Corpus draconique 3.5

Chaque plans dispose d'attributs appelés caractéristiques, qui posent les lois élémentaires en vigueur dans cette partie de l'univers. Ces caractéristiques incluent la nature de la gravité et du temps, la taille, et parfois la forme du plan, ainsi que sa stabilité (c'est à dire si sa nature est relativement immuable, ou si elle peut-être modifiée par la magie, les pouvoirs mentaux, les volontés divines ou simplement par la force brute).
Les caractéristiques élémentaires et énergétiques, normalement l'apanage des plans intérieurs, représente son affinité particulière avec les forces élémentaires ou énergétiques. Les caractéristiques d'alignement, définissant souvent les plans extérieurs, indiquent une inclination du plan et de ses habitants pour l'un ou plusieurs des alignements.
Un plan peut aussi disposer de caractéristiques magiques, qui affectent la façon dont la magie s'emploie alors. Par exemple, certaines caractéristiques magiques améliorent les sorts des pouvoirs magiques, les faisant fonctionner comme s'ils étaient affectés par un ou plusieurs dons de métamagie (comme Incantation rapide, Extension de durée, …). D'autres entravent la magie, rendant le plus souvent les sorts plus difficiles à incanter et les pouvoirs magiques plus difficiles à utiliser, sans les abolir entièrement.
Enfin, un plan peut disposer de ses propres caractéristiques, uniques. Une telle caractéristique peut modifier l'effet d'un sort ou pouvoir magique en particulier, et une autre peut octroyer aux habitants et voyageurs des capacités spéciales tant qu'ils demeurent dans les frontières du plan.

Le Domaine du Relai Ophidien possède les caractéristiques suivantes :

• Gravité normale.
• Passage du temps immuable : dans le Domaine du Relai Ophidien, les créatures ne vieillissent pas. Ils ont cependant faim et soif, c'est pourquoi de la nourriture est fournie par une cuisine adjacente à la salle commune. Cette cuisine est elle-même reliée à de vastes catacombes et de grands entrepôts.
• Taille infinie : Bien que le Domaine du Relai Ophidien soit limité par des murs, sols, et plafonds, il s'étend indéfiniment. Les visiteurs peuvent se promener dans les coursives et chambres pour l'éternité, ou jusqu'à se trouver de nouveau dans la salle commune.
• Altération normale : les objets et l'environnement du plans peuvent être normalement affectés (par la force brute, la magie, …).
• Pas d'élément ou d'alignement dominant : le Domaine du Relai Ophidien n'a aucune inclination pour un élément ou un alignement plus qu'un autre.
• Énergie positive minoritairement dominante : le Domaine du Relai Ophidien a une légère affinité avec l'énergie positive, ce qui lui confère plus d'éclat que la plupart des autres plans. Tous les individus dans le Relai gagne la guérison accélérée 2 et peuvent voir leurs membres perdus repousser avec le temps.
• Magie affaiblie : Tous les sorts et pouvoirs magiques, qu'ils soient profanes ou divins, sont affaiblis dans le Domaine du Relai Ophidien. Pour jeter un sort ou utiliser un pouvoir magiques, une créature doit réussir un jet d'Art de la magie (DD 15 + niveau du sort).
• Réduction des dégâts : Tant qu'il se trouve dans la salle commune du Relai, tout individu gagne une réduction des dégâts 10/-. Quitter la salle commune met fin à cet effet.
• Clairvoyance : Cette caractéristique unique au Domaine du Relai Ophidien permet à tous ceux qui s'y trouvent de voir l'invisible dans les limite de leur vision normale comme s'ils étaient affectés par le sort Détection de l'invisibilité. En conséquence, les créatures invisibles et éthérées sont parfaitement visibles à tous quelle que soit leur vision normale, bien que les créatures éthérées restent intangibles. Les potions d'Invisibilité et anneaux d'invisibilité n'ont tout simplement aucun effet ici.

Le portail principal du Relai (appelé l'entrée) relie sa salle commune à une première destination, puis à une autre, apparemment de manière aléatoire. Sur le plan rejoint, le portail prend le plus souvent une apparence adéquate à son environnement immédiat, comme une devanture de magasin qu'on n'aurait jamais remarqué avant dans une ville, une halte routière bien placée qui fournit un abri contre la tempête, ou une caverne révélée par un éboulis. Des aspects anachroniques sont possibles, mais rares.

Le plus souvent, le Domaine du Relai Ophidien semble attendre qu'un individu ou qu'un groupe précis ne franchisse son seuil. Une fois cela fait, le portail s'évanouit, pour aller s'ouvrir dans un autre endroit - sur le même plan ou vers un autre. Lancez un jet sur la table suivante pour déterminer la nouvelle destination (s'il s'ouvrait déjà sur ce même plan, il conduit à un autre endroit de celui-ci).

Often, it seems as though the World Serpent Inn is waiting for a particular individual or group to cross its threshold. Once that occurs, the portal vanishes, only to open anew elsewhere—on either the same connected plane or a new one. Roll on the table below to determine the portal’s new location. The portal, regardless of its appearance, is always marked with the symbol of a serpent curled into a horizontal figure eight (the sign of infinity), eating its own tail. The door, if there is one, is never locked, and it opens into the World Serpent Inn’s common room. This main entrance is a two-way portal, though as noted above, its destination changes frequently. The Inn also has hundreds of other exits, which are accessible from a maze of passages leading out of the common room in all directions. Most of these other exits are one-way portals, and they are usually (though not always) clearly marked. Some always lead to the same plane, but others have variable destinations. The World Serpent Inn has its own Ethereal Plane, which does not connect to the Ethereal Plane coexistent with the Material Plane. Like its counterpart, this Ethereal Plane is home to creatures such as ethereal filchers and ghosts. The Inn’s Ethereal Plane coexists primarily with its back rooms and corridors, but the presence of a powerful ghost may cause a tendril of it to reach into the common room from time to time. Because of the Inn’s visibility trait, ethereal creatures are visible to those within the Inn. The World Serpent Inn is also coterminous with the Plane of Shadow, but again the points of connection occur mostly in the back rooms and corridors. Such portals usually lead to the wild, desolate reaches of Deep Shadow.

World Serpent Inn Inhabitants An ever-changing cast of characters, including githyanki, illithids, outsiders, planetouched, half-elementals, humans, and humanoids, can be encountered in the World Serpent Inn. At any given time, between one and two dozen travelers are lounging in the common room. Some have lived in the Inn for years and remember no other life. Others are waiting for portals to open to particular locations so that they can find loved ones, complete quests, or just return home. The minor positive energy and damage reduction traits reduce the incidence of death in the common room, though they by no means eliminate it. Brawls are frequent there, particularly between sworn enemies (such as celestials and devils, or githyanki and illithids). The one permanent inhabitant of the World Serpent Inn is the barkeep, Mitchifer. He always appears as a large, bearded, human male, but his abilities (and even his character class) seem to change depending upon the situation. Regardless of his specific abilities, he is always 20th level or higher, and he most often seems to be a fighter. Speculation runs rife that Mitchifer is a refugee of one cosmic faction or another, or perhaps even a god or former deity in his own right. There have been reports of his death over the years, but he has always returned. Mitchifer provides newcomers with basic information about the Inn. (“Food’s on the house. Leave when you’re ready. Management is not responsible for loss of property or life in the back rooms.”) Beyond that, he swears ignorance, though he often hooks up likeminded individuals in the common room or recommends a source for particular information that someone seeks. Mitchifer employs an ever-changing crew of waitstaff and cooks, some of whom are former travelers who have chosen to remain and serve. Should he not be present, one of these employees or another traveler greets new arrivals and acquaints them with the law of the land. Mitchifer may or may not be a god or godlike power, but his superior (known only as “The Owner”) probably is a deity—perhaps even of Uber-God status. The nature and identity of the Owner is a common topic of conversation around the fireplace. Most travelers assume that this being can determine where the common room’s portal next opens, and Mitchifer lends credence to this theory by occasionally taking requests for destinations. Sometimes, such requests are fulfilled, though there seems to be no pattern as to which are fulfilled and how soon.

World Serpent Inn Features Beyond the common room, the World Serpent Inn is a mass of twisting hallways and passages, broken by numerous doors and staircases to other levels. Some of the doors are portals to other planes, while others lead to libraries, studies, storage chambers, and rooms for the various inhabitants. Use the following table to determine the features encountered by anyone moving randomly about the back rooms.

Nature of the World Serpent Inn’s Back Rooms and Hallways d% Type of Feature 1–10 Stairs 11–30 Additional corridor 31–60 Door to bedroom/living quarters 61–70 Door to library/study 71–80 Door to storage room 81–90 Portal to demiplane 91–00 Portal to another location or plane

Stairs: The stairs access another floor of the Inn that has additional passages. Roll d% to determine the direction of the stairs. On a result of 1–50 they lead up; otherwise they lead down. Additional Corridor: Any such corridor has 1d4 doors in it, as placed by the DM. These may include secret doors as well as normal ones. Bedroom/Living Quarters: These rooms are dominated by large furniture—beds, armoires, sofas, large chairs, and the like. Each such room has a 50% chance of having a second door. Any living quarters or study may (50% chance) be inhabited by one or more beings of a challenge level equal to that of the visitors. An inhabited room has only a 10% chance of treasure. Library/Study: Libraries and studies usually contain desks, chairs, cabinets, bookshelves, and the like. Any such room may (25% chance) be inhabited by one or more beings of a challenge level to equal to that of the visitors, and there is a 20% chance of treasure in this case. The selection of books in a study or library often includes rare and fantastic volumes, the contents of which may or may not be valid for the current coterminous plane. There is a 25% chance that such a room has a second door. Storage Room: These rooms are little more than closets filled with supplies, unused furnishings, and food or treasure stashed here by travelers who never found their way back. Roll d% to determine the exact contents of the room. A result of 1–40 indicates food, 41–80 indicates linen, 81–95 indicates old furniture, and 95–00 indicates treasure. Any treasure in a storage room is appropriate for a 6th-level encounter and has an 80% chance of being trapped in some way. Demiplane: This two-way portal is the sole access to a random demiplane. Effectively, this is a chunk of some other reality that has hung onto the World Serpent Inn during its planar perambulations. Portal: The door opens onto another plane. Roll randomly for its destination on the Random Portal Appearance Table for the main entrance. This is a one-way portal that disappears when the main entrance changes its destination.

Mapping the back rooms and passages is possible, but such maps are valid only as long as the Inn’s main entrance remains coterminous with a particular plane. When it changes connecting planes, the back rooms and hallways shuffle as well, forcing those within to map their surroundings again. Sometimes the movement of walls caused by such a shift cuts off a few back rooms and passages entirely from the rest of the World Serpent Inn. If these areas are uninhabited, they tend to disappear. If they are inhabited, those within may break through the wooden walls to reconnect with the Inn. (Alternatively, at the DM’s option, breaking through a wall can cause that portion of the World Serpent Inn to shear off and dump those within it unceremoniously into a random plane.) Characters can use spells such as find the path to locate particular spots within the World Serpent Inn—such as the closet where they stashed a vorpal sword before the main entrance changed connections. Getting truly lost in the back rooms is difficult. A traveler wishing to return to the common room merely has to make that his or her goal. After that, every new door has a 10% chance of leading back to a familiar area (such as one of the hallways leading to the common room, the balcony, or the warehouses near the kitchen). Though killing an opponent is difficult given the plane’s fast healing trait, subdual works normally. As a result, there are stories of kidnappers roaming the back halls—in particular, a gang of vampires that capture and keep travelers for their blood. A few of the hallways and rooms have windows. These are always one-way portals that look out over other planes. A traveler seeking to escape the World Serpent Inn can sometimes find a likely-looking plane, open the casement, and simply leap out.