Manual of the Planes

CHAPTER 1:NATURE OFTHE PLANES10Under such a procedure, an individual “falls” 150 feetin the first round and 300 feet in each succeeding round.Movement is straight-line only. In order to “stop,” one hasto slow one’s movement by changing the designateddown direction (again, moving 150 feet in the new directionin the first round and 300 feet per round thereafter).It takes a Wisdom check (DC 16) to set a new directionof gravity as a free action; this check can be made onceper round. Any character failing Wisdom checks in successiverounds receives a +6 bonus on any subsequentchecks until he or she succeeds.TimeThe rate of time’s passage can vary among differentplanes, though it remains constant within any particularplane. Time becomes interesting when one movesfrom plane to plane, but it still moves at the same apparentrate for the traveler.In other words, time is always subjective for the viewer.If someone is magically frozen in place for a year, at theend of that time he or she thinks mere seconds havepassed. But to everyone else, a year has elapsed.The same subjectivity applies to various planes. Travelersmay discover that they’ll pick up or lose time whilemoving among the planes, but from their point of view,time always passes naturally.Normal Time: This is the standard rate of time, comparedto the Material Plane. One hour on a plane withnormal time equals one hour on the Material Plane.Flowing Time: On some planes, time can flow fasteror slower. One may travel to another plane, spend a yearthere, then return to the Material Plane to find that onlysix seconds have elapsed. Everything on that native planeis only a few seconds older. But for that traveler and theitems, spells, and effects working on him, that year awaywas entirely real.When designating how time works on planes withflowing time, put the Material Plane’s flow of time first,followed by the same flow in the other plane. For theexample above, it would be 1 round = 1 year. For everyyear on the other plane, one 6-second round has elapsedon the Material Plane.The clever and the unscrupulous can abuse planes thathave flowing time. The ability to step into a slower timeflow for the purpose of healing and regaining spells is aneffective weapon against others. You’ll be back, completelyrefreshed, before your foes even know you’re gone.pqsTIME ALONG THE GREAT WHEELWithin the D&D cosmology, time flows at a normal rate, and allplanes have the normal time trait. Planes with the flowing timetrait or the erratic time trait change the game too dramaticallyfor most players’ tastes.The only exception to this is the Astral Plane, which is atimeless plane for purposes of aging, hunger, thirst, andnatural healing.pqsThrowing opponents into a plane with a faster time flowmay keep them out of action for several years and maketheir return a problem for future generations.Erratic Time: Some planes have time that slows downand speeds up, so an individual may lose or gain time ashe moves between the two planes. For each plane witherratic time you create, generate a random table to determinethe rate of time’s flow. The following is provided asan example.d% Time on Material Plane Time on Erratic Time Plane01–10 1 day 1 round11–40 1 day 1 hour41–60 1 day 1 day61–90 1 hour 1 day91–100 1 round 1 dayYou’ll want to set how often (by Material Plane standards)a plane with the erratic time trait shifts, requiring a newroll of the dice. To the denizen of such a plane, time flowsnaturally and the shift is unnoticed.Timeless: On these planes, time still passes, but theeffects of time are diminished. Those effects should bespecifically defined for timeless planes. Such conditionsas hunger, thirst, and aging might not be affected in atimeless dimension. By the same token, natural healingmay be affected, meaning that no wounds heal except bymagic. If a plane is timeless with respect to magic, anyspell cast with a noninstantaneous duration is permanentuntil dispelled.The danger of timeless planes is that once one leavessuch a plane for one where time flows normally, conditionssuch as hunger and aging do occur—sometimesretroactively. A character who hasn’t eaten for ten years ina timeless plane might be ravenous (though not dead),and one who has been “stuck” at age twenty for fifty yearsmight now reach age seventy in a heartbeat. Traditionaltales of folklore tell of places where heroes live hundredsof years, only to crumble to dust as soon as they leave.Shape and SizePlanes come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Most planes areinfinite, or at least so large that they may as well be infinite.Infinite: These planes go on forever, though they mayhave finite components within them, such as sphericalworlds. Or they may consist of ongoing expanses in twodirections, like maps that stretch out infinitely.Finite: Set borders and edges limit these planes. Theseedges may be borders with other planes or hard, finiteborders such as the edge of the world or a great wall.Demiplanes are often finite.Self-Contained: Here the borders wrap in on themselves,depositing the traveler on the other side of themap. A spherical plane is an example of a self-contained,finite plane, but there can be cubes, toruses, and flatplanes with magical edges that teleport the traveler to anopposite edge when he crosses them. Some demiplanesare self-contained.