Planescape General and Q&A
Discuss Planescape and the Great Wheel here, whether the original AD&D 2e version, the 3.X version, the 4e version (yes, it exists in 4e, down to the baernaloths, the yugoloths, the Heart of Darkness, Maeldur et Kavurik, Tenebrous, Pelion, and the Last Word all being canon as of Dragon #417), the 5e version, or your own original blend.
I am exceedingly well-lanned on Planescape canon under a holistic blend of 2e, 3.X, and sometimes even 4e lore. If you have any questions at all about the setting's lore, feel free to ask, and I will give you direct quotes and citations from as many primary sources as I can, unlike afroakuma. I will note when something is open to GM interpretation, and explicitly note whenever I give merely my own personal interpretation.
>Basic setting summary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planescape
>Comprehensive Planescape reference index: http://www.rilmani.org/psIndex.txt
>Planewalker.com planar encyclopedia: http://mimir.planewalker.com/encyclopedia/plane
>Canonfire.com planar encyclopedia: http://canonfire.com/wiki/index.php?title=Outer_Planes
>Rilmani.org planar encyclopedia (contains unmarked fanon, so beware): http://www.rilmani.org/timaresh/Outer_Planes
>List of all the multiverse's gods (contains all gods mentioned in D&D products, but also has plenty of speculation and fanon for mythological deities and for powers with few details on them): http://mimir.planewalker.com/forum/list-dead-gods#comment-58090
Old threads with previous questions and comprehensive answers:
https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/search/text/%22comprehensive%20planescape%22/
How long would it take to circumnavigate all the outer planes? Assume a person can walk 24 miles in a day.
>>44332535
I cover the various methods of planar travel in this set of posts, which you could read to gain a better grasp of planar travel: https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/42966029/#42970739
As far as circumnavigating the Outer Planes on foot is concerned, there is a relevant passage from page 22 of the DM's Guide to the Planes from the original Planescape Campaign Setting boxed set:
>There’s actually a road on some planes, but mostly it’s the thought of the Ring, the grand union of all the Outer Planes, that poets sing about. What it really is is a string of portals, permanent and unchanging, that link each Outer Plane to its adjacent fellows.
This establishes that, yes, each of the Outer Planes are indeed connected by an unbroken ring of portals. However, given that the Outer Planes are infinitely wide realms of pure spirit, travel time is *purely* dependent on how adept the traveler is at navigating any given plane.
The Planes of Law/Conflict/Chaos boxed sets and the Player's Primer to the Outlands describe the different geographies of each Outer Plane and what it takes to travel within each of them. Each plane has a different travel method: Mount Celestia demands trials of virtue, Elysium facilitates travel via good deeds, Mechanus is traversed via the mental construct that is the Labyrinthine Portal, getting anywhere in the Gray Waste is all about *not* caring about reaching one's destination, the Outlands simply extract a travel time of 3d6 days to get to any location, and so on.
If a cutter knows how to perform the right mental acrobatics for all of the Outer Planes, they can circumnavigate the Great Ring swiftly. If not, then the journey will take far longer.
>>44329077
Which of the archdevil consorts is the best waifu?
>>44332892
This is a purely opinion-based question, but Baalphegor seems like a highly competent consort.
According to various sources that I cannot quite unearth myself (see the bibliography here: www.canonfire.com/wiki/index.php?title=Baalphegor ), Baalphegor is the consort of Mephistopheles. Pages 28-29 of Dragon #76 say that Asmodeus values and respects her deeply, to the point wherein he tolerates Mephistopheles largely because of her. She is said to be as old as Baator itself, and if that is true, then she is an ancient Baatorian and Asmodeus respects her for being an ancient Baatorian.
>>44332876
>getting anywhere in the Gray Waste is all about *not* caring about reaching one's destination
...how?
It seems like that would be a pretty big crisis in the "Around the multiverse in 80 days" campaign.
Ideas to incorporate more planes/convince my players to try a campaign or simply a visit on the setting?
My players have never visited anything besides demiplanes or inner planes and only for a short while, and, though I find the setting very interesting, I also realise it seems very complicated whenever you try to introduce someone to it. What would be a less demanding way to try to get them into it?
I had tons of fun playing this last year. the characters were part of a small army that got mass teleported to a random plane and had to try and fight their way back. I had this system set up so that the players could re roll as much as they wanted but every attempt would increase the amount of lives lost
500 went in 18 came back out
I should do it again some time
>>44333116
Doublethink is a trick that planewalkers must learn if they wish to travel in certain planes.
Page 45 of Planes of Conflict: Liber Malevolentiae makes the following clear:
>To travel anywhere on the Gray Waste outside a power's realm, a body has to learn the trick of not concentrating on his destination. Only the lack of desire or care to reach a place allows a body to make much progress. He moves about ten times faster than if he's intent on reaching a certain point.
Page 21 of Planes of Law: Mechanus states that a similar act of doublethink is necessary to reach the divine realm of the mushroom-loving myconid god Psilofyr:
>As said before, there's no approaching Mycelia unless a body's moving away from it, no finding unless a body's not seeking. It's a paradox of nonviolence, a thought pattern Psilofyr's established to keep out those whose minds are too turbulent to understand fully what Mycelia offers.
Of course, if we remove the "by foot" restriction, the River Oceanus and the River Styx become a substantially more viable method of circumnavigating the Great Ring.
>>44333138
Convince the players that they need to track down and acquire a MacGuffin in a "surreal wonderland," which is actually another plane. Have the players step through a portal to that plane, and then gradually ease them into the concept of this being a philosophical afterlife realm where thought and spirit hold sway.
>>44333374
>Of course, if we remove the "by foot" restriction, the River Oceanus and the River Styx become a substantially more viable method of circumnavigating the Great Ring.
I was thinking that would rob a bit of the challenge if it just meant riding the river, although I'm sure the styx has plenty of perils.
It's probably best if the goal is to complete the circumnavigation within a certain time limit where riding those rivers becomes unfeasible.
>/tg/ doesn't like planescape anymore
bake desu sempai
>>44338176
It really is a shame. It's one of the most fantastic settings I've ever run games in, and there's a hell of a lot you can do with it.
I honestly doubt I'd run dnd these days if it wasn't for the setting.
