Death and Planes

[GladiusVCreed]

I was just doing some reading on the different planes of D&D and I read that Acheron has many battles on it. That armies spend their afterlife clashing on the top layer... But how do they "die" then? Or is it an eternal war, just constant fighting and when you die, you just blink back to where your soul had gone originally?

[Mechalich]

Those armies are primarily composed of Petitioners - the souls of the dead, and they die normally when slain, with their essence being either lost of absorbed by either their respective gods or the plane itself (theories differ). These armies are being constantly replenished by the addition of newly arrived petitioners, so the battles can occur forever.

This is ultimately the same thing that happens when fiends like demons or devils die, since those are forged from souls that were sent to their respective planes, its just that Acheron more or less skips a step. Certain classes of outsiders were established in the fluff as being explicitly formed from souls, while others were explicitly not, leading to a lot of weird theories and speculation floating around Planescape fandom.

[GladiusVCreed]

Thanks! It makes sense now :smallsmile:

[KillianHawkeye]

Alternatively, there is at least one plane (Ysgard, I think) where the petitioners fight and kill each other all day long, then everyone comes back to "life" and there's feasting and partying every night.

[Pex]

Ugh. Bad timing to read the title of this thread when just yesterday I booked a flight to California.
:smalleek:

[Âmesang]

A similar question comes to mind regarding (stasis) clone. If my character's clone is on Oerth, but said character dies in the Abyss/Celestia/Krynn/&c., would the character's soul find its way back to Oerth and the clone?

[goto124]

Alternatively, there is at least one plane (Ysgard, I think) where the petitioners fight and kill each other all day long, then everyone comes back to "life" and there's feasting and partying every night.

So... an FPS. Or MOBA.

[KillianHawkeye]

So... an FPS. Or MOBA.

No... more like a war simulation that they play out every day. The individual players don't respawn mid-battle and keep fighting.