D&D 4E From the 4e MM preview: Astraljamming?!

[EricNoah]

Is the Astral Sea like a sea in the sense you sail on it in two dimensions?

 

[Green Knight]

Is the Astral Sea like a sea in the sense you sail on it in two dimensions?

More like a sea in the sense that you sail within it like a submarine, but there is no surface. ...Or a bottom.

Come to think of it, it's not like the sea, at all. More like space.

 

[Dragonblade]

Magitech skyships? They'll have warstriders next....

YES!! I would be all over that like white on rice. I like the concept of Exalted since its remarkably similar to my homebrew. I just hate elements of the setting and the Storyteller system.

If WotC came out with "Exalted-friendly" supplements, I would be a happy camper.

 

[hexgrid]

Interesting. I was already planning on using Spelljammer for my first 4e campaign.

 

[Lurks-no-More]

Yeah, I noticed that. And something similar has been surmised since the name "Astral Sea" was revealed.

This could be very interesting...

 

[EricNoah]

I was just thinking if it was like a sea, you could have the fun of sailing around the multiverse but without the complexities of the 3rd dimension, gravity issues, etc. present in Spelljammer.

 

[Dr. Confoundo]

To be fair, the word 'helmsman' has meant 'the guy who steers a ship' long before Spelljammer (or role-playing, or the United States) ever existed.

 

[Burr]

You could always have something like density layers, thus creating multiple two-dimensional sea surfaces (complete with islands, reefs, etc.) within a three-dimensional sea space.

 

[Asmor]

You could always have something like density layers, thus creating multiple two-dimensional sea surfaces (complete with islands, reefs, etc.) within a three-dimensional sea space.

Ooh, I like that idea... You could have bizarrely-shaped "rivers" running throughout the astral sea, turning and twisting and splitting in three dimensions, but you only travel along the surface of them so in that sense it's two-dimensional travel.

Also opens up the possibility of paths and routes which you have to find, can be blocked, etc. e.g. "Those damned Neogi have blockades setup on all the astral rivers to Krynn!" or "We'll need to hire someone who knows the way to the body of the ancient god."

One thing I've never liked about space is that, realistically, the best way to get anywhere it a straight line. There are of course some ways around that, particularly on very short trips, but they usually feel very forced.

 

[Simplicity]

Or the astral sea could be a 2-dimensional sea. And planes float on the sea's surface, but cause the whole sea to sag down around them. As an astral ship approaches a plane, it gets pulled down by the current of the sagging astral sea into the spherical plane. Kind of like a 2-dimensional version of actual space.

Would be kind of cool, but I'm sure it's more like normal space. Hint: There's a picture of the Astral plane on one of the book covers. You can tell it's the astral plane by the monster...