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[Kobold Avenger]

If you instead set up a single coherent pantheon with no rival contradicting pantheons, and build the planes to match the beliefs of that pantheon, then it will give the upper hand to the priests/theocracies and you won't have the philosophers - they will just be raving heretics that most people will not pay attention to because they can clearly see that the world fits perfectly with what the priests are telling them.

Even if they use the "new cosmology" of the "assumed setting" there's nothing at all that suggests there's only one pantheon. They never specified the number of Gods there really were, beyond the number they put in the PHB strictly for player options, and nothing to do about their world.

Multiple pantheons can exist just fine without the Great Wheel, and it will greatly benefit Planescape if death was left a mystery, rather than the stated Absolute Truth that, "everyone who dies becomes a petitioner to a plane of their appropriate alignment." Instead that previous statement could end up becoming one of the truths that only some believe, while everyone else thinks something else happens and may indeed be right.

 

[hong]

If you instead set up a single coherent pantheon with no rival contradicting pantheons, and build the planes to match the beliefs of that pantheon, then it will give the upper hand to the priests/theocracies and you won't have the philosophers - they will just be raving heretics that most people will not pay attention to because they can clearly see that the world fits perfectly with what the priests are telling them.

Pelor's philosophy is to do good deeds, as you would others do unto you.

Gruumsh's philosophy is to conquer your enemies, drive them before you, and hear the lamentation of their women.

Ioun's philosophy is that the only way to transcend the imperfections of mortal existence is to meditate on the mysteries of the cosmos.

Which is best? Well, that's a matter of debate, yes?

 

[Kobold Avenger]

We could also see Planescape be the bridging point between the different settings. How do you travel from Faerun to the World, or from the Dark Sun setting to another setting. Well through Sigil of course, so then you bring in philosophies and ideas and factions, etc, etc. from multiple settings.

While sometimes it was fun to refer to other campaign settings like they did in Planescape, including that visit to the Vault of the Drow in Dead Gods.

I really didn't like things from other campaign settings messing with Planescape either. There's a reason why "Die Vecna Die!" is hated by all Planescape fans.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Pelor's philosophy is to do good deeds, as you would others do unto you.

Gruumsh's philosophy is to conquer your enemies, drive them before you, and hear the lamentation of their women.

Ioun's philosophy is that the only way to transcend the imperfections of mortal existence is to meditate on the mysteries of the cosmos.

Which is best? Well, that's a matter of debate, yes?

The thing is, the Gods were always outshined in terms of philosophies by the factions and the sects. So much that there even was the Atheist/Agnostic faction the Athar, who clearly decried all Gods as fakes. The Harmonium were the Harmonium because they were the Harmonium, which had nothing to do with the fact that many of them have favoured St. Cuthbert. Just like the Doomguard were who they were because they believed in entropy, which had nothing to do with Shiva.

For the most part which Gods were being used hardly mattered at all in Planescape, nothing was significant about the fact that Duke Rowan Darkwood for example was a cleric of Heimdall. Heimdall never really had a thing to do with what Rowan Darkwood was about. The fact that he was the factol of The Fated (and practically an NPC that resembles a character played by a power-gamer) who was about everything he could take.

 

[Novem5er]

I LIKE the idea that Sigil could connect all the campaign worlds. However, if a group started out in Faerun (for example) it would only be appropriate for high-level characters, perhaps epic level (save the world by traveling to another world for help/mcguffin). But if a group started off a Planscape campaign, I think it'd be awesome to run an adventure in Myth Drannor and then jump over to Dark Sun the next session. I know there are lots of people out there who want to use parts of every campaign setting, but don't have the time to run multiple campaigns. What better way to let players actually use all the different campaign material than to create a campaign that included everything?

Albeit, nothing in the core Planscape rules would be neccessary to allow this. The DM just puts doors to different campaign worlds, or chooses not to. However, I think it would do well to mention this scenario in the core Planscape manual, if only to bring it to the attention of DMs as a decision they may want to make early on.

 

[hong]

The thing is, the Gods were always outshined in terms of philosophies by the factions and the sects. So much that there even was the Atheist/Agnostic faction the Athar, who clearly decried all Gods as fakes. The Harmonium were the Harmonium because they were the Harmonium, which had nothing to do with the fact that many of them have favoured St. Cuthbert. Just like the Doomguard were who they were because they believed in entropy, which had nothing to do with Shiva.

For the most part which Gods were being used hardly mattered at all in Planescape, nothing was significant about the fact that Duke Rowan Darkwood for example was a cleric of Heimdall. Heimdall never really had a thing to do with what Rowan Darkwood was about. The fact that he was the factol of The Fated (and practically an NPC that resembles a character played by a power-gamer) who was about everything he could take.

The point is that moral ambiguity and philosophical yammering is hardly incompatible with having a single, well-defined pantheon.

 

[Spatula]

I mean, if you take Dark Sun as an example, a major part of that campaign setting is that the world is somehow cut off from all the other planes of existence. It's isolated. It's dying. It shouldn't have people suddenly gating in from Toril or wherever ... or flying in from outer space.

The official line in the 2e days was that Athas was contained in an impenitrable crystal sphere, so it couldn't be accessed via spelljamming.

If you take Ravenloft, on the other hand, part of its concept was that it was its own plane of existence and that connections could be made to other planes, on which existed the other campaign settings ... but it never presupposed that those other campaign settings were all in the same universe. At least, I don't remember it doing so. I could be wrong.

Ravenloft took place on a demiplane inside the plane of shadow, and a large conceit of the setting in 2e times was that it "stole" major villians (and other people) from other published settings. So it was definitely linked to the other known game worlds - jsut a part of the larger TSRverse, as hong says.

 

[Revinor]

Healing Font • Hospitaler Utility 12
A short prayer bestows your weapon with Healing power, so that whenever it strikes an enemy it heals an ally.
Daily • Divine, Healing
Minor Action • Personal
Effect: Until the end of this encounter, when you attack on your turn and hit at least one enemy, you heal an ally. Choose one ally within 10 squares of you. That ally regains a number of hit points equal to 1d6 [?] you Wisdom modifier.

So here we are back to bag of rats problem. Open bag of rats, start the encounter, use the power, then kill them one by one to fully heal your party without spending any healing surges.

Obviously, DM can forbid carrying rats in the bags, but still it can end up with players prolonging some fights to get more healing from Healing Font.

1) Get high AC
2) Find a lot of noob monsters
3) Enchant spoon or dented fork with Healing Font
4) Put rest of the party in some unreachable place
5) Profit !

 

[Protagonist]

So here we are back to bag of rats problem. Open bag of rats, start the encounter, use the power, then kill them one by one to fully heal your party without spending any healing surges.

Obviously, DM can forbid carrying rats in the bags, but still it can end up with players prolonging some fights to get more healing from Healing Font.

1) Get high AC
2) Find a lot of noob monsters
3) Enchant spoon or dented fork with Healing Font
4) Put rest of the party in some unreachable place
5) Profit !

Daily • Divine, Healing

And I highly doubt that you will be able to turn dailies into at will simply by enchanting a weapon with it

 

[Jack99]

1) Get high AC
2) Find a lot of noob monsters
3) Enchant spoon or dented fork with Healing Font
4) Put rest of the party in some unreachable place
5) Profit !

I think you have played to much WoW (freely replace WoW with any MMORG, really) and forgotten that an RPG actually has a DM that is able to think.