D&D Setting Ideas
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icyshadowlord
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Asura coming from dragon poop? Nah, too much reading up on the "badass but flawed" ones makes me think they deserve better than that.
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RelentlessImp
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Really? Have you read Brahman/Vedic/Hindu creation myths? Because one is literally a transformation chase ending in rape and creation of other Asuras. One is the Father of All giving its literal body to form the skies, the oceans, and the land and all that came after going cannibal on its progenitor. Literally anything works if you're going to use a Hindu model.icyshadowlord wrote:Asura coming from dragon poop? Nah, too much reading up on the "badass but flawed" ones makes me think they deserve better than that.
Last edited by RelentlessImp on Tue Sep 29, 2015 1:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
This thread still exists posting more stuff. Once again the Far Realm, the negative energy plane, the ethereal plane, and the plane of shadow are all interesting as concepts but individually they don't have enough going on to justify themselves as unique planes. Enter the void.
The Void
There exists a plane that is simply a dead and dark reflection of wherever you happen to be. Call it what you will. Plane of Shadows, the Etheral Plane, the Shadowfell, the Worldshadow. Undead(especially the incorporeal kind) exist here along with some dangerous native flora and fauna. It's the easiest plane to reach by magic and generally the first "planar adventure" location. However if you "go deeper" from the plane of shadows you reach the void. The void is the end, lightness and black in all directions. According to some scholars all things that exist will eventually be pulled there to vanish into nothingness. The negative energy dominate trait swiftly ends all unprotected life and the planes entropic nature causes any object left there to eventually crumble to dust.
However the void is not completely empty. Drifting in the blackness are what appear to be floating islands. Remnants of worlds that once were that have been protected by powerful magic. Think of them as "lifeboats" from the mother of all shipwrecks. The inhabitants of these remnants tend to be powerful, alien and desperate. Few things that live want to remain in the void for longer then they have to. Some such as the Aboleth and Illithids have already found the prime and made it their home. The Ken-Zai have made a permanent home for their race in one such remnant. From there they plot the destruction of worlds in general and yours in particular.
Unfortunately for these creatures the void isn't just destructive it's also corruptive. It warps living things that spend to much time there to destructive ends. For instance even since their races sojourn through the void the Illithids have needed to eat the brains of other sentient to retain their Psionic powers.
See the void has a sort of will. Not a sentience or intelligence but a sort of intent that bleeds into things that associated with it. Especially the undead who are animated by void magic. This is why necromancy while not automatically evil is still heavily frowned upon in most societies. Uncontrolled non-sentient undead will try to kill anything alive that they come across. Sentient undead are usually evil and often have some kind of hunger that basically can't be satisfied in a socially acceptable way. (famously vampires drink blood, but Ghouls hunger for the flesh of humanoids, and other undead have even weirder cravings)
The Void
There exists a plane that is simply a dead and dark reflection of wherever you happen to be. Call it what you will. Plane of Shadows, the Etheral Plane, the Shadowfell, the Worldshadow. Undead(especially the incorporeal kind) exist here along with some dangerous native flora and fauna. It's the easiest plane to reach by magic and generally the first "planar adventure" location. However if you "go deeper" from the plane of shadows you reach the void. The void is the end, lightness and black in all directions. According to some scholars all things that exist will eventually be pulled there to vanish into nothingness. The negative energy dominate trait swiftly ends all unprotected life and the planes entropic nature causes any object left there to eventually crumble to dust.
However the void is not completely empty. Drifting in the blackness are what appear to be floating islands. Remnants of worlds that once were that have been protected by powerful magic. Think of them as "lifeboats" from the mother of all shipwrecks. The inhabitants of these remnants tend to be powerful, alien and desperate. Few things that live want to remain in the void for longer then they have to. Some such as the Aboleth and Illithids have already found the prime and made it their home. The Ken-Zai have made a permanent home for their race in one such remnant. From there they plot the destruction of worlds in general and yours in particular.
Unfortunately for these creatures the void isn't just destructive it's also corruptive. It warps living things that spend to much time there to destructive ends. For instance even since their races sojourn through the void the Illithids have needed to eat the brains of other sentient to retain their Psionic powers.
See the void has a sort of will. Not a sentience or intelligence but a sort of intent that bleeds into things that associated with it. Especially the undead who are animated by void magic. This is why necromancy while not automatically evil is still heavily frowned upon in most societies. Uncontrolled non-sentient undead will try to kill anything alive that they come across. Sentient undead are usually evil and often have some kind of hunger that basically can't be satisfied in a socially acceptable way. (famously vampires drink blood, but Ghouls hunger for the flesh of humanoids, and other undead have even weirder cravings)
Re: D&D Setting Ideas
LM, if you want the main struggle to be about cosmic balance, why it is a balance between Law and Chaos?
To me the more obvious decision is to make Law the faction of cosmic powers who would like the current, well, laws, of the universe, accidentally the very thing that prevents mortals from becoming toys and snacks of demons, and gibbering horrors from the void, and assorted beings powerful enough to impose their will on feeble humanoids, to remain in place.
And Chaos is the faction, or several factions bunched together by the proponents of Law for the purpose of marking them as a threat, that want to tear down the cosmic order. The exact end goals they have in mind may wary wildly. Asmodeus and powers of Hell might want their boot on everyone else's faces forever. Alien extradimensional god-monsters might be changing the world to make it more comfortable for themselves. Fae kings would like very much to shape reality to their every mometary whim. Demons might think there is not enough possibillities for tentacle rape or just want to see the world burn. The unifying element is the overarching desire to impose their will on the universe and hijack the cosmic order to serve their own purposes.
Of course their problem is that the very order they want to bring down and rewrite stands in their way. Chaos powers almost never can directly invade the Material Plane, they need to be invited, fed and nourished by mortals before gaining any real foothold there. Therefore many of them work on offering mortals gifts that would make inviting Chaos into your home appealing, at least for power-hungry, desperate or overconfident people. Others, particularly those who already can exert a modicum of power in the realm of mortals, fool and beguile ignorant people. Chaos is hostile to mortal civilization, because civilization gives mortals numbers, power and knowledge, numbers and power to resist and knowledge to recognize the threats to them. Chaos powers much prefer savage tribes, which are far easier to hold in thrall, first by deception and then by force.
Whille yes, this makes Chaos into Team Evil, this also allows to have Team Evil without endlessly repetitive discussions on what evil is, and have cosmic forces that need to be opposed without having every single creature with allegiance to those forces be an incarnation of malevolence, or every Chaos cultist a baby-sacrificing psychopath.
To me the more obvious decision is to make Law the faction of cosmic powers who would like the current, well, laws, of the universe, accidentally the very thing that prevents mortals from becoming toys and snacks of demons, and gibbering horrors from the void, and assorted beings powerful enough to impose their will on feeble humanoids, to remain in place.
And Chaos is the faction, or several factions bunched together by the proponents of Law for the purpose of marking them as a threat, that want to tear down the cosmic order. The exact end goals they have in mind may wary wildly. Asmodeus and powers of Hell might want their boot on everyone else's faces forever. Alien extradimensional god-monsters might be changing the world to make it more comfortable for themselves. Fae kings would like very much to shape reality to their every mometary whim. Demons might think there is not enough possibillities for tentacle rape or just want to see the world burn. The unifying element is the overarching desire to impose their will on the universe and hijack the cosmic order to serve their own purposes.
Of course their problem is that the very order they want to bring down and rewrite stands in their way. Chaos powers almost never can directly invade the Material Plane, they need to be invited, fed and nourished by mortals before gaining any real foothold there. Therefore many of them work on offering mortals gifts that would make inviting Chaos into your home appealing, at least for power-hungry, desperate or overconfident people. Others, particularly those who already can exert a modicum of power in the realm of mortals, fool and beguile ignorant people. Chaos is hostile to mortal civilization, because civilization gives mortals numbers, power and knowledge, numbers and power to resist and knowledge to recognize the threats to them. Chaos powers much prefer savage tribes, which are far easier to hold in thrall, first by deception and then by force.
Whille yes, this makes Chaos into Team Evil, this also allows to have Team Evil without endlessly repetitive discussions on what evil is, and have cosmic forces that need to be opposed without having every single creature with allegiance to those forces be an incarnation of malevolence, or every Chaos cultist a baby-sacrificing psychopath.
Well the idea is that while tearing down the whole cosmic order is something that PCs are generally not going to be on board with, tearing down specific parts of the cosmic order is another thing entirely.
Asmodeus and the house of Rahl are both dues paying members of team Law. They are also douchebags. You can take missions from team Chaos to kick over their sandcastles and still have the shiny gold Good alignment sticker over your head.
Remember that the Law/Chaos balance is supposed to exist alongside the more standard Good/Evil conflict. The Angels and Devils may technically be on team Law but they still hate each other. They have restrictions about acting against each other directly, but they have no compunctions about using outside parties like team Chaos (or the PCs) in order to ensure that their preferred version of the cosmic order prevails.
Asmodeus and the house of Rahl are both dues paying members of team Law. They are also douchebags. You can take missions from team Chaos to kick over their sandcastles and still have the shiny gold Good alignment sticker over your head.
Remember that the Law/Chaos balance is supposed to exist alongside the more standard Good/Evil conflict. The Angels and Devils may technically be on team Law but they still hate each other. They have restrictions about acting against each other directly, but they have no compunctions about using outside parties like team Chaos (or the PCs) in order to ensure that their preferred version of the cosmic order prevails.
So keeping on theme of people who PCs can work with but may also need to stab in the face (along with the good/evil conflict) let's talk about angels .
The Congress of Angels
The problem with Good as a cosmic force is that "what is good" is an actually subject of real world debate. Trying to make sense of D&D morality as something coherent as basically not worth doing. Like no one ever cracked open the Book of Exalted Deed looking for actual moral philosophy.
So what counts as Good in setting is set by the a group of Solar Angels who are the top dogs of team Good. Mostly by virtue of being some of the more absurd things that have semi-usable statblocks and good alignment. Most mortals don't actually realize this and assume it's the Gods that are in charge but while the Gods are individual powerful outsiders they are still individual outsiders at the end of they day. The celestial bureaucracy requires angels to function and as beings of pure law and good Angels are basically the best at collective bargaining. So when push comes to shove they tend to get their way.
The thing is that the Solars don't really have a broad overarching agenda. They're knowledgeable but not omniscient and they're basically civil servants who's job happens to be "determine what's right and wrong on a cosmic level." Of course as immortal being who live in the after life they're perspective on things can be a little warped. Most notably they're way less concerned about mortals dying then they really should be. As far as they are concerned death is simply how outstanding karma issues are ultimately resolved.
Incidentally selling your soul to angels is how you become a Paladin. This why Paladins can 'fall', because the angels own their soul and thus can turn off their magic if they want to.
The Congress of Angels
The problem with Good as a cosmic force is that "what is good" is an actually subject of real world debate. Trying to make sense of D&D morality as something coherent as basically not worth doing. Like no one ever cracked open the Book of Exalted Deed looking for actual moral philosophy.
So what counts as Good in setting is set by the a group of Solar Angels who are the top dogs of team Good. Mostly by virtue of being some of the more absurd things that have semi-usable statblocks and good alignment. Most mortals don't actually realize this and assume it's the Gods that are in charge but while the Gods are individual powerful outsiders they are still individual outsiders at the end of they day. The celestial bureaucracy requires angels to function and as beings of pure law and good Angels are basically the best at collective bargaining. So when push comes to shove they tend to get their way.
The thing is that the Solars don't really have a broad overarching agenda. They're knowledgeable but not omniscient and they're basically civil servants who's job happens to be "determine what's right and wrong on a cosmic level." Of course as immortal being who live in the after life they're perspective on things can be a little warped. Most notably they're way less concerned about mortals dying then they really should be. As far as they are concerned death is simply how outstanding karma issues are ultimately resolved.
Incidentally selling your soul to angels is how you become a Paladin. This why Paladins can 'fall', because the angels own their soul and thus can turn off their magic if they want to.