Manual of the Planes

APPENDIX:VARIANT PLANES& COSMOLOGIES216The two Material Planes, their attendant EtherealPlanes, and the interposing Plane of Shadow hover inthe center of a roiling mix of elements and energies—a single Inner Plane. Various locations on this plane haveelemental or energy traits, usually minor dominant withoccasional pockets of major dominant. This Inner Planesurrounds the Material Planes, with elemental andenergy pockets filling the planar landscape like greatsuns or black holes.The Astral Plane consists entirely of conduits thatpierce the Inner Plane. Only where a number of conduitsconverge does a character encounter the open, hazyspace that is the normal Astral Plane. The swirling, colorfulpower of the nearby Inner Plane tinges the AstralPlane at these convergence points.The Outer Planes consist of several planes dedicatedto various deities located beyond the Inner Plane. Theyare separated from the Inner Plane by a cushion of theAstral Plane. The Outer Planes tend to be stronglygood-aligned or strongly evil-aligned. While deitieshave worshipers on both Material Planes, one of theMaterial Planes is disposed toward good-aligned OuterPlanes, while the other is disposed toward evil-alignedOuter Planes.There are legends in both worlds of “dark ages” and“golden ages” when the world seemed more evil or goodthan it is today. The central hub of linked Material Planesspins slowly with regard to the aligned Outer Planes, anddeities are continually trying to turn the rotation of theMaterial Planes to their advantage.DOPPEL TRAITSUnless otherwise noted, all planes have the typical traitsfor their type. The Doppel cosmology’s Transitive Planesbehave like D&D cosmology Transitive Planes, DoppelOuter Planes behave like D&D Outer Planes, and so on.The only changes to traits are the following:Material Planes: Unchanged, except that there aretwo Material Planes, and natives of each plane think theother plane is an alternate Material Plane and a twistedmockery of the “real” Material Plane.Transitive Planes: The Astral Plane is confined to conduitspiercing the Inner Plane and a band separating theInner Plane from the Outer Planes. There are two EtherealPlanes, each connected to its own Material Plane. The Planeof Shadow connects both Material Planes.Inner Planes: A single Inner Plane with all elementaland energy types serves as a barrier between theMaterial Planes and the Outer Planes. Any particularlocation within the Inner Plane has an elemental traitor energy trait. The Inner Plane has directional subjectivegravity.Outer Planes: A number of Outer Planes float in theAstral Plane beyond the Inner Plane. These Outer Planestend to be strongly good-aligned or strongly evil-aligned.The Outer Planes are divinely morphic, and individualOuter Planes have additional traits depending on theirnature and inhabitants.DOPPEL LINKSOnly a few permanent portals exist between the twoMaterial Planes. Most portals on the surface have beenlocated and destroyed, and the ones remaining are deepbeneath the earth. Such portals may be disguised oreven as insubstantial as planar borders, so charactersmay cross from one Material Plane to the other withoutrealizing it.The most common link between the two MaterialPlanes is the Plane of Shadow. Crossing between the twoMaterial Planes is rare, due to the perils of the Guardiansof Shadow (see below).It is possible to move from one Material Plane to theother through the Astral Plane, by moving first to one ofthe Outer Planes and from there to the other MaterialPlane. Prankster deities, both good and evil, sometimesreturn a mortal to the wrong Material Plane, just to sowdiscord and shake up the established order.FEATURES OF THE DOPPEL COSMOLOGYThe exact nature of features on the two Material Planesvaries as widely as in a cosmology with a single MaterialPlane. But in the Doppel cosmology, what is good onone plane is evil on the other.The two Material Planes also share the same historyover time. What occurs on one Material Plane tends tooccur in the other. The collapse of an evil empire onone Material Plane is matched by the destruction of agood empire on the other. Even smaller events tend tobe mimicked. A character from one Material Plane whovisits the other to kill her “twin” may discover that herown life is in danger when she returns (though this isnot a sentence of certain death). The Doppel cosmologytends to heal itself by shifting events to resolve contradictionsand move toward a balance between the twoMaterial Planes.The Secret of the Other Universe: Most of the inhabitantsof the twin Material Planes are unaware that theyhave a doppel-universe waiting on the other side of thePlane of Shadow. But powerful and learned characters onboth Material Planes know the truth and often keep tabson the other plane—especially their own doppels.Guardians of Shadow: The Plane of Shadow is adeadly place, roamed by great dragons made of shadowstuffknown as Guardians of Shadow. The guardians arerelentless in pursuit of anyone they perceive to be on the“wrong” side of the Plane of Shadow. To create a guardian,apply the shadow creature template to a red dragon ofvery old to great wyrm age. It retains the fire subtype, andit gains cold resistance from the shadow template (subtractthe cold resistance from the base fire damage, thendouble whatever damage remains). Its breath weapon is acone of black flame tinged with purple.Explosive Planar Transference: Actions that mightthrow a character onto another plane (such as using aportable hole and bag of holding together) usually send thecharacter to the opposite Material Plane. Unlike in othercosmologies, the Doppel cosmology simultaneously