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/
These threads hardly seem popular. A question, then:
Why do you think Baator and Mechanus invade Mount Celestia so often (as per the Planes of Law monstrous supplement entry for archons), despite the baatezu having better things to fight (e.g. tanar'ri), and despite Mechanus being on such good terms with the seven-peaked mountain that there are modrons all the way up in the *fifth* layer's city of Empyrea as per the same boxed set?
Wonderful setting, but sadly WotC doesn't have anyone on staff that knows it in depth enough to handle it well in 5e, especially when they're seemingly hellbent on incorporating some of the most special of 4e special snowflakes (4e style tieflings all being uniform in appearance and devil-blooded).
Plus they made some boneheaded retcons such as the yugoloths being created by the hags in 5e, with Asmodeus helping out. They don't have anyone willing to fact check and make sure they don't make a hash of prior material when ostensibly they wanted to return to the game's past with the new edition and embrace the more classic lore.
What are good low-level adventures to run in the setting that don't involve Sigil, and do actually involve visiting the Planes - even if they have to go and get a spell or temporary protection from the elements?
>>44499472
I have fielded this exact question previously here: https://archive.4plebs.org/tg/thread/44365641/#44372155
To reiterate, however, one thing to understand about the Outer Planes in particular (not so much the other planes) is that the vast majority of inhabitants are petitioners, and the majority of *those* are mortal humanoids who have had their Hit Dice cut down to minimal levels.
This means that if you visit Mechanus, Acheron, Gehenna, Carceri, Pandemonium, Ysgard, Arborea, or most other Outer Planes and begin to wander around, you will encounter humanoid petitioners more than any other creature. This is not unlike a regular Prime Material world.
Even without bringing out petitioners, the planes have more than enough monsters and safe environments for low-level adventurers. Have a look at the sample low-level adventures in Planes of Law/Conflict/Chaos; there is no end to them, and Planes of Conflict even has an adventure for low-level characters that sees the PCs negotiating with *Hades, a greater god, in person, in the depths of the Gray Waste* for a hero's soul. Various published adventures, such as the Eternal Boundary and the Great Modron March, are also suitable for low-level heroes.
You could also take inspiration from Frank and K's Tome of Fiends and Book of Elements, which offer many ideas for low-level adventures in the planes, albeit under fanon interpretations:
http://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Tome_of_Fiends_%283.5e_Sourcebook%29/Campaigning_on_the_Lower_Planes
http://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Book_of_Elements_%283.5e_Sourcebook%29/High_Adventure_on_the_Inner_Planes
>>44498155
>some of the most special of 4e special snowflakes (4e style tieflings all being uniform in appearance and devil-blooded).
Do you actually know what special snowflake is, or are you just a huge blithering retard?
>>44498155
The 4e tieflings were terrible and I'm glad they're gone. Their visual design was crap, and their backstory was a thinly disguised ripoff of the fey'ri from Forgotten Realms (just without being elves).
Back when they replaced the Planes in Faerun, they had a bunch of connections to the Great Wheel that were left behind. How many ways could you get from the 3.5 Faerun planar cosmology to the Great Wheel?
>>44499644
1: Replace that 3.5 junk with the Great Wheel
You need no others.
>>44499644
The 3.5 Forgotten Realms cosmology was somewhat of a mess, and it is recommended that you set it aside in favor of the Great Wheel that was heavily integrated into the 2e Forgotten Realms (up to and including the Infinite Staircase in Selune's divine realm in Ysgard).
Why don't people understand that the Lady of Pain is simply there to make sure that the city of Sigil exists? She does literally nothing unless you try to break Sigil, and if that was meant to be possible then it would have already been done by any number of planar powers who are far stronger than any player characters would be (like Orcus or Yeenoghu or whoever).
