Should l think of the planes as planets within the solar system that is a crystal sphere, or should l think of the planes as the place between spheres thats not the phlogiston?
in other words, are there multiple planes of fire, one in each sphere, or do all spheres connect to the same plane of fire?
Third way. The Prime Material plane is a big foam composed mostly of empty space, separated by crystal spheres, held together with phlogiston. You can sail the phlogiston from Krynn to Toril to the Victorian Earth of Masque of the Red Death, but not to the Feywild. This is so baroque, even by D&D standards, that I think most people upgraded Spelljammers to Planejammers on the QT and now we just pretend its all the same thing. Every crystal sphere in the Prime Material Plane accesses the same Elemental Plane of Fire, and the Sultan of the City of Brass might have encountered heroes from a dozen different Prime worlds. So you're right as far as that goes, but the Elemental Plane of Fire never actually touches the phlogiston - which is a Prime Material phenomenon - at any point.
Wouldn't the elemental plane of fire touching phlogiston be bad, like very very bad?
Yes, which is why it doesn't. The Phlogiston is like "ultimate material" where no extraplanar shenanigans can happen.
From inside a crystal sphere, you can access the Ethereal and thus go into the Elemental Planes, but in the Phlogiston, nothing extraplanar can happen, in or out.
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Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Although this is the official way, there are other ways / constraints that you can take into account, for example some settings do not have the same cosmology, so it's easy to create crystal sphere with their own inner planes for example, or even with their own outer planes (Eberron for example). There can be a general trend, but there certainly can be exception to the trend for some parts of the material plane.
Eberron isn't a crystal sphere. It's a basically a whole plane of its own in the Deep Ethereal, per Rising from the Last War. So Eberron is a *very* bad example.
"It is theoretically possible to travel between Eberron and other worlds in the multiverse by means of the Deep Ethereal or various spells designed for planar travel, but the cosmology of Eberron is specifically designed to prevent such travel, to keep the world hidden away from the meddling of gods, celestials, and fiends from beyond.
The three progenitor wyrms worked together to form Eberron and its planes as a new cosmic system in the depths of the Ethereal Plane. They recreated the elves, orcs, dragons, and other races found throughout the multiverse and placed them in their new world, but allowed them to develop beyond the reach of Gruumsh, Corellon, Lolth, and other influences for good and ill."
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Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Thanks for the reference, I had missed that being only a player in Eberron, but honestly placing it in its own crystal sphere solves the problem as well (and to be honest the explanation in the book probably comes from the fact that Spelljammer is not (yet?) official, and contradicts the definition of the prime material plane in the DMG).
Nah, it comes from the fact that Spelljammer came before Eberron (2e versus 3/3.5) and Eberron directly says "No, screw you, we are our own Material" lol
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Thanks for the reference, I had missed that being only a player in Eberron, but honestly placing it in its own crystal sphere solves the problem as well (and to be honest the explanation in the book probably comes from the fact that Spelljammer is not (yet?) official, and contradicts the definition of the prime material plane in the DMG).
Nah, it comes from the fact that Spelljammer came before Eberron (2e versus 3/3.5) and Eberron directly says "No, screw you, we are our own Material" lol
Ah, maybe a case of Eberrexit then ?
yeah, the snippet I quoted literally tells you that :P lol
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Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
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Should l think of the planes as planets within the solar system that is a crystal sphere, or should l think of the planes as the place between spheres thats not the phlogiston?
in other words, are there multiple planes of fire, one in each sphere, or do all spheres connect to the same plane of fire?
Or is there a third way I'm just not thinking of?
Third way. The Prime Material plane is a big foam composed mostly of empty space, separated by crystal spheres, held together with phlogiston. You can sail the phlogiston from Krynn to Toril to the Victorian Earth of Masque of the Red Death, but not to the Feywild. This is so baroque, even by D&D standards, that I think most people upgraded Spelljammers to Planejammers on the QT and now we just pretend its all the same thing. Every crystal sphere in the Prime Material Plane accesses the same Elemental Plane of Fire, and the Sultan of the City of Brass might have encountered heroes from a dozen different Prime worlds. So you're right as far as that goes, but the Elemental Plane of Fire never actually touches the phlogiston - which is a Prime Material phenomenon - at any point.
Wouldn't the elemental plane of fire touching phlogiston be bad, like very very bad?
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Yes, which is why it doesn't. The Phlogiston is like "ultimate material" where no extraplanar shenanigans can happen.
From inside a crystal sphere, you can access the Ethereal and thus go into the Elemental Planes, but in the Phlogiston, nothing extraplanar can happen, in or out.
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Eberron isn't a crystal sphere. It's a basically a whole plane of its own in the Deep Ethereal, per Rising from the Last War. So Eberron is a *very* bad example.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/erftlw/building-eberron-adventures-the-last-war#Eberron-and-the-Multiverse
"It is theoretically possible to travel between Eberron and other worlds in the multiverse by means of the Deep Ethereal or various spells designed for planar travel, but the cosmology of Eberron is specifically designed to prevent such travel, to keep the world hidden away from the meddling of gods, celestials, and fiends from beyond.
The three progenitor wyrms worked together to form Eberron and its planes as a new cosmic system in the depths of the Ethereal Plane. They recreated the elves, orcs, dragons, and other races found throughout the multiverse and placed them in their new world, but allowed them to develop beyond the reach of Gruumsh, Corellon, Lolth, and other influences for good and ill."
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Nah, it comes from the fact that Spelljammer came before Eberron (2e versus 3/3.5) and Eberron directly says "No, screw you, we are our own Material" lol
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
yeah, the snippet I quoted literally tells you that :P lol
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"