What is the best D&D Setting and why is it Dark Sun?
based Brom
Because cannibalistic halflings
becaue it has a strong visual identity, themes and some character to it
instead of just being a bland sandbox made of dumbed-down samples of every work of fantastical fiction ever.
That's a weird way to spell "Mystara" anon.
>>44497846
are there kenders in dark sun?
>>44499684
That depends. 2e Dark Sun can get them in using Spelljammer/Planescape and a bunch of work, because the Athasian crystal sphere is in some form of lockdown, so it's really hard to get in.
>>44499707
>mixing Planescape and Dark Sun
No. Fuck you. Never intended to happen.
>>44499643
this
>>44499764
>getting this butthurt about using Planescape in the intended fashion
Athas is mentioned in Planescape products.
The Planewalker's Handbook has a section on Athasian Primes in the planes.
>>44499764
>planescape mixed with any other settings
>never intended to happen
you mean exactly what was intended to happen?
>>44499764
>>44499804
And now for Dark Sun box set references to planar travel:
Plane Shift is a 5th-level Air-sphere cleric spell.
>N o c r e a t u r e s f r o m t h e S P E L L J A M M E R
Monstrous Compendiums live on Athas. Fiends
from the Outer Planes Appendix (MC10) can travel
to and from Athas at will, but do so rarely, only
when summoned by dragons or great wizards.
And a bunch of other references to interplanar travel.
I like Eberron more, but Dark Sun is a close second.
>>44499643
I think you mistakenly typed "Mystara" when you meant "Ravenloft"
>>44499983
Eh, Eberron's novelty wears off too quick.
>>44499988
You guys just can't get it right, can you? Pic related is the best D&D setting.
I know Ravenloft isn't marked, none of the demiplanes are.
>>44500002
This is a fucking mess
greyhawk because it has the best cosmology
>>44500025
It's actually missing some, like the world the Harmonium come from, which got a one-paragraph write-up in the Planewalker's Handbook.
>>44500045
and by that i mean the 3e version and to a lesser extent the earlier editions as i understand it the new default setting i think it was faerun has the same great wheel as greyhawk and with the changes they made to it i assume that greyhawk suffered the same way
>>44500115
although now that i think about it i dont auctualy know a whole lot about pre 3e planes i should do some reading up on the matter
fuck what 5e did to the great wheel though.
>>44497846
D&D settings are kind of like D&D novels.
Crap that you only read if you're already heavily invested in the franchise, and where the ones people call the best tend to be the ones that differs the most from the bland standard recipe.
>>44497846
Being the best D&D setting is like being the brightest kid in the special ed class. You're everyone's favourite but you're still a retard.
>>44497846
I just picked up the 4e materials as their prices deprecated since the release of 5e, a relative newbie to Dark sun, I particularly appreciate the weird-ass weapons like the Gythka, Dragon's Paw and Dejada (1d8 sling? Fuck yeah!).
>>44499643
Mystara has some cool details but ultimately, I don't think it beats Dark Sun's consistent theming.
>>44500163
>fuck what 5e did to the great wheel though.
Why? What don't you like?
>>44500025
Honestly the only benefit to it is the completeness of the prime elemental planes, which is unrivaled. I'm gonna post some other plane configurations now.
Oh wait I'm missing the 5e maps for some reason. Well that was 2e, here's 4e. 3.x lacks good maps, and if anything earlier than 2e has them (which I doubt) they're not on the internet.
Note that the main differences between the 2e one I posted and that previous one: Phlogiston is the same as the stuff of the ethereal plane, astral does not engulf the wheel, and the outer planes are are shown with a greater emphasis on their alignment categorization rather than on the levels. Other than that, there are more types of details labeled on the official one.
>>44502017
Here's 5e. Basically the 4e cosmology looked at from the top. More detail on the outer planes, less on the inner and mortal.
>>44502168
Here's the inner planes.
>>44502168
I don't suppose anyone has the full color version in a non-cropped image?
>>44502017
This cosmology isn't that bad, far less complicated but still evoking a strange wonder.
>>44502187
>Isle of Dread chilling out in the Plane of Water
Neat.
>>44502168
>Basically the 4e cosmology
All of the D&D cosmologies are basically the same shit.
>>44502231
There's a bunch of cool little places like that which are mentioned in the section of the dungeon master's guide which that is from that aren't shown on the map, too.
>>44502202
Pretty sure nobody was supposed to have even that much, it's a leak.
>>44502017
Here's a picture of 4e that's more like what you'd see in a wizard's college or something.
>>44499988
Supporting this
>>44502168
Not quite. It's more like 'The unholy child of 4e and 3e'. As 4e scrapped a lot of those separate planes (Like the elemental ones on their own)
Do you actually stick with the default cosmologies for your settings or do you mix it up and use what you like?
>>44502247
>basically the same shit
In 2e, the inner planes are a coterminous sphere and include positive and negative, in 3e they're a discrete set of four with positive and negative semi-separate, in 4e they're a flat(ish) coterminous plane with negative and positive gone, and in 5e they're a flat semi-distinct coterminous plane with positive and negative in their 3e positions.
Also, Shadowfell didn't exist until 3e, but didn't pick up the "fell" part of the name until 4e which is also when Feywild appeared.
And having distinct crystal spheres was basically relegated to a fringe option again after 2e. I mean, Planescape in general was sort of intended to be a fringe option in 2e regardless but it got popular enough that it became not that.
But I agree that they're similar enough that they could easily be the same cosmology from the perspectives of different in-universe writes/researchers.
>>44502017
>3.x lacks good maps
Might as well post the map it does have, though.
>>44500001
You shouldn't focus on its novelty and instead on the fact it's one of the only D&D setting that attempts an act least half-assed attempt at exploring what a world where magic is a stable resource.
>>44502588
Problem is, D&D magic is only good for the novelty anyway.
>>44497846
Dark Sun is the best because they threw out a load of Tolkien garbage and instead drew on the work of a much better writer.
Childhood nostalgia says Dragonlance, but yeah it's totally dark sun
That being said the 4e books under this >>44502017 actually have a lot of really cool stuff that I've drawn from a lot.
I like Ravenloft
