Dungeon Master's Guide
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these "darklords," and through cruelty or carelessness<br />
trapped innocent mortals in these domains as well.<br />
OPTIONAL RULE:<br />
SHADOWFELL DESPAIR<br />
A melancholic atmosphere pervades the Shadowfell.<br />
Extended forays to this plane can afflict characters with<br />
despair, as reflected in this optional rule.<br />
When you deem it appropriate, though usually not<br />
more than once per day, you can require a character<br />
not native to the Shadowfell to make a DC 10 Wisdom<br />
saving throw. On a failure, the character is affected by<br />
despair. Roll a d6 to determine the effects, using the<br />
Shadowfell Despair table. You can substitute different<br />
despair effects of your own creation.<br />
SHADOWFELL DESPAIR<br />
d6<br />
Effect<br />
l-3 Apathy. The character has disadvantage on<br />
death saving throws and on Dexterity checks for<br />
initiative, and gains the following flaw: "I don't<br />
believe I can make a difference to anyone or<br />
anything."<br />
4-5 Dread. The character has disadvantage on all<br />
saving throws and gains the following flaw: "I am<br />
convinced that this place is going to kill me."<br />
6 Madness. The character has disadvantage<br />
on ability checks and saving throws that use<br />
Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, and gains the<br />
following flaw: "I can't tell what's real anymore."<br />
If a character is already suffering a despair effect and<br />
fails the saving throw, the new despair effect replaces<br />
the old one. After finishing a long rest, a character<br />
can attempt to overcome the despair with a DC 15<br />
Wisdom saving throw. (The DC is higher because it's<br />
harder to shake off despair once it has taken hold.)<br />
On a successful save, the despair effect ends for that<br />
character.<br />
A calm emotions spell removes despair, as does any<br />
spell or other magical effect that removes a curse.<br />
EVER NIGHT<br />
The city of Neverwinter in the world of the Forgotten Realms<br />
has a dark reflection on the Shadowfell: the city of Evernight.<br />
Evernight is a city of cracked stone edifices and homes of<br />
rotten wood. Its roads are made mostly of trampled grave<br />
dust, and its few cobbled streets are missing enough stones<br />
that they appear pockmarked. The sky is corpse gray, and the<br />
breeze blows cold and humid, bringing a chill to the skin.<br />
The city's living residents include mad necromancers,<br />
corrupt purveyors of human flesh, worshipers of evil deities,<br />
and others who are able to make themselves useful and crazy<br />
enough to want to live here. But the living are a minority<br />
in Evernight, for the bulk of the population consists of the<br />
shambling dead. Zombies, wights, vampires, and other<br />
undead make the city their home, all under the watchful eyes<br />
of the ruling caste: intelligent, flesh-eating ghouls.<br />
Rumors abound that this foul place mirrors one city on<br />
every world.<br />
....<br />
jill'<br />
INNER PLANES<br />
He was lying on his back upon baked and smoldering stone.<br />
staring up at a smoky gray sky lit fro m distant and unseen<br />
fires. Around him , a sea of lava burped gouts of gas and jets<br />
of flame. The Elemental Plan e of Fire.<br />
Thank the fell ones, Vhok thought. I never thought I'd be<br />
so happy to be here.<br />
-Thomas M. Reid, Th e Gossamer Plain<br />
The Inner Planes surround and enfold the Material<br />
Plane and its echoes, providing the raw elemental<br />
substance from which all worlds were made. The four<br />
Elemental Planes- Air, Earth, Fire, and Water- form<br />
a ring around the Material Plane, suspended within<br />
a churning realm known as the Elemental Chaos.<br />
These planes are all connected, and the border regions<br />
between them are sometimes described as distinct<br />
planes in their own right.<br />
At their innermost edges, where they are closest<br />
to the Material Plane (in a conceptual if not a literal<br />
geographical sense), the four Elemental Planes<br />
resemble places in the Material Plane. The four<br />
elements mingle together as they do in the Material<br />
Plane, forming land, sea, and sky. But the dominant<br />
element exerts a strong influence on the environment,<br />
reflecting its fundamental qualities.<br />
The inhabitants of this inner ring include aarakocra,<br />
azers, dragon turtles, gargoyles, genies, mephits,<br />
salamanders, and xorn. Some originated on the<br />
Material Plane, and all can travel to the Material<br />
Plane (if they have access to the magic required) and<br />
survive there.<br />
As. they extend farther from the Material Plane,<br />
the Elemental Planes become increasingly alien and<br />
hostile. Here, in the outermost regions, the elements<br />
exist in their purest form: great expanses of solid earth,<br />
blazing fire, crystal-clear water, and unsullied air. Any<br />
foreig-n substance is extremely rare; little air can be<br />
found in the outermost reaches of the Plane of Earth,<br />
and earth is all but impossible to find in the outermost<br />
reaches of the Plane of Fire. These areas are much less<br />
hospitable to travelers from the Material Plane than<br />
the border regions are. Such regions are little known,<br />
so when discussing the Plane of Fire, for example, a<br />
speaker usually means the border region.<br />
The outermost regions are largely the domains of<br />
elemental spirits barely recognizable as creatures.<br />
The creatures usually called elementals dwell here,<br />
including the Elemental Princes of Evil (primordial<br />
beings of pure elemental fury) and elemental spirits<br />
that spellcasters can bind into galeb duhrs, golems,<br />
invisible stalkers, magmin, and water weirds. These<br />
elemental creatures don't need food or other sustenance<br />
on their home planes, because they are sustained by the<br />
elemental energies that saturate those planes.<br />
ELEMENTAL CHAOS<br />
----<br />
At the farthest extents of the Elemental Planes, the pure<br />
elements dissolve and bleed together into an unending<br />
CHAPTER 2 I CREATING A MULTIVERSE