How Does WotC Reconcile this Difference Between MtG and D&D?
Lore forum
Posted on Sept. 26, 2019, 7:30 p.m. by DemonDragonJ
Recently, WotC has been producing Dungeons & Dragons campaign modules for some of the planes in Magic: the Gathering, which I think is quite an interesting idea, but there is one issue about which I wonder, a difference between the two games that may become quite glaring if not addressed.
In MtG, the ability to travel from one plane of the multiverse to another is an extraordinary ability that only a rare few individuals possess, but, in D&D, that ability is relatively mundane, as any spellcaster of sufficient level can perform that feat, or, at least that was how the game functioned when I played it, since I have not played the game since the end of third edition; therefore, I do not know how WotC has addressed this discrepancy between their two games, unless they simply ignored it for those modules.
What does everyone else say about this? How did WotC address that discrepancy between their games?
Last_Laugh says... #3
Traveling within a Plane is D&D... traveling between different Planes is Planeswalking.
September 26, 2019 7:44 p.m.
Last_Laugh I think he is referring to the spells such as Plane Shift in the 5th edition books which reads as such
You and up to eight willing creatures who link hands in a circle are transported to a different plane of existence. You can specify a target destination in general terms, such as the City of Brass on the Elemental Plane of Fire or the palace of Dispater on the second level of the Nine Hells, and you appear in or near that destination. If you are trying to reach the City of Brass, for example, you might arrive in its Street of Steel, before its Gate of Ashes, or looking at the city from across the Sea of Fire, at the DM's discretion.
Alternatively, if you know the sigil sequence of a Teleportation Circle on another plane of existence, this spell can take you to that circle. If the Teleportation Circle is too small to hold all the creatures you transported, they appear in the closest unoccupied spaces next to the circle.
You can use this spell to banish an unwilling creature to another plane. Choose a creature within your reach and make a melee spell Attack against it. On a hit, the creature must make a Charisma saving throw. If the creature fails the save, it is transported to a random location on the plane of existence you specify. A creature so transported must find its own way back to your current plane of existence.
So it is understandable how this could be compared to Planes walking done by Planeswalkers in the MTG lore, being more comparable to the premending era times when they could bring other people with them.
September 26, 2019 7:53 p.m.
Traveling across planes is by no means mundane in D&D. High level casters are EXREMELY rare, just as are planeswalkers
September 27, 2019 6:54 a.m.
Last_Laugh says... #6
My point was if you're doing D&D on a MtG plane then you can travel within that plane but to travel off it you would need help from an actual planeswalker (aka your DM through storytelling). This is an easy fix... just acknowledge that D&D is ultimately 1 plane of existence but MtG are different planes entirely.
September 27, 2019 9:39 a.m.
Gidgetimer says... #7
I think the planes of D&D are more analogous to the relationship between Nyx and Theros than between MtG planes.
September 27, 2019 11:41 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #8
Gidgetimer, I do not know how the planes function in the current edition of D&D, but, in third edition, each plane was its own self-contained universe, as are the planes of MtG.
Joe_Ken_ says... #2
I feel like it is something that WOTC doesn't need to address at all in D&D other planes like the Elemental plane of fire, The Nine Hells, and The Abyss are more well known in terms of people on the material plane having knowledge of their existence. Like let's say some Headmaster of a wizarding college probably knows about the other planes of existence.
Meanwhile you've got Ravnica and the other MTG planes where knowledge of other planes of existence is pretty much knowledge that only planes walkers, a few select demons, and other extremely powerful entities even know about so it would make sense that the Plane Shift spell and other spells of the sort would have no effect since no matter how much research a character does they will never have any knowledge of other planes since they are not documented anywhere.
Also you could also just have a home-brew sort of rule that all of the planar reliant spells are to be written out of the game if you are doing an MTG themed campaign.
September 26, 2019 7:43 p.m.