D&D 5E [Forgotten Realms] The Wall of the Faithless

[Hussar]

Thing is you're still ignoring FR canon. Even without the Wall, souls don't go anywhere. You can't get off the Fugue plane on your own. The Wall is not stopping souls. It's a repository not a block. No Wall simply means all Faithless become demon chow.

 

[Mirtek]

Thing is you're still ignoring FR canon. Even without the Wall, souls don't go anywhere. You can't get off the Fugue plane on your own. The Wall is not stopping souls. It's a repository not a block. No Wall simply means all Faithless become demon chow.

But only because the faerunian Pantheon decreed that the souls go three first. If they were to abandon the wall, they would also stop drawing all souls to the fugue plane.

Or a character fighting against it would want to bring down the degree that all have to stop at the fugue first too

 

[Hussar]

But only because the faerunian Pantheon decreed that the souls go three first. If they were to abandon the wall, they would also stop drawing all souls to the fugue plane.

Or a character fighting against it would want to bring down the degree that all have to stop at the fugue first too

Is that accurate though? I thought the Fugue Plane was part and parcel to the setting, not something added later, specifically by a god(s), like the Wall. This is from Realms help:

Like Cynosure, the Fugue Plane exists outside the normal cosmology of Toril. Souls naturally travel from the Material Plane to the Fugue Plane at death, but they cannot leave of their own volition

Where is it stated that the Fugue Plane itself is a construct of the Pantheon and not Ao (who created pretty much everything)?

 

[I'm A Banana]

Where is it stated that the Fugue Plane itself is a construct of the Pantheon and not Ao (who created pretty much everything)?

The question is: who put the process in place?

If it was the pantheon, or even Ao, it is something with the potential to change.

We know something put it in place, because Toril exists canonically as one of many worlds, and on other worlds (including Aebir!), the souls follow a different path. So at some point, some entity said "It's not going to work that way here."

Why? And who could change it? These are not answered in canon (it seems). But there's nothing stopping it from changing, even if you need to go pun Ao in the face to change it.

 

[Mirtek]

This is from Realms help

Well, this is based on the 3.x sources, when WotC tried to pull the multiverse apart.

Originally the Fugue plane is just an area on the plane of Hades that the faerunian pantheon uses to sort out their souls. So if all souls from Faerun (not even from all of Toril, just from Faerun) go to Hades, regardless of alignment, then it's because someone powerfull decreed that the go there (either the faerunian pantheon or maybe Ao).

 

[Hussar]

The question is: who put the process in place?

If it was the pantheon, or even Ao, it is something with the potential to change.

We know something put it in place, because Toril exists canonically as one of many worlds, and on other worlds (including Aebir!), the souls follow a different path. So at some point, some entity said "It's not going to work that way here."

Why? And who could change it? These are not answered in canon (it seems). But there's nothing stopping it from changing, even if you need to go pun Ao in the face to change it.

Why? Again, you're applying material to the setting that isn't part of that setting. Sure, we might accept that in other worlds, the dead operate one way, but, again, exceptions exist in most settings. The dead don't go to an alignment plane in Dark Sun. Nor do they in Eberron. Nor in Dragonlance where there is only the heavens and the Abyss. It's hardly like FR is an outlier here.

 

[Hussar]

Well, this is based on the 3.x sources, when WotC tried to pull the multiverse apart.

Originally the Fugue plane is just an area on the plane of Hades that the faerunian pantheon uses to sort out their souls. So if all souls from Faerun (not even from all of Toril, just from Faerun) go to Hades, regardless of alignment, then it's because someone powerfull decreed that the go there (either the faerunian pantheon or maybe Ao).

Again, why? Why does this have to be a decree from the pantheon and not simply an aspect of the setting, like The Grey or whatever the heck Eberron calls its afterlife?

 

[MG.0]

Nor in Dragonlance where there is only the heavens and the Abyss.

Where's that from? I don't recall reading that anywhere.

Pretty sure Dragonlance's concept of the 'Abyss' is actually the Nine Hells too. After all in D&D, Takhisis is Tiamat despite initial claims that she wasn't.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Why? Again, you're applying material to the setting that isn't part of that setting. Sure, we might accept that in other worlds, the dead operate one way, but, again, exceptions exist in most settings.

You're making a division where none exists. Did you read the Erin M. Evans bit I linked to? Other worlds are part of the Forgotten Realms as a setting, including other potential afterlives. The Greyhawk afterlife, the Abeir afterlife, hell even whatever afterlife Earth has - all of these are a part of FR as it is written (since Greyhawk and Abeir and Earth are all part of the writings incorporated into FR).

The dead don't go to an alignment plane in Dark Sun. Nor do they in Eberron. Nor in Dragonlance where there is only the heavens and the Abyss. It's hardly like FR is an outlier here.

All of these situations were created by entities who could potentially undo the situation - except maybe Eberron, where no god created the world that the progenitor wyrms shaped (and my understanding of Eberron religion and history indicates that, unlike in FR or DS or DL, the gods come to be created by their worshipers, rather than vice versa). It'd be entirely possible in ANY of those settings to change the fate of the dead.

 

[Hussar]

So, if I'm understanding this right, you want to take one of the few truly unique features of Forgotten Realms, of which there are very few, scrap it and turn FR into yet another generic D&DLand?

I mean, if we remove the Wall AND the Fugue Plane, the FR afterlife is pretty much basic Generic Land. No different than Greyhawk or, of course, Planescape's take on the Afterlife.

At that point, as a DM, I'd have to turn to the player and ask why they want to play in this setting. Obviously there are some serious disconnects between what the player wants and the setting that's being played. Why have a character whose base goal (and this is a pretty fundamental part of the character) is to blow up the setting? If you want a setting where souls are not judged but simply go to whatever alignment plane they should go to, there are a number of settings for you. Greyhawk works this way. GenericLand D&D works this way. Planescape works this way. I'm sure there are other settings too.

Why are you trying to turn Forgotten Realms into another setting?