Manual of the Planes

Oerth’s cosmology is laid out in the planar diagramspresented in Chapter 1. A sphere of the six Inner Planessurrounds Oerth, which also connects to the AstralPlane, and through it to the Great Wheel of seventeenOuter Planes. Each of the six Inner Planes is not connectedto another Inner Plane, but each Outer Plane isconnected to its neighbors. If you know where to look,you can find your way all the way around the GreatWheel from Celestia to the Abyss and back.In addition, there are more small demiplanes connectedto Oerth than can be counted. Many of these havebeen created by deities or powerful wizards as places tohide their riches, get away from the mundane world, orimprison particularly unpleasant enemies.Oerth does not have any known connections withalternate Material Planes (see below). These alternatesmay exist intermittently if you want your campaign tovisit them.While Oerth itself does not have elemental or energytraits, particular locations on the plane have pockets thathave elemental traits. These areas are often located nearportals or vortices to the various Elemental Planes.ALTERNATE MATERIALPLANESAt your option, you can introduce alternate MaterialPlanes to your campaign. These alternate Material Planeshave their own unique cosmologies, landscapes, andinhabitants, which may be similar to or wildly differentfrom the original Material Plane. You are not required tohave alternate Material Planes in your cosmology, andyour universe might do quite well without them.An alternate Material Plane tends to share the sametime, gravity, size, shape, and morphic traits as youroriginal Material Plane. In addition, elemental, energy,and alignment traits are similar (if your Material Planehas any, that is). Changing these basic traits tends toturn alternate Material Planes into full-fledged Inner orOuter Planes.An alternate Material Plane has its own TransitivePlanes. It might share demiplanes and the Plane ofShadow with other Material Planes, however.TYPES OF ALTERNATE MATERIAL PLANESHere are some ways to create an alternate Material Planethat provides a real contrast to the place most characterscall home.Different Magic Levels: One variable you can moveup or down is the level of magic available on the MaterialPlane. If you give the alternate Material Plane the wildmagic, dead magic, or enhanced magic trait, you’ll transformthe world completely. A wild magic alternate MaterialPlane would be dangerous, and its spellcasters mightbe considered menaces to themselves and others. A deadmagic alternate Material Plane would prevent all spellcastingand spell-like abilities, although there may be“pockets” of real magic where spellcasting could occur(and where the player characters will probably want tolocate themselves). Alternate Material Planes rarely havethe impeded magic traits, although they can be limitedby level or school if you like. Imagine a world where theonly type of magic is necromancy, or one where evocationspells do not exist.Doppelganger Material Planes: Doppelgangerplanes are similar to, but not exactly like, the characters’native Material Plane. Perhaps everything on the doppelgangerplane is identical except that the characters’ duplicateshave the opposite alignments—or maybe they don’texist at all. Doppelganger planes take less work to createthan other Material Planes because you can use the mapsand source material from your home Material Plane,changing only what you need to.Timeshifted Material Planes: It may seem like timetravel to the characters who make the journey, but in realitythey are traveling to a parallel Material Plane that isidentical with their native Material Plane’s past (or apotential future). Again, you can use existing sourcematerial for this alternate Material Plane. This is yourchance to limit the characters to Stone Age technology oruse those futuristic weapons described in Chapter 6 ofthe DUNGEON MASTER’s Guide, for example. But be carefulif the characters choose to bring firearms back to theirnative plane.Terrain-Based Material Planes: It’s easy to imagine aworld dominated by a single terrain type. Perhaps an IceAge has covered an alternate Material Plane in snowfieldsand glaciers, and frost giants terrorize a few tinyenclaves of humans, gnomes, and elves. Meanwhile, thedwarves have been driven deeper underground, drawn tothe geothermal warmth of magma rivers and lava oceans.Most orcs and half-orcs act as scouts for the frost giants,while the few halflings that exist are household servantsof powerful frost giant warlords.Or maybe a vast ocean covers an alternate MaterialPlane, and locathah, tritons, and sahuagin are the dominantcultures. Humans and elves are just mutant offspringof merfolk and sea elves respectively, exiled to thefew islands that dot the world-ocean. Dwarves andhalflings live on an archipelago and enjoy a mercantileculture dominated by merchant princes and dreadpirates. The entire gnome race lives in a huge balloon-citythat floats above the waters.Material Planes Based on Other Cultures: Oerthis loosely based on medieval European society and culture.But alternate Material Planes can use other realworldcultures as sources of inspiration. Characters canvisit an alternate Material Plane where sword-wieldingnobles duel over matters of honor, or one where tribesof hunter-gatherers use stone weapons to hunt beastsacross a vast savannah. For more radical alternate MaterialPlanes, mix and match aspects of different cultures,adding elements you create yourself. Maybe there’s analternate Material Plane where nobles solve disputes ofhonor in ritualized hunts that use magically enhancedstone weapons.CHAPTER 4:THE MATERIALPLANE43