Planar Colonisation in 3.5

[Silverbit]

Hi everyone, just thinking up a campaign concept here but I may need some help; everyone knows about Sigil, Union and the City of Brass but how do planar settlements start? Surely a beginning metropolis needs protectors, and treasure/artifacts, to give it a reputation (Plane cred?)?
With this in mind, I have compiled a list of planes, and how hard to colonise they would be. What I need are rule-legal ways to:
1. Terraform inhospitable planes.
2. Generate food (could someone please explain how food traps work?)
3. Generate profit from planar settlement.
Any help would be useful!

Planes that would be "Easier" to colonise:
Mechanus: The air is breathable, the locals are not incredibly hostile (apart from the Formians) and the cogs have vegitation and soil already.
Ysgard: Prime-plane like, except with MOAR VIKING!. Anyone killed there rises soon after death, so mortality rates would be somewhat low or non-existant. Does this apply to starvation/disease/old age? Also, the constant battle could be a slight hazard...
The Outlands: Erm, nearly the same as the Prime apart from more extreme geography, and settlements exist already.
The Elemental Planes of Air and Earth: Lots of space, and in the case of Earth infinite gems! However, elementals can be a barrier to settlements.
"Harder" Planes:
Baator, the Abyss, the lower planes in general: Enviroment about as inhospitable as possible, natives the embodiments of evil, and little incentive.
Pandemonium: I would rather not live in a set of tunnels filled with endless screams and wights, thank you.
Archerion: The iron would be valuable, but not worth living in a constant, hellish (literally) warzone.
The Elemental Plane of Fire: Unless everyone is immune to melting, no.
Special cases:
The Astral Plane: Githyanki. Do not mess with tall, psionic dragon riders. Aside from them, the plane would be useful as a gateway to others (the color portals).
The Upper planes, including Arcadia and Bytopia: You could probably live in these for a while, but it's hard to justify squatting in literal heaven.
Limbo: Unstable terrain, and chaotic frogs everywhere.
The Elemental Plane of Water: Best for aquatic species.

[Tvtyrant]

The Hallow spells would probably help a lot, since you can put 1 year Endure Elements over an area. Or put up a Hallow with Death Ward in the Negative Energy Plane and have a perfectly safe spot surrounded by an endless life draining shield. Resist Energy would also be a good choice, granting everything in the Hallow bubble resistance 10 against the element in question.

I think the Hallows should be widened to get maximum effect, with several of the m placed together in a kind of bubble cluster.

[Gamer Girl]

1. You don't really need to 'terraform' planes. You can just put the city in a dome or other protection. A 'dome of force'. But if you want to teramorph, then polymorph(any object) can make anything from anything. You can use local creatures or bring your own stock.

2. Just a handful of clerics can feed a group. Plus you can always hunt local animals.

A create food trap is simply a trap as per the SDR(or dmg) where you replace the attack spell with create food and water. You'd want a touch trigger, auto reset for your food trap...then someone would just need to touch it and get food.

3. You can always use tourists and have things like 'plane wild safaris'. Plus gathering local things to sell.


The Lower Planes are not all 'that bad'...and after all tons of towns exist there already. It's easy enough to put your town far away from the monsters in a somewhat safe area. Plus you can always 'join em', they won't attack a city that brings them stuff...like fresh slaves.

Note Elemental Fire does have cool spots.

And again, the Astral is huge...you could put Coruscant on the Astral and no one would notice.

And again with the upper planes, you don't need to go on Heavens Door....the planes are infinite.

[afroakuma]

*cracks knuckles*

Well then. My favorite subject in a new form. Let's see what you've got for me.


Hi everyone, just thinking up a campaign concept here but I may need some help; everyone knows about Sigil, Union and the City of Brass but how do planar settlements start? Surely a beginning metropolis needs protectors, and treasure/artifacts, to give it a reputation (Plane cred?)?
With this in mind, I have compiled a list of planes, and how hard to colonise they would be. What I need are rule-legal ways to:
1. Terraform inhospitable planes.
2. Generate food (could someone please explain how food traps work?)
3. Generate profit from planar settlement.

Well, first of all you must remember that many planar settlements are settlements of planars; that is to say, they are not enclaves of humans living in a bubble of inhospitability. They are calibrated, most often, to the natives, and if clueless Primes have room to breathe it's often a special dispensation or the preservative abilities of powerful magic.

So with regards to 1), planar cities don't need terraforming as a general rule. Only in places where the natives are equally imperiled (such as Ocanthus, where the bladeling city is located) is there a need for large-scale work to insulate the settlement from the environment. A good example would be the rare cities of Pandaemonium, where protections have to be taken against the heartless winds.

Now, onto 2). Something important to consider, which is rarely examined but which there has been some mention of, is that there are ecosystems of a sort to many planes. The Elemental Planes have mysterious indigenous life which serves to provide food for at least the locals (and sometimes the tourists), though it may not be particularly tasty or have much else to recommend it. Even the Nine Hells have - and I'm not kidding here - stench kine, the infernal cattle.

Let's go to 3). Leaving aside the obvious lure of gems on the Plane of Earth and the Plane of Minerals, there are always things of value on the Planes if you know where to seek. The wildlife can be apothecaried up into loads of magical goods, the distilled elemental material of the Inner Planes has inherent value, and supernatural goods such as Stygian waters, Baatorian greensteel or eternal shard ice from Acheron are difficult to obtain and quite precious to the right buyer. That's leaving aside new goods you can imagine on the Planes - soulblack, which allows good creatures to conceal their auras on the Lower Planes; candelzinc, the flowing metal of the Plane of Fire that forms the unmelting brass of the efreet cities.

[Silverbit]

Thanks for the quick replies, people! :smallsmile:

@Tvtyrant I forgot to mention the neg and pos planes, thanks. I didn't know that Hallows could do that... most interesting...

@Gamer Girl Polymorph Any Object does look good for resource processing. And thanks for explaining food traps too. I never thought of Planar Safaris... sounds pretty cool if you think about it. Oh, and the lower planes might be a little less bad than I thought, after reading FCI and FCII they do seem, f not ideal holiday destinations, at least places where evil-aligned mortas can live for a "evil get away".

@afroakuma Thanks for the mention of stench kine :smallbiggrin: . My players have a new foe... And I plan to include the various planar metals in the campaign (if it ever materialises).
Oooh, I just thought of this one: for terraforming (not that it's needed in most cases, thanks again afroauma) on the plane of fire, could the Frostburn spell Fimbulwinter be used? Makes a large area a lot cooler, but perhaps the eternal flames of the plane might melt it or something.

[Alleran]

Would a resetting trap of Genesis work? If it's continually being triggered, then you'd have a continually-expanding demiplane, configurable to your own specifications with regard to whatever planar settlement you want to create.

[afroakuma]

@afroakuma Thanks for the mention of stench kine :smallbiggrin: . My players have a new foe... And I plan to include the various planar metals in the campaign (if it ever materialises).
Oooh, I just thought of this one: for terraforming (not that it's needed in most cases, thanks again afroauma) on the plane of fire, could the Frostburn spell Fimbulwinter be used? Makes a large area a lot cooler, but perhaps the eternal flames of the plane might melt it or something.

I'll see if I can get you some of the other indigenous wildlife when I get home. :smallsmile:

Fimbulwinter is a bad choice on the Plane of Fire; for one thing, it is heavily reliant on a nonexistent concept there - seasons. More importantly, while there are certain variegations within Fire that could be read as "climates," the plane's inherent magic should assay a sizeable circumstance penalty to the d20 roll to see if the magic accomplishes anything. If the hottest Earthlike climate can only manage a -8, Fire should absolutely murder that roll.

[theUnearther]

A little comment:

Planes that would be "Easier" to colonise:
[...]
The Elemental Planes of Air and Earth: Lots of space
[...]
This really shouldn't work. The elemental plane of Earth is not an earthlike (as in the planet) land which just happens to be made of mystic earth. It is literally an universe that is an infinitely big solid piece of various kinds of dirt (and metal I think).
Sure there are tunnels, but these are made by the creatures in there; you would have to either fight for them or make your own. Or both, really.
Also the rules don't really say so but I'd imagine you have to bring your own air. All in all, it has the least space of them all. Except maybe for the water one.

[Eldan]

Plus, the planes are dangerous, especially the elemental ones. Third edition doesn't go into it much, other than the obvious dangers of Fire, lack of air and hostile natives, but Planescape dedicates several books to the more interesting ways just being in some places can ruin your day.

I think the Astral is a good example. It seems like an empty space where you never age, don't need to eat and can cast all spells quickened.
Then you get caught in the next storm of feral dream-fragments drifting over from the prime and go insane, become a gibbering, slavering magic-addict from casting too many spells too easily, step into a pool of god-blood or get killed by maybe-Eldritch-Abomination Anubis for getting too close to said god-blood.

[Tvtyrant]

A little comment:

This really shouldn't work. The elemental plane of Earth is not an earthlike (as in the planet) land which just happens to be made of mystic earth. It is literally an universe that is an infinitely big solid piece of various kinds of dirt (and metal I think).
Sure there are tunnels, but these are made by the creatures in there; you would have to either fight for them or make your own. Or both, really.
Also the rules don't really say so but I'd imagine you have to bring your own air. All in all, it has the least space of them all. Except maybe for the water one.

My suggestion for the EPoE is to use the Forgotten Realms/Faerun setting and craft a portal there. Cast Move Earth a few times to make a very large cavern over several weeks, and fill with air using the portal. Put a Hallow spell with Daylight at the top of the dome shaped cavern to provide light to the place, and use Wall of Stone to make pillars and protective covers to prevent collapses. Then mine out the area while adding more walls from time to time.

Neat associated trick: You can make a Hallow with Aid attached, which grants up to 20 temporary HP when you enter the hallow. If you make several of these on the Elemental Plane of Minerals, you can mine inside one of them until your temporary HP is drained by the little blades, walk to the next one to heal, and keep mining. This allows you to mine with level 1 commoners, which would get you a huge profit.

[molten_dragon]

but how do planar settlements start? Surely a beginning metropolis needs protectors, and treasure/artifacts, to give it a reputation (Plane cred?)?
With this in mind, I have compiled a list of planes, and how hard to colonise they would be. What I need are rule-legal ways to:
1. Terraform inhospitable planes.
2. Generate food (could someone please explain how food traps work?)
3. Generate profit from planar settlement.
Any help would be useful!

Planes that would be "Easier" to colonise:


Most would probably start as a group of high-level adventurers (or a high-level NPC) including at least one spellcaster deciding to set up a base of operations there for some reason. They would have the mojo to fight off hostile natives, and the magic necessary to tame the elements.

[afroakuma]

Let's talk indigenous wildlife!

Plane of Air
B-b-b-birds birds birds, b-birds are the word. Air's birds are often adapted to the significant lack of anything passing for solid ground, but the natives take this to interesting extremes. Arrowhawks are extremely well-adapted for a permanent life of flight. Similar to these unusual outsiders are the less combative saasin - reptilian and snakelike with a great many wings.

If a massive leaf whaps into you briefly, don't sweat it - it's a windblown, a form of native fungus that subsists on the moisture absorbed by brief contact with other living things. Worst you'll get is a rash, but windblown provide a valuable source of food for insects and other natives.

Plane of Earth
Some of the statted beasties hereabouts would make a fair meal - khargra, xorn and xaren, for instance, if you can somehow find meat amidst the mineralized body parts.

Not statted but also inhabiting Earth (the plane, not the planet) are the giggag, large insects that eat what passes for carrion thereabouts. Faribma are big blue worms, growing up to 5 ft. long, that tunnel through rich soil. Giggag and other small wildlife are the diet of the plated beast known as the tosh, a nesting burrower that favors stalagmites.

Weirder things also wander: the denzelian, a weak sheetlike aberration that slowly digests layers of rock.

Plane of Fire
This is a tough place to catch a snack, since anything edible is probably powerful enough to grill you for wanting to grill it.

Nonetheless, there are some forms of indigenous wildlife that can be encountered. The waiveras is a many-legged black reptile that eats the eggs of fire snakes. It can also find fire-immune insects on the plane. Speaking of vermin, you can often find scape appearing near recent deaths - I say appearing because these teleporting critters do just that, gorging themselves on carrion before it gets fully consumed by the heat of the plane.

Plane of Water
The Plane of Water is, unsurprisingly, home to a great number of fish. What it largely lacks in are aquatic mammals such as dolphins and whales, given the low levels of available air. Plankton and kelp provide edible plant life.

Water is also the Elemental Plane with the largest indigenous megafauna - giant squids, krakens, plesiosaurs and sharks can be found by the unlucky.

Hope this inspires you!

[Silverbit]

Wow, thanks for all the interest! The planar campaign will not be going ahead in the near future, but all these ideas have certainly given me ideas. Hallow in paticular.

[Kelb_Panthera]

On the positive/negative energy planes:

These two are extremely hostile. Even more so than even the elemental plane of fire. Both are completely lacking in breathable air, making a death ward or protection from positive energy hallow ineffective by itself.

The complete lack of anything resembling life, not counting unlife, and utterly void nature of the negative energy plane should largely make it a non-choice for colonization.

The positive is only marginally better. The life there is mind-blowingly tenacious, since everything on the plane has fast healing, and again, a dramatic lack of substance, combined with the fact that you might over-heal until you explode, means there's really not much reason to go there unless you're in desperate need of healing and have a quick way out once you're patched up.