afroakuma's Planar And Other Oddities Questions Thread VIII

[Kalkra]

I assume that this if the place to ask this. Are there stats for the Queen of Chaos in 3e or 3.5 anywhere? I've seen it referenced, but I couldn't find it.

[Thurbane]

Not sure about anything official, but here's a fan-made 3.0 conversion: Queen of Chaos

[Kalkra]

Not sure about anything official, but here's a fan-made 3.0 conversion: Queen of Chaos

Seems to be what I saw referenced, no wonder I couldn't find it. Thanks.

[Bohandas]

It's worth noting that that statblock contridicts the Queen of Chaos' few official 3.5e stats. According to Fiendish Codex 1 (pg 106) the Queen is an Obyrith and thus should have resistance to acid, cold, electricity, and fire and continuous True Seeing

[Dalmosh]

Originally Posted by Bohandas
What is known about Anarazel the Daring Darkness, the demon prince of adventurers?

Green Ronin's Armies of the Abyss is explicitly 3rd Party (and not especially afro-canon compatible), but it's pretty good 3rd party and really deserves mention here since it was co-written by Erik Mona of Fiendish Codex 1 fame, who explicitly intended it to expand upon the cosmology presented officially in FC1. It very obviously assigns WotC IP Lords different (very similar) placeholder names while focussing around minor Lords, expanding several mentioned by name only in the back of FC1.

In canon, these Lords are officially only throwaway references from sources like Hellbound:the Blood War and Faces of Evil, but since the names are mostly drawn from (I think) Babylonian mythology they are open content. Anarazel is such an entity, as is Abraxus the Unfathomable, Azazel the Outcast Prince, Socotbenoth the Persuader, Nocticula the Undeniable and Haagenti Lord of Alchemy

[Tzardok]

It's worth noting that that statblock contridicts the Queen of Chaos' few official 3.5e stats. According to Fiendish Codex 1 (pg 106) the Queen is an Obyrith and thus should have resistance to acid, cold, electricity, and fire and continuous True Seeing

Not to mention a unique Form of Madness.

[Bohandas]

Do ALL bounded spaces in Sigil eventually become portals? And if not, what are the restrictions? Also, how long foes it take?

Not to mention a unique Form of Madness.

You're right, I forgot that one (ironically that was originally going to be the only thing I pointed out, but then I looked up what else the obyriths had going on and somehow only remembered those things when I posted)

[Tzardok]

Do ALL bounded spaces in Sigil eventually become portals? And if not, what are the restrictions? Also, how long foes it take?

All the portals in Sigil are controlled be the Lady. She and she alone decides wether a doorway is portal and what exactly opens it. Yes, that means that sometimes every portal is closed and entirely new ones open at her whim. Luckily that happens only very rarely.

[Thurbane]

It's worth noting that that statblock contridicts the Queen of Chaos' few official 3.5e stats. According to Fiendish Codex 1 (pg 106) the Queen is an Obyrith and thus should have resistance to acid, cold, electricity, and fire and continuous True Seeing

Not to mention a unique Form of Madness.

Maybe we can tweak that stat block to be more 3.5 compliant?

[Tzardok]

So, I converted those stats to 3.5. The only thing I need is a Form of Madness. Anyone any ideas?

Spoiler: Queen of Chaos

Show

Huge Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Obyrith)
Hit Dice: 20d8+120 (210 hp)
Initiative: +5 (+1 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative)
Speed: 20 ft, swim 40 ft
AC: 34 (-2 size, +1 Dex, +25 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 33
Base Attack/Grapple: +20/+39
Attack: +5 anarchic returning trident +35 melee (1d12+16 and 2d6 chaotic damage to lawful creatures); or tentacle melee +29 (2d4+11); or +5 anarchic returning trident +20 ranged (1d12+11 and 2d6 chaotic damage to lawful creatures)
Full Attack: +5 anarchic returning trident +35/+30/+25/+20 melee (1d12+16 and 2d6 chaotic damage to lawful creatures) and 2 tentacles +27 melee (2d4+5); or +5 anarchic returning trident +20 ranged (1d12+11 and 2d6 chaotic damage to lawful creatures)
Face/Reach: 15 ft/15 ft (60 ft with tentacles)
Special Attacks: Constrict (2d4+11), crush (2d6+11), form of madness, improved grab, noxious cloud, spell-like abilities, tear (2d6+5)
Special Qualities: Chaos gate, damage reduction 20/cold iron, epic and lawful, darkvision 60 ft, empathic link, immunity to mind-affecting and poison, regeneration 10, resistance 20 to cold, electricity, fire and acid, SR 34, telepathy 100 ft, true sight
Saves: Fort +18, Ref +13, Will +19
Abilities: Str 32, Dex 13, Con 22, Int 24, Wis 24, Cha 20
Skills: Bluff +28, Concentration +29, Diplomacy +32, Disguise +5 (+7 to pretend to be someone else), Hide -7, Intimidate +30, Knowledge (arcana) +30, Knowledge (Nature) +9, Knowledge (the planes) +30, Knowledge (history) +30, Listen +38, Search +30, Sense Motive +30, Sleight of Hand +3, Spellcraft +32, Spot +38, Survival +30 (+32 when tracking someone, +32 on other planes), Swim +42, Use Magic Item +28, Use Rope +1 (+3 to tie someone up)
Feats: Dark Speech^B, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Great Cleave, Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (trident)
Climate/Terrain: Abyss (Steaming Fen)
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 24
Treasure: Double standard
Alignment: Chaotic evil

Spell-Like Abilities: At will—chain lightning, chaos hammer, clairvoyance/clairaudience, deeper darkness, desecrate, detect good, detect law, detect magic, fear, greater dispel magic, major image, magic circle against law, magic missile, mantle of chaos, mass charm monster, pyrotechnics, read magic, slow, suggestion, symbol of death, symbol of insanity, symbol of pain, symbol of persuasion, symbol of weakness, telekinesis, greater teleport (self plus 50 pounds of objects only), tongues (self only), unhallow, ventriloquism, and word of chaos; 3/day—polymorph any object; 1/day—circle of death. These abilities are as the spells cast by a 20th-level sorcerer (save DC 15 + spell level).
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the Queen must hit an opponent with a tentacle attack. If she gets a hold, she can constrict.
Constrict (Ex): The Queen deals 2d4+11 points of damage with a successful grapple check against Large or smaller creatures. She may pass a trapped creature to the tentacles on her lower body in order to free up her primary tentacles. This is a free action. A foe still takes constriction damage each round regardless of which tentacle holds it.
An attack with a slashing weapon that deals at least 15 points of damage severs a tentacle (AC 25).
Tear (Ex): A beak hidden among her tentacles automatically bites a trapped opponent for 2d6+5 points of damage each round.
Noxious Cloud (Su): Affected as by deeper darkness and stinking cloud, cone, 30 feet, every hour; Fortitude save (DC 26).
Crush (Ex): The Queen may place a constricted opponent under her massive lower body as a standard action. A trapped opponent takes 2d6+11 points of crushing damage per round. A creature may escape by making an Escape Artist check or Strength check with a DC of 32.
Empathic Link (Su): The Queen has a sixth sense concerning the Rod of Seven Parts and can sense its precise location when a creature begins assembling the pieces or when the wielder uses one of the Rod’s powers. This ability is not inhibited by distance or plane, though she can only detect the Rod if it is in the Abyss, the Material Plane, or the current plane in which she is traveling.
Regeneration (Ex): The Queen of Chaos takes normal damage from lawful wepaons and effects and from epic weapons. If she loses a tentacle or body part, the lost portion regrows in 4d12 hours.
Chaos Gate (Su): Three times per hour, when the Queen detects the Rod being used, she can create a gate within 30 feet of her. The other end opens in the Abyss or the Material Plane 30-120 feet away from the current wielder of the Rod. For each piece of the Rod that has been assembled, subtract 10 feet from the distance the gate appears in front of the wielder. Through this gate, the Queen will send a pack or troupe of spider-demons to slay the wielder and retrieve the Rod.
Any creature except for demons that steps through the gate (on either side) has a 25% chance of being swept to a random outer plane of existence.
Objects and magical effects cannot pass through the chaos gate unless worn or carried.
Form of Madness (Su): Any creature within 120 feet that observes the Queen of Chaos must attempt a Will save. Failure means that the creature perceives the endless rift of chaos that the obyriths desire to bring about across the multiverse, standing fascinated until broken free of the effect. Creatures so affected take a -4 penalty to saving throws to escape being fascinated (such as due to an approaching hostile creature), and must make a save (with a +4 bonus) for any other circumstance that would normally end fascination immediately. Blocking off the creature's line of sight to the Queen completely instantly ends the fascination, as does dispel chaos or a dictum. Similar effects may also be successful.

The horror of the Queen's form of madness is particularly insidious. A creature that has failed a saving throw against this effect begins to believe the world is inherently wrong, that lines and shapes and order are a kind of toxic rigidity, a prison for the mind, a chain for the soul. The victim suffers a -2 morale penalty to any action done at the direction of another, whether an order, an encouragement, or a suggestion, as they dread the idea that freedom may not exist. Similarly, they take a -2 morale penalty to any rolls made while knowingly in the company of lawful creatures, as they suffer from a terror that such beings are automatons attempting to keep the multiverse in a fixed and inescapable state. Once per week, the victim must make another Will save. On a failure, they suffer 1 point of Wisdom drain and their alignment shifts one step toward chaotic evil. A victim whose Wisdom reaches 0 is transformed into a beast of chaos.

Heal or greater restoration can cure the effects if the caster makes a DC 30 caster level check, as can modify memory if the experience of seeing the Queen is removed from the victim's mind. Any Wisdom drain sustained converts to Wisdom damage and recovers normally. The experience of changing alignment, even temporarily, may have long-term repercussions for the victim. Once the transformation is complete, only a wish or miracle can reverse it - such spells will also instantly cure the effects of the form of madness.

Edit: Form of Madness, get!

[Bohandas]

Maybe an effect akin to the spells Insanity, Maddening Scream, and/or Maddening Whispers (with the specific version of maddening whispers being chosen randomly)

Or perhaps creatures see her as their true rightful ruler

EDIT:
Or maybe their alignment moves one step towards chaotic

EDIT:
No. I've got it. Her form of madness should induce random changes in personality, mirroring the environmental changes wrought by her "waves of chaos" ability (which should be included in the chaos gate ability BTW. in the module opening a chaos gate has a 20% chance of altering the local environment (to varying degrees in terms of ecology, topography, geography, climate etc) and screwing with the timelines of anyone caught in the radius of the change (and not protected by the powers of Law) so that to them it's always been that way). In cases where the save is failed by a large margin, perhaps physical changes may occur as well, or corruption points (see Heroes of Horror) may be accumulated.


EDIT:
Also, use of the chaos gate power isn't intrinsically tied to the rod; it's simply one of the Queen's powers. And it's supposed to prematurely age non-demons, not randomly dispatch them.

EDIT:
As an aside, I wonder whether it is intentional that the Queen, as described in the module, looks exactly like Ursula the Sea Witch from Disney's The Little Mermaid which came out seven years earlier (lower body of a cephalopod, upper body of a fat lady, and blue skin)

[Tzardok]

EDIT:
As an aside, I wonder whether it is intentional that the Queen, as described in the module, looks exactly like Ursula the Sea Witch from Disney's The Little Mermaid which came out seven years earlier (lower body of a cephalopod, upper body of a fat lady, and blue skin)

She also carries a trident. Curious...

Edit: Maybe her Form of Madness makes people unable to talk.

[Clistenes]

We know that deities know everything related to their portfolio so long as it happens within a Crystal Sphere where they are worshiped by the locals (some more than others... demigods only know about it if it affects a lot of people...).

We know they can perceive anything that happens in a large radius around their worshipers, temples, holy symbols and parts of their portfolio...

But that is limited to their turf... Kelemvor may know that a Faerunian is going to die a month before it happens, but he knows no **** about who is dying on Krynn...

My question is, what about the Planes? These are kinda common ground, they don't belong to any pantheon in particular... are gods flying blind when it comes to what happens in the Planes?

Let say Bane is hunting some guy who escapes to the Planes... Is he restricted to regular spells? Does he just command his many proxies and clerics to regularly cast divinations searching for clues?

In some settings allied deities automatically share information, so everything Selune knows is known by Chauntea, for example... but they probably don't share it freely with deities from other pantheons, otherwise you their enemies learning critical information that has jumped from pantheon to pantheon...

[Bartmanhomer]

Are there any mermaids or merfolks deities that exist?

[Bohandas]

Are there any mermaids or merfolks deities that exist?

Eadro

from Stormwrack, pg.49:

"Eadro is the patron deity of locathah, merfolk, and tritons. All three races claim him as their creator, each pointing to itself as the most perfect example of sea folk. His symbol is a spiral or whirlpool. He appears as a tall and perfect specimen of his worshipers’ race."

He's true neutral and his domains are Protection, Seafolk, and Water

So, I converted those stats to 3.5. The only thing I need is a Form of Madness. Anyone any ideas?

Spoiler: Queen of Chaos

Show

Huge Outsider (Chaotic, Evil, Obyrith)
Hit Dice: 20d8+120 (210 hp)
Initiative: +5 (+1 Dex, +4 Improved Initiative)
Speed: 20 ft, swim 40 ft
AC: 34 (-2 size, +1 Dex, +25 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 33
Base Attack/Grapple: +20/+39
Attack: +5 anarchic returning trident +35 melee (1d12+16 and 2d6 chaotic damage to lawful creatures); or tentacle melee +29 (2d4+11); or +5 anarchic returning trident +20 ranged (1d12+11 and 2d6 chaotic damage to lawful creatures)
Full Attack: +5 anarchic returning trident +35/+30/+25/+20 melee (1d12+16 and 2d6 chaotic damage to lawful creatures) and 2 tentacles +27 melee (2d4+5); or +5 anarchic returning trident +20 ranged (1d12+11 and 2d6 chaotic damage to lawful creatures)
Face/Reach: 15 ft/15 ft (60 ft with tentacles)
Special Attacks: Constrict (2d4+11), crush (2d6+11), form of madness, improved grab, noxious cloud, spell-like abilities, tear (2d6+5)
Special Qualities: Chaos gate, damage reduction 20/cold iron, epic and lawful, darkvision 60 ft, empathic link, fast healing 10, immunity to mind-affecting and poison, resistance 10 to cold, electricity, fire and acid, SR 34, telepathy 100 ft, true sight
Saves: Fort +18, Ref +13, Will +19
Abilities: Str 32, Dex 13, Con 22, Int 24, Wis 24, Cha 20
Skills: Bluff +28, Concentration +29, Diplomacy +32, Disguise +5 (+7 to pretend to be someone else), Hide -7, Intimidate +30, Knowledge (arcana) +30, Knowledge (Nature) +9, Knowledge (the planes) +30, Knowledge (history) +30, Listen +38, Search +30, Sense Motive +30, Sleight of Hand +3, Spellcraft +32, Spot +38, Survival +30 (+32 when tracking someone, +32 on other planes), Swim +42, Use Magic Item +28, Use Rope +1 (+3 to tie someone up)
Feats: Dark Speech^B, Cleave, Combat Reflexes, Great Cleave, Improved Initiative, Multiattack, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (trident)
Climate/Terrain: Abyss (Steaming Fen)
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 24
Treasure: Double standard
Alignment: Chaotic evil

Spell-Like Abilities: At will—chain lightning, chaos hammer, clairvoyance/clairaudience, deeper darkness, desecrate, detect good, detect law, detect magic, fear, greater dispel magic, major image, magic circle against law, magic missile, mantle of chaos, mass charm monster, pyrotechnics, read magic, slow, suggestion, symbol (any), telekinesis, greater teleport (self plus 50 pounds of objects only), tongues (self only), unhallow, ventriloquism, and word of chaos; 3/day—polymorph any object; 1/day—circle of death. These abilities are as the spells cast by a 20th-level sorcerer (save DC 15 + spell level).
Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the Queen must hit an opponent with a tentacle attack. If she gets a hold, she can constrict.
Constrict (Ex): The Queen deals 2d4+11 points of damage with a successful grapple check against Large or smaller creatures. She may pass a trapped creature to the tentacles on her lower body in order to free up her primary tentacles. This is a free action. A foe still takes constriction damage each round regardless of which tentacle holds it.
An attack with a slashing weapon that deals at least 15 points of damage severs a tentacle (AC 25). Severed tentacles regrow at a rate of one per hour.
Tear (Ex): A beak hidden among her tentacles automatically bites a trapped opponent for 2d6+5 points of damage each round.
Noxious Cloud (Su): Affected as by deeper darkness and stinking cloud, cone, 30 feet, every hour; Fortitude save (DC 26).
Crush (Ex): The Queen may place a constricted opponent under her massive lower body as a standard action. A trapped opponent takes 2d6+11 points of crushing damage per round. A creature may escape by making an Escape Artist check or Strength check with a DC of 32.
Empathic Link (Su): The Queen has a sixth sense concerning the Rod of Seven Parts and can sense its precise location when a creature begins assembling the pieces or when the wielder uses one of the Rod’s powers. This ability is not inhibited by distance or plane, though she can only detect the Rod if it is in the Abyss, the Material Plane, or the current plane in which she is traveling.
Chaos Gate (Su): Three times per hour, when the Queen detects the Rod being used, she can create a gate within 30 feet of her. The other end opens in the Abyss or the Material Plane 30-120 feet away from the current wielder of the Rod. For each piece of the Rod that has been assembled, subtract 10 feet from the distance the gate appears in front of the wielder. Through this gate, the Queen will send a pack or troupe of spider-demons to slay the wielder and retrieve the Rod.
Any creature except for demons that steps through the gate (on either side) has a 25% chance of being swept to a random outer plane of existence.
Objects and magical effects cannot pass through the chaos gate unless worn or carried.
Form of Madness (Su):

Personally I'd keep the stuff that was upgraded from obyrith standard in the initial version. I know I pointed out her not having the standard obyrith resistances, but I had thought that they were missing entirely; I think maybe I must have searched the document for the exact values or something, or maybe for "resist acid" onstead of "acid resistance" or I didn't notice them because they'd been consolidated into a single special quality. The same goes for her having regeneration instead of fast healing; That's true to the original module and makes sense for a more powerful creature. although I would change the conditions that can overcome it to lawful effects (ie. Axiomatic weapons and direct damage from [law] spells) and epic magic weapons

[Tzardok]

I'm going to think about it. But first I would like to ask a few questions about the kamarel:

What is known about the kamarel's mirror magic? What quality allowed it to ignore the Spire's magic suppressing trait? Could it be reconstructed, or is that quality present in modern day mirror magic?
And finally, what, if any, would be the relationship between the kamarel and the nerra?

[Silent Alarm]

Is there any relationship between The Church of Hala's Weave (Ravenloft) and Mystra's (Forgotten Realm) Weave?

[Dalmosh]

Are Fiendish Familiars the flayed and magically treated faces of fiends that subsequently develop magical sentience on creation; or are they sponteously arising face-shaped beings in their own right that are harvested from the Lower Planes and then grafted on to hosts?

If the former, are they more commonly made by fiends, or by Prime spellcasters? What would be the typical process involved?

[blackwindbears]

For fiendish promotion, what are the fiendish superiors trading off against. Why not promote all Lemures to Pit Fiends and win the blood war with a nearly limitless number of them. Is it costly somehow? Is there a risk that if the promotion candidate is insufficiently an exemplar of the alignment that the promotion will fail?

[Bohandas]

For fiendish promotion, what are the fiendish superiors trading off against. Why not promote all Lemures to Pit Fiends and win the blood war with a nearly limitless number of them. Is it costly somehow? Is there a risk that if the promotion candidate is insufficiently an exemplar of the alignment that the promotion will fail?

The 9 Hells have a limited energy supply that's extracted from damned souls. The Abyss' energy supply is potentially unlimited but the supply available to any particular archfiend is probably significantly smaller

[ExLibrisMortis]

Fiends are not terribly keen on handing out power to potential challengers, and they don't trust their underlings. No fiend is going to promote someone if it jeopardizes their own position. There may be orders from above (to promote underlings for some purpose), short-term vs. long-term tradeoffs (promote useful minion to solve a problem now, deal with jumped-up underling later), and risks taken that don't work out (promote ambitious minion to bring them down all the harder), so there are still plenty of usurpations, but fiends look out for themselves first.

The "greater evil" may be something fiends work towards, but they do so for selfish reasons. Being the top dog, getting that self-interest to align with his own plans is Asmodeus' day job (in the case of devils, not all fiends, of course, though I daresay he strategizes about demons plenty).

[Bohandas]

Fiends are not terribly keen on handing out power to potential challengers, and they don't trust their underlings. No fiend is going to promote someone if it jeopardizes their own position. There may be orders from above (to promote underlings for some purpose), short-term vs. long-term tradeoffs (promote useful minion to solve a problem now, deal with jumped-up underling later), and risks taken that don't work out (promote ambitious minion to bring them down all the harder), so there are still plenty of usurpations, but fiends look out for themselves first.

The "greater evil" may be something fiends work towards, but they do so for selfish reasons. Being the top dog, getting that self-interest to align with his own plans is Asmodeus' day job (in the case of devils, not all fiends, of course, though I daresay he strategizes about demons plenty).

Though this is for Hell specifically (maybe Gehenna too), as most Abyssal promotions seem to either come from the Abyss itself or else be akin to leveling up or else are doled out by the Lords of Woe who don't seem capable to promoting demons beyond the lower castes anyway. And the Demodands are IIRC based on being nearby when a higher caste Demodand dies

[Bohandas]

What compels the obedience of a creature under the effect of Planar Binding? It doesn't have the [mind affecting] tag, nor does it impose penalties like Geas

[afroakuma]

The only thing I need is a Form of Madness. Anyone any ideas?

The Queen is a particularly major obyrith and should have something quite striking. My own proposal:

Spoiler: Form of Madness

Show

Form of Madness (Su) Any creature within 120 feet that observes the Queen of Chaos must attempt a Will save. Failure means that the creature perceives the endless rift of chaos that the obyriths desire to bring about across the multiverse, standing fascinated until broken free of the effect. Creatures so affected take a -4 penalty to saving throws to escape being fascinated (such as due to an approaching hostile creature), and must make a save (with a +4 bonus) for any other circumstance that would normally end fascination immediately. Blocking off the creature's line of sight to the Queen completely instantly ends the fascination, as does dispel chaos or a word of law. Similar effects may also be successful.

The horror of the Queen's form of madness is particularly insidious. A creature that has failed a saving throw against this effect begins to believe the world is inherently wrong, that lines and shapes and order are a kind of toxic rigidity, a prison for the mind, a chain for the soul. The victim suffers a -2 morale penalty to any action done at the direction of another, whether an order, an encouragement, or a suggestion, as they dread the idea that freedom may not exist. Similarly, they take a -2 morale penalty to any rolls made while knowingly in the company of lawful creatures, as they suffer from a terror that such beings are automatons attempting to keep the multiverse in a fixed and inescapable state. Once per week, the victim must make another Will save. On a failure, they suffer 1 point of Wisdom drain and their alignment shifts one step toward chaotic evil. A victim whose Wisdom reaches 0 is transformed into a beast of chaos.

Heal or greater restoration can cure the effects if the caster makes a DC 30 caster level check, as can modify memory if the experience of seeing the Queen is removed from the victim's mind. Any Wisdom drain sustained converts to Wisdom damage and recovers normally. The experience of changing alignment, even temporarily, may have long-term repercussions for the victim. Once the transformation is complete, only a wish or miracle can reverse it - such spells will also instantly cure the effects of the form of madness.

My question is, what about the Planes? These are kinda common ground, they don't belong to any pantheon in particular... are gods flying blind when it comes to what happens in the Planes?

Beyond their own divine realms, they rely on divine senses and magic to learn about what's happening on the Planes, though they can perceive around their planar worshipers as well, provided something isn't blocking them.

Are there any mermaids or merfolks deities that exist?

Oh quite. Merfolk worship Eadro and may also pay homage to Trishina, the dolphin goddess. However, at this time, it is rumored among some planar sages that Eadro's priests are receiving their spells from Persana, the triton god. Given that Eadro has always been an aloof deity, it's hard to say for certain what's going on.

I'm going to think about it. But first I would like to ask a few questions about the kamarel:

What is known about the kamarel's mirror magic?

It functions as 1st level magic, making use of the unique properties of the Plane of Mirrors to effect the bulk of the "magical" work and the relative magical simplicity of interfacing with a reflective surface to tap into the magic. It's also considered impossible for a non-kamerel to make use of it. Only three "spells" are known - scry mirror, which allows distance viewing of an area near another mirror; transport mirror, which allows small objects or creatures to be moved between two prepared mirrors; and spacial mirror (should really be spatial but anyway), the absolute pinnacle of the art, which makes the area reflected within a mirror real, requiring a year of preparation to create the extradimensional link.

What quality allowed it to ignore the Spire's magic suppressing trait?

None - mirror magic is 1st-level magic, and does not function beyond the final magic-safe ring of the Outlands. Closer to the Spire, even mirror magic fails.

And finally, what, if any, would be the relationship between the kamarel and the nerra?

That, we do not know. It is possible that the nerra were created by the kamerel to observe the multiverse and enact their revenge for being displaced so long ago, given their own personal distaste for contact with others. It is equally possible that the nerra are unrelated natives of Mirror, or kamerel caught in a magical experiment.

Is there any relationship between The Church of Hala's Weave (Ravenloft) and Mystra's (Forgotten Realm) Weave?

Only insofar as the latter informed teachings of the former - they are not linked.

Are Fiendish Familiars the flayed and magically treated faces of fiends that subsequently develop magical sentience on creation; or are they sponteously arising face-shaped beings in their own right that are harvested from the Lower Planes and then grafted on to hosts?

The latter would be my guess, though they may not originally exist as face-shaped entities per se - this is likely an emergent quality of the symbiosis process.

For fiendish promotion, what are the fiendish superiors trading off against. Why not promote all Lemures to Pit Fiends and win the blood war with a nearly limitless number of them. Is it costly somehow? Is there a risk that if the promotion candidate is insufficiently an exemplar of the alignment that the promotion will fail?

Besides the need for sufficient soul energy to flood into something to promote it, there are other major concerns - will the newly promoted fiend be trustworthy? (No.) Can the soul even endure the promotion? (Nope.) Is this particular lemure capable of the depths of evil and depravity necessary to succeed as a pit fiend? (Not a chance.) It's not just about being, for instance, lawful evil enough - it's also about the fact that the promotion process itself is part and parcel of why it's valued. A lawful evil being expects to ascend up a ladder of progression with several steps, because to be lawful evil and hold power means that such a ladder must exist - what's the point of being a pit fiend if everyone is a pit fiend? Who would you order around? What makes you, personally, better and more clever than another?

Demonic promotions are more haphazard, but similarly are about individual will and hungers - it's easy to want power, but a successful demon has to understand how much it sucks to not have any - and, most importantly, how much it should suck for others once the demon finally attains even a little bit of power.

Finally, remember that most of Baator and the Abyss don't actually care about the Blood War - it's hardly a priority for the real higher-ups (lower-downs?) and certainly not something to fling all of their resources at. Fiends are the absolute masters of selfishness.

What compels the obedience of a creature under the effect of Planar Binding? It doesn't have the [mind affecting] tag, nor does it impose penalties like Geas

Technically what you're doing isn't forcing its mind to obey you; you are prescribing conditions under which it is free to move about the Material Plane, in effect loosening the restrictions of the conjuration and its attendant abjuration (the magic circle you used to bind them) and in doing so offering them both a way back home and a way to get free of the trap you have bound them in. Note that because it is not a mental compulsion, they are under no obligation to robotically follow a directive - they can and will intentionally screw with your instructions if they don't like you, forcing care and precision. So really all you're doing is changing the properties of the magic circle to allow them to move free from it while remaining enjoined by specific directions you lay out in the deal.

[Bartmanhomer]

What would happen if a fire elemental mates with water elemental and gave birth to a fire/water elemental offspring? Does the same thing happen if an air elemental mates with earth elemental and gave birth to an air/earth elemental offspring?

[Batcathat]

What would happen if a fire elemental mates with water elemental and gave birth to a fire/water elemental offspring?

Would it be crass to make a joke about steamy sex?

[Tzardok]

The Queen is a particularly major obyrith and should have something quite striking. My own proposal:

Spoiler: Form of Madness

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Form of Madness (Su) Any creature within 120 feet that observes the Queen of Chaos must attempt a Will save. Failure means that the creature perceives the endless rift of chaos that the obyriths desire to bring about across the multiverse, standing fascinated until broken free of the effect. Creatures so affected take a -4 penalty to saving throws to escape being fascinated (such as due to an approaching hostile creature), and must make a save (with a +4 bonus) for any other circumstance that would normally end fascination immediately. Blocking off the creature's line of sight to the Queen completely instantly ends the fascination, as does dispel chaos or a word of law. Similar effects may also be successful.

The horror of the Queen's form of madness is particularly insidious. A creature that has failed a saving throw against this effect begins to believe the world is inherently wrong, that lines and shapes and order are a kind of toxic rigidity, a prison for the mind, a chain for the soul. The victim suffers a -2 morale penalty to any action done at the direction of another, whether an order, an encouragement, or a suggestion, as they dread the idea that freedom may not exist. Similarly, they take a -2 morale penalty to any rolls made while knowingly in the company of lawful creatures, as they suffer from a terror that such beings are automatons attempting to keep the multiverse in a fixed and inescapable state. Once per week, the victim must make another Will save. On a failure, they suffer 1 point of Wisdom drain and their alignment shifts one step toward chaotic evil. A victim whose Wisdom reaches 0 is transformed into a beast of chaos.

Heal or greater restoration can cure the effects if the caster makes a DC 30 caster level check, as can modify memory if the experience of seeing the Queen is removed from the victim's mind. Any Wisdom drain sustained converts to Wisdom damage and recovers normally. The experience of changing alignment, even temporarily, may have long-term repercussions for the victim. Once the transformation is complete, only a wish or miracle can reverse it - such spells will also instantly cure the effects of the form of madness.

Now that is evil. Let's steal it.

It functions as 1st level magic, making use of the unique properties of the Plane of Mirrors to effect the bulk of the "magical" work and the relative magical simplicity of interfacing with a reflective surface to tap into the magic. It's also considered impossible for a non-kamerel to make use of it. Only three "spells" are known - scry mirror, which allows distance viewing of an area near another mirror; transport mirror, which allows small objects or creatures to be moved between two prepared mirrors; and spacial mirror (should really be spatial but anyway), the absolute pinnacle of the art, which makes the area reflected within a mirror real, requiring a year of preparation to create the extradimensional link.

Very interesting. Thank you.

That, we do not know. It is possible that the nerra were created by the kamerel to observe the multiverse and enact their revenge for being displaced so long ago, given their own personal distaste for contact with others. It is equally possible that the nerra are unrelated natives of Mirror, or kamerel caught in a magical experiment.

The Plane of Mirrors really needs to be fleshed out someday. Currently it's just bare bones.

What would happen if a fire elemental mates with water elemental and gave birth to a fire/water elemental offspring? Does the same thing happen if an air elemental mates with earth elemental and gave birth to an air/earth elemental offspring?

I don't think elementals mate the way you are imagine it (or any way found in natural biology). What I could imagine is that they fuse. But that would most likely be a rare event, as fire and water (and to a lesser extent air and earth) are quite incompatible, as seen for example by the description of the omnimental.
If it happened, we would get possibly some kind of aberrant paraelemental or a proto-omnimental searching out the missing elements to become complete or something like that.

[Eldan]

My personal headcanon for fiendish familiars, the one time they came up, was that they are born from Ultroloths. Ultroloths, it was hinted at in one of the old books, ritually flay their own faces off to erase their identities and make themselves harder to track and identify with magic.

[Bartmanhomer]

I don't think elementals mate the way you are imagine it (or any way found in natural biology). What I could imagine is that they fuse. But that would most likely be a rare event, as fire and water (and to a lesser extent air and earth) are quite incompatible, as seen for example by the description of the omnimental.
If it happened, we would get possibly some kind of aberrant paraelemental or a proto-omnimental searching out the missing elements to become complete or something like that.

Oh really? That's a bummer.

[Tzardok]

Oh really? That's a bummer.

I am not sure what you were expecting. I mean, how do you imagine a flame and a wave doing the horizontal tango anyway?