Making the chaos planes more... chaotic

[CRGreathouse]

Yes, actually, and it has been quite a while. On to business...

Hi!

Making physical distance non-Euclidean and affected by the mind would be pretty funky.

Cool idea. I think I'll do this one a bit differently, though: the chaos I envision is harsh and uncaring/unaware of life, so it won't be mentally malleable in that way. But seeing that we have a math teacher and a mathematician in the group I may use actual non-Euclidean (say, Lobachevskian or Riemannian) geometry...!

 

[CRGreathouse]

Do without initiative. Don't let characters act more often than they otherwise would in a single round, but just don't keep track of initiative

I like it!

Synesthesia is an interesting concept: when sensory signals get confused and one sensory experience gets combined with another.

Sounds like this could be useful as well.

 

[Rune]

I know there's someone on this board who plays without initiative, but I can't remember who it is at the moment. Anyway, I've tried it, and it is fun--but is certainly chaotic!

 

[Noir le Lotus]

Use something like this as your battlemap :

 

[CRGreathouse]

Use something like this as your battlemap :

View attachment 56351

Love it! Simple to throw down, no extra time needed to explain, but gives the feel very well. I can't use it -- I'm playing online, and there isn't support for nonsquare grids -- but it's a great idea. Have you tried this? How did it work?

 

[Celebrim]

I have a high-level group which just found themselves dumped on a plane of chaos following a failed plane shift attempt. Not coincidentally it's the same plane that's on a collision course with the Material following... well, a plot the PCs never quite picked up on.

They've tousled with the plane before, but only insofar as portals have opened to it, allowing creatures and plane-stuff through to their home plane. This will be the first time they've been there -- and they'll leave as soon as they're physically able. (They've already cast all three of their plane travel spells for the day.)

Looks like I'm late to the party, but I was just reading my notes on Limbo from first edition. If you are still in need, I'll post them for your examination when I get home tonight.

I find though that there are two competing definitions of what 'chaotic' means.

One, perhaps the most prevelant, is simply that it is a synnonym for 'zany'. These are the descriptions of Limbo that have it raining chocolate chip cookie dough and involve dancing pink rhinos.

The second is that it means 'without fundamental order, organization, or structure'. These conceptions note that something like chocolate chip cookie dough has a high degree of order to it, and is unlikely to get coughed up merely by random.

I prefer the second.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Looks like I'm late to the party, but I was just reading my notes on Limbo from first edition. If you are still in need, I'll post them for your examination when I get home tonight.

Yes, would be nice.

The second is that it means 'without fundamental order, organization, or structure'. These conceptions note that something like chocolate chip cookie dough has a high degree of order to it, and is unlikely to get coughed up merely by random.

This interpretation needs adjustment, though, or you won't be able to see complex constructs like living beings (which I have in this plane, with great diversity and abundance). So while I agree with the fundamental idea it can't be just this or in the extreme you get an entropy 'heat-death' rather than a fascinatingly different plane.

 

[Celebrim]

Yes, would be nice.

Ok, keep in mind that these are unedited from my archives, and generally assume 1st edition rules:

Spell Use in Limbo

All Spell Casting (General): The use of any arcane spell provokes a wild surge (as during the time of troubles) when on Limbo.

Animal Summoning (General): There are no animals to summon, but if the spell is invoked Chaos Elementals of half the HD of the animals normally summoned by the spell will arrive in the area. The will not be under the control of the Druid (or anyone else for that matter).

Charm/Enchantment (General): While on Limbo, all creatures save at +4 vs. spells of this type. It is hard to govern anything here.

Clerical Spells (General): All Clerical spells are 85% more likely to fail while in Limbo unless the character is a cleric of a CN deity or some deity currently residing in Limbo. Once the character has actually moved into Ssendam's personal domain, this chance of failure applies to all clerics other than Clerics of Ssendam itself. Furthermore, spells of 3rd level or above may not be regained until after the cleric has departed Limbo.

Divination (General): Nothing about the future is predictable in Limbo. Any spell that gives information about the future fails. Unlike in the Waymites, divination that allows perception at a distance works normally except in the close vicinity of Ssendam’s throne, in which case insanity is again the probable result. Of course, by the time that a character arrives at a scryed location, it is highly probable that what is there will be different than what is viewed.

Flight (General): Spells that allow flight work almost normally, and magical flight is the only way to travel while in the Chaos Soup without creating any illusionary terrain to travel through. However, there really is no up and down in Limbo. Suspension of flight does not cause falling. Flight spells may act unexpectedly when entering illusionary realms. In particular, The City of the Insane and its environments does not allow flight EXCEPT by using wings or other mechanical means. Flight spells operating in this area only allow horizontal travel at the top speed of the flight spell. Attempts to fly up off the ground result only in a disordering vertigo, as the ground seems to swivel about to accommodate the character's new position - and an alarming tendency to change ones orientation with respect to that ground. From the perspective of an observer, it will be impossible to tell that the character has not simply moved an appropriate distance forward and altered his orientation from the perpendicular (E.I. it will appear that the character has stumbled and fell.)

Illusions (General): Illusions used in Limbo are more potent than illusions used in other planes, but they are also much much harder to control. A truly chaotic being cannot or does not distinguish between what is illusion and what is real, and on Limbo that distinguishment is truly impossible to make. All reality is illusion, and conversely all illusions are real. The primal substance of chaos is highly susceptible to becoming ordered, but once ordered it is also prone to acting in an unexpected fashion.
First, all illusions cast in Limbo are at -2 to disbelieve or save against.
Second, any illusion cast by a player has a chance equal to twice the level of the character of having permanent duration until dispelled.
Thirdly, illusions that do not normally require continual concentration require concentration to prevent them from acting in an unexpected manner. Even a permanent illusion requires concentration in this manner or it begins to alter its form and behavior. Any illusion left to its self will change until concentration is again given to it.
Fourthly, any illusion has a chance equal to the level of the spell caster of becoming real on each turn of its existence. Once the illusion has become real, it is outside of the spell caster's control and may not be dispelled, even with dispel magic or dispel illusion. It should be treated in all ways as a non-illusion. For instance, a character may create an illusion of a red dragon. If such an illusion becomes real, and then that dragon is no longer under the spell caster's control and should act much as a dragon would in the circumstances. A character that uses alter self or change self runs the risk of permanently altering their own features! However, objects created in this manner out of chaos itself are themselves always highly chaotic and unstable, even if removed from Limbo. They are subject to random changes in form and behavior and cannot be trusted to act in any one particular manner for long. The above character with permanently altered features also has permanently uncontrollably mutable facial features until a wish or some other magic is used to restore his form to a more stable state!
Fifthly, any illusion spell that is cast initially has a chance equal to twice the level of the spell caster of remaining in memory after casting.
In fact, characters that experiment will find that they have a 1% chance per round of creating an illusion whether they can cast spells or not! They also have a 1% chance per turn of inadvertently creating one whether they meant to or not. This chance rises to not less than 1% per round if the character is day dreaming, bored, or some such. Sleeping (and dreaming) in Limbo is dangerous! Having nightmares is lethal! Such illusions should initially have no more than 1" cube volume and have effects equivalent to phantasmal force or similar. Treat the spell as cast by a spell caster of the minimum level necessary to cast the spell for all other purposes. More powerful effects are possible the more practice a player gets at shaping the primal chaos. In fact, with sufficient practice or training it is possible to take a NWP in Chaos Shaping. This NWP should be assumed to be possessed by all natives of Limbo at a very high degree of proficiency. A successful NWP check vs. Chaos Shaping allows the character to cast, at will, the Spectral Forces spell while in Limbo at an effective level equal to one half his NWP score. Illusionists with the Chaos Shaping NWP add double their NWP score to the chance that illusion spells will remain in memory when cast on Limbo. Assume Celebrim possesses a 19 in this NWP - should the situation come up. Most creatures of Chaos possess the NWP at 22 or higher, and can perform truly outstanding feats of illusion simply at will while in Limbo. Most of these creatures simply abandon their creations shortly after they come into existence and are not worried about what happens to them even a few minutes after they are created. Many of the most bizarre things that can be encountered in the Chaos soup are abandoned illusions that have achieved substance. Slaad can be presumed to naturally possess this skill, but with the possible exception of the Slaad lords themselves, they rarely if ever evoke it because they are manifestations of the destructive aspect of chaos - not the creative.
Finally, the most dangerous thing about any illusion created in Limbo is that once it becomes real it immediately begins to attract Chaos Elementals from the surrounding environment. The more ordered and stable the illusion (or created object) the more quickly it attracts Chaos Elementals seeking to destroy the offending intrusion of reality into the substanceless chaotic void. Each turn that an illusion is maintained, there is a 1% chance per 10" cube of volume of the illusion (or HD if alive!) that it will attract a Chaos Elemental of not less than 1 HD and not more than 1 HD per 10" cube of volume (or HD if alive!) of the illusion. The normal max is 16 HD, unless the illusion or illusions occupies a truly vast area. This chance is doubled if the author of the illusion is lawful (tripled if LN), and doubled again if they fail a Chaos Shaping NWP or Limbo Lore or Limbo Survival NWP (automatically failed if not possessed). It is also doubled if the object is alive, doubled yet again if the object in question is innately lawful (like a Modron), and doubled yet again if the object in question is particularly uniform and regular (like a featureless meadow, a garden, a cube, a brick wall, or a Modron). It is quartered if the object in question is plastic or fluid and has no definite shape, or halved if the object in question is asymmetric and pliant. It is also halved if the author of the illusion was himself CN.

Shapechange (General): Removing the stability from an object's intrinsic nature is a dangerous proposition on a plane where everything is intrinsically unstable. There is an 85% chance that any such spell will fail spectacularly, and this may actually be the best result! If the spell fails, the target shapechanges uncontrollably for 1d4 rounds (roughly once per segment) and on each round the character is stunned and must make a system shock roll or die. (Unwilling targets are of course still allowed a saving throw to resist the spell entirely.) There is a 1% chance that the final result will be the target's disintegration, and a 95% chance that the final form will be other than what is intended (usually something chaotic and horrific).
If the spell succeeds, the danger is far from over. Spells such as polymorph self, statue, and shapechange that give a player control over his form have a chance of rendering the characters form permanently unstable. This condition is called uncontrolled form mutability (or colloquially 'chaos sickness') and creatures subject to such a condition shapechange without conscious effort or control whenever they are subject to stress. This condition will last even after the player has left the plane of Limbo and may only be removed with a wish or similar magic. Eventually the condition is fatal to most creatures either because their minds are unable to cope with the sudden shock of say, becoming a potato salad, or because they find themselves changing into a fish while in the desert or a cow when falling off a cliff.
For each turn (or instance if less than a turn) that a character employs a shapechanging spell or item, there is a 5% chance that he will unglue his true form and begin suffering from form mutability. Thereafter, whenever a character must make a saving throw, must roll for surprise, is subject to an unexpected circumstance (such as springs a trap, discovers an unexpected and disturbing bit of information, etc.), suffers damage, or concentrates strongly (such as when casting a spell, disarming a trap, memorizing a spell, praying, mediating, studying a book) that character must make a saving throw vs. spell or shapechange into a random object. Such sudden change requires a SSS roll or the character dies. If the character survives the new form will either be more suitable for the situation (45% chance, 5% chance of being much more suitable) or less suitable for the situation (45% chance, 5% chance of being must less suitable). For instance, if a character suddenly pushed into the ocean it is 45% likely that he would turn into a walrus, fish, or boat; 5% probable that he would turn into a water elemental or Marid; 45% probable that he would turn into a anvil, camel, dwarf, or bottle of wine, and 5% probable that the form would be a raw pot roast, fire salamander, or block of soap. Such transformation lasts 1-10 turns, at which point it is initially 95% probable that the character will return to his native form and 5% probable that he will shape change uncontrollably again. However, the longer the condition lasts, the more unhinged the beings form becomes. For each week that the sickness continues, the chance of returning to the native form decreases by 5% (and conversely the chance that a new shapechanging episode occurs increases by 5%).
Note that a wide variety of other effects on Limbo can cause form mutability as well.

Summoning (General): It is not possible to summon creatures that are not native to the plane of Limbo while on the plane of Limbo without Gate or similar magic. Creatures of chaos only have a chance equal to the spell caster's level (double if chaotic, triple if CN, or half if lawful) of serving the spell caster, and also a chance equal to the summoner's level (half if chaotic, or double if lawful) that they will be hostile. If the monster is neither willing to serve nor hostile, then it is typically curious. Once summoned, creatures tend to hang around even after the spells duration is over (unless they become bored) and must be dealt with in some fashion. A monster might go from serving the character to hostile as soon as the spell's duration is over! Monster Summoning spells summons monsters appropriate to the plane and the level of the spell. Some suggestions are as follows:

Monster Summoning I: Gibberlings
Monster Summoning II:
Monster Summoning III: 1 HD Chaos Elementals
Chaos Imps
Gelatinous cube
Ochre Jelly
Quarks
Monster Summoning IV: 2 HD Chaos Elementals
Gargoyles
Gray Ooze
Monster Summoning V: 4 HD Chaos Elementals
Monster Summoning VI: Red Slaad
6 HD Chaos Elementals
Monster Summoning VII: Blue Slaad
8 HD Chaos Elementals

Note that within the domain of a Power however, all conjuration and summoning spells fail, as no creature of less than Demigod status is capable (or willing) to enter such an area without the permission of the power.

Teleport (General): There are no destinations within the Chaos Soup itself, but an illusionary domain can be teleported too unless some force prevents it. The best use of teleport in the Chaos Soup is to teleport to things that can be seen, since these are often many miles away (or even an infinite distance away). In general, it is not possible to teleport into or out of the domain of one of the Powers (Ssendam, Ygorl, etc.) unless permitted by the Power, and attempts to result in appearing at a random location (if teleporting in) or simple failure (if teleporting out). Illusionary domains within Limbo are of course very unstable, and an area is never known better than casually (and often never better than seen once no matter how many times it is viewed because it changes every time). Despite this, the vast distances of infinity are such that teleport is often the only practical way to move from place to place within the plane.

Wall Spells (General): Do to the lack of gravity, wall spells generally do not require anchor points and will tend to hang wherever they are put. They act normally in illusionary terrain that features normal gravity.

Anti-Animal Shell: Does confer protection from Chaos Elementals while on Limbo (but not from the same on the prime).

Babble (Reverse of Tongues): On a failed saving throw, this spell has permanent effect on its target.

Call Lightning: Works anywhere in the Chaos Soup without the need of a storm.

Chaos: This spell is especially powerful here. The target of this spell always becomes temporarily insane, and on a failed saving throw becomes permanently insane.

Commune with Nature: The spell functions in the Chaos Soup (which is natural), but not in most illusionary domains (which aren’t), unless the illusion is that of a natural setting (a forest or meadow) and it is has become ‘real’ as described under the text concerning illusions. However, in the Chaos Soup, it gives no real information, since the environment is continually changing and there is a chance that such a communion will render the Druid mentally unstable (as Contact other Plane).

Confusion: Treat as Chaos for purposes of resisting this spell. On a failed saving throw, the target also acquires a temporary insanity.

Conjure Elemental: If the caster knows the proper variation of the spell, it is possible to conjure up a Chaos Elemental on Limbo, but it is not possible to control it!

Detect Illusion: This spell cannot distinguish between illusions and reality while on Limbo.

Detect Lie: Nothing has a definite meaning on Limbo. Everything is true, and everything is false. This spell fails to function.

Disintegration: Saves vs. this spell are at -2 while on Limbo.

Familiar: Although the spell has but a 10% chance of success and only succeeds for CN’s, if successful the Familiar will always be a Quark.

Find the Path: This spell always fails on Limbo.

Invisibility to Animals: Does confer invisibility to Chaos Elementals and other similarly unintelligent inhabitants of the Chaos soup, although of course they will still eat anything at gets in their way whether they can see it or not.

Invisibility: This spell may and must be dispelled if it becomes permanent, for otherwise the target is at risk of becoming non-corporal or even disintegrating in the long term!

Levitation: There is no up and no down in Limbo. Levitation fails to work in a predictable fashion, except in certain illusionary domains. A levitating character moves in a random direction, and any attempt at new motion sets the character off in a new random direction.

Magic Jar: There is a 10% chance per turn that a creature of Limbo will possess the caster’s body while it is vacant if sufficient protections are not used (circles of protection from chaos and the like). The creature will either be:

01-40 A CN disembodied soul
41-70 A Red Slaad
71-90 A Blue Slaad
91-99 Green Slaad
00 or more A Gray Slaad

More powerful bodies will attract more powerful creatures - add twice the character’s level to the roll. Once in the body, the soul will possess abilities corresponding to a character of level 1d6+2 and will not wish to part with its new home. Slaad also retain their natural spell casting abilities. Disembodied souls will have the Chaos Shaping NWP at 1d10+10. The soul may only removed with a clerical exorcise spell.

Mending: This spell depends on the natural organization of objects, and as such always fails to function properly on Limbo.

Mirror Image: A very cheap, and very dangerous, way to clone oneself several times in quick succession if the images remain long enough to become real. Not recommended. Insanity is the likely result. Death by suicide or being slain by your insane clones generally follows not far behind.

Pass without Trace: Redundant in most areas of the ever changing Limbo.

Project Image: Like Mirror Image, this can be bad.

Raise Dead: There is a 25% chance that the resurrected body will be possessed by a slaad using a magic jar like attack. This may not be immediately obvious to either the party or the newly resurrected character.

Reincarnation: The reincarnated form is always that of a CN being native to the plane

Regeneration: The regenerated body part will be subject to uncontrollably mutable form. See the section on shapechanging for details.

Resurrection: There is a 25% chance that the resurrected body will be possessed by a slaad using a magic jar like attack. This may not be immediately obvious to either the party or the newly resurrected character.

Reverse Gravity: Against creatures from Limbo, this has no effect. Against creatures not native to Limbo who are also operating in any illusionary environment that features gravity (essentially anywhere except inside the Chaos soup), this works normally provided that those creatures fail a Limbo Survival or Chaos Shaping NWP check.

Simulacrum: One of the few illusion spells that actually works on Limbo much like it does on the prime, with the exception that once the simulacrum becomes ‘real’ (usually only in a few hours), it is no longer under the control of the caster.

Spiritwrack: "Ssendam" (being merely ‘Madness reversed) is not the true name of the Slaad Lord, if indeed it has a true name.

Statue: Subject to the same limitations of all shape changing spells.

Temporal Stasis: Nothing remains unchanged in Limbo. This spell fails to function properly.

Time Stop: It is not possible to stop change in Limbo. This spell fails to function properly, hasting half the beings in the area of effect, and slowing the other half.

Trap The Soul: "Ssendam" is not the true name of the Slaad Lord, if indeed it has a true name.

True Name: "Ssendam" is not the true name of the Slaad Lord, if indeed it has a true name.

True Sight: Nothing has a true form on the plane of Limbo. This spell fails to show more than what is seen, or renders everything invisible or distorted or otherwise fails to function properly. Prolonged use of true sight is likely to result in insanity.

Weather Summoning/Weather Control: While in the Chaos Soup, it would be better to call these spells ‘weather creation’, as no natural weather normally exists there. Attempts to control the weather, result in the creation of illusionary weather of the desired type, but then such creation is subject to the same effects of any illusion created in Limbo. Players will find these spells awesomely powerful, but incredibly dangerous, as weather on Limbo makes weather on the prime seem predictable. On Limbo, you never know if the cloud you just created is going to start raining ice, burning lumps of magma, acid, light rays, or earthworms or simply transform into a suspended lake or cloud of toxic fumes.

 

[Celebrim]

Combat In Limbo

Due to the ever changing laws governing the plane of chaos, and the fact that nothing here truly resembles a straight line, missile weapons are hard to use everywhere in the plane of Chaos except in illusionary domains specifically created to resemble the prime (none within this module unless created by the players). As such, the range of any attack is considered to be one step further than normal for all purposes. For instance, point blank is considered short; short is considered medium and so forth. Missile attacks from long range always hit only on a natural 20.
In the Chaos Soup there is also the additional problem of no gravity. This effects missile users used to the ballistics of the prime by giving them a -3 penalty to hit until they become used to weightlessness.

Travel In Limbo

Travel on the outer planes in general, and on Limbo in particular, is quite different from travel on the Prime Material plane. It is to be remembered that infinite distances separate the majority of locations on the outer planes, and some of these locations are also of infinite size. Mortal perception and intelligence is insufficient to fully grasp the enormity and complexity of many of the objects that exist in the outer planes. Therefore, mortal perceptions can produce false understanding of surroundings - a problem that is compounded on Limbo by the planes natural distortion of objects, distances, and perception. For instance, an object in the outer planes can appear to a mortal to have finite dimensions, but is in fact infinite. It will be impossible by moving at a finite speed to leave the vicinity of such an object. An object may appear to be a finite distance away, but it is actually an infinite distance away. It will be impossible by moving at a finite speed to come closer to such an object. Many infinite actions will appear to be subjectively finite. An object may appear to traverse a given space in a given time, when in fact it has traversed an infinite space at an infinite speed. A deity may perform a feat many thousands of times, but to an outside observer will appear to have performed it only once. It will be impossible to duplicate the feat by working at finite speed.
Therefore, the only way to travel about the outer planes with any degree of freedom is to move at infinite speed. The simplest way to do this is to teleport or open a gate, and these means are quite popular among natives of the outer planes. However, not all denizens of the outer planes are sufficiently potent to teleport without error at will, and teleportation is only possible if a destination is in mind. Therefore, by teleportation it is not possible to discover some unknown, patrol the borders of infinity, or go whence you have not gone (at least intentionally). Some areas are also warded against teleportation, particularly the domains of gods and powers. Some potent deities are capable of traveling at infinite speed, and may appear anywhere they wish at will and everywhere at once, but the vast majority of outer planar beings move at a slower but still infinite rate. That is to say, most beings - even gods - find that even moving at infinite speed, a finite time is still required to travel an infinite distance. This movement is known as 'planes walking'.
All native outer planar beings are capable of planes walking to one extent or another and all souls acquire this ability (perhaps as a gift of one of the gods) once they begin their afterlife. The more powerful the being, the greater the skill they have at planes walking, and thus the less finite time is required to traverse and infinite distance. In general, planes walking beings may be classified as one of five types. These types, and examples of each, are related in the list below:

Elder Deities - The most potent powers.
Greatest Spirits - Most gods, Solars and other chiefs of the upper planes, heirarch modrons, slaad lords, dukes of hell, demon princes, elemental princes, lords of the animals, and rulers of the genie.
Greater Spirits - Planatars, devas, greater animal spirits, greater servitor beings, genies
Lesser Spirits - aisamon, fairy nobles and fairies native to the outer planes, greater elementals, lesser servitor beings, genie-kin (such as Jann)
Least Spirits - petitioners, lesser animal spirits, familiars, most fairies native to the inner planes, manes, numberinos, lemures, imps, mephits, monodrons, lesser elementals and elemental-kin, heirophant druids, natives of the outer planes not otherwise classified (for instance hell hounds), beings possessing the dimension walking psionic skill

Elder Deities require no travel time to go anywhere. Anywhere they wish to be, they are. All other spirits require finite time to move from one place to another infinitely removed from the first. In the case of Greatest Spirits this can be very fast indeed. All other things being equal, spirits of lesser rank require an order of magnitude greater time than the spirit one rank above them in order to travel the same distance. For instance, greater spirits require ten times the travel time of the greatest spirits, and lesser spirits require one hundred times as long to journey from once place to another compared to the gods. The poor least spirits require one thousand times as long. Since it can require many days for even a god to journey across a single infinite plane (they would normally teleport), a journey by a mere petitioner might require years or even decades of time - if it can be completed at all.
In addition to the power of the planeswalker, travel time in the outer planes is also dependent on the finite (subjective speed) of the traveler. A greater spirit that moves at 48" finite speed, also covers infinite distances four times faster than a greater spirit that moves at 12" finite speed. Therefore, a lesser spirit with a 96" normal movement rate actually travels faster than a greater spirit that only moves at 9".
One interesting aspect of planes walking is that the true motion of a being always depends on the true motion of the most powerful planes walker in the vicinity. So long as it remains in close proximity to a greater spirit, a lesser spirit may travel at the same infinite speed. For this reason, it is not possible for a greater spirit to simply flee away from a slower lesser spirit. In order to separate from the lesser spirit, the greater spirit must also have greater finite speed than the lesser spirit. On the other hand, if the actual desire is to have the lesser spirit accompany the greater, the greater spirit may enjoy the company with no loss of speed on his journey. The most frequent means of transportation by visitors to the outer planes is to induce a native spirit to act as guide for the wayfarer and to journey with them, thereby accomplishing an infinite movement rate. In fact, if the lesser spirit can carry the greater and has greater finite speed, the combination may move quicker than either could alone.
Unless otherwise specified, travel times on the outer planes assume a lesser spirit moving at a normal speed of 12". Adjust times accordingly if other circumstances prevail, and remember that most unguided denizens of the prime cannot effectively make any infinite journey.
Finally, it should be stressed so that no misunderstanding takes place that the laws that govern the prime material generally prevent movement at infinite speed, save by teleportation. Simply being able to planeswalk while on the outer planes does not confer dimension walking (a closely related but different skill) on the being.

Sensory Overload

One of the chief dangers of the plane of Chaos is its ability to over stimulate the senses of travelers within it, both by displays of chaos and by the ever shifting subtle changes in the laws of reality around (and within) the being of the traveler. Such effects quickly destabilize the mind of the traveler, and in extreme cases are fatal to them. In effect, the traveler is subject to the equivalent of a psionic blast every hour that he travels within the chaos soup. Lawfuls save at -2 (lawful neutrals at -3), and chaotics at +2 (chaotic neutrals at +3). Some protection against these effects can be afforded by creating an illusionary terrain to travel in. In such cases, the effects are felt only 10% of the time (or on failed chaos shaping checks if that skill is employed by a non-native). The drawback of creating an illusion to travel in is that, the maximum speed will be limited by the maximum propagation of the illusion.
Sleeping characters or unconscious characters are not effected by sensory overload.

Random Incidents

Although random things will be happening all around the characters at all times, most of these incidents will not directly effect the party or will be so minor as to require no specific note. However, the chaos soup is continually generating random objects traveling at random velocities throughout the soup, and some of these objects will be large enough or fast enough to be difficult to avoid, and some of these will be of a nature that makes avoiding them a particularly good idea. There is a 10% chance per turn that some large object wants to occupy the same space that the party occupies. Roll on the following table to determine what sort of object crosses the path of the character. Each party member must avoid each object by a successful save vs. paralyzation. Characters perfectly adapted to the plane always pass this check (if they wish to). As long as the characters travel with a guide, the worst save vs. any random incident is that of the guide. (Note that even though native guides are immune, the characters must still pass a saving throw.) Note that some very large effects cannot be avoided (generally those described as 'clouds') -even by natives (though they could probably shape the environment back to however they prefer it).

A blob of rock 30'-60' in diameter (in effect a small asteroid) and traveling at 12d8" per round. Damage is equal to 1 per 2" of speed of boulder. Characters impacted by the boulder are carried by at its current speed until they can crawl off it and jump clear. This requires a successful dexterity check. Once off the boulder the character remains traveling at the speed he last moved until he intersects something else, his inertia decides to randomly change (5% chance per turn), or he manages to stop himself. A character should be allowed to attempt chaos shaping to create a landing spot, but unless they also make a second successful roll they suffer 1d6 falling damage per 8" speed they are traveling when they impact their newly created reality. Characters should receive a bonus to this roll if they have thought ahead enough to make their new reality a giant marshmellow, stack of mattresses, trampoline, haystack, or similar object.
A blob of ice. Treat as blob of rock above, except that it also does 1d4 cold damage per round as long as the character is in contact with it.
A cloud of normal refreshing air. MAY NOT BE AVOIDED. No effect, but characters do not require planar protection while the pocket endures. Lasts 1-6 turns.
A cloud of heated air. MAY NOT BE AVOIDED. Lasts 1-6 turns. Each turn characters suffer from heat exhaustion as from air of 130-180 degrees Fahrenheit (for simplicity 1d6-1 to 1d6+4 damage) unless they have protection from heat or fire.
A cloud of chilled air. MAY NOT BE AVOIDED. Lasts 1-6 turns. Each turn the character suffers cold damage as from air of 0 to -50 degrees farenheit (for simplicity 1d6-1 to 1d6+4 damage) unless they have protection from cold. Normal clothing especially several layers of garments or very thick garments will provide some protection.
A blob of fire that does 8-48 damage.
A lightning bolt that does 8-48 damage, plus make a SSS check or suffer a heart attack for 3-18 damage and the permanent loss of 1 CON.
A blob of water. Dexterity check at -4 (or swimming NWP) or take 1d6 damage. Characters are submerged for 1-4 rounds, and must make a swimming NWP check (or be able to breath water) each round or drown. Note that the weight of armor (or any other object) has no effect on this roll (no gravity). Characters are carried 3-300" off the path, before released from its grip. Characters remain traveling in the same direction as the water at 2-12" per round.
A fierce gust of wind. Characters are carried in 1d6 rounds, 6-600" off the path, before released from its grip. Twenty percent of these gusts already carry debris which attacks as a 8 HD monster for 1d6 damage each round. Characters remain traveling in the same direction as the wind at 3-30" per round.
A sudden fierce blaze of light. Characters are blinded for 1d3 rounds, and must make a save vs. paralyzation or be blinded permanently. Undead and shadow creatures in the area take 20-120 damage.
A cloud of darkness that obscures the area for 1-6 turns. MAY NOT BE AVOIDED. Light sources are required or the characters are considered blind, and the radius of all light sources is quartered for the duration. All saves to avoid other random obstacles are at -1 or -2 if the light is no better than a candle light or similar weak source. If the characters are blind the save falls to a penalty of -10 (-5 if the character passes a blind fighting NWP check). Undead and shadow creatures regenerate an extra 3 h.p. per round while in the area.
A cloud of mist that obscures vision to only a few feet for 1-6 turns and renders all melee attacks at -2 during this time. All saves to avoid other obstacles are at -2 as well. MAY NOT BE AVOIDED.
A gust of toxic vapors. Characters are carried 3-300" off the path, and must spend 1-6 rounds breathing the vapors. A save vs. poison is required each round, and for three rounds after exiting the fumes. Each failed save results in 1d4 damage and being stunned for a round. Three successive failed saves results in death. Characters within the fumes are at -2 to hit. Characters remain traveling in the same direction as the wind at 2-20" per round.
A blob of harmless but viscous slime. Dexterity check at -4 (or swimming NWP) or take 1d6+1 damage. Characters must make a swimming NWP check at -2 each round (or have a means of breathing slime) or drown. Note that the weight of armor (or any other object) has no effect on this roll. Exiting the slime requires three successive swimming NWP checks at -2 AND a successful strength check, or three successive swimming NWP checks AND magical aid (such as the ability to fly). Each round caught in the slime blob carries the character 8-96" from the path. Characters remain covered in slime and are at -1 to all actions until cleansed in some fashion. Characters remain traveling in the same direction as the slime at 2-16" per round.
A cloud of ash. MAY NOT BE AVOIDED.
A dust storm. MAY NOT BE AVOIDED.
A cloud of stinging salt. MAY NOT BE AVOIDED.
A blob of acid or caustic fluid. Dexterity check at -4 (or diving NWP) or take 1d6 damage. Characters are submerged for 1-4 rounds, and must make a swimming NWP check (or be able to breath water) each round or drown. Note that the weight of armor (or any other object) has no effect on this roll. Characters take 1d8 damage per round, and for 1d3 rounds after leaving the acid (unless cleansed in some fashion). Note that the weight of armor (or any other object) has no effect on this roll. Characters are carried 3-300" off the path, before released from its grip.
A blob of hot magma traveling at 8d8" per round. Damage is 1 point per 4" of speed, plus 8-48 points of fire damage per round. Characters must make a successful dexterity check AND successful strength check in the same round AND have some sort of magical aid (such as flight) in order to extricate themselves from the magma.
A leftover illusionary fantasy (in effect someone's dream). Characters within must save vs. spells at -3 (wisdom modifiers apply) or be subject to the suggestion that this is real and will temporarily forget who they were outside the illusionary reality. Creatures within the illusionary reality are just as dangerous as real creatures. Allow a new roll every turn to recognize the reality as false, and provided the character desires to leave it the reality may be left in one turn. For each turn in the reality, the characters will be carried 1-1000" from their last location.
A pocket of primal chaos upwelling from deep within the plane! Save vs. spells or disintegrate! If disintegration is avoided, suffer as if attacked by a psionic blast, and save vs. spells to avoided permanent form mutability (see the section on shapechanging)!

Naturally, chaos shaping can be used to great effect to assist a character in any number of ways in most of the above situations. The exceptions are primal chaos, which may not be shaped, and illusionary fantasies, which requires an initial contest of skills between the character and the original shaper (skill 1d20+14).

New Non-Weapon Proficiency
Chaos Shaping - Mage (all others require two slots), Intelligence

Common Chaos Shaping Penalties
Alter existing (but untended) reality -6
Alter existing tended reality contest of skills at -6
Per additional 10" diameter of effect -1
Complex or mechanical objects -3 (or higher as warranted)
Magic Items -1/100 XP award of the item
Plants -6
Animals -8
Intelligent Beings -10
Physical laws different than the shaper's native reality -12
Opaque (cannot be seen out of) -1
Opaque (cannot be seen into) -3

Suggested Chaos Shaping Limitations
Valuable Substances: Valuable substances (like gold, reagents, or gems) are highly organized and impossible to create out of chaos alone. Illusionary substitutes can be created and these will become permanent, but when removed from the glamour of the plane they will always be found to be made of some common relatively valueless substance like lead, straw, or glass.
Magic Items: Any magic item created out of chaos loses its enchantment when removed from the plane. Magic items that heal the character (such as a potion of healing) have a 1% chance per hit point restored of causing permanent form mutability in the subject (see the section on shape changing). Other sorts of objects that permanently effect the character (such as by raising stats) are unlikely to be created (because of their great worth) but such objects should always have extreme side effects (personality/alignment change, permanent incurable insanity, form mutability, permanent change of true form, sex change, loss of charisma or comeliness, etc.).
Food: Food can be created out of chaos, and once it becomes real, it is as sustaining as any other sort of food. Eating small quantities of this food (a few days worth at most) has no effect on a character, but character's journeying in Limbo for long periods (weeks) are best advised to bring provisions with them. Eventually, sustaining ones physical form with the stuff of chaos is likely to result in adverse physical effects or at the very least enchantment of some sort. Food manufactured in this manner and brought off the plane often proves to be inedible (or virtually inedible) goop once removed from the glamour of the plane.
Trade Goods: It is possible to manufacture large quantities of items of moderate value and complexity (steel, bricks, glass, tin, lead, etc.) and transport them back to the prime for resale. Wizards hoping to corner the wholesale markets in this fashion are likely to learn (and best advised if they bother to ask) that there are better and easier means of production on the Prime. First, the goods are quite likely to attract hungry Chaos Elementals before they can be collected and brought through the gate. Secondly, once brought off the plane the goods should retain some subtle chaotic taint (or jinx) which renders them unpredictable, unstable, and ultimately unsaleable at a profit once the reputation of the goods (and the wizard) is more widely known. Thereafter, the wizard should find himself not trusted in business dealings of any sort even if he sells more mundane wares. Lastly, such manufacture is not likely to endear the character to the Gods of law and balance in the slightest.

 

[Celebrim]

This interpretation needs adjustment, though, or you won't be able to see complex constructs like living beings (which I have in this plane, with great diversity and abundance). So while I agree with the fundamental idea it can't be just this or in the extreme you get an entropy 'heat-death' rather than a fascinatingly different plane.

I would prefer to call it 'elaboration'. It's absolutely true that in the deep chaos, nothing exists. In the deep chaos, there is no possibility of form and no possibility of association. No two bits of matter are related to each other. No bit of matter has a recognizable or definate form. There is only the chaos, and nothing lives down there not even beings made entirely or almost entirely of chaos stuff. Even the chaos elementals are disentigrated in such regions, and one possible way to imagine the deep chaos is that of an infinitely vast mindless purposeless chaos elemental consuming all else - the ur-chaos elemental.

But as you get into more 'shallow' realms, the perfect symmettry of chaos is broken. Things begin to have forms. Laws begin to bubble out of the soup. This is still an almost unimaginably chaotic realm by the standards of a prime dweller or anything less than a chaos elemental, but its no longer completely formless or undifferentiatable. There is cause and effect. Most of the time something happens after the thing that caused it. Matter begins to clump and associate and acquire natures that are, at least for brief period, somewhat fixed. Purposes begin to form. Think of it as being like the macroscale edge of a quantum vacuum. Bits and things are always bubbling out. Most of the time they fall back and are consumed again, but there is no special limit on the complexity or duration of what gets spit out. It's just probables and improbables. A vast gout of fire or sand is probable. Something like a Slaad is less probable, but still possible. For some discussion on this, see the link in my signature.