Two New Creature Types and a Cosmology

[The Shadow]

I dithered about whether to put this in Rules or Settings... What I'm basically trying to do is unravel some of the *implicit* setting assumptions in D&D (and by extension, True20), the assumptions embedded in mechanics, and replacing them with different ones that please me. I'm glad to hear what others think!

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SPIRIT

A spirit does not exist in the physical universe at all, not even "incorporeally"; they interact with the physical realm solely through supernatural powers. Some Spirits may be the souls of once-living beings, but others are beings that have never had nor needed a body. If a distinction is desired, the former are called Souls, as opposed to Spirits.

Features: Spirits have the following features:

Toughness: Spirits neither have nor need Toughness, unless the Narrator rules that a Psychic Weapon can harm a Scrying focus. In that case, their Toughness is equal to their Wisdom. Otherwise, Spirits can only take damage from Psychic Blast, which makes no reference to Toughness.

Combat: Spirits have a combat score equal to half their level. (They need this only for aiming powers that require an attack roll. They add their Int to combat rather than Dex.)

Saves: Good Will saves. Spirits neither have nor need Fortitude saves; they need Reflex saves only to avoid Widened mental powers. (They use Int rather than Dex to add to Reflex.)

Skills: Spirits receive 2 + Int starting skills at 1st level, and 2 + Int skill points each level thereafter, or by heroic role. There aren't many skills that Spirits need.

Feats: Spirits begin with one feat at first level and gain additional feats every third level. These feats may be selected from any category. Spirits may choose a supernatural power in place of a feat, and treat their creature level as their adept level in using such powers. All Spirits gain the Mind Touch power as a bonus feat. (Most spirits that interact with physical characters will also have Scrying.) They can buy the Apparition ability Malevolence as if it were a supernatural power.

Traits: Spirits possess the following traits.

No Physical Attributes: A Spirit has no Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution. They "get around" the physical world solely through Scrying. One may want to record the physical attributes Souls had in life, though - see below.

Nonlethal Only: About the only way to damage a Spirit is with Psychic Blast. Even if the Narrator rules that Psychic Weapon and/or Ghost Touch works on a Scrying focus, though, all damage is taken as nonlethal. Spirits cannot die. (About the only way to get rid of them in some approximation of "for good" is to use Mind Shaping to wipe their memories of the people and places you want them to be gone from - or to alter their personalities.)

Wisdom-based Recovery: Spirits make Recovery checks using their Wisdom. However, the recovery period for unconsciousness may be longer - sometimes much longer - than for physical beings. One day to one week is typical. During that time they are not really "unconscious" - that would be the same as ceasing to exist, for them - but they are unable to use any powers, nor to have powers used on them. (Save perhaps by Spirits of higher level.) For the Spirit, this is basically sensory deprivation, and extremely unpleasant.

Immunity to all effects that imply having a body. Poison, disease, critical hits, stunning, anything requiring a Fortitude save, and so forth.

Mental Fatigue: Spirits take Fatigue penalties to Int and Wis rather than Str and Dex.

Mental Touch: For Spirits, mental contact counts as touching someone. This also works the other way around, though many touch attacks are meaningless against Spirits. (Drain Vitality DOES work on them, though.)

Emotionless: Spirits do not have emotions in the sense that corporeal beings understand the term. That doesn't mean they are cold or indifferent (both of those are emotions too); they just operate in a very different way, not having glands. They are immune to Heart Reading and Heart Shaping. Souls needn't have this trait, especially if recently deceased.

As an option, the Narrator may permit Spirits to buy a power called "Manifestation", similar to the Apparition trait of the same name. This turns their Scrying focus into an incorporeal being, with Dex equal to the Spirit's Int and Toughness equal to the Spirit's Wis. A further power called "Full Manifestation" causes the manifestation to become physical, with Str equal to the Spirit's Cha. In either case, destroying the manifestation does not harm the Spirit in any way; it is more a vehicle than a body. Both powers are Fatiguing; Manifestation requires Maintenance, while Full Manifestation requires Concentration. (Full Manifestation takes the place of Scrying, so the Spirit doesn't need to Concentrate on both at once.)

While Manifested, Spirits are immune to physical non-lethal damage, and take physical lethal damage as non-lethal. In general, a Manifestation may look however the Spirit likes, though a Soul will invariably take on the appearance it had in life (or at the moment of death).

Souls may instead Manifest and Full Manifest with the physical attributes they had in life.

As another option, trying to get a Spirit's attention by its name may count as Mind Touch at the +20 level, or +15 if an appropriate sacrifice is made. This works even if the person doesn't have Mind Touch; treat them as having zero ranks, and apply their Charisma. Multiple people can Aid each other in such a summoning.

Spirits should probably not be tricked out with extra traits in their non-manifested forms. There aren't different "species" of Spirits (other than the distinction between pure Spirits and Souls), there's just Spirits of different levels, feat and skill choices, and psychological hangups (see Subtypes, below). Feel free to go wild with traits for Manifested forms, though.

Advancement: Spirits advance by creature type. Souls may have levels of heroic roles from their lifetime, but cannot gain new levels in them.

Subtypes:

Genius Loci: Whether through punishment by another (via Mind Shaping) or by a mental quirk of its own, this Spirit is limited to Scrying on a particular area - one forest, one mountain, one city, or even one house, one pebble, or one blade of grass. It cannot scry on individuals, nor use Mind Touch on physical beings save through its Scrying. In some cases, the senses it may use through Scrying may be restricted - for some "nature spirits", only to Nature Reading and perhaps Sense Minds. Particularly powerful Genii Loci may only be restricted to particular kinds of phenomena - fires, clouds, cities in general, all animals of a certain species, or even "people in love". Such Spirits may be regarded by some cultures as gods. (While a little more limited than full-blown Spirits, they also have more reason to be involved.)

Possessor: Again, either through punishment or some mental quirk, this Spirit can only sense the physical world through the senses of a being it has possessed through Malevolence; such Spirits should not have Scrying. If not possessing *something*, it cannot interact with the physical world in any way. Some Possessors may even lack Mind Touch (and the Mental Touch trait); in this case, touch through a possessed body counts as "touch" and "present Familiarity".

Some Possessors may be even more restricted - only able to possess a particular family or type of person, for example.

[I'll briefly add that the Spirit creature type suggests a new kind of magic, too. Let adepts buy psychic-type powers *that only work on spirits*. Then let them bargain or compel favors from Spirits to get magical things done. If an adept has a particularly close bond with a Spirit with a particular power, let him buy that power with a feat... though be aware that other adepts can try to undermine his power by attacking the Spirit in question! Powerful adepts might even Mind Shape Spirits into Genii Loci focused directly on them! "I'm the only game in town for you now, kid..."]

[If you want to get really interesting, you could even do away with the adept entirely, and have summoners be Experts who use Fascinate, Suggestion, and Mass Suggestion on Spirits! Knowledge (supernatural) (or even Connected! Or a spiritual version of Gather Information!) to find out appropriate names and sacrifices; summoning (without Mind Touch, as above); then interaction skills and Expert feats all the way.]

[Yet another option: Let ordinary, living Adepts with Scrying buy Manifestation and even Full Manifestation! Wild. It would really suit a lot of legends... Though note that Manifested Adepts don't get all the perks of being a Spirit. I'll have to work the details out later.]

[The Shadow]

Now for the other creature type I mentioned:

Power

A Power is a Spirit that has been forced (as usual, either by Mind Shaping or some personal reason) to be permanently Manifested, and to interact only through its Manifestation. Practically speaking, the result is a physical being with supernatural powers and very little in the way of biology. This creature type is meant to replace the Elemental, Fey, Outsider, and Undead creature types. (An intelligent Undead is just a Power that is a Soul, rather than a Spirit. Mindless Undead are just Constructs made from corpses.) Conceivably, it could also replace the Aberration, Dragon, and Supernatural Beast types, and indeed "weird" creatures of any existing type. (Treants, for example, are very likely to be Powers, not Plants.)

Powers are more accustomed to their bodies than pure Spirits. Therefore they have Strength and Dexterity distinct from their mental ability scores. They still lack Constitution, and do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe (though they can if they wish to, and often enjoy it). They still use Wisdom in place of Constitution for Toughness and recovery checks, though they can now take lethal damage. If destroyed, they cannot be raised from the dead; the body was "all in the Spirit's mind", not really alive at all, and now it's gone.

A great many supernatural powers can be given a very "natural" (pardon the pun) explanation for Powers. For example, perhaps the Spirit in question retains the ability to move its (Manifested) Scrying focus around; for all practical purposes, that's the Teleport power. Perhaps it retains the ability to turn its Full Manifestation back to an incorporeal one; that's the Phase power. Perhaps it retains the ability to adjust what its Manifestation looks like; that's Self-Shaping. Thus, even if such powers are denied to regular adepts, they may well be allowed for Powers.

Most if not all fantastic monsters can be explained as Powers; this "Grand Unified Theory" appeals to me. Of course, since Spirits cannot be created or destroyed, the question arises how new critters get "born" - where do dragon eggs come from? There are two possible explanations. First: There ARE no dragon eggs, or even species of dragons, just unique individuals of various sizes and some common themes. Or, second, there are, and manifesting oneself throughout the draconic life cycle, egg and all, is part of the package for the Spirits in question. When you die of "old age", you're free and can go back to a regular Spirit life. But if you want to do away with "monster ecology", Powers are the way to do it. They don't *have* to eat at all, for example! (And those eggs don't necessarily have to come from a mommy dragon and a daddy dragon, either.)

How about the legendary cases of Powers mating with humans (or other "normal" beings)? Something pretty odd is clearly going on there. Perhaps, as in the legends of faerie, a Power who mates with a human becomes a Soul in a more ordinary body. In that case both the parent and the child may be some intermediate form; a creature type I don't have time to work up today. :) (The existing "Monstrous Humanoid" might work fine. Drop the term "Monstrous", though - "Supernatural" might be better.)

Features:

Toughness: Equal to Wisdom, modified by size and armor. For tougher Powers, make it equal to Will save against physical damage. (Still just Wisdom against mental damage.)

Combat: 3/4 level if they have the Will-save Toughness; such Powers aren't quite as acclimated to being "bodily". Full level if they have Wisdom-based Toughness.

Saves: Good Will. The more-acclimated (ie, Wisdom-based Toughness) also have good Reflex. Powers neither have nor need a Fortitude save; they are utterly immune to anything requiring one.

Skills: 4 + Int starting skills, 4 + Int skill points per level thereafter.

Feats: The usual: One at first level, one every third level. Any category, and can trade in for supernatural powers. Feel free to give them bonus feats and powers to taste. Weapon Training and Armor Training seem like popular choices.

Traits: Most have already been summarized above.

No Constitution

Immunity to all Fortitude-based attacks, critical hits, and anything else implying having a true living body.

Wisdom-based Recovery: As above, though the recovery time will often be the standard one, rather than the longer Spirit one. It'll depend on the exact nature of the Power. Also note that Cure may or may not work on Powers, depending on how they are viewed as working in the campaign; Imbue Life definitely doesn't.

Emotionless: As above. Again, undead needn't have it. The more-acclimated needn't, either.

Do note that Powers aren't limited to having flesh-and-blood bodies; there's no reason why they can't be Gaseous Form or Incorporeal or what have you. Fast Healing is fairly common for them. Cure may or may not work on them, depending on how the power is viewed to work. (If it works in different ways in different traditions of magic, some adepts may be able to Cure them and others not.) It may also work on some subtypes differently than others. (Remember, a Power's body is "all in its mind". If IT thinks Cure can work on it, it probably can. :) It's also possible to have a specialized power, "Cure (Power)". See the following paragraph; Cure can work like mental powers.

[Further note that the Narrator may rule that ordinary mental powers don't work on Spirits and Powers, only on ordinary sapient beings. It may require specialized powers to affect them: "Sense Minds (Spirits)", "Mind Touch (Spirits)" and so on. But this is not required! In some campaigns, Spirits and Powers may be as easily affected by mental powers as anyone else. Really, why bother to make "Undead" immune to mental powers if you want them to be controlled by elder vampires and evil clerics anyway? Also, as mentioned above, in some campaigns, the "ordinary" versions of mental powers may not exist, only the Spirit ones! In my opinion, just for the record, it may take specialized powers to affect animals and other non-sapient beings too. So a druid has "Dominate (Animal)" not "Dominate (Sapient)". Yes, this does suggest a "Sapient" creature type that would replace Humanoid - there's already the (poorly-named) science-fiction precedent of "Prime Sentient". I don't see much reason to get all excited about the human shape; it's the mind that really matters.]

Advancement: By creature type or by heroic role. Heroic role is favored especially by the more acclimated and/or intelligent Powers. Powers that advance in a heroic role and return to being pure Spirits retain the benefits of their roles, just as Souls do. (They also convert their Power levels over to Spirit levels, of course.)

Subtypes: Here's where the fun begins.

Elemental: They of course have a body composed of some pure "element". Some of them may not actually be permanently Manifested, but only constrained to Manifest in elemental form when they do; the "Elemental Plane of Fire" may be nothing more than a non-spatial "corner" of the spirit realm where these Powers hang out when they aren't Manifesting on the "Material Plane". However, I prefer a different explanation for the "elemental planes"; see Cosmology, below.

It's important to note that much as a human body is constantly changing its physical components, with only the basic shape remaining, so also an earth Elemental (say) isn't bound to use the same clump of earth all the time. This is how they move through the earth the way they do... they're just moving their "shape" along through different patches of earth.

Nature abhors a vacuum, but it appears to be possible for a Power to have a "body" made of nothingness, shoving aside the otherwise seamless fabric of the four elements. These are the Void Elementals.

Whereas Aether Elementals are simply Powers in an undifferentiated incorporeal form. No real "body" at all. They're *almost* pure Spirits, but they have to keep manifesting themselves - and can't manifest fully.

Fey: They usually take humanoid form, of course, though I'd be tempted to call unicorns, treants, and other "sylvan" creatures fey as well. Fey are more likely even than elementals to be "slumming" on the Material Plane; the land of Faerie has all the hallmarks of being a facet of the spirit realm. See the discussion of cosmology, below. According to legend, some Fey may be Souls, though most are full Spirits.

Undead: These are Manifested Souls, not Spirits. Note that Souls that are not Powers should probably not be called Undead, just dead. :) (Many apparitions would go in this category.) What sets the Undead apart is that they "can't move on" - they are trapped in a Manifested form (whether corporeal or incorporeal) until released in some way. (By destruction or by resolving whatever psychological problem kept them around in the first place. "Create Spawn" is nothing more than the ability to GIVE someone a suitable psychological problem as they die...) The "Undead" subtype should probably be applied to corpse-Constructs, too, just to keep things like Purifying Light happy. Undead should usually be the "less acclimated" kind of Power, though exceptions are possible.

Some "undead" may be corpses being animated (*not* manifested) by Spirits (which need not be Souls). Treat these as corpse-Constructs with their "masters" able to give them detailed orders from any distance. Strictly speaking, the Spirit is using something like Manipulate Object (perhaps a new power called Animate is required, actually - or perhaps Malevolence will do the trick, the magic on the human end being needed to make the construct an appropriate vessel), but if it's a habitual thing, I don't see a need to require power checks and so on. This goes for other animated objects as well; "intelligent" constructs may be nothing more than mindless constructs with Spirits bound to guide them. The difference between such a construct and a Power is that the construct is two beings, not one! If you drive off the Spirit, the construct goes inert, but could conceivably be animated again, by the same Spirit or a new one.

Note that the D&Dism of Cure "Harming" Undead and vice versa doesn't apply with this creature type. Harm requires a Fort save, and these Undead are immune! If you want to create a power like Harm that requires a Will save, though, you can use that if you really want to. (I recommend against it - just have Cure not work on Undead, save for a specialized "Cure (Undead)" power.)

Note further that on the model of soul and body used here, reincarnation will not happen automatically or accidentally. If it happens at all, someone has to DO it to you. Someone (probably a very powerful spirit) has to Mind-Shape you to change your *fundamental identity and body-image*, in the process erasing most if not all of your memories, then "attach" you to a newborn body. Some spirits (ie, the ones taken as "gods") may be interested in doing this, others not. So people in an "Indian" culture may be routinely reincarnated (with ghosts and undead being bureaucratic oversights or punishments), while those in a "European" culture may not be. A sufficiently good Mind Shaping check might bring back hazy memories of past lives.

Where do Souls come from? Good question. No conceivable (ie, finite) force can destroy them, and no conceivable (ie, finite) force can create them, either. Either Souls have existed for all "time" in the Spirit Realm (see Cosmology, below) as blank slates before being attached to a waiting body, or else they are created from nothing when needed by an inconceivable (ie, infinite) force. Or it's possible that Souls are "crippled" spirits, more crippled even than Powers. To turn it around, full Spirits may be "ascended" Souls, Souls that have overcome attachment to matter. Or all these explanations might be true in varying degrees in a given campaign.

I suppose if Souls can be Souls from the "beginning", Powers can too. They don't have to be "crippled Spirits", though I like the possibility of Spirits *being* crippled into them.

Outsider: The true "celestials" and "fiends" and so forth are pure Spirits, that manifest bodies if they feel like it. However, in keeping with legend, there may be "celestial" and "fiendish" beings with actual bodies, too; these are Powers, usually the more-acclimated kind. (In real-world European legend, though, "celestial Powers" are almost unheard of. Angels do not have that kind of hangup. :) Though some said the fey were "demoted angels", some of whom would return to Heaven on Judgement Day, so you never know.) If other Material Planes (or planets) exist, there may even be odd-looking sapient critters who are completely "sold out" to one side or another. (ie, Virtue or Vice aligned.) If such a creature appears on (our) Material Plane, it'll have real flesh, blood, and so on... This helps explain the otherwise-silly D&D tradition of demons being "born" on planes of the Abyss, and so on.

By the way, you needn't invoke the legend (mostly of fey) I mentioned above, of Powers mating with humans, to explain "children of demons". There is a more ugly possibility, explored by real-world theologians of the Middle Ages. A pure Spirit could manifest a "female" body and have sex with a man, thereby obtaining sperm. It could then manifest a "male" body and have sex with a woman, transferring that sperm. En route, of course, the sperm could be magically corrupted in any number of ways, producing any number of delightful effects in the (fully material and sapient) offspring. :P

If the demons want *really* corrupted offspring, they'll want eggs to magically influence, too. Why do you suppose they prefer sacrifices of young women? :P It's quite conceivable that sex with another human being could change a person spiritually, too, so even the traditional "virgin sacrifice" may be preferable.

Avatar: Some Powers may be compelled to take on the form of an otherwise ordinary member of a sapient species. They'll have the stats and feats of a typical member of their "adopted" species... they'll just be unusually hard to kill and may have access to supernatural powers where an "ordinary" sapient wouldn't. They're prime epic-hero material, in other words. Relax the restrictions a little bit more, and you've basically got a demigod. (Now that I think of it, Avatar might make a good choice for "children of Powers and humans".) Some Avatars - the more traditional use of the word, in fact - may simply be manifesting Spirits, not Powers.

What creature types do we have left? Animals, Vermin (which is really a subtype of Animal, when you get down to it), Supernatural Beasts (ditto), Sapients, Supernatural Sapients (which are really a subtype of Sapients), Plants (which I'd replace with a set of "autotrophic" traits to be put on any of the preceding - and, as noted, some "Plants" become Fey), Powers with various subtypes, and Spirits. (Which can have the Soul subtype.) Oh, and Constructs. (Which I would give half-level in combat, personally - in every legendary/fantastic source I can think of, constructs are lumbering types.) An Animated Object is just a Construct plus a Spirit (or Soul), which is probably worth a subtype. (Some Animated Objects are just objects moved with Manipulate Object or the equivalent, but I don't think that counts as a "creature".)

Which type you put an existing critter into depends on taste. Illithids could be interpreted as Supernatural Sapients or Powers, for example. It all depends on how much biology you want them to have. Given that they *eat brains* and I like the idea of them implanting larvae in people, I favor Supernatural Sapient. Probably they're from some other plane, and a damn weird one at that, but that's for the next post, on Cosmology!

[The Shadow]

Cosmology:

The standard D&D cosmology frankly doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and I've had thoughts about it bouncing around and interacting with my thoughts on the new creature types. So here goes.

First off, there's the Material Plane, which we all know and love. There are, conceivably, other Material Planes out there, which may well contain different balances of the elements. "The" Elemental Plane of Fire (for example) need not be a single, distinct, other plane. Fire Elementals may just like to hang out on material planes that are tilted toward fire. This helps explain the different images of the elemental planes - sometimes the Plane of Fire is conceived as pure "Fire" as far as the eye can see, other times it's a blasted landscape with lots of volcanos and rivers of boiling oil and so on. Both can exist! (And of course the "traditional" Manual of the Planes idea of "elemental pockets" can also be included.)

Alternatively, you could go a bit more science-fictiony (and medieval, I might add) and say that rather than other planes, there are just other planets, which have different properties. Fire elementals like to hang out on planets with lots of lava and vulcanism, or even in the Sun! They also favor the *interior* of the Earth. In this version of the cosmology, "Plane Travel" is just a specialized version of Teleport.

Whichever, you then also have the Spirit Realm. It is important to realize that the Spirit Realm is entirely non-spatial, and that time does very odd things there. (Time is the measurement of change, and only mental changes happen there. There ARE no physical changes, as there's nothing physical to change!) If you get engrossed in a single idea in the Spirit Realm, time stands still for you while any amount of time passes on the Material Plane. (Time "slowed down" for you.) If you're a whirlwind of activity there, on the other hand, you can get a lot done while not much happens on the Material Plane. (Time "sped up" for you.) For Spirits, distance is literally "immaterial" - for them, Familiarity is everything. You're Familiar with those Spirits with similar ideas to your own, and others that you've met by whatever means.

Thing is, when humans and other sapient beings "visit" the Spirit Realm, they can't hack it. Sapient beings are inherently tied to bodies; we just can't grok the non-spatial nature of the place. So when we visit (and this includes Souls who now live there full time!), we make sense of the place in a sensory way, with Familiarity manifesting as comfortable concepts like "distance" and "visibility". Since the "look" of the place is entirely in our heads, we can manipulate it in various ways. And Spirits "near" us can also use mental powers to manipulate it *for* us. Be careful what sort of ideas you entertain and what sort of spiritual company you keep; you may be Familiar with the wrong kind of Spirits, and they may fancy giving you an afterlife you may not enjoy!

We "visit" the Spirit Realm all the time, I might add. We call it "dreaming". Usually we're in our own little "corner" - we don't tend to be very Familiar with pure Spirits and Powers, and even the Souls we're familiar with either aren't usually dreaming at the same time, or else are occupied with other matters (as are we). (The dreaming mind has different priorities than the waking mind.) But in this cosmology, it is of course possible to do more. You can, for example, "visit" the collective spirit-scape of the Fey... and for you (maybe even for them) it'll be Faerie. You can "visit" it either of your own accord, by accident... or by force.

But surely, it is asked, it's possible to visit Faerie and other such places bodily? Without leaving a dreaming body behind? Sure, why not? Sapient beings are basically "manifesting" a body too; we're just a lot more dependent on our bodies than Powers are. (Who in turn are more dependent on theirs than Spirits are.) If you get sufficiently "sucked in" to the dream, your physical body may just plain vanish, as you manifest there! (This also explains Teleport and Plane Travel, I might add.) It may be protested that your "spiritual body" is all in your head - but who cares, if you can't tell the difference? There is one big difference, though: In a dream, you can get "killed" and you wake up. Or if you're really into it, you get killed and a fresh corpse is left in your bed. If you've ceased manifesting on the Material Plane, though, you're basically *already* dead and gone (though you might be able to get better). Forget getting killed; even if nothing happens to you, you can't manifest on the Material Plane any more, at least not in a permanent way, without some sort of intervention. Deal. In this cosmology, "physical" travel to the Spirit Realm is a really huge deal. It doesn't happen much; it should be viewed as the equivalent of death. (Though, again, you might be able to find your way back to the Material Plane, it'll take effort and work - less if you're an adept with appropriate powers, of course.) "Vivid" dreaming is much more common. (Probably accomplished by Scrying, or a more specialized Dream Travel or Astral Travel power.)

So there are two very different kinds of "planes" here... unlike D&D's lip-service to "Inner Planes" and "Outer Planes". There's other Material Planes you go to with Plane Travel, and there's facets of the Spirit Realm you travel to mostly with Scrying. (The "planar travel" version of Scrying should probably leave your body prone and helpless.) It's also possible to visit other Material Planes by Scrying, of course, possibly Manifesting a body in addition. (This is much safer than visiting in person. Even if the Narrator doesn't allow Manifestation through a Scrying focus on the same Material Plane, I'd encourage allowing it for other material planes.) I hope it's obvious enough that a physical "gate" can be opened only with other Material Planes.

Note that this cosmology doesn't *require* transitive planes at all. (Especially if you go the "planet" route - though if you want to do the whole spelljamming thing, you could use the Ethereal as I describe it below in place of the phlogiston. More interesting, IMHO.) If you want them, though, the "astral plane" can just be a "neutral" facet of the Spirit Realm, not particularly dominated by any faction of spirits - a common area, a common "dreamscape". The Ethereal is the space "between" Material Planes - raw elements not organized into a "cosmos", what our ancestors would've called "Chaos". (In fact, I'd recommend using rules similar to those of the very inaptly-named "Limbo" for taming one's area on the Ethereal.) Please note that apparitions and other incorporeal powers are NOT on the Ethereal Plane! I've always disliked that idea. (At least not necessarily. They can manifest there if they want, just like anywhere else. See below for some thoughts about this.) Similar rules might apply to adjusting one's "dreamscape" in the Spirit Realm... though on the Ethereal, you're creating real objects, not dream objects. I'd let elemental-type powers be significantly more powerful on the Ethereal; the elements are a lot more fluid there. Also, I'd say that manifested forms on the Ethereal are automatically Full Manifested... The place is so responsive to thought, so eager for form, that it "fills out" an incorporeal form with matter. (Does this imply that a Spirit can't manifest inside the "bubble" maintained by a thinking being? At least without a contest of wills? Interesting... see the paragraph on the gith races, below. This further helps explain where new demiplanes come from - they're created by the will of powerful spirits - or even powerful adepts!) The "Border Ethereal", the place you "phase" into, is an interesting question; I have some half-formed thoughts on this I'll post later. (It may not have anything to do with the Ethereal as I've reimagined it.)

As for the energy planes, and the Plane of Shadow... I'd treat "Shadow" (as in Shadow-Shaping, not Corrupting Shadow) and "Light" as being similar to elements. There are Material Planes (or planets) dominated by one or the other, or neither. So any plane dominated by "Shadow" and with a reasonable balance of the physical elements can be a "plane of Shadow" if you want. If you want to associate high-Shadow and high-Light planes with degenerative or healing effects, go for it. Maybe some do and some don't. (Light-planes dominated by Virtuous Spirits and their followers might amp up to Purifying Light, and likewise Shadow-planes dominated by Vice might become Corrupting Shadow. But I don't see any particular reason why you couldn't have a Light plane dominated by Vice... Though it's interesting that Shadow is destroyed by Purifying Light.)

Note that "high-fire" planes (to take an example) don't have to be populated solely by elemental Powers. Such planes can have biology just like our own beloved Material Plane, and produce "high-fire" life. Such creatures would have the "Animal","Sapient", and other types, just with an unusual set of traits. This might explain things like Salamanders, though they could conceivably be Powers as well.

My personal preference, at any rate for a game that doesn't involve heavy plane-travel, is for the "main" Material Plane to be the sole, or one of the very few, planes of its size. Most other planes are "demiplanes". Which is why everybody's so interested in coming here - they need the elbow room. Your typical extraplanar sapient species originated on a single demiplane; they may have figured out how to colonize others, but the big Material Plane is awfully tempting. Spirits spend more time dealing with the Material Plane too, simply because there's a lot more people to deal with. The Ethereal plane isn't very comfortable, unless you want to meditate all the time on maintaining a safe pocket.

[Which is what the Githzerai do - I don't see them being in "Limbo", which was a dumb idea from the get-go IMO. The Githyanki, for their part... ooh, cool idea I just had! The githyanki are DEAD! They're Souls, who use their psionic powers to manifest when needed. I think they suicided with that in mind! They've carved out their own twisted little facet of the Spirit Realm. A Githzerai can become a Githyanki just by suiciding with the intent (and sufficient psionic power) to become one... that's heresy, of course. Why do the Githzerai live on the Ethereal? Besides the hostile environment which their outlook favors, it provides protection against the Githyanki... those spiritual bastards have to manifest on the githzerai's terms, not their own. (Just because the githyanki are spirits doesn't mean they're *high level* spirits with mondo psionic power, after all.) I suspect that powerfully psionic Githzerai can manage to become Powers when they die - they hate the idea of becoming full Spirits like the Githyanki. (Their favorite thing to do to Githyanki is to either Mind-Shape them into a suitable hell - with plenty of edifying githzerai preaching - or, if possible, even into a githzerai Power.) Plus, it keeps the population up. :) Technically, such githzerai would be "undead", but I think they wear it better than normal humans do. Or, if you prefer, such "ascended" githzerai could simply use the lich template or something like it. (Yuck! And what an inversion, where traditionally it's the githyanki who have a "lich queen"! :) But with them on the "astral plane", that no longer makes sense. Heck, githyanki can't even breed any more! They can get new population solely by tempting githzerai to the "dark side" as it were.) Githzerai who actually die dead (with no intent of becoming Githyanki) aspire to gain enough Spirit-levels - and thus psionic power - to contact their brethren and beg them to mind-shape them into undead Powers. (And is that sick or what?) Naturally, the githyanki are there in the afterlife to try to convince them to just join up.]

[Why can the gith races get away with this? First off, they have a much higher proportion of adepts than most sapients. But second, for a sad reason, *there was nobody to stop them*. The gith were sufficiently altered by the illithids, both physically and mentally, that they fell outside the bailiwick of any preexisting "gods"... and the declined to adopt their own. As I said before, people in an "Indian" culture may get reincarnated, simply because that's the policy the "Indian" "gods" have put into practice. (And no doubt they reflect the priorities of their people.) And so forth. What's more, the illithids were sufficiently psionically powerful that they could keep all the but the most powerful spirits from prowling about their slaves. So the gith made their own way, in this life and the next. (The illithids themselves try to avoid death by becoming part of the Elder Brain; if they do die, they conceive themselves as ceasing to exist, and thus have no concept of "Manifestation". They don't really cease to exist, of course, but I imagine they're thinking very lonely and isolated thoughts.)]

[Bhikku]

This is just jaw-dropping, Shadow! I mean, I really liked the way Blue Rose re-thought creature types, and I'm highly in favor of it, but you have done here fro creatures roughly what d20 did to D&D and what True20 did for d20... Bravo!

The Spirit type looks to me like it could be used for deities even in campaigns that rely on the traditional types - a being that can be anywhere at any time, working 'miracles' etc etc - just perfect. This definitely belongs in any modern occult campaign. The Powers are an intriguing follow-up. The implication of replacing other creature types would really suit one campaign I'm working on (where monsters are meant to be Monsters, in the mythic & Romantic sense, rather than specimens of alien ecology). It would also work well for a horror-campaign, which might allow me to streamline the types into animals, humans, spirits, powers, and maybe retain aberrations for out & out Lovecraftian stuff (although many aberrations would also do well translated into manifestations created by spirits unfamiliar with earthly biology).

I have to admit, i haven't finished reading through it all - i just had to break out in applause here, couldn't wait. I'm saving this so I can peruse it at my liesure. Further feedback may be forthcoming.

[The Shadow]

Wow, Bhikku! Thanks!!

And yes, high-level Spirits do fine as deities. I suspect that the genii loci are the most common - simply because they've got a serious incentive to expand their sphere of influence. ie, if you're bound to "people in love", the more people that fall in love, the more reach, influence, and possiblity of experience you have.

[Baduin]

Some ideas:

Traditionally, what you call "scrying focus" is called "sensorium".

Also traditionally, people on Material plane live below so called "veil" - they don't see or perceive spirits, and they are difficult to contact for spirits (especially Vice-aligned spirits). They can be perceived and influenced, but very weakly. It can be thought of as low Familiarity. When you begin sight-seeing in the Spirit Realm, you learn to perceive spirits- and they begin to perceive you. If you tend to associate with some spirits, you will see them eventually even when you are not actively scrying. If they are infernal spirits, it can be unpleasant.

Eg see Green Tea by Le Fanu.

[The Shadow]

Baduin,

Thanks for the term "sensorium". I'd run across it before, but had forgotten.

Your ideas on Familiarity between the mortal and spirit-worlds are very good, and would be great to implement in many campaigns. Basically, you can't be higher than familiarity level X with spirits (and vice versa) unless you're a meddler. :) ie, an adept with spirit-based powers, or have stuck your nose where it didn't belong. (Which by infernal standards could be a pretty virtuous thing to do...)

[The Shadow]

Forgot to mention, Bhikku, but you're right - the Spirit goes well even into a game that uses the existing creature types. The Power perhaps less so. (Though I would be sorely tempted to switch out the Undead type, even if I switch nothing else. I think the way d20 handles undead is just plain messed up.)

Oh, and I also realized this morning that Spirits actually have an incentive to become Powers for a while! It enables them to advance in heroic roles, which otherwise they don't have access to. More feats and skills!

I don't think I had that in mind when I wrote up the creature types. Serendipity, or just good instincts? I dunno. :)

[Baduin]

You idea is perfect for many genres - eg horror, fantasy with magic as contact with spirits etc. It is also very good for Tolkien.

To simulate Tolkien even better I would suggest that Spirits usually cannot influence material world at all. They must use Conviction to do it. Without Conviction they can only contact and influence other characters. On the other hand, using a lot of Conviction, they can achieve very much.

All powers influencing material world should need a Convition point to use.

If a spirit manifest, it can use its body to influence material world without Conviction expenditure. However, manifesting should cost a lot of Conviction (10?). Maintaining a pseudo-body should also have some conviction expenditure - about 1 per day.

Spirits could also influence the material world if they are bound to a construct or possess somebody. This doesn't require conviction expenditure.

That would give an incentive to develop more physical bodies. Bodies of powers should need conviction only in order to heal. If a power should become more acclimatized to its body, it can heal without without paying conviction. In order to survive without eating or breathing (if it is not normal for its body) a Power would have to expend a Conviction point per day.

Powerful spirits (gods, demigods) should have a lot of Conviction (hundreds or more) - but the recovery shouldn't be very fast (perhaps the usual rate). That way, they can do a lot - but have then to rest a long time.

[The Shadow]

Interesting stuff, Baduin! But if spirits and powers always need to spend Conviction to affect the material world, where does that leave the Istari?

[Baduin]

There are some quotes from Tolkien's essay "Myths Transformed" published in the History of Middle Earth vol. 10, to show what I intended to simulate:

"Morgoth ... though he had 'disseminated' his power (his evil and possessive and rebellious will) far and wide into the matter of Arda, he had lost direct control of this, and all that 'he', as a surviving remnant of integral being, retained as 'himself' and under control was the terribly shrunken and reduced spirit that inhabited his self- imposed (but now beloved) body. When that body was destroyed he was weak and utterly 'houseless', and for that time at a loss and 'unanchored' as it were. ....

In any case, in seeking to absorb or rather to infiltrate himself throughout 'matter', what was then left of him was no longer powerful enough to reclothe itself. ....At least it could not yet reclothe itself. .... Melkor was not Sauron. We speak of him being 'weakened, shrunken, reduced'; but this is in comparison with the great Valar. He had been a being of immense potency and life. The Elves certainly held and taught that fear or 'spirits' may grow of their own life (independently of the body), even as they may be hurt and healed, be diminished and renewed. The dark spirit of Melkor's 'remainder' might be expected, therefore, eventually and after long ages to increase again, even (as some held) to draw back into itself some of its formerly dissipated power. It would do this (even if Sauron could not) because of its relative greatness. "

As for Istari- they have physical bodies, so they can interact with the world through them (in game terms - without using conviction). But to do magic, they would need to use Conviction - and a lot of it. Therefore, they would tend to avoid using magic, if not necessary. Some of their power was also apparently kept in their staffs. Saruman, who lost his staff and overextended himself (creating Uruk-hai etc) was left entirely without power in the end.

An Istari would have a great maximal amount of Conviction - 100-300. But he would recover it at normal speed, or even slower. He would need to conserve his power, to be able to use all of it at the decisive moment.

[Jeric Hikari]

Ine GOD this is brilliant work Shadow. Thank you, from the remnants of my wizened embittered heart I thank you. Granted this's the kind of stuff I think of anyway, but its always good to have something 'in the book' that outright dictates matters.


Anyone else think this kinda stuff should be included in a hypothetical 2nd ed?

[ACodispo]

I hadn't read this till today, and I will second Jeric Hikari and say that it is frankly awesome. Whether or not it ended up being adopted as True20 canon would be up to the designers, of course, but it does have the advantage of not being tied to D&D. Perhaps The Shadow might publish a setting or setting creation toolkit that made these assumptions? It's pretty much in useable form already, in any case.

[The Shadow]

Wow, thanks guys!

My (and SuentisPo's) setting of Yetobe is a work-in-progress that uses the Spirit creature type. We have worked very hard to give Yetobe as uniquely "True20" a feel as possible, avoiding d20 tropes. For example, the main races are unique ones from the Bestiary, not elves, dwarves, and the like.

As for the idea of a "toolkit", you intrigue me. See, for years now I've bounced around ideas for a "Unified Field Theory of Fantasy". Basically, a unified way of describing the sorts of things that happen in fantasy stories - such a system often sparks major ideas that one couldn't have anticipated beforehand. My primary source is medieval philosophy and theology, though I've felt free to introduce more modern ideas, and ideas of my own.

Spirits and Powers are an important aspect of my "Summa Phantastica", but there's more. It's not ready for prime-time yet, but the encouragement I've gotten in this thread makes me wonder if it really is publishable.

[ACodispo]

It's not ready for prime-time yet, but the encouragement I've gotten in this thread makes me wonder if it really is publishable.

Perhaps you'd consider bouncing some ideas around this forum, if you need feedback in order to iron things out?