Planescape
Planescape is an official D&D campaign setting first introduced in Second Edition.
The setting centers around exploring an original multiverse cosmology. One of the more famous aspects of the setting is the distinctive artwork of Tony DiTerlizzi (you can see some of his art in the gallery section of the article).
Planescape cosmology
Sigil
Sigil is a city built on the inside of a torus (imagine a tire lying on its side with buildings all around the inside surface). From anywhere on the Outlands (the most neutral of the Outer Planes), Sigil can be seen floating above the great stone Spire, but since the Spire is infinitely high, the only way in or out is through the portals that manifest themselves inside of doorways, windows, and any other kind of bounded space. Because of this, Sigil is also called 'The Cage'.
Portals like those in Sigil exist all over the multiverse, linking distant planes to each other, but the concentration is highest in the Cage. This phenomenon makes Sigil one of the most coveted locations in the multiverse. Gods and fiends would love to take over, but Sigil is guarded by a being called the Lady of Pain, whose diligence bars would-be conquerers from entering the city. Those within the city that displease the Lady find themselves either flayed alive by her shadow or cast into Mazes from which few ever escape.
Prior to the events of the Faction War adventure, Sigil's political and philosophical system is dominated by fifteen factions, all vying for the most believers (see Factions, below).
Inner Planes
These are the "material" planes, where reality is more objective than subjective. Each of the inner planes are theoretically infinite in size, and considered adjacent to each other at every point, with the exception of areas that are warded specifically to be isolated from other dimensions.
The Inner Planes have their own gods and realms (see Powers under Outer Planes, below), but no god has undisputed ownership of any of the inner planes. They seek to influence inner planes by invasion or conquest, or by subverting the natives, but none of the Powers can assert their dominion by fiat of their divine will such as with the Outer Planes... which makes the inner planes just as weird and mysterious to Outsiders as we find the Outer Planes.
Prime Material
This is the plane where nearly all of the Dungeons & Dragons story takes place, considered "home" to typical player characters. However, not every place in the Prime Material is accessible to every other place -- you can't walk from Oerth to Krynn, nor from Blackmoor to Waterdeep -- but it's unclear whether each campaign setting takes place in the same plane, perhaps different planets in the same cosmos, or if each campaign setting is a parallel "Prime Material plane" that require a jaunt through the Astral or Plane of Shadow in between. One thing that all Prime Material planes have in common is easy access to the other inner planes, and the presence of all material & ideological powers, even if it's not always balanced.
Ethereal
This plane is the closest to the Prime Material plane(s), so much so that sometimes even the most mundane observers can sense Ethereal inhabitants (often called "ghosts," not to be confused with the undead "spectres" or "phantoms"). It's used as a storage space by the most elementary of enchantments, and some magical tricks make use of the proximity of the ethereal plane to "sidestep" material objects to pass through them, or to cover large distances in short time. Travellers on the ethereal plane can perceive the Prime Material as a foggy, faded and translucent landscape.
Elemental Planes
The Elemental Planes are dedicated to one particular idea of objective reality, without any philosophy. The landscape, the inhabitants, and any native objects found there are composed of solely one substance. This substance may be in many states, animate or inanimate, rigid or fluid, but anything found here that is not made of this substance was brought by an extraplanar visitor, and will probably be destroyed or eroded if left alone.
The Primary Elemental Planes
The material that composes these planes are the most familiar elements, from classical alchemy: Air, Earth, Fire and Water. Theoretically infinite in size, it is still possible to travel between them by mundane travel; how to reach the "borders" of such infinite planes is a mystery. Each plane is dedicated to their material, and the sentients that inhabit these planes are called "elementals" en masse, although the term is usually used for those entities that have extremely simple forms and are summoned to the Prime Material as labour. You will also find life that approximates Prime Material plants and animals, although Elemental Plane natives will be quick to point out that Prime Material animals are mixed copies of their purer flora and fauna. You will also find on each of these planes a race of vaguely Arabic sorcerous giants, usually at war with those of other elemental planes (the two most familiar species are 'djinni' from the plane of Air and 'efreet' from the plane of Fire).
Survival on any of these planes is difficult, as life from the Prime planes and many Outer Planes need a mix of elements to survive. The plane of Air is the only source of something to breathe, although some may find the bottomless falling disorienting, and the plane of Earth is the only source of something to stand on if you count being buried alive as "standing." The plane of Water is comfortable if you had gills and blubber, and the plane of Fire is delightfully warm for the split second before you are reduced to a cinder.
Each of these four elemental planes also has an Elemental Lord, which has dominion over all the simple-form inhabitants of the plane and has staggering power and control over the material the plane is composed of. These are the closest that the Inner Planes have to "Powers," although no Elemental Lord receives supplicants from other planes (all of their followers are already in their plane, and unswervingly faithful), and their influence is limited to their plane any any vortexes (portals that are locked open) that may touch the Prime Material.
The Paraelemental planes
If you wish to pass from one of the primary elemental planes to another, you must pass through the intersections between the planes. These intersections are planes unto themselves, of material that is a mixture of the neighbouring materials. These Paraelemental planes are not uniform, but are gradiated mixtures as you get closer or further from primary elements. The paraelemental planes are:
- Smoke, between Air and Fire
- Ice, between Air and Water
- Magma, between Earth and Fire
- Oooze, between Earth and Water
There are no paraelemental planes between Air and Earth, nor Fire and Water -- unlike many Inner Planes, Air is not adjacent to Earth, nor is Fire adjacent to Water, you would need to pass through the Prime or three other Elemental planes to go from one to the other. This also holds true for each of the Paraelemental planes. The paraelemental planes have their own simple life-forms, and unique to them are four races of imps known as "mephits" that hopelessly aspire to be Lords of these bargain-basement elemental planes.
The Positive and Negative Energy Planes
These are the most Outer-like of the Inner Planes, as each is dedicated not to a coarse substance but something akin to an aspect of reality itself. However, Outsiders may find these planes more understandable but much more hostile than any of the other Inner Planes, as you will see below.
The Positive Material Plane is a boundless, bottomless, and overwhelming source of energy. Vital energy, motive energy, power, initiative, gumption, puissance... if wizards tap into the plane of Fire to create pyrotechnics, priests tap into this plane for their healing miracles. Just stepping in is enough to supercharge your body to heal itself immediately, and you will feel yourself becoming more powerful, more solid, which is good because the place is so brilliant you would be struck permanently blind if your eyes weren't regenerating from the local effects. Stay too long, and your body will become more powerful than your mere mortal (or even immortal!) frame can contain, and you will detonate. Any witnesses to your demise will attest it was beautiful, shortly before they explode too.
The Negative Material Plane is a boundless, bottomless, and overwhelming drain on energy. Death, inertia, void, draining cold, disintegration... every undead creature is linked to this plane, motivated to either steal life to feed the enless gnawing emptiness inside themselves, or to destroy life as it is abhorrent to the Negative Material that animates them. There is no light here, no heat, and any substance left here will disintegrate -- not erode like a Doomspeaker's ideal entropy, but waste away into nothingness. This includes anything material, magical or spiritual -- visiting here puts your very soul at risk!
The only life witnessed as native to these planes are the Xag-Ya and Xeg-Yi, which appear as balls of supernaturally hot or cold plasma. They seem to be sentient, since they react to language, but do not communicate themselves. If they meet each other, they will immediately rush to meet and mutually annihilate.
The Quasielemental Planes
Just as it's possible to travel between the primary Elemental Planes, it's also possible to travel by mundane means to the Positive or Negative material planes (why you would WANT TO is a mystery). At the intersection of the primary elemental planes and the Pos/Neg Material planes are the Quasielemental Planes
| . | Air | Earth | Fire | Water |
| Positive | Lightning | Mineral | Radiance | Steam |
| Negative | Vacuum | Dust | Ash | Salt |
The quasi-elemental planes have little to no native flora nor fauna, and anyone claiming to be a lord would be a colonist from another plane. It's possible that any native life that grows large or ambitious enough will gravitate towards the Pos/Neg Material planes, where they would disintegrate from getting too close.
Outer Planes
There are seventeen Outer Planes, each formed from the moral and ethical alignments of the sentient beings in the multiverse. Most of the Outer Planes are divided into layers; the majority of portals deposit beings on the first layer of the plane. Many of the gods (or Powers) in the multiverse reside on the Outer Planes, in lands called realms that are under their direct control. The souls of those who worship these powers reform in their powers' realm upon death. If a being follows no power, their soul is instead drawn to the plane that most matches their alignment. Mortals also dwell on the Outer Planes; their alignment generally matches the plane they are on. Enough like-minded beings of another alignment can cause a portion of the plane to break off and appear on the plane that matches their alignment. The Outer Planes are:
The Abyss
Chaotic Evil. The Abyss has an infinite number of layers, each one unique and filled with hateful, unthinking evil. The tanar'ri (or demons, as they are known on the Prime Material Plane) dwell here.
Acheron
Lawful Neutral Evil. This is where the souls of those killed in senseless wars go, to fight among the armies of slain soldiers until they are killed a second time and merge with the plane. The first layer of Acheron is the most famous - an infinite realm of gigantic iron cubes, floating in the void, on which vast armies clash. The cubes occasionally collide, smashing anything caught between them to paste.
Arborea
Chaotic Good. This is the plane of the elven and Greek powers. It is typified by vast rugged geography, immense forests, mountains that peak above the clouds, and other splendors of nature.
Arcadia
Lawful Neutral Good. Arcadia is a plane of law first and good second. Day changes to night with no pause, and vigilant militias of dead paladins patrol the perfectly-straight roads. The formians -- a caste race of ant-centaurs -- are native to Arcadia.
Baator
Lawful Evil. 'The Nine Hells' of Baator are the domain of the baatezu (or 'devils'). There are nine layers to the plane, each more terrible than the previous. Avernus, the first layer, is a land of scorched rock, constantly bombarded by fireballs that tumble out of the sky.
The Beastlands
Neutral Good Chaotic. Relatively few sentient creatures live on the Beastlands, compared to the number of animals dwelling here - everything from ants and cats to dinosaurs. Most of the plane is wide-open savannas, deep primeval forests, and unfathomable oceans.
Bytopia
Neutral Good Lawful. The Twin Realms are stacked in a unique way- imagine them as the floor and ceiling of a great cave, connected by enormous stalactites and stalagmites that merge into each other. Unlike many other planes, where travel between layers is accomplished with portals, the two layers of Bytopia can be reached by climbing one pillar until gravity reverses and one finds herself climbing 'down' to the other layer. The beings that dwell here are industrious, cheerful, and helpful.
Carceri
Neutral Evil Chaotic. The 'Prison Plane' is where the souls of backstabbers and traitors dwell. Carceri is noted for being like Mexico in relation to the US: there are many portals leading to the plane, but very few portals leading out.
Elysium
Neutral Good. The Peaceful Plane is a land of soft fields, quiet woods, and calm waters. It is home to the guardinals, a race of animal-like celestials.
Gehenna
Neutral Evil Lawful. This plane is comprised of a series of immense double-ended volcanoes, floating in the void. Each volcano is its own layer. The yugoloths (or 'daemons') rule this plane in name, but there are several other powerful fiendish races that dwell here as well.
The Gray Waste
Neutral Evil. The Three Glooms are desolate lands where all color is muted to shades of gray. Visitors soon find their own color fading away, and their ambition soon follows, leaving them empty husks, devoid of emotion. The yugoloths are a powerful force on this plane, but the night hags and their larvae trade are the real power here. The tanar'ri and baatezu use the Gray Waste as their primary battlefield, as its metaphysical location is halfway between that of Baator and the Abyss.
Limbo
Chaotic Neutral. Limbo Limbo Limbo chaos ever-changing NO NOT THAT listen berk it's like every mad power CRUMBLING FROM THE INSIDE flowers rusting HOPE SPRINGS DIAGONAL
Mechanus
Lawful Neutral. The Clockwork Universe is comprised of immense gears (some of which are miles in diameter), each revolving in tandem with the cogs that connect to them. This is the most orderly of all the Outer Planes. The modrons reign here, from the Tower of Primus at the center of the great gear Regalus.
Mount Celestia
Lawful Good. The Seven Heavens are comprised of seven ascending peaks on a great mountain. The Mount is surrounded by the Shining Sea, an endless ocean of sparkling holy water. The archons oversee Mount Celestia, from the lantern archons that guide new pilgrims to the throne archons that watch over all else.
The Outlands
Neutral. This is the smallest of the Outer Planes, though it is still technically infinite. The best-known features of the Outlands are the Spire and the sixteen gate-towns that lie in a ring around the "edge" of the plane (imagine a pancake with a pen stuck in the middle- Sigil floats above the Spire, and the gate-towns form a ring around the edge of the pancake). Each gate-town is tied to one of the other Outer Planes, and each contains a permanently open portal to that plane somewhere inside. The gate-towns reflect the plane they lead to, and most inhabitants share the alignment of that plane. Between the gate-towns and the Spire are nine rings (the Outlands' version of planar layers). At the ninth ring, where the gate-towns are, magical spells function more or less normally. As one approaches the Spire, higher-level spells cease to function, starting with ninth-level spells and descending, to the base of the Spire where no magical spells function. Beyond the gate-towns are the Hinterlands, a strange area where space and time break down, and further movement away from the Spire is severely restricted.
Pandemonium
Chaotic Neutral Evil. The four layers of Pandemonium are nothing but an endless series of caves, cut through by a howling wind that never ceases. Exposure to this wind inevitably drives one insane. The first layer is the most open, and each below it becomes more cloistered. The final layer nothing but a series of air-pockets inside the endless rock. The worst monstrosities of the planes are imprisoned here by the powers. It is said that the Lady of Pain once sent her enemies here before she gained the ability to create Mazes.
Ysgard
Chaotic Neutral Good. Ysgard is most famous as the home of the Norse powers, but many other creatures live here, including giants and bariaur (a sort of ram-centaur unique to the Outer Planes). The entire plane is comprised of floating islands of rock--some the size of continents--drifting in an open sky. The undersides of most of these earthburgs burn with a constant magical fire, though in some places the earthburgs float flaming-side up.
Factions
Athar
Nickname: Defiers, Lost
Philosophy: The "gods" are imposters and not really divine.
Alignment: any. Priests not allowed.
Factol: Terrance, male human priest.
Sigil headquarters: Shattered Temple
Main plane of influence: Astral
Believers of the Source
Nickname: Godsmen
Philosophy: all live descends from the same divine source, so there is a potential to become a god in every being.
Members Alignment: any. Priests suffer a penalty for lack of utmost faith in their deity.
Factol: Ambar Vergrove, male half-elf ranger.
Sigil headquarters: Great Foundry
Main plane of influence: Ethereal and its demiplanes
Bleak Cabal
Nickname: Madmen, Bleakers, the Cabal
Philosophy: the Multiverse isn't supposed to make sense.
Members Alignment: any non-lawful.
Factol: Lhar, male half-ork fighter.
Sigil headquarters: the Gatehouse.
Main plane of influence: Pandemonium.
Doomguard
Nickname: Sinkers
Philosophy: the Multiverse is supposed to fall apart, entropy is divine.
Members Alignment: any. Clerics with access to spheres of Healing and Creation not allowed.
Factol: Pentar, female human ranger.
Sigil headquarters: Armory.
Main plane of influence: negative quaziplanes.
Dustmen
Nickname: the Dead.
Philosophy: Multiverse isn't the true world; we're all dead and in a Purgatory. So your business is to overcome any passion and archive True Death.
Members Alignment: any.
Factol: Skall, male lich wizard.
Sigil headquarters: Mortuary.
Main plane of influence: Negative Energy Plane.
Fated
Nickname: Takers, Heartless.
Philosophy: the Multiverse belongs to those who seize it.
Members Alignment: any, except Lawful Good.
Factol: Duke Rowan Darkwood, male human ranger/priest.
Sigil headquarters: Hall of Records.
Main plane of influence: Ysgard.
Fraternity of Order
Nickname: Guvners
Philosophy: the Multiverse is ruled by laws. Learn the laws and you can rule it, too.
Members Alignment: any Lawful.
Factol: Hashkar, male dwarf sage. He has had many amorous adventures.
Sigil headquarters: City Court.
Main plane of influence: Mechanus.
Free League
Nickname: Indeps.
Philosophy: we're not a faction to dictate our members any opinions.
Members Alignment: any.
Factol: none.
Sigil headquarters: Great Bazaar.
Main plane of influence: Outlands.
Harmonium
Nickname: Hardheads.
Philosophy: peace is our goal, and we won't think twice before using weapons to achieve it.
Members Alignment: any lawful.
Factol: Sarin, male human paladin.
Sigil headquarters: City Barracks.
Main plane of influence: Arcadia.
Mercykillers
Nickname: Red Death.
Philosophy: Justice is everything. When properly applied, punishment leads to perfection.
Members Alignment: any lawful. Thieves and known criminals not allowed.
Factol: Alisohn Nilesia, female tiefling wizard.
Sigil headquarters: Prison.
Main plane of influence: Acheron.
Revolutionary League
Nickname: Anarchists.
Philosophy: those are governments who prevent everyone from seeing the Truth. Tear them down.
Members Alignment: any non-Lawful.
Factol: none.
Sigil headquarters: mobile.
Main plane of influence: Carceri.
Sign of One
Nickname: Signers.
Philosophy: the Multiverse only exists because the minds imagine it. Create the Multiverse by the power of thought.
Members Alignment: any, except Lawful Good and Lawful Neutral.
Factol: Darius, female human diviner.
Sigil headquarters: Hall of Speakers.
Main plane of influence: Beastlands.
Society of Sensation
Nickname: Sensates
Philosophy: experience the Multiverse to know it.
Members Alignment: any.
Factol: Erin Montgomery, female human priest.
Sigil headquarters: Civic Festhall.
Main plane of influence: Arborea.
Transcendent Order
Nickname: Ciphers.
Philosophy: train mind and body to become one, as action without thought is the purest.
Members Alignment: any Neutral.
Factol: Rhys, female tiefling figter/mage.
Sigil headquarters: Great Gymnasium.
Main plane of influence: Elysium.
Xaositecs
Nickname: Chaosmen.
Philosophy: chaos is the only truth.
Members Alignment: any Chaotic.
Factol: Karan, male githzerai fighter.
Sigil headquarters: Hive.
Main plane of influence: Limbo.
Clueless
Clueless are not truly a faction. Basically every prime that has just recently arrived from his prime world and who knows nothing about the planes is a Clueless.
Being a Clueless is a dangerous way to go around, in fact, cause you get your head chopped off for what you haven't even known to be a crime.
Published Planescape books
Core Books
- Planescape Campaign Setting
- Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix I
- Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix II
- Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix III
Expansions
- The Factol's Manifesto. Details the factions, their important members, and the factions' headquarters.
- Faces of Evil: The Fiends. Details the major and minor races of the Lower Planes.
- A Guide to the Astral Plane. Details the physical (well, quasi-physical) nature of the Astral and its inhabitants.
- A Guide to the Ethereal Plane. Details the Border, Deep Ethereal, inhabitants, and includes rules for creating demiplanes.
- Hellbound: The Blood War. Details the Blood War; includes an adventure and a comic with art by Tony DiTerlizzi.
- The Inner Planes. Details the Inner Planes.
- In The Cage: A Guide to Sigil. Details locations and personalities of Sigil.
- On Hallowed Ground. Details the Powers of the Outer Planes, their realms, and their followers.
- Planes of Chaos. Details the chaotically-aligned Outer Planes.
- Planes of Conflict. Details the neutrally-aligned Outer Planes.
- Planes of Law. Details the lawfully-aligned Outer Planes
- A Player's Primer to the Outlands. Details the realms and locations of the Outlands; includes an audio CD with tracks representing information given by a mimir (a magical speaking skull).
- Uncaged: Faces of Sigil. Details important NPC figures in Sigil.
Adventures
- The Eternal Boundary
- Well of Worlds
- In the Abyss
- The Deva Spark
- Fires of Dis
- Harbinger House
- Something Wild
- Hellbound- The Blood War
- Doors to the Unknown
- The Great Modron March
- Faction War
- Dead Gods
- Tales from the Infinite Staircase
Fiction
Fire and Dust is a fairly good novel available free (and legally!) online.
Adaptation
Planescape: Torment was a PC game made by Black Isle Studios in the vein of Baldur's Gate, based primarily around Sigil and other areas of the Planescape setting. You play a pissed off amnesiac zombie, with a party of a wise-cracking skull, a chaste succubus, and an insane TV voiced by Homer Simpson. You get to kill a guy by arguing him out of existence. Over a million words of dialogue. Best PCRPG ever.
Links
planewalker.com is the biggest fan resource on Planescape
An ironic Planescape comic strip
