Sage Advice 3/21/16 Exploding druids and antimagic field vs zombies and cure wounds

The answer to the druid and metal armor is excellent. Not so much the ruling itself, but the clear way it explains that classes have both story and game elements, and some classes have more story elements than others.

 

[Gorath99]

I would equip people with ankheg plate but you could throw any old metal armour on a fighter/druid. Before plate, Jaheuea would be wearing chain or splint armour since that was all I could get when first meeting her.

Okay, I guess it's been too long since I (re)played it then.

 

[delericho]

Among oerth, krynn and toril, where the archmages have tea together every so offen it's even fast er for magic to spread

I'm pretty sure those articles aren't considered canon.

 

[Mirtek]

I'm pretty sure those articles aren't considered canon.

It's not just those articles, it's scattered all over the place in canon novels, supplements and adventures.

Little (or sometimes not so little) tidbits here and there like Khelben and Mordenkainen not being on the best terms or a Kender being stranded in Athas or Elminster being the reason that Fistandantilus stays out of Toril, etc.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Yes, and no.

For a specific setting, I'd quite enjoy having all the spells renamed in this style. For a generic game, though, where the same spell will crop up in Dark Sun, Dragonlance, and Eberron, it's problematic. Heck, even the existing 'named' spells are rather jarring - it makes no sense that casters on Athas would cite Bigby or Mordenkainen. (To say nothing of referencing Mike Nystul...)

Plus, it would be a bit of a pest having to translate from a 'flavourful' name back into a 'functional' name every time - the first time a Wizard cast Phandaal's Instantaneous Arcane Nullification would be cool, but the twentieth time, not so much. Dispel is pretty dull, it's true, but it has the great advantage of doing exactly what it says on the tin.

I confess that I was not entirely serious in my suggestion.

 

[Ristamar]

It's not just those articles, it's scattered all over the place in canon novels, supplements and adventures.

Little (or sometimes not so little) tidbits here and there like Khelben and Mordenkainen not being on the best terms or a Kender being stranded in Athas or Elminster being the reason that Fistandantilus stays out of Toril, etc.

Aside from Planescape products or stuff that popped up in Dungeon/Dragon magazine, can you cite anything specific?

 

[RotGrub]

Disagree here. If they want D&D as a Brand it needs it's soul firmly rooted in it's own mythology.

Otherwise you just have a soulless generic box of building stones like GURPS

And since athas can in fact be reached from the outside, getting out is when it becomes a real pain, it's logical that widespread spells reached there's. Among oerth, krynn and toril, where the archmages have tea together every so offen it's even fast er for magic to spread

I totally agree. D&D needs it's own mythology. I was dismayed when the last edition changed it for the sake of the haters. I'm happy to welcome back those archmages from the multi-verse. I mean, if Ed can hide in a suit of armor, then so can I.

 

[RotGrub]

Heck, even the existing 'named' spells are rather jarring - it makes no sense that casters on Athas would cite Bigby or Mordenkainen. (To say nothing of referencing Mike Nystul...)

The spell could have been found in a book or a scroll. Bigby may have entered Athas through Ravenloft, Planescape, or spell jammer. Heck, even a god could have shared it'.

But sure, if you're not going to embrace the multi-verse of D&D worlds then feel free to change the names.

 

[delericho]

I totally agree. D&D needs it's own mythology. I was dismayed when the last edition changed it for the sake of the haters.

I'm not calling for the mythology to be discarded, or even changed. What I'm saying is that the elements that are strongly associated with a particular setting (like those named NPCs and Greyhawk) would be better placed in a product associated with that setting.

Amongst other things, and despite the blending associated with the multiverse, the various settings each have their own flavour - Greyhawk isn't Ravenloft, which isn't Dark Sun, which isn't Eberron. IMO it's better to keep those flavours reasonably distinct by default and let groups who want to blend them to do that blending - that way, they can control the amount of cross-polination to suit themselves. (Heck, even Planescape and Spelljammer, which were designed in part to link other settings, have their own flavour distinct from the others.)

The spell could have been found in a book or a scroll. Bigby may have entered Athas through Ravenloft, Planescape, or spell jammer. Heck, even a god could have shared it'.

Of course, anything can be hand-waved. Though in the case of Athas it's tricky - Ravenloft is intentionally hard to leave, Athas is deliberately remote from the Outer Planes (and thus Planescape), its Crystal Sphere is specifically described as closed, and there aren't any gods to share it.

But please don't blow what I'm saying out of proportion. I said it was 'jarring', not that it was game-breaking, or a disaster for the setting, or anything of that sort.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I enjoyed the bit of history and the explanation of class/story elements, but it was essentially a well worded non-answer. I would have much preferred if he had just come out and said something to the effect of "a druid wearing metal armor is unable to shapeshift or cast spells", which is fitting and conducive to everything we've seen regarding D&D druids for the last 40 years.

Why would you need rules for what happens when a druid wears metal armor, if a druid is unwilling to wear metal armor in the first place? Likewise, you don't need rules for falling on your own sword - in the highly unlikely event that it ever comes up, the DM can make a ruling as appropriate. They can't devote space in the book to every corner case that's unlikely to come up.

 

[RotGrub]

I'm not calling for the mythology to be discarded, or even changed. What I'm saying is that the elements that are strongly associated with a particular setting (like those named NPCs and Greyhawk) would be better placed in a product associated with that setting.

Amongst other things, and despite the blending associated with the multiverse, the various settings each have their own flavour - Greyhawk isn't Ravenloft, which isn't Dark Sun, which isn't Eberron. IMO it's better to keep those flavours reasonably distinct by default and let groups who want to blend them to do that blending - that way, they can control the amount of cross-polination to suit themselves. (Heck, even Planescape and Spelljammer, which were designed in part to link other settings, have their own flavour distinct from the others.)



Of course, anything can be hand-waved. Though in the case of Athas it's tricky - Ravenloft is intentionally hard to leave, Athas is deliberately remote from the Outer Planes (and thus Planescape), its Crystal Sphere is specifically described as closed, and there aren't any gods to share it.

But please don't blow what I'm saying out of proportion. I said it was 'jarring', not that it was game-breaking, or a disaster for the setting, or anything of that sort.

I guess I just don't view D&D campaign worlds in an isolated manner by default. My understanding is that such worlds are part of the prime material plane. I admit that I don't remember much about Athas, but what darksun edition are you referring (2e or 4e)? Do you know what campaign book has this information? I'd like to read it. Are there not elementals, demons and devils in Dark Sun?


I don't how you can control cross pollination in Ravenloft since it has domains pulled from just about every setting. Falkovnia and Sithicus are from Dragonlance, and there is even a domain pulled from Dark Sun. As for Bigby, he is famous. There is even a statue of him in Sigil if I remember correctly. Of course, mages like him often move into the planes at high level anyway.