D&D 5E Elemental Border Planes

[Jeff Carlsen]

Mike Mearls has been tweeting a bit about the elemental planes. The basic gist is that they are working on elemental border planes that are like the material plane where one element dominates. He says that all the details haven't been nailed down, but they want to add to existing cosmology without altering it significantly.

I imagine these to be a bit like elemental versions of the Feywild and Shadowfell. This allows the two best parts of the World Axis to be melded into the Great Wheel. In essence, you have the true positive, negative, and elemental planes, which are very unfriendly to human life, and then you have the border planes. The Feywild and Shadowfell are clearly related to the positive and negative energy planes. Elemental border planes flow naturally from that and have the potential to be very interesting adventuring locations.

 

[GX.Sigma]

As I said to Mike on Twitter, I'm okay with this as long as it doesn't invalidate preexisting lore (i.e., if they're new ["demi-elemental?"] planes, not retcons of the old ones). I'm a Planescape fan, and I want to be able to use Monte's book on the Inner Planes. Making the Inner Planes (which are supposed to be inhospitable and fundamental) more adventure-friendly and earth-like would diminish their majesty. If you make everything adventure-friendly, then it starts to feel like the entire multiverse exists just to give adventurers something to do.

What's interesting about this is that if the Prime shares borders with all the other Inner Planes, then maybe we're going back to the 1e model, where the Prime is the innermost Inner Plane (at the center of the sphere).

 

[Ichneumon]

Sounds like there'll be a Far Realms borderland as well. Dare I say it might be more Lovecraftian than Moorcockian?

 

[Li Shenron]

Every new planar concept or idea is interesting to me. That doesn't mean I'll use it, I still like to make up my own cosmology along the way, as a campaign unfolds. So I just hope that no specific plane is ever mandatory in the game, but this usually isn't the case.

 

[Alzrius]

I'd prefer that they showed the Quasi- and Paraelemental Planes some more love instead of this.

 

[Chris_Nightwing]

I like this idea, and now I imagine an arrangement of these planes in space as the prime in the middle, positive and negative above and below, the four elements around in the cardinal directions (imagine the points of a d8, with prime in the centre). This of course creates space for the 4 para- and 8 quasi-elemental planes, which I'm a big fan of. So it goes from a d8 to a um.. stellated octohedron?

 

[Dausuul]

I also like this idea. One way to do it would be to get rid of the idea of distinct planes. Instead, the Inner Planes become a continuum, with six elemental "poles" of pure Earth, Fire, Air, Water, Positive Energy, and Negative Energy. As you move away from a pole, the pure element becomes increasingly mixed with others.

So, the traditional elemental planes would be the regions close to the poles, where one element vastly predominates and there are only scattered intrusions from the others. The "border planes" Mike is talking about would be farther from the poles, where it's a pretty even mix but one element is noticeably stronger than the rest. The Prime lies at the mid-point, equidistant from all six poles.

This offers a handy way to incorporate the Shadowfell and the Feywild; the Shadowfell is the "border plane" of the Negative Energy pole, and the Feywild is the "border plane" of the Positive Energy pole. Likewise, the para-elemental and quasi-elemental planes would be a natural consequence of this arrangement. And you could have quests built around stuff like a journey to the uttermost heart of Elemental Fire.

Another benefit of doing things this way would be to make planar travel more interesting. Instead of just casting plane shift and pop! you're floating in the Elemental Plane of Air, you have to actually, you know, travel. Plane shift gives you the means to move along the planar continuum, but you have to move through space at the same time, much like shadow travel in "The Chronicles of Amber." (The traditional leap across planes would be reserved for those who can cast gate.)

 

[Nellisir]

I'd like a more hospitable, adventure-friendly, and diverse environment in the Inner Planes. Right now at least half of them are like outer space - you need special gear, and the biggest challenge is breathing. That gets old quick. If you like elemental planes of pure fire, those can be locations within more moderate areas - after all, why do people go to the elemental planes? To get something. You don't need an infinite plane to hold that something. I'd rather have parties go to the elemental plane of fire to deal with efreet or salamanders, not constantly make checks against heatstroke.

Edit: Also, insofar as I'm concerned, the classic elemental planes have been done in Planescape. I'd rather see something new than the same stuff rehashed.

 

[Shemeska]

They tried reinventing the Wheel once, it didn't exactly go over so well, and I urge them to keep that in mind. Providing optional alternatives is one thing, but they should provide a look at the Elemental Planes that stays true to the classic D&D Elemental Planes.

Personally I'm still bewildered at where the notion ever came from that the GW Elemental planes were entirely uniform with nothing of interest and no reason to ever go there, because that's not how they were ever described. Heck, the most in-depth coverage of the topic with the most unique locations to visit was Monte's 2e 'Inner Planes' book. Provide us something that takes that source fully into account and give us something that has both a sense of wonder and unique locations to visit and we'll be good.

Personally, I just want to be able to enjoy adventuring in the "antithesis of fun" that was the "hilarious" Quasi-Elemental Plane of Vacuum.

 

[Nellisir]

Personally I'm still bewildered at where the notion ever came from that the GW Elemental planes were entirely uniform with nothing of interest and no reason to ever go there, because that's not how they were ever described.

But if you go back before that, the plane of air was all air, the plane of earth was all earth, the plane of water was all water, and the plane of fire was all fire. The description of the Plane of Elemental Fire in the Manual of the Planes (1e) is all about fire, heat, and flames. Nothing about the landscape, and almost nothing about settlements, civilizations, etc, etc. It's not portrayed as an inviting place.

Heck, the most in-depth coverage of the topic with the most unique locations to visit was Monte's 2e 'Inner Planes' book

I agree that was a pretty good book. Unfortunately, it was a supplement to a single line late in the lifespan of 2e, not a core resource with wide exposure.