Beyond the Cage

Welcome to the planes, cutter! Beyond your world is a multiverse full of infinite wonder, infinite danger, and infinite possibilities. Out here, you can do anything: visit the realms of the gods, wigwag with celestials and fiends, even reshape reality itself. Throw away any ideas you had about what's possible, because out here, anything's possible!

Beyond the Cage is a Planescape campaign for D&D Fifth Edition. New players can either read this page or A Player's Guide to the Planes — both provide a good introduction to the setting, although this page is more up-to-date when it comes to rules and mechanics. The player sourcebooks below also give more information about different parts of the setting (keep in mind — some of these sourcebooks have information that's for DM's eyes only, so don't get nosy and go looking where you shouldn't).

• The Planewalker's Handbook — A condensed version of all the material in the Planescape setting, from an overview of the planes of the multiverse, a guide to planar travel, an introduction to the factions, and information on how to survive and thrive in the Planescape multiverse. The Handbook also has new material, including new spells, equipment, races, and more!
• Planes of Chaos — The Travelogue — An in-depth look at the planes on the chaotic side of the Great Ring: the Abyss, Arborea, Limbo, Pandemonium, and Ysgard.
• A Player's Guide to Law — A guide to the lawful Outer Planes: Acheron, Arcadia, Baator, Mechanus, and Mount Celestia.
• A Player's Guide to Conflict — A look the Planes of Conflict, the six Outer Planes that serve as a battleground between Chaos and Law: the Upper Planes of the Beastlands, Bytopia, and Elysium, and the Lower Planes of Carceri, Gehenna, and the Grey Waste,
• In the Cage: A Guide to Sigil — A look at the City of Doors: its people, places, politics, portals, and more.
• A Player's Primer to the Outlands — A guide to the Outlands, the crossroads of the multiverse.
• The Factol's Manifesto — An in-depth look at the factions, their headquarters, and some of their more famous (or infamous) members.
• Hellbound: The Blood War — The Chant of the War — Details (at least those that aren't dark) of the conflict that's ravaged the Lower Planes for as long as even the oldest greybeards can remember.
• On Hallowed Ground — A guide powers and their realms, as well as their proxies and petitioners.
• Faces of Evil: The Fiends — A guide to the fiendish denizens of the Lower Planes: their ecology, culture, and more.
• Warriors of Heaven — A book with information about the celestial races of the Upper Planes, both details about their nature and mechanics for playing as one.

The chat logs (up to 24/02/2019) for the campaign can be downloaded here.

The Basics of Planescape

Before a cutter can start exploring the planes, she's got to know the basics of what, who, and where.

The Three Truths

The multiverse operates around three basic principles. Learn these, and a basher'll have a head start on understanding how things really work.

The Centre of the Multiverse: Primes think their little world sits at the centre of it all, but it ain't true. Fact is, nothing sits at the centre of the multiverse — how can there be a "centre" of an infinite expanse? So, really, no place is more important than any place else. By the same token, wherever a body stands is the centre of the multiverse — at least from his perspective.

The Unity of Rings: The multiverse tends to form into endless rings, whether physical or philosophical. Sigil, the Outlands, the Outer Planes, even the Elemental Planes all form rings without beginning or end. Follow any ring, and a body'll always end up where he started.

The Rule of Threes: Things happen in threes. Simple enough? It's not logical, but it's almost always true.

Who's Who

In-keeping with the Rule of Threes, there's three main types of being on the planes: planars, primes, and petitioners. These three are the most common folks, and the ones you're most likely to run into. There's also another two kind of beings to watch out for, though: powers and proxies.

Planars are natives of the planes — whether they're human, humanoid, or another shape altogether. Planars can be celestials, fiends, slaadi, djinni, or other planar creatures, but that's not the only type of folks that live out here: plenty of humans and other mortal races do too (see Planar Races for a few of the most common).

Primes, also called "the Clueless" by planars, are natives of the Prime Material Plane. Planars tend to see primes as know-nothing leatherheads and easy marks for cony-catchers. It's true that primes don't have the same knowledge of how things work in the multiverse, but that doesn't mean they're all complete addle-coves. They just tend to have a narrower focus than planars — a prime wizard or fighter can still sling spells or swords with the best of 'em.

Petitioners are the spirits of deceased primes and planars who inhabit the plane of their deity or alignment. Petitioners take many shapes but are usually indistinguishable from other folks, at least at first. They don't remember their former lives and only vaguely reflect their previous personalities; they're shaped into whatever form their power or alignment requires. About the only thing they have to work toward is the hope of attaining union with their power or plane. If a petitioner dies anywhere in the multiverse other than their home plane, their soul is destroyed for good with no hope of coming back or merging with their plane, so petitioners almost never venture far from home.

Proxies are the hand-picked servitors of the powers — those who some call gods. As servants of their deities, proxies act in their powers' interests and according to their wishes. Some proxies retain their original forms, while others are reshaped into forms favoured by their powers. Naturally, their personalities and intentions vary depending on the particular power they serve. Regardless, it's a sure thing that proxies answer to their gods and only to their gods, and a basher had better treat 'em with the respect they're due. Not all berks have a direct pipeline to their deities, after all.

Powers — whether a body worships them as gods or just thinks of them as really mighty bloods — are the high-ups of the planes. They rule over certain areas, establishing their dominion and enforcing their whims as their natures demand. They offer spells and abilities to those who worship them. Within their realms, the powers rule supreme; no mortal cutter's ever going to come close to challenging their might. For more information, see On Hallowed Ground

The Planes at a Glance

The multiverse can be broken down into three groups of planes: the Prime Material, the Outer Planes, and the Inner Planes. There's also two "interstitial" planes, the Astral and Ethereal, which connect the Prime to the Outer and Inner Planes (respectively). While mapping the multiverse fully is virtually impossible, this map should give you a rough idea of where the different planes are in relation to each-other.

The Prime Material Plane

The Prime Material Plane is home to the worlds of various D&D settings, such as Toril, Oerth, Krynn, Mystara, Aebrynis, Athas, or lesser-known worlds such as Ret. Each world and its solar system are contained within crystal spheres, which float in an infinite sea of rainbow-coloured vapour called phlogiston. Each world's cut off from the others — although a few bloods have tumbled to a process called spelljamming, which lets them travel from one crystal sphere to another by sailing through the phlogiston as if it were some great stellar ocean. For the most part, though, primes are confined to their specific worlds and don't have much knowledge of anything beyond them — which is why planars call them "Clueless".

The Outer Planes

The Outer Planes are the planes of belief, where most powers make their home. You can imagine the Outer Planes as a wheel with sixteen spokes — each plane's connected to the one's next to it on the wheel by a fixed portal, which is why planars call it the "Great Ring" or the "Great Wheel". The Outlands, the plane of balance and neutrality, lies in the centre of the ring between all the other planes. Each Outer Plane's also connected to its adjacent fellows by a network of fixed portals which planars "the Great Road" (though it ain't really a road and it ain't really all that great).

Some of the Outer Planes are divided into layers: multiple universes all stacked on-top of each-other with various crossing points between them. Each plane also has a different alignment (a guiding moral philosophy that pervades the plane and is reflected in its inhabitants and landscape). The more alike two planes are in terms of alignment, the closer they are on the ring. To really understand an Outer Plane, a cutter's got to understand the alignment that shapes it and gives it meaning: the Lower Planes are places of evil, cruelty, and violence, while the Upper Planes are places of good and beauty (though that don't mean they're always safe, especially for evil bashers). There's sixteen Outer Planes in all (not including the Outlands), which run the gamut between good, evil, law, and chaos. For more information, players can read Planes of Chaos — The Travelogue, A Player's Guide to Law, and A Player's Guide to Conflict.

One more thing a fellow's got to know before he goes traipsing around the Outer Planes: the Lower Planes are the battlegrounds of the endless Blood War, the eternal conflict between the lawful baatezu and the chaotic tanar'ri (or "devils" and "demons", as the Clueless call them; don't go using those terms within earshot of them, though!). Clueless berks tend to think that those two races must get along since they're both fiends, but it ain't true. On the planes, law and chaos're often more important distinctions than good and evil. For more information, see Hellbound: The Blood War — The Chant of the War.

The Inner Planes

The Inner Planes represent the physical elements that make up the multiverse. Surviving on them's usually more of a challenge than on the Outer Planes, but certain means — usually magical — make it possible. There's nothing hospitable about a plane made of fire, but at least it's predictable — a body knows what to expect on the Inner Planes.

The Inner Planes are comprised of eighteen distinct elements. The most well-known are the four Elemental Planes (Air, Earth, Fire, and Water), which form a ring. The Elemental Planes are separated by the four Paraelemental Planes: Smoke lies between Air and Fire, Magma between Fire and Earth, Ooze between Earth and Water, and Ice between Water and Air. Parallel to this ring on either side are the Positive and Negative Energy Planes, which represent the raw forces of life and death. Finally, there's the Quasielemental Planes, which are positioned between the Elemental Planes and the Energy Planes. The Quasielemental Planes can be thought of as positive and negative reflections of the four Elemental Planes (some berks like to refer to them as "good" and "evil" reflections, forgetting they're not on the Outer Planes; things ain't so moralistic on the Inner Planes). On the Positive Energy side of Earth, Fire, Water and Air are the quasiplanes of Mineral, Radiance, Steam, and Lightning; while on the Negative Energy side, there's Dust, Ash, Salt, and Vacuum.

Each plane's a separate universe, but there are border areas where they overlap, making it possible to travel between them. How can there be borders between infinite planes? No-one's really sure — it's not something natives worry about. They just know that by going in the right direction, they'll eventually cross from one plane to another.

It's worth noting that inhabitants of the Inner Planes tend to be much more grounded than those from the Outer Planes. The Inner Planes ain't based around lofty ideas — they're the basic stuff of the multiverse, a fact that many elementals draw a sense of superiority from. Inner-planars often scoff at "dreamers" (as they call Outer Planars) for always having their heads in the clouds.

The Astral Plane

The Astral Plane is an infinite silver void which touches every part of the Prime Material and the first layer of each of the Outer Planes. While in the Astral, you can get to any of these connected planes by hopping through a colour pool — two-dimensional panels of light that float through the plane. The Astral's also crisscrossed with astral conduits that connect the Prime with the Outer Planes, which appear as vast, snaky tubes running through the plane.

For the most part, the Astral Plane is a big, empty space. Travellers in the Astral can get around just by thinking about moving. While they're there, time doesn't apply to them — they don't grow hungry or thirsty, they don't grow tired, and they don't even age; although, upon leaving the plane, the time they skipped out on catches up to them in an instant. Solid ground mostly consists of the giant husks of former powers that float here — such is the fate of powers who lose their worshippers or otherwise fall from their lofty positions.

Keep in mind: the Astral isn't totally devoid of life. Creatures like astral searchers and the dreaded astral dreadnought can provide a threat to travellers, but by far, the main thing to watch out for is the githyanki. These distant cousins to the githzerai (see Planar Races) prey on visitors to the silvery void, and they've got no qualms about attacking intruders on their home plane.

The Ethereal Plane

The Ethereal Plane is a misty dimension filled with swirling energies of various colours. Like the Astral, the Ethereal is in contact with every part of its adjacent planes. In the shallowest part of the plane, the Border Ethereal, a traveller actually exists on both the Ethereal Plane and the one it intersects with. Crossing through a curtain of swirling colours, the ground vanishes beneath as a traveller passes from the Border to the Deep Ethereal. This is a foggy sea where demiplanes (small planes with finite borders) float like strange islands of reality. Like the Astral, the Ethereal's navigated by pure thought — distance and speed mean nothing here. From the Deep Ethereal, a traveller can pass into the Border Ethereal of the plane they want to get to.

That's if you want to take the long way round. A shorter method of getting between the Prime and the Inner Planes is through elemental vortices. Like astral conduits, these pathways can take a cutter straight through the Ethereal and out the other side. Vortices only appear on the Prime in places where there's a high concentration of a certain element — a vortex to Ooze might appear in the middle of a swamp, for example.

Adventuring on the Planes

Okay, so now you've got a basic understanding of who, what, and where, but that's just the first step when it comes to actually exploring the multiverse. As per the Rule of Threes, here's three things that you ought to know before you start.

Sigil

Sigil; the Cage; the City of Doors. It may not be the centre of the multiverse (though some Cagers might disagree), but it'd be pretty close to call it the multiverse's beating heart. Everything and everyone can be found in Sigil — if you want to get to anywhere, there's no better place, because the Cage has got portals to every single plane in existence. For merchants, it's the perfect trading hub. For sods who've got on the wrong side of the powers, it's the perfect place to hide, since powers can't set foot in the city. And for adventurers, it's a perfect kip for when they're not out exploring the planes.

'Course, coming and going ain't always easy — the only way in and out of City of Doors is through the portals that show up in doorways, archways, windows, manholes, fireplaces, and other openings around the city. The city itself is located on the inner band of a giant torus which floats above an infinitely tall spire in the middle of the Outlands. There's no way to just walk into the Cage, and the nature of the place make it so a body can't just teleport in and out. In fact, if it wasn't for the portals, Sigil would probably be one of the most closed-off places in the multiverse.

Some portals move around at random or set intervals, while the rest are permanently fixed in place. The only sure thing is that every portal requires a portal key — something that activates it, be it a word, an object, or something else. Without the right key, a portal's just an ordinary door. Now, there's plenty of Cagers who know the dark of portal keys, but a they're not likely to share that information for free. If you want the chant, you better be willing to pay the music — that's just the way of things in the Cage.

So, who's in charge of the city? Well, that's easy. Sigil's only got one ruler: the Lady of Pain. The Lady doesn't administrate the city or run its day-to-day business (that's left to the factions; see below), but there's no denying that Sigil's her domain and no-one else's. She controls the portals and keeps every power and archfiend out. Those who cross her die or end up in the Mazes, extradimensional labyrinths from which there's no escape. Is she a power? Is she a fallen celestial or a reformed fiend? Nobody knows. Canny cutters do know this: leave her be. Don't talk to her, don't ask her for help, don't worship her, and certainly don't antagonise her.

For more information, see In the Cage: A Guide to Sigil (just don't read the parts meant for the DM, berk).

The Power of Belief

The Outer Planes run on belief: a body who believes something strongly enough can change reality itself. Get enough cutters who believe in something strongly, and the multiverse itself'll change to reflect it. This isn't just lofty talk either, berk: belief can change the shape of the Outer Planes itself, and if enough people in one place believe strongly enough, that place'll actually slip off whatever plane it's on to the plane that reflects the beliefs of its inhabitants.

Get it? Belief is power on the planes, so it's no wonder different organisations have formed around certain core beliefs. These factions aren't just fighting for political power or territory: they're fighting for the nature of reality itself.

Magic on the Planes

Depending on what plane you're on, there's a few restrictions that apply to what spells can be cast and what they do. Regardless of class, all spellcasters can learn and use spells from the Player's Handbook, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, and Tome of Spells (a handful of spells, like clone, have been changed from their Fifth Edition descriptions). 'Course, these are only the most common spells — there's practically no limit to what magic can do for powerful enough bloods, and only an addle-cove'd think that learning a few hundred spells'd give you all the dark there is to know about magic.

One more thing: a spellcaster should keep in mind spells which specifically affect certain types of creatures — such as detect evil and good or hallow — are actually affecting powerful sources of good or evil. Creatures that don't emenate an aura of either won't always be affected by the spell (although fiends and celestials always have a core of evil or good); on the other hand, other powerfully evil or good creatures can sometimes produce a strong enough aura to be affected by these spells. In-keeping with that, the Fifth Edition spells detect evil and good, protection from evil and good and dispel evil and good are replaced with the following spells.

• detect evil
• detect good
• protection from evil
• protection from good
• protection from chaos
• protection from law
• dispel evil
• dispel good

Any spellcasting character can also learn the spell know alignment, and wizards can learn the spell warp sense.

Arcane Spellcasters

Wizards, sorcerers, warlocks, bards, artificers, and other arcane spellcasters will find that how their spells work changes from plane to plane. This can be overcome with spell keys — items or actions that modify the spell so that it works the way the spellslinger wants it to. Spell keys vary from plane to plane, so a canny spellslinger always makes sure to scan for the chant on 'em whenever she arrives somewhere new.

Divine Spellcasters

For clerics, paladins, and so on, magic works a little differently. Their spells aren't subject to the same restrictions as arcane spellcasters — instead, it all depends on how far they are from the source of their power. The more planes between a divine spellcaster and their power, the lower their spellcasting level. On the Great Wheel, this follows the ring of Outer Planes instead of taking the shortest path. In other words, let's say you've got a 10th-level cleric of Thor. If she journeyed to Mount Celestia, she'd effectively be a 6th-level cleric on account of having four planes between her and her power's realm on Ysgard (Bytopia, Elysium, the Beastlands, and Arborea). If she travelled to the plane of Fire, then she'd regain some of her lost levels and casts spells as a 7th-level cleric, since she's only got three planes between her and her power (the Ethereal, Prime, and Astral); because she's not on the Great Ring, her "power conduit" just traces the shortest path from here to there. The only exception to this is the Prime Material Plane, where divine spellcasters all function at their highest level regardless of where their power calls kip. Note that this only effects the level of spells a divine spellcaster can cast: their class features, proficiency bonus, and everything else stays the same.

To balance out this disadvantage, followers of powers on the planes can usually expect more blessings and favours from their high-ups than those on the Prime (powers are more concerned with the goings-on of the Prime, it's true, but they'd be fools to ignore what's happening in their own backyard). The greatest boon a divine spellcaster can receive is a power key — a small piece of a power's might which allows a caster's spells to work at their full effect no matter where they go. Because power keys weaken a power slightly when they're created, they're only given out in special circumstances, and usually only temporarily.

Magic Items

Finally, there's magic items. These are affected just like arcane spells, but they can't be altered with spell keys.

Creating a Character

Now that you know enough to get started, all that's left is to make a character. There's three (naturally) main parts to any character in a Planescape campaign: their race, their class, and their faction.

Races

A character's race depends on whether they're a planar or a prime. Primes can be any number of races, depending on what world they call home. They can range from more common ones like humans and elves to monstrous races like lizardfolk or orcs to spelljamming races like neogi or giff.

Other than humans, the majority of planar adventurers are githzerai, bariaur, or planetouched (a handy catch-all for tieflings, aasimar, and genasi). Elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, and other humanoid races all call the planes home, but they tend to stick to the realms of their powers. Ask a dwarf about her idea of paradise and she'll probably describe Moradin's forge or Vergadain's halls or the like, so is it any wonder that dwarves that can actually go and call kip in those realms don't have much interest in leaving? It usually takes something special to make a body leave the realm of their power, whether it's getting cast out, wanting to travel the multiverse for the glory of their power, or just plain wanderlust. Most planewalking races don't have specific powers watching over them, which means they have to carve out their own place on the planes.

There's also a few cases where other planar races take up adventuring for various reasons — a good example is rogue modrons, who've been kicked out of Mechanus and now have to make their own way in the multiverse. Celestials, fiends, slaadi, and other such creatures aren't typically player characters, but there's exceptions to every rule. The nature of the planes is such that just about anyone (or anything) can wind up as an adventurer. The multiverse is a strange place, so it makes sense that it'd be filled with strange and unusual folks.

A list of the six most common planar races — aasimar, bariaur, genasi, githzerai, rogue modrons, and tieflings — can be found on the Planar Races page.

Classes

As you might expect, some classes are perceived a bit differently on the planes. Players in Beyond the Cage have two additional classes available to them by default on top of the core classes listed in the Player's Handbook: the artificer, a spellslinger who focuses on making magical devices, and the mystic, a blood that's tumbled to how to use the power of their mind i nthe form of psionics.

It seems that some primes have a bunch of wrongheaded ideas about what certain classes can and can't do. For example, they seem to think that all paladins have to be lawful or good, or that all monks have to be lawful. Sure, that might be true on some Prime worlds where the nature of the world influences its inhabitants, but out on the planes things tend to be a bit more complicated. The important thing to remember is that classes are defined by how they act on their ideals, not what ideals they hold. A chaotic evil paladin might seem to have nothing in common with a lawful good one, but both champion their power's beliefs with a martial zeal.

Artificers are basically wizards with a penchant for making things, but their wide range of knowledge and magical inventions gives them a well-deserved reputation as canny bloods. Planar artificers tend to congregate within factions instead of in artificers' guilds, and most adopt a particular philosophy when it comes to the things they make — a chaotic artificer might invent things that are random and unpredictable, while a lawful one might make sure everything they design is carefully planned out, and every factor properly calculated. Since they infuse base objects with a spark of potential, artificers are particularly well-received among the Believers of the Source.

Barbarians tend to hail from the chaotic planes, so they feel right at home in factions like the Xaositects, the Revolutionary League, and the Doomguard. Keep in mind that just because a body's chaotic doesn't mean they're automatically a leatherhead — chaotic's not the same thing as stupid, and a barbarian's got to apply wits and strength in equal measure if they want to survive out on the planes.

Bards are more common on the Outer Planes, since those planes represent the kind of things that get songs and poems written about them: the beauty of the Upper Planes, the unrivalled freedom of the chaotic planes, even the unfathomable evil of the Lower Planes. 'Course, an inner-planar bard has plenty to inspire them too, like the blazing majesty of Fire or the blinding beauty of Radiance. For planar bards, art and belief tend to go hand-in-hand: an Athar bard might compose a song decrying the gods as nothing mroe than cony-catchers, while an Anarchist bard uses words as a tool of deception and subterfuge.

Clerics attract a lot of attention, both good and bad. It's important to remember that a cleric ain't the same thing as a proxy: powers don't send their clerics to do tasks that the power needs doing, and a cleric doesn't have a direct pipeline to their power like a proxy does. A cleric's job is to go out and spread their power's faith, either through preaching to the unconverted or trying to set a good example others'll want to follow. However they go about it, a cleric can expect to run into trouble from enemies of their religion — fiends love to prey on good-aligned clerics, and many powers instruct their followers to seek out priests of enemy deities and put them in the dead-book. All that means a planar cleric's got to be tough, clever, and resourceful if he wants to live long enough to retire.

Druids are most at home on the planes that exemplify nature, like Arborea or the Beastlands. A druid's view of nature usually depends on her plane of origin — a druid from the Outlands seeks to maintain balance in nature, while an inner-planar druid sees the natural world in terms of the elements that make it up (particularly the element of their home-plane, since if you ask any elemental, their element's obviously the most important one). Druids don't often leave their cases, and if they do it's usually to fight some threat to the natural order from another plane — for example, plenty of druids hate fiends with a passion on account of their corrupting influence on the natural world. Like most planewalkers, a true planar druid's likely to think on a bigger scale than a prime one, seeing their territory as not just a forest or even plane, but the idea of nature that the planes represent. That's enough to motivate them to go out and destroy unnatural creatures like undead that threaten the ecology of the planes. Again, of course, exactly what a body means by "nature" varies.

Fighters can be found all over the multiverse, and for the most part they're viewed much the same as on any Prime world. A word to the wise: a canny fighter knows that not every problem can be solved by swinging a sword it. Planar fighters quickly learn that there's always going to be someone or something bigger and stronger than they are, so they need to apply subtlety and cleverness to avoid writing themselves in the dead-book.

Monks ain't that much different from fighters on the whole, but they do tend to take a different approach when it comes to their beliefs. Monks prefer to look inward when it comes to finding the truth, so factions that favour meditation and self-reflection — namely the Transcendent Order, the Dustmen, the Sign of One, and the Believers of the Source — have more monks than those that don't.

Mystics are just another kind of spellslinger as far as most planars are concerned; in fact, most planars'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference between a mystic and a wizard. Because they don't use arcane or divine magic, mystics aren't subject to many of the restrictions that affect planar spellcasters (although they still use magic, and their powers are still nullified out by magic-cancelling effects like antimagic field). Mystics make especially good Signers: their ability to reshape reality with their minds perfectly compliments the Signer belief that everything in the multiverse is created from the power of thought, so the Signer have the most mystics among their number of any faction.

Rangers can be found throughout the planes as guides and trackers. Since rangers have to adapt to their environments, most of them find one area to call kip and stick to it. Rangers that don't stick to a specific plane learn how to track, travel, and survive between planes, and it's these bloods who usually know the most about secret portals and paths for getting from here to there.

Rogues are a mainstay of planar society (such that it is), and they're found everywhere throughout the planes. Being sneaky, knowing how to hide, and knowing how to slip into the shadows are never useless skills when a body's stomping grounds include the homes of creatures such as pit fiends, planetars, and slaadi. In fact, rogues are probably the most universally adaptable folk who make their way around on the planes.

Paladins typically provoke strong reactions wherever they go. As stalwart champions of their faith, folks who follow their religion treat them with greater respect, while those on the other side of their beliefs view them with suspicion, fear, or outright hostility. As well as the lawful good types most folks just call "paladins", there's also other types for other alignments which bear their own names: these are the myrikhan (neutral good), the garath (chaotic good), the lyan (lawful neutral), the paramander (true neutral), the fantra (chaotic neutral), the ilrigger (lawful evil), the arrikhan (neutral evil), and the antipaladin (chaotic evil). Beyond these are other types of paladins dedicated to specific ideas that might span multiple different alignments.

Sorcerers are those lucky (or unlucky) few suffused with the raw magic of the planes. Many come from planetouched lineages, but the origins of sorcerers are as varied as their powers. Some wield the elemental power of the Inner Planes, while others channel the wild magic of chaos itself. Don't go thinking that all sorcerers are born that way, either: plenty of folks who spend enough time on the planes end up changed for it, picking up some magical ability or another, so you can stow that nonsense about being the "chosen one" or how you're special just 'cause you're great-great-grandfather was a dragon. Magic don't make a berk special on the planes: it's how you use it that counts. In fact, on the planes, there's a fair degree of overlap between wizards and sorcerers; planars don't really make a distinction between the two.

Warlocks make deals with near-powers, like the Abyssal lords or the celestial paragons of the Upper Planes. In exchange for serving their patron's goals, a warlock can expect to be granted a sliver of its might as well as its favour (which can often prove to be more valuable). A warlock's relationship with their patron typically has to do with its alignment — a lawful patron'll probably enter into a binding contract with its warlock, whereas a chaotic one'll grant power (or take it away) according to its whims. Whether a patron is good or evil influences its goals: a good-aligned patron naturally tries spread good in the multiverse — but might be less tolerant towards its warlocks committing acts of evil — whereas an evil patron only cares about fulfilling its own selfish goals, whatever the means. It's worth pointing out that not all warlock patrons are near-powers: some full-fledged powers make warlocks out of immortal beings, like fiends, or very rarely out of mortals (there are exceptions: the faerie powers of the Seelie Court frequently enter into bargains with mortals, though they're also known to be paritcularly capricious). The main thing to know about the relationship between a warlock and her patron is that the patron is always a being of far greater power and knowledge, which the warlock hopes will trickle down to them. A warlock doesn't channel their patron's magic like a divine spellcaster, either; once a patron's granted their servants' power, it's their servant's for the keeping. No wonder then that warlocks tend to feel far less indebted to their patrons than clerics are to their deities.

Wizards don't command nearly the same amount of respect and admiration on the planes as they might on the Prime: magic's just a part of life out here, and wizards need to be able to stand head-and-shoulders above other spellslingers to get any notice. Since the planes are innately magical, a cutter's got to be canny about how they use their spells in order to stand out from the crowd.

Factions

On the planes, race and class aren't nearly so important as what a body believes in. The power of belief's such that it rallies like-minded cutters into factions, each with their own structure, philosophy and way of looking at the multiverse. Fifteen factions operate in Sigil, where they vie for influence and power while they aren't busy with running the day-to-day business of the city. Each faction takes on a different role in Sigil's politics and government: the Guvners run the courts, the Fated collect the taxes, and so on.

Of course, a body doesn't have to join a faction, but the benefits of faction membership are usually more than worth the price of admission. Factions can offer their members protection, information, lodgings, and other unique bonuses. Just be careful when you make your choice, because most factions don't take kindly to those who turn stag on them. Any sod who leaves a faction is going to find themselves not just hated by their old allies, but distrusted by any new faction they try to join — after all, who wants a berk who's already shown he can't be relied on?

The factions and their philosophies are covered in detail in the third chapter of A Player's Guide to the Planes. Each faction gives its members unique abilities and restrictions, which are described on the table below. Most factions have four ranks: namers (a body who holds to the faction philsoophy but doesn't involve himself in faction politics), factotums (full-time faction members), factors (faction high-ups), and factols (the leader of a faction). A factioneer can expect to gain new abilities as they become more dedicated to the faction philosophy and move up the rung.

Since they're political groups as well as philosophical ones, each faction's also got its own allies and enemies among its fellows — something that could cause problems (or create interesting role-playing opportunities) in an adventuring party. Just keep in mind that a body's got to truly believe in what their faction stands for — each faction's got ways of keeping out folks trying to pull one over on them by signing up without really believing in their philosophy. That said, just because a body pledges allegiance to a faction and follows their philosophy doesn't mean they need to involve themselves too closely in the workings or politics of their faction, although any cutter who doesn't won't rise beyond the lowerst rank of namer.

Folks wanting more chant on the factions should have a look at the Factol's Manifesto, which provides more in-depth information than what's in A Player's Guide to the Planes — just stay away from the sections entitled "The DM's Dark", berk.

Faction	Philosophy	Features	Allies	Enemies
Athar (Defiers, the Lost)	The gods are frauds! The unknowable truth lies beyond the veil.	Divine Disavowal. You are immune to the following cleric and paladin spells: augury, bane, bestow curse, divination, and geas. Divine Resistance. Once you reach factotum rank, you have advantage on saving throws against spells cast by any servant of a power. Obscurement. If you are a factor of 9th level or above, any deity or servant of a deity has disadvantage on any attempt to magically locate or discern information about you. Divine Ban. Priests or servants of specific powers are forbidden from giving you magical aid, especially in the form of healing.	Believers of the Source	—
Believers of the Source (Godsmen)	All life springs from the same divine source, ascending and descending in form as the cosmos tests it.	Well-Recieved. Because they believe that all things are on the path to godhood, Godsmen are generally well-recieved wherever they go on the planes. You have a +2 bonus to Charisma (Persuasion) checks when interacting with planar characters. What Kills You Makes You Stronger. Godsmen believe that their soul becomes stronger through learning from past mistakes, even the deadly ones. If your last death was caused by something that allowed a save, you gain proficiency with that saving throw. If you were already proficient with the relevant saving throw, you instead add double your proficiency bonus. Lack of Faith. Godsmen who venerate a specific deity (as opposed to the Source) suffer from lack of ultimate faith. After all, they know a power ain’t anything special — just some basher who occupies the next-to-last rung on the ladder of evolution. This problem of faith results in -2 penalties to save DCs and attack rolls for any divine spells they cast. Climbing the Chain. When you die, you cannot be resurrected by any means, though you may be reincarnated as a race of the DM's choice.	Athar, Doomguard (temporary ally)	Bleak Cabal, Dustmen
Bleak Cabal (Bleakers, the Cabal, Madmen	The multiverse ain't supposed to make sense. There's no grand scheme, no deep meaning, no elusive order. The only truth worth finding lies within.	Grim Resolve. You have advantage on saving throws against psionic effects and attempts to read your mind. You are also immune to effects which induce madness of insanity, such as confusion, Tasha's hideous laughter, or enemies abound. Absorb Madness. At 7th level, you gain an ability that’s a natural extension of your own resistance: the power to absorb artificially-induced madness in others. This power works on sods driven insane by spells or magical items, but not on those who’ve gone insane naturally. To use the power, you must first meditate for one hour, cleansing your mind of all thoughts. (This is often impossible. You’ve got to make a DC 10 Wisdom check to cleanse your mind; if you fail, you can try only one more time to cleanse his mind for the same victim.) The insane berk’s got to hold still, either voluntarily or otherwise, and you then begin a ritulastic massage of the victim’s head. The massage must be kept up until the barmy’s body grows numb, at which point you absorb the insanity. You gain your regular spell resistance roll against the madness, but if you fail you suffer the full effect. The process is exhausting, taking 1d12+4 hours to complete. If the ritual is interrupted, you must start over; otherwise, success is guaranteed and the victim regains full mental health immediately. However, you’ll suffer mental anguish for two days afterwards, during which time you sort out the absorbed insanity; during these two days, you have disadvantage on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. You also fail your madness check if you roll a 1 or 2 during these two days. Bleaker Madness. Bleakers constantly stare into the heart of despair, driving them to the brink of insanity. At the end of each long rest, secretly roll a d20. On a roll of 1, you gain a random long-term madness effect. If you also roll a 1 on your next long rest, you gain a random indefinite madness effect instead.	Doomguard, Dustmen, Revolutionary League, Xaositects	Mercykillers, Harmonium, Mercykillers
Doomguard (Sinkers)	Entropy is ecstasy, decay is divine. The multiverse is supposed to fall apart. We're just here to keep leatherheads from interfering.	Sword Training. You are proficient with the use of longswords, shortswords, and greatswords. At 3rd level, you have a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls with swords. Entropic Strike. When making a melee attack roll against a target of an opposing alignment (for example, evil if you are good, or lawful if you are chaotic), you can choose to double the damage of the attack. You can use this feature after you have made the attack roll, but before the DM declares if it hits or misses. Once you have used this feature, you cannot use it again until you have taken a long rest. Sift. As an action, you can sift through destroyed material and gain a psychic impression of how it was destroyed, so long as it was destroyed in the past 10 years. At 6th level, this increases to 500 years, and for each round spent in contact with the rubble you are able to relive five minutes of the disaster through sound only. At 11th level you can sift material that was destroyed up to 1,000 years ago, and you can also hear and smell when reliving the disaster. If you are a cleric, you can sift dead organic material to learn the cause of death. Healing Resistance. The Doomguard see magical healing as counter to entropy. As a result, you are naturally resistant to magical healing. If you are magically healed, you must make a Wisdom saving throw. If the save is successful, the magic is negated. You cannot choose to willingly fail this saving throw.	Bleak Cabal, Dustmen	Fraternity of Order, Harmonium
Dustmen (The Dead)	We're all dead — some more so than others. So, we explore our current state with patience, purge our passion, and ascend toward the purity of True Death.	Dead Truce. An undead creature cannot attempt to harm you unless you attack it first. True Death. The concept of resurrection is anathema to the Dustmen's philosophy. If you die and an attempt is made to bring you back to life, you must make a Wisdom saving throw (using your statistics when you were alive) against the resurrection. If the save is successful, the magic is negated and no further attempts can be made to resurrect you. You cannot willingly choose to fail this saving throw. The concept of raising and resurrection is counter to the philosophy of the faction, and so it’s not something willingly accepted by most Dustmen.	Bleak Cabal, Doomguard	Society of Sensation, Sign of One
Fated (Takers, the Heartless)	The multiverse belongs to those who seize it. No one's to blame for a poor sod's fate but the sorry sod himself.	Self-Sufficient. You gain proficiency in any three skills of your choice. Nothing's Free. The Fated have the wherewithal to learn and grab what they need, but a Taker’s fierce independence is also one of his greatest weaknesses. No member of the Fated can give or receive any kind of charity. It’s an easy thing to refuse to drop a few coins in a beggar’s hat, but it’s another story if a Taker’s dying and a comrade wants to give him a cure potion. Hard as it seems to believe, the Taker simply won’t accept the potion — it must be earned, not given freely.	Free League, Mercykillers (loosely)	Harmonium
Fraternity of Order (Guvners)	Everything has laws. Most are dark. Learn the laws of the multiverse, and you can control it.	Intuit Pattern. Once per day, you can innately cast the comprehend languages spell, requiring no components. Manipulate Probability. At 5th level, Guvners of at least factotum gain a limited power to manipulate probability. As a bonus action, you can give yourself advantage on an attack roll or saving throw. Alternatively, as a reaction, you can cause one creature within 60 feet making an attack roll or saving throw to make the roll with disadvantage. Once you have used this feature, you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest. Letter of the Law. Guvners believe in laws, though the rightness or wrongness of them often makes little difference. You may not knowingly break a law unless you can find a legalistic loophole to do so.	Mercykillers, Harmonium	Xaositects, Revolutionary League
Free League (Indeps)	This ain't no faction, and nobody tells us what to do. Keep your options open — nobody's got the keys to the truth.	Free Thinker. Indeps are naturally resistant to any attempt to control their mind, whether from an attempt to manipulate their emotions, be them from spells, creatures, or magical items. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened. If a such an effect does not normally allow a saving throw, you may make a saving throw anyway (without advantage). One of Us. The Indeps aren’t a tight group, but they do look out for their own. Free Leaguers who buy wares in the Great Bazaar of Sigil get a 20% discount on all items purchased. This discount is only intended for fellow Free Leaguers, and Indeps buying discounted gear for members of other factions, even those friendly to the Free League, will quickly find this discount disappearing. And in public scuffles, a Free Leaguer who makes his faction known is likely to get help from other Indeps passing by.	Fated (sometimes)	Harmonium
Harmonium (Hardheads)	Peace is our goal. But if it takes a little war to get others to see things the right way — the Harmonium way — so be it. That's how we'll reach our golden harmony.	Commanding Presence. Once per day, you can cast the charm person spell (Charisma is your spellcasting modifier). Harmonium Weapon Training. At 4th level, Harmonium factotums benefit from their faction's intensive weapon training. You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls with a weapon you are proficient in. Obedience. The Harmonium do not tolerate disobedience from within their own ranks. You are expected to follow all orders from higher-ranking faction members or face punishment. Mover Dedication. Harmonium factors of at least 7th level have become so rigid in their beliefs and dedication that they are difficult to distract. You have advantage on saving throws against emotion-affection spells or magical effects. Dictate. At 10th level, Harmonium factols of Mover Four and Five rank can innately cast the dictate spell (Charisma is your spellcasting modifier) once per day.	Guvners, Mercykillers	Indeps, Revolutionary League, Xaositects
Mercykillers (Red Death)	Justice is everything. When properly applied, punishment leads to perfection.	Detect Lie. Once per day, you can innately cast the detect lie spell (Wisdom is your spellcasting modifier), requiring no components. Mercykiller Spellcasting. If you are able to learn wizard spells, you automatically learn the shocking grasp cantrip. Additionally, if you are a cleric, druid, paladin, or ranger, you are always able to prepare the command spell, even if it would not normally be on your spell list. Justice Blow. After you successfully make an attack roll, you can choose to make it a critical hit. When you do so, half of the extra damage caused is subtracted from your current hit points. Once you have used this feature twice, you must complete a short rest before using it again. Justice is Served. You cannot show lenience to known criminals until the full sentence of justice has been carried out. The Mercykillers consider members of their faction innocent of any wrongdoing committed in the pursuit of justice, but if you break a law for any other reason, you will be held accountable for your crimes. Additionally, you can never willingly release a lawbreaker until the proper setence has been carried out.	Harmonium, Guvners	Sensates, Signers, Revolutionary League
Revolutionary League (Anarchists)	The status quo is built on lies and greed. Crush the factions. Break 'me all down and rebuild with what's left — that's the only way to find the real truth.	Infiltration. You can seamlessly pose as a member of another faction without being detected. You also have proficiency in the Stealth, Deception, and Sleight of Hand skills, as well as with disguise kits and thieves' tools. Power to the People. You cannot hold public office, own a business, or do anything else that would tie them to an established power structure. Additionally, 90% of all wealth you obtains must be donated, either to help the cause or to the oppressed.	Doomguard, Xaositects (weak tie)	Harmonium, Guvners
Sign of One (Signers)	The multiverse exists because the mind imagines it. The Signers — it could be any Signer — create the multiverse through the power of thought.	All in the Mind. You have advantage on saving throws against illusions. Egocentric. Because of your egocentric worldview, you cannot gain proficiency in the Insight skill. Imagine. Signers of at least factotum rank can alter the multiverse with the power of their minds. As an action, you can roll a d20 and add 5 for each previous use of this feature since your last long rest. If the result is equal to or less than your combined Wisdom and Intelligence scores, you can replicate the effects of any spell up to 4th level as long as a spellcaster of your level would be able to cast that spell. Once you have failed the roll you cannot use this feature again until you complete a long rest. The amount added to the roll decreases by 2 for every short rest and 5 for every long rest. On a roll of 1 you believe yourself imaginary, becoming a shadow version of yourself. Your maximum hit points and damage dealt by you are reduced by half (rounded down), and you cannot cast spells or use class features, feats, or racial abilities. You can still use and benefit from magic items,weapons, and armour. You return to normal at the end of your next long rest. When you reach factor rank, you can use this feature to replicate spells of up to 9th level as long as a spellcaster of your level would be able to cast that spell. However, on a roll of 1, you imagine yourself out of existence and can only be restored by a wish spell.	Sensates	Bleak Cabal (especially), Harmonium
Society of Sensation (Sensates)	To know the multiverse, experience it fully. The senses form the path to truth, for the multiverse doesn't exist beyond what can be sensed.	Heightened Senses. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have darkvision to a range of 60 feet. You also have proficiency in the Perception and Insight skills. Sensory Touch. At 3rd level, you gain the ability to absorb the injuries of others. As an action you can touch a creature, causing it to regain 1d8 hit points + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier, and causing you to take that much necrotic damage. You can choose to increase the dice when using this ability by 1d8 at 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8). Once you have used this feature, you must complete a long rest before using it again. New Sensations. Sensates are fascinated by new by new sights, tastes, and smells. In practise, this means that they refuse a chance for a new experience unless it would put you or your allies in danger. Broad Experiences. At 5th level, you've built up an extensive store of experiences that often give you unusual insights into problems. You can add half your proficiency bonus, rounded down, to any ability check you make that doesn't already include your proficiency bonus.	Signers; occasionally Indeps and Guvners	Doomguard; often Mercykillers and Dustmen.
Transcendent Order (Ciphers)	Action without thought is the purest response. Train body and mind to act in harmony, and the spirit will become one with the multiverse.	Unhesitating Response. You have proficiency in initiative checks. Action Without Thought. Once you state what you state what your character does in a given situation, you are forced to commit to that course of action. Master's Discipline. Ciphers of at least factotum rank can place themselves in a trance where they act on reflex alone. While in initiative, you have advantage on saving throws against mind-affecting spells and magical effects.	Most factions	Harmonium (suspicion)
Xaositects (Chaosmen)	Chaos is truth, order delusion. Embracing the randomness of the multiverse, one learns its secrets.	Babble. Once per long rest, you can generate a 10-foot radius emanation that causes all sounds in the area to turn into garbled, cacophonous, and unintelligible noise. Sounds that issue from, enter, or pass through the area are altered and made unrecognisable as a natural sound. Within this area, verbal communication is impossible. Even something as simple as a shout of surprise is turned into a warped and alien sound. Spells with verbal components cannot be cast, and magic items that require a verbal component to be activated do not function. Spells and items that rely on sound do not function. Winds of Chaos. Xaositects embrace chaos in their thoughts and actions. As a result, you can't commit to any action that requires long-term planning or discipline, such as starting a business, raising an army, or building a stronghold. Scofflaw. At 5th level, Xaositects of at least factotum rank gain protection from the sight of law. You cannot be detected by divination magic cast by a lawful spellcaster.	Doomguard, Bleakers	Harmonium, Guvners