Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse

[Silva]

So, no faction abilities.

It'll probably show up in some subsequent supplement. If at all. Shame.

 

[Erebus]

Faction abilities and disadvantages were hilariously unbalanced in the original Planescape. The Dead Truce, for instance, was crazily powerful (undead creatures can never attack a Dustman unless he attacks them first). And on the other hand, you have the Doomguards, who can only receive the benefits of healing magic if they fail a saving throw, something that's completely crippling in D&D.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Not to mention that members of the Bleak Cabal have a 5% chance each day of not being able to do anything, due to falling into a state of deep melancholia, unless another party member can convince them it's philosophically worthwhile.

 

[Silva]

Ok, I've read most of it at this point and found it good. Not exceptional but good.

Where it focus it's lens it's even better than the old box: Sigil and the Outlands are brimming with hooks, lists and paragraphs choking full of adventuring ideas, the sort of sandbox material you'd see from the old FR2e box, like:

-Town of Generica. Thriving fishing village run by mayor stockman who skins from the top of each passing caravan. Unknown to the villagers, a cavern under the town is full of hibernating Kuo-toa. Also, the local Wizard is A Zent spy.

Encounters specific to this town (roll 1d4):
1-
2-
etc.

The art is superb and moody, possibly the better Sigil was ever depicted (but I lov u too Diterlizzi). The adventure that comes with it is a good tour through the setting for novices, helps to communicate across it's weirdness, and also full of bits & pieces to be used elsewhere. The monster book is nice, and the exaggerated "Cant" from old edition is gone except in few parts. The factions were slightly reworked into something more playable and overall better.

My only gripes are:

1. PC options are weak. Not many races, backgrounds, etc. The lack of Faction powers is specially jarring considering they're so central to the setting. No more Dustman's Dead Truce or Doomguard's Entropy blades, etc.

2. No coverage of the great wheel at all. Not even superficial, like a page or so for each plane as in the old box. Nada. I understand the move as the planes are now covered by default in the 5e DMG, but still feels weird not having something here.

I don't ever run published adventures and so would prefer it didn't exist to give space for more PC options and planes coverage, in which case it would be the perfect PS edition for me. But I guess I'm in the minority so there's that. Anyway, I recommend this for new and old Planescape fans. The price is a bit steep here in Brazil though so maybe it's worth probing around or waiting for a sale.


P.S: the weird thing about lack of Faction abilities is that some Faction agents in the monster book come with them! That makes it pretty easy to adapt to faction PCs, but also raises the question: why the absence from the actual PC options? The only answer that comes to mind is money. They probably intend to release some supplement down the road. Sounds cheap if true, it should be present by default.

 

[Silva]

Forgot to say: the overall aesthetics is mildly changed. Not the quality of individual art pieces (which are better here IMO) but the overall mood the setting communicates: it feels more genre-neutral (generic? classical?) in comparison to the old edition's firmly Victorian London-like industrial, grimy, copperish rust vibes. It still got some industrial grime and decadence, but that feels more localized now (to the Lower, Hive wards, etc) and not a quality of the whole. Instead, Sigil feels more like this cosmopolitan elizabethan (weird) fantasy city now. I particularly prefer the old visual vibe, but don't dislike the new one.

OTOH it all feels less edgy and more sober (and the overused cant mostly gone), which is a positive in my book.

Overall it balances out for me, specially so because the changes are subtle / non-overt, but I understand it may be a point of contention for others.

 

[Erebus]

What is the bestiary like ? Does it actually make its monsters interesting or are they just a bunch of stats ?

 

[Silva]

What is the bestiary like ? Does it actually make its monsters interesting or are they just a bunch of stats ?

It gives creatures some context (couple or so paragraphs) plus stats. It also comes with a bunch of tables for generating encounters by alignment, type of creatures, etc. Shit like..

UNDEAD: Roll d4
1. The characters find a trapped crawling claw. Rather than attacking, the severed hand can lead the characters to the thankful immortal who lost it.
2. Citizens of the Hopeless gate-town entreat the characters to keep the gate-town hopeful enough that it doesn't fall into the Lower Plane.
Etc.

Also, lists for planar influence on PCs and creatures (for customizing them), like..

CARCERI:
Creatures appear as if they'd been imprisoned underground for a long period; their hair is matted, their nails or claws long and dirty, and they have marks as if they were bound by rope. A creature influenced by Carceri also gains one or more of following traits:

- Burden of Hopelessness. An invisible aura of hopelessness surrounds the creature. Any creature that starts its turn within 10 feet has its speed halved.

 

[Caim]

I gave the Gate Towns video a shot.



There's a few changes: there's now a fucking train station right by the gate if you enter Mechanus from Automata, Ecstasy has gone full in with its gaudy plinths, Faunel recentl yfell into the Beastlands entirely, Glorium is a lot friendlier to outsiders, Torch is now a haven for white collar crime and artists still don't draw Ribcage as described in the lore. A few names changed as well, but that's not a really major thing.

Verdict: Still remains to be seen.

 

[Silva]

Verdict: Still remains to be seen.

Nothing remains to be seen. Outlands & gate-towns are better depicted than ever, with governments, movers & shakers, local intrigue and great visuals. Besides being more playable out-of-box, with random tables to inspire adventures and encounters. And the fluff was changed (mostly) for the better/to be more playable, IMO. Same can be said for Sigil itself.

OTOH, the more I read it the more I miss the old edition's personality. Not game-breaking or anything but this tastes like any other vanilla fantasy location (only weirder with demons hugging angels at every corner) while the old one dripped with flavor and attitude. But then... that was the 90s. It's unfair asking nowadays art to equal the coolest era in human history. Dark Sun, Planescape, Shadowrun, WoD, Doom, Syndicate, Alpha Centauri, Deus Ex.
They set the bar too high.

 

[0wca]

there's now a fucking train station right by the gate if you enter Mechanus from Automata,

 

[RaggleFraggle]

12 Recruitment Posters for Sigil Factions:​

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/157...ction-recruitment-posters#recruitment-posters

Superb artwork. They seem to have tweaked the factions for better playability. Ending the (nonsensic) Xaositechs and the (stupid) Revolutionaries to give space for "Hands of Havoc" (liberate through chaos) is clever.

Odd that I didn’t see this before. Mind’s Eye? Huh, guess that means that the Faction War is still canon. But the Mercykillers still exist, so I guess their split didn’t last long…

 

[9ted6]

I miss 90s fantasy art so much.

 

[Caim]

12 Recruitment Posters for Sigil Factions:​

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/157...ction-recruitment-posters#recruitment-posters

Superb artwork. They seem to have tweaked the factions for better playability. Ending the (nonsensic) Xaositechs and the (stupid) Revolutionaries to give space for "Hands of Havoc" (liberate through chaos) is clever.

Odd that I didn’t see this before. Mind’s Eye? Huh, guess that means that the Faction War is still canon. But the Mercykillers still exist, so I guess their split didn’t last long…

Mind's Eye is a fusion of the Believers of the Source and the Sign of One, formed after the Faction War. The Hands of Havoc look like a mix of the Indeps, Revolutionary League and Xaositects. The Heralds of Dust are just the gender-neutral Dustmen. Adding them all up you still end up with the 15 Factions of yore.

And going by the Factol names this is before any Faction War happened, the most obvious indicator being that the Factol of the Fated is Duke Rowan Darkwood (with his archrival Erin Darkflame Montgomery leading the Sensates). Note that the people on the posters are not the Factols: we already know that Rhys of the Ciphers looks like how she did back in 2e, albeit... updated.

2e:

5e:

And before you ask: no, I don't know how the Mind's Eye came to be when the Faction War wasn't a thing.

 

[9ted6]

12 Recruitment Posters for Sigil Factions:​

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/157...ction-recruitment-posters#recruitment-posters

Superb artwork. They seem to have tweaked the factions for better playability. Ending the (nonsensic) Xaositechs and the (stupid) Revolutionaries to give space for "Hands of Havoc" (liberate through chaos) is clever.

Odd that I didn’t see this before. Mind’s Eye? Huh, guess that means that the Faction War is still canon. But the Mercykillers still exist, so I guess their split didn’t last long…

Mind's Eye is a fusion of the Believers of the Source and the Sign of One, formed after the Faction War. The Hands of Havoc look like a mix of the Indeps, Revolutionary League and Xaositects. The Heralds of Dust are just the gender-neutral Dustmen. Adding them all up you still end up with the 15 Factions of yore.

And going by the Factol names this is before any Faction War happened, the most obvious indicator being that the Factol of the Fated is Duke Rowan Darkwood (with his archrival Erin Darkflame Montgomery leading the Sensates). Note that the people on the posters are not the Factols: we already know that Rhys of the Ciphers looks like how she did back in 2e, albeit... updated.

2e:

5e:

And before you ask: no, I don't know how the Mind's Eye came to be when the Faction War wasn't a thing.

Put this comparison in the dictionary under Decline.

 

[Erebus]

And before you ask: no, I don't know how the Mind's Eye came to be when the Faction War wasn't a thing.

Few Planescape fans will regret the retcon of the Faction War. But it should have been retconned entirely : the Mind's Eye is a dumb fucking idea, especially since it replaces one of the best factions (the Believers of the Source).

 

[Caim]

And before you ask: no, I don't know how the Mind's Eye came to be when the Faction War wasn't a thing.

Few Planescape fans will regret the retcon of the Faction War. But it should have been retconned entirely : the Mind's Eye is a dumb fucking idea, especially since it replaces one of the best factions (the Believers of the Source).

Yeah, the Godsmen are all about shaping yourself into something greater while the Signers are all about that meme magic to shape the multiverse. Adding those two together you get a group that seeks to improve themselves by both shaping themselves and the multiverse around them... but why do both at the same time? The group's said to be all about finding personal enlightenment and self-discovery by finding the knowledge within, which sounds more like a mix of the Believers of the Source and the Guvners of all people. Guess the Ciphers aren't a fan of them either.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Yeah, WotC is not a good company to be handling this. The concept of factions is neat, but you need competent writers to write it well.

 

[Silva]

Yeah, WotC is not a good company to be handling this. The concept of factions is neat, but you need competent writers to write it well.

The Mind's Eye com from the TSR era, not WotC. It was introduced in the Faction War arc, which was ass and the new edition did well to retcon.

Btw, I have yet to see a bad change from a pure playability standpoint in the new edition. They trimmed the nonsensic factions and (slightly) reworked the reamining ones to the better. Believe me, Godsmen and Signers were cool in theory, but nobody played them in practice.

 

[Erebus]

Btw, I have yet to see a bad change from a pure playability standpoint in the new edition. They trimmed the nonsensic factions and (slightly) reworked the reamining ones to the better. Believe me, Godsmen and Signers were cool in theory, but nobody played them in practice.

I'm glad that the new edition got rid of the Xaositects, who were the stupidest faction in Planescape. And I guess I'm fine if the Sign of One is no longer there, because their philosophy was always a bit too vague. But Godsmen were pretty much the faction that suited adventurers the most ! Their philosophy was : face as many trials as you can and you'll become stronger, and perhaps eventually reach godhood.

Compared to the Athar (whose entire philosophy is focused on a purely religious question) and the Dustmen/Heralds of Dust (whose philosophy would only appeal to a limited number of people, and very few adventurers), they really shouldn't have been sacrificed.

 

[Silva]

But that's what the Mind's Eye are, Erebus. See their blurb:

"Mind's Eye
Who Grow to Godhood
Factol: Saladryn
Headquarters: Great Foundry
Aligned Plane: The Outlands
Members: Crafters, guides, wanderers
Epithet: Seekers"

So they are still basically 90% godsmen. Smiths from the Foundry crafting tools as a symbol of their own personal crafting towards godhood, etc. The advantage here is ditching the signers altogether, which was one of the nonsensic we talk above. It's a win-win.