D&D General DnD cosmology - Which Edition do you prefer?

[Weiley31]

It's a mixed combo of 2E Planescape/Sigil, 3.0/3.5 Manual of the Planes+all the Planar/Alignment plane stuff from that edition(s), and 4E's Dawn War+4E's Shadowfell/Feywild+Primal Spirits.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

4E World Axis, but I do think every setting should at least be able to have a unique cosmology.

The main reasons I prefer World Axis:

• The Astral Sea itself is like a mash-up of Planescape and Spelljammer with gods having fleets of ships in the Astral.
• There's more freedom to have whatever planes you want without them having to fit into a defined schema.
• The planar powers seem to interact with each other more often, especially the gods.

 

[Aldarc]

The 4e World Axis. Hands down. The cosmology is simple, organic, and harkens to real world mythological motifs while also being incredibly utilitarian for D&D-style fantasy adventuring. But the openness of the Elemental Chaos, Astral Sea, Abyss, etc. also means that it's easy for DMs to add additional sub-planes, domains, etc. into the cosmology as needed without worrying about disrupting the alignment-based symmetry of the Great Wheel.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Started in the 3/3.5e era and developed a bit of a fascination with the political structure of the various planar powers described in the 3e Manual of the Planes (initially the Lord of the Nine, then branching out from there), eventually stumbled upon Shemeska's Planescape Storyhour and through that was introduced to Planescape proper. Consequently, I have a massive soft spot for the Great Wheel cosmology, and treat it as my default setting/cosmology whenever I want to do anything deliberately planar in nature.

At the same time, though, I am not averse to alternate cosmological models. Eberron is my go-to setting for non-planar games, and I adore its unique cosmology too much to try to shoe-horn it into some hidden corner of the Great Wheel as WotC has suggested, so I generally aim to keep them very much separate. I can and will port various races/classes/etc. between the two where I can make them fit, but cultists of Asmodeus are never going to pop up in Aundair in my games, nor is House Cannith ever going to establish a branch office in Sigil.

Similarly, even if I don't use them as is, I am absolutely willing to pillage elements from Pathfinder's Great Beyond, 4e's World Axis, etc. to work into my personal version of the Great Wheel, so while I very much want proper 5e support for Planescape, I feel no need for it to be the only option on the proverbial table.

 

[Maxperson]

I will always use the great wheel.

 

[Yaarel]

Heh, I hope that Eberron turns out to be a trojan horse. When Forgottenrealms-Planescape tried to force Eberron into is own inappropriate cosmology, I hope Eberron ends up relativizing and destroying its Wheel.

 

[Staffan]

Basically, yeah. It's great that beholders exist, in the abstract, but until they directly impact the game we're actually playing, that they exist is academic. Same with planes and cosmology. I guess the D&D philosophers have to have something to argue about, but beyond that, either it's actively, directly being used in the game right now or it's indirectly affecting the game from "off screen," or it doesn't matter.

One of the neat things about Eberron is that the planes are directly relevant to the setting. Not via planar travel, but via "manifest zones" which are locations where planar energies leak through, which essentially works as a natural resource. These zones express themselves in different fashions. For example, one zone connected to Fernia (the plane of Fire) might cause fires to burn hotter. Another might cause tempers to flare easier, or make it easier to forge bonds of loyalty.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Another vote for 4e, if I had to pick one for all dnd.

In practice, most games I'm in have a totally custom cosmology that might borrow ideas from other places but mostly do their own thing. The only detailed other planes are the ones we actually interact with during play.

 

[Lyxen]

5e, since it's the Planescape Great Wheel, but with the very welcome additions of Feywild and Shadowfell.

 

[cbwjm]

Not sure I have a favourite. I'm a fan of planescape and the great wheel, the world axis, the merged cosmology of 5e.

My current homebrew has only an upper realm, a lower realm, the elemental plane, the prime, shadowfell, and feywild. I do away with all the various upper and lower planes and don't really worry about the ethereal or astral planes.