D&D 5E Elemental Border Planes

[Alzrius]

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.

Hey now, that kind of talk is "shutting down" the conversation, and "makes" it so that other people "have" to play their game that way.

 

[Dausuul]

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.

Even in the 1E Manual, all of the elemental planes had islands of the other elements floating in them. The Elemental Planes of Earth, Water, and Fire all had pockets of air where Primes could live more or less comfortably, while the Elemental Plane of Air was popular real estate--stake out a floating pocket of earth and you could build your very own flying castle.

Sure, getting from one pocket to another could be a challenge, especially in the planes of Earth and Fire. But it wasn't like there was no room for adventuring in the elemental planes.

 

[Nellisir]

But it wasn't like there was no room for adventuring in the elemental planes.

I'm not saying that there wasn't -any- room for adventuring. I'm saying that, in my opinion, the environment promoted bookkeeping adventuring: how long your spells last, how much damage you take per round, Con checks, Fortitude checks, swimming checks. It was a dull grind. The only way to get around it was to have adventurers in special snowflake dungeons that weren't actually representative of the "natural" environment.

They were very literal environments. I'm not convinced that has to be true, or that it's the best choice.

 

[Dausuul]

I'm not saying that there wasn't -any- room for adventuring. I'm saying that, in my opinion, the environment promoted bookkeeping adventuring: how long your spells last, how much damage you take per round, Con checks, Fortitude checks, swimming checks. It was a dull grind. The only way to get around it was to have adventurers in special snowflake dungeons that weren't actually representative of the "natural" environment.

Granted, but that's a problem with the rules, not the setting. It's possible to have hostile environments like the Plane of Fire without reams of paperwork. The challenge is figuring out how to provide protections against the plane that are non-binary (they don't allow you to completely ignore the plane's deadly effects), yet at the same time don't require constant status updates.

One solution is defenses that normally keep you safe, but can be shut down or overwhelmed under the right circumstances.

 

[SkidAce]

Even in the 1E Manual, all of the elemental planes had islands of the other elements floating in them. The Elemental Planes of Earth, Water, and Fire all had pockets of air where Primes could live more or less comfortably, while the Elemental Plane of Air was popular real estate--stake out a floating pocket of earth and you could build your very own flying castle.

Sure, getting from one pocket to another could be a challenge, especially in the planes of Earth and Fire. But it wasn't like there was no room for adventuring in the elemental planes.

+1 for "cosmic" truth....

 

[howandwhy99]

This is interesting. Quasi-elemental planes could be stepping stones to the higher level challenges of the primary inner planes as those in mixture are the make up of the Prime Material plane where adventure settings usually begin. Good thinking.

I would warn that magical ability (via spells or items) to explore the other elemental planes should still be supplied for interested players. Those others planes are hazardous adventuring straight up, but learning how to do so is part of the challenge. Seeing how they bake these in the game without giving away the design will be interesting reading.

 

[avin]

Being using border planes since before DMing D&D, so I like. Let's see how it unfolds.

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[Jester David]

While I like the Elemental Chaos more than the straight elemental planes (even after reading the excellent descriptions from the Manual of the Planes which simplified the inhabitants nicely) the idea of border planes is pretty cool. Kinda like the Shadowfell being an interesting mirror of the Middle World it allows you to use familiar places in different ways. (I wonder if that makes the Shadowfell a border Ethereal or Spirit World?)

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

While I like the Elemental Chaos more than the straight elemental planes (even after reading the excellent descriptions from the Manual of the Planes which simplified the inhabitants nicely) the idea of border planes is pretty cool. Kinda like the Shadowfell being an interesting mirror of the Middle World it allows you to use familiar places in different ways. (I wonder if that makes the Shadowfell a border Ethereal or Spirit World?)

The Shadowfell would probably be a border world of the Negative Energy Plane, just as the Feywild would border the Positive Energy Plane.

 

[Jester David]

The Shadowfell would probably be a border world of the Negative Energy Plane, just as the Feywild would border the Positive Energy Plane.

I can see the Shadowfell working as the borderlands of the plane of shadow as well. But the Shadowfell might also work as the border between the mortal realm and the afterlife(s) of the outer planes. While mortals use magic to travel directly, the souls need to walk to the other world via the Shadowfell.

I also think the Feywild works best as its own place. It doesn't need to be a border. It's just Faerie or the twin of the mortal world.