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faghter_hero 12-24-07, 07:03 PM

This is a cosmology system I'm working on based on Plato's cave metaphor in the Republic. The Material Plane is at the center of the cosmology. It is surrounded by the Plane of Shadow, acting as the cave wall. Extraplanar entities that reach the Material Plane are filtered through Shadow before they can be perceived. Beyond shadow, the Inner and Outer planes are linked by Eidos, an infinite forest which has some qualities of the Astral Plane and the Spirit Realm. Outsiders that are summoned to the Material Plane enter a state called Ephestios which projects their shadows upon the cave wall. These shadows are perceived through the opinions of Material Plane inhabitants. Usually, there only one being in existence per kind of Outsider. You might find multiple Xorns on the Material Plane, but in fact, there is really only one Xorn Flickering into material existence. Planes in the cosmology: One Material Plane surrounded by Shadow. All Inner Planes. All Outer Planes except the Outlands. Gods who normally reside in the outlands inhabit Faerie. The Plane of Faerie (described in Manual of the Planes) is included, and takes on some aspects of the Far Realm. The neutral Plane of Truth replaces the role of the Outlands. The Plane of Dream replaces the Ethereal Plane as the source of ghosts and ethereal creatures, and is expanded to include imaginary beings. Ethereal effects function normally. The Plane of Eidos replaces the Astral Plane as the transition medium for extraplanar travel. Teleport spells function normally, as do Astral effects. New planar traits: Euclidean- everything within this plane of existence is reduced to terms of logic, ratio, and geometry. Things perceived take on the composition of extremely fine straight lines and circles, kind of like really early 3-D vector graphics. Blunt surfaces become edges, changing the damage type of blunt weapons to slashing. Sharp edges become impossibly perfect. Weapons that normally do slashing or piercing damage on the Material Plane go up one damage die, as though they were one size category larger. Feebleminding- this plane has an extremely disorienting or mind numbing effect. Non-native creatures in a Feebleminding plane must succeed on a DC 25 Will save or act as though affected by Feeblemind for the duration of the stay. These effects cease as soon as the creature leaves the plane. Affected creatures can only remain on the plane for 1d4 hours before fading back to the Material Plane. Once they return, the Feeblminding plane remains inaccessible to them for 1d4 days. New Planes: Eidos planar traits Physical: Objective Directional Gravity, Normal Gravity, Timeless, Infinite, Alterable Morphic Energy: None Alignment: Neutral Aligned Magic: Normal Coterminous- exists between other planes. A great forest which is always brightly lit by a noonday sun. It lacks a few subtle qualities of forests on the Material Plane: it is always quiet, there is no running water, no dense cover, and no bugs or small animals. Gates to other planes appear randomly between trees and behave as Astral Color Pools. Eidos is the only plane which lacks a representation of the Material Plane. Truth planar traits Physical: Objective Directional Gravity, Normal Gravity, Normal Time, Infinite, Alterable Morphic Energy: Euclidean, Feebleminding Alignment: Strongly Law Aligned Limited Magic: Gods cannot enter, though Divine magic functions normally. Other: Constant Zone of Truth at all times. Special: Creatures in Truth have access to all Alterations regardless of planar properties (see Alterations, below). This plane sits at the center of the multiverse as the truth behind everything. Gods are unable to enter, and its native inhabitant, the Rilmani, prefers to be left alone. The plane expunges all falsehood from the mind in an extreme degree. Lies are impossible, but so is all speculation, opinion, prediction, even expectation. To outsiders, even deliberate movement is impossible because they must think (very briefly) of what motion is to be accomplished before acting. Effects of the cosmology: The Material Plane is the only plane with the quality of Morphos- objective physical characteristics which exist regardless of observation or perception. When extraplanar objects intrude upon the Material Plane, they have no Morphos. They can appear differently to different observers, and even appear to be more than one creature. For example, a Fire Elemental in its true form has no body and cannot be described except in terms of fire-ness. In fact, there is really only one Fire Elemental, not enough to go around. If it is summoned onto the Material Plane, its shadow will have all the stats of a regular Fire Elemental, depending on which type was summoned. Ephestios enables Flickering, which allows it to be summoned more than once by more than one caster in all the different forms available, so Summon Monster and Elemental Swarm work the same as they always did. Flickering affects what happens when of the shadows of the same Outsider fight each other. There is no combat and resolution is instantaneous. Shadows of the same size annihilate each other. If there are differently sized shadows, such as with Huge, Greater, and Elder elementals, the bigger one absorbs the smaller. An Outsider that is reduced to 0hp or annihilated in this way is still treated as dead under normal Outsider Traits, but the original can never be harmed. This also means that uniquely powerful Outsiders, such as archdevils, can be summoned more than once at the same time. Theoretically, you could have a hundred Azmodei running around doing really nasty things, each one would appear slightly different, and no one could agree on the details. However the logistics of it would be absurd. But if there were a hundred cults of Azmodeus, the archdevil could lead each and every service personally, and in each congregation he would appear to be a mysterious local with a couple Azmodeus-like qualities. Flickering also affects the way Outsiders can travel. If the original Outsider alters the angle of Ephestios, an Outsider may use its native plane as though it were a Transitional Plane overlapping the Material Plane. It may teleport between regions of morphos that share qualities similar to its native plane. The qualities may be ethical, moral, or elemental. Ethical and moral qualities are determined by the alignments of regional governments, and elemental qualities come from elemental composition. An outsider from a Water dominant plane may freely travel between lakes or oceans as though using Shadow Walk, whereas an outsider from a Good aligned plane may jump from one kingdom to the next as long its rulers are Good aligned. When creatures from the Material Plane leave the cave and travel to other planes, they don't physically go anywhere. Instead, they use Ephestios to free themselves from the shackles of Achios, stepping out of Shadow into Eidos. The body goes into a sort of autopilot which allows it to eat, sleep, and perform simple routines, though complex tasks like fighting or making conversation aren't really possible. The traveler experiences this as staying at a guest house with all the basic accommodations of home during his visit to the plane. Visiting rules: A traveler on another plane forms a projection. The projection has stats identical to the creature's material form, except it has no Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution modifiers or scores. Instead, Charisma replaces Strength, Intelligence replaces Dexterity, and Wisdom replaces Constitution (including the HP bonus per level). A native reduced to 0hp or less simply dissipates for 1d4 hours and is still able to enter Ephestios normally. A visitor whose projection is reduced to 0hp or less returns to Achios Fatigued but unharmed, and he is unable to reach that plane again for 1d4 days. If he suffered ability drain, ability damage, or level loss, it carries over into his morphos. Visitors experience other planes as variations of the Material Plane. They perceive it exactly like the Material Plane except with the qualities of the inner or outer plane they are visiting. For example, Pandemonium contains all the cities of the Material Plane within howling caves, every layer of the Beastlands has those same cities overgrown with vegetation and lit according to the level, the Elemental Plane of Air has recognizable terrain features from the Material Plane floating through an endless sky, and so on. This is because the Planes themselves are actually featureless, and so the visitor uses the Material Plane as a filter to make extraplanar existence comprehensible. The plane's natives are also affected in this way- they don't appear except when a visitor interacts with them. Material Plane features do reflect the current state of the Material Plane, so a plane with a slow time quality will appear to speed up the Material Plane features. However, this is the equivalent of looking through a window- visitors can't actually use a plane to get from place to place, with the exception of Shadow. Alterations: This system of interaction allows visitors to use their extraplanar existences to affect the Material Plane and perform slight Alterations. The availability of an Alteration depends on the properties of the plane visited. Performing an Alteration usually does Wisdom damage to the user (listed as Damage), although some are free. A character has a limited number of times he can make Alterations, up to 1d4+1 per Character Level (or HD if it is a monster). Alterations only affect the Material Plane, and function like spells. It takes one Full Action to use an Alteration, and it provokes an attack of opportunity, but not from the Material Plane. Using an Alteration makes the creature responsible briefly visible on the Material Plane, but only to the effects of True Seeing and Arcane Sight. Used Alterations are not restored until the creature returns to its native plane and rests for 8 hours. Creatures reduced to 0 Wis. this way immediately return to Aichos and cannot access the plane for 1d10 days. List of Alterations: Alter Metaphysics Trait Prereq: An Elemental or Alignment dominance Area: 1 creature Damage: 1d6 Wis.+2 per spell level Duration: Varies Effect: If a creature you perceive on the Material Plane has prepared a spell with a descriptor equal to one of your plane's dominant traits (such as Air or Chaos), you may use Ephestios to add a Metamagic component to that prepared spell by sacrificing one of your own spells of equal level. Daemonia Trait Prereq: Universal Damage: 1 Wis. Range: Sight Target: 1 creature Duration: Effect: You can appear to a creature on the Material Plane as a Tiny or Diminutive Daemon which only the target can perceive. You may choose your form and appearance, but no matter what you look like, you are obviously a Daemon to the target. You are unable to harm or distract the target, and it may dismiss you at any time as a free action. A target with True Seeing active will see a scaled down version of yourself. While in Daemonia, you can communicate with your target normally through speech, and only the target can hear you. If it talks back, however, others can hear the target's response. Downward Tendency Trait Prereq: Heavy Gravity Area: 5'x5'x5' cube or single object (up to Medium) Damage: 1d6 Wis. Range: 5' Duration: 1d4 min. Effect: Target gains Heavy Gravity planar trait. Ephestios Casting Trait Prereq: An Elemental or Alignment dominance Area: As spell Damage: 1d6 Wis.+2 per spell level Duration: Varies Effect: If you can cast a spell with a descriptor equal to one of the plane's dominant traits (such as Air or Chaos), you may use Ephestios to cast that spell directly into the Material Plane at one half your caster level. Upward Tendency Trait Prereq: Light Gravity Area: 5'x5'x5' cube or single object (up to Medium) Damage: 1d6 Wis. Range: 5' Duration: 1d4 min. Effect: Targeted area gains Light Gravity planar trait.