Planar Renovation Project: Vacuum

For thread collection purposes, I'll reiterate here the suggestion I made on the original request thread.

A fairly wholesale "renovation" would be to reject Vacuum as a plane entirely. After all, why should negative Air be nothingness? Why isn't that true for all the rest of the elements? Instead, move Vacuum to be a region in each of the negative quasielemental planes. For each of the four, it becomes the region of absolute zero nothingness just before the Multiverse goes, horribly, incomprehensibly past nothing and in to the anti-existence of the Negative. Allow the Vacuum creatures like egarus to live in all of these regions, which are connected with lots of planar paths which might even be useful, if dangerous, for travelers. After all, elementally speaking, how could you even tell when you had gone from one a vacuum of one element to a vacuum of another?

This requires changes to the nearby planar arrangement. Replace Vacuum with Smoke as the negative Air quasielemental. The theme of Smoke becomes devitalization. As you head Negative from Air, breathing becomes harder. The air becomes polluted and stale. The glow that suffuses the Plane of Air slowly fades, and visibility is limited. In core Smoke there's plenty of air, but it doesn't support any creature that has to breathe. Going further Negative, the air pressure itself starts decreasing toward zero.

Replace Smoke with Lightning as the Fire/Air paraelemental. Replace Lightning as the positive Air quasielemental with the Plane of Thunder. (Note: there canonically is a lot of thunder on the Plane of Lightning, it's just that this sonic-oriented plane would skip the lightning, and be even louder.) You might want to reshuffle some creatures' powers and resistances to reflect this. If you leave various powers and resistances alone, everything is fine, though efreet might mock djinn about their affinities lying with a lesser paraelement. If you replace most resistances to electricity with resistances to sonic attacks, and a lot of electric powers with sonic, thing might get a little complicated but hopefully wouldn't be too much out of balance. Air being opposed to Earth, sonic effects as positive Air make a lot of sense -- sonic attacks like shatter damage crystalline beings, which takes direct aim at mineral creatures.

The Plane of Thunder would be something like this:

Going Positive from Air, the winds get more active, until you come to a plane where hurricanes and tornados rip across the endless sky. Whipcrack wavefronts of sonic booms hurtle invisibly from one part of the plane to another, sometimes expoding outward from a point for no visible reason, sometimes banging together or even collapsing inward on a brief moment of intense pressure that creates sonic jewels, air crystallized in the form of a sound node. Endless thunder shakes the atoms of everything in the plane; all objects not protected against sonic damage suffer 1d10-1 points per round, and living creatures with less than 5 points of sonic resistance must make Fort saves against deafness.

In addition to gyre mephits (from dust devils up to tornados) and invisible sound quasielementals, living songs roam the plane, which adventurous bards seek for magical effects, some paying with their hearing. There are places here where you can hear anything you want to hear, and you will. Floating effects of holy word, blasphemy, dictum and word of chaos drown out the other effects of the plane and are inhabited by beings of alignments that find them comfortable. Words equal in power but having nothing to do with alignments have been discovered here, like word of ransom, nickname, bon mot and mot juste. Ecumenical outposts of a surprising variety of religions feature mystics who believe that within the sound of the Thousand Thunders one can hear the voice that spoke Creation, or the words that Reality is telling us now, or the secret knowledge that makes gods.

To sleep...
...perchance to dream.
Aye, there's the rub. For in that sleep of death, what dreams?

This region of Vacuum is the Void in its aspect of deepest, dreamless sleep. Mortals (anyone who needs to sleep) who enter the place find that their bodily functions slow until they no longer need even to breathe. A Will or Fort save every round (use the character's better) is required against a DC that starts at 10 and increases by 1 for every round spent within Dreamless Rest; failure means the character falls asleep. Beings that do not sleep or are naturally immune to magical sleep effects are unaffected -- though they will need to breathe.

Sleep in this place is a comfort to those afflicted with insanity, nightmares, or other mental troubles. Even dreams are muted here, and it is not possible to enter the Ethereal or summon creatures from the Ethereal from within these boundaries. Natural healing is very slow, just a single hit point a day, and it takes a week to move up a bodily tiredness level (exhausted to fatigued, fatigued to rested) but creatures have negligible need for food and water and can remain here for long periods in near-stasis. Doing so can provide new saving throws against ongoing mental afflictions, so a small group of elvish healers in Sigil has been using the place, located just recently, in an attempt to cure Pandemonium's wind-madness. Patients who have been woken up may indeed have regressed through some of the stages, but testing is still in progress. It's also necessary to protect the sleeping patients, for which they've been hiring elves and a few other unsleeping swordarms. Some of the more virulently insane patients have disappeared, and the docs aren't sure how, or even if the berks are still alive somewhere.

DM's dark:

Snipped, because I decided not to be so snippy.

Was the "Ending Story" a reference to "The Little Prince"?

Right, The Neverending Story. My Aoskar myth was a reference to The Little Prince, though (it's why I gave Aoskar a flower as a companion).

My air genasi wizard had a whole list of vacuum spells I was going to have him researching as character color, until I realized that as equipment went, new spells that were balanced against other spells weren't much of an investment of several thousand gp. However, I still have the list, so here you go!

(This list hasn't been playtested, so buyer beware.)

Devitalize Air
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 5, Drd 6
Components: V, S, M
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Effect: 20-ft. radius spherical or hemispherical region of atmosphere
Duration: Instantaneous; see text
Saving Throw: special; suffocation check
Spell Resistance: No

You cause a volume of atmosphere in a 20-foot radius to become incapable of supporting life. Nonmagical flames in the area immediately die. A successful Spellcraft check to identify this spell allows someone to warn comrades in time to hold their breath. (If this spell is just being introduced to the campaign, this Spellcraft check may be impossible, or unusually difficult.)

Air-breathing creatures who do not have the benefit of such forewarning within the area of effect must make Constitution checks as if for suffocation, with the DC starting at the DC of your spell. Creatures who leave the affected area before falling unconscious are unharmed; a creature who exits the area immediately during their next turn after this spell is cast suffers no effect.

Plants are not affected by this spell unless the caster wishes to affect plants; they may choose to affect only plants (and not fires), or may increase the spell's level by 1 and affect both plants and regular air-breathing creatures (and fires). Few casters realize this flaw and option exist!

Purify air counters and dispels devitalize air. A strong wind will reduce the radius of effect to 10 feet in one round and disperse the effect in two; outside, the effect disperses in 10 minutes even on a calm day. In a confined space, such as underground, the devitalized air may last a long time.

Arcane material component: A sealed vial in which a flame used up the oxygen.

Inhale
Abjuration
Level: Sor 3, Wiz 4
Components: S
Casting Time: immediate action
Range: personal
Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

As an immediate action, upon being attacked by a breath weapon or airborne effect, you may cast this spell and attempt to rapidly inhale the entire attack -- even such odd breath weapons as a cone of fire or line of lightning. This prevents the attack from having any effect anywhere in its area.

If the attack or effect had a saving throw, you must make a Concentration check upon casting this spell, against a DC equal to the saving throw. If not, you need not make the Concentration check. Success, or not requiring a check, means that you contain the effect in a tightly packed form inside your body. If not, you suffer the effect in its strongest possible form -- for instance, a breath weapon would do maximum damage, or you would automatically fall asleep for the maximum duration, or so forth.

If you succeed in containing the effect, during your next turn you must expel the material again. Treat this as a breath weapon attack with a save DC equal to a spell of Inhale's level for you; you are outside the area of effect. If the original effect did not have a particular area, it becomes a 15 foot cone.

You may use this spell in normal atmosphere, in which case you produce a pair of gust of wind effects lasting a single round in a 15 foot cone, first toward you and then away from you.

Inhale, Deep
Level: Sor 6, Wiz 7
Duration: 1 round/2 levels
Saving Throw: Fort or Ref; see text
Spell Resistance: Yes

This spell is like inhale except as noted above, and with the following additional effects. You may maintain the inhalation effect for up to 1 round per 2 caster levels before exhaling all inhaled materials at once, and you need not exhale immediately upon ceasing to inhale, until the spell's duration is up. For effects inhaled more than once, increase the save DC by 2 per additional effect of the same sort. You may attempt to inhale gaseous creatures, or Fine or smaller creatures, or swarms thereof, at the rate of one 5 foot square per round; you exhale crushed bodies, with no particular effect. Fine creatures get a Fortitude save to avoid the effect; swarms get a Ref save. Gaseous creatures are not harmed by being inhaled, and it is dangerous to inhale them; they make make Fort saves to escape their confinement each round, and if they do, they deal their HD in damage to you as they escape, plus any contact damage such as fire or acid. This subjects you to all other effects inhaled, releases the effects in a 10-foot burst, and ends the spell.

No breath
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 5, Clr 5, Drd 5
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Creature touched
Duration: 10 min./level
Saving Throw: Will (harmless)
Spell Resistance: Yes

You, or a creature you touch, no longer needs to breathe for the duration of the spell. You cannot suffocate or be choked, and your saving throws against airborne poisons have a +10 bonus.

(This classic Planescape 2e spell seems to have missed being converted!)

Purify Air
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 1, Clr 0, Drd 0, Brd 0, Rgr 1, Pal 1
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Effect: 20-ft. radius spherical or hemispherical region of atmosphere
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: No
Spell Resistance: No

You clear a 20-foot region of atmosphere of mundane pollutants, such as smoke or nonmagical poison, and render it fresh and breathable. You can make a dispel check against lingering spells or supernatural effects like cloudkill or a breath weapon, as if you had cast dispel magic.

Vacuum bubble
Evocation
Level: Sor/Wiz 3
Components: V, S, M
Casting time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Effect: 20-ft. radius hemisphere or sphere
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Ref negates, Fort partial
Spell Resistance: No

You force all gases out of a hemispherical volume (spherical, if high above ground), with various effects. This instantly extinguishes all nonmagical fires in the region and does damage to fiery creatures equal to the contact fire damage they normally do to other creatures. Gaseous creatures may make a Ref save to escape the region or "ride" the expulsion; remaining in the region does 1d8 damage per round to them. Flying creatures who require air to stay aloft fall to the bottom of the region. Any breathing creature who remains in the region must hold their breath. When the spell ends, inrushing air does 1d4 bludgeoning damage to all creatures within and the clap may deafen creatures within, with a Fort save DC of 10.

Research is ongoing into a combination of devitalize air and vacuum bubble to product a backdraft effect; so far, nothing much more spectacular than a pyrotechnics spell has been achieved.

Vacuum burst
Evocation
Level: Sor/Wiz 0
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Effect: 10-ft. radius hemisphere
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fort
Spell Resistance: Yes

You momentarily force atmosphere out of a 10-foot bubble, with various small effects. This extinguishes flames of candle-sized or smaller and has a 50% chance to extinguish torch-sized flames or lanterns. Flying creatures briefly lose any Dexterity bonus to AC. Gaseous and fiery creatures are dealt 1d4 damage, which a Fort save may halve. The clap of inrushing air at the end of the spell may break the concentration of spellcasters, who must make a Concentration check.

Vacuum welding
Conjuration
Level: Sor/Wiz 3
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Target: 1 creature with metal armor or body, or 1 complex metal object
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fort negates, or Will negates (object)
Spell Resistance: Yes

You force even the tiniest atoms of air out of the joins in between the metal parts of a complex object, causing a curious, heatless welding effect. If you target armor or a held object, the wearer or wielder can make a Will roll to negate the effect; if you target a creature with metal parts to its body, it may make a Fortitude save.

If armor is welded, it hampers movement, giving a penalty to attack rolls, AC, and Reflex saves equal to the armor bonus of the base material. The wielder moves at half normal speed, which does not stack with slow.

If a complex metal object is welded, its parts do not move, which will affect its functionality as the GM judges.

If a creature with a partially metal body suffers this spell, and its skin is its metal portion, it suffers the effect of welded armor, using its natural armor bonus + 3. If its internal workings are also metal, it also suffers 3d8 damage +1/level (max +15).

Armor effects and damage to complex metal objects last until the object is repaired by a skilled craftsman; in the case of a metal creature, the armor effect lasts until the damage is repaired.

Material component: a tiny pair of attached magnets.