So here's a lore question that stems from another thread about interesting/craziest character concepts thread. I mentioned Spell Jammer and it's relation to wild space and the realms, I also read the campaign book very recently about characters and portals. It would seem that shou long has a strong presence in wildspace and the campaign book stated that portals leading to and from just about anywhere exist in Forgotten Realms. Many of these portals have been cited to link to other campaign settings and that some inhabitants of Faerun may come from "Outworlds". Forgotten Realms is infamous for it's portals that even link to other campaign settings. One example of this is in Undermountain. According to one of the books for Forgotten Realms (Name escapes me of which one, probably an oldie) it cites that there is a portal to Ravenloft in Undermountain (Considering the Ravenloft campaign setting however, it's highly improbable or even impossible that there is a way to Forgotten Realms from Ravenloft so this is probably a one way portal).

Now that i've sort of explained the background information of my question, I will fire away: Is it possible, and is it allowed to play as or apply to play as a character from an outworld? (Not necessarily Ravenloft, the above was just an example and it would be pretty much impossible to do so anyway; and I'm pretty sure the same would apply for "Darksun")

What about Spell Jammer crash landings?

Just an interesting thought or several

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The short answer is "We don't use Spelljammer." Just what that means is unclear, but it's not something available for players to use.

There is no rule regarding travel between D&D worlds, though. We have had characters from Oerth in the past. (Mith comes to mind; I don't know if the PC is active but the player is.) And even DM plots in Sigil, which is connected to other D&D worlds. As long as the race of the character remains one of the vanilla Amia races (no Draconians or stuff) it has been fine but unclear. Whether the DMs want to introduce a new rule (they're in the process of rewriting some, as I understand) is another matter. Even our Earth is, technically, part of the D&D multiverse but that one's definitely within the realm of special requests (and probably never approved).

You might want to be safe rather than sorry, and make a special character request if you want to play something from Eberron, Greyhawk, Dragonlance etc. They should all be fine and there's no lore reason to deny a good request (I mean, half our spells are named IC after mages from another world and the connections are frequent), so I'd say you're unlikely to get a denial. (Special races that don't really fit the setting might not be as easy.)

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I guess "We don't use Spelljammer" is to say that the server doesen't use the campaign settings or it's connections to campaign settings. So playing any part of a crashlanded ship is a no no.

Interesting that other settings have been used in the past... I'm curious what worlds would be allowed.

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We've had Spelljammer connections in the distant past, and it's intertwined in official FR products (conversely, non-spacetravel-related FR lore is presented in Spelljammer books), but the general sentiment is that it's too "cheesy" for future plots or character backgrounds so it's played down or ignored. (If you couldn't tell, I am very unhappy about it.)

I suppose, at least for special requests, any official D&D world would work. Lorewise, anyway. They're the ones documented to be connected via the planes (Sigil at the very least). Other works of fiction would probably be off-limits. Of course, as you said, something like Ravenloft would need special justification.

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Unsure what exactly you are unhappy about. The Spelljammer connections? Spelljammer itself? or that it's considerded "cheesy" to be from Wildspace/Spelljammer campaign setting so stuff gets played down?



Yeah Ravenloft would be an extremely rare case considering the fact that the Mists/Dark Powers don't usually kick you out unless they cannot possibly torment you in anyway so they figure you are a waste of time. I'm unsure if Ravenloft natives could even leave Ravenloft itself. I'd imagine you could since worlds/domains in Ravenloft come from other worlds since the place is sort of a patchwork so to speak. Curious enough though, Halaster has a portal to that place in Undermountain which makes me curious if he managed to visit the Demiplane of Dread. Special justifcation would probably have to be one hell of a plausible backstory considering the setting. Hell the Dark Lord arch-Lich Azalin Rex has been trying to leave the domain for years after getting pulled out of Oreth. If an probably epic level wizard can't do it, you'd need one hell of a story as to why a new character might escape.

That's just Ravenloft though. I figure the most likely outworlders in Toril would be from: Sigil, Oreth, Spelljammer, and maybe Mystara? I guess part of it depends on magic level as well, considering you're gonna need a proper portal (or perhaps a malfunctioning one!). Would probably be difficult for someone to come from Krynn (I also have a feeling a Kender character would probably be more actively hunted than a goblin, as amusing as it sounds ). I also wonder where Dark Sun fits in the equation, I can't imagine leaving that place is easy otherwise everyone would have left already.

Then there's also Eberron which, I'm not even sure has it's own space in Spelljammer since they never wrote 3.0/3.5 Spelljammer (At least I don't think so. There is a 3.0/3.5 Ravenloft so maybe it's out there). I will say however that I did read something about Warforged in forgotten realms (I think it was Monster Manual 3 or 4).

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He doesn't like that legitimate lore is discluded because Spelljammer is stupid, basically. Well - that was my opinion mind, I don't like the feel of it personally and I'm glad it's not included.

The idea that the Dark Powers just get bored and release you from Ravenloft only comes from a special case, Lord Soth, which was inevitably decided to be non-canon. Actually in the Ravenloft DMG there is a scroll or a ritual that grants freedom from the demiplane but it's pretty much the holy grail/dragon balls of the setting. It's the only specific canon way mentioned however. There are a handful of other nebulous possibilities which are only there to give GMs options for retrieving their parties.

Sigil/Planescapers are quite common. Greyhawkers and Mystarans are also possible but I don't think I've seen anyone bother to request such.

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@Thanatopsis#6293

So Spelljammer, not included and ignores setting lore. Gotchya. Don't expect too many people to like Spelljammer tbh, imho it's like Gary Gygax was tripping acid while writing or something. Fun fact: There is a planet of Tarassques somewhere in wildspace, where they are apparently docile rock eating creatures but they fly into an insane rage when on other planets. (Not sure why but felt like sharing that info)



^ This precisely. It happened in the rare case of Soth, just saying it can happen again . Yes I've heard of the scroll, didn't know there was a ritual too. There's that too yes, altough those are only in the case of Outlanders I persume. People from the campaign setting though? Differen't story I'm sure.




Alright this sounds interesting, just a potential character concept idea while checking up on the feasability of the lore behind it/server rulings.

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I found this thread very enlightening as both myself and LordSithaelon had previously asked about using DragonLance characters and were flat out told 'No'. No reason other than this is Forgotten Realms, We don't do other worlds. So... I suppose in the near future, I will be making a formal request for my DragonLance mage and you can all debate the validity of how she got here. There will be a story, not involving spelljamming. Kudos to Vinny for bringing this up publicly, thank you.

MOD

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Isys ~ Daughter of Earth and Life
Ronnie ~ Without darkness, one cannot full appreciate the light
[MIA]Walker ~ Priestess of the Helping Hand

My opinion is that anything from another world then Faeruin needs a request.

While getting a Sigillian approved isn't especially hard I'd say (Thats a personal opinion) getting someone who escaped from the demiplane of dread certainly should be especially as people don't escape the demiplane on level 2 and that your new characters level when arriving on Amia.

Starting level/stats/skills is something to keep an eye on too when you make your request and explain how the character ended up on Amia.

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Characters played:

Harold Kendry (Illusionist) -> see avatar
Elloanore (Travelling bard)

I agree that it would be reasonable, but it's not the rule as it stands, and there have been "outworlders" before. The character creation rules simply say nothing about world of origin, only race. (You might argue that "Amia is a Forgotten Realms server" implies something about acceptable characters, but inherent in the Forgotten Realms is the assumption that the setting is canonically connected to the other official D&D worlds.)

Sigil is part of the FR cosmos, though, connected to Amia closely even in DM plots, so it probably shouldn't be included in the new rule if one is to be made. It should be a no-brainer background for many Planetouched. It's a planar location among others, and surely you can play a human from Shadowscape or Zanshibon just as well.

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Zanshibon and Shadowscape are in the mod, if you want to hail from there I don't see much trouble with it. But you are right, that isn't Faeruin.

Sigil, however, isn't in the mod and like Numbers did I'd like to see a short request with some background information if you come from there to show you know the lore about the place because Sigil has a lot of rather unique features.

It is not a rule but like I said, I am giving an opinion. The request would be in most cases a lorecheck so we don't get anyone playing that is (nearly) impossible.

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Characters played:

Harold Kendry (Illusionist) -> see avatar
Elloanore (Travelling bard)

For once, I do advocate that the restriction be included in the rules. You just updated the requestable character list, so it would be a good chance to say "characters from other D&D campaign settings (such as Greyhawk, Eberron or Dragonlance) need to be requested."

We can disagree on Sigil, I suppose. But since it is part of the FR campaign setting and included in our Amiaverse, it's not essentially different from other exotic locales. The lore about Evermeet, Thay, Cordor, Chult, the Shade Enclave or whatever is no less unique or challenging, and none of those should be requested. Indeed, just about any character you might create ideally needs valid background information, but we just can't/shouldn't big-brother players about it. If we were to treat Sigil differently, it would need some hefty justification. No other exotic origin is similarly treated, except those ("platinum-coined") subraces which require approval to mechanically activate. But since Aasimar, Tieflings and Genasi aren't plat-coined, and since Sigil is one of the most attractive and well-known background options for them, placing a special restriction on that very town seems inappropriate. (Not to mention the overhwelming precedent of dozens of Sigil PCs in Amian history, many of them surely active today.)

Since there is no current rule, the above is somewhat irrelevant. But if you were to introduce a rule about other settings, which you probably should, Planescape locations like Sigil ought to be left out of it. They're too much an integral part of Forgotten Realms and Amia. Since we're at the level of opinions, though, this is mine: you should almost never request approval for something that does not explicitly require approval, because in doing so you give away power to someone else and set a precedent that might become practice and eventually a ruling. Every player is morally responsible for defending maximum freedom for themselves and others, so voluntarily submitting oneself to evaluation is, dramatically put, an act of treason. This is half tongue-in-cheek, but there is a real reason behind the stance. If players have been creating Sigilans or Spirit Shamans or whatever, freely for years and one person suddenly makes a request for such, it easily becomes a precedent to justify further restrictions. That's why I think rules should be clear and transparently discussed, and nothing that isn't a rule need be respected as "good practice."

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I already tossed a ball up about it on the DM forum so hopefully we can clarify what does and what doesnt need a request soon.

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Characters played:

Harold Kendry (Illusionist) -> see avatar
Elloanore (Travelling bard)

I'd recommend more rather than less requests.

Even the kind of lore check requests that pass 99% of the time tend to serve a purpose.

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Gagis Silvarna, the Robocop with wings who shoots lasers from his fingertips
Lily Havthorn, the Waukeenar
Silwe, the elf

I personally don't like the idea. I can just see it now, thread after thread about /more/ lore and the discussions that follow. Amia is a pretty big sandbox already, and it's getting bigger. Plenty to work with already with out adding more to confuse things.

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I Am:
Derrin: 'Nothing to see here'
Beck: Hard working dwarf paladin.
Naela 'Widow': Wandering priestess.
Celinor Triellian: Paladin of Corellon.

NP. I'd imagine DL would be rare considering how low magic the world is, but a stray or strange portal wouldn't be entirely unheard of... I on the other hand am sort of tempted to try and get a demiplane of dread escapee approved now that I think about it... already sort of have an idea. Not going to touch a back-story without talking to a DM first though. That shit's volatile. I was thinking an inventor from like another setting that found it's way into Toril without spelljamming but now that i've been tickled by the Ravenloft escape idea...

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Characters played:

Harold Kendry (Illusionist) -> see avatar
Elloanore (Travelling bard)