Excerpt, Manual of the Planes: Types of Planes

[WalterKovacs]

2) Sigil as a Demiplane isn't a bad way to go, assuming we judge that by their use of what a demiplane is. I still think it would have been best to have it as an Anomolous Plane, just to hype its utter mystery as to what the hell the place actually is, but it works.

The argument is likely that Anomolous Planes are not places to visit with any frequency, they are supposed to be the Lovecraftian type places that things come from, and you get glimpses at but that are supposed to be so weird that even our imaginations couldn't do them justice.

 

[avin]

Sigil should be "something else". The more hardly catalogued the City is, better it works.

Agree with Shemesk on Yugoloths. There's lots of pages on MM (magma hurler? lolz) that could be filled with Arcano and Ultroloths.

 

[Yair]

Meh.

The picture is nice, but... is it just my monitor or is the shadow under the Elemental Chaos quirky?

I still don't like the Shadowfell or Feywild as "shadows" of the material plane. I think the old Ethereal "you can look into the real world" is better, and that both planes would have been better off as standing on their own.

I'd have put the "stabilize plane" as Cha-based too, and am really disappointed that the effect isn't longer. I feel a powerful character should be able to will the elemental chaos into submission, creating really permanent realms - rather than merely transient tiny islands of stability. This is apparently impossible without Rituals, which makes the whole thing impossible for many characters.

The idea of finding new worlds, and deities, across the Astral Sea was nice.

Otherwise - it's pretty standard fare, but done well enough.

 

[firesnakearies]

This is apparently impossible without Rituals, which makes the whole thing impossible for many characters.

Anyone can cast rituals from a scroll. And if you're the kind of big, powerful personage who is looking into real estate in the Elemental Chaos, you can afford ritual scrolls.

 

[avin]

Changing planes using willpower is far cooler than using rituals.

 

[senna]

Changing planes using willpower is far cooler than using rituals.

But rituals can be willpower based, its just that they are a formula for that end. Most cases of taming unwielding planes that i remember, make use of foci or other kinds of itens that are central to the maintenance of the plane in that particular state. These foci could be made from the rituals, and they are good plot hooks, from stealing them from the BBEG, to making one to compete with another group to see wich one gets the particular layer.

One other thing this add is a diferentiation, the rituals can be expensive, but need little maintence, and making the cheks over and over can be cheap but require constant atention to the layer.

 

[Yair]

Changing planes using willpower is far cooler than using rituals.

Yep.

I'd allow for a "spontaneous ritual", though. Something like consuming an artifact or taking on a flaw to permanently stabilize the region.

"It is said that Albrach the Wise once found himself stranded in the Elemental Chaos. Even as his right hand was being burned by a meandering current of magma, he cursed the fiends that tricked him, vowing to avenge himself. The sheer power of his vehemence struck against the roiling chaos, and created a pocket of vileness and wrath. Albrach managed to survive in this dimensional-pocket, but he had lost his right hand." [Mechanically: take flaw "Missing Hand", allow the stabilization to be permanent.]

Or

"In the heart of the forest", said the old crone, "you will find a dark, gnarled tree. It will surrounded by a ring of fire, guarded by the local druids. You must defeat them, and reach beyond the ring. Stuck in the tree's trunk you will find the Dark Stone of Baal. It has fallen onto the Elemental Chaos long ago, and created a most horrid realm around itself. The druids has since tamed its power by their circle of flame, allowing only the Green to effuse the environment beyond it. Removing the stone will undo the foundation of their existence, destroying the very metaphysical foundation their citadel stands upon." She smiled, wickedly. "Don't forget to tell them I sent you."

 

[Shroomy]

I was looking forward to this all month now hopeing for the word Astraljammer...but nothing...So far it is a great idea, but we have nothing concrete from WotC to say it is even there...

Astraljamming was specifically mentioned in a Dragon article a few issues back (the one describing the FR deity Auril's demain).

 

[firesnakearies]

Astraljamming was specifically mentioned in a Dragon article a few issues back (the one describing the FR deity Auril's demain).

Was the word "wrongbadfun" in the same sentence? It should have been.





(I kid.)

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I think that Influence Unstable Plane was meant to be a skill, likely a skill that no class gets on their skill list, but a skill that can be used and has mostly untrained uses.

It does make me think a lot about the Githzerai's Anarch Guild which lived around places like Shrak'tlor (the actual Githzerai "capital") and the Floating City, who specialized in shaping Limbo to their will. In 2e terms they had a bonus to shape unstable planes, in 3e terms they'd probably be psions of the shaper specialty if they were ever mentioned. In 4e terms they're likely all githzerai who actually took skill training in that skill.