3.5e cosmology, "morphic" plane trait; could someone explain please?

[whitemoth]

I've read through the manual of the planes, the planar handbook, every 3.0 or 3.5 reference I could find on planes, cosmology, and planar traits, and to say that I'm confused on the "morphic" trait is an understatement. Some very simplistic examples are given, but I haven't been able to find anything that actually explained in terms of the game's mechanics. Limbo is given as an example of a highly morphic plane, but apart from the single paragraph explaining that things in a highly morphic plane are subject to frequent and dramatic change, not a single word is given on the nature or character of those changes, how to mediate them as a DM. Likewise it says that the Plane of Shadow is magically morphic, the description of the Plane of Shadow says that Shadow magic is very useful there, but doesn't say how or why. The Planar Handbook also lists static, a plane where things don't change, but again gives zero rules on the subject. Am I missing something? It seems like this is kind of a huge oversight, since most parties will be able to start traveling between planes mid-campaign.

[Necroticplague]

I've read through the manual of the planes, the planar handbook, every 3.0 or 3.5 reference I could find on planes, cosmology, and planar traits, and to say that I'm confused on the "morphic" trait is an understatement. Some very simplistic examples are given, but I haven't been able to find anything that actually explained in terms of the game's mechanics. Limbo is given as an example of a highly morphic plane, but apart from the single paragraph explaining that things in a highly morphic plane are subject to frequent and dramatic change, not a single word is given on the nature or character of those changes, how to mediate them as a DM. Likewise it says that the Plane of Shadow is magically morphic, the description of the Plane of Shadow says that Shadow magic is very useful there, but doesn't say how or why. The Planar Handbook also lists static, a plane where things don't change, but again gives zero rules on the subject. Am I missing something? It seems like this is kind of a huge oversight, since most parties will be able to start traveling between planes mid-campaign.

Don't know about most, so I'll answer what little I can:

The srd actually has rules for statics planes: you need a DC16 STR check to move anything, and your not allowed to effect creatures or attended objects.Spellcasting is useless, but stuff with durations don't run out if cast beforehand (much like on timeless planes).

As for the shadow plane, the main thing I know of it is that it has a planar trait making shadow magic more potent on it (making stuff like shadow evocation more real), but that's more related to magic traits than morphic ones.

I think morphicity is intentionally left vague so DMs can fill in the holes themselves, confounding or screwing with the players as they want.

[Telonius]

There are a bunch of rules for what certain deities can do on divinely morphic planes in the Divine Abilities (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/divineAbilitiesFeats.htm#salientDivineAbilities) section. (Search for "morphic" in that link).

[Eldan]

3.5 planar material in general is very poor. The Manual of the Planes may have more, but if you want details, you should go to either Planescape or Planewalker.

[DarkKensai]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. I don't have my books here at present, and I've only recently gotten into gaming, so I could be off...

That said, IIRC something being highly morphic means that the plane is very malleable and easy to manipulate. The example that springs to my mind of a highly morphic place is "Tel'aran'rhiod"(sp?) the Dream World from the Wheel of Time series. You could be walking around, and the door that was just opened is now closed, or the table is in a different place.
The door didn't go through the process of closing, nor did the table move, but the world just "is" now in such a way that the door is closed, etc...

Sorry if that doesn't make any sense, it's almost 5AM here, I really should be going to sleep...

[Eldan]

It depends a lot on the plane, really. Every plane with the trait is different.

In Limbo, you can create anything you can imagine. Or at least, that is the basic idea.

The natural state of limbo is a sort of brownish-yellow soup of all the elements. Depending on your mental stats and training, you can create structures and objects from the sludge, the better you are at it, the larger, more complicated and longer-lasting they can be. With enough willpower and experience, you can carve out your personal paradise. Of course, you have to defend it against the willpower of everyone else who might collide with it.

The plane also changes by itself. There's always the endless anecdotes about how people encountered ten things from the internet's "list of most random words", i.e. fish, banana, monkey, spork, but really, you might see almost anything in Limbo, from small, unexpected things to entire worlds, spontaneously growing from chaos.

[Cicciograna]

I've read through the manual of the planes, the planar handbook, every 3.0 or 3.5 reference I could find on planes, cosmology, and planar traits, and to say that I'm confused on the "morphic" trait is an understatement. Some very simplistic examples are given, but I haven't been able to find anything that actually explained in terms of the game's mechanics. Limbo is given as an example of a highly morphic plane, but apart from the single paragraph explaining that things in a highly morphic plane are subject to frequent and dramatic change, not a single word is given on the nature or character of those changes, how to mediate them as a DM. Likewise it says that the Plane of Shadow is magically morphic, the description of the Plane of Shadow says that Shadow magic is very useful there, but doesn't say how or why. The Planar Handbook also lists static, a plane where things don't change, but again gives zero rules on the subject. Am I missing something? It seems like this is kind of a huge oversight, since most parties will be able to start traveling between planes mid-campaign.

Uhm, actually there are descriptions for the few differently morphic planes. As previously stated, Static planes require particular effort to influence those on the plane: spells follow the same limitations as those cast under a Time stop spell, and a DC 16 Strength check is required to even move objects.

In the context of the Great Wheel the Plane of Shadow is Magically Morphic: this particular feature overlaps with the Magic trait of the plane, since in this reality shadow spells are enhanced as described on page 60 of the Manual of the Planes. So yeah, this trait is a bit redundant.

Almost all the Outer Planes are Divinely Morphic: in game terms this simply means that deities living on those planes have an easier time manipulating them, using their salient divine abilities instead of spells. To fully understand the extent of this, refer to Deities and Demigods, as the salient abilities of the gods are described there; usually these planes are normally alterable for non-deity creatures.

Limbo is an exception, as it is Highly Morphic: this means that it is not stable, and characters can alter it more easily. On page 93 of the MotP the section "Controlling Limbo" explains what happens to uncontrolled Limbo, lists the rules to gain an amount of control on the environment and tells what can be done with it. Please note the difference between a normally alterable plane and an Higly Morphic plane: in the former you need spells and physical effort to alter it, whereas in Limbo (the only Highly Morphic plane in the Great Wheel) it's just a matter of will.

In the Appendix of the MotP there are a couple of optional planes with different Morphic traits. The Plane of Dreams, for example, is listed as Highly Morphic: the rules for altering it (as hinted in the description of the Morphic trait) are on page 203, in the "Lucid Dreaming" sidebar.
The Plane of Mirrors is Static, and no additional info is given, so one has to comply with the standard rules for this plane.
The only plane where the description is somewhat fuzzy is the Far Realm, but thats quite on par with the nature itself of the plane.

So yes, it seems that rules are indeed present.

[Urpriest]

The morphic trait of the plane of Shadow specifically is just a shorthand to say that Shadow descriptor spells exist and work the way they say they do.