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GladiusVCreed
2016-09-06, 12:27 PM
Hey guys, I'm wondering what happens to someone if they were trapped in a demiplane and it collapsed on them... Would they cease to exist or would their souls still go to the respective "afterlife"?
And what if said someone was a weakened god....

TheCountAlucard
2016-09-06, 01:12 PM
It varies, with at least some of it depending on your/your game's definition of "plane," "demiplane," "collapse," "god," "weakened," and so on, and at least some of it depending on what you think would make for a good game.

In other words, some context would be helpful.

Beleriphon
2016-09-06, 02:12 PM
Hey guys, I'm wondering what happens to someone if they were trapped in a demiplane and it collapsed on them... Would they cease to exist or would their souls still go to the respective "afterlife"?
And what if said someone was a weakened god....

In D&D land usually dumped into the ethereal or astral planes.

Inevitability
2016-09-06, 02:22 PM
Well, souls can cross planar boundaries just fine, so at the very least a dead being would end up in its own afterlife. Depending on your precise cosmology, they could also end up in the astral sea/elemental chaos, the astral or ethereal plane, or even the far realm, though.

In special cases with beings that don't have afterlives, such as the weakened god you describe, I'd say they become a vestige.

JAL_1138
2016-09-06, 03:11 PM
Well, souls can cross planar boundaries just fine, so at the very least a dead being would end up in its own afterlife. Depending on your precise cosmology, they could also end up in the astral sea/elemental chaos, the astral or ethereal plane, or even the far realm, though.

In special cases with beings that don't have afterlives, such as the weakened god you describe, I'd say they become a vestige.

Vaguely (probably mis-)remembering something from Planescape about the corpses of dead gods ending up in the Astral Plane, too, for reasons unspecified, regardless of where they die. So there'd be the vestige that ends up somewhere-or-other, and the corpse floating around in the Astral.

Lorsa
2016-09-06, 03:33 PM
Hey guys, I'm wondering what happens to someone if they were trapped in a demiplane and it collapsed on them... Would they cease to exist or would their souls still go to the respective "afterlife"?
And what if said someone was a weakened god....

Honestly, whatever you, the DM, believes should happen.

Just remember that any descision you make should be the "natural law" in your universe. So be consistent, as with all rulings.

Generally, if this was a god, I would say they get destroyed, whereas a lesser creature would have its soul transferred to the afterlife.

illyahr
2016-09-06, 03:56 PM
It depends on how your plane fails. Does it collapse in on itself like a black hole? If so, character's state of being changes in some way. A mortal dies, an immortal becomes a vestige. If your plane fails by "popping," so to speak, I'd say the characters end up in the Astral or on a random plane together. That would make for an interesting story.

"So there we were, BBEG dead, plane collapsing around us, and I think 'This is it, we're gonna die.' We close our eyes and feel the world fall away with a wrenching and twisting that made me sick to my stomache. Then, it suddenly stops. When we open our eyes, we see this bleak landscape of nothing. No rocks, no trees, just a flat, gray empty wasteland that went on as far as we could see."

JAL_1138
2016-09-06, 03:59 PM
It'd be a really good time to know how to cast Plane Shift or Demiplane.

arrowed
2016-09-06, 04:33 PM
A demiplane has some (usually) finite volume. It can contain matter, and time flows within it's small continuum. If the demiplane collapses like a singularity-black hole thing, you may end up with matter crushed into an infinitely small space, making what amounts to a black hole dimension. Maybe that's how spheres of annihilation are made? Alternatively if the plane's continuum just... unravels, any matter in it is probably shunted to another plane, or even several, depending on what planes the demiplane borders. I don't think a soul is vulnerable to disintegration, as such, but it could still be 'broken' into memories, personality traits, animating force... maybe spawning weird fragment-people who share one 'soul'. Or the demiplane's spacetime could be folded into that of the nearest plane, dumping all matter seamlessly into the Astral Sea or elsewhere. Or different fragments could end up in different places. I don't think a god would be destroyed... their body might be trapped in the singularity or their body and soul might be sundered, but I doubt anyone would walk away unscathed. This is a great question, how would you even cause this to happen? Epic spell? Make a bag of holding that empties into the demiplane then bring the bag into the plane?

Max_Killjoy
2016-09-06, 04:41 PM
While I think too much has been made of this in reality, for a scenario such as this, it's fitting.

The Big Rip (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Rip).

bulbaquil
2016-09-06, 07:53 PM
It should depend on the plane, of course.

GladiusVCreed
2016-09-07, 12:04 AM
Thank you all for the answers!
The plane is going to be collapsing on itself like a black hole, but these answers gave me some insight and ideas to add in for some spice and such.
Much appreciated guys! (:

Mr Beer
2016-09-07, 12:11 AM
I would probably have PCs ejected into other planes, perhaps randomly separated or perhaps taking damage and/or making checks to survive. That seems to have more narrative interest to me than "and the plane collapses to a singularity, everyone dies".

Max_Killjoy
2016-09-07, 12:20 AM
I would probably have PCs ejected into other planes, perhaps randomly separated or perhaps taking damage and/or making checks to survive. That seems to have more narrative interest to me than "and the plane collapses to a singularity, everyone dies".


That sounds more like how an exasperated GM might end a campaign suddenly... "The plane collapses into a black hole, much dishonor, everyone dies."

illyahr
2016-09-07, 12:27 AM
That sounds more like how an exasperated GM might end a campaign suddenly... "The plane collapses into a black hole, much dishonor, everyone dies."

Crickey, take a note:

http://i.imgur.com/HDY5hPw.gif

viking vince
2016-09-07, 09:57 AM
If you're in a DnD game and the plane in question has strong times to another more well established plain (i.e. Elemental), the inhabitants could find themselves on the other plain.

AMFV
2016-09-07, 10:08 AM
Well one thing we're missing is what causes the collapse. Certainly in a natural collapse what people are discussing would be the most pertinent thing, but if it's caused by a spell or by some malicious entity then possibly they might have some say (or the process they used may affect things), that might result in some unexpected result.

Vinyadan
2016-09-07, 10:12 AM
And here I thought you meant an airplane.

A demiplane is limited. I wouldn't make it count against godly stuff.However maybe you can get access to some uncorporeal plane you normally wouldn't get to? Like you become ethereal or shadow, but your material part doesn't exist anymore?

If you go for more extreme depictions, you could have the collapse begin with the separation of different dimensions and incredible screw ups. Or you can have it turn into a black hole.

Eldan
2016-09-07, 11:12 AM
Vaguely (probably mis-)remembering something from Planescape about the corpses of dead gods ending up in the Astral Plane, too, for reasons unspecified, regardless of where they die. So there'd be the vestige that ends up somewhere-or-other, and the corpse floating around in the Astral.

That's because back in Planescape, the Astral had some of the flavour that the Far Realm has now. The Far Realm didn't really show up in Planescape much.

The Astral is backstage. It's the empty space in which the planes sit, or the canvas on which they are drawn. It's where all the things are that don't have a space anywhere else and where everything ends up if it drops out of someplace else. At least for the outer planes. For the inner planes, the ethereal has the same role. It's also where a lot of the weirdest creatures hang out and where dreams and thoughts end up.

ImNotTrevor
2016-09-07, 11:28 AM
Collapsing a Plane you say?
http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/batman/images/f/f0/Bane_TDKR3.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120511112335 It would be very painful
....

For you.