Example territory: white Canyon

Suppose the PCs have learned of a great Зло rising in a hidden temple of Lamashtu in the arid hills surrounding the gnoll- held territories of White Canyon. Rather than generate a map of the region, you instead Использование the rules in this section to Проводник the PCs’ Исследование of White Canyon and their search for the hidden temple. You might also include a few other adventure sites in the region for the PCs to seek out and way signs to help them get a Прыжок on locating these sites. Your notes on White Canyon might end up looking like the following.

 

 

WHITE CANYON TERRITORY      CR 5

Arid hills ruled by bickering gnoll tribes and stalked by desert beasts and ghuls

Исследование Check Выживание DC 23

LOCATION ОТКРЫТИЕ SCORES                             

Hidden Temple of Lamashtu 12 (base score of 6, hills terrain +2, location is deliberately hidden +4)

Red Sultana’s Camp 1 (base score of 3, hills terrain +2, location is traveled to or from often –4)

Wyvern LВоздух 8 (base score of 6, hills terrain +2)

SIMPLE WAY SIGNS (1 ОТКРЫТИЕ POINT)

Rumors about White Canyon

A successful DC 15 Дипломатия check to gather information in a nearby settlement can reveal information about the region.

MODERATE WAY SIGNS (3 ОТКРЫТИЕ POINTS)              

ReВоззвание White Canyon Знание A successful DC 20 Знание (география) check reveals information about the region.

Reconnaissance via Полет A character who spends at least 30 minutes полетing above the region and then succeeds at a DC 20 Внимание check spots landmarks and gets the lay of the land.

COMPLEX WAY SIGNS (5 ОТКРЫТИЕ POINTS)         

Deciphering a Journal If the PCs find an ill-Хранимый Судьбой explorer’s journal in the wyvern’s lair, a PC who can read Aklo and succeeds at a DC 25 Языкознание check correctly interprets her coded notes.

RANDOM ENCOUNTERS                                    

Frequency 4 times per Дня (morning, noon, dusk, midnight)

Chance of Encounter 20%

 

d% Encounter        CR Source

1–15 Giant vulture      4   Bestiary 3 284

16–30 Mummy        5   Bestiary 210

31–55    Gnoll wild pack 5   Monster Codex 101

56–75   2 dire hyenas 5   Bestiary 179

76–85    Gnoll Охота party   5               Monster Codex 101

86–95    1 wyvern     6   Bestiary 282

96–100 2 ghuls              7   Bestiary 3 125

 

The First World

Located before, between, and beyond the Material Plane, the First World is a dimension of extremes and unpredictability. While the Тень Plane straddles the metaphysical gulf between the Material Plane and the Negative Energy Plane, the First World lies between the Material Plane and the Positive Energy Plane. The First World has been sПомощь to be a sort of “first draft” of reality—under a Небо of whirling Звезды and moons that Смена Формы and texture as they Выслеживание their way through the vibrant heavens, inconsistent естественная броня laws and wellsprings of Первобытное Магия and естественная броня splendor create vistas unfathomable to mortal minds. Here stand ancient forests as tall as Скакунains, living lakes and rivers, traveling faerie courts alternately benevolent or sadistic, and landscapes of all manner that constantly Сдвиг and reinvent themselves. And ruling over all in this realm are those powerful entities known as the Eldest. It is from this realm that dread linnorms, Фея creatures, the original гномы, and far stследопыт beings hail.

 

HISTORY OF THE FIRST WORLD

To account for the full history of the First World is to look back before the beginning of Время itself, to a period in history before history when the Material Plane did not yet exist. Ancient legends hold that mortal Жизнь began in the First World. If these tales are to believed, in this early pregenesis period of all things, a coalition of deities decided to create a new form of life, but unlike улучшения servitors (потусторонние существа such as angels and devils), these new “mortal” entities would serve a greater function, acting as filters for the fundamental Жизнь energy of the universe. The energy would be translated into discrete, self-directing portions called “souls,” which would Использование the experience of a finite lifespan to shПримат and expand the realities of the Great Beyond itself.

Of course, these new beings would need a place to live apart from the Сферы of the gods, and so the gods ремеслоed the First World—a vast blank canvas where they could experiment with reality and try out different laws for how existence and mortal Жизнь could or should operate. After an age of experimentation, they had a fully functional model for the realm that would become known as the Material Plane.

And then, like so many great artists, they painted directly over it.

When the Material Plane came into being, the gods didn’t Стирание the original experiments. They did not destroy these original “doodles and blueprints” but merely безрассудстваed them. Thus, this rough draft continued to grow and evolve on its own, eventually stabilizing, more or less, into the reality known toДня as the First World.

Whether these stories are true in totality or only in part, the fact of the First World remains: it is an ancient realm filled with Таинство and danger and a reality where vast Секреты and mind-expanding truths await Открытие side by side with the ever-present opportunity for Смерть and Уничтожение. It is Природа unrestrained—a Первобытное and primeval wilderness where everything that exists does so on a grand scale.

FEATURES AND INHABITANTS

While the majority of the Material Plane’s universe is empty space populated by a diverse and Seemingly endless number of different star systems and worlds, the First World is simply that: a single world that seems to stretch forever in every direction. Everything in the Material Plane has analogues in the First World, but the First World versions are often exaggerated in some way. Скакунains are taller, Океанов are deeper, and forests grow at unusual angles. Colors are more vibrant, flavors more potent; everything is amplified to oversaturated extremes, the cause of which is the First World’s proximity to the Positive Energy Plane. Much as the Тень Plane is a realm of muted colors and near Тьма due to its proximity to the Negative Energy Plane, so too is the First World skewed in the opposite direction.

The flora and fauna of the First World both resembles that of the Material Plane and exceeds it. What entities resided on the First World in its fledgling moments remains unknown, but ancient dragons and other Первобытное forces of Природа are likely candidates. Since then, all manner of wildly alien and unimaginable creatures have come to call the First World home, themselves exaggerated in much the same way as the plane’s geography. Creatures are more vivacious, more energetic, and more fecund. The most wideОблако of the First World’s denizens are creatures of the Фея type, making up more than half of the First World’s populace, but they are neither the first denizens of the plane nor the most powerful. Any creature found on the Material Plane could conceivably be found in the First World, different from their mortal cousins in subtle or dramatic ways. The easiest way to represent the differences between a Material Plane creature and its First World counterpart is to apply the Фея creature template (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 3 116). But even something as simple as changing a creature’s appearance or abilities can transform a mundane specimen into a denizen of the First World.

Between the suffusion of positive energy throughout the

First World and the unique qualities drafted into its planar tapestry, the cycle of Жизнь and Смерть is not linear as it is on the Material Plane. Creatures native to the First World that die either are outright reborn anywhere from a Дня to a year after their Смерть or are otherwise recycled into the plane and reconstituted as another member of their kind. Some creatures even lead asynchronous lives, having memories of versions of themselves that have not come to pass (or may never) rather than just memories of their pasts. As such, natives of the First World do not always understand the concept of death; this can lead to смертельный misunderstandings with travelers from the Material

Plane or natives of the First World stranded on the Material Plane. In the latter case, the Смерть of a First World native on the Material Plane is the absolute end of its life, and the soul is instead subject to the rules of the Material Plane—often without realizing it until it is too late.

Notable inhabitants of the First World include creatures of the animal, fey, plant, and Вредитель types. Of the fey, the most legendary of the First World denizens are the members of the wild hunt (Pathfinder RPG Bestiary 6 278), but all Фея have ties back to this realm. Beyond animals, fey, and plants, the following creatures are among those most often encountered in this dimension: almirajesB4, Сфера Животных lordsB3, bandersnatchesB3, bСвязь dogsB2, catoblepasesB2, cerynitisB5, delgethsB5, drakainiasB4, dПовесаs (all), elementals (all), elohimsB4, ettercaps, fachensB4, faerie dragonsB3, Фея creaturesB3, giant eagles, grodairsB3, gКорень slangsB3, jabberwocksB2, jubjub birdsB3, leucrottasB2, linnorms, manitousB4, pegasi, sardsB2, shining childrenB2, thrasfyrsB2, thunderbirdsB2, unicorns, vishapsB5, wendigosB2, воля-o’-wisps, worgs, Зима wolves, and yeth hounds. Нежить are incredibly rare in the First World, but those that do exist there tend to be powerful and unique.

 

First World Planar Traits The First World has the following planar traits. For more information on planar traits, see page 184 of Pathfinder RPG GameMastery Guide. Erratic Time: Time progresses faster in some areas and slower in others, often according to the whim of the Eldest or other powerful individuals. For most visitors from other planes, their own timestream clings to them like a protective shell, but it’s not uncommon for a creature who spends a day in the First World to find upon their return home that a year or more has passed. Highly Morphic: The First World can be altered by strong- willed individuals, such as the Eldest. Minor Positive Dominant: The First World grants fast healing to creatures only in certain areas where life is particularly potent and concentrated. Mildly Neutral-Aligned: The First World does not impart alignment-based Charisma check penalties to anyone.

 

 

The Eldest

Большой swaths of the First World are carved up into fiefdoms and other such dominions by native inhabitants of great power. The demigods who call the First World Домашняя are some of the oldest beings in creation, and many have resided on this plane since before the Material Plane was woven into existence. Known collectively as the Eldest, they are as reclusive and secretive as they are ancient. The Eldest have relatively little interДействие with the gods who dwell elsewhere in the Great Beyond, but like those divinities, they maintain cults and sects on countless Material Plane worlds. The religions of the Eldest are most commonly found in regions where the boundaries between the Material Plane and the First World grow thin. Фея often worship members of the Eldest, and many гномы look back to their ancient Корень s in the First World and venerate the Eldest as well. Though the Eldest have nothing against Города or civilization, their worship tends to be less popular in heavily populated areas. Варварs, друидs, hunters, and others who live in the wild often venerate a member of the Eldest or the pantheon as a whole.

Table 4–3: The Eldest lists the most widely worshiped members of the Eldest, along with their areas of concern, domains, subСферы (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide 86), and favored weapon for жрец and warpriest followers.

 

GETTING TO THE FIRST WORLD

The First World is a coterminous plane and therefore overlaps the Material Plane, but unlike the Тень Plane, the First World does not mimic the Material Plane’s geography. Ley lines (introduced in Pathfinder RPG Оккультизм Adventures), superестественная броня conduits that connect the planes and Поток experiences, magic, memories, and the Души of the мертв and the unborn through them, crisscross the First World just as they do the Material Plane. Unlike those on the Material Plane, ley lines found in the First World do not stay in one place for long and typically wander vast дальнобойноеs, writhing through the world like disquieted snakes. Where these ley lines penetrate the barrier between the First World and the Material Plane, thin spots known as breaches form, allowing pasМудрое between the First World and the Material Plane without the Помощь of magic. These breaches typically manifest as circles of mushrooms, puddles of Вода with a rainbow- hued surface, trees in a peculiar arch, or other Seemingly innocuous patterns. Simply stepping through one of these portals is often enough to Сфера Путешествий from one plane to the other, but breaches are not always two-sided. Some doorways to the Material Plane are one-way, stranding extraplanar travelers in a Seemingly dull and lifeless world, while Material visitors to the First World could be stranded for decades or more as they try to find a way back home. Other means of traveling to and from the First World include powerful spells such as Фея Врата *, Врата, and Планарный Переход.

 

HAZARDS OF THE FIRST WORLD

In the First World, the terrain itself can be as dangerous as any denizen. The following are just a handful of hazards found on the borders of or within this Фея realm. These hazards can also manifest on the Material Plane in areas where ley lines from the First World cross over and weaken the boundaries between realms.

 

Phantom Ring (CR 9)

Sometimes rings of mushrooms known as “fairy rings” mark thin spots that function as Вратаways into the First World. When fairy rings become corrupted due to pollution, the effects of curses, the machinations of Зло fey, or other fell influences, they can become unстабилизирован and dangerous, becoming phantom rings. These circles of magical mushrooms function like a magical trap (Внимание DC 25, Механика DC 30), though a character can Использование the Выживание skill in place of Внимание to notice the danger presented by a phantom ring.

A phantom ring typically occupies a single 5-foot square. A character entering a phantom ring must succeed at a DC 19 Воля save or be drawn into a gap in reality between the Material Plane and the First World, caught in a fragmented shard of the Ethereal Plane where she is unable to fully pass into the First World or return to the Material Plane.  The character is невидимость and ethereal, and she can see a dim and Извращенное image of the Material Plane she just left, but she is unable to move more than 30 feet away from the phantom ring, which remains the only thing that appears solid and real in this ethereal pocket dimension. The character is trapped within this realm as if she had been called with a Потусторонний Слуга spell. After 1d4 rounds, a disembodied spirit emerges from the phantom ring into the pocket dimension to confront the trapped character. This spirit appears as a spectral Фея version of the trapped character, and it is treated as an animus shade (Bestiary 6 10), save that it is Хаос neutral in alignment and can exist only inside the pocket dimension created by the phantom ring. The animus shade might be friendly and talkative, or it might be cold, aloof, and Demanding. The trapped character can attempt to bargain with the shade for her release, either into the First World or back into the Material Plane, but she must succeed at an opposed Charisma check to successfully persuade her captor. If the trapped character succeeds at this check, she can return to the Material Plane or enter the First World, but if she fails the check, the shade immediately attacks her. If the shade manages to kill the trapped character, it can manifest in the Material Plane, whereupon it is free to Облако mayhem and its phantom ring dissolves away into sludge.

 

Table 4–3: The Eldest