Hey, first poster here. I've DMed planescape for ages, but most of my material is homebrew. Once I get the money, I'll probably invest in some old material, but this gets me by for now. Anywho, this is one of my demiplanes I recently created. It's probably odd for a first poster to do this, but hey, I wanted to get some feedback. *crosses fingers*
Oh, and I hope this it the right forum for this.
Ruvanna (elven for “dream forest”)
Description:
The entire plane appears to be a forest encased in fog. Closer exploration shows that the ground closely resembles the color of dirt and has a slight give to it, but cannot be moved. The trees have relatively little limbs until about 50ft up where they suddenly sprout out into a dense canopy which blocks out any possible view above them.
With enough exploration, it is possible to find clearings where the trees don’t sprout from the ground. Here you can see the sky. The sky closely resembles a night sky on the prime material plane but without any stars. There are also continual fluctuations of light which closely resemble aurora borealis across the entire sky.
Though the name for the plane is "dream forest" in elven, the plane itself has little to do with dreams or even elves.
Time:
Normal
Morphic Traits:
The plane is static and nothing native to the plane can be changed. Note that the fog is not native.
Light:
There is a slight glow to the fog which illuminates the surroundings to the equivalent of moonlight. This illumination increases underneath the open sky.
Planar Limits:
It is nearly impossible to tell the extent of the plane. The borders of the plane slowly shift and churn like a moving amoeba. These edges are completely undistinguishable and even the trees somehow look continuous across these borders. The plane is wrapped so walking through a border will place someone at another edge of the plane, but not necessarily the one directly across. The only place that is continually stable is a circular space with a radius roughly 1 mile around the well. Navigation is impossible outside of this radius.
Location:
Ruvanna is a traveling plane. When not traveling it is considered coterminous to one plane. While it is coterminous to that plane, it is possible to planeshift to Ruvanna from the plane it is coterminous to. The duration that Ruvanna remains still is seemingly random and lasts anywhere from 1 month to several decades. While traveling, Ruvanna is unreachable by any means short of a wish. Traveling from one plane to another takes 1 decade.
Portals:
If any portals exist on this plane, they must be one way and cannot lead out of Ruvanna.
The main entrance is through a small "rift" in the plane. From the Ruvanna side, it appears to be a simple circular well formed of stacked rocks. The rift opening is at ground level inside the well. The fog pours out from the well. This well is the only path out of Ruvanna. While coterminous to a plane, it is possible to see through this rift to a specific point on that plane. The entire time that Ruvanna is coterminuos to a plane, this point remains in the same place. From the other side, the rift appears to be a two dimensional window hovering roughly 5 feet in the air. It is possible to see Ruvanna from this side also.
While traveling, this rift disappears and only the solid ground appears at the bottom of the well.
Magic Traits:
Divination spells will return complete gibberish and are effectively nullified. Vision like detect spells will show a kaleidoscope of colors and sound like clairaudience will only return a hiss (like a radio between stations). Conjuration spells also do not work. Summoning spells will summon an equivalent creature from within the plane. If no equivalent exists, which is more than likely, then it will fail. This is all due to the magic of the plane wrapping in on itself and is the same reason there are no portals leading out of Ruvanna.
Illusion spells are automatically extended, heightened by 4 levels (note that this changes the save DC), and the caster level improves by 4. Underneath the open sky of the plane, these numbers increase to 8.
Whenever someone casts an illusion spell, they must immediately make a will save against the illusion DC (note any heightened effects). Failure results in the illusion breaking away from the casters control and the caster immediately takes 1d6 Intelligence, 1d6 Wisdom and 1d6 Charisma damage. An illusion that has broken control now has a duration that is permanent and the caster no longer makes any decisions for the illusion. Instantaneous spells repeat the effect at the beginning of each round. Targeted spells change target at random to another viable target within range Any illusion of something that has the capability of moving can do so at a movement rate of 30ft. Personal spells will essentially create an illusion of yourself under the effect. For example, a blur spell will create a blurry illusion of you that walks around.
Once a spell has broken free it acts normally as if it weren’t an illusion. Spells that were personal will actually mimic the caster. No matter how many uncontrolled illusions there are, it never seems to be crowded and a vast majority of the forest is still empty due to the plane's constant shifting.
Any uncontrolled illusion can be dispelled by beating a caster level of 10 + minimum level to cast the spell + 4 (or for plane effects.
Specific examples of spells effected.
Weird/Phantasmal killer/Nightmare: Creates an illusion that everyone sees as their worst nightmare. These are actually the biggest danger of this plane and one of the illusions that will attack without being provoked. These nightmare illusions move around the plane and either affect one person at a time (phantasmal killer/nightmare, one target 30 ft away from the actual illusion) or affect people within a radius (weird, anyone within 30ft).
Invisibility Spells: These do not require a save and will not break away. These are also not effective against any uncontrolled illusions of the plane.
Simulacrum: Casting this spell does double the ability damage when you fail the saving throw. You also pay twice the amount of experience. The result is a disturbingly close duplicate of the caster. The illusion retains nearly all of the casters memories up until the casting of the spell. These illusions do not always realize what they are which can sometimes lead to a great amount of hysteria.
Dream: This spell does not function
False Vision: This spell does not require a save and will not break away
Illusory Script: Causes an illusion duplicate of the book.
Misdirection: This spell does not require a save and will not break away
Magic Mouth: Will trigger anytime and also move. Moving mouths tend to say anything and somehow always seem to know a little about the caster who created them.
Mirage Arcana: Due to this spell, the terrain of Ruvanna can occasionally change from the usual monotony. Anything from deep imaginary chasms to vast sunlit castles can appear along the way.
People of the plane: Ruvanna Lunacy
Due to the traveling nature of Ruvanna, it is possible for an intrepid adventurer to get stuck in Ruvanna for a decade. 10 Years of not knowing what is real will easily break and mind. Everyone with Ruvanna lunacy tends to think everything is an illusion. Ruvanna Lunacy has taken any form from untrusting and twitchy to maddened murderer.
Places on the plane:
Mirage Manor- This large house is speculated to either be real, or just a very good illusion. It is continually on the shifting borders of the plane, so finding it is always just a lucky chance. People who have seen it describe it as a relatively large house sitting in the center of one of the plane’s many clearings. The house is completely furnished and provides a good place to stay since illusions tend to stay away from it. Something always seems unsettling about the house but no one has died or reported any physical evidence of problems. Some think that there is an intelligence to the plane that is centered in this house which controls all of the “uncontrolled” illusions.
Adventure hooks:
-Find a magic mouth created by your enemy to see if it will say a weakness or truename
-Rescue someone who has been gone for several decades and now Ruvanna is coterminous to some other plane like the Abyss
-Ruvanna appeared next to a local town and several adventurers emerged with Ruvanna Lunacy
-Find out if there is really intelligence in the Mirage Manor before an army of nightmares pour out on an unsuspecting plane
You said the well is the only path out of the plane, does that means its the only possible way out, or just the only naturally occuring way out? (Aka, can you planeshift out?)
All in all, interesting. However, there seems very little reason to go there willingliy. However, it sounds like the perfect place for someone to be sent 'on accident'.
But I must admit, I like the idea of the PC's having to track down and find a specific uncontrolled magic mouth spell to learn the true name of some evil mage who was stuck there, long ago.
And wellcome to the forums! (clouds of confetti burst into the air, trumpets sound, and a bunch of dabus show up to clean the mess)