Manual of the Planes

CHAPTER 6:THE INNERPLANES66• Elemental and Energy Traits: Each Inner Plane hasone of these traits according to its individual nature.The Elemental Plane of Air is air-dominant, for example,while the Negative Energy Plane is negative-dominant.Inner Planes you create yourself should havenew elemental or energy traits to match. See the ElementalPlane of Cold and the Elemental Plane of Woodin the Appendix for two examples.• Mildly Neutral-Aligned: Within the D&D cosmology,the Inner Planes have no affinity to particularalignments, though specific locations may have them.But regardless of alignment, the natives of the planetend to be hostile to uninvited visitors.• Enhanced Magic and Impeded Magic: Given theraw nature of the Inner Planes, some spells and spelllikeabilities are enhanced while others are impeded.In general, spells that use the element or energy of thatplane are enhanced, while those that use materials orenergies opposite to the one dominant on that planeare impeded, while. The details of the enhanced magictrait differ from plane to plane (and from cosmology tocosmology). On some planes, spells and spell-like abilitiesare maximized or empowered, but on othersthey’re enlarged or extended.PlaneAirEarthFireWaterNegativePositiveOpposing Element/EnergyEarthAirWaterFirePositiveNegativeINNER PLANES LINKSWithin the D&D cosmology, the Inner Planes areunique, separate planes floating like islands on the AstralPlane. They can be accessed by means of gate and similarspells, but the Inner Planes are not coterminous to eachother. This limited access keeps the Inner Planes mostlypure, except for islands of other elements.The Astral Plane leads to the Inner Planes, so spells thatuse the Astral Plane can lead to the Inner Planes as well.Magic portals also reach the Inner Planes, and they normallyconnect to settled areas on those planes that havesome degree of tolerance for travelers from elsewhere.Finally, vortices exist between similar locations on otherplanes. These natural weak spots in reality allow creaturesto move easily from an Inner Plane to the Material Plane.The heart of a volcano often contains a vortex between theMaterial Plane and the Elemental Plane of Fire, and a similarrelationship often exists between the Negative EnergyPlane and the darklands within the Plane of Shadow.CONNECTING INNERPLANESAs noted in Chapter 2, you can create a cosmology thatdoes not adhere to the Great Wheel. One variant is to allowyour Inner Planes to meld into each other, so a traveler canphysically move between the Elemental Planes of Fire andEarth. These “paraplanes” of mixed elements along theborder have the traits of both adjacent planes, and nativesof both planes live there. Creatures native to these paraplaneswould have immunity protecting them from thebasic dangers of both planes, but creatures from the more“pure” regions of the Elemental Planes would not.Similarly, the Elemental Planes can merge with theEnergy Planes in border areas. These “quasi-planes”would have traits of both the Elemental Plane and theEnergy Plane. These regions could be especially violent,dangerous, and dramatic due to the nature of the EnergyPlanes. Regions close to the Positive Energy Plane wouldbe extremely dynamic and active, as the infusion of positiveenergy makes everything more vibrant. Borderregions close to the Negative Energy Plane tend to bedrained of all life and color.These border regions work if the borders between theInner Planes are indistinct and gradual, with one elementslowly giving way to another. There are otherapproaches that work just as well.• Set Borders: The planes have hard edges. A cliffmarks where the Elemental Plane of Earth ends, and awall of water marks the boundary of the ElementalPlane of Water.• Shifting Borders: The planes have edges that moveback and forth, creating regions that share the traits ofboth Inner Planes, but only one set of traits applies at atime. Imagine a scarred landscape wracked by volcaniceruptions and lava flows when it lies on the ElementalPlane of Fire, and constant earthquakes when it lies onthe Elemental Plane of Earth.• Elemental Pockets: Regions of one plane erupt ontoanother plane. If a pocket of the Elemental Plane ofEarth emerges onto the Elemental Plane of Fire, theearth suffers all the normal effects for being there, buta vortex to the Elemental Plane of Earth exists at theheart of the outgrowth. Such elemental pockets usuallyhave a guardian from the original Elemental Plane orEnergy Plane at the vortex.In the D&D cosmology, certain planes are considered naturalantagonists: Fire and Water, Earth and Air, and Positiveand Negative. This does not have to be the case in your cosmology,and indeed there could be connections and bordersbetween planes that might otherwise be thought of as opposites.The border between Earth and Air may be a perpetualduststorm, between Fire and Water a raging maelstrom ofboth elements, and between Positive and Negative a continualexplosion of these diametrically opposed energies.INNER PLANESINHABITANTSThe natives of the Inner Planes tend to be either elementalcreatures or outsiders. Elemental creatures are made up of