Design and Development: Cosmology

[Lackhand]

Too many "backdrop" planes for me, and another vote for silly names...
... but otherwise, I love the concepts.

Mostly because I already use them (I call them Faerie and the Plane of Shadow right now, of course!).

I'll adapt the ones in the books back to match what I already use. No harm, no foul.

Another vote for "hoping they give the axe to the ethereal (as opposed to incorporeal)" here, too.

I like the new elemental-creatures' names.

I don't like the limiting the size of the abyss, if I understand this right. What I'd prefer is if that was the limit of the edge-to-edge span of the abyss, but like a hole in the world, it forms a sort of funnel cone of infinite depth, thus significantly more adventure-worthy surface area.

Then we can both be right, the article and I; the elemental planes are the accretion disk, while the Abyss is the manifest will of entropy.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

The lack of ethereal makes me wonder whether they might bite the bullet and merge ethereal and incorporeal together - the subtle differences are often confusing to people and I don't know how much we would lose if they became one.

In my campaign world, I killed the Ethereal Plane and the Plane of Shadow took its stuff.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Then we can both be right, the article and I; the elemental planes are the accretion disk, while the Abyss is the manifest will of entropy.

I bet this turns out to be dead-on.

 

[Branduil]

I love it.

I have no idea why those who hated the Great Wheel would enjoy this cosmology, since what is being presented here is very nearly identical to the Great Wheel - minus the wheel-like structure.

That's why.

Also, the Feywild and Shadowfell give me images of Link to the Past. Which is awesome.

 

[Wormwood]

Another step in the right direction as far as this DM is concerned.

I never liked the idea of Olympus and Asgard and Nirvana just kinda crammed together like Pez.

I never liked the ethereal plane, which 3e turned into a rules morass which devoured time and spawned abuse.

I never thought the Astral Planes were very interesting, steeped as they were in wishy washy Spiritualist nonsense.

So yeah. Thumbs up.

 

[bastrak]

Can't say the change for change's sake appeals to me at all. I'll be sticking with the Great Wheel, not that I'm planning on buying 4e anyway.

 

[frankthedm]

So no one knows the details of the afterlife? Cool.

Also the shadowfell sounds like the 'spirit world' in the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver games, another plus.

 

[GVDammerung]

Sigh.

"You don't need to purchase 4e. It's not the game you are looking for." I don't need to purchase 4e. It's not the game I'm looking for. I'll move along.

Well, its not THAT bad . . . YET. I can say I have ZERO interest in the 4e fluff that is being crammed into the CORE RULES for NO apparent reason. This leaves 4e's only selling point to me as the purely mechanical RAW or crunch. Given that the 4e mechanics think I need to have PC and monsters "roles" mandated for me, I'm not hopeful. I'm not moving along but more because I'm transfixed by a NASCAR-like "watch it for the spectacular crashes" than anything else at this point. I could be completely wrong, but I'm seeing 4e crashing and burning sales wise when compared to 3x. Wotc? Hasbro would like to have a word with you.

I want my 5e!!!

Oh yeah. The new cosmology. "Terrance, this is stupid stuff." See A.E. Housman. Or, if your prefer - "Confessions of a Crap Artist" by Philip K. Dick. Indeed, this cosmology is just such.

 

[Wormwood]

Plus it seems easier to drop a deity's domain into the vast Astral Sea than it was to shoehorn it into the fully codified and stagnant Great Wheel (which always read like a shopping mall's "You Are Here" map anyway).

No more "Wait...why does Sune live on Mount Olympus?"

 

[Wolfwood2]

I'd say that "Ethereal Plane" + "Plane of Shadows" = Shadowfell.

I'd picture Shadowfell as the place that ghosts fade into and out of when they manifest and de-manifest. It also works okay for Blink and spells like that. What do you really need the Ethereal for if you have Shadowfell?

Puts some interesting limitations on incorporeal creatures, too. They can walk through walls... if that wall has fallen into ruin in its reflection in Shadowfell. No more of this 'pop into and out of objects' whack-a-mole. Now when a spectre passes through something, it's because in their reality, that thing does not exist.

Notice that the Githzerai live in the Elemental Maelstrom, while the Githyanki dwell in the Astral Sea.

I'm interested in the notion that some realms are harder to get to than others. The Feywild looks like its meant for realtively low level adventurers, so that you can go planar right off the bat.

Anybody grin at, "The Abyss is unthinkably vast—thousands of miles in extent—". Quite a change from the infinite planes of the Great Wheel, eh?

Also, "A few astral dominions lie abandoned, the ruined heavens and hells of gods and powers that have fallen."

Dead and forgotten gods, sweet. Nothing is eternal and everything eventually fades out.