DnD Head Canons

[Jay R]

The entire multiverse was created by a demented being as a place for his or her friends to amuse themselves. Most creatures only exist for his friends to slay by proxy, using creatures of their own.

The "gods" are as much a plaything of this entity as any other creature.

I know that Gary Gygax wasn't perfect but calling him demented seems a little harsh.

I actually meant the DM of each game -- my game in particular.

[Besides, Arneson invented the hobby, not Gygax.]

[Malphegor]

Wee Jas became the Raven Queen during the vague timeline from 3e to 4e is a fairly popular theory that I've never been 100% happy with but have accepted. She slowly lost her Suloise-origins and became a more generic Morrigan-lite entity as more of her worship came from non-Suel originating peoples on planes other than Greyhawk. (I'm not sure if D&D gods are influenced by their followers much, it feels right but I may be mistaken)

We all know of Oerth and Earth, but there are many other <letters>-rth universes out there, from Derth, to Hearth, all the way up to Zerth. The spelling is often inconsistent. (I think this IS canon somewhere but I can't find where)


The inventor of Grease never considered its amazingly versatile use in battle, and mostly thought it was a fun prank spell.

[NontheistCleric]

Male hags exist, but because the Monster Manual entry (at least in 3.5) states that all hags look like old females, the males also look like old females.

Some suffer body dysphoria over this and cut or burn off their female features.

[SunderedWorldDM]

After some PC shenanigans, Orcus was ousted as a demon lord and instead became a Shadowfell entity, rival to the Raven Queen. A PC ascended to become a demon lord instead, and now Korren rules Thatanos.

[Bohandas]

Male hags exist, but because the Monster Manual entry (at least in 3.5) states that all hags look like old females, the males also look like old females.

Some suffer body dysphoria over this and cut or burn off their female features.

And others marry gnoll women

[Yora]

Hags are female ogres.

Both are grotesque versions of humans that capture and eat people. Males display strength and physical violence, and females use lies and deception.

[hymer]

Hags are female ogres.

Both are grotesque versions of humans that capture and eat people. Males display strength and physical violence, and females use lies and deception.

I love that! I'm definitely stealing it.

[Eldan]

Hags are female ogres.

Both are grotesque versions of humans that capture and eat people. Males display strength and physical violence, and females use lies and deception.

How would you say the Ogre Magus fits into this?

[Beleriphon]

How would you say the Ogre Magus fits into this?

Rename it the oni, and go with that. Its a similar, but distinct creature that uses its superficial similarities to ogres to rule over a clan.

OR

If a hag breeds with an ogre it produces an ogre mage, however hags being hags don't actually want something that can both outwit them and out-pummel them.

[Pronounceable]

Raven Queen is Kelemvor. He got sick of all that wall bull**** and changed his name and moved away.

Asmodeus is an empty showboat claiming everything always goes just as planned no matter what happens.

[Bohandas]

*Obryiths are slightly more chaotic than evil, loumaras are slightly more evil than chaotic, and tanari are relatibely evenly mixed

*Bel and the Dark Eight operate out of a star fort called "The Pentagram"

*Slavery is the abyss is exclusively of the locked-up-in-some-guy's-basement variety. Chattel slavery is dependent on there being someone around who will help you recapture escapees instead of just laughing at your sorry *** or impulsively killing them. (Do bear in mind however that Grazzt's basement encompasses two entire layers of the plane, so him having a lot of slaves isn't inconsistent with this.)

*Demons, in fact, fall generally into the anti-slavery camp when it comes to chattel slavery since chattel slavery falls somewhat firmly in the lawful-evil quadrant along with the hated baatezu

*Demons are actually better than celestials at righting lawful-evil type institutional wrongs. For a certain value of "righting" for any way. Celestials worry about avoiding things like civilian casualties, or collateral damage, or collapsing the entire economy plunging the land into famine and chaos, or killing the people they're supposed to be helping. To demons however these are all bonuses, which greatly expands their options, and plunging the land into eternal famine and chaos greatly impedes the local government's ability to enforce tyrannical policies going forward.

[Millstone85]

Plane shifting is actually time travel.

The history of the universe goes like so:

Elemental Era	(Inner Planes)
Time of Faeries	(Feywild)
Draconic Reign	(Prime Material)
Time of Dust	(Shadowfell)
Astral Age	(Outer Planes)

Some periods see the coexistence of alternate timelines. The universe begins with a fireball, but also with a storm. It ends with everything going to Hell, but also to Heaven.

The Time of Dust and the Astral Age are the death and the afterlife of the universe itself.

The Ethereal is made of time. In the Astral Age, it is replaced by something even more abstract.

Travellers usually find themselves too far in the future or the past for paradoxes to occur. Otherwise, they become the target of the quaruts, the inevitables of causality, which come from the cosmic clock that is Mechanus. Vague omens are, however, fairly common.

Limbo is an attempt to bring about a new elemental era. Or would it be the very same Elemental Era, making time a circle?

Many theories exist on the nature of the Far Realm. Is it a previous iteration of the universe? Is it a set of timelines based on "impossible" outcomes? Is it outside of time? Is it a single name mistakenly given to all these things?

[Bohandas]

*Instead of acting hobbit-like, halflings all have the personality and mannerisms of crime boss Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman.

Edit:
And they double down hard on any traits where hobbits and El Chapo overlap (ie. tunnels, questionable recreational plant crops, etc)

[PostMortemCP]

The berserk from the deities and demigods book in 3.5 is not only the originator of lycanthropy, the bear warrior and barbarians as a whole but they are the best prestige class for anyone wanting to become any form of lychanthrope or a frenzy berserker without the serious drawbacks This is both a flavor, game balancing and head canon reason of why Berzerks normally restricted to Nordic style characters worship Nordic deities should be the highest regarded most feared and aimed for in any barbarians play book. Why become a werewolf or were bear when bird is now an option and is literally a rage frenzy powerhouse.

[Malphegor]

Tieflings and Tanarruks have multiple origins, but the oldest were likely Acolytes of the Skin, cocaine wizards who willingly took on the facets of infernal biology by letting themselves be inhabited by a devil of demon. Breeding with devils directly to create half fiends and proper subspecies that self reproduce came later.

Due to the existence of interdimensional travel including access to the afterlifes of various faiths, something exists to stop the dead staging prison breaks from the afterlife on the regular.

There are multiple versions of the named characters based on real writers’ characters. This is why the big
wizards never mention the satelite with portals to a technologically current day Earth.


There are still AD&D (I think) Apocalypse Stones, they’re just really boring looking and hard to activate nowadays.

Beholders are getting more ferocious across editions because they reproduce by dreaming of themselves being tougher versions of themselves. They used to be quite happy and friendly chaps, but each fight makes the next generation more evil, more powerful, more aggressive.

[Âmesang]

We all know of Oerth and Earth, but there are many other <letters>-rth universes out there, from Derth, to Hearth, all the way up to Zerth. The spelling is often inconsistent. (I think this IS canon somewhere but I can't find where)

From Gygax himself (see his article in POLYHEDRON #21 Nov 1984, p.9, and later mentioned in Expedition to the Ruins of Greyhawk, p.91) the official worlds connected to Oerth were Earth, Aerth (detailed in the Epic of Ærth sourcebook for Gygax's Dangerous Journeys roleplaying game), Yarth (the Conan/Kull-like setting for Gygax's Sagard the Barbarian choose-your-own-adventure books), and Uerth (a mirror-version of Oerth detailed in Expedition…).

Gygax also detailed a sixth world, "Learth" (or "Lejendary Earth") from his Lejendary Adventure roleplaying game. However, since it wasn't grouped together with Aerth, Earth, Oerth, Uerth, and Yarth, I treated the "Learth" side of a "Gygaxian cubic gate" as being scarred/cracked/broken/otherwise inoperable.

…with all of that said, your idea regarding the spread of Wee Jas' influence reminded me of her inclusion as an Earthen religion in d20 Modern.

(Also, are details mentioned in a DUNGEON MASTER'S Guide considered canon? 'Cause I like how the 5e DMG [p.41] makes mention of the module "City Beyond the Gate," where adventurers travel to London to recover the Mace of St. Cuthbert, as well as Ed Greenwood's series of short stories, "The Wizards Three," where Mordenkainen, Elminster of Shadowdale, and Dalamar the Dark [usually] would travel to Earth to talk shop at Ed's house.)

[Bohandas]

*The courts in Woeful Escrand in the Abyss operate more like gameshows than proper courtrooms

*The unseen "Dark Powers" who control the Demiplane of Dread look and sound like Rod Sterling

*Vecna got out of the Demiplane of Dread, and into Sigil, by cutting through the Far Realm instead of going via the Astral ot Ethereal planes

[noob]

In earth weapons are deadlier than those written in the dmg and chtulu is a recurrent problem.

[Millstone85]

The unseen "Dark Powers" who control the Demiplane of Dread look and sound like Rod Serling

Submitted for your approval, a portrait of Strahd von Zarovich, once a conqueror of lands and hearts, now scarred and resenting younger men. The woman he covets is putting on her bridal garments, but for his brother. In a moment, we will offer Strahd the deal of a lifetime, a new dawn in place of dusk. Of course, those can be difficult to tell apart, here in the Twilight Zone.

[LibraryOgre]

*The unseen "Dark Powers" who control the Demiplane of Dread look and sound like Rod Sterling

Submitted for your approval, a portrait of Strahd von Zarovich, once a conqueror of lands and hearts, now scarred and resenting younger men. The woman he covets is putting on her bridal garments, but for his brother. In a moment, we will offer Strahd the deal of a lifetime, a new dawn in place of dusk. Of course, those can be difficult to tell apart, here in the Twilight Zone.

Well, this is too cool NOT to be true.

But, juxtaposition is now making me think of being Mazed by the Lady of Pain as being "sent to the cornfield."

[PhoenixPhyre]

Personal head canon:

The "multiverse" is a lie. More specifically, a partial truth.

The real truth (the one the gods don't want people to know) is that the regular D&D multiverse with the Great Wheel and all that, is merely one of an uncountable infinity of such universes, all with different cosmologies, laws, etc. All these are embedded in the Far Realms, which is the real background, and is sentient. The creators of each of these realms (as well as all the assorted Far Realms denizens) are fragments of the Dreaming Dark (the sleeping mind of the Far Realms itself), created a timeless eternity ago when the Dark dreamed of Self and Other. Some of these Dreamers settled down to create worlds (singly or in concert); others still wander and meddle. Some malevolent (from the perspective of the Dream-bound), some not. All alien. Transit between these realms may be possible, but it's a matter of thought and will, not "magic" or "science".

Distance in this meta-realm is philosophical and conceptual. Worlds that are "similar" cluster together (in a sense), while others spread throughout infinite "space".

All worlds that can be conceived of exist. Some are broken fragments, incapable of coherent existence. Others are infinitely large (like the D&D multiverse). Our "real world" as well is among these Dreams.

[noob]

Personal head canon:

The "multiverse" is a lie. More specifically, a partial truth.

The real truth (the one the gods don't want people to know) is that the regular D&D multiverse with the Great Wheel and all that, is merely one of an uncountable infinity of such universes, all with different cosmologies, laws, etc. All these are embedded in the Far Realms, which is the real background, and is sentient. The creators of each of these realms (as well as all the assorted Far Realms denizens) are fragments of the Dreaming Dark (the sleeping mind of the Far Realms itself), created a timeless eternity ago when the Dark dreamed of Self and Other. Some of these Dreamers settled down to create worlds (singly or in concert); others still wander and meddle. Some malevolent (from the perspective of the Dream-bound), some not. All alien. Transit between these realms may be possible, but it's a matter of thought and will, not "magic" or "science".

Distance in this meta-realm is philosophical and conceptual. Worlds that are "similar" cluster together (in a sense), while others spread throughout infinite "space".

All worlds that can be conceived of exist. Some are broken fragments, incapable of coherent existence. Others are infinitely large (like the D&D multiverse). Our "real world" as well is among these Dreams.

All worlds that can be conceived of exist

not exactly true: or else everyone could imagine "a functional world where there is a super cool thing that is able to come in my world and help me and which is going to do so in 5 seconds from my time" and due to them being able to conceive it then it would exist and come in five seconds to help this person.

Or people in normal worlds are unable to imagine such kind of things.

[PhoenixPhyre]

not exactly true: or else everyone could imagine "a functional world where there is a super cool thing that is able to come in my world and help me and which is going to do so in 5 seconds from my time" and due to them being able to conceive it then it would exist and come in five seconds to help this person.

Or people in normal worlds are unable to imagine such kind of things.

Such a world may exist. But the only ones capable of bringing new worlds into existence are the Dreamers, whose dreams we are. The individuals within a dream may (or may not) have power to shape their own dream (depending on the will of the Dreamer), but they can't affect other Dreams without going there and acting on that other Dream's terms. Most Dreams have exclusion rules that limit or forbid transit between Dreams, and force anything that does transit to take on particular metaphysical characteristics. Forces and beings from without tend to be corrosive to the things within, as their laws of being conflict with the local laws of being.

My point was that all the worlds both fictional and real slot into this meta-landscape. Not literally everything that can be conceived of, but more figuratively.

[Millstone85]

snip

"a functional world where there is a super cool thing that is able to come in my world and help me and which is going to do so in 5 seconds from my time"

This reminds me of The Chronicles of Amber.

[noob]

This reminds me of The Chronicles of Amber.

I mentioned that because it is a common idea and so not having it happen when everything exists at once is weird.

[PhoenixPhyre]

This reminds me of The Chronicles of Amber.

Amber is an example of a world where that works just fine, because the dreamer there allowed it. In others, the dreamer decided that they didn't want that to work. From the perspective of someone in one of these worlds, only their world exists. Cross dream activity isn't easy.*

* Except as thoughts from outside. Possibly as imagination or dreams. Since everything is part of the Dreaming Dark, everything exists conceptually and can interact that way. Conceptual space is weird, man.

[Millstone85]

I mentioned that because it is a common idea and so not having it happen when everything exists at once is weird.

I think it is a form of omnipotence paradox:

• All imaginable worlds exist, no exceptions.
• Imagine a wish-granting world, able to send cool stuff to all other worlds, no exceptions.
• Imagine a world that is impermeable to anything sent from other worlds, no exceptions.

[Velaryon]

That isn't Canon? What else is "Demiplane of Dread" supposed to mean? In I Strahd we see the process of Barovia becoming part of Ravenloft and in at least one high level adventure perma-killing a Domain Lord can return the realm to it's native Prime. Was Ravenloft defanged in a newer edition?

So you quoted the Forgotten Realms part of my post but then replied to the Ravenloft part. Millstone85 touched on this issue but I thought I would expand on it since I'm the one who put forth my headcanon on this topic.

My headcanon is that the Demiplane of Dread is a full setting, not a series of isolated lands that can be plugged in to other worlds all willy-nilly. I know that's how they began with the original Ravenloft adventure, but I preferred the full expanded setting, complete with all those other lands. Unfortunately, to my knowledge that hasn't existed since 3.5 edition, when the setting was licensed out to a third party. Since recovering the license, all WotC has done with it to my knowledge is remake the original Strahd adventure in Barovia a couple of times.

To me, Barovia is one nation among many, alongside Darkon, Mordent, Sithicus, and a bunch of others. None of those might as well exist, for all Wizards has done with them.

[Bohandas]

Plane shifting is actually time travel.

The history of the universe goes like so:

Elemental Era	(Inner Planes)
Time of Faeries	(Feywild)
Draconic Reign	(Prime Material)
Time of Dust	(Shadowfell)
Astral Age	(Outer Planes)

Some periods see the coexistence of alternate timelines. The universe begins with a fireball, but also with a storm. It ends with everything going to Hell, but also to Heaven.

The Time of Dust and the Astral Age are the death and the afterlife of the universe itself.

The Ethereal is made of time. In the Astral Age, it is replaced by something even more abstract.

Travellers usually find themselves too far in the future or the past for paradoxes to occur. Otherwise, they become the target of the quaruts, the inevitables of causality, which come from the cosmic clock that is Mechanus. Vague omens are, however, fairly common.

Limbo is an attempt to bring about a new elemental era. Or would it be the very same Elemental Era, making time a circle?

Many theories exist on the nature of the Far Realm. Is it a previous iteration of the universe? Is it a set of timelines based on "impossible" outcomes? Is it outside of time? Is it a single name mistakenly given to all these things?

This is clever, I really like this

[Cliff Sedge]

A minor point: Malakuth Tabruiir and Amryyr (of Skullport) are homosexual lovers.

If this isn't actual Realms canon, it is implied pretty strongly in the books.