Cosmology – Planescape and the Great Wheel

9 months ago
Admin
56 minutes

Toril is a crystal sphere of many in the Prime Material Plane in the center of the Great Wheel. The Great Wheel is the prevalent cosmological model in which the world of Toril is said to exist. In the later part of the 14th century some philosphers and astrologers began to postulate a different cosmic model called the World Tree, but these theorists are, in the words of any seasoned planeswalker, “clueless berks who think the cosmos revolves solely around their sodding planet and none other.”

The Great Wheel is a complex, comparatively cosmopolitan place which houses many other worlds and their gods, each in their own crystal sphere. A cosmos in which the gods of many worlds and pantheons mingle, the beliefs of many faiths and peoples bleeding together in a set of Outer Planes shaped predominantly by the polar forces of Law, Chaos, Good, and Evil. Thus it was that Lliira and the Greek goddess Hecate could feud over the love of the Sumerian god Enki and work at a pleasure palace operated by the Aztec gods Xochipilli and Tlazoteotl. In fact, a number of alliances existed between the gods of Toril and those of other worlds, for example, between Mystra and Wee Jas of Oerth, as well as a plot by a god of Toril ending up involving the gods of Krynn, and at least in some theological postulates, the same deity exists and is worshipped in two disparate spheres, such as Tyr — sometimes worshipped as aspects with different names, such as Tiamat and Takhisis.

These deities have their own divine realms within each of the planes of existence — cosmologists liken this as a sort of demiplane within the plane, sometimes inheriting the plane’s characteristics, and other times being a stark contrast, such as the ordered and structured cities of the Githzerai amidst the swirling chaos of Limbo.

The Great Wheel cosmology consists of a series of somewhat concentric spheres. In the center is the Prime Material plane  with the crystal spheres and worlds within — Toril being one of these — surrounded by the Ethereal plane. Occupying the same space as Toril’s crystal sphere, and surrounded by the inner planes, are the transitive planes. The Shadow Plane, and the Faerie Realm each are overlaying mimics of the realm of Toril — Faerie being a wild, untamed echo and the world of the fey, while the Shadow Plane is a twisted, darkened mirror image of Toril and every landscape that is (or was) and home to many creatures of the shadow. Also transitive to Toril, but only over the lands of Kara-Tur, is the Celestial Empire, which is home to the many deific powers of the eastern reaches of Toril.

Surrounding all of these, are the Astral plane which connects the worlds in the Prime Material plane to each other (bypassing the phlogiston) and also to the last sphere, the Outer planes. The Prime Material plane touches both the Astral plane and its Ethereal plane, though the Astral and Ethereal do not touch one another. The Outer planes, also called the Planes of Power, are 16 planes arranged in a circle (the Great Wheel) defined mainly by alignment and surrounding a 17th neutral plane known as the Outlands. The Outlands form a connection between each of the alignment planes thru border towns; each border town holds the entry point to its corresponding plane, and also typically reflect the general alignment and demanor of its connected plane.

In the center of the Outlands there is a large spire, at the pinnacle of which is the hollow cylindrical realm of Sigil. Sigil, or the Cage, as its residends call it, is an eclectic, eccentric city that’s a melting pot of cultures, alignments, and races and outsiders of all climes, presided over by an enigmatic ruler known as the Lady of Pain.

Overlapping it all, is the Dimension of Time, which touches all of the planes of existence in the cosmos, though various realms are more or less connected to that of time, which explains why some planes have different laws of time/space than the prime. Some planes and demiplanes will even seem to be static, never seeming to progress or evolve from one day to the next. So the time you spend on one plane of existence, likely won’t line up when you return back home. The Dimension of Time cannot be reached by conventional planar travel, and no tuning fork attuned to it is known to exist. What little is known on Faerun about this plane comes from strange tomes such as the Book of Serpents, Ash, and Acorns: Shadows of What Was and Will Be, and Necronomicon. The techniques contained in the books allow a creature of the Inner Sphere to conjure a manifest expression of their own timeline and crawl up it into the Dimension of Time. Those native to the Outer Sphere, including deities, are unable to access this dimension. Fate seems to hold sway over mortals only, forcing others to look on as from a distant shore.

Can’t follow it all? Good luck, berk. Maps are two dimensional; you are three dimensional; planes are ∞ dimensional. Start planeswalking and just get good.

The Transitive Planes

Ethereal Plane (Transitive)

The Ethereal Plane is a transitive plane that overlaps all of the Inner Planes. It also hosts emotional forces relevant to psychic magic and spirits such as ghosts and other incorporeal beings. As it intrudes into all of its neighbors, the Ethereal Plane can be used for travel between them. On the plane’s borders, a traveler can peer into the neighboring reality, although the view is obscured as if looking through a cloudy pane of glass. When mortals of the Universe dream, their consciousnesses drift into the Ethereal, warping its reality within a place called the Dreamlands. Imagined places and people are created in tangible forms out of the misty substance of the plane. Because of this, the fabrications of nightmares can be a threat to travelers on the Ethereal Plane.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Your senses are sharp and attuned. You gain a +3 bonus on Perception checks on the Ethereal Plane, against creatures native to the Ethereal Plane, or against creatures on the Material Plane that are ethereal. When on the Ethereal Plane, you can see twice as far (clearly to 600 feet, and indistinctly to 1,800 feet).
  • Improved Your sense of sight on the Ethereal Plane improves greatly, and you can see clearly while there. You can gain nourishment and water from ectoplasm as if it were a tasteless food, and once per day you can use ectoplasmic snare as a spell-like ability.
  • Greater You can step from reality into the In-Between to travel and explore. Once per day you can use ethereal jaunt as a spell-like ability.

Shadow Plane (Transitive)

The Plane of Shadow, also sometimes known as the Shadowlands, is a former demiplane that expanded beyond the Ethereal Plane to become a full plane in its own right. Partially coexistent with the Prime Material Plane — which it mirrors much like a distorted, quantum mirror, it has bare few connections with either the Outer or Inner Planes; as a result, this is one place where a Prime sage is actually more likely to have a good breadth of knowledge than a Planar.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic You can see clearly in shadowy conditions to a short range. In every square in your space, and in all squares adjacent to your space, you treat conditions of dim light as normal light.
  • Improved You have the ability to use shadow conjuration once per day as a spell-like ability.
  • Greater The essence of shadow so infuses your being that you sometimes exist only partially when subjected to damage. As an immediate action when you would take damage from an attack, spell, or other effect, you can reflexively dissolve the portion of your body that would be injured into quasireal shadowstuff to gain a 50% chance to ignore all the damage from the effect. You can successfully ignore damage in this way up to three times per day—if you activate this ability and it fails to prevent damage, it does not count against your limited daily uses of the ability.

Astral Plane (Transitive)

The Astral Plane, also known as the Silver Void, is the plane connecting the Prime Material Plane to the Outer Planes. Its appearance well fits its name, as in all directions, a silvery, shimmery sky fills ones vision. But for the occasional godcorpse, on which this plane’s settlements and fortress (almost always githyanki) are built, this plane completely lacks for solid ground; instead, the landmarks here are the tendril-like astral conduits that writhe in place as they cross the nondimensional region, and the glowing points of light that take the place of stars, though far too sparse to form any constellations.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic You gain a +2 bonus on saves against curses, diseases, and poisons. You also gain a +4 bonus on Wisdom checks to maneuver in subjective directional gravity.
  • Improved You always succeed at Wisdom checks to maneuver in subjective directional gravity. Increase your maximum lifespan and the number of years you must age to reach each age category by 10%. You can act under the effects of haste as a free action for 1 round; you can activate this ability a number of times per day equal to your Hit Dice divided by 4 (minimum of 1 round per day). These rounds need not be consecutive.
  • Greater Select one of the following afflictions: curses, diseases, or poisons. You become immune to the effects of that affliction. Increase your maximum lifespan and the number of years you must age to reach each age category by an additional 10% (20% total when combined with the improved infusion above), and you do not retroactively age or hunger when departing a plane with the timeless planar trait. You gain a fly speed of 60 feet (perfect) on the Astral Plane.

Dimension of Time (Transitive)

Also known as the Temporal Energy Plane, or Temporal Prime, the demiplane of Time is a pseudo-transitory plane much as the once-Demiplane of Shadow. Touching all points across the multiverse (even within the Outer Planes), the demiplane of Time is the manifestation of the flow of time in all realms. It resembles nothing more than a vast, endless windstorm buffeting all within with bluish-gray dust, poetically referred to as the sands of time, eventually eroding all outside people and objects to nothing but more dust. However, to those sensitive to the flow of time — chronomancers, native life, and certain other sorts — one can view an endless number of silver cords similar to those upon the Astral. These cords, known as life lines or time lines, trail mostly parallel to one another off into the sands, like threads in a massive three-dimensional loom. Each corresponds to a single being, representing their path through the inexorable march of time. Clustering where people grow near, separating as they grow distant, and providing a path for those with the rare ability to travel the river of time.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Once per day, you can roll twice for initiative and take the higher roll as your actual result. When you gain the improved infusion, you can use this basic infusion twice per day. When you gain the greater infusion, you can use this ability three times per day.
  • Improved Once per day, you can touch an object that was once alive, such as wood, paper, or a dead body. That object is protected from time, as if you had used a dose of unguent of timelessness on the object. You can maintain this effect on a number of objects equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1) at any one time. If you exceed this limit, the oldest existing effect immediately ceases.
  • Greater You are immune to temporal stasis. In addition, once per day, when a creature within 30 feet of you casts time stop, you are treated as if you were under the effects of time stop as well and are free to act for as long as the spell effect allows. This ability activates automatically, whether you notice the casting of the spell or not.

Faerie (Transitive)

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Traveling in the constantly changing Fey realm has taught you to be ever ready for situations to shift in unpredictable ways. You gain a +2 bonus on Perception checks, initiative checks, and Charisma checks to shape the Fey realm.
  • Improved Once per day, you can summon a fey creature from the Fey realms to serve you, as if using summon nature’s ally IV as a spell-like ability. When you use this ability, you can choose to summon 1 boggart, 1 calpina, 1 huldra (a summoned huldra’s manipulate luck ability’s duration lasts only as long as the summoned huldra persists), 1 satyr, 1d3 liminal sprites, 1d3 pookas, 1d4+1 atomies, 1d4+1 brownies, 1d4+1 fauns, 1d4+1 grigs, or 1d4+1 mockingfeys.
  • Greater You can use fey form III as a spell-like ability once per day.

The Spirit World/Celestial World (Transitive, Kara-Tur)

The Celestial Empire stands within the Spirit World, a plane that lay coexistent and coterminous with the land of Kara-Tur, not only upon Toril but other crystal spheres as well including Oerth — which might imply it is a means of travel between the crystal spheres which it touches; (Knowledge [planes] DC 35, or DC 25 for a native of Kara Tur) and indeed the only means to access this realm for a primal is from within this part of Toril which it touches. Every deity who is a part of the Celestial Bureaucracy has a small realm attached to the Spirit World. The whole realm is known as the Celestial Heaven, or simply Heaven or the Sky. Lying at the Center of All Heaven, the Celestial Empire is governed from the Celestial Palace, where the Celestial Emperor sits upon the Jade Throne. The Celestial Bureaucracy is not beholden to the edicts of Ao — evident in the fact that the gods of the realm did not have to walk upon Toril as mortals during the time of troubles. This would seem to imply that the Celestial Emporer is, himself, an overgod in his own right.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic The Empire’s perspectives of adaptation and balance have become your own. You gain a +1 bonus on Will saves, a +1 bonus on Diplomacy checks for each step a creature’s alignment differs from your own. Diplomacy also becomes a class skill if it is not already. Note that you cannot call upon this infusion and gain any of its benefits if you have no non-neutral component in your alignment.
  • Improved You have learned to mitigate the powers of extremes. Once per day, after meditating on the principles of Enlightenment for 1 hour, you gain the protection of the spirits of the realm as a meditative spell-like ability. Against any attacks from a creature with a single non-neutral alignment component you gain DR 5/- and 5 resistance to acid, cold, electricity, and fire. Against the attacks of creatures with no neutral alignment component these resistances and damage reduction increase to 10. Against one of these attacks that would reduce you to 0 hp or less, you may expend this effect to negate the damage suffered.
  • Greater You have made allies with the very winds of the Spirit Realm, and may ride them from one to the next. Once per day you may meditate for an hour to gain the benefits of Enlightened Step as a meditative spell-like ability, using your character level as your caster level, and when you do, you have the option to cast it communally upon others in your party.

The Inner Planes

Elemental Plane of Air (Inner Plane)

It is as open as the eternal sky. It is as solid as a child’s breath. It is falling forever. The Elemental Plane of Air is an empty plane, consisting of sky above and sky below. Clouds billow up in bank after bank, swelling into grand thunderheads and dissipating into wisps like cotton candy. The wind pulls and tugs at travelers, and rainbows glimmer in the distance. The Elemental Plane of Air is the most hospitable and survivable of the Inner Planes, and it is the home of all manner of airborne creatures. Indeed, flying creatures have a great advantage on this plane.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Your flying maneuverability improves by one step, and you gain a +2 bonus on saving throws against air or electricity effects.
  • Improved You can use air walk once per day as a spell-like ability.
  • Greater You can use wind walk once per day as a spell-like ability.

Elemental Plane of Earth (Inner Plane)

It is a place of hidden riches. It is a wall against all foes. It is a grave for the greedy. The Elemental Plane of Earth is a solid place made of rock, soil and stone. The unwary and unprepared traveler may find himself entombed within this vast solidity of material and have his life crushed into nothingness. Despite its solid, unyielding nature, the plane itself is varied in its consistency, ranging from relatively soft soils to veins of heavier and more valuable metal. veins of gemstones, rough and huge, can be found within the plane, and these unpolished jewels often lure the greedy here with the allure of picking them up with minimal effort. However the denizens of the plane can be quite protective and (quite literally) attached to what interlopers want to take.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

Elemental Plane of Fire (Inner Plane)

It is a plane continually ablaze. It smells of burning flesh and ashen dreams. It is flame incarnate. Everything is alight on this plane. The ground is nothing more than great, evershifting plates of compressed flames. The air ripples with the heat of continual firestorms, and the most common liquid is magma, not water. The oceans are made of liquid flame, and the mountains ooze with molten lava. It is a crematorium for the unprepared traveler, and an uncomfortable spot even for the dedicated traveler. Fire survives here without need of fuel or air to burn, but flammables brought here are hungrily consumed. The elemental fires seem to feed on each other to produce a continually burning landscape.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

Elemental Plane of Water (Inner Plane)

It is an ocean without surface. It is a domain of current and wave. It is a bottomless depth. The Elemental Plane of Water is a sea without floor or a surface, an entirely fluid environment lit by a diffuse glow. It is one of the most hospitable of the Inner Planes, once a traveler gets past the problem of breathing the local medium.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

Negative Energy Plane (Inner Plane)

It is the blackest night. It is the heart of darkness. It is the hunger that devours souls. This plane is a barren, empty place, a void without end, and an empty and endless night. Worse, it is both greedy and needy, sucking the life out of anything it can. Heat, fire and life itself are all drawn to the maw of this hungry plane, and it never ceases wanting more.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic You have been infused with unlife and are affected by positive and negative energy as if you were undead. Undead creatures who gain this ability instead gain a +2 bonus to their channel resistance.
  • Improved You can use enervation once per day as a spell-like ability.
  • Greater Negative energy suffuses your being and can be unleashed in a devastating burst once per day as an immediate action when are reduced to 0 or fewer hit points. This creates an explosion of negative energy in a 20-foot burst, centered on you, that deals 1d6 points of negative energy damage per Hit Die you have (maximum 20d6) to all creatures in the area of effect. Each affected creature can attempt a Reflex save (DC = 10 + half your Hit Dice + your Charisma modifier) to take half damage. This negative energy damage does not heal undead. When this effect is triggered, you regain a number of hit points equal to your total Hit Dice; this healing applies immediately, and if it brings your hit point total above a negative number equal to your Constitution (or above 0 if you are undead), then the healing prevents your death.

Positive Energy Plane (Inner Plane)

It is power incarnate. It is radiance beyond compare. It is life realized to the fullest. This plane is best compared to the heart of a star. It is a continual furnace of creation, a domain of brilliance beyond the ability of mortal eyes to comprehend. Its very being wavers and ripples as new matter and energy is born and swells to full power like a bursting fruit. It is a vibrant plane, so alive with itself that travelers themselves are empowered by it. Despite its beneficial effects, it is one of the most hostile planes in all of existence. An unprotected swells as the positive energy is force fed to her. Then she bursts, like a supernova, cremated in a blaze of radiance.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic You’ve been infused with raw life force, and whenever you’re healed by a positive energy effect (including all cure spells), you regain an additional number of hit points equal to your total Hit Dice. You gain a +4 bonus on Constitution checks to stabilize while dying.
  • Improved Thanks to your deeper understanding of positive energy, you can call upon it to restore yourself or others. Once per day you can touch a creature to create one of the following effects as a spell-like ability: cure serious wounds, lesser restoration, remove blindness/deafness, remove disease, or remove paralysis. If you use the ability on yourself, this ability requires only a move action to activate.
  • Greater Once per day as a spell-like ability, you can use raise dead as a spell-like ability. If you use this ability on a creature that has been dead no longer than 1 minute per Hit Die you have, the creature restored to life does not incur any negative levels and does not lose its prepared spells or spell slots, nor does this ability require an expensive material component. If you use this ability on a creature that has been dead longer than 1 minute per Hit Die you have, you must supply the material component as usual, and the target is subject to the normal side effects for raise dead.

The Outer Planes

The outer planes are detailed below, starting from the far left of the wheel (Mechanus), and going counterclockwise:

Mechanus/Nirvana (Lawful Neutral)

What is Mechanus? An endless clockwork nirvana, of course, and the connection between cogworks and the concept of order is obvious, but such a basic description belies the complexity of this realm. No, Mechanus represents the basic underpinnings of reality, the rules and strictures that determine how all functions. Not necessarily in a direct sense, though there are those sages that believe that yes, Mechanus does drive the multiverse, but certainly representationally. Mechanus reflects the truth that no matter the chaos one views in a system, it is driven by laws that can be grasped by a sufficiently skilled mind, and as such it stands in opposition to Limbo, the indescribable realm of ultimate chaos.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic The rigidity and order of Mechanus bolsters you physically, enhances your ability to notice tiny imperfections, and inspires your ability to create. You gain a +1 bonus on Fortitude saves, a +2 bonus on one Craft skill of your choice, and a +2 bonus on Perception checks to find secret doors or hidden traps.
  • Improved You are never far from the comforts and safety of order. You can use secure shelter once per day as a spell-like ability.
  • Greater You can transform yourself into a whirling cloud of glowing glyphs and symbols as a standard action. While in this form, you gain a fly speed of 60 feet with perfect maneuverability and can move through small cracks as per gaseous form (but you are not prohibited from entering water). You gain DR 10/chaos and regeneration 5/chaos and are immune to precision damage and critical hits while in glyph form. You can remain in this form for up to 1 minute per level each day, but these minutes need not be used consecutively.

Arcadia (Lawful Neutral-Good)

Arcadia or more fully, the Peaceable Kingdoms of Arcadia, is the plane of existence where Lawful Good blends with Lawful Neutral, and it is noted for its tranquility and strict discipline. Everything on Arcadia has its specified place and everything functions as intended. Trees naturally form tight rows in orchards and streams snake across the perfectly flat plains in complex mathematical routes. Large geometric cities are perfectly laid out with efficient roads and beautiful architecture.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic You are touched by the beneficent order of the Peaceable Kingdom; you gain a +1 on Diplomacy checks against Good creatures (+2 against Lawful creatures), a +1 bonus to saves against effects the [Evil] descriptor, and a +2 bonus on saves against effects with the [Chaos] descriptor.
  • Improved Order for the sake of the greater good sometimes means you have to eliminate disruptions that threaten that order. You can cast dispel magic as a spell-like ability once per day, using your character level as your caster level. If you use dispel magic counter an opposing caster’s spell, and that caster is evil, your effective caster level increases by 1; if the opposing caster is chaotic, then your effective caster level increases by 2; these increases are cumulative should the caster be both chaotic and evil.
  • Greater Your sense of cameraderie reflects that of the formians native to this world; any allies within 30 feet of you share an empathic connection such that you can sense each other’s intentions and know what actions each other will take, without needing to hear or see each other. You and these allies know each other’s position relative to each other, even if you cannot see. You can use this ability for a number of minutes per day equal to your character level, which do not have to be continuous, but must be spent in 1-minute increments. Activating this empathic link takes a standard action, and dismissing it is a free action.

The Seven Heavens/Mt. Celestia (Lawful Good)

The Seven Heavens of Mount Celestia stand tall within the Upper Planes, the ultimate symbol of purification through struggle and trial. To many the source of all that is right, the Mount is such a symbol of Good that the very word “celestial” is derived from it, regardless of where the being truly calls its home. Many mortals, both those standing for justice and those seeking redemption through good works or personal trials, call the shores or slopes of Celestia home, in addition to the innumerous archons, angels, and other celestial beings that fill it from foot to peak.

Here, the watchword is “ascension”. While Lunia is open to all that wish travel there, moving beyond the Silver Sea requires indulging oneself in rites of redemption, self-discovery, or other means by which a person better brings themselves closer to an inner peace and purity that the Mount truly represents. No matter how far a person climbs, they simply cannot reach a higher layer than Lunia without such acts, and the further one wishes to travel towards Chronias, the more difficult or the more personal this self-discovery becomes. There are many general paths of revelation that have been developed over the millennia, providing a known, if less personal, route: the Noble Eightfold Path, the Path of Valor, the Path of Renunciation, and the Path of Gnosis only some of the many paths towards enlightenment that exist about the Mount. But any method that achieves the same ends functions just as well to allow a person to ascend towards the summit.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Celestia’s influence has only begun to enlighten your mind. You gain a +1 bonus on Will saves, a +1 bonus on Perception checks, and a +2 bonus on Sense Motive checks to avoid being bluffed.
  • Improved You can focus on the serenity of Mount Celestia, allowing you to restore a creature’s sense of self with a touch. This functions as restoration, but it cannot cure ability damage or drain to Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution, nor can it eliminate fatigue or exhaustion. You can use this ability once per day. As a spell-like ability, it does not require a diamond dust component unless the target is nongood, in which case you must supply the 100 gp or 1,000 gp of diamond dust as if you had cast the spell normally.
  • Greater You gain truespeech and can speak with any creature that has a language, as though you were using the tongues spell. You gain a +4 bonus on all saving throws against language-dependent effects, and any language-dependent effect you create that allows a saving throw has its save DC increased by 1.

Twin Paradises/Bytopia (Neutral Good-Lawful)

Though commonly known on the Prime as the Twin Paradises, Bytopia is hardly such. It has much in the way of pastoral splendor, yes. Its sights, though not as beyond imaginable as some planes, are quite beautiful. And yet this is no plane for a person to relax and enjoy things as they come. Bytopia stands for the peak of civilization, the manifestation of the very concept of social contract. Here, everyone is expected to work for the sake of all. This is the plane of community, and no community can survive if everyone doesn’t play their part. One must keep in mind, given this, that though Bytopia is focused on ensuring people work for what they need, “work” is not defined as narrowly as it is in some areas. Rare for the planes, here work of the mind is placed on the same level as work of the body, with academics, craftsmen, and laborers kept as equally important by its petitioners, and from their influence its natives, as no nation could survive without the support of both. Nor is charity truly seen as a negative here.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic You have become accustomed to the workaday lifestyle of the petitioners of Bytopia; you gain +2 to Craft checks, as well as +2 to saving throws or Constitution checks against becoming fatigued or exhausted.
  • Improved
  • Greater

Elysium (Neutral Good)

Elysium, or more fully, the Blessed Fields of Elysium, is a strongly Good-aligned plane of existence. Opposite on the Great Ring from the Gray Waste, Elysium is that other plane’s opposite in many ways. Where the Waste is gloomy and colorless, everything in Elysium seems brighter and more full of life. Where the Waste is the most evil of the Outer Planes, Elysium’s the most purely good. It’s said that the joys and sensations of the plane are so great that those who see it never want to leave. Elysium is a plane of idyllic good and the destination of the souls who sought always to further the cause of good without regard to Chaos or Law. Elysium is home to many celestial creatures, predominantly the guardinals, a race of celestials native to the plane.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Your connection to the Blessed Fields has fortified your physical endurance and bolsters your presence. You gain a +1 bonus on Fortitude saves, a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks against good creatures, and a +2 bonus on Intimidate checks against evil creatures.
  • Improved You can call down divine fury as a standard action, channeling it through your own body and expelling it all around you. Once per day, you can release this divine energy in a 30-foot-radius burst centered on you. Each evil creature within the area takes 1d8 points of damage per character level you have (maximum 10d8) and is blinded for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1 round). On a successful Will save, an affected creature takes only half damage and negates the blindness.
  • Greater You can keep champions of Good from being called home before their work is complete. Twice per day, you can use breath of life as a spell-like ability. If the target is good, you can use this ability as a move action. If the target is evil, it becomes staggered for 10 minutes unless it vows to repent for its evil ways.

The Beastlands (Neutral Good-Chaotic)

Of all the planes, the Beastlands is the most untamed. This land has no cities, towns, no citadels, just endless wilderness of all types. It is land before civilization, much as its opposition is land after civilization. Any terrain you can find on the prime can be found somewhere within the Beastlands; from meadows and forests to savannahs and veldts to plateaus and chasms. The environment here is lush and wild, the epitome of independence — one’s survival is ensured by none but himself. This land so embodies nature that skills dealing with nature (such as tracking or wilderness lore) get a +2 bonus. Even the inhabitants reflect the wilds of the plane, as nearly all mortal beings in the Beastlands are animals. All petitioners not of a specific deity take the form of an animal upon their arrival, albeit an intelligent, articulate one, and all animals of a given type are ruled over by one of the Animal Lords of the plane.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic You are only just beginning to tap into the primal spirit of the Happy Hunting Grounds; you gain the scent ability and +2 bonus to Perception.
  • Improved You are more attuned to the Beastlands and its petitioners; you can cast greater animal aspect once per day as a spell-like ability.
  • Greater Your true bestial nature has reached its apex; you can cast beast shape IV once per day as a spell-like ability.

Olympus/Arborea (Chaotic Good)

When most Sigilians think of Arborea, the first thing to pop to mind is the grub, for the best food and drink comes from this plane: the most flavorful meats, the juiciest fruits, the most layered wines and ales. However, Arborea is far more than merely the breadbox of the planes. A plane of deep passions and wondrous adventures, the Olympian Glades of Arborea inspire great deeds in nearly all that journey there, whether they be farmers or adventurers. Though with a few glowing points of light, the majority of Arborea is endlessly untamed; wild, beautiful, and for those seeking trouble, dangerous. This land is where all great tales of triumphant, independent heroes occur, where the greatest epics play themselves out every day. Here, a plucky attitude and a desire to win can let one’s greatest dreams be met; in Arborea, the Quest is king.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Arborea has inspired your artistic sense and quickened your agility. You gain a +1 bonus on Reflex saves, a +2 bonus on Acrobatics checks to avoid provoking attacks of opportunity, and a +2 bonus on a single type of Perform check of your choice.
  • Improved You can emulate the protective aura of the eladrin, gaining the effects of magic circle against evil and minor globe of invulnerability, once per day for 1 round per character level. This is a spell-like ability that is Charisma based and using your Hit Dice as your caster level.
  • Greater Arborea’s blessing bolsters your bravery and sense of self. Whenever you are under the effects of an ongoing fear effect, a possession effect, or an effect that grants mental control over you (such as dominate person), at the beginning of each of your turns, you can attempt a new saving throw against that effect as though you were initially exposed to it. On a success, the effect immediately ends. You can attempt a number of additional saves this way each day equal to 3 + your Charisma modifier (minimum 4/day).

Ysgard (Chaotic Neutral-Good)

Though the Heroic Domains of Ysgard are most associated with the Aesir — so much so that the Asgardian names of the plane and its layers have long since supplanted whatever other names they may have once held — they are far from the whole of the plane. Still, they do well exemplify the core of Ysgard: struggle. Whether it’s carving out a life on the earthbergs or pouring blood, sweat, and tears into the perfect piece of art, success cannot come on Ysgard without struggle.

The Heroic Domains stand in contrast to Bytopia: much like that plane, on Ysgard nothing can be gained without being worked for. In Bytopia, however, the struggle is in the name of proving ones participation in the social contract, in proving intent to cooperate in some way as a productive member of society. In Ysgard, it is instead to prove ones own personal worthiness. Not a demonstration of worth, but a fight for it.

Ysgard also stands in opposition to Acheron, another plane well-associated with bloodshed and warfare. However, on Acheron battle is engaged at the word of others for the sake of goals held not by those fighting, but by those who command them; the plane of organized, widespread war as engaged by whole nations, worlds, or peoples. On Ysgard, none fight but those who wish to fight, and none would choose to fight for reasons not of their own; battle is small in scale, and engaged for glory, for joy, or to take that which one wishes to claim for their own.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Valhalla has awakened the spark of eternal heroism within you. You gain a +1 bonus on Fortitude saves, a +2 bonus on CMD against being restrained or removed from combat, and a +2 bonus on a skill check of your choice between Fly, Intimidate, or Perform.
  • Improved You are imbued with the flight of the valorous valkyrie. So long as you are below half your total hit points you may, as a swift action, manifest a pair of magical wings appropriate to your nature. These wings grant you the effects of fly for up to one hour per level each day.
  • Greater You rise from defeat the first time your hit points fall below 0 each day. Treat this as though a breath of life spell had just been cast on you with a caster level equal to your character level at the beginning of your next turn. This effect can return you to life even if you are dead under the normal rules of the spell. You are staggered for one round after returning to life in this manner.

Limbo (Chaotic Neutral)

The center of pure chaos, the Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo is the essence of malleability. Within Limbo, not only is matter malleable, but things of all sorts. Here there are no universal laws, no reliable constants, only disorder. Any attempts at quantifying Limbo are doomed to fail, as whenever someone seems to pin down something about Limbo, a counterexample is quick to manifest itself; even this observation itself has its counterexamples in things that have never seemed to change once determined. Limbo is proof that to any rule, there is an exception, even those rules that drive the very nature of reality itself, and as such it stands in opposition to Mechanus, realm of perfect order.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Limbo grants you the ability to react to unpredictable situations, while also helping you to be more unpredictable. You gain a +1 bonus on initiative checks, a +1 bonus on Reflex saves, and a +2 bonus on Bluff checks to feint in combat.
  • Improved The whimsical entropy of Limbo is at your command; you’re just not quite sure what you’re going to get. Once per day as a spell-like ability, roll 1d4. Then roll on the rod of wonder table the indicated number of times. You get to choose which of the rolled effects happens, and the target, if the result says “target.”
  • Greater You can invoke the pure chaos of with a word. Once per day, you can use song of discord as a spell-like ability.

Pandemonium (Chaotic Neutral-Evil)

The Windswept Depths of Pandemonium is the outer plane where Chaotic Evil and Chaotic Neutral petitioners are sent after death. Pandemonium is a large, complex cavern that never ends. Compounding this problem are howling winds that drive most of its residents mad. It is where Chaos turns sick and damaged, becoming mentally ill, demented and deranged. It is a place of winding, mazelike tunnels with no rhyme or reason behind them. The River Styx runs through Pandemonium in trickles and small streams, not yet joined into the great dark torrent that flows through the other Lower Planes. It also much less potent in Pandemonium than elsewhere.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Navigating the tunnels of Pandemonium has keened your vision. You gain darkvision up to 60 feet; if you already have darkvision, then it is increased another 60 feet.
  • Improved You’ve learned to intuit direction navigating the endless caverns of Pandemonium; you are treated as having the favored terrain ability in underground terrain, with a bonus of +2. This bonus is an additional +2 for every four hit dice you are above three.
  • Greater Extended exposure to the howling agony that echoes through the caverns of Pandemonium has taught you how to steel your mind against their mind-corrupting droning. You can generate a 20-foot aura of psychic protection that grants you and all allies within a bonus to their Will saves of +2, plus an additional +1 per five Hit Dice you possess. You can generate this mental ward for as many hours per day as your Hit Dice.

The Abyss (Chaotic Evil)

At places horrid, violent, and disgusting, at others subversive and seductive, at still others deadly at first step to mortals, the Abyss and its many-varied layers cover the breadth of what one might expect from the depravities of the tanar’ri. This plane was once the home of the obyrith thousands of millennia ago, but those beings were largely slain after the War of Law and Chaos by their tanar’ri servitors; since then, the Abyss has been their domain, and they have well held it since that day. The plane under their rule fully embraces the flexibility of chaos, standing on the principle that if there is a horror that can be imagined, it can be found somewhere in the plane. Few safe spots can be found on the plane, and any should be suspected, for here is not a place where any unsuspecting or uninvited mortal ought pass for long.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic The horrific fecundity of the Abyss and its entropic drive to expand and consume have bolstered your body and enhanced your capacities for cruelty. You gain a +1 bonus on Fortitude saves, a +2 bonus on Intimidate checks to demoralize a foe, and a +2 bonus on attack rolls to confirm critical hits.
  • Improved You can call upon the Abyss to infect and transform the surrounding terrain, afflicting it with horrors and nightmares. You can use curse terrain as a spell-like ability once per day.
  • Greater You can flood a creature’s mind with horrific truths and the overwhelming chaos and evil from the Abyss. You can use insanity as a spell-like ability once per day.

Carceri (Neutral Evil-Chaotic)

Though renown for being one of the tightest prisons in the planes, for being the exiled home of the Olympian titans, the Tartarean Depths of Carceri are far more than that. In Bytopia, the opposing plane of Carceri, hard work is its own reward. In Carceri, however, hard work gets you power. Fight your way to the top, sneak into systems and topple them from the inside. Overturn order through struggle one way or another, even if it’s with the purest of intentions. In the Abyss people listen to the man at the top out of fear; in Carceri, they do it out of respect, for she wouldn’t be at the top if she didn’t deserve to be. Malar, the Beastlord finds his home here for this reason — the weak are winnowed and the frail are culled, and the fittest rise to the top.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Your link to Carceri enhances your skill in hunting prey while avoiding being hunted yourself. You gain a +1 bonus on Reflex saves, you can move at full speed while hiding your tracks, and you a gain a +2 bonus on Survival checks to follow tracks.
  • Improved You tap further into the incarcerating forces of the prison realm. You can use dimensional anchor as a spell-like ability once per day.
  • Greater You can use forcecage as a spell-like ability once per day, but only to create a windowless cell.

Hades (Neutral Evil)

Folks say the Grey Waste is the plane of apathy, of boredom. A plane where everything gets sucked out of you, leaving nothing but an empty husk devoid of feeling or motivation. This is not quite accurate. The Fade’s real, but the Grey Waste doesn’t take everything from you. “The apathy of evil” might be a pithy saying, but anyone who says Evil doesn’t have goals, motivations, desires is throwing you a load of bunk. No, what the Grey Waste takes from you is any desire for anything but your goals. And while it doesn’t take your desire to achieve those goals, it takes everything else from them, leaving you with the goals as ends in themselves, something to be achieved at any cost. Sounds like the ‘loths, doesn’t it? This is why the Grey Waste is dangerous; because it leaves you with just enough to hang yourself. The Three Glooms of the Grey Wastes are the nadir of the Lower Planes, sure, but more than that, they’re the plane of single-mindedness to the exclusion of all else, the mirror to the open-mindedness of Elysium.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Tapping into the energies of Hades without succumbing to the greying hatred and subsequent entrapping of the plane has strengthened your resolve against such effects upon your mind. You gain +2 on saving throws against emotion effects and against charm and compulsion effects.
  • Improved Mirroring Hades’ hunger for and mastery over souls, you gain a +4 bonus on all saving throws against possession effects and effects that tamper with your soul, such as soul trap or an astradaemon’s devour soul ability. Furthermore, you can consume a soul gem created by a cacodaemon as a standard action. Immediately thereafter, for a number of rounds equal to your Hit Dice, you are treated as an evil outsider and gain fast healing 2.
  • Greater The waters of the River Styx infuse you. You are immune to effects that cause amnesia or otherwise alter your memory, including the effect of the Styx itself. Your touch can affect the memories of others as well. Three times per day, you can use mindwipe as a spell-like ability.

Gehenna (Neutral Evil-Lawful)

While the qualities of Gehenna are widely known — massive fragments of rock, of varying levels of volcanic activity, floating in an infinite void — the core nature of Gehenna is less so. Gehenna is nothing less than the plane of the apocalypse, of the violent end of worlds upon the Prime. Shattered, crumbled, rent asunder by the actions of those that have dwelt upon their surfaces. And that which remains dumped into the Furnace of Perdition. As the Beastlands show the gentle harshness of the land before the touch of sentience, Gehenna shows what remains from its hubris. This plane is also oft the combat zone for the Blood War between the Abyss and Baator — bringing even more wartorn desolation to the corpses of civilizations that came here to linger in death.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic
  • Improved
  • Greater

Baator/The Nine Hells (Lawful Evil)

The Nine Hells of Baator is the lower plane ruled by both absolute evil and absolute law. The Baatezu, devils native to the harsh environment, are organized in a very rigid hierarchical caste system. The devils continuously plot and scheme their way up the social scale with treachery and deception. Here Asmodeus reins supreme, though the archdukes beneath him bide their time that opportunity might come to usurp his throne. Perhaps the only thing that’s kept them from conspiring and doing so already is because not one of the rulers of the Nine can trust another. As much as its opposing plane is the embodiment of heroic zeal and bold deeds, Baator is a portrait of true, utter villainy and the exercise of that zeal to achieve greatness on the backs of those beneath you.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Hell’s influence grants you a silvered tongue and bolsters your arrogance. You gain a +1 bonus on Will saves, a +2 bonus on Bluff checks to lie to or fool someone, and a +2 bonus on Diplomacy checks to adjust a creature’s attitude.
  • Improved Whenever you deal fire damage, you can instead deal hellfire damage (only half of the damage is fire, while the other half is profane damage not subject to resistance). Secondary fires lit by your initial fire attack deal normal fire damage (including burn damage, if such damage occurs).
  • Greater You can inflict the agonizing pain of eternal damnation on the masses for a brief instant. You can use mass inflict pain once per day as a spell-like ability.

Acheron (Lawful Neutral-Evil)

Acheron is a plane of War. This much is known to any who know the name. But it is not the plane of uncontrolled, unmanaged skirmishes. It is not the plane of revolution or insurgency, of individuals fighting against a grand foe. It is the plane of one military force striking against another; of regimented orders and tactics; of conflict not between peoples, but between structured organizations, whether that be vicious sport or whether that be total warfare. The plane of, as Acheronian high-ups often call it, “War Made Raw” — a game where outside the Rules of War, all is prohibited, but within those Rules, all is not only allowed but expected. Here, war is planned and directed at the scale of squadron against squadron, of regiment against regiment, and of army against army. On Acheron, war is but a game of battlefield strategy writ large, where each warring side fights for the total domination of its opponent.

Acheron stands in opposition to Ysgard; where Ysgard is focused on proving oneself in individual combat, in Acheron the individual is irrelevant. What matters is the goal of the collective, and the army is but a set of pieces on a massive game board put forward to achieve that goal, each trusted to perform to the best of their ability yet none irreplaceable within the ranks. The balance innate to Acheron helps to achieve this; in Acheron, all must be balanced always, for no force is to win through overwhelming or devastating their opponent. Here, war is about force of wits, not force of numbers, and the plane itself demonstrates that: a birth on one side must be balanced by a birth on the other, or else a death alongside. Every new ally manifesting on one side must be matched by an ally for the other, or a departure of same. In the game of war, balance is key, for an unbalanced competition is no competition at all. This, of course, does not apply itself to the matter of war itself: a being defeated in fair combat at any scale needs no match to balance the scales, after all.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic
  • Improved
  • Greater

Demiplanes

The Fugue (Demiplane)

The Fugue Plane is a neutral-aligned plane within the realm of Hades; it is the domain of Kelemvor, Lord of the Dead and his senechal Jergal. The fugue is the purgatory of the crystal sphere of Toril. Any mortal soul who perishes in this crystal sphere ends up here as their interment, thus it is one of three typical methods of arriving in the Fugue. Another is on the part of a divine servant of one of the gods of Toril who comes to gather said interred souls of their lord’s faithful. The final means is via the lower planes; there are ever-shifting portals from the planes between the Nine Hells and the Abyss, and from Hades via the River Styx — if one is willing (or desperate enough) to pay the price to Charon to ferry them.

The vast majority of this plane is much like the plane that hosts it — flat, gray, bland and nondescript, with no notable topographical features, even the sky above is gray. The plane’s only significant feature is the City of Judgment, in the middle of which stands the Crystal Spire where Kelemvor and Jergal reside. This landmark used to be made of bone in darker times, when Jergal was of a different mindset and ruled over the realm in its anqituity, and when he later handed the throne to Myrkul, then conquered by Cyric. The present Lord of the Dead changed the nature of the castle as a symbol of the transparency and fair judgement of the dead that would come as he sits on the throne.

Among the petitioners of the realm are the faithful and servants of these two gods, as well as the Faithless and the False. The Faithless — those who went through their lives indifferent to the gods and paid little reverence, and of whom no deity comes to claim as being a reflection of their faith — spend their herafter in the Fugue as do Kelemvor and Jergal’s faithful. Old stories of the Wall of the Faithless in which the faithless became bricks to spend eternity in oblivion, if they were once true in the times of less merciful Lords, are not to be proven in Kelemvor’s version of the realm. The sage Zeboaster has espoused that such likely never existed and was merely a boogeyman used by mothers to scare their children to revere the gods.

The False however, are tormented for their deceptions in the face of the gods. Beings from the lower planes are allowed to come and go into the realm to torment these souls, and in some cases, take them for barter back to their realm. As much as the Throne of the Dead in Faerun judges fairly, it also judges harshly.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic The knowledge that The Fugue awaits us all bolsters your ability to resist the pull of death and to aid others in doing the same. You gain a +1 bonus on Will saves, a +2 bonus on Heal checks to stabilize a dying creature, and a +4 bonus on Constitution checks to stabilize yourself when your hit points are reduced below 0.
  • Improved You can use death ward once per day as a spell-like ability.
  • Greater Once per day, you can attempt to revoke the unnatural energies that empower an undead creature’s animation. This spell-like ability functions as destruction, save that it is not a death effect and can target only undead creatures. As a spell-like ability, it does not require an expensive focus to function.

Fabric of Reality (Demiplane)

Three years ago, adventurers from the Society of Eyes and Ears acquired on behalf of Cormyr the Hao Jin Tapestry, a powerful artifact and gateway to a wondrous yet slowly disintegrating museum-like demiplane known as the Fabric of Reality. Despite sacrifices made to preserve the Hao Jin Tapestry by the mages of the Violet Flame in collaboration with the War Wizards of Cormyr, the realm’s collapse seems inevitable. It was into this realm that adventurers traveled in order to retrieve the Abysium Heart, during the events of Feast of Sigils in the Year of Runes Remembered, in order to reveal the enclave of Runelord Krune which threatened Cormyr. Inside the Hao Jin tapestry are literal entire civilizations that were plucked from Kara-Tur and preserved within by an ancient Kara-Turan sorceress of the same name.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic You become sensitive to the reality-warping presence of extradimensional spaces and magical portals. You can use Perception or Knowledge (planes) in place of Spellcraft to identify magic items, spells, and magical effects associated with such effects as if using detect magic.
  • Improved You can use dimension door once per day as a spell-like ability.
  • Greater You can use mage’s magnificent mansion once per day as a spell-like ability.

Akashic Record (Demiplane)

The Akashic Record is an enigmatic, impossibly difficult-to-reach demiplane deep in the Astral Plane that is said to be a vast psychic library of all knowledge in the Great Beyond. The Akashic Record is said to be the collection of all psychic experiences in the multiverse, providing a perfect and clear understanding of all knowledge in existence. From there, one can visually observe scenes from any moment in time, from the current moment back to the creation of the multiverse. No magic is known to provide direct travel to the Akashic Record. Some planar travellers are said to have arrived via the Dimension of Time.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Your memories have been infused with energies from the Akashic Record, but it’s difficult to keep them all at the forefront of your thoughts. Once per day (typically when you wake from sleep), select one Knowledge skill. You gain a +2 bonus on checks using that skill for the remainder of the day. If you have at least 10 ranks in that skill, you instead gain a +4 bonus on checks using that skill.
  • Improved You can use divination once per day as a spell-like ability.
  • Greater You can use retrocognition once per day as a spell-like ability.

Shra’kt’lor (Githzerai, Demiplane)

This is the githzerai’s largest city, with a population estimated at 2,000,000 persons. Not surprisingly, it’s primarily a military stronghold, designed to be the race’s final defensive point should their enemies ever invade Limbo en masse. A general called the Great Githzerai rules the city and is revered as a deity-king.

The city is an austere place with massive iron gatehouses piercing seven concentric rings of high, thick granite walls. Quarters inside the city are rather cramped, though an open market is broad and filled with produce grown on stabilized earth as well as other items mundane and wondrous. Foreigners are relegated to tents outside the main gates, where they cannot work mischief on the city itself or spy out its defenses.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic The power of the of the holiest city infuses your being, granting you resistance against entropy. You gain a +4 bonus on saving throws against effects that disjoin your body (such as destruction or disintegrate) and against confusion effects and spells with the chaos descriptor.
  • Improved You can use order’s wrath once per day as a spell-like ability.
  • Greater You can use dictum once per day as a spell-like ability.

Dimension of Dreams (Demiplane)

The Dreamlands’ semi-permanent core is formed from slumbering desires, and the dreams of especially powerful individuals. It can be entered via the obscure occult ritual known as the Dreamlands excursion, and is less accessible than the Outer Planes but easier to travel to than individual dreamscapes. A dreamer that enters the Dreamlands’ core for the first time descends a spiral staircase that emerges from the side of a great tree into the Enchanted Forest.

Surrounding the Dreamlands’ stable core is a foam of transient dreamscapes, each the dream of an individual sleeping mortal, constantly forming and evaporating when someone goes to sleep or awakens. These can be viewed from the Ethereal Plane, but can only be entered by those who possess the appropriate kind of esoteric magic. This sort of magic is unreliable, aiding access instead of guaranteeing it. However, certain dreamers have learned how to lucidly dream, consistently gaining access to the Dreamlands in their sleep or even abandoning their waking life for it. It is said that the elves, with their reverie, have achieved a form of this willing, lucid dreaming.

When one physically enters a dreamscape, it first appears as a prosaic dreamscape of the visitor’s native culture. However, those who travel deeper into the realm discover that it molds itself to dreamers’ wishes, slowly becoming whatever they would imagine.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic You gain a +4 bonus on Charisma checks to arrive in the Dimension of Dreams at an advantage, and you can attempt one additional impossible action beyond the normal limit during a visit to a Dreamscape.
  • Improved You can use dream as a spell-like ability once per day.
  • Greater You can use dream council as a spell-like ability once per day.

Dimension of Nightmares (Demiplane)

The Dimension of Nightmares is accessible from virtually anywhere via the Dreamlands. Those who travel too far into the realm of dreams can find themselves caught in a vast sea and carried by the tides to the Dreaming Shore, the southern edge of the demiplane. It is a cold, desolate, inhospitable realm hedged in by two titanic mountain ranges that run from the Dreaming Shore and converge at the Cold Waste in the north. The plateau rises ever upward as it travels away from the rocky coast, but no two travellers describe the lay of the land identically. Upon the tableland sit numerous scattered stone villages, both inhabited and ruined. It is inhabited by all sorts of beings that defy any sort of description save the stuff of nightmares, given form.

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic You can infuse the menace of Leng into everything you do. You gain a +2 bonus on Intimidate checks to demoralize foes, and you increase the save DC of supernatural fear effects you create by 1.
  • Improved You can use phantasmal killer as a spell-like ability once per day.
  • Greater You can use contact entity IV once per day as a spell-like ability but must still supply the required material component.

Harrowed Lands (Demiplane)

Planar Infusions The following are the infusions gained from either the Planar Infusion feat or the Bestow Planar Infusion spells:

  • Basic Once per day, you can draw a card from a Harrow deck to randomly choose one of the six ability scores. (Players who don’t have an actual Harrow deck can instead roll 1d6 to randomly determine an ability score.) At any point during the next 24 hours, you can gain a +2 bonus on a single d20 roll modified by that ability score. You can add this bonus after the die is rolled, but must do so before you learn the outcome of the roll.
  • Improved The bonus granted by your basic infusion is now +4, and you can apply the bonus on two different d20 rolls during the day.
  • Greater The bonus granted by your basic infusion is now +6, and you can apply the bonus on three different d20 rolls during the day. Alternatively, you can expend all three uses for the day to apply the bonus on a d20 roll after you’ve learned the outcome of the roll.