Levistus's_Leviathan
5e Freelancer
I've made my dislike of the Great Wheel Cosmology and the planes that are contained in it pretty clear on this site, and one of my biggest gripes with it is that it's the base cosmology of D&D 5e, and is super over-complicated and not friendly to new players who want to learn about it. I've had this experience as someone that joined the hobby and started DMing (and worldbuilding) a few years after D&D 5e came out, and I've had the experience repeat as I've brought more people to the hobby that wanted to learn about the setting's cosmology. Even Eberron (which is probably my favorite official D&D 5e setting), whose cosmology is much simpler than the Great Wheel, has this issue, with thirteen non-Material planes of existence that players and DMs have to keep track of. One thing that I had a player tell me about the cosmologies in D&D worlds that really stuck was "wow, D&D's cosmology is, like, really complicated. In most fantasy or mythology stories that I've read, there's normally just one or two other worlds or planes of existence that the characters can travel to". And, yeah, they were right. The most complicated cosmology from a mythology that comes to mind is Norse Mythology, which had 9 worlds, less than basically all main D&D cosmologies (Great Wheel, Eberron, World Axis, and even D&D's World Tree cosmology). And that's not even counting the different layers for each of the planes of existence in each of these cosmologies.
D&D's main cosmologies aren't user-friendly, especially not for new/inexperienced players. And while I think that the more complicated cosmologies should exist for the people that do like them, I do think that having a more simplified cosmology for the game's "base" setting (or at least a new D&D setting that might assume the place of base setting in future editions) would greatly benefit the hobby.
Now, onto what I would include in a simplified cosmology.
First, I would condense most of the Upper Planes into one "Heaven" plane. It could be called basically anything, from just "Heaven", to "Mount Celestia", or "Elysium", but for now we'll just call it "Heaven". I don't like how the Great Wheel will separate the afterlives of even good creatures from each other (so family members will be split up if they're of different good alignments), and think that one heaven could just fit all. It could have different layers (possibly one for each type of good alignment; chaotic, neutral, and lawful, but I'd prefer if the sub-divisions of the plane were more like home-realms for Angels, Archons, and Couatls, or something like that, but perhaps both of those could be used in the same setting). The plane is pretty simple; it would be Heaven. A paradise. A place that you probably never want to leave if you come here, with amazing weather, endless food and drink (maybe Nectar and Ambrosia), friendly people, eternal celestial servants, and so on. The Gods might live here if this cosmology has explicitly real gods and they're stated to live in places that the setting's characters can access, but this isn't necessary (maybe take a note from Exandria and have the Gods be real and present, but they can't journey to or interfere with the mortal plane). Either way, Celestial Paragons (Archangels, super powerful Couatls, possibly called Quetzalcouatls, and Head Archons) would be in charge of running most of the business on the plane, and would be what Celestial-Patron Warlocks would make pacts with.
Second, I would also condense most of the Lower Planes into one "Hell" plane. Again, the name doesn't really matter, it could be "Hades", "Hel(l)", "the Abyss/Nine Hells/Acheron/Pandemonium", or something like that, but it would be Hell, the home plane of Fiends and where people who do evil get sent when they die. I personally would probably use my previous idea of it having 7 layers, each attached to one of the Seven Deadly Sins (with an Archfiend that embodies one of the sins ruling each level, like Mammon for Greed, Yeenoghu for Gluttony, Baphomet for Wrath, etc), and probably have the Blood War just take place on this single plane of existence, but that isn't necessary to this idea. Also like the Heaven plane in this same cosmology, the evil gods may or may not live here, it depends on the setting's deity situation, but the Archfiends definitely would, and would be what most Fiend Warlocks make pacts with.
Third, onto the Plane of Law/Order. As much as I like Modrons, Inevitables, Primus, and Mechanus in the Great Wheel . . . I'm not sure if it would fit into this cosmology. They're a bit goofy, and don't really fit in with the other planes of existence in this cosmology. Instead, I would probably actually make the Shadowfell be the Plane of Law in this cosmology (you know, the inevitability of death, the order of the afterlife system, the oneness of shadows and darkness, as well as a smidge of the Gray Goo/Heat Death of the Universe and general entropy themes). Even the undead can often have themes of order in them, with necromancers creating undead minions, some of which can create their own undead minions (Wraiths can create Specters, Wights create Zombies, Vampires create Vampire Spawn and normal Vampires, etc). Another reason that I think this fits quite well is because the Feywild is the plane of emotions, which are inherently chaotic, and its opposite, the Shadowfell, is the plane of the lack of emotions, which would be inherently orderly (Shadar-Kai emotionlessly serve the Raven Queen, Undead serve their masters if they have any, the Dark Powers keep the Dark Lords of Ravenloft in eternal torment through never-ending cycles of reincarnation and repeating history in their Domains of Dread, etc).
Fourth, the Plane of Chaos. As I said in the previous paragraph, the Feywild is the plane of emotions, which are chaotic, and it's the opposite of the Shadowfell, which in this cosmology would be the Plane of Law/Order, making the Plane of Chaos in this cosmology be the Feywild. Sorry, but I just really do not like Limbo (it has no native extraplanar creatures, as the Slaad were inadvertently created by Primus, it just isn't a good place to go on adventures, and is very same-y in its chaos, which is very boring). The Feywild is just more interesting, and as a plane of emotions, it fits well into the "Chaotic Plane" of this cosmology. When people think of Fey, one of the first things they think of is the tricksy, chaotic behavior of them, and how easy it is for them to get on anyone's bad side because of their "lol, so random" behavior. They just scream Chaotic Neutral stereotypes, so I think they fit well in this cosmology as the Plane of Chaos (especially because the Feywild is actually a place you can adventure in, while Limbo just isn't).
Fifth, the Elemental Planes. I'd just keep them as is, but a bit more adventure-friendly and diverse in locations. Sure, the Elemental Plane of Fire is a plane of fire, but maybe there's a type of tree on this plane that has sap that makes you immune (or at least resistant) to fire damage for a certain amount of time, and this lets travelers venture to this plane (maybe with cities on Volcano-Islands in the sea of fire, with Fire-Newts, Azers/Salamanders, Efreeti/Fire Genasi, etc). Sure, the Plane of Earth is just endless dirt and rock in every direction, but there's dwarven (or maybe Azer, Stone Giants, or Earth Genasi/Dao) mines, and some type of food-source that naturally grows in the Plane of Earth (fungus, probably, but maybe a type of edible mineral that can be mined or domesticated bulettes/giant moles that people eat, or something like that). Sure, the Plane of Water is an endless ocean in all directions with giant sea creatures that would eat you if they had the chance, but there's Marid-built cities underwater, kind of like the Gungan cities from Naboo in Star Wars. Yes, the Plane of Air is just endless air, but there's floating earthmote-islands that people (Aarakocra, Djinn, Air Genasi) live on, using flying animals and vehicles (hot-air balloons, airships, spelljammers) to transport goods. There still will probably be the Elemental Chaos surrounding or in-between the Elemental Planes, which could basically be this cosmology's Limbo, but it wouldn't be that big of a part of the cosmology (maybe it's the home to Primordials/Archomentals).
Sixth and finally, the transitive planes; Ethereal and Astral. I would probably make the Astral Sea be what the worlds (maybe Crystal Spheres) of the Material Plane float in, with Spelljammers sailing between the worlds and planes through it, but I haven't made up my mind. The Ethereal Plane probably wouldn't change all that much (probably just explicitly stated to be the "fabric of reality", with Demiplanes being parts of it that are folded/cut-off to create "pocket-dimensions"), but might have more native creatures instead of just Phase Spiders. However, these planes would remain mostly the same, with just minor tweaks and lore changes to fit the cosmology and world.
And that's it. A more simple cosmology. There's one Good Plane, one Evil Plane, one Lawful Plane (of death/undead), one Chaotic Plane (or fey and emotions), the Four (or five) Elemental Planes, and two Transitive Planes. That's 10-11 non-material planes of existence, and some of them don't really count (the Transitive Planes, Elemental Chaos), and all of them would be possible to have adventures in (well, maybe not the Ethereal Plane, but its main role in D&D is just as a special form of movement). (Oh, and the Far Realm would still exist, but its whole deal is that it's extremely alien and going there will basically instantly kill you, so it doesn't really count. It's just a source of aberrations.) Most of the planes would be pretty easy to understand for new players, and it wouldn't have the issue of "what's the difference between Pandemonium and the Abyss? Or Mabar and Dolurrh? Ysgard and Acheron? Beastlands and the Feywild? Shadowfell, Negative Energy Plane, and Hades? Irian and Syrania?". IMHO, it would reduce confusion and redundancy, which would be a really good thing for a "base setting" or new "generic fantasy" setting to have.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Again, I'm fine with the other cosmologies existing, even if I'm not super fond of some of them (cough, the Great Wheel and World Tree, cough), but I just think that D&D should have a more user-friendly mythology for a new setting or the next edition's base setting. And take note of the (+) in the title. Feel free to give suggestions and opinions to build onto this idea, but please don't crap onto the base idea. If you don't like anything about this suggestion, this thread is not for you.
Have a good day, everyone!
D&D's main cosmologies aren't user-friendly, especially not for new/inexperienced players. And while I think that the more complicated cosmologies should exist for the people that do like them, I do think that having a more simplified cosmology for the game's "base" setting (or at least a new D&D setting that might assume the place of base setting in future editions) would greatly benefit the hobby.
Now, onto what I would include in a simplified cosmology.
First, I would condense most of the Upper Planes into one "Heaven" plane. It could be called basically anything, from just "Heaven", to "Mount Celestia", or "Elysium", but for now we'll just call it "Heaven". I don't like how the Great Wheel will separate the afterlives of even good creatures from each other (so family members will be split up if they're of different good alignments), and think that one heaven could just fit all. It could have different layers (possibly one for each type of good alignment; chaotic, neutral, and lawful, but I'd prefer if the sub-divisions of the plane were more like home-realms for Angels, Archons, and Couatls, or something like that, but perhaps both of those could be used in the same setting). The plane is pretty simple; it would be Heaven. A paradise. A place that you probably never want to leave if you come here, with amazing weather, endless food and drink (maybe Nectar and Ambrosia), friendly people, eternal celestial servants, and so on. The Gods might live here if this cosmology has explicitly real gods and they're stated to live in places that the setting's characters can access, but this isn't necessary (maybe take a note from Exandria and have the Gods be real and present, but they can't journey to or interfere with the mortal plane). Either way, Celestial Paragons (Archangels, super powerful Couatls, possibly called Quetzalcouatls, and Head Archons) would be in charge of running most of the business on the plane, and would be what Celestial-Patron Warlocks would make pacts with.
Second, I would also condense most of the Lower Planes into one "Hell" plane. Again, the name doesn't really matter, it could be "Hades", "Hel(l)", "the Abyss/Nine Hells/Acheron/Pandemonium", or something like that, but it would be Hell, the home plane of Fiends and where people who do evil get sent when they die. I personally would probably use my previous idea of it having 7 layers, each attached to one of the Seven Deadly Sins (with an Archfiend that embodies one of the sins ruling each level, like Mammon for Greed, Yeenoghu for Gluttony, Baphomet for Wrath, etc), and probably have the Blood War just take place on this single plane of existence, but that isn't necessary to this idea. Also like the Heaven plane in this same cosmology, the evil gods may or may not live here, it depends on the setting's deity situation, but the Archfiends definitely would, and would be what most Fiend Warlocks make pacts with.
Third, onto the Plane of Law/Order. As much as I like Modrons, Inevitables, Primus, and Mechanus in the Great Wheel . . . I'm not sure if it would fit into this cosmology. They're a bit goofy, and don't really fit in with the other planes of existence in this cosmology. Instead, I would probably actually make the Shadowfell be the Plane of Law in this cosmology (you know, the inevitability of death, the order of the afterlife system, the oneness of shadows and darkness, as well as a smidge of the Gray Goo/Heat Death of the Universe and general entropy themes). Even the undead can often have themes of order in them, with necromancers creating undead minions, some of which can create their own undead minions (Wraiths can create Specters, Wights create Zombies, Vampires create Vampire Spawn and normal Vampires, etc). Another reason that I think this fits quite well is because the Feywild is the plane of emotions, which are inherently chaotic, and its opposite, the Shadowfell, is the plane of the lack of emotions, which would be inherently orderly (Shadar-Kai emotionlessly serve the Raven Queen, Undead serve their masters if they have any, the Dark Powers keep the Dark Lords of Ravenloft in eternal torment through never-ending cycles of reincarnation and repeating history in their Domains of Dread, etc).
Fourth, the Plane of Chaos. As I said in the previous paragraph, the Feywild is the plane of emotions, which are chaotic, and it's the opposite of the Shadowfell, which in this cosmology would be the Plane of Law/Order, making the Plane of Chaos in this cosmology be the Feywild. Sorry, but I just really do not like Limbo (it has no native extraplanar creatures, as the Slaad were inadvertently created by Primus, it just isn't a good place to go on adventures, and is very same-y in its chaos, which is very boring). The Feywild is just more interesting, and as a plane of emotions, it fits well into the "Chaotic Plane" of this cosmology. When people think of Fey, one of the first things they think of is the tricksy, chaotic behavior of them, and how easy it is for them to get on anyone's bad side because of their "lol, so random" behavior. They just scream Chaotic Neutral stereotypes, so I think they fit well in this cosmology as the Plane of Chaos (especially because the Feywild is actually a place you can adventure in, while Limbo just isn't).
Fifth, the Elemental Planes. I'd just keep them as is, but a bit more adventure-friendly and diverse in locations. Sure, the Elemental Plane of Fire is a plane of fire, but maybe there's a type of tree on this plane that has sap that makes you immune (or at least resistant) to fire damage for a certain amount of time, and this lets travelers venture to this plane (maybe with cities on Volcano-Islands in the sea of fire, with Fire-Newts, Azers/Salamanders, Efreeti/Fire Genasi, etc). Sure, the Plane of Earth is just endless dirt and rock in every direction, but there's dwarven (or maybe Azer, Stone Giants, or Earth Genasi/Dao) mines, and some type of food-source that naturally grows in the Plane of Earth (fungus, probably, but maybe a type of edible mineral that can be mined or domesticated bulettes/giant moles that people eat, or something like that). Sure, the Plane of Water is an endless ocean in all directions with giant sea creatures that would eat you if they had the chance, but there's Marid-built cities underwater, kind of like the Gungan cities from Naboo in Star Wars. Yes, the Plane of Air is just endless air, but there's floating earthmote-islands that people (Aarakocra, Djinn, Air Genasi) live on, using flying animals and vehicles (hot-air balloons, airships, spelljammers) to transport goods. There still will probably be the Elemental Chaos surrounding or in-between the Elemental Planes, which could basically be this cosmology's Limbo, but it wouldn't be that big of a part of the cosmology (maybe it's the home to Primordials/Archomentals).
Sixth and finally, the transitive planes; Ethereal and Astral. I would probably make the Astral Sea be what the worlds (maybe Crystal Spheres) of the Material Plane float in, with Spelljammers sailing between the worlds and planes through it, but I haven't made up my mind. The Ethereal Plane probably wouldn't change all that much (probably just explicitly stated to be the "fabric of reality", with Demiplanes being parts of it that are folded/cut-off to create "pocket-dimensions"), but might have more native creatures instead of just Phase Spiders. However, these planes would remain mostly the same, with just minor tweaks and lore changes to fit the cosmology and world.
And that's it. A more simple cosmology. There's one Good Plane, one Evil Plane, one Lawful Plane (of death/undead), one Chaotic Plane (or fey and emotions), the Four (or five) Elemental Planes, and two Transitive Planes. That's 10-11 non-material planes of existence, and some of them don't really count (the Transitive Planes, Elemental Chaos), and all of them would be possible to have adventures in (well, maybe not the Ethereal Plane, but its main role in D&D is just as a special form of movement). (Oh, and the Far Realm would still exist, but its whole deal is that it's extremely alien and going there will basically instantly kill you, so it doesn't really count. It's just a source of aberrations.) Most of the planes would be pretty easy to understand for new players, and it wouldn't have the issue of "what's the difference between Pandemonium and the Abyss? Or Mabar and Dolurrh? Ysgard and Acheron? Beastlands and the Feywild? Shadowfell, Negative Energy Plane, and Hades? Irian and Syrania?". IMHO, it would reduce confusion and redundancy, which would be a really good thing for a "base setting" or new "generic fantasy" setting to have.
Any thoughts or suggestions? Again, I'm fine with the other cosmologies existing, even if I'm not super fond of some of them (cough, the Great Wheel and World Tree, cough), but I just think that D&D should have a more user-friendly mythology for a new setting or the next edition's base setting. And take note of the (+) in the title. Feel free to give suggestions and opinions to build onto this idea, but please don't crap onto the base idea. If you don't like anything about this suggestion, this thread is not for you.
Have a good day, everyone!
