afroakuma's Planar And Other Oddities Questions Thread VIII

[Tzardok]

Well I do apologize for that.

Just don't do it again. Or, even better, go edit your post and cut out the superfluous parts.

That's what I actually meant. Law factions, especially the Hardheaded Harmonium hate less-lawful factions. Among them, Indeps are most vulnerable, that's why Harmonium guys kill them whenever they can. They can't do it with others, for example it's hard to catch a Anarchist on hot, and as you said, Fated are too important to risk harming them. But they do hate them nevertheless.

I don't think I ever heard about the Harmonium simply going around and killing Free League members. It doesn't make sense for a bunch of reasons.

First, the Harmonium is the police of Sigil. And no one would stand for a police force that goes around murdering a sizeable and influential subgroup of a society (don't forget that a lot of rich merchants are indeps).

Second, the Harmonium is not only Lawful, but also (at least partially) Good. I don't think that killing people for adhering to a non-evil ideology is compatible with that.

Third, serial killings draw the Lady's eye.

Now, why I compared Fated to Asmodeus. In one of lore books, there is a short story on how Fated sold another faction a library. And only after getting their money, they said that they only were selling a building, a structure, not the books and scrolls that the buyer actually wanted.

So, is this breaking a promise, or finding a loophole in it? I see it exactly the same situation as with Pact.

The Takers have a chaotic ideology, but not so strongly chaotic that every member needs to be chaotic. Furthermore, a chaotic person may twist, break or keep promises at a whim. So we can't know what alignment this specific Taker had. Is he lawful and uses the Taker's ideology as a rationalization, but requires the additional word twisting to feel safe? Is he chaotic and just felt like playing word games? Maybe he is neutral. *shrug*

1) Do over-gods also reside on Outer Planes? Do they have some manifestations\avatars there? If not, do they live "physically" elsewhere in the known parts of Multiverse? The further-Outer planes I asked about earlier could be such a place, for example.

No divine realm or similar place for over-god was ever found. I personally believe that they live on the Prime, somehow in or around their respective crystal sphere, but we can only guess.

2) Are there deities living (and not floating around dead) in Astral or Etherial? If yes, do they have petitioners?

The Etheral has a whole lot of deities living there (or better, a whole lot of deities build themselves Etheral demiplanes where they live). Amongst them are Ptah of the Pharaonic pantheon, the three gods of magic of Krynn and a bunch more.

The Astral is technically possible as a home for deities, but (as Afro told us in an earlier thread) it is less of a place and more a between, which makes it difficult to stay there (and, unlike the Etheral, it's nature is not as suited for shaping something there). Also, most gods find the dead gods floating there depressing. The only gods I ever heard of that live there are Ulutiu, a Faerûnian god af glaciers who sleeps there, and Alausha, illumian goddess of knowledge and grief, who wanders the plane.

All deities, no matter where they live, have petitioners in some form.

3) Many times people mentioned Ordeal plane. Are there any descriptions on how it looks, what physical (or equivalent) laws it has and who lives there? Or only speculations? Maybe the over-gods live there?

Everything about the Ordeal is speculation. Yes, I have read the guess that the overgods live there. I have also heard the guess that all gods live there, and the gods you meet elsewhere are just avatars. Another guess is that it is connected in some way to language and symbolism, which is why (so the claim) it is full of glowing sigils. But essentially, everything is shrug.

4) What happens if a person, who is not a god and not similar to Asmodeus, is being worshiped? I guess there are quite enough examples: both Githyanki and Githzerai worship their leaders, Darksun kings are also worshipped as gods, or in Neverwinter Nights there was a dragolich Vix'thra who forced people not just obey, but actually worship him.
How real deities with actual divine rank look on this? Can one actually become a god in such a case? What happens with them upon death?

Some deities sponsor cults like that. Beholders, for example, have a tendency to form cults to them, which draw on the power of the Great Mother. It is possible to achieve apotheosis this way, but in most cases there is something more needed. See also Lich-Queen Vlakith's attempts to drain a dead god's divinity in addition to making the githzerai worship her.
Usually the afterlife of a would-be god doesn't change if they fail.

6) Are Tiamat and Takhisis same entity or different ones? They are way too similar. Why Planescape puts Takhisis on Baator and Krynn in Abyss? What is actually correct?

Takhisis is essentially a dragon fan-girl, hence her styling herself after Tiamat. She's still fundamentally a humanoid goddess. If you were to, I don't know, supprise both goddesses in the bath, Takhisis would be human-shaped, while Tiamat would be dragon-shaped. (You would also likely have a worse time than Aktaion did ) Takhisis is also more powerful; she is a greater goddess while Tiamat is just a lesser one.

The reason for the planar mismatch is the fact that Krynn's people are... simple in their understanding of the planes. On Krynn, they believe that there are only three Outer Planes: The good Dome of Creation, the evil Abyss and the neutral Hidden Vale. So through the lense of their understanding, all Lower Planes are the Abyss. This, obviously, leads to a lot of missunderstandings when talking with someone more... Great Wheel-affine. Like this one.

7) Except Limbo, are there other places where mortal can re-shape his surroundings using only his will?

The Etheral is made of protoplasm, which is easily shaped into facsimiles of many things if you know what you are doing. Hence the abbundance of Etheral demiplanes.

The Region of Dreams easily surrenders to the will of a lucid dreamer.

Shadow is also very fluid, but requires shadow magic in addition to pure will to be controlled.

[Edreyn]

I don't think I ever heard about the Harmonium simply going around and killing Free League members. It doesn't make sense for a bunch of reasons.

First, the Harmonium is the police of Sigil. And no one would stand for a police force that goes around murdering a sizeable and influential subgroup of a society (don't forget that a lot of rich merchants are indeps).

Second, the Harmonium is not only Lawful, but also (at least partially) Good. I don't think that killing people for adhering to a non-evil ideology is compatible with that.

Third, serial killings draw the Lady's eye.

It's from Factol's Manifesto book, introduction of the chapter about free League.
Harmonium guys try to arrest a bariaur who wears a sign of Indeps. For no reason, directly saying this.He resists and they kill him. Just for being an Indep.

The story about library is also from there, chapter about Fated. Who exactly did this isn't said, but I assume that Darkwood at the very least knew of it.

Also, the "good" part of their alignment is... strange, let's say. Don't forget that their beloved Outer Plane: Arcadia lost a whole layer to Mechanus due to their cruelty towards prisoners.

The only gods I ever heard of that live there are Ulutiu, a Faerûnian god af glaciers who sleeps there, and Anausha, illumian goddess of knowledge and grief, who wanders the plane.

So they can be found pretty much everywhere.

Takhisis is essentially a dragon fan-girl, hence her styling herself after Tiamat.

Ha, that as a good one!

She's still fundamentally a humanoid goddess. If you were to, I don't know, supprise both goddesses in the bath, Takhisis would be human-shaped, while Tiamat would be dragon-shaped. Takhisis is also more powerful; she is a greater goddess while Tiamat is just a lesser one.

So, Takhisis just copies Tiamat's image, but she is actually more powerful? That makes it even more weird.

The Etheral is made of protoplasm, which is easily shaped into facsimiles of many things if you know what you are doing. Hence the abbundance of Etheral demiplanes.

The Region of Dreams easily surrenders to the will of a lucid dreamer.

Shadow is also very fluid, but requires shadow magic in addition to pure will to be controlled.

Nice answer, so there are other such places. Planescape lore is really great, thank you for answering.

Now, I suggest to wait for Afro and let him say his final verdict about Harmonium, Indeps and Fated.

[Tzardok]

So, Takhisis just copies Tiamat's image, but she is actually more powerful? That makes it even more weird.

The problem is that Tiamat is primarily a goddess of dragons. Dragons are powerful, but there aren't a lot of them and most of them are not very faithful. So most chromatic dragons go essentially: "Yeah, she's our mother, we love and fear her and all that rot. Now, how about burning down a village?" Tiamat also gets a bit of devotion from evil humanoids worshipping dragons, but most of the crussader-of-evil types her dogma appeals to prefer in fact more humanoid deities like Bane or Hextor. The last source of worship Tiamat gets is from her inclusion in the Babylonian pantheon, but even there it's not a lot, as she is "the Enemy of the Gods" in their eyes. Not many people are depraved enough that they go worshipping that (see also the pitiful size of the Pharaonian cults for Apep, or the Norse cults for Thrym and Sutr).

Takhisis, on the other hand, is a pantheon leader. She dominates Evil on Krynn. Everything evil pays her at least token respect, and a lot of her faithful are downright fanatic.

In short, Tiamat drinks from a wide, but shallow pool. Takhisis has a small well, but it goes deep.

Now, I suggest to wait for Afro and let him say his final verdict about Harmonium, Indeps and Fated.

Agreed. My store of arguments is about running out, anyway.

[Edreyn]

While we wait, I remembered I had another question:

8) How many Mystras were there? One was killed by Helm, the one after her (Midnight) by Cyric (or it was another one?)
In any case, how many goddesses with same name existed, how each died, where each came from, and most importantly, why on earth all of them willingly rejected their own identity?!

And another one I thought about now:

9) If a deity dies, what happens with its divine realm and those who live\exist there?

[Tzardok]

8) How many Mystras were there? One was killed by Helm, the one after her (Midnight) by Cyric (or it was another one?)
In any case, how many goddesses with same name existed, how each died, where each came from, and most importantly, why on earth all of them willingly rejected their own identity?!

There were only two Mystras, and (as we reject everything that happend in 4e) only one of them is dead.

The first deity of magic in the realms was named Mystryl (chaotic neutral). Mystryl died when Karsus did his stunt. When the dust had settled, Mystryl had been reborn, for lack of a better term, as the first Mystra (lawful neutral). Mystra died in the Time of Troubles at the hand of Helm because she tried to force her way back into the planes, but she chose the human wizard Midnight as her sucessor. Midnight was raised to divinity at the end of the Time of Troubles by Ao and chose to honor her precedessor (whom she had worshipped in life) by taking her name and generally continuing to sponsor first Mystra's clerics, even those that were incompatible with her own alignment (neutral good).

[afroakuma]

Now, why I compared Fated to Asmodeus. In one of lore books, there is a short story on how Fated sold another faction a library. And only after getting their money, they said that they only were selling a building, a structure, not the books and scrolls that the buyer actually wanted.

So, is this breaking a promise, or finding a loophole in it? I see it exactly the same situation as with Pact.

To be frank, that is neither. In real-world law, if a contract is for the sale of a library, the building is all you would get - no furniture, no books, certainly no employees - unless your contract stipulates you get those other things too. If what you want is the books, offer to buy the books.

1) Do over-gods also reside on Outer Planes? Do they have some manifestations\avatars there? If not, do they live "physically" elsewhere in the known parts of Multiverse? The further-Outer planes I asked about earlier could be such a place, for example.

Overdeities do not reside on the Planes. They are beyond such a delimitation of existence.

2) Are there deities living (and not floating around dead) in Astral or Etherial? If yes, do they have petitioners?

There are a small number of deities who have realms in the Ethereal Plane, and they do have petitioners. Ptah of the Pharaonic pantheon wanders the plane, and the Immortals of the Chinese pantheon reside in a shared realm there. The deities of magic from the Krynnish pantheon have their shared realm in the Ethereal, as well. The only god I can think of who lives and is active in the Astral is Celestian, the Oeridian god of the stars. Ulutiu is asleep there, with no plans to wake, and his petitioners are with him. Aulasha had built her realm there, but it fell to the githyanki as she was still a novice deity and did not fully understand how to defend her realm. Now she wanders the planes.

3) Many times people mentioned Ordeal plane. Are there any descriptions on how it looks, what physical (or equivalent) laws it has and who lives there? Or only speculations? Maybe the over-gods live there?

Since the Ordial Plane is noncanonical, it has been purely speculation, though based on what is speculated it would not be the realm of overdeities either.

4) What happens if a person, who is not a god and not similar to Asmodeus, is being worshiped? I guess there are quite enough examples: both Githyanki and Githzerai worship their leaders, Darksun kings are also worshipped as gods, or in Neverwinter Nights there was a dragolich Vix'thra who forced people not just obey, but actually worship him.

It takes a lot of belief to ascend to divinity without some sort of additional spark. For the most part, mortal veneration of another mortal just does not get there. Unless an extant deity provides their forbearance, usually such worship is syncretized to that of an existing deity, who gets the actual value of the worship, so they don't particularly mind.

Can one actually become a god in such a case?

It is possible, but as mentioned above, it takes a lot of juice and the flame may never catch without a spark.

5) In the famous Dragonlance series, there was a girl named Mina. She was a goddess, but didn't know this. She thought that her power comes from worshiping Takhisis, and no one directly worshiped Mina herself. What happens to creatures like her if they try to get into Sigil (oblivious to their true nature). Can they die on Prime? Are there any examples of those in "generic" Planescape setting?

She would have failed to enter. Deities cannot pass through a portal to Sigil, whether or not they know they are deities is irrelevant. The majority of Mina's power was separate from her incarnation, which was essentially an avatar, and had it died her consciousness would have theoretically rejoined her godhead on her home plane, though it is suggested that Takhisis had figured out a way to trick Mina into effectively suppressing herself and would likely have been able to interfere. I am not aware of any other situations like this in Planescape.

I should also point out that I hate pretty much everything from Summer Flame forward and ignore it wholeheartedly. Killed all the fun stuff in DL.

6) Are Tiamat and Takhisis same entity or different ones? They are way too similar.

Depends which author you ask - literally, since they have arguments about this and have taken sides. For our part where it comes to Planescape and these threads, they are different.

Tiamat is a goddess of chromatic dragons. She is a patron of greed and wealth, and wants power for her children and to cast down Bahamut. Her worshippers are chiefly evil dragons or those who venerate them. She is quite evil.

Takhisis is a goddess of humans, ogres, and goblinoids who uses the motif of the five-headed dragon to represent her power, awe, and majesty, in contrast to her brother Paladine echoing Bahamut's platinum dragon form. She is a patron of hatred, tyranny, ambition, wrath, and wants power for herself to cast down literally everyone else. Her worshippers are chiefly humans, goblinoids, and ogres. She is excessively evil to the point of being directly counterproductive to her ambitions because she just cannot stop being the most awful. Chromatic dragons look up to Tiamat as their role model - but even though Takhisis is quite literally a direct ancestor of all chromatic dragons on Krynn, many of them find her too horribly evil for even their tastes, which is really saying something. It helps that Tiamat thinks her chromatic dragons are the best and most deserving, while Takhisis thinks Takhisis is the best and most deserving.

Why Planescape puts Takhisis on Baator and Krynn in Abyss? What is actually correct?

Technically both of them place her in Baator. The cosmological understanding of Krynnish faiths does not distinguish between Lower Planes, which are all called "the Abyss" to them.

7) Except Limbo, are there other places where mortal can re-shape his surroundings using only his will?

Other such planes could exist, but none on the books do. Magic or some other supernatural ability are required to shape ethereal protomatter in a useful fashion, for example.

Also, the "good" part of their alignment is... strange, let's say. Don't forget that their beloved Outer Plane: Arcadia lost a whole layer to Mechanus due to their cruelty towards prisoners.

Strained moreso than strange. They lost Nemausus by trying to force people to be good.

So they can be found pretty much everywhere.

Gods? Oh yes, though the Astral is by far the plane with the fewest living ones.

Now, I suggest to wait for Afro and let him say his final verdict about Harmonium, Indeps and Fated.

Not sure what more you want me to add...

8) How many Mystras were there? One was killed by Helm, the one after her (Midnight) by Cyric (or it was another one?)
In any case, how many goddesses with same name existed, how each died, where each came from, and most importantly, why on earth all of them willingly rejected their own identity?

We don't recognize the killing of Mystra by Cyric, since that is 4E.

There were only two Mystras, if the name specifically is what you care about, but three goddesses of magic of the same lineage. The original was Mystryl, who died repairing the Weave after Karsus temporarily pulled it into himself. She was reborn as Mystra, who died during the Time of Troubles when she challenged Helm. Her godhead was invested in Midnight, who took on the name of Mystra in honor of the destroyed goddess and to restore some continuity to the Church of Mysteries.

9) If a deity dies, what happens with its divine realm and those who live\exist there?

The petitioners will drift out and merge with the plane. Other inhabitants will elect to leave - the divine realm of a dead power collapses and rots, a process which is neither fast nor pleasant.

[Edreyn]

I don't want to write something stupid because of being tired a second time, so won't comment for now, will continue after resting.

But about this:

Now, I suggest to wait for Afro and let him say his final verdict about Harmonium, Indeps and Fated.

Not sure what more you want me to add...

Please answer this one: am I right to say that Harmoniums kill Indeps when they get a chance to do it without being caught, or Tzardok is right that such behavior isn't typical for them.

[Eldan]

Wasn't there also a Hindu God on the Ethereal? Brahma maybe?

Hm. No, in On Hallowed Ground, Brahma is more interesting than that. He's part of all the other gods and they are part of him, so he shares all of their realms and/or doesn't have one.

Anyway, you can put a lot of creation gods on the ethereal. They probably almost all fit there.

[afroakuma]

Please answer this one: am I right to say that Harmoniums kill Indeps when they get a chance to do it without being caught, or Tzardok is right that such behavior isn't typical for them.

It would not be typical of them to immediately leap to murder, but finding an excuse to incarcerate or beat an Indep is not at all outside the Harmonium standard. It should be noted that the Harmonium does include lawful evil members who are quite pleased to have a mandate justifying their taste for violent suppression. The evil members are the ones taking advantage of the factions' mutual dislike.

[Bohandas]

Speaking of where gods are, wasn't Iuz stuck in the Demiplane of Dread at some point in 2e? How did he get out?

[afroakuma]

Speaking of where gods are, wasn't Iuz stuck in the Demiplane of Dread at some point in 2e? How did he get out?

Briefly. Vecna tricked him into entering, then ate him to escape, then vomited him back up when he got kicked in the get-out-of-Sigil.

[Bohandas]

I thought Vecna just siphoned off his power like Zagyg did

[enderlord99]

There are a small number of deities who have realms in the Ethereal Plane, and they do have petitioners. Ptah of the Pharaonic pantheon wanders the plane

I thought he had a Realm (that was sort of two realms, but not really) on Purgatory, the Lawful-tending Neutral plane that might or might not exist between Mechanus and the Outlands.

[Tzardok]

I thought he had a Realm (that was sort of two realms, but not really) on Purgatory, the Lawful-tending Neutral plane that might or might not exist between Mechanus and the Outlands.

Purgatory is a fan-made plane. Ptah wandering the Etheral is the canonical answer.

[enderlord99]

Purgatory is a fan-made plane.

I knew that.

Ptah wandering the Etheral is the canonical answer.

TBH, I was hoping he didn't canonically have a home plane listed at all. Unfortunate.

[Tzardok]

TBH, I was hoping he didn't canonically have a home plane listed at all. Unfortunate.

Not every pantheon can have a Brahma, an Io, an Annam or a Sheila. *shrug*

Something else: In the Dragon #288, in an article on gods of death there is a write up for Baron Samedi. Is there anything else on loa as gods in D&D?

[afroakuma]

Not every pantheon can have a Brahma, an Io, an Annam or a Sheila. *shrug*

Something else: In the Dragon #288, in an article on gods of death there is a write up for Baron Samedi. Is there anything else on loa as gods in D&D?

Not so far as I know.

[Laughing Dog]

Out of curiosity, are there any gods and/or major(-ish) planar powers the reside in The Region of Dreams?

Also, what would be the best books to learn more of said plane (fluff and mechanics) other than The Manual of Planes?

[Edreyn]

I am back, so let's continue discussion. Though, I guess I think i got the answer and shared my opinion too, so this part is concluded.

To be frank, that is neither. In real-world law, if a contract is for the sale of a library, the building is all you would get - no furniture, no books, certainly no employees - unless your contract stipulates you get those other things too. If what you want is the books, offer to buy the books.

Now when you put it like this, I agree with you. However in the Manifesto it's described that way, that makes me believe, that the buyer expected the library to be sold including everything else within. I'd expect that the "ad" was saying "we are selling a library" and not "we are selling a library building".

So, again, while I do agree with you, I personally see that they walked around the agreement.

Well, it doesn't matter much. It's fine if people don't agree on details.

[Eldan]

Out of curiosity, are there any gods and/or major(-ish) planar powers the reside in The Region of Dreams?

Also, what would be the best books to learn more of said plane (fluff and mechanics) other than The Manual of Planes?

Pretty sure there aren't any other sources on it, I think that was invented for the MotP.

[Edreyn]

Now a new question:

1) Are there any pleasant places on Inner Planes (to Prime mortals)?
2) Are there any places on Lower Planes where Prime mortal would be allowed in a tolerable conditions? And NOT in Realms or cities run by mortals.

[Eldan]

The Plane of Air is largely inhabitable and not too unpleasant, if you find some ground to stand on. There's cities on rocks and so on. The Plane of water has bubbles of air that are more or less inhabitable. If you have air breathing, the plane of water is for the most part full of life. The plane of earth has cave systems, including cities. Fire, not for the most part, though there is the City of Brass, which is marginally liveable.

[Tzardok]

Out of curiosity, are there any gods and/or major(-ish) planar powers the reside in The Region of Dreams?

Also, what would be the best books to learn more of said plane (fluff and mechanics) other than The Manual of Planes?

Heroes of Horror has a chapter on adventures in dreams, but it is mostly fluff and doesn't even use the term 'Region of Dreams'. It still may be usefull.

The Dragon #287 has an article about alternatives to the Region of Dreams. It also includes a few deities of dreams that, if you want to include them in your setting, could be residents of the Region.

Now a new question:

1) Are there any pleasant places on Inner Planes (to Prime mortals)?
2) Are there any places on Lower Planes where Prime mortal would be allowed in a tolerable conditions? And NOT in Realms or cities run by mortals.

1. Eldan already covered the Elemental Planes. The Negative Energy Plane is, obviously, unpleasant everywhere. The Positive Energy Plane has a few places that are both only weakly positively aligned and have enough matter to matter.
The Para-Elemental Planes are generally unpleasant (hot lava, mud everywhere, smoky air, frigid cold), but the local genies may have tolerable cities, similiar to what the Efreet do with the City of Brass.
The Quasi-Elemental Planes are worse than the Para-Elemental ones, with the exception of Mineral, which is similiar to Earth in liveability.

2. Depends. Bigger cities like Dis, Zelatar or Jangling Hither can be quite guest-friendly, as long as you don't annoy the locals. Androlynne, layer 471 of the Abyss, is worthy of mention, as half of the layer is occupied by eladrin wrapped in a war against Pale Night and her minions. The eladrin won't be averse to mortals willing to support them.

[afroakuma]

Out of curiosity, are there any gods and/or major(-ish) planar powers the reside in The Region of Dreams?

Given that it only cropped up in the Manual of the Planes and one adventure, that would be a no.

Also, what would be the best books to learn more of said plane (fluff and mechanics) other than The Manual of Planes?

Bastion of Broken Souls is the only other book I know that handles the dream rules from the Manual of the Planes in any way, and does not really touch on the Region of Dreams in any meaningful sense.

Now when you put it like this, I agree with you. However in the Manifesto it's described that way, that makes me believe, that the buyer expected the library to be sold including everything else within. I'd expect that the "ad" was saying "we are selling a library" and not "we are selling a library building".

So, again, while I do agree with you, I personally see that they walked around the agreement.

They set up an offer to catch an idiot, and caught an idiot. Caveat emptor.

1) Are there any pleasant places on Inner Planes (to Prime mortals)?

Oh, certainly. Plenty of settlements, divine realms, pockets... now, the caveat to that is, most of these are on Air, Water, and Earth. Fire has comparatively far fewer, the Para-Elemental Planes even less, the Quasi-Elemental Planes next to none, and Positive and Negative are both pretty horrid with the exception of some rare few magically protected sanctuary sites.

2) Are there any places on Lower Planes where Prime mortal would be allowed in a tolerable conditions? And NOT in Realms or cities run by mortals.

Fiends run cities, too, and they like money and trade just fine. Now, the question I suppose is what constitutes "tolerable conditions", since if you are trying to ask, in a roundabout way, if there is anywhere that the fiends are nice to mortals and it is safe to be, the answer is me laughing maniacally for several minutes. The best case scenario in the Lower Planes is relative to the norm.

[Edreyn]

Fiends run cities, too, and they like money and trade just fine. Now, the question I suppose is what constitutes "tolerable conditions", since if you are trying to ask, in a roundabout way, if there is anywhere that the fiends are nice to mortals and it is safe to be, the answer is me laughing maniacally for several minutes. The best case scenario in the Lower Planes is relative to the norm.

I'd never expect fiends to be actually nice, they ARE fiends after all. When I said tolerable conditions I meant: is there a place where a mortal would be allowed to live for more then a few days, maybe a few month, without being killed, eaten, raped, tortured just for lulz, enslaved or bluffed into selling his soul.

Oh, certainly. Plenty of settlements, divine realms, pockets... now, the caveat to that is, most of these are on Air, Water, and Earth. Fire has comparatively far fewer, the Para-Elemental Planes even less, the Quasi-Elemental Planes next to none, and Positive and Negative are both pretty horrid with the exception of some rare few magically protected sanctuary sites.

Sorry for again being unclear, I hoped to see something interesting about specific settlements. I know there is a huge domed city on the Plane of Water, so I hoped to see something about other similar places on other Planes.

[Eldan]

A good example for a safe-ish fiendish place is Broken Reach, a town of a few thousand inhabitants (mostly demons and tieflings) in the Abyss. It's a center of commerce and has strictly enforced non-violence laws.

[enderlord99]

I'd never expect fiends to be actually nice, they ARE fiends after all. When I said tolerable conditions I meant: is there a place where a mortal would be allowed to live for more then a few days, maybe a few month, without being killed, eaten, raped, tortured just for lulz, enslaved or bluffed into selling his soul.

There might be a few places in Pandemonium where those things are less likely to happen, but on any part of any lower plane... they'll probably still happen.

[Bohandas]

What happens when one half of a dvati goes to a plane where time passes differently?

I'm thinking that maybe they stay synchronized with each other but become desynchronized in time, but it's also plausible that they wind up in a mental state where time seems to be moving rapidly or slowly, or that time passes for both of them at the average of the two rates, or maybe they just die from shock. What do you think?

[afroakuma]

What happens when one half of a dvati goes to a plane where time passes differently?

I'm thinking that maybe they stay synchronized with each other but become desynchronized in time, but it's also plausible that they wind up in a mental state where time seems to be moving rapidly or slowly, or that time passes for both of them at the average of the two rates, or maybe they just die from shock. What do you think?

Most likely it would be like experiencing a differential in bandwidth - the twin on the faster plane experiences lag in communicating with the other twin, while the twin on the slower plane is overwhelmed by too much signal. I would imagine it has the potential to be quite maddening to both of them, to say nothing of the other concern that one twin will be physiologically older than the other, as age does not share across bodies.

[Thurbane]

I may just not be looking hard enough, but...is there any info on which areas of the plane of Earth (or other planes) are particularly rich in rare/valuable materials, and what kind of rare/valuable materials may be present? I'm assuming, at the very least, that the plane of Earth should have some pretty sizable deposits of gold, platinum, gems etc.

Also, any guides or ideas on what kind of profits (gp/day) could be made if one were to find a particularly rich deposit of something valuable?