WotC WotC needs an Elon Musk

[Chaosmancer]

So, the earlier discussion of "has WoTC released a good sourcebook for a setting" got me itching to try and decide if a good sourcebook has been made, if you don't have any preconceptions about the setting.

Was going to do Theros, but then the discussion turned to Spelljammer and I ended up making a monster post... which was too big to put here and likely to derail. So I made a new thread

D&D General - Is Spelljammer really that bad?

So, slightly click-baity title, let me give context. I was reading through this thread (WotC - WotC needs an Elon Musk) about if WoTC needs Elon Musk, and one of the complaints that caught my eye amongst the various points of discussion was that WoTC has released "no good sourcebooks". Except...

www.enworld.org

TL;DR? I think the Spelljammer box set actually does act as a good sourcebook for a setting. It does a lot more than I think people realize, especially for people who don't have the expectation fo what spelljammer "should be"

Sad I've missed some of the more interesting discussions on this thread, but, took me a long time to get around to it.

 

[Clint_L]

Lukewarm take - D&D shouldn't have a cosmology. Cosmology should be setting-specific.

I agree 100%.

 

[Clint_L]

So, the earlier discussion of "has WoTC released a good sourcebook for a setting" got me itching to try and decide if a good sourcebook has been made...

I think a lot of the Forgotten Realms settings are very good, even if the Forgotten Realms themselves could use a kind of overall setting guide. For example, I think Rime of the Frostmaiden does a great job of fleshing out Icewind Dale.

On a more comprehensive scale, Explorer's Guide to Wildemount is a really good guide that does a great job of both setting up a world complete with a history and cosmology, a more detailed gazetteer of an entire continent, and then offering a series of introductory adventures set in four different regions. I think it's the best conceptualized setting guide WotC have put out for 5e.

 

[jgsugden]

Which is why I've always ignored it and just came up with my own system with multiple realms loosely based on Norse lore. Seriously, who needs the quasi-elemental plane of salt?

Potatoes. Potatoes need NA.

 

[Scribe]

Which is why I've always ignored it and just came up with my own system with multiple realms loosely based on Norse lore. Seriously, who needs the quasi-elemental plane of salt?

I mean as far as transitionary places, some of them are kind of neat.

Frostfell (Air and Water)
Swamp of Oblivion (Earth and Water)

The ones interacting with Positive/Negative are admittedly less interesting.

 

[Incenjucar]

Quasi-elemental planes tend to be extra intense, but can still be plenty interesting. Radiance already has a powerful healing location, and you can do so many cool things with light, color, reflection, etc. Ash has a lot of different forms and some interesting interactions with heat and cold. Salt can have so many different forms with giant crystals and salt storms and liquid salt that slows light. Dust has sand and rust monsters/dragons and empires and all kinds of fascinating decay situations. Etc. etc. Also remember that you can have chunks of other things in the elemental planes.

A mountain can be a big dumb rock or it can be Olympus.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Then maybe don't use it? There's no reason to remove things other people like because you don't want to go through the "effort" of ignoring them.

Who’s talking about removing anything? As far asI know, there is currently no plane of salt in 5e.

 

[Nikosandros]

As far asI know, there is currently no plane of salt in 5e.

What used to be the para-elemental planes are the border regions between the four elemental planes, but AFAICT the quasi-elemental planes are not mentioned at all. Actually, even the positive and negative planes are mentioned at the beginning of the planar chapter of the DMG, but they have no detailed description.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Which is why I've always ignored it and just came up with my own system with multiple realms loosely based on Norse lore. Seriously, who needs the quasi-elemental plane of salt?

That's why I like the 4e "Elemental Chaos" approach. If you ever do need a quasi-elemental plane of salt then there's probably at least one floating around in the Elemental Chaos, but if you don't need one there's no need to categorize it in advance.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I mean as far as transitionary places, some of them are kind of neat.

Frostfell (Air and Water)
Swamp of Oblivion (Earth and Water)

The ones interacting with Positive/Negative are admittedly less interesting.

True, but are they neat because they are transitory elemental planes, or would they be just as cool somewhere else?

I could see taking the Swamp of Oblivion (an endless swamp, with endless depths) and putting it in the Feywild, the Abyss, or the Shadowfell easily. I mean, reading up on the place takes only seconds. It is a big swamp, no solid ground, things thrown in are rumored to stay lost for a century at least. That can be put anywhere. (Isn't Minauros basically the same thing?)

Same with Frostfell, though frankly other than the existence of Cryonax (who is a fun villain) I struggle to see how Frostfell is much different than other planes of extreme cold like Styiga, Cannia, or the Divine Domain of a deity of cold like Auril. Just... put it in the Feywild as part of the Winter Court and it works just fine.