D&D General Sir Plane "Not Appearing in this Cosmology"

[dave2008]

The planes are boring. Even Hell is boring. The problem is that planes are infinite, but we treat them as different mono flavors of Prime Material.
Hell is Lawful and Evil Prime. The Plane of Fire is hot and flickery Prime. The Feywild is Extra Prime and Shadowfell is faded, depressed Prime. You don't need an infinite space to be a BBEG lair.

Actually the haven't been infinite since at least 4e.

 

[Incenjucar]

Even in 2E, "infinite" mainly meant "nobody has found the edges".

 

[Neonchameleon]

How come we're always ever only got to see the same three or four planes when there are so many more? Why the regular overhaul of the planar system that in the end only replaces the planes that nobody had use for with basically the same thing again?

As has been mentioned 4e nuked the Great Wheel and started from scratch with planes, like the Feywild, the Shadowfell, and the Elemental Chaos, that were designed for adventuring. The 4e overhaul was not at all the same thing and people rioted.

5e then took the 4e cosmology, separated the Astral Sea and hung the Great Wheel on it and said everything was back to normal. Meanwhile they have an entire adventure in the Feywild, and they have the Shadowfell being a thing. Have they used the actual Elemental Chaos as a setting yet?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Ain't that the dang truth.

Which would be why 4e actually did the work of making these places adventurable. And it did so quite well.

Of course, then you had the unpleasable "fans" who got super upset because there wasn't an infinite plane of nothing but fire anymore. Even though there's literally nothing to do in an infinite expanse made of nothing but fire, you'd better believe such a thing is absolutely necessary for reasons never quite articulated.

 

[Lanefan]

Well, yes. But I don't want to bypass it. Something like plane shift should open a portal to the Crossroads (as it was called when Hulk was banished there) at the most, not straight to whatever other plane you ultimately want to go. You need to find a path along the Crossroads, and be able to survive the journey.

For cases where the caster hasn't previously visited the destination plane, this is a cool idea.

Right now, I just simply don't allow planeshift to get you to a plane you've not previously been to, with the execption of your deity's home plane - you can always get there.

 

[Incenjucar]

Which would be why 4e actually did the work of making these places adventurable. And it did so quite well.

Of course, then you had the unpleasable "fans" who got super upset because there wasn't an infinite plane of nothing but fire anymore. Even though there's literally nothing to do in an infinite expanse made of nothing but fire, you'd better believe such a thing is absolutely necessary for reasons never quite articulated.

The plane of fire does actually have some differentiation. There is a sea of fire and a toxic scorching sky and volcanic rock islands here and there. Per the 2E Planescape Inner Planes book, "The Sea of Scorching Waves washes upon the shores of the Lands of Fire while the Scalding Skies rise above, filled with firestorms and rippling waves of pure, invisible heat."

Obviously it's all killing you, but if you have protection from fire and choking air it's basically an acid trip ocean.

 

[ersatzphil]

The planes are boring. Even Hell is boring. The problem is that planes are infinite, but we treat them as different mono flavors of Prime Material.
Hell is Lawful and Evil Prime. The Plane of Fire is hot and flickery Prime. The Feywild is Extra Prime and Shadowfell is faded, depressed Prime. You don't need an infinite space to be a BBEG lair.

Why does being infinite make the planes boring? Honest question.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Why does being infinite make the planes boring? Honest question.

Obviously the DM is rolling on a table to randomly generate interesting things for his players to encounter - that d∞ can be brutal...

 

[Umbran]

How come we're always ever only got to see the same three or four planes when there are so many more?

Hot take: Because most of us don't really care about planes.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Why does being infinite make the planes boring? Honest question.

It's more that they're infinity of one thing.