Elemental Planes

Outsiders are more complex beings and often have more complex societies. This aspect makes them more comprehensible to natives of the Material Plane. Outsiders who call an Inner Plane home are immune to the natural effects of that plane. They are resistant or immune to damage of that type - at least to a degree.

Elemental Plane of Air

It is as open as the eternal sky. It as solid as a child's breath. It is falling forever.

The Elemental Plane of Air is an empty plane, consisting of sky above and sky below. Clouds billow up in bank after bank, swelling into grand thunderheads and dissipating into wisps like cotton candy. The wind pulls and tugs around the traveler, and rainbows glimmer in the distance.

The Elemental Plane of Air is the most comfortable and survivable of the Inner Planes, and it is the home of all manner of airborne creatures. Indeed, flying creatures find themselves at a great advantage on this plane. While travelers without flight can survive easily here, they are at a disadvantage.

Natural vortices connect the Elemental Plane of Air and the Material Plane, usually on high mountaintops or in the middle of severe weather conditions (such as the eye of a hurricane).

Elemental Plane of Air Traits

• Subjective Directional Gravity: Inhabitants of the plane determine their own "down" direction. Objects not under the motive force of others do not move.
• Normal Time
• Infinite Size
• Alterable Morphic
• Air-Dominant
• Enhanced Magic: Spells and spell-like abilities that use, manipulate, or create air (including those of the Air domain) are both empowered and enlarged (as if the Empower Spell and Enlarge Spell had been used on them, but the spells don't require higher-level slots). A cloudkill spell would thus have its range doubled and its damage (to those it did not kill outright) increased by half. Spells and spell-like abilities that are already empowered or enlarged are unaffected by this benefit.
• Impeded Magic: Spells and spell-like abilities that use or create earth (including the summoning of earth elemental or outsiders with the earth subtype) are impeded. This includes spells of the Earth domain. These spells and spell-like abilities can still be used, but a successful Spellcraft check (DC 15 + level of the spell) must be made to do so.

Air Inhabitants

Akadi is the Elemental god of Air.

Most of the life on the Elemental Plane of Air is on the wing, and it is a realm where the swift and the maneuverable survive.

Most common on the plane are the elementals that have emerged from the winds and weather of the plan itself. These generally free-willed beings include air elementals and half-elemental analogs of many Material Plane creatures. Ice and smoke paraelementals dwell the more extreme parts of the plane, in vast clouds of as and among storms of ice and hail. (See Chapter 9 of Manual of the Planes for the paraelementals and the half-elemental template.) Some beings consider the Elemental Plane of Air their own and do not hesitate to harass (at best) or destroy (at worst) travelers from elsewhere.

A small number of outsiders make the Elemental Plan of Air their home; the best-known are the djinn. The scavenging arrowhawks and omnipresent dust, air, and ice mephits can be found here as well.

Creatures from the Material Plane can be found here, especially if they have wings. But the plane's lack of obvious ground tends to disorient and confuse many native of the Material Plane, making them easy prey for more powerful Elemental Plane of Air natives. Material Plane creatures encountered on the Elemental Plane of Air include hippogriffs, pegasi, beholders, sphinxes, an sprites. Common birds and unintelligent fliers do not survive long on this plane.

The native language of the Elemental Plane of Air is Auran, a breathy, leisurely tongue that sounds like a long, slow exhalation. When other languages are needed, the Common language of the Material Plane is often used, and Celestial is sometimes used as well.

MOVEMENT AND COMBAT

Movement on the Elemental Plane of Air is described in the section on subjective directional gravity in Chapter 1 - Manual of the Planes

Creatures that have a fly speed have their maneuverability improved by one grade on the Elemental Plane of Air, from clumsy to poor, from poor to average, from average to good, and from good to perfect. In addition, any flying creature can dive, moving in the same fashion as other, nonflying creatures.

Air Combat

On the Elemental Plane of Air, a larger number of attackers may assault an target, being able to attack from above and below, as noted in the Combat in Three Dimensions sidebar in Chapter 1.

Characters might want to dive toward their opponents as a form of charge. If they do so, treat it as a regular charge (straight-line movement only, a +2 attack bonus, and a -2 penalty to Armor Class for 1 round). Alternatively, characters can simply plummet towards helpless or stationary target. In this case, see Falling Objects, to determine damage from falling objects. Apply that damage to both attacker and target. A maximum of 20d6 points of damage can be inflicted in this fashion.

Features of the Elemental Plane of Air>

For travelers arriving on the Elemental Plane of Air for the first time, the greatest danger is the panic of finding themselves in midair without even the sight of ground beneath you. Some travelers have plummeted to their deaths, never realizing where they were and how a simple thought could stop their descent. Setting the wrong direction as "down" can be fatal in such cases if there's a solid object along the path of descent (and if you fall far enough, there always is).

But other than that risk, the Elemental Plane of Air offers no inherent danger. There are regions of extreme weather, but they are a danger to natives as well as visitors. Spells such as avoid planar effects that provide planar protection do not help against such storms. On a long-term basis, obtaining food and water is a problem. Rainfall can provide water, but food is always scarce. Elemental creatures, made of the substance of the plane itself, tend to dissipate when slain, and real food is hard to come by. The djinn are welcome allies to many travelers from elsewhere, because they can create food, water, and wine.

Barring clouds, fog banks, rain, and other impediments to sight, vision on the Elemental Plane of Air is unaffected, as is darkvision. The entire plane is limned with a pearly radiance of no definite source, as if the base matter of the plane held its own inherent radiation.

Winds and Weather

The Elemental Plane of Air is constantly in motion, ranging from gentle breezes that tug on a traveler's cloak to mighty tornadoes that spiral through the empty skies. The majority of the winds are light or moderate, and only in specific situations will winds be sufficiently large to impede or damage travelers.

Weather Hazards provides rules for the effect of winds of various strengths. In almost all cases, creatures are airborne on the Elemental Plane of Air (so they are treated as one size smaller for the purpose of wind effects). Creatures that find something of sufficient size to hide on or behind avoid this penalty, but if blown away are thrown into the wind itself, taking damage each round until the wind dissipates.

The clouds themselves, common features on the plane, we the same effect as fog, obscuring all sight, including darkvision, beyond 5 feet. Creatures within 5 feet have one-half concealment, so attacks against them suffer a 20% miss chance. Arrowhawks and other scavengers often hide in clouds to ambush their prey better.

Extreme weather is also common on the Elemental Plane of Air, including snow, rain, sleet, hail, duststorms, thunder-storms, blizzards, and hurricanes. Despite the lack of objective gravity on the plane, rain does occur, falling for miles before dissipating and being swept up into new clouds.

Smoke Banks

Often the result of long-forgotten battles, clouds of choking smoke hang in the calmer regions of the plane, backwaters of the greater air currents. Occasionally they are swept up into great moving walls, but in general the smoke banks are relatively stationary. Large amounts of fire also generate smoke banks that hover around the source of the flame.

Characters who enter areas of heavy smoke are affected as noted in Smoke.

Flying Castles

The weightless nature, empty disposition, and hospitable environment makes the Elemental Plane of Air ideal for powerful individuals seeking privacy. These individuals include wizards and sorcerers who want uninterrupted time for long-term studies, clerics of all alignments escaping the threats of more dangerous planes, and even monasteries and libraries whose users seek solitude and reflection. Any chunk of rock or mineral large enough to support a building's foundation is the site of some structure (or at least it has been in the past).

Given the nature of subjective gravity, the rooms within such a structure may all have the same direction of gravity, or the structure may be a crazy quilt of rooms with shifting gravitational directions. Often this depends on the needs of the users. Those who expect visitors provide a common "down" direction for reference.

Settlers on the Elemental Plane of Air have to provide their own method of acquiring food and water, so many strongholds are set up near gates and vortices that allow easy access to other planes. In addition, the wizards, clerics, and monks who make these floating fortresses their homes must make peace to some degree with the local elemental and outsider population, either by negotiation or force. Not all invaders do so successfully, and travelers may discover the empty towers and citadels of wizards whose flesh has been ripped from their bones by angry invisible stalkers, or whose strongholds are frozen solid after crossing a foul-tempered ice paraelemental.

Djinni Strongholds

The djinn are among the most accommodating of the outsiders that make the Elemental Plane of Air their native realm. They tend to settle the larger chunks of physical matter on the plane, shards of rock and earth ranging from a thousand feet to several miles across. Each of these islands has its own gravity, and the guests of the djinn move around as on the Material Plane.

A typical djinn community on the Elemental Plane of Air consists of 3d10 of these creatures (some of whom have undoubtedly earned levels in character classes), 1d10 jann, and 1d10 elemental creatures of low intelligence who act as servants, pets, or guardians. The most powerful of the djinn in the stronghold is known as the sheik. The sheik may or may not be a noble djinni.

Such strongholds are often nothing more than opulent pleasure domes, but the djinn also raise livestock (often horses for racing) and maintain gardens and fountains.

Djinn gather strongholds into larger, allied confederations. In case of an attack, a stronghold sends one of its members to the nearest allied stronghold, which in turn sends two more messengers to its allies. In a short time, a horde of djinn have been rallied for the fight. As a result, successful attacks against djinni strongholds must be rapid strikes.

Powerful caliphs rule the confederations of djinni strongholds, with each caliph holding titular sway over all strongholds within two days' flight. These caliphs, in turn, swear fealty to grand caliphs. The most prestigious and puissant of these grand caliphs dwells in the Citadel of Ice and Steel, advised by all manner of sheiks, emirs, beys, and maliks. This citadel is a constructed thing, made of magic steel and ice that is cool to the touch but harder than stone.

The Citadel of Ice and Steel consists of level upon level of gardens, courts, and labyrinths. It is a palace without stairs, and visitors who can't fly get genie guides to escort them through the citadel. Smaller citadels orbit the Citadel of Ice and Steel, each the home of a trusted advisor or powerful lesser caliphs. At the heart of the citadel is said to be a prison cell for the grand caliph's greatest enemy. This being's crime and identity is unknown, and the unlit cell is protected from planar access and magical tampering.

Air Encounters

The Elemental Plane of Air is continually aloft. Most of the creatures found within are comfortable while airborne, either as natives of this plane or as creatures that naturally fly. Even creatures that require continual action to fly, such as birds, learn to sleep aloft on the Elemental Plane of Air.

Elemental Plane of Earth

It is a place of hidden riches. It is a wall against all foes. It is a grave for the greedy.

The Elemental Plane of Earth is a solid place made of rock, soil, and stone. The unwary and unprepared traveler may find himself entombed within this vast solidity of material and have his life crushed into nothingness, his powdered remains a warning to any foolish enough follow.

Despite its solid, unyielding nature, the Elemental Plane of Earth is varied in its consistency, ranging from relatively soft soil to veins of heavier and more valuable metal. Striations of granite, volcanic rock, and marble interweave with brittle crystal and soft, crumbling chalks lid sandstones. Thin veins of gemstones, rough and huge, can be found within the plane, and these unpolished jewels often lead the greedy to this plane in the hopes of picking them up with minimal effort. Such prospectors often meet their match in the natives of the Elemental Plane of Earth, who feel extremely attached (sometimes literally) to parts of their home. The Elemental Plane of Earth is a place hostile to life from the Material Plane, but unlike the Elemental Plane of Fire, it is not actively hostile. Rather, it is uncaring, unconcerned about the motes of life that move through it and around it. It is solid stone, as patient as the earth itself. And it has all the time in the universe.

Elemental Plane of Earth Traits

The Elemental Plane of Earth has the following traits.

• Heavy Gravity: The penalties of the heavy gravity trait apply to all creatures, native and visitor, on the plane.
• Normal Time
• Infinite Size
• Alterable Morphic
• Earth-Dominant
• Enhanced Magic: Spells and spell-like abilities that use, manipulate, or create earth or stone (including those of the Earth domain) are both empowered and extended (as if the Empower Spell and Extend Spell had been used on them, but the spells don't require higher-level slots). A xorn movement spell would thus have its duration doubled. Spells and spell-like abilities that are already empowered or extended are unaffected by this benefit.
• Impeded Magic: Spells and spell-like abilities that use or create air (including the summoning of air elementals or outsiders with the air subtype) are impeded. This includes spells of the Air domain. These spells and spell-like abilities can still be used, but a successful Spellcraft check (DC 15 + level of the spell) must be made to do so.

Earth Inhabitants

Grumbar is the elemental god of Earth.

Much of life on the Elemental Plane of Earth is unknown travelers from the Material Plane, due at least in part to the nature of this Inner Plane. Most visitors spend time only in the caverns and tunnels that snake through the solid world of the plane, so creatures that live deep in the heart of the plane are unknown and unguessed at. Elementals are sentient parts of the plane itself. They move effortlessly through the mix of rock and soil that makes up the Elemental Plane of Earth. Some creatures are analogous to those of the Material Plane, while others reflect the raw power of their elemental form.

Earth elementals are uncomfortable with open spaces. On their home plane they will, unless otherwise restrained or driven off, collapse tunnels, rifts, and caverns that snake through their realms.

The outsiders who live on the plane oppose this elemental destruction because they seek trade with other planes and want their homes on the Elemental Plane of Earth to remain hospitable. Dao outposts, for example, are continually vigilant against the natural and sentient hazards of their plane, protecting spaces open enough to allow them to deal with their fellow genies and other travelers. Mephits also seek such clear spaces and are as common as vermin in settlements on the Elemental Plane of Earth. Creatures that have the ability to move through the earth, such as xorn, care neither one way nor the other for such open regions within their realms.

The Elemental Plane of Earth is also home to creatures with a natural affinity toward earth and stone, denizens who are comfortable in tunnels of their own carving. Dwarves and some dragons live here, as do larger creatures such as stone giants and the occasional gargoyle (though they rarely get to stretch their wings and fly very far on this plane). Such creatures need open spaces to survive, so they often ally themselves with more powerful native races.

The native tongue of the Elemental Plane of Earth is Terran, a deep rumbling tongue that vibrates through the listener like a tremor. Those natives who deal with visitors may speak additional languages, though most feel no need to do so.

Movement and Combat

Two kinds of movement are possible through the Elemental Plane of Earth: digging and walking through the tunnels and caverns. Digging is a tiring activity, done at the rate of 5 feet per 10 minutes (but see the Digging Your Way Out sidebar). Moving through passages is like normal movement and bears all the perils of exploring caves on the Material Plane.

Individuals with the ability to move like a xorn through solid objects do not become intangible when they move this way. Rather, they move like fish through water, allowing the earth to close behind them in their wake. Such creatures do not normally leave a tunnel behind for others to follow unless digging at the speed and manner above.

An astrally projecting traveler whose form manifests on this plane gains the ability to move through the solid rock in the same fashion as an earth elemental. This ability only applies on the Elemental Plane of Earth.

Earth Combat

Except as noted for the elemental traits, combat is normal on the Elemental Plane of Earth. A traveler using a xorn movement spell or similar ability can be attacked normally and might face attacks from assailants that can move in a similar fashion (see Combat in Three Dimensions in Chapter 1).

Features of the Elemental Plane of Earth

For the traveler, the greatest danger on the Elemental Plane of Earth is being accidentally caught and suffocated within solid earth. Travelers who manifest in the caverns and other "clear areas" of the plane are safe from that danger (unless a cave-in occurs), but a traveler who suddenly manifests randomly on the plane runs the risk of suffocation and speedy burial.

Even creatures that do not need to breathe may still find themselves trapped in the rock and soil, unable to extricate themselves. In such cases they must wait for rescue by an outside source, and they may fall prey to starvation and dehydration.

At the DM's discretion, those who wind up buried in an area of relatively loose soil on the Elemental Plane of Earth can start digging a chamber for themselves (taking about 10 minutes to clear a 5-foot cube). From there they have to choose a direction and start digging, hoping to find an open cavern.

A spellcaster trapped in solid earth can use only spells that do not require a somatic component, and the only foci and material components that may be used are those at hand. Verbal components are unaffected.

For those trapped on a long-term basis, starvation and dehydration become threats. The elemental life forms are part of the plane itself and thus inedible. The outsider natives of the Elemental Plane of Earth that require normal sustenance often have their own permanent communities to draw upon. Except in such areas, the ever-grinding motion of the plane's soils prevents anything from taking root long enough to blossom - even if it had enough light to do so.

Travelers trapped in the rocky state of the plane are effectively blind until they can reach a space large enough to cast a spell or light a torch. Even then, the Elemental Plane of Earth is by its nature as dark as the deepest cave - there is no sky or sun here at all. Darkvision functions normally in the twisting passages of the Elemental Plane of Earth, but those without it must provide their own light source.

There are luminous gems and crystals found natural within the plane that may provide light (usually as bright as a candle, large deposits are the equivalent of a torch. Such discoveries are usually signs of recent or present occupation of the area by other inhabitants.

Special Discoveries

For every 8 hours (at most) that a character or group of characters spends digging through the plane, there is 10% chance of coming across something of interest. If the d% roll indicates a discovery sometime in the next hours, then roll 1d10 to determine what the discovery (see the table below) and roll 1d8 to determine how many hours pass before the discovery.

1d10	Discovery
1-4	Elemental pocket
5-8	Metal seam
9	Gem seam
10	Fossil

Elemental Pocket: Most adventuring on the Elemental Plane of Earth takes place in the clear spaces of the plane, those parts that are not earth itself but the intrusions of other planes onto the Elemental Plane of Earth. Most common are caverns worn by nonnative water and tunnels carved by living things. The plane itself moves slowly, like a thick batter, and it eventually fills these in.

A more durable kind of clear space is an elemental pocket from another plane, a place where another plane emerges onto the Elemental Plane of Earth. These regions are dangerous if broken into, because they can surge wildly into the surrounding areas, immersing them completely with that element. An elemental pocket of water floods an area, while an elemental pocket of fire subjects those within to the dangers of being on the Elemental Plane of Fire.

Pockets normally extend 20 feet from the breach point. In some places, the area around an elemental pocket has been carefully mined, and these areas may be still be inhabited by natives of the emerging plane.

Metal Seam: This type of deposit is usually a precious metal on the Material Plane, such as gold, silver, or platinum. A typical seam produces 1,000 gp per hour's digging for 4d10 hours before giving out.

Gem Seam: These smaller but more valuable discoveries produce rough, uncut gems. Such a deposit can net 10 gems. Successful use of the Craft (gemcutting) skill can yield gems of great value. Determine the value of the finished product by using Table 7-5: Gems in Chapter 7 of the DUNGEON MASTER'S Guide.

Fossil: This is a generic term for objects and creatures (living or dead) that have been trapped in the stone until discovered by prospectors or explorers, when someone digging through the plane hits a fossil, roll a random encounter on the table of your choice from the DUNGEON MASTER'S Guide for the appropriate challenge level. If the creature is one that would not survive long-term burial on the Elemental Plane of Earth, the characters find its body instead (and any treasure on it). If it is a creature that might survive such a period of entombment, such as a construct or a corporeal undead, then the discoverers have a new problem n their hands.

Great Dismal Delve

The most civilized race on the Elemental Plane of Earth is the dao (as they will undoubtedly tell you). These genies are found in a number of communities and are often at odds with the native elemental life because the dao continually desire to deal with extraplanar races. The greatest of the dao communities is the Great Dismal Delve, also known as the Great Mazework. It is here that the greatest leader of the race makes her home.

The delve itself is a maddening maze of passages, memorized by the dao but confusing to the traveler. The dao and their slave races live here in dark splendor, eagerly mining gems for trade. Slaves, often the losers in bets and bargains made with the dao, build and rebuild passages, fend off elemental attacks, and are otherwise slowly worked to death by their uncaring masters.

Glowing crystals line the Great Dismal Delve, and great vaults are set with them in star patterns unlike any seen on the Material Plane. Food is grown here as well, mostly luminous fungus that thrives in the darker areas. This smelly, bad-tasting food primarily feeds the slaves. The dao themselves eat and drink only for the sensation and can survive as easily on rocks as on anything else. Some have such strange tastes that they willingly consume rare gems, thinking them delicacies.

The Great Dismal Delve spans a number of large, natural caverns that are tectonically unstable. Earthquakes are frequent occurrences, which keeps the slaves busy within the continent wide Delve.

The connections and passages of the Great Dismal Delve link up with a bewildering array of portals leading to other Inner Planes, the subterranean reaches of some of the Outer Planes, and the deepest dungeons of the Material Plane. It is rumored that somewhere within the Great Dismal Delve is a freestanding gate to almost every secret location within the D&D cosmology.

The dao encourage this rumor and make their passages available to planar travelers who crave secrecy in their comings and goings. The only thing keeping the Great Dismal Delve from being more a popular destination is the dao's own devious nature. The dao assume that everyone else is as untrustworthy as they are, and they keep a long list of grudges against anyone, deity or mortal, who looks at them sideways. As a result, many of the most powerful beings in the D&D cosmology avoid the Great Dismal Delve.

Earthquakes

The Elemental Plane of Earth is constantly in motion. Usually this motion is a slow, grinding process that fills in the caverns and tunnels made by those who have passed before. Sometimes the motion is much more sudden and dangerous.

Those caught within the area of an earthquake (usually a 150-foot radius) suffer the effects of an earthquake spell. In addition, characters in caverns or passages must make Reflex saves (DC 17) or wind up in the bury zone of a cave-in (see Cave-Ins and Collapses). Characters buried by loose soil and rock must either dig themselves out or be extricated by their allies.

Earth Encounters

The Elemental Plane of Earth is place of great mass and solidity. Creatures that can't burrow and lack the xorn's ability to pass through the earth are only encountered within tunnels, caverns, or other pockets that dot this solid plane.

Elemental Plane of Fire

It is a plane continually ablaze. It smells of burning flesh and ashen dreams. It is flame incarnate.

Everything is alight on the Elemental Plane of Fire. The ground is nothing more than great, ever shifting plates of compressed flame. The air ripples with the heat of continual firestorms, and the most common liquid is magma, not water. The oceans are made of liquid flame, and the mountains ooze with molten lava. It is a crematorium for the unprepared traveler and an uncomfortable spot even for the dedicated adventurer.

Fire survives here without need for fuel or air to burn, but flammables brought onto the plane are consumed readily. The elemental fires seem to feed on each other to produce a continually burning landscape.

Elemental Plane of Fire Traits

The Elemental Plane of Fire has the following traits.

• Normal Gravity: The "ground" beneath one's feel made of heavier flame, ash, and debris, but it provide footing similar to the ground on the Material Plane.
• Normal Time
• Infinite Size
• Alterable Morphic
• Fire-Dominant
• Enhanced Magic: Spells and spell-like abilities with the fire descriptor are both maximized and enlarged (as if the Maximize Spell and Enlarge Spell had been used on them, but the spells don't require higher-level slots). A fireball spell would thus deal maximum damage (although many of the plane's natives are immune to fire damage). Spells and spell-like abilities that are already maximized or enlarged are unaffected by this benefit.
• Impeded Magic: Spells and spell-like abilities that if or create water (including the summoning of water elementals or outsiders with the water subtype) are impeded. This includes spells of the clerical Water domain. These spells and spell-like abilities can be used, but a successful Spellcraft check (DC 15 +level| the spell) must be made to do so.

Fire Inhabitants

Kossuth is the elemental god of Fire.

Despite being one of the most hostile of the Inner Plant the Plane of Fire is also one of the most vibrant and populated. A number of elementals, outsiders with the subtype, and fire-using creatures may all be found here.

Elementals are sentient pieces of the plane itself moving with something that resembles volition and purpose. They include elemental analogs of creatures of the Material Plane, as well as the fire elementals known to spellcasters through the various summon monster spells. Such elementals normally have no love of fleshy, cool creatures, and many attack merely to burn them and feed off the flames.

Outsiders such as efreet, azers, and salamanders have more organized societies. They often have large settlements, the best-known of these being the efreeti City of Brass. Outsiders tend to be (at least slightly) more hospitable to outsiders, and several communities go out their way to accommodate travelers.

Fire-using creatures call the Elemental Plane of Fire home as well, usually residing near elemental pocket and vortices that lead to their home planes. Creature that are immune to fire, such as devils (but not demons celestials), may also be found at such locations. There regular traffic in information, goods, and prisoners between the City of Brass and the Nine Hells.

The native language of most inhabitants of the Elemental Plane of Fire is Ignan, a sharp, hissing and clicking language. Those natives who deal with other planes may speak additional languages. Infernal and the Common tongue of the Material Plane are often spoken in such cases.

Movement and Combat

The Elemental Plane of Fire has a relatively firm surface, making ground-based movement akin to walking across flaming coals. The coals themselves are only slightly cooler pieces of elemental fire, and often a traveler sinks ankle-deep into the flaming mire of the plane. Flying creatures find the atmosphere above this surface to be thin but usable. Nonnatives find their fly speed halved and maneuverability reduced by one grade when flying on the Elemental Plane of Fire. Creatures with the ability to move through solid objects (such as xorn) are similarly reduced to half their normal speed when passing through the ever-changing crust of the Elemental Plane of Fire.

The surface of the plane moves slowly, flowing as a river of magma would, so permanent structures are few and far between. A traveler may find it wise to hire a native guide (either outsider or elemental) to navigate through the ever-changing landscape of the Elemental Plane of Fire.

Fire Combat

Other than the hazards of the plane itself, there is no additional effect on combat on the Elemental Plane of Fire.

Features of the Elemental Plane of Fire

The greatest danger on the Elemental Plane of Fire is its fire-dominant trait. The heat of the plane, the omnipresent flames, and the hot, toxic smoke of the air are all represented in the effects of this trait on objects and living creatures. Creatures on the Elemental Plane of Fire take 3d10 points of damage and risk catching on fire each round they remain on the plane. But a traveler who has brought the proper spells or magic items to ward against such damage can survive in the short term on the plane.

Food and drink may prove a problem in the long term. The elementals (including elemental versions of Material Plane creatures) are made of the material of the plane itself. They don't eat, and they return to their basic elemental nature if slain. Outsiders from the Elemental Plane of Fire can survive on flame itself in addition to "normal" food, so they rarely stock their larders for visitors. Such food is always served charred, burnt to a crisp, or otherwise well done, and the drink, whether water, line, or ale, arrives piping hot. The Elemental Plane of Fire is continually bathed in light. The ground, the air, the structures, and even some of the natives radiate flame continually. The impediment to vision is not the brilliance, however, but rather the effects of the heat and the continually smoking atmosphere. The air ripples because of the heat, so mirages dance at the edge of an observer's vision, and the true nature of the land is concealed except for the area closest at hand. The smoky atmosphere limits normal sight to a range of 120 feet. Magical vision granted by items or spells can extend that range. Creatures native to the Elemental Plane of Fire with the elemental (fire) or outsider (fire) and subtype can see up to 240 feet.

Darkvision does not function on the Elemental Plane of Fire, except in those rare places where natural darkness can be found - perhaps the palace of the sultan of the efreet in the City of Brass.

Other senses are unaffected by the Elemental Plane of Fire, though the continual crackling of the flames provides a -2 circumstance penalty on Listen checks in most places.

The City of Brass

The City of Brass is populated by powerful efreet, and is considered by many efreet to be their home and their capital. Efreet may be found elsewhere on the Elemental Plane of Fire, but even far-flung settlements owe fealty and allegiance to the grand sultan who rules the City of Brass from his burning palace. The grand sultan is said to be an efreeti of singular power and prowess, and is advised by all manner of maliks, beys, and emirs. His direct servants, both in the city and on the Material Plane, are six pashas of considerable power.

The city itself is cradled in a brass hemisphere forty miles across, floating above a plate of cracked obsidian at the heart of the Elemental Plane of Fire. Stairs of burning basalt and rivers of flame stream up from the surface below to the well-armed gates of the city. The city walls may be reached by flying creatures, but the efreet take a dim view of interlopers who refuse to present themselves at one of the city's gates.

The City of Brass is the best known location on the Elemental Plane of Fire and is also the most likely to be visited by travelers from the Material Plane. Within the bounds of the city, vision is normal, and the painful nature of the plane is suppressed at the will of the grand sultan. Whether the suppression of the plane's great heat comes from the grand sultan's natural ability, an arrangement with another powerful force, or a magic artifact is unknown. At the grand sultan's whim, this protection can be revoked, exposing the city to the natural trait of the plane.

The City of Brass also has the mildly evil-aligned trait. Good-aligned creatures within the City of Brass suffer a -2 penalty on all Charisma-based checks and skills. This is due in part to the nature of the efreet within the walls, but the city also has a number of freestanding gates leading to the Nine Hells of Baator. Devils are common within the walls of the City of Brass, either on missions for their infernal masters or bringing tribute and gifts to the grand sultan's court.

At the center of the city are its tallest towers and greatest fountains of flame. Here is the Burning Palace of the Grand Sultan of All the Efreet, where he rules from the Charcoal Throne. It is said that within the great palace are wonders beyond belief and treasure beyond counting. But here also is found death for any uninvited guest who seeks to wrest even a single coin or bauble from the treasure rooms of the grand sultan.

Steam Clouds

Heated gas and smoke comprise the atmosphere above the surface of the Elemental Plane of Fire. Clouds of superheated steam billow across the fiery landscape. Steam clouds are hard to discern among the smoke and shimmering vapors of the ignited atmosphere, so a traveler can become trapped within such a cloud without knowing it. Most steam clouds are high enough above the surface that they pose a hazard only to creatures in flight. Natives such as the efreet can sense a change in the wind that precipitates a steam cloud and thereby avoid the cloud if they so desire.

A steam cloud deals 1d10 points of fire damage per minute to those caught within it, in addition to any other damage caused by the environment. The steam condenses on surfaces as well as in burning drops. A typical steam cloud has a 100-foot radius, though one can be as large as ten times that size. A cloud drifts about 120 feet per minute, naturally dissipating in 1d10 hours.

Rains of Ash

Rains of hot ash pose the same perils to those on the ground that steam clouds pose to those in the air. Such rains usually appear as a darkening on the horizon that moves in like a summer thunderstorm.

Those caught in an ash rain take an additional 1d10 points of fire damage each round in addition to the natural damage of the Elemental Plane of Fire. Creatures immune to fire are unaffected. Ash rains are sporadic and last 2d10 minutes before drifting off or burning themselves out.

Magma Rivers and Firefalls

Most of the Elemental Plane of Fire consists of slow-moving solid flame, but there are faster-moving, hotter regions. These rivers of flame and magma pour through the ductile landscape of the Elemental Plane of Fire. Magma rivers are incredibly hot, dealing an addition 20d10 points of fire damage to those who enter them. Creatures immune to fire are unharmed by these torrents, but it is possible for a creature otherwise immune to flame to drown in such a river (as a Material Plane creature might drown in a river there).

Often these magma rivers crash over cliffs, forming great firefalls that are spectacular to behold. Such falls of liquid flame often breach the areas between the planes in a natural vortex, leading to similar areas on the Material Plane (such as the center of a volcano crater). Travelers desperate to escape the Elemental Plane of Fire who have made the proper precautions might seek out these natural portals to make good their departure.

Fire Encounters

Despite its hostile nature, the Elemental Plane of Fire hosts diverse creatures and phenomena. It is the home creatures made of the planar material itself, outsiders that thrive in its superheated lands, and even creatures of the Material Plane that are immune to fire.

Elemental Plane of Water

Is an ocean without a surface, his domain of current and wave. It is a bottomless depth.

The Elemental Plane of Water is a sea without a floor or a surface, an entirely fluid environment lit by a diffuse glow. It is one of the more hospitable of the Inner Planes once a traveler gets past the problem of breathing the local medium.

The eternal oceans of this plane vary between ice cold and boiling hot, between saline and fresh. They are perpetually in motion, wracked by currents and tides. The plane's permanent settlements form around bits of flotsam and jetsam suspended within this endless liquid. Even these settlements drift on the tides of the Elemental of Water.

Elemental Plane of Water Traits

The Elemental Plane of Water has the following traits.

• Subjective Directional Gravity: The gravity here works similar to that of the Elemental Plane of Air. But sinking or rising on the Elemental Plane of Water is slower (and less dangerous) than on the Elemental Plane of Air.
• Normal Time
• Infinite Size
• Alterable Morphic
• Water-Dominant
• Enhanced Magic: Spells and spell-like abilities that use or create water are both extended and enlarged (as if the Extend Spell and Enlarge Spell had been used on them, but the spells don't require higher-level slots). A water breathing spell would thus last 4 hours per level, lather than 2 hours per level. Spells and spell-like abilities that are already extended or enlarged are unaffected by this benefit.
• Impeded Magic: Spells and spell-like abilities with the fire descriptor are impeded. This includes spells of the Fire domain. These spells and spell-like abilities lean still be used, but a successful Spellcraft check (DC 15 + level of the spell) must be made to do so.

Water Inhabitants

Istishia is the elemental god of Water.

The Elemental Plane of Water is relatively benign for an Inner Plane and is home to a large number of native elementals, water-breathing outsiders, and creatures from other planes that can survive in its watery seas.

Elementals are discrete and separate manifestations of the plane itself, granted sentience and mobility from magic or natural forces. These include the water elementals summoned by spellcasters and elemental versions of Material Plane creatures. Such creatures tend to be at semi-liquid and mimic seagoing beasts and monsters of the Material Plane.

Many water-breathing outsiders also make the Elemental Plane of Water their home. These include such transient beasts as the tojanida and the mephit, as well as more settled groups such as tritons and marid genies. In general, water-breathing outsiders found on the Elemental Plane of Water tend to be playful and cruel, not hesitating to torment (and drown) interplanar visitors who rely on magic spells or items to survive on their plane.

Finally, water-breathing creatures from other planes may be found on the Elemental Plane of Water. Fish, crustaceans, cephalopods and most sea-dwellers live on this plane, but not air-breathing ocean-dwellers such as whales and dolphins. The Elemental Plane of Water is hospitable to both freshwater and saltwater species, though each type has its own regions to inhabit. Monstrous aquatic creatures such as the kraken and aboleth may be found here as well.

Portals seem to be common between the Elemental Plane of Water and oceans on the Material Plane, and rarer portals connect to large bodies of water on other planes. Both of the great rivers of the Outer Planes, the Styx and the Oceanus, contain vortices to the Elemental Plane of Water. Tritons and marids in particular make use of the vortices, and settlements of these creatures are usually found near permanent portals.

Natives of the Elemental Plane of Water speak Aquan, a flowing, subtle language filled with double meanings and hidden puns. Those dealing with other planes speak other languages to facilitate their dealings: Common, Infernal, Abyssal, and Celestial are frequent choices.

Movement and Combat

The Elemental Plane of Water has no set directions, so travelers can move about in a fashion similar to movement on the Elemental Plane of Air. Rather than falling, a traveler may choose to rise or sink.

While a traveler may choose which way is up, whether she rises or sinks depends on whether she would rise or sink normally. Characters carrying less than 5 pounds of gear rise headfirst, but others sink feet first. Both do so at the same rate: 15 feet the first round, then 30 feet each round thereafter. The resistance of the water prevents the great speeds found on the Elemental Plane of Air and elsewhere, so a sinking or rising character takes no damage from striking an object.

In addition to moving about by sinking or rising, travelers can swim normally. If a solid surface is available, they can walk. Those with fly speeds can fly at half their normal rate, and their maneuverability is reduced by one grade.

There are almost no static physical locations on the Elemental Plane of Water, because even the largest communities drift on the currents of the plane. These include portals that lead elsewhere, and established communities may drift along with these vortex entrances. Travel between two communities on the Elemental Plane of Water often requires divination magic. Alternatively, travelers can hire a local guide knowledgeable in the currents and tides of the plane to figure out where a particular community or portal has drifted to. Tritons and marids make suitable guides, and they tend to treat fleshy travelers from the Material Plane better than elementals and other outsiders do.

Water Combat

Water impedes combat on the Elemental Plane of Water, just as it does beneath the surface of a Material Plane ocean. When creatures are involved in combat, the following rules apply:

• Creatures without a swim speed (or a freedom of movement spell or similar effect) suffer a -2 penalty on attacks and damage underwater.
• Further, any slashing weapon, blunt weapon, claw or tail attack also deals half damage (subtract 2, then divide the remainder by 2, rounding down), with a minimum of 1 point of damage dealt. The freedom of movement spell negates this penalty.

Features of the Elemental Plane of Water

The Elemental Plane of Water holds but one great immediate danger, and that is the fluid nature of the plane itself. Unless a traveler can breathe water or has no need to breathe, any visit to the Elemental Plane of Water must be brief. Those unable to breathe must hold their breath while on the plane and run the risk of drowning, as detailed in The Drowning Rule.

Creatures made of fire (such as fire elementals) take 1d10 points of damage each round on the Elemental Plane of Water, because it has the water-dominant trait. Creatures with the fire subtype are very uncomfortable on the plane.

A great difference between the Elemental Plane of Water and other watery domains is a lack of pressure. In Material Plane oceans (and some others), the pressure of the water increases with depth. The water pressure can grow strong enough on the Material Plane to crush the life out of creatures and bend steel. But the pressure on the Elemental Plane of Water is no worse than a just few feet underwater in a Material Plane ocean, so there are no dire consequences.

Long-term survival on the Elemental Plane of Water is fairly easy. Obtaining water is obviously not a problem, though its purity and salinity may pose some difficulties in specific areas. The abundance of sea life in the plane is enough to satisfy any traveler with a taste for fish.

A vague, dim glow that issues from all sides illuminates the seas of the Elemental Plane of Water. This glow gives everything a blue-green aura, but limits clear vision. Normal vision, including darkvision, is limited to 60 feet. Clouds of silt, algae, and other detritus may limit sight even further.

Hot Spots and Ice Pockets

The bulk of the Elemental Plane of Water is within a comfortable temperature range, like ocean temperatures in warm or temperate coastlines on the Material Plane.

There is no inherent temperature danger to travelers in areas that are within this range.

However, in spots the temperature changes dramatically. Hot spots raise nearby water to the boiling point, dealing 1d10 points of fire damage to those caught too close. The warmest of hot spots may have vortices to the Elemental Plane of Fire, and in these regions flames may briefly flicker before being inundated by the endless water.

Similarly, cold regions drift on the currents, some cold that they sap the life out of those caught within. Unless otherwise protected, creatures take 1d6 points cold subdual damage per minute within such an area. At the heart of these regions solid ice may be found, and there wander such cold-loving creatures as ice paraelementals.

Hot spots and ice pockets are usually no smaller than 300 feet across, and ones of a mile or more across have been reported. Movement is unaffected within these regions.

Such areas are hard to spot visibly, but the temperature changes around their edges are gradual. Creatures usually know of the approach of a hot spot or cold pocket 1d10 minutes before it starts dealing damage. Under normal situations, this is sufficient time to swim to more moderate waters.

Currents, Whirlpools, and Bores

Most of the Elemental Plane of Water swirls with a dizzying tangle of currents, moving the various fixed locations around with slow ease. Settled areas are aware of the course and heading of other settlements, though the distances may become insurmountable and communities lost to each other through the eternal sea.

Some currents are stronger than others. Strong currents may drag travelers in a particular direction at up 120 feet per minute (roll 2d6x10 to determine the current's strength in feet per minute). Travelers must be able to move faster than the current to make progress in the opposite direction.

Some currents pose a physical danger. Whirlpools a localized areas formed by counter-flowing currents th suck everything within 1d10x30 feet into a tightening spiral. Those caught within a whirlpool must make Swim check (DC 15) or take 1d6 points of damage from the buffeting current. Make this check every round. Those caught in a whirlpool can escape it with a second successful Swim check (DC 15) or automatically after 2d6 rounds.

Some 30% of whirlpools have vortices at their base and creatures sucked in are ejected on some other plane either on the Material Plane or on another plane that has an area with the water-dominant trait. Make a Reflex save (DC 19) for anyone caught in the whirlpool for each round after the sixth to avoid being sucked into the vortex. The DM determines where the vortex leads.

The most dangerous currents are tidal bores, great fluid avalanches that course through the plane, spreading destruction in their wake. Anyone caught in a tidal bore must succeed at a Swim check (DC 20) or take 2d10 points of damage. In any event, creatures hit by a tidal bore are dragged miles away by the force of the water.

Red Tides

A dangerous contagion has infected patches of water where red tides occur. Red tides range from a mere 60 feet across to areas large enough to comprise entire seas of pestilence. Those who inhale the deadly water or whose unprotected eyes are exposed to it may fall victim to blinding sickness. Unlike with most diseases, the initial Fortitude save to avoid infection must be made each minute a character remains in a red tide.

Weeds and Coral

Balls of seaweed and coral float through the Elemental Plane of Water, growing in all directions equally and resembling planets of living plant life. These spherical beds are often the lairs of outsiders native to the plane, especially tritons. The waters around weed and coral spheres frequently have excellent fishing grounds, so sometimes marids build outposts nearby.

Marid Communities

Marids are a fiercely independent race, so the "marid empire" on the Elemental Plane of Water is really a large collection of semi-independent strongholds, all of which wear fealty in varying degrees to the padishah of the marid. Often that degree of fealty is determined by the proximity of the stronghold to the Citadel of Ten Thousand Pearls or the presence of agents of the padishah. All marids claim nobility of some kind, and the plane is filled with shahs, atabegs, and mufti.

A typical marid stronghold is tied to some type of jetsam, usually a bit of solid matter or even a weed bed. Usually 2d10 marids are found in such a community, with a variety of elemental servants and jann, as well as mortals who have lost bets, sought favors, been chosen as favorites, or otherwise wound up enslaved by the (relatively) benign marids. They have little use for evil creatures, even those that breathe water, and marids are frequently at war with the evil denizens of the Elemental Plane of Water.

The Citadel of Ten Thousand Pearls is the greatest of marid communities and the seat of the Coral Throne. From this court emanates the wise rulership of the Great Padishah of the Marid, the Keeper of the Empire, the Pearl of the Sea, the Parent of the Waves, the Maharaja of the Oceans, Emir of All Currents, and so forth. This citadel, set atop a free-floating coral reef, is bedecked with all manner of towers and halls carved from living shell and ringed with luminous, glowing pearls. About two hundred marids make the citadel their home, all of them nobility. Each marid has a set of personal servants, bringing the non-marid population of the citadel to about a thousand.

The court of the great padishah is filled with intrigue and espionage because each marid has the heartfelt belief that he or she truly deserves to sit atop the Coral Throne. Assassinations are common, as are palace revolutions and exiles. The marids are individually the most powerful of genies, but their strong wills and high opinions of themselves prevent them from banding permanently under any one leader.

City of Glass

For travelers with less of a taste for palace intrigue, the City of Glass is an ideal gathering spot on the Elemental Plane of Water (especially for travelers who breathe air). Located at a stable collection of portals to other planes (stable in that they do not move in relationship to each other), the City of Glass consists of a great sphere of unbreakable glass, half filled with water. Visitors enter the city through any number of openings along the water side, or through magical portals in the air-bubble half. Many buildings cross the boundary between air and water; there are buildings filled with water in the air half, and buildings equally stocked with air beneath the water's surface. By mutual agreement of the city's residents, "down" is toward the water half of the sphere.

The City of Glass is a cosmopolitan collection of traders, travelers, and expatriates from other planes. Its denizens are primarily from the aquatic races of the Material Plane, including merfolk, aquatic elves, kuo-toas, lizardfolk, locathahs, and sahuagin. It is ruled by a council of longtime residents, no two of whom may be of the same race.

The City of Glass is a merchant's freeport and actively encourages trade. Mercanes may be found within its borders, along with marids, dao, and human traders. Several of its portals lead back to the Material Plane, and it is said that in secret places within the city, there are portals to other planes as well.

Historians note that the "unbreakable" glass of the dome has been broken in the past. Without definite gravity, however, the air remained more or less where it was. The city officials immediately repaired the rift and put to death the visitors whose errant spells were responsible for the break.

The Avenger

The true nature of the Avenger, a unique figure on the Elemental Plane of Water, is unrevealed. Considered a myth by many, the Avenger appears as a great, dark gray manta ray measuring about 90 feet from the nose to the base of the tail and 180 feet from wingtip to wingtip. Its tail, which extends a further 90 feet, discharges lightning bolts (as an 18th-level sorcerer), apparently at will. The Avenger appears to be a construct or a vehicle as opposed to a living beast, because it propels itself through the water with a battery of water-screws.

There are several theories about the Avenger. It might be a powerful construct, either still under the control of its master, wild and berserk, or with its own free will - the stories inevitably vary on this point.

Others contend that the Avenger is a vehicle, perhaps constructed on an alternate Material Plane, that found its way to the Elemental Plane of Water. The nature or fate of its crew varies from tale-spinner to tale-spinner as well. The locathahs say that the crew is locathah pirates, while the marids make a good case for rebellious jann. Several human tales talk of a crew of spectres.

Water Encounters

The Elemental Plane of Water is a shifting, fluid place. Most creatures have their own supply of air, or have the ability to breathe water, or do not breathe at all.

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Cosmology of Faerûn