About Planes (Endhaven Supplement)
Introduction to Endhaven Cosmology
The Wiki Worlds are a series of closely adjoined planes. Some of these planes are very small, while others are huge. Some worlds are well inhabited, with thriving civilizations. Other worlds are long forgotten, harboring wild creatures and ruins. Some worlds are friendly. Others are dangerous. Character go from world to world seeking adventure, profit, and the challenge of the unknown.
The planes are broken up into several sections:
- The near are where most people live.
- The Iconic Planes are places that exemplify certain traits to a great extreme. For example: the Elemental Plane of Fire.
- The Far Planes lie beyond the Iconic Planes.
- The Core is a special plane which acts as a Land of the Dead.
- The Astral and Etheral Planes are extremely difficult to access planes. These are the spaces between planes.
The Planar Axes
The planar axes reprent conflicting forces and ideas in the world. These ideas are not opposites, like matter and anti-matter. Instead, these ideas are fundamentally different paths operating under different circumstances. They can and do interact in the world.
| Elemental Axes | Exemplary Axes | Natural Axes | Geographical Axes |
| Water <=> Fire | Holy <=> Vile | Wild <=> Generative | Near Planes <=> Far Planes |
| Earth <=> Air | Order <=> Chaos | Alchemy <=> Myth | --- |
About Planes
Most planes have no attributes. They are ordinary. They are under the influence of all the iconic planes, roughly equallty.
Some planes are under the influence of an iconic planes more than others. These planes have some or many of the attributes of an iconic plane.
The influences of planes is fairly constant. Few worlds see a change of age, where their plane loses or gains the influence of a new iconic plane.
Adventure Hook: A plane has come under a new sign. They need help facing new threats and challenges.
Planar Divisions
There are three primary planar divisions:
Near Planes: Near planes are the ones where civilizations dwells. The near planes are those that are mildly or sometimes moderately under the influence of the iconic planes.
Far Planes: The far planes tend towards some extreme. Most are strongly aligned at least one axis. These places tend to be very alien and are not easily suitable to the humanoid races. There tend to be very few gates in these regions, making travel there very difficult. Some regions require strange paths to reach.
Iconic Planes: The iconic planes are those that emit the essence of some basic, primal power. Extreme precautions need to be taken when visiting these planes.
Types of Planes
Cluster: A planar cluster is where you have planes that are so close, there is no ethereal plane between them. They actually touch. From a map maker's point of view, such worlds are contiguous and cohesive. From the planar point of view, these are still separate planes, and each area can be under its own influence.
Core: This plane is at the center of all things. It does not influence, yet everything resolves around it. The being here are concerned with life and death.
Creative Planes: These planes represent ways that thing come into existence, or how action comes from inaction.
Elemental Planes: These planes represent fundamental modes of existence.
Exemplary Planes: These planes embody ideals on how beings should interact.
Extra-planar: Creatures from the far planes or the iconic planes.
Hidden: Some planes are hidden, and difficult to find even when you know where they are.
Iconic: These worlds are the iconic representation of something. These are as follows: Elemental Planes of Air, Earth, Fire, Water; Exemplary plane of Holiness, Vileness, Order, and Chaos; and the Creative Planes of the Wild, Aberration, Alchemy, and Myth.
Near Planes: These are the places where most beings lives. These places are the most "ordinary".
Native: Creatures native to the near planes.
Other Planes: These are planes that have no convenient category.
Far Planes: Planes not of the exemplary planes, and not of the near planes. These planes are difficult to reach and dangerous to visit.
Arranging Planes
There is no authoritative map of the Endhavens. Many attempts have been made at maps. These maps are often contradictory. The planes themselves move and shift in complicated patterns.
Challenge Rating of Planes
Planes with a mild planar influence should range between CR 1 to 6. Planes with a moderate planar influence should lie between CR 6 and CR 12. Planes with a Strong planar influence should have encounters in the CR 12 to CR 20 range.
The boundary is inexact, so you can get some variation.
Moving Between Planes
Moving between planes is as hard or as simple as the DM makes it. As a DM, you must decide how important this mechanic is. You may choose from among these possible rules, or implement rules to your own liking.
By Fiat
In this method, the DM simply move players to their new location by fiat. The purpose of this is to make that day's adventure the focus of game play, rather than focusing on travel that may not be interesting. In this system, the players simply follow the gate system to wherever they go. The great advantage to this system is that it introduces no new rules. If you use this system, remove plane shift an all like spells.
Gate System
The worlds are connected by gates. Most gates are heavily guarded. By using a gate, you can quickly travel to any world which has an open gate. Gates usually cost 50 gp to use, making them too expensive for casual use. If that world has no open gate, then you must walk there.
Walking There
To walk to a near plane, you must make a Survival check, DC 10 plus modifiers. To walk to a Far Plane, you must make a Knowledge (the planes) check.
- DC +5 for near plane
- DC +10 for an elemental plane
- DC + 15 for a far plane
- Tiny plane,
- Small plane, -5
- Medium plane, -3
- Large plane, +0
- Huge plane, +3
- Gargantuan, +5
- Colossal, +10
- Guide has been there before, -3
- Guide is a native of that plane, -5
It takes one day per DC to walk to another plane.
The DM may include other modifiers.
Plane Shifting
The plane shift spell can directly move parties between planes.
Most settled planes have anchor points. These points magically attract any plane shifters to them. This makes shifting between planes very safe. This also makes shifting into sensitive areas very difficult. To avoid an anchor point, a caster must make a caster check, DC 25.
Shifting Planes with Magic
Spellcasters may move between planes by channeling spells. When a caster channels a spell, he expends that spell as if it had been cast. Channeling the spell takes ten minutes per Entry Difficulty of the target plane. The level of the spell must be higher than or equal to the Entry Difficulty of the target plane.
The caster makes a Knowledge(planes) check equal to DC 10 + (2 x Entry Difficulty).
The caster shifts up to four contiguous squares of people, equipment, and animals per spell that he channels. More than one spell may be channeled to move squares. These spells must all be channeled at the same time. This number does not include the caster. The caster need not shift himself. The caster, if he has no more spells of the appropriate level, may substitute three spells, one level lower, to aid the shift.
Although the trip seems instantaneous to the travelers, they arrive at their destination one day later, and travelers are fatigued on arrival.
If the shift also changes iconic axes, the characters arrive two days later and are exhausted. For example, changing from a Holy plane to a Wild plane would change an iconic axis.
If the shift occurs across two iconic axes, all characters arrive unconscious, with nonelethal damage equal to their Total Hitpoints + 1. Crossing two iconic lines is rarely done.
In all cases, the caster himself becomes exhausted.
The caster may accept assistance. Those who assist may channels spells using the same rules listed above. The lead caster must always channel at least one spell.
As plane shift require a great deal from casters, arriving on a hostile plane can be challenging.
Many planes have fixed arrival points, or gates. A caster may either arrive there, at a random point on the plane, or attempt to land at a specific location.
Creature Associated Lines of Movement
Creatures who have certain subtypes are able to move between planes depending on their type.
| Type | Planar Alignment |
|---|---|
| Aberration | Generative |
| Air | Air |
| Angel | Holy Axiomatic |
| Animal | Wild |
| Aquatic | Water |
| Archon | Holy |
| Augmented | See Description |
| Chaotic | Anarchic |
| Cold | Water |
| Contruct | Alchemic |
| Demon | Vile Anarchic |
| Devil | Vile Axiomatic |
| Dinosaur | Wild |
| Dire | Wild |
| Dragon | Mythic |
| Earth | Earth |
| Elemental | See Description |
| Evil | Vile |
| Extraplanar | See Description |
| Fey | Myth |
| Fire | Fire |
| Genie | See Description |
| Giant | Mythic |
| Golem | Alchemic |
| Good | Holy |
| Hag | Vile Mythic |
| Humanoid | N/A |
| Incorporeal | See Description |
| Inevitable | Axiomic Alchemic |
| Lawful | Axiomatic |
| Lycanthrope | Wild Mythic |
| Magical Beast | Mythic |
| Mephit | See Description |
| Monstrous Humanoid | Mythic |
| Naga | Mythic |
| Native | See Description |
| Nightshade | Vile |
| Ooze | Aberrant, Water |
| Outsider | See Description |
| Planetouched | See Description |
| Plant | Wild |
| Psionic | Generative |
| Reptilian | Wild |
| Shapechanger | Generative |
| Sphinx | Mythic |
| Sprite | Mythic |
| Undead | Vile |
| Vermin | Wild |
| Water | Water |
Planar Events
Ether Storms: Storms brew up between planes. The plane shift spell becomes highly unreliable at those times. The caster must make a Concentration check to correctly navigate across the void. A mild storm is DC 10, while a full-blown ether tempest is DC 40. Ether storms occasionally move objects, living things, and sometimes locations between planes.
Change of Age: Planes can move between iconic axes. When this happens, this is called a change of age. The world is now dominated by new forces and the character of the world changes.
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