in the worlds of Dungeons and Dragons there are four Elemental planes that control all the
building material needed to create everything else air water Earth and Fire Plus the positive and
negative energy planes which govern life and death and these are the energies that make up everything
else in the Multiverse and we label them the inner planes and you might think that they're just like
the four plus the positive and negative energy but did you know that there's actually 12 other
inner planes that exist and we're going to talk about them today but first this video is sponsored
by Goodman games and their Kickstarter x-crawl Classics tabletop RPG now you've probably heard me
talk about Dungeon Crawl Classics and maybe even mutant crawl Classics this is a new spin on those
familiar rules set in a dystopian America where the most popular sport is live streamed to the
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style then this is for you click the link in the description for more info and thanks again Goodman
games [Music] hello everybody Jordan here the pH is silent it's been a while I'll get a video
about that later today I want to talk about the para Elemental planes because they're weird the
para Elemental planes are the areas where one elemental plane intersects with another around
the Great Wheel so opposing elements on this chart won't touch Fire and Water won't have
a para Elemental plane but where fire and Earth touch you get the plane of magma the idea of the
gray area where the planes intersect appeared in the 1980 deities and demigods book but gigax
clarified the concept in Dungeon magazine issue 73 in 1983. now they don't appear in every setting
but they're found in the versions of the manual of the planes and planescape material and you can
incorporate them into your game as you please the best information I found was in the second edition
planescape book the inner planes by Monica hook and I'll be pulling most of my info from there
because well it's the coolest now the four para Elemental planes are the plane of ice which is
air plus water the plane of smoke which is air plus fire the plane of magma which is Fire Plus
Earth and the plane of ooze which is Earth plus water the para Elemental planes are not considered
transitive planes but they are kind of an in between the regular Elemental planes although I'm
going to defy that logic in a second stay with me it is suggested that there is a singular point of
each Elemental plane where the elemental essence of that plane is at its peak perhaps a tangible
location in say the elemental plane of fire where it is nothing but fire now how does an infinite
plane without any borders really have a definitive Center Point well we don't really have answers but
I think not having those answers for me at least is part of the fun of the planes of existence
what they wanted the elemental planes to be more accessible they were renamed into
tangible locations you could go to frost fell is the plane of ice the swamp of Oblivion is
the plane of ooze great name there The Fountains of creation is the plane of magma and the great
conflagration is the plane of Ash now also Within These planes we have locations like the city of
brass the city of Jules akka and the Isle of dread City locations with an elemental theme
are great and it was fun to see that there are places like the city of brass got tied
into the d d lore and they're specifically in like the plane of fire or akka is being
in the plane of air and plus who doesn't want to take their horse through the swamp of Oblivion
too soon now going mostly off of the planescape second edition book the inner planes it highlights
a perspective on how to think of the inner planes there are sections that overlap which become the
para Elemental planes and those overlap with a positive and negative energy planes creating
quasi-elemental planes now when I said earlier that they're the in-between planes I don't like
to think of them as a combination of two different planes but rather their own thing where you decide
to draw the line is really where the definition comes from the inner planes don't have doors that
lead to the plane of ooze to the plane of Earth so okay for example if you choose air as your
plane of reference you can observe all the other planes in relation to that one and I think this
picture does a great job of illustrating that from the picture the plane of air is the center
of the universe the center of our observation but we could just as easily choose the plane of
of ice as our Center of observation air is next to Fire and you'll have smoke and ice on either
side and past that air will never interact with Earth they are separated by fire and water the
para Elemental planes through dnd's word choice make you think that they're lesser than the two
elements that make them up but they really should be thought of as their own plane the
plane of smoke or ice might sound weaker than the pure elements of Fire and Air but there are
strengths that make those planes unique and powerful and personally I believe the para
Elemental planes and the quasi-elemental planes are fully realized planes that are not mashups
if we could turn the elemental wheel a quarter turn suddenly ice smoke ooze and magma are the
four major elements and because of this I view the para Elemental planes as fully realized planes not
necessarily a byproduct of two different elements so let's talk about them first is the plane of
ice which has the plane of water on one side and the plane of air on the other and it's cold here
like the most cold everything freezes the ground is solid chunks of ice almost impossible to dig
into and the most interesting part of the plane of ice well to me is that there is a location within
it known as true cold a region in which anything can freeze and by anything I mean even abstract
Concepts your words could leave your mouth and become Frozen never to be spoken again magical
spells could be cast and freeze in the air the the magic itself stuck Frozen and solid the concept
of goodness or nearness could freeze taking the form of a physical Ice Crystal it really could
be an interesting place to go and retrieve lost knowledge what was frozen and lost for centuries
or maybe you're there to put an adventure in some kind of suspended animation and speaking
of suspended animation there is another location deep within the ice call called arcolantha that
might be a museum or a zoo it's filled with monsters and animals of all kinds who are frozen
in some suspended animation if you take one away and thaw them they will return to life you might
even find extinct creatures here that contain that one ingredient you need to complete that
potion to cure your friend of vampirism next is the plaintiff magma which is between the plane of
fire and the plane of Earth and infinite sea of magma is presented with a surface full of
toxic fumes now you can't mine through the magma like you can on the plane of Earth so going below
the surface you'll need fire protection and well your movement's going to be very slow ships can
sail the sea of magma if they have magical flame protection or some kind of flight to sail through
the toxic air regardless travel is difficult you might run into magma methods or other Rock fire
creatures that live here there are some fire Giants that have taken up residence here in
the plane of magma notable locations though are the fields of Nevermore which is a thin crust of
stone that has hardened a top of the magma as you walk across it it's kind of like walking
on thin ice and you have a 10 chance of breaking through and into the lava now this area Nevermore
is a circular spot about 60 miles in diameter and a long time ago travelers from the prime material
plane used a magical artifact known as The Chill sword to cool the magma enough to build an entire
city the cursed sword emits an aura of cold in a 500 foot radius and this keeps the magma and the
surrounding air cool enough to support humanoid life breathing devices are needed to filter the
toxic air but they build them and sell them here next is the plane of ooze which sits between the
plane of water and the plane of Earth this plane of ooze is it's well disgusting it's a land of
slime of putrid green sludge it teams with worms insects grubs and more and sometimes it's thick
enough to walk on but other times it's thin and runny forcing you to water walk or get a boat
entrances to the plane of ooze can come about when a staggering a volume of garbage and filth are
packed into a small space the volume is condensed the trash can puncture a hole into the plane of
ooze allowing more ooze to spill out or perhaps bringing in that trash and adding it to the plane
acid is a big danger here and disease as well it's a breeding ground for bad bacteria and
disease transmitting insects sigil actually uses portals to the plane of ooze to empty their trash
and an interesting NPC that lives here is the Warlock of ooze who was a wizard of sorts in crin
that went crazy when his body became fused with the essence of chaos he found his way to the plane
of ooze and has been using magic to survive and if you find him he might teach you some unique spells
that he's created while here called the wall of mold or gelatinous servant or flush to slime
now the last para Elemental plane is the plane of smoke nestled between the plane of Fire and
Air the plane of smoke is not unlike the plane of air it's just full of hot toxic Vapors that swirl
about Solid Ground is rare and valuable vision is limited by the smoke and breathing is difficult a
big danger here are the explosive Pockets that can burst into flames sending waves of deadly
heat smoke methods are plentiful as well as some other creatures that have learned to live in the
toxic air and there is a section of the plane of smoke called cinderwood which is not a wood at
all it's a collection of cinders that range from golf ball size to Mountain size that float about
together and many creatures have made homes on these islands but they aren't terribly stable
for larger cities or villages another interesting location is the hidden city which is ruled by a
magical family that created and hid the city in the plain of smoke centuries ago although hidden
it can be found the city was originally intended to be secluded so the humans living there could
have their privacy but it has since become an Open Secret and it's a good place to rest and
resupply now you've probably noticed the circular Maps I've been showing which include a lot of the
other Realms next to these para Elemental planes and those are the quasi-elemental planes and
I'll have a video out next on those so please subscribe if you enjoy tabletop RPG lore like
this give a thumbs up if your party has gone to the elemental or the para Elemental planes and
thanks again Goodman games for sponsoring this video click the link in the description to be
taken to x-crawl Classics Kickstarter I played an extra crawl game online with World Builder
Bob and other friends and it was a lot of fun they'll be demoing it at Gen Con this year so
be sure to stop by the Goodman games booth and if you see me say hello because I'll be
a Jan con too thanks for watching everyone and I will see you all in the next video