Page 52 - Dungeon Master's Guide

these "darklords," and through cruelty or carelessness INNER PLANES
trapped innocent mortals in these domains as well.
He was lying on his back upon baked and smoldering stone.
OPTIONAL RULE:
staring up at a smoky gray sky lit fro m distant and unseen
SHADOWFELL DESPAIR
fires. Around him, a sea of lava burped gouts of gas and jets
A melancholic atmosphere pervades the Shadowfell.
of flame. The Elemental Plane of Fire.
Extended forays to this plane can afflict characters with
Thank the fell ones, Vhok thought. I never thought I'd be
despair, as reflected in this optional rule.
When you deem it appropriate, though usually not so happy to be here.
more than once per day, you can require a character -Thomas M. Reid, The Gossamer Plain
not native to the Shadowfell to make a DC 10 Wisdom
saving throw. On a failure, the character is affected by
The Inner Planes surround and enfold the Material
despair. Roll a d6 to determine the effects, using the Plane and its echoes, providing the raw elemental
Shadowfell Despair table. You can substitute different substance from which all worlds were made. The four
despair effects of your own creation.
Elemental Planes- Air, Earth, Fire, and Water- form
a ring around the Material Plane, suspended within
SHADOWFELL DESPAIR a churning realm known as the Elemental Chaos.
d6 Effect These planes are all connected, and the border regions
l-3 Apathy. The character has disadvantage on between them are sometimes described as distinct
death saving throws and on Dexterity checks for planes in their own right.
initiative, and gains the following flaw: "I don't At their innermost edges, where they are closest
to the Material Plane (in a conceptual if not a literal
believe I can make a difference to anyone or
geographical sense), the four Elemental Planes
anything."
resemble places in the Material Plane. The four
4-5 Dread. The character has disadvantage on all
elements mingle together as they do in the Material
saving throws and gains the following flaw: "I am
Plane, forming land, sea, and sky. But the dominant
convinced that this place is going to kill me." element exerts a strong influence on the environment,
6 Madness. The character has disadvantage reflecting its fundamental qualities.
on ability checks and saving throws that use The inhabitants of this inner ring include aarakocra,
Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, and gains the azers, dragon turtles, gargoyles, genies, mephits,
following flaw: "I can't tell what's real anymore." salamanders, and xorn. Some originated on the
Material Plane, and all can travel to the Material
If a character is already suffering a despair effect and Plane (if they have access to the magic required) and
fails the saving throw, the new despair effect replaces survive there.
the old one. After finishing a long rest, a character As. they extend farther from the Material Plane,
can attempt to overcome the despair with a DC 15 the Elemental Planes become increasingly alien and
Wisdom saving throw. (The DC is higher because it's hostile. Here, in the outermost regions, the elements
harder to shake off despair once it has taken hold.) exist in their purest form: great expanses of solid earth,
On a successful save, the despair effect ends for that blazing fire, crystal-clear water, and unsullied air. Any
character. foreig-n substance is extremely rare; little air can be
A calm emotions spell removes despair, as does any found in the outermost reaches of the Plane of Earth,
spell or other magical effect that removes a curse. and earth is all but impossible to find in the outermost
reaches of the Plane of Fire. These areas are much less
hospitable to travelers from the Material Plane than
EVER NIGHT
the border regions are. Such regions are little known,
The city of Neverwinter in the world of the Forgotten Realms so when discussing the Plane of Fire, for example, a
has a dark reflection on the Shadowfell: the city of Evernight.
speaker usually means the border region.
Evernight is a city of cracked stone edifices and homes of
The outermost regions are largely the domains of
rotten wood. Its roads are made mostly of trampled grave
elemental spirits barely recognizable as creatures.
dust, and its few cobbled streets are missing enough stones
that they appear pockmarked. The sky is corpse gray, and the The creatures usually called elementals dwell here,
breeze blows cold and humid, bringing a chill to the skin. including the Elemental Princes of Evil (primordial
The city's living residents include mad necromancers, beings of pure elemental fury) and elemental spirits
corrupt purveyors of human flesh, worshipers of evil deities, that spellcasters can bind into galeb duhrs, golems,
and others who are able to make themselves useful and crazy invisible stalkers, magmin, and water weirds. These
enough to want to live here. But the living are a minority elemental creatures don't need food or other sustenance
in Evernight, for the bulk of the population consists of the on their home planes, because they are sustained by the
shambling dead. Zombies, wights, vampires, and other elemental energies that saturate those planes.
undead make the city their home, all under the watchful eyes
of the ruling caste: intelligent, flesh-eating ghouls. ELEMENTAL CHAOS
Rumors abound that this foul place mirrors one city on ----
every world. At the farthest extents of the Elemental Planes, the pure
.... jill' elements dissolve and bleed together into an unending

CHAPTER 2 I CREATING A MULTIVERSE