Our next stop in The Planes series is Limbo - a plane of chaos and primal energies.
Introduction to the Planes
Reflections: Feywild, Shadowfell
Inner Planes: Ethereal Plane, Elemental Chaos,
Plane of Air, Plane of Earth, Plane of Water
Outer Planes: Astral Plane, the Outlands, Arborea, Beastlands, Bytopia, Gehenna, Mechanus, Mount Celestia, Nine Hells, Pandemonium, Sigil, Ysgard

What is Limbo?

The Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo is a plane of chaos and is known as a bubbling soup of elements and energy. Those who reside on this plane do so either to prove their strength against the chaos, to revel in the chaos and let it drive them forward, or they got lost and can’t find a way to leave Limbo. There is a lot of disagreements among planar travelers about the exact number of layers to Limbo, with some claiming there are five layers while others say there is only one, with another group saying there are five layers but they are so jumbled together that it seems like there is only one layer. Most traders and travelers want little to do with Limbo, treating it the same as the Lower Planes like the Abyss or Gehenna. It’s not a pleasant place to visit, even if many of its chaotic elements might create breath-taking sights.

Manual of the Planes, 1987 TSR Inc. — **Manual of the Planes**, 1987 TSR Inc.

History

Manual of the Planes, 2001 WotC — **Manual of the Planes,** 2001 WotC

Limbo is first introducted in the Manual of the Planes (1987) and is the first to mention the five layers of Limbo and how they all jumble together. This book attempts to name each layer based on what creatures are can be found the most on that layer, those layers are: Gith and Slaad, Susanowo, Agni, Indra, and the final layer is known as the Layer of the Lost Gods. Susanowo, Agni, and Indra are gods of various pantheons, though they don't remain here as later editions state that no gods make their domain here.

In 2nd edition, these names are immediately thrown out and state that since all these layers look the same and the inhabitants can be found on any ‘layer’, then maybe Limbo only has a single layer. Limbo shows up again in 3rd edition without many changes from 2nd edition, though it does provide information on how, if you don’t use the Great Wheel cosmology, Limbo can operate as if it is the edge of reality and that the further you get away from the real world, the madder and more abstract Limbo becomes.

In 4e, Limbo takes a dramatic turn and is combined into the elemental chaos, along with the Abyss and the Inner Planes. 5e returns the Great Wheel cosmology with the elemental chaos and Limbo both returning. This edition provides scant information on Limbo with no information about the potential various layers.

An Outsider’s Perspective

To any outsider, Limbo is a mess and there is no other way about it. Most people call it ever-changing, but that does little to accurately describe how chaotic and tumultuous this plane truly is. Most visitors like to compare Limbo to soup on a roiling boil with the contents and type of soup constantly changing in and out of different materials and energy. In one moment the soup could be full of potatoes and leeks, in the next moment the potatoes have changed into diamonds and the leeks into an explosive gas that sets fire to the peas that suddenly appeared in the broth. Just as soon as the peas appear, they morph into crackers made of hoarfrost that begin spewing acid and frozen metal in equal measure.

Those who travel to Limbo unprepared, whether on purpose or through no fault of their own, often wind up dead. Those who venture here must know how to enforce their will upon this plane or else the constant shifting elements will quickly change from rock to fire, from air to water, from clear and open skies to a solid block of metal with you entombed within. This plane never stays the same for any length of time and to survive, you must be constantly forcing your will over the chaotic forces that make up this plane.

Travelers and traders only go to this plane if they have nowhere else to go as leaving this plane can be incredibly difficult. Even traveling this plane can be impossible as locations of cities, monasteries, and more keep changing where they are in relation to each other.

Dungeon Master’s Guide, 2014 WotC — **Dungeon Master’s Guide**, 2014 WotC

A Native’s Perspective

Many of those who choose to live here see Limbo as a brutal and deadly proving ground. Their resolve is unmatched and they revel in their constant fight for survival, those who make mistakes or get sloppy are quickly destroyed by the plane. Those that have survived here have done so thanks to their iron will and their stubbornness, or they are just trying to make the best of their situation.

The largest groups in Limbo are the githzerai and the slaadi, with the githzerai appearing here thousands and thousands of years ago and this being the slaadi’s native plane of existence. Each group rarely interacts with each other, and when they do it typically ends in violence. The githzerai are focused on training and bettering themselves, their entire race is focused on ‘fighting’ the chaos of Limbo to train themselves. The slaadi have the exact opposite approach to this plane, because they were originally born in the chaos, they can revel in the chaos safely. They exude a tight aura of stabilization around them and can travel this plane without worrying about suddenly being entombed in mithral or forced to breathe in a liquid fire that changes to solid lead in their lungs.

Every creature here, apart from the slaadi, must learn to rely on the group to survive. The chaos can only be controlled by creatures actively imposing their will on the plane, and as a creature must eventually fall asleep or rest from the mental exhaustion of concentrating so completely on the task of fighting the chaos, groups are the only way to survive. A traveler by themselves will only last as long as they can focus, even one slip up is enough for the plane to immediately change around you and subject you to a lightning rainstorm that soon turns into the blistering heat of the surface of the sun.

Atmosphere

Planes of Chaos, 1994 TSR Inc. — **Planes of Chaos**, 1994 TSR Inc.

The atmosphere of Limbo is difficult to pin down due it constantly changing its physical and metaphysical properties. In a single moment, one small section of the plane could have the air turned into napalm, another section could be poison, while another might suddenly shift into a solid block of metal. Unless the travelers are inside a true pocket of air, they are unable to breathe in what ‘fills’ this plane and makes up its atmosphere. Some do claim that certain spells that allow you to breathe water can function on this plane, though it does nothing for you if the air suddenly turns into aerosolized lightning.

There is no day or night on Limbo as well as no clear way to mark the passing of time or days, this plane is full of chaos and it never slows down. The only light in this plane comes from the sudden bursts of fire and lightning that morph into and out of existence, none of it reliable or constant.

Traits

Travel to the Plane

Traveling to this plane can be accomplished in the usual manner of traveling from a neighboring plane, either Ysgard or Pandemonium through portals that link them. A traveler could also travel from the Outlands through the gate town of Xaos, from Sigil, or by taking a jet black color pool from the Astral Plane. One of the problems that face would-be visitors is that these portals are rarely reliable and, while they might be marked to take you to a specific place in Limbo, they could throw their travelers anywhere in the plane. Many travelers have taken a portal to Limbo, and before they can even get their bearings, they are immediately encased as the air around them changes to stone.

The other difficulty with the portals is that, while many are permanent, that doesn’t mean that the space around them stays so. Cities might suddenly change their location or layer that they are on, a fireball the size of a star might surround the portal or simply an avalanche of boulders blocks your access of the portal, forcing you to wait until the plane changes once more.

Traversing the Plane

This primal soup of matter, energy, and reality is incredibly difficult to navigate and isn’t helped by the fact that there is no gravity except what you can force onto the plane. Some are happy to simply will themselves to fly or swim through the chaos of this plane, while others prefer to impose their will and force gravity to function around them. Once a traveler has set up their sphere of influence and has settled the chaos around them, providing a brief respite from the dangers of this plane, they then have to figure out where their destination is.

With all the chaos and constantly changing elements in the primal soup of Limbo, seeing at any distance is exceptionally hard and there are few if any, permanent landmarks in Limbo to help guide you. Luckily for travelers, Limbo is full of conduits that act as small portals that can immediately teleport you to another location or layer in Limbo, of course, you have no control where you might end up but that’s not any different than if you were just walking. Some travelers have reported these conduits can lead to outside of Limbo with some claiming to have appeared in Elysium or Pandemonium, and some making it as far as one of the lower levels of the Abyss.

A beloved option by the more well-traveled is using teleport spells once they arrive on the plane, though this is only recommended for those who have previously visited the location before and are very familiar with it as all spellcasters are treated as one level of familiarity lower than they are. Being sent off course is very dangerous as the entire plane operates as one giant hazard just waiting for a single mistake.

Other teleport spells, like transport via plants is another very popular way of traveling through Limbo due to how reliable they can be. A user can simply imagine there is a set of plants in their intended location, while someone else focuses on a tree to form directly in front of them, they can then cast their spell and immediately journey from one plant to the next with little worry that they’ll end up somewhere they don’t want to be. Druids are highly sought after for their ability to easily navigate Limbo and it’s chaotic nature.

Damaged by the Chaos

An unprotected traveler who doesn't have a sphere of influence is exposed to the chaos of Limbo is more than likely to die within just a few minutes of arriving on Limbo. Exposed to the constantly shifting elements of this plane, from fire to ice to lightning and more, travelers will quickly succumb to the devastation of this plane. 2nd edition recommends that damage be dealt every round by rolling a d10 and then rolling a number of d6s equal to the number rolled on the d10.

For a tighter controlled amount of damage, DMs could instead choose to deal damage every round equal to a number of d6s equal to the character’s Proficiency Bonus. Certain elements, like being submerged in a massive orb of water, don’t deal damage but instead, a character would begin suffocating.

Sphere of Influence

To survive in the chaotic soup of Limbo, you must be able to enforce your willpower onto the plane and create a sphere of influence that transforms the plane into something safe for you to journey through. To control the area around you, you must focus your full concentration on the world around you, shaping and forming it to match what you want. Many who attempt this are unable to focus on anything else, their whole attention must remain on keeping back the chaos or they may falter and immediately perish in the chaos.

The area of control is determined by a character’s Wisdom score and the higher it is, the greater they can impose their will on the plane. A suggested chart for the sphere of influence is provided, this is taken from the Manual of the Planes (2001) from 3rd edition:

Wisdom Score / Area of Control / Stabilized Area
1 - 3 / None / None
4-7 / 1-ft / None
8-11 / 5-ft. radius / None
12-15 / 10-ft. radius / None
16-19 / 15-ft. radius / None
20-23 / 20-ft radius / 5-ft. radius
24+ / +5 ft. per 4 Wisdom points / +5 ft. per 4 Wisdom points

A stabilized area is unaffected and can not be changed by Limbo for at least 24 hours unless something comes along that would interact with it and destroy it. A stabilized area could be a pool of water, and while Limbo can’t change that pool of water into liquid mercury, a massive fireball could blossom next to the pool of water and evaporate it into steam, thus destroying the stabilized area.

Spellcasting in the Chaos

Spellcasting is incredibly difficult while in the chaos of Limbo, and those who are concentrating on controlling their sphere of influence are further limited to what they can accomplish. The following are rules adjusted from 2nd and 3rd edition to better match 5th edition’s mechanics. The severity of the rules is not adjusted and a DM might adjust them to better match their tables.

Wild Magic Surges

To cast a spell, a spellcaster must roll a d20 and if they roll equal to or lower than their spellcasting ability score, the spell goes off successfully. On a failed roll, the spell slot is expended but the spell doesn’t go off, and instead, the spellcaster is required to roll on the Wild Magic Surge table in the Player’s Handbook (2014), that effect immediately goes off. If a spellcaster rolls a 20 on this check, a Wild Magic Surge always goes off regardless of the ability score of the spellcaster.

Wild Magic spellcasters who cast spells on Limbo never have any problems casting their spells but still must roll a d20. If they roll higher than their spellcasting ability score, then a Wild Magic Surge will happen alongside the normal effects of their spell.

Concentrating on a Sphere of Influence

While a spellcaster is focused on their sphere of influence, they can not cast any spell that requires their concentration unless they drop concentration on their sphere. If they take damage, they must roll to maintain concentration on their sphere of influence just as if they were concentrating on a spell.

In 2nd edition, a creature could not take any other actions if they wish to concentrate on their sphere of influence. If they did anything else on their turn besides move, their sphere would drop and they'd begin taking damage from the primal soup around them. In 3rd edition, a creature must make a Wisdom check against a set DC of 16 at the start of each of their turns, this didn't take their action but if they failed they couldn't reform their sphere until the start of their next turn and they immediately take damage.

Casting Inside a Sphere of Influence

While a spellcaster is in a sphere of influence and they cast a spell, they can roll their d20 twice when determining if their spell works or if it is replaced by a Wild Magic Surge. They can choose which result they wish to use.

In 3rd edition, there were no spellcasting mishaps while casting in the sphere of influence, unlike in 2nd edition, and spells went off without any chance of Wild Magic Surges.

Divine Magic

In 2nd edition, only arcane spellcasters must worry about Wild Magic Surges as the deity can impose their will and allow their cleric to cast their spells successfully with no worries about the spell failing. In 3rd edition, there is no restriction on which spellcasters are required to roll on the Wild Magic Surges.

Locations

While there might be five layers to Pandemonium, they are so jumbled together on this plane that it’s impossible to truly know where you are. Due to the constant chaos of this primal soup, set locations rarely stay around for long without the constant vigilance of its inhabitants. In every city, monastery, or trading post some inhabitants spend their entire day concentrating on the area around them, keeping out the chaos that could suddenly sweep through and annihilate them. Day after day, night after night, the inhabitants rely on each other to focus on their city and keep it from drifting into the primal soup.

Some cities are fortunate enough to have anarchs, highly gifted and extremely rare individuals who can subconsciously control the chaos around them. Even while they are sleeping, their willpower can not be broken by the chaos and cities will build up around these individuals.

Shra’kt’lor

The largest city of the githzerai, this city is said to house 2 million githzerai and is more of a massive fortress than a city. While magnificent, with iron gatehouses and made up of seven rings of massive granite walls, the fortress city has cramped buildings, and outsiders are relegated to a tent city outside the city walls. The lifestyle inside the city is severe and the leader of the Shra’kt’lor is very similar to the city itself.

Severe and calculating, the immortal Great Githzerai, sometimes known as the god-king or by his name Zaerith Menyar-Ag-Gith. The Great Githzerai rules over this militaristic city, ensuring that all githzerai continue their discipline and uses the soldiers to ensure that order is maintained in the city, and outside its walls. The githzerai are typically focused on honing their iron wills on the plane, while those who reside in the tent city are just hoping to stay safe if they can stick close enough to the city.

This city is fed from stabilized pieces of earth that float nearby, thanks to the powerful minds of the githzerai they can easily create bountiful harvests from simply thinking of the plants. Though, they, and everyone else in Limbo, are restricted to what they can create as anything thought into existence inside of the chaos must be natural and can't be a living creature.

The Floating City

One of the many monasteries of the githzerai focused on finding themselves in the swirling chaos of Limbo. Not every githzerai lives in a monastery, despite the common misconception. Outsiders are welcome to wander it’s streets - though they do so at their own risk. This city is full of spires connected by stone walkways, narrow and winding streets have a slight dull glow to them, providing scant illumination for the people who walk the streets in silence.

Outsiders are allowed anywhere in this city except for the Tower of Luminescence which houses the god-king of the githzerai and his aides, though they often travel back and forth to Shra’kt’lor. Those who enter the city immediately become used as practice targets for every thief and monk that lives here, walking through the streets, outsiders are stalked by the dark and silent figures of the githzerai, training their techniques.

Barnstable

This quaint halfling village resides throughout the roots of a great tree and floats through Limbo quite contently. The halflings are originally from some world on the Material Plane before a stray surge of wild magic caught the whole village and dragged it into Limbo. Luckily, many of the halflings quickly understood how to control the chaos and decided to make the best of a bad situation. They have regular schedules where every inhabitant must spend time concentrating on their village, but otherwise, they live out their lives like normal.

The village itself is composed of a few dozen homes nestled into the roots of a huge oak tree. Cobbled streets wind their way from home to home and the only free-standing building is the central barn where the villagers keep ponies, goats, and other communal property like harvested food.

The halflings are welcoming and excited to meet travelers, trading for any goods they can’t simply will into existence in Limbo, which is anything not natural. Worked metal, any living creatures like ponies, and other processed items are of great value to the halflings and, while they have no money and care little for coins, they are happy to barter with anything they have. They are happy to offer a place to rest in the chaos, hearty meals, and good company.

The Spawning Stone

This is the home of the slaadi, the realm where every race of slaad must gather for their season of mating. The slaadi are hermaphroditic and must fertilize each other’s internal egg sacs, unfortunately for them, they can only do this at the Spawning Stone. Attempting it anywhere else is futile and so when it comes time for one race of slaadi, like the blue slaadi, to spawn more of their kind, they must wrestle control of the Spawning Stone away from the previous group.

After a season, that group will then get driven away by another race of slaadi and the cycle continues. The red is driven out by the blue, the blue driven out by the green, and the green driven out by the gray slaad. Due to the sheer numbers of red slaad, the gray slaad will then be driven out and the red slaad will repeat the cycle.

There is a single death slaad that watches over the Spawning Stone, said to be able to control the primal soup that churns for hundreds of miles around the stone. This slaadi, known as the Guard of the Stone, is believed to be the most powerful of the slaadi and it’s control over the stone ensures that it never falls into the hands of the githzerai who would like nothing more than to destroy it.

Factions & People

Chaos Beast

A mass of claws, limbs, trunks, or tusks, this horrendous beast is considered to be the only natural animal on Limbo. They are constantly morphing in and out of their form, and are, more often than not, a grotesque and twisted creature. While they avoid stabilized areas of land in Limbo, especially places controlled by an anarch, they drift through Limbo as chaotically as the wind, wandering without direction. When they spot another creature, they immediately go on the attack, their wild limbs flailing about them. For most adventurers, chaos beasts look fearsome but their attacks are fairly weak and do little to hurt you, instead the fearsome aspect of these beasts is that their simple touch can cause your body to turn to a sponge-like consistency. Those that don’t have the necessary willpower to fight it off become weak and lose the ability to properly control their bodies until they eventually become mindless. It’s thought that at this point that unless the creature receives magical aid, they will transform into a chaos beast.

Githzerai

Not originally from Limbo, the githzerai made their home here thousands and thousands of years ago when they finally broke free of their slavery to the mind flayers. Gith, the warrior-queen who struck down their oppressors and whose name became the name of the species, was seen as evil by many of the githzerai who were lead by Zerthimon. The two factions fought each other before Zerthimon was struck down and killed. Upon their leader being killed the githzerai escaped to Limbo while the remaining faction, the githyanki, stayed with their leader in the Astral Plane. Ever since then, the gith have hated each other and are constantly plotting to destroy the other.

Petitioners

Many believe that the petitioners of Limbo are in actuality the chaos beasts that rove across the chaos, but they are mistaken. The petitioners of Limbo are the elements of matter all around them. A petitioner could easily be a column of fire one moment, and then change into a massive boulder the next, all depending on their whim. Petitioners rarely take on their original, mortal forms but rather move in and out of whatever matter strikes their interest at that moment.

Some petitioners can be treated with, to act as guides through Limbo, to not be a burning orb of fire killing the entire party and more. Petitioners hold little value on anything, as they can simply will anything they might want into existence except for one thing. The petitioners all have a love of stories and if a traveler has a very engrossing story, they can offer it up in exchange for safe travel through Limbo. Of course, if the story ends or hits a dull spot, the petitioner can quickly grow bored and wander off or change their form again, which might end up killing the storyteller by accident.

Slaadi

For most, slaadi are often seen as chaotic creatures more akin to nomadic berserkers than a functioning society. Slaadi care for nothing outside of their kind and only respect those who they deem to be powerful. Of course, the only way to determine how powerful another creature is is to fight them - often to the death. Slaadi assume that they own whatever they can take, be it by force or by intimidation, and refuse to back down even if they are losing. They believe if they just believe in themselves enough, they can still win a fight that is fast turning against them.

Slaadi like to watch such fights, judging and evaluating the skill of the challenger against the other slaadi. They don’t all run in at once, overwhelming the individual in a single go, but rather send slaad after slaad in to test the power of the individual. The weakest of the slaad runs in first, this gives the stronger, more powerful slaadi time to ascertain any weaknesses to exploit. If you are successful in killing a slaad, there are a thousand more waiting in line to fight, interested in proving that they are the toughest.

Eventually, after cutting down dozens or more of the slaadi, the carnivorous frog race would come to revere that individual’s prowess and may even treat them as their better. This might mean that the individual is welcome to travel where they want throughout the slaadi territory, or the slaadi are simply going to find a more powerful slaad and send them against the individual to test their mettle.

Encounters

Astral Strikeforce - Rumors are circulating through the tent city outside of Shra’kt’lor that the githzerai are mobilizing inside the city walls. They are planning to invade the Astral Plane and strike deep into their hated enemies, the githyanki. No one has been able to verify these rumors though as the city remains securely locked down.

Boulder Problems - Tumbling through the atmosphere of this plane is a massive boulder of ice with veins of magma spewing out of it. It is heading straight towards the party and anyone who is concentrating on their sphere of influence must make a Wisdom check verse the DC of the boulder or begin taking damage from the chaos around them. (Suggested DC is 15 for a hard check or 20 for a very hard check. Suggested damage should be a number of d6s equal to their Proficiency Bonus per round until they succeed on their Wisdom check.)

Chaos in Barnstable - While Barnstable doesn’t have a set guard force, they do have a militia of sorts that can be called on during dire circumstances. Unfortunately, a chaos beast has wormed its way into town and the militia is far too scared to deal with such a horrifying creature.

Githyanki Trouble - The Great Githzerai, the god-king of the githzerai people, is offering a reward to all outsiders. For every githyanki they bring back to be punished for their evil, they can be paid quite handsomely. If they can bring back githyanki ships, outsiders can be paid even more, and if they can secure a githyanki kith’yak or a supreme commander, they can even get a building inside the walls of Shra’kt’lor.

Slaadi Tests - Traveling across Limbo, the party stumbles upon a pack of slaadi who are deciding who will be the first to challenge a small group of scared-looking travelers. Multiple half-eaten bodies lie scattered forgotten on the ground, the past challengers who didn’t make it against the slaadi.

Story Guide - A petitioner in Limbo is offering to travelers to guide them where ever they want in Limbo, but they require intriguing stories, none of that droll that others attempt to pass off as stories. They want action, romance, and more in their story. If the story is dull, the petitioner is likely to abandon the party with little thought of them, if the story is particularly bad, the petitioner might decide to lead them into a massive firestorm for a bit of entertainment and watch as they die.

Resources & Further Reading

Manual of the Planes (1st edition)
For more information on Limbo.
Planes of Chaos (2nd edition)
For detailed information on the githzerai cities, slaadi territories, and Limbo.
Manual of the Planes (3rd edition)
For more information on Limbo and it’s chaotic nature.

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