DnD Head Canons

[PhoenixPhyre]

I think the main issue with figuring out the long term effects of magic, at least in settings like the Forgotten Realms, is that every couple hundred years (or less) the whole setting gets turned upside down and a new deity is put in charge of how magic works and all the rules change.

One more reason not to use those settings. Number 1366347637864357 if my count isn't off #notblueiftrue

[Witty Username]

If that really is a thing, it soon will be a known thing and explored and used and people (especcially rulers) becoming more concerned with manipulating those large scale long lasting effects than with normal magic. And then you get stupid stuff like law forcing spellcasters to cast "protection from evil" and "protection from chaos" every day to make a nice, law abiding society etc.

Sounds like preservation and defilement in Dark Sun.

[No brains]

The lore is left vague and unsatisfying to deliberately draw the fire of prospective DM head canons.

Where is Gith?
Was Kurtulmak or the gnome gods the aggressor?
Just what is up with that Raven Queen?

Why don't you tell me?

[Bohandas]

I think it's vaguely implied that Gith is Vlaakith

[LibraryOgre]

I think it's vaguely implied that Gith is Vlaakith

Gith is just a title. The real Gith is... Nameless.

[KorvinStarmast]

Look, don't be limited to just Reno. I've killed men just to watch them die lots of places.

OK, we'll broaden our horizons ... wait, isn't that how we get traveling murder hoboes?

Head Canon--

All spells and active magical effects (including magic item use) has ecological and metaphysical consequences beyond what's explicitly printed. -snip- Arcane magic is the most prone to this effect, since direct hacking bypasses all the normal safeguards. -snip- Druidic magic is the least prone to this, but even large-scale spells like plant growth (used in its fertility aspect) have effects--plant growth pulls fertility forward (effectively depleting the normal nutrients, etc). Sure, you double your crop this year. But the next 5 will have below-normal crops to compensate.

Yes, magic is both powerful and dangerous, in that it has side effects.

--snip the rest of supporting points, and agree --And all sorts of fun things will leak through.

Yes. That was something I used in my brother's campaign, and in my Salt Marsh campaign. Stuff kept leaking through, and the party had to to into The Void to seal the leaks. A murder hobo version of the boy with his finger in the dike.

The point being--D&D magic seems nice and controllable. Even mechanistic. Do thing, get result. Done. But that's just Wizardly delusion--everything has consequences. Not always bad consequences, but certainly consequences.

Side effects, like acid rain...

and express the mystery and wonder and unpredictability of meddling in cosmic forces.

What, it's a non linear effect? Arrrrrrrgghh! (reminds me of the very old joke about the monkey trying to put the plug back into the pig)

Magic is a squirrely thing--studying it means it studies you. And has a wicked sense of humor.

That's very old school. +1

I think the main issue with figuring out the long term effects of magic, at least in settings like the Forgotten Realms, is that every couple hundred years (or less) the whole setting gets turned upside down and a new deity is put in charge of how magic works and all the rules change.

Side effects with non linear magnitudes. (Or just achieving the threshold energy for the nuclear explosion analogy that is the various "magic changed" cataclysm as editions change)

Just what is up with that Raven Queen?

She's emo, so she's never up, she's always down

[Bohandas]

Nolzur's Marvelous Pigments are made at least partially out of coyote parts

[animorte]

Every kobold ever featured in one of my games (NPC, monster, or PC) knows or was somebody from Tucker’s. Though it doesn’t often come up.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Because elves are big into agroforestry and sustainable stuff, they really REALLY don't like cattle, given the environmental destruction caused by both cattle and the humans who ranch them.

The most common herd animals found in elven settlements as a result are goats.

[noob]

Because elves are big into agroforestry and sustainable stuff, they really REALLY don't like cattle, given the environmental destruction caused by both cattle and the humans who ranch them.

The most common herd animals found in elven settlements as a result are goats.

What?
Did you never see a goat?
Goat are the destroyers of trees, ravagers of wild-lands.
They will make tons of efforts to seek each tree and try to eat them to death or destroy all their bark and reachable leaves resulting in them dying later.
I participated in making barriers around trees to protect them from goats and despite barriers, many of them still died to goats because they did everything to circumvent the barriers or push them in order to get close enough to the tree to eat its bark or its leaves.
They are a bad pick if you like trees.

[Spore]

Because elves are big into agroforestry and sustainable stuff, they really REALLY don't like cattle, given the environmental destruction caused by both cattle and the humans who ranch them.

The most common herd animals found in elven settlements as a result are goats.

What?
Did you never see a goat?
Goat are the destroyers of tree, ravagers of wild-lands.
They will make tons of efforts to seek each tree and try to eat them to death or destroy all their bark and reachable leaves resulting in them dying later.
I participated in making barriers around trees to protect them from goats and despite barriers, many of them still died to goats because they did everything to circumvent the barriers or push them in order to get close enough to the tree to eat its bark or its leaves.
They are the bad pick if you like trees.

Which is why I enjoy Elder Scrolls' Wood Elves. They just went: "screw it, we love trees and nature so we are EXCLUSIVELY eating meat to reduce those pesky leaf eating things." which is weird, twisted and illogical, but if we live in a world where a 3rd level cleric could theoretically feed dozens (or worse, the Tippyverse where Create Food "Traps" are a thing), I don't see carnivorous elves as the pinnacle of breaking immersion.

In connection to elves, I feel it is implied orcs in almost any setting are just a horrible accident or curse brought upon some noble and arrogant elves. While Faerun Orcs seem to be space invaders, there must be a reason for Gruumsh's hatred for Corellon's fluidity of form. I say they are elves who wanted to reenact Corellon's perfection, but failed. Either through a terrible curse, a backfiring infernal contract or simply hubris. The most ugly one became their god instead.

[Metastachydium]

What?
Did you never see a goat?
Goat are the destroyers of tree, ravagers of wild-lands.

Yup. Those ugly bastards are basically the herbivorous equivalents of feral/free-reanging cats: quadrupedal ecologic disasters that climb better than they have any right to.

Which is why I enjoy Elder Scrolls' Wood Elves. They just went: "screw it, we love trees and nature so we are EXCLUSIVELY eating meat to reduce those pesky leaf eating things." which is weird, twisted and illogical, but if we live in a world where a 3rd level cleric could theoretically feed dozens (or worse, the Tippyverse where Create Food "Traps" are a thing), I don't see carnivorous elves as the pinnacle of breaking immersion.

Oh yes! Bosmer are the bossmer! And what they do is entirely sustainable; they eat people too!

[Archpaladin Zousha]

What?
Did you never see a goat?
Goat are the destroyers of trees, ravagers of wild-lands.
They will make tons of efforts to seek each tree and try to eat them to death or destroy all their bark and reachable leaves resulting in them dying later.
I participated in making barriers around trees to protect them from goats and despite barriers, many of them still died to goats because they did everything to circumvent the barriers or push them in order to get close enough to the tree to eat its bark or its leaves.
They are a bad pick if you like trees.

The studies I looked at implied they were more environmentally friendly because they browse instead of graze the way cows do, meaning they don't tear out the roots of plants which contributes to stuff like soil erosion and nutrient depletion.

[Morphic tide]

The studies I looked at implied they were more environmentally friendly because they browse instead of graze the way cows do, meaning they don't tear out the roots of plants which contributes to stuff like soil erosion and nutrient depletion.

Any monocultural overpopulation is environmentally hazardous, especially when out of touch with the animals' original ecological niche. Most domesticated goats come from mountainous areas, so there's a whole bunch about low-lying forest flora they'll strip bare. Cattle ranching, meanwhile, has seen its largest scale implementations as just substituting a native large ruminate for oxen (because clearing a non-grassland to make pasture is time consuming), resulting in rather little ecological damage because everything the cattle are doing was already being done. Indeed, there's some details in the Great Plains where things got worse from the decline of ranching, because the cattle were the only thing filling the bison's former role, and the bison were not in any position to bounce back to resume it.

Ecological damage from livestock tends to be a matter of either shoving too many in too small an area, or deciding to clear forests for them. It is very difficult to clear D&D forests, and the dominant actual use demanding the felling of trees pre-industrially was basically just house frames and ships. While I cannot for the life of me recall the term, the largest supply of wood tended to be cultivated trees who's low-lying branches would be split and made to regrow repeatedly, giving a renewable supply for wicker-work that made up the far larger share. And since the demand for felling trees is stuff that is measured in decades, it's very easy for the elves to just sell their sustainably-grown trees as lumber, even before offering preservative measures to stretch the weathering losses out to centuries.

[Metastachydium]

The studies I looked at implied they were more environmentally friendly because they browse instead of graze the way cows do, meaning they don't tear out the roots of plants which contributes to stuff like soil erosion and nutrient depletion.

Part of their appeal is that they are stupidly hardy and largely indiscriminate in their choices of food. They can reach pretty much anything they want (they can climb trees, fences, vertical rock faces – you name it) and go for the young shoots if available. They might leave the grass alone as long as they can locate some of their preferred prey, but they'll strip the shrubs and younger/smaller trees clean, leaves, buds and younger, softer branches included. They are pests.

[Kane0]

every couple hundred years (or less) the whole setting gets turned upside down and a new deity is put in charge of how magic works and all the rules change.

I suspect that would largely be because there is no handover documentation.

[NovenFromTheSun]

The fact that the Lower Planes are producing such an output that the Blood War is necessary to keep them under control is the result of the Nameless One’s first sin. That’s why he has to fight in the Blood War, the only way he can fix what he did is by going down and wrecking so much fiendish *** that the scales eventually balance again.

[Chauncymancer]

Any monocultural overpopulation is environmentally hazardous, especially when out of touch with the animals' original ecological niche. Most domesticated goats come from mountainous areas, so there's a whole bunch about low-lying forest flora they'll strip bare. Cattle ranching, meanwhile, has seen its largest scale implementations as just substituting a native large ruminate for oxen (because clearing a non-grassland to make pasture is time consuming), resulting in rather little ecological damage because everything the cattle are doing was already being done. Indeed, there's some details in the Great Plains where things got worse from the decline of ranching, because the cattle were the only thing filling the bison's former role, and the bison were not in any position to bounce back to resume it.

Ecological damage from livestock tends to be a matter of either shoving too many in too small an area, or deciding to clear forests for them. It is very difficult to clear D&D forests, and the dominant actual use demanding the felling of trees pre-industrially was basically just house frames and ships. While I cannot for the life of me recall the term, the largest supply of wood tended to be cultivated trees who's low-lying branches would be split and made to regrow repeatedly, giving a renewable supply for wicker-work that made up the far larger share. And since the demand for felling trees is stuff that is measured in decades, it's very easy for the elves to just sell their sustainably-grown trees as lumber, even before offering preservative measures to stretch the weathering losses out to centuries.

Coppicing is the word I believe

[Spore]

In my games all demiplanes of dread are connected and divided by the deadly mists of Ravenloft. Only the Vistani can pass them, but not because they are in league with the Dark Lords, but because they are their jailors. Torturing the Darklords instead of releasing them to their just afterlives is just preventing evil powers from gaining powerful souls. Things the Dark Powers want to for themselves.

In that vein there are several (neutral to evil) gods in other settings that directly benefit from that power and can grant their followers spells despite their worship being too little for true godhood.

[PhoenixPhyre]

One microfortnight (1e-6 of 14 days) is exactly 1.2096 seconds. Which means that really, the base "round length" for 3e+ D&D isn't 6 seconds, it's 5 microfortnights. 5 is better than 6, so I claim[1] that really the real unit system of D&D is the FFF unit system.

[1] without any real evidence, just whimsy.

[KorvinStarmast]

One microfortnight (1e-6 of 14 days) is exactly 1.2096 seconds. Which means that really, the base "round length" for 3e+ D&D isn't 6 seconds, it's 5 microfortnights. 5 is better than 6, so I claim[1] that really the real unit system of D&D is the FFF unit system.

[1] without any real evidence, just whimsy.

Why, because we have five digits on our hands? Why not use base 8, which is the same as base 10 if you are missing two fingers.

[Bohandas]

All the different published versions of Castle Greyhawk/Castle Zagyg exist in the same place at the same time. Possibly through something to do with the plane of shadows; one of the versions had a very powerful illusionist* living in the lowest sub-basement.


*(like, more powerful a mage overall than Mordenkainen if I'm understanding 1e multiclassing correctly; he was a (generalist) magic user 23/Illusionist 27, whereas Mordenkainen was Magic User 29 )

Why, because we have five digits on our hands? Why not use base 8, which is the same as base 10 if you are missing two fingers.

I mean, if we're going by hands we should be doing base 6. 1-2-3-4-5 and then the next hand is the sixes column

EDIT: I'd say base two, but some patterns of fingers up versus fingers down are very awkward to do. Also, some numbers (such as 4, 128, and 132) would involve having just the middle finger up on at least one hand

EDIT:
Though I do imagine learning to do wizard spells with somatic components involves learning to quickly do all 1024 patterns of fingers up versus fingers down

[KorvinStarmast]

I mean, if we're going by hands

I was referencing a joke from Tom Lehrer's song "New Math" - it is on Youtube somewhere .

[Zelphas]

Most Dwarves are teetotalers; they don't touch a drop of alcohol. The ones that do drink, the ones that are responsible for the widely-spread belief that all Dwarves are heavy drinkers, are the ones who venture above ground. Alcohol is their "medicine", the thing that they need to get around the horrifying fact that there is nothing above their heads but empty air, and there's a ball of fire in the sky way high up that just... hangs there, and burns you if you look at it. Non-Dwarves who visit Dwarven cities don't actually get into the cities themselves; they spend their time in the recovery/preparation wards for those who go Too Far Up... and therefore bring back even more stories about how all Dwarves are obsessed with alcohol and drink heavily at all hours of the day.

[noob]

Most Dwarves are teetotalers; they don't touch a drop of alcohol. The ones that do drink, the ones that are responsible for the widely-spread belief that all Dwarves are heavy drinkers, are the ones who venture above ground. Alcohol is their "medicine", the thing that they need to get around the horrifying fact that there is nothing above their heads but empty air, and there's a ball of fire in the sky way high up that just... hangs there, and burns you if you look at it. Non-Dwarves who visit Dwarven cities don't actually get into the cities themselves; they spend their time in the recovery/preparation wards for those who go Too Far Up... and therefore bring back even more stories about how all Dwarves are obsessed with alcohol and drink heavily at all hours of the day.

The phobia of empty air would make sense in dnd: there is too many flying creatures that can kill you from a distance.
I could see it evolved as an adaptation to a dangerous world.
Just like how humans have some degree of snake phobia by default due to snakes having been around for long.

[KorvinStarmast]

An idea that got stuck into my head by a nice lady at work:
Mummies are zombies from a different, more affluent, socio-economic origin.
And I can't help seeing in my mind's eye a little alligator embroidered onto the wrappings over the left side of a standard mummy's chest ... arrrrgggg!

[NovenFromTheSun]

The stuff that ghosts, spirits, outsiders and souls are made of and the stuff flesh and bone is made of aren’t that different. I could point to how ghostly creatures tend to just have resistance to physical attacks, but an even better example comes from the rutterkin and sibriex. They can turn a person into a manes, just like a chaotic evil soul becomes a manes when they go to the Abyss, but in their case everything suggest that this is a bodily transformation for their victim rather than a spiritual one in the later case. And yet the result is completely the same.

[No brains]

Asmodeus got into his position by representing the worst kind of evil: the necessary evil.

Everything Asmodeus does is ostensibly to a good end, but he has zero reservations about what it takes to get there. This is evidenced by hell often opposing evil either directly or by proxy, such through the Blood War, imprisoning Tiamat, or hurting mind flayers through empowering Githyanki and Duergar. By perpetuating the idea of evil as a means and not an end, he's able to expand the influence of evil through the repercussions of those means that mortals might not fully comprehend.

He also hates liches and other soul eating evils. Though this is out of a pragmatic concern, as a creature that promises its soul and then gets it devoured has in his eyes committed metaphysical credit fraud.

[Bohandas]

The stuff that ghosts, spirits, outsiders and souls are made of and the stuff flesh and bone is made of aren’t that different. I could point to how ghostly creatures tend to just have resistance to physical attacks, but an even better example comes from the rutterkin and sibriex. They can turn a person into a manes, just like a chaotic evil soul becomes a manes when they go to the Abyss\

Rutterkin? Are you sure you're not thinking of the nalfeshnees or molydeus?

[NovenFromTheSun]

Rutterkin? Are you sure you're not thinking of the nalfeshnees or molydeus?

I know rutterkin have an ability to turn people into manes, I’ll have to check the others.