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A Guid to the Ethereal Plane

A Guid to the Ethereal Plane

A GUIDI ft THI ITHIUAJ. PUJII

Being a Recital of Strange Conditions, Ways by which one might Survive, Extraordinary Features, and Peculiar Entities that abide on the Ethereal Plane.

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Designer: Bruce R. Cordell Editors: and Keith Strohm Cover Artist: rk post ♦ Interior Artists: and Hannibal King Cartographer: Sam Wood ♦ Brand Manager: Thomas Reid ♦ Art Director: Dawn Murin Typography: Angelika Lokotz ♦ Graphic Designer: Matt Adelsperger Conceptual Artist: Special Thanks to John W. Mangrum, MagianChua, Mr. Niceguy, and the rest of the PLANESCAPEmailing list for their help in compiling the list of demiplanes.

Sources: Sources for this work include the following: ® by Zeb Cook; Planewalker's Handbook, PLANESCAPEMONSTROUS COMPENDIUM® III, and Tales From the In.finite Staircase by ; Nightmare Lands by and ; The Desert of Desolation adventure trilogy by ; "The Demiplane of Shadow" (DRAGON®Magazine article) by Edward Bonny; Grey­ hawk Ruins by Blake Mobley and Tim Brown; Dragon's Rest by Rick Swan; Tales from the Outer Planes: Castle at the Edge of Time by Christopher Mortika; Return to the and Dungeon Builder's Guidebook by Bruce R. Cordell; and, of course, the by .

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THE FABRIC OF THE MULTIVERSE: INTRODUCTION .... .4 SPELLWARP: ETIIEREAL MAGIC ...... •. 32 General Conditions ...... 32 THE SIIAPE OF THE WAVELESS SEA: Wizard Spell Alterations ...... 33 ETHEREAL OVERVIEW .•.••...... •... 6 Abjuration ...... 33 Planar Geography ...... 7 Conjuration and Summoning ...... 33 The Cosmology of the Ethereal ...... 8 Divination ...... 33 Reaching the Ethereal Plane ...... 9 Elemental Earth and Water ...... 34 Survival on the Ethereal ...... 10 Illusions and Phantasms ...... 34 Senses on the Ethereal ...... 10 Spells that Access the Astral ...... 36 Ethereal Combat ...... 10 Ethereal Spell Keys ...... 36 Priests and Prayers ...... 36 STANDING ON THE SHORE: THE BORDER ETHEREAL ... 12 Magical Weapons and Armor ...... 37 Sensing Through the Border ...... 13 New Wizard Spells ...... 37 Border Movement ...... 13 Mournful Mutter (Lvl 1) ...... 37 Obstacles to Ethereal Movement ...... 14 Chamber (Lvl 2) ...... 37 Into the Deep and Back Again ...... 14 Lob (Lvl 3) ...... 38 Skirting the Curtain ...... 14 Lesser Etherealness (Lvl 5) ...... 38 Border Materializations Gone Wrong ..... 15 Stabilize Ether (Lvl 5) ...... 38 Border Exceptions ...... 16 Dissipate (Lvl 6) ...... 38 Athas ...... 16 Greater Etherealness (Lvl 7) ...... 39 K.rynn ...... 16 Demiplane Seed (Lvl 8) ...... 39 Cerilia ...... 16 Demiplane Decay (Lvl 9) ...... 40 Ravenloft ...... 16 New Magical Items ...... 41 The Inner Planes and the Border Ethereal ...... 16 Boots of the Border ...... 41 Gloves of Retrieval ...... 41 INTO THE DEPTHS: THE DEEP ETIIEREAL ...... 18 Hom of the Inner Planes ...... 41 Ethersickness ...... 18 Deep Ethereal Movement ...... 19 ISLANDS IN Tl-IE MIST: The Wall of Color ...... 20 TH£ DEMIPLANES .•••...... 42 Deep Ethereal Features ...... 21 Known and Suspected Demiplanes ...... 43 Chronoilly ...... 21 The Black Abyss ...... 44 Ether Cyclones ...... 22 The Boundless ...... 45 Ether Gaps ...... 23 The Demiplane of Dread ...... 46 Protomatter ...... 25 The Demiplane of Electromagnetism ...... 46 Vortex Fronts ...... 28 The Demiplane of Imprisonment ...... 46 The Demiplane of Moil ...... 46 TAMING THE ETHER: PROFICIENCIES ...... •.• 30 The Demiplane of Nightmares ...... 47 Curtain Cognizance ...... 30 The Demiplane Of Shadow ...... 47 Ethereal Sight ...... 30 The Demiplane That Lives ...... 49 Ethereal Tracking ...... 31 The Demiplane of Time ...... 50 Illusion Pierce ...... 31 Maelost ...... 50 Nutriment ...... 31 The Mazes ...... 51 Vapor Weave ...... 31 The Semblance ...... 51 Wormscape ...... 51 Designing Demiplanes ...... 52 SampleGenerating Random Demiplanesfile ...... 52 TABJ.E ef ceN+EN+S

ALTERNATEREALITIES: LOCATIONSIN THE ETHER: REALMS OF DREAMS AND POWERS ...... 54 SPECIFICETHEREAL ENCOUNTERS ...... •..•. 7 4 Where Dreams Take Form ...... 54 Anavaree: A Ruptured Dreamscape ...... 74 The Landscape of Dreams ...... 55 Inside Anavaree ...... 75 Adventuring within the Dream ...... 56 Believer's Forge ...... 77 one Travelers: Ethereal Powers ...... 57 Ambar's Palace ...... 78 Land of the Immortals ...... 57 The Body Luminous ...... 79 The Lost Citadel of Magic ...... 57 Castle at the Edge of Time ...... 79 Lost Powers ...... 57 Approaching the Castle ...... 80 The Pavilion of Cynosure ...... 57 Castle Environs ...... 80 Ptah, the Opener of the Way ...... 57 The Embryonite ...... 82 Etherfarer Society ...... 82 CREATURESOF TIIE MIST: ETHEREALINHABITANTS •• .58 Freehold City ...... 84 Creatures that See in Two Worlds ...... 58 New Kit: The Etherfarer ...... 85 Basilisk ...... 58 Fellfield ...... 86 Cockatrice ...... 59 Leicester's Gap ...... 86 Medusa ...... 59 Gap Proximity Conditions ...... 87 's Faithful Hound ...... 59 The Station ...... 87 Creatures that Call Kip on the Ethereal ...... 60 Ommiad's Web ...... 89 Aerial Servant ...... 60 A. Guard Knots ...... 90 Apparition ...... 60 B. Reinforcements ...... 90 Cerebral Parasite ...... 61 C. Nursery ...... 90 Chukrix ...... 61 D. Ommiad's Knot ...... 91 Devourer ...... 61 Urunaland, a Plane in Progress ...... 92 Dharculus ...... 62 The White Galleon...... 93 Dhour ...... 63 Ebon Tiger ...... 63 APPENDIX: ETHEREALENCOUNTER TABLE .....•... 94 Ether Horse ...... 63 Foo Creature ...... 64 TABLES Ghost ...... 64 Table I: Elemental Border Conditions ...... 17 Gingwatzim ...... 64 Table II: Ethereal Planar Travel Times ...... 19 Gk'lok-lok ...... 65 Table III: Color Curtain Index ...... 20 Magran ...... 65 Table N: Ether Cyclone Effects ...... 24 Meme ...... 66 Table V: Ether gap Proximity Conditions ...... 26 Memedi (Gendruwo) ...... 67 Table VI: Illusion Manifestation ...... 34 Nathri ...... 67 Table VII: Random Curtain Colors ...... 53 Neth's Child (Nethling) ...... 68 Table VIII: Demiplane Characteristics ...... 53 Phase Spider ...... 70 Table IX: Demiplane Inhabitants ...... 53 Phirblas ...... 70 Table X: Demiplane Size ...... 53 Plasm ...... 70 Table XI: Ethereal Encounters ...... 95 Rabbiun ...... 71 Shedu ...... 71 Terithran ...... 71 Thought Eater ...... 72 Tween ...... 72 SampleXiii ...... 73 file "What do you mean, she's not here? By the Light, I want to speak with Tarsheva!" Barat exclaimed. Inwardly sighing, Ronassic managed to keep his smile; after all, the cutter's jink was good, even if his manners weren't. I FA1UC ., +HI "As I've already explained, kind sir, when you contacted me, I said I might be able to arrange a meeting with the one you ------UL+IvlJlSI: seek. Unfortunately, she appears to be out of the city just now." N+ UC+I N Barat's frantic demeanor held a moment longer, then sagged. "What am I going to do? My Ethereal quest ends before it even begins, for wont of a guide." Ronassic raised a single eye­ brow, then cleared his throat. "While it's true that I am noted more for my scholarship than my adventurous spirit, I do not brag when I say there are people who regard me as an expert in many fields, including things Ethereal." Barat looked up. "What do you mean?" Ronassic continued, "Perhaps you might consider contracting me to aid you now that I have returned from my long absence. Trust me; I know a thing or two about the Ethereal Plane, and what I don't know I can find out-I'm quite resourceful that way." Barat hesitated before speaking. "Tarsheva comes highly recommended. How do WE'RE EBFF I know you're not trying to 'peel' me, as you Cagers say?" +EB +HE Ronassic paused reflectively a moment before answering. "That seems a WAVELESS SEA! fair question. Tell me this: What is the first thought that comes into your head when you think of the Ethereal Plane?" "I don't know," Barat responded," ... a bunch of mist and nothingness, -K.IPWIJ. J.IAMS, I guess." Ronassic smiled and shook his head. "That's where you AN EN+HUSIAS+IC are wrong. The Ethereal Plane is the opposite of nothing; it is £+HER.EAi- + RAVE J.E R everything." "What?" Barat replied. Ronassic watched as the traveler's face assumed the puzzled expression that he had come to associate with primes. The wizard continued sagely. "The Ethereal con­ tains everything material; it is, in fact, the connective essence that makes up space and distance. While the Astral is the mental plane, a place that doesn't take up any actual space, the Ethereal is a physical plane that literally is space, and all that space contains." "I don't think I quite catch your meaning," said Barat, leaning forward with a look of obvious interest, despite his protest. Ronassic nodded and looked fondly at his newest student. "Well," the wizard Samplesaid, "here's the dark of it. ... " file This book details the Ethereal Plane, a churning realm of possibility and reality that contains a filmy "planar soup" connecting the various prime worlds. Sometimes called the Misty Shore or the Waveless Sea, the Ethereal also connects worlds and demiplanes to the Inner Planes, infinite arenas of elemental fury. In addition, the plane houses disparate and strange demi­ plane islands, as well as creatures both odd and dangerous. See, the Ethereal Plane's infinite expanse and strange properties make it more than just a backdrop to other adventures. In fact, the plane itself offers limitless and won- drous opportunities for those planewalkers brave enough to travel its shores and depths. The Ethereal Plane is a vital component of the multiverse, as it can hold all things in its misty grasp. Physically passing through the colorful mists that comprise the substance of the plane can delight or terrify a cutter with sights never before seen-and probably never seen again. Because it holds all physical things, the plane contains horrendous dangers and gruesome creatures that "stand" shoulder to shoulder with mind-blowing sights and treasures to put a dragon's horde to shame. Phase spiders, terithran, and thought eaters commonly make their homes here, but stranger crea­ tures also abide in the Deep Ethereal-including memes and gk'lok-lok. Creatures aren't the only threat to the ethereal traveler-ether cyclones and vortex fronts can put a body in the dead-book just as fast as any fiend, but far more impersonally. 'Course, even these natural dangers aren't enough to deter those who seek passage through the ether to other worlds or the Inner Planes, or those who seek such rumored locations as the Castle at the Edge of Time, Leicester's Gap, or Anavaree.

Sample file Streamers of vapor emerge from nothingness. Swirling masses of mist-first blue, then aquamarine, then emerald swirled with crimson, all in con­ tinuous and ever-changing patterns-shroud a body's vision. Whorls of fog and shadowy shapes of varying solid- ity float in and out of view. A few f +RI blobs of solid ether lazily sail end over end, some gaining density • and others losing it. IA: Clear windows open onto scenes both VlllVIIW familiar and alien before losing resolu­ tion in the slow, chaotic boil of the Ethereal Plane. A blood on her first visit to the Ethereal finds herself immersed in varicol­ ored fogs, or maybe she's bom- barded by a soft "fall" of solid ether flakes, or perhaps she rests in an area that looks like a small town on a misty, fog­ bound evening. See, the Ethereal Plane resembles many things, but cutters most often liken it to an ocean. It has a shore (the Border Ethereal) and mysterious depths (the Deep Ethereal). When a body first crosses the boundary from the Prime onto the Ethe- real, she's in the shallow end, standing in the surf where the ocean meets the shore. The land THESE WERE RE+RIEVED above the shore (the plane from whence the fREBffi +HE DEEP E+HEREAL traveler came) is still somewhat visible to the A+ GREA+ EXPENSE. traveler, because she's really on both planes rm NEB+ SURE WHA+ simultaneously-though most Prime natives can't +HEY ARE, BU+ see Ethereal observers. If a blood has the courage, she can access the worlds of the Prime Material +HEY SURE SQUEAL Plane as well as the Inner Planes from the LEBUD ENEBUGH Border Ethereal. WHEN YEBu SQUEEZE ·em. When a traveler wants to leave the shore behind and move farther onto the WAN+ +EB BUY EBNE? Ethereal Plane, she can make for the Deep -VA+HeR, Ethereal (often simply called the Deep). Look­ A MERCHANT ef ing back at the shallows, she sees a vast curtain EXCEP+IeHAJ. EN+ERPRISE of colors not unlike the northern lights on some prime-material worlds (the curtain isn't visible to those still on the Border). Beyond this Wall of Color is the Deep, infinite in depth and containing within it as-yet-unrealized space and matter. See, if the Inner Planes hold all the elemental building blocks of the multiverse, the Deep Ethereal holds all the potentiality of the multiverse. "Exis­ tence Becoming" is what the Godsmen often call the Deep, but truth is, most cutters Sampledon't understand half of what those berks really mean. file

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