Planescape Planescape Pre-order Page Shows Off The Books!

You can now pre-order Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse from D&D Beyond. The set comes out on October 17th.

Scroll down through the comments to see more various peeks at the books!

Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse

An adventure setting spanning the infinite realities of the world’s greatest roleplaying game

www.dndbeyond.com

• Discover 2 new backgrounds, the Gate Warden & the Planar Philosopher, to build planar characters in the D&D Beyond character builder
• Channel 7 otherworldly feats, new intriguing magic spells & more powered by planar energies
• Explore 12 new ascendant factions, each with distinct cosmic ideologies
• Face over 50 unusual creatures including planar incarnates, hierarch modrons, and time dragons in the Encounter Builder
• Journey across the Outlands in an adventure for characters levels 3-10 and 17
• Adds adventure hooks, encounter tables, maps of Sigil and the Outlands & more to your game

This 3 books set comprises:

• Sigil and the Outlands: a setting book full of planar character options with details on the fantastic City of Doors, descriptions of the Outlands, the gate-towns that lead to the Outer planes, and more
• Turn of the Fortunes Wheel: an adventure set in Sigil and the Outlands designed for character levels 3-10 with a jump to level 17
• Morte’s Planar Parade: Follow Morte as he presents over 50 inhabitants of the Outer Plane, including incarnates, hierarch modrons, time dragons, and more with their stats and descriptions

 

[Ondath]

I need to brush up on my PS Lore (finally got all my 2E stuff out of storage!), but the Outlands may make for a good neutral zone for beings from different planes, including differently-aligned people who had a connection prior to death. The Outlands may be where you meet up with your Chaotic Neutral great grandma and Lawful Neutral great great great grandpa to discuss the family's legacy artifact causing problems in Toril.

IIRC, petitioners don't tend to move outside their designated afterlife that much (they might not even be capable of doing so but I'm not sure). But the magic-free areas of the Outlands were explicitly stated to be a preferred meeting area for Powers, since it guarantees that neither side can pull off any shenanigans.

 

[dave2008]

I want to solve this mystery. But i can make up my own stats np!

I made 5e stats for her a few years ago, see below (FYI, this used a custom epic stats by CR table). Maybe I update this before the book comes out!

 

[Ondath]

The fandom assumption from 2e is that The Lady of Pain is an Overpower on par with AO of FR and the High God of DL.

I remember reading in some fan communities that according to some very obscure lore the Lady is some kind of an extremely ancient and powerful entity that possibly existed before the creation of this multiverse, and that only things on par with her were other obscure, primordial entities like the Serpent (the personification of magic who taught Vecna).

 

[dave2008]

The fandom assumption from 2e is that The Lady of Pain is an Overpower on par with AO of FR and the High God of DL.

Yes, I knew that, but I don't think it is "canon" which I would think @Henadic Theologian would not based on the recent discussion (I think in this thread).

 

[dave2008]

I remember reading in some fan communities that according to some very obscure lore the Lady is some kind of an extremely ancient and powerful entity that possibly existed before the creation of this multiverse, and that only things on par with her were other obscure, primordial entities like the Serpent (the personification of magic who taught Vecna).

That is basically the route I went. To be clear, from my research on her when I did make stats for her (see above), there is a lot of conflicting lore about her.

 

[Ondath]

I made 5e stats for her a few years ago, see below (FYI, this used a custom epic stats by CR table). Maybe I update this before the book comes out!

View attachment 290509

View attachment 290510
View attachment 290511

Oh no, she gets no stats IMO. Stats imply somebody can cheese her, and that's just not possible.

One Interpretation I like of Planescape is the idea that the setting turns D&D's cosmology into a post-modernist interpretation of how metanarratives shape reality, with each faction (and their desire to make the multiverse in their image) an example of a metanarrative trying to impose a vision of the world. In that interpretation of Planescape, the Lady is the absolute essence of social order, where only through the existence of that order can living together be possible and other metanarratives possibly exist. The Lady is the personification of postmodernist society. She doesn't need stats. She just exists.

And funnily enough Planescape seems pretty close to Mage: The Ascension when viewed through that lens (both settings essentially create games about "philosophers with clubs").

 

[Shardstone]

I made 5e stats for her a few years ago, see below (FYI, this used a custom epic stats by CR table). Maybe I update this before the book comes out!

View attachment 290509

View attachment 290510
View attachment 290511

Hahahahaha I LOVE the 3 91 damage slashing attacks she makes. Nice stat block, will use this for inspo!

 

[SkidAce]

So, here's something I hope WotC makes clearer than I think TSR did: Other than the gate towns and the spire, what else is in the Outlands? I've often seen it described in such bare bones terms that it's effectively an empty landscape with a few towns and gates dotting it, which is super-boring. Does it look like the Material Plane? Is it an alien world with its own look and feel?

I'd love to see a classic starting adventure like Lost Mines set in and around a gatetown, but for that to work, there would need to be more than just a gatetown and a gate there.

And yes, I know someone who has ingested every bit of Planescape content is going to tell me I'm clearly wrong, because "an article in Dragon magazine once said," but I'm talking about how little flavor and description Outland gets generally, when it's second only to Sigil in its possibilities as a staging ground for planar adventures.

My Outlands has always been a (to coin a new term from recently) "First World" type of area.

Predating the gods, was destroyed/shattered, stuff spread across the multiverse from there, etc etc.

 

[DavyGreenwind]

So, here's something I hope WotC makes clearer than I think TSR did: Other than the gate towns and the spire, what else is in the Outlands? I've often seen it described in such bare bones terms that it's effectively an empty landscape with a few towns and gates dotting it, which is super-boring. Does it look like the Material Plane? Is it an alien world with its own look and feel?

I'd love to see a classic starting adventure like Lost Mines set in and around a gatetown, but for that to work, there would need to be more than just a gatetown and a gate there.

And yes, I know someone who has ingested every bit of Planescape content is going to tell me I'm clearly wrong, because "an article in Dragon magazine once said," but I'm talking about how little flavor and description Outland gets generally, when it's second only to Sigil in its possibilities as a staging ground for planar adventures.

Keys from the Golden Vault--Specifically "Affair on the Concordant Express"--has an illustration of the Outlands:

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I hate that train with the fury of a thousand suns, but I do love that landscape.