethereal plane was the border between the inner planes and the astral sea. I thought it was just more like a ghost-like realm that envelopes the inner planes. I also thought the abyss and limbo were a part of the astral sea (or you had to travel through the astral sea to reach them).

What I have is a modified cosmology for my 5e campaign.

 

[SkidAce]

double post...my bad.

 

[SkidAce]

And apparently worth 1.68 million pixels. I'm actually surprised the forums don't have an attachment size limit for posts.

I probably should have reduced the resolution...

 

[Bitbrain]

They say a picture is worth a thousand words....

View attachment 80520

Nice!

The main DM for my group uses a layout very similar to this in his setting.

Perhaps the biggest difference is that he has the Forgotten Realms sit where you have the Inner Planes (he's a big fan of Faerun), and he replaced the lower Ethereal boundary on your map with the Elemental Chaos.

 

[SkidAce]

I mean, I guess, but it only leaves me wanting explanations

When it says the "Material Planes" is this like a Spelljammer "crystal spheres floating in phlogiston" set of planes? Or is each material plane its own planet? Or is something else going on there? And how are the various other planes in the middle band connected - are Shadow and The Bright and the Inner Planes "just" other material planes or are they special? (And is The Bright your own take on the Feywild or something else?)

Are the Astral Dominions where the gods live? Does your cosmology have Devils? If so, where are they - astral or in the Abyss. And what's Limbo in your cosmology? And are the Spirelands the entirety of the Great Wheel cosmology from 1e/2e or is it just the outlands? Or is it something different and you chose that image to be more evocative of an idea than a way to incorporate Planescape material into your cosmology?

So many interesting questions raised by an image - thanks for posting it!

Thanks everyone for all the input. This cosmos had a lot of rough edges that have slowly morphed into the final state you see here over the years. I wanted it to be similar to the layout we started with in 1e, but incorporate the ideas and thoughts from other literature and sources.

To [MENTION=19857]Jer[/MENTION] 's questions.

Material Planes: Think Spelljammer Spheres without a solid boundary floating in the Void (custom plane) like our universe or solar system would be. So there could be one or several planets to a sphere.

Shadow/Bright: Reflections of a material sphere created by the ringing of the Carillon of Stars, not every sphere has both or either of them, although many do. Influenced by Positive Energy and Negative Energy. Bright is Feywild based. Side note: the gods rang the carillon once trying to create more worlds and said "oops" and since it cracked when it was rung, have never fixed it.

Connections: The Ethereal Plane flows and ebbs in varying densities across the cosmos. Low Ethereal = low magic. Ethereal only leads to other material spheres along special established paths. Shadow and The Bright are reached from their connected world via the Ethereal. Each Bright is a mostly self contained reflection (or is it?), while Shadow seems to lead eventually to all manner of Material Planes/Spheres.

Astral Dominions: Homes of the gods. Devils are in the Astral, they are angels/outer beings that were tainted by the corruption of the Abyss.

Limbo: Swirling domain of chaos, slaadi, and the Chaos Lords (Chaotic Neutral ish) Building blocks of the cosmos. Where it intersects with Material Planes, a powerfully minded creature could create a world/reality.

Spirelands are just the Outlands. Edges way past the "Gatetowns" (custom) eventually reach Limbo.

Inner Planes: Around the edges you could say it was similar to the Elemental Chaos of 4e. Think of it as an enormous elemental asteroid type belt in space. Farther in the "elements are close enough that you hit a sweet spot of surviveability. Air surrounding a mixed Fire and Earth clump. This is the classical realm where the genies and such hang out, and adventurers adventure. As it spirals in to the center of the galaxy, the elements become more and more singular, pure, and hostile to any form of life.


Bottom line, the universe is a large star filled klein bottle.