D&D 5E Us Building a "Fundamentally 5E" Setting From Scratch Together

[TwoSix]

What that would look like would really depend on what one decided the population of level 20 characters would be:, 1 in a million looks different than 1 in ten thousand.

I'm pretty sure the core 5e books are silent on the idea of what NPC demographics, and overall power levels within the setting, look like, so that's something any "5e based setting" would have to consider.

Do you do something like Eberron where a level 20 character (or NPC equivalent) is a once-in-a-century demigod? Or something more like Forgotten Realms where NPCs who are level 20+ equivalent are rare but well-known?

Core 5e, to me, seems to have a tone of "abundance" and "cosmopolitanism", with lots of races and lots of monster species all having entire communities, rather than being one-offs or the subject of myth. And there are a lot of NPCs and monsters that are CR 10+, so I would probably lean towards a setting where at least Tier 3 level PCs and NPCs are known commodities.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm pretty sure the core 5e books are silent on the idea of what NPC demographics, and overall power levels within the setting, look like, so that's something any "5e based setting" would have to consider.

Do you do something like Eberron where a level 20 character (or NPC equivalent) is a once-in-a-century demigod? Or something more like Forgotten Realms where NPCs who are level 20+ equivalent are rare but well-known?

Core 5e, to me, seems to have a tone of "abundance" and "cosmopolitanism", with lots of races and lots of monster species all having entire communities, rather than being one-offs or the subject of myth. And there are a lot of NPCs and monsters that are CR 10+, so I would probably lean towards a setting where at least Tier 3 level PCs and NPCs are known commodities.

And because the books are silent on demographics, I think it would be fascinating to see where you could take a world running on D&D rules where the old, not mechanically-supported ideas of demographics are swept away, and we get to see what would happen when the epic insanity is set loose.

 

[TwoSix]

And because the books are silent on demographics, I think it would be fascinating to see where you could take a world running on D&D rules where the old, not mechanically-supported ideas of demographics are swept away, and we get to see what would happen when the epic insanity is set loose.

Yea, the concept I'm building out from that previous demographics thread is roughly this idea. Starts in the Realms with the PCs at 20th level, but rapidly expands into Planescape and Spelljammer factions fighting for control over 400 different Prime worlds with half a trillion souls between them.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yea, the concept I'm building out from that previous demographics thread is roughly this idea. Starts in the Realms with the PCs at 20th level, but rapidly expands into Planescape and Spelljammer factions fighting for control over 400 different Prime worlds with half a trillion souls between them.

I have to say all of this is very inspiring. I think I have a new project!

 

[Scribe]

The cosmos is now a shattered patchwork of overlapping planar echoes bleeding into the material realm - the feywild and the shadowfell flicker in and out of the ethereal, tracts of Abyssal wastelands sit beyond the borderlands, fragments of multiple worlds collide and wild magic storms rage

It is the duty of mortals to explore the fractured worlds and reforge what was lost

This is fantastic.

 

[Corinnguard]

It is the duty of mortals to explore the fractured worlds and reforge what was lost

We could call this setting, the Fractured Realms.

 

[Stormonu]

I'm pretty sure the core 5e books are silent on the idea of what NPC demographics, and overall power levels within the setting, look like, so that's something any "5e based setting" would have to consider.

Do you do something like Eberron where a level 20 character (or NPC equivalent) is a once-in-a-century demigod? Or something more like Forgotten Realms where NPCs who are level 20+ equivalent are rare but well-known?

Core 5e, to me, seems to have a tone of "abundance" and "cosmopolitanism", with lots of races and lots of monster species all having entire communities, rather than being one-offs or the subject of myth. And there are a lot of NPCs and monsters that are CR 10+, so I would probably lean towards a setting where at least Tier 3 level PCs and NPCs are known commodities.

How about this - beings of level 1-10 are fairly common in the various realms, but each reality (beyond the outer planes) has one or more "anchor being" of 11th+ level (and at least one of 20th level). If this anchor being dies, that reality (slowly) fades out of existence unless some powerful being replaces it (very much like the Deadpool & Wolverine movie).

If characters get high enough (above 10th level), they can have realities form around them (sort of like a bastion + system; either as a group or an individual). They can leave their protoworld for a short time without issue, but if they're gone too long their realm starts to decay.

<EDIT> This also lets you create a "Highlander" like system - there's folks out there gunning for other people's realities looking for one better than their own or trying to ensure that their reality dominates/is the only one/doesn't get erased by an opposing reality and are looking to take out a world's anchor being or are individuals fleeing the loss of their world's anchor being before they fade from existance. (Most common folk being unaware of the different realities).

 

[Reynard]

How about this - beings of level 1-10 are fairly common in the various realms, but each reality (beyond the outer planes) has one or more "anchor being" of 11th+ level (and at least one of 20th level). If this anchor being dies, that reality (slowly) fades out of existence unless some powerful being replaces it (very much like the Deadpool & Wolverine movie).

If characters get high enough (above 10th level), they can have realities form around them (sort of like a bastion + system; either as a group or an individual). They can leave their protoworld for a short time without issue, but if they're gone too long their realm starts to decay.

<EDIT> This also lets you create a "Highlander" like system - there's folks out there gunning for other people's realities looking for one better than their own or trying to ensure that their reality dominates/is the only one/doesn't get erased by an opposing reality and are looking to take out a world's anchor being or are individuals fleeing the loss of their world's anchor being before they fade from existance. (Most common folk being unaware of the different realities).

I don't like it. it gives the setting a built in clock. I don't think settings should have built in clocks, or metaplots.

I do like the idea that high level means some deeper connection to the world, though, making "level" a real thing in the fiction.

 

[dave2008]

It also means that the characters can go to the City of Brass or Dis as easily as Waterdeep, which means we don't have to gate "planar" adventures by level anymore.

You never had to gate them by level, but the prevailing thought was the dangers in the outer planes were just greater than the Prime. So you wouldn't want to go there until you were strong enough to survive. That could still be the case, or not.

I've always liked the idea that where the planes touch/cross/blend the "danger" is similar, but the further into a different realm you go (depending on the realm of course) the greater the danger.

 

[TwoSix]

How about this - beings of level 1-10 are fairly common in the various realms, but each reality (beyond the outer planes) has one or more "anchor being" of 11th+ level (and at least one of 20th level). If this anchor being dies, that reality (slowly) fades out of existence unless some powerful being replaces it (very much like the Deadpool & Wolverine movie).

If characters get high enough (above 10th level), they can have realities form around them (sort of like a bastion + system; either as a group or an individual). They can leave their protoworld for a short time without issue, but if they're gone too long their realm starts to decay.

<EDIT> This also lets you create a "Highlander" like system - there's folks out there gunning for other people's realities looking for one better than their own or trying to ensure that their reality dominates/is the only one/doesn't get erased by an opposing reality and are looking to take out a world's anchor being or are individuals fleeing the loss of their world's anchor being before they fade from existance. (Most common folk being unaware of the different realities).

I could get behind this. 5e definitely wants a multiverse. These realities could each be a Prime world in the Astral, possibly, or multiple dimensional layers within one world.

I think I'll be borrowing this for my own game; the Mind's Eye faction definitely views this phenomenom as proof of its beliefs.