The Manual of the Planes

by Jeff Grubb, David Noonan, Bruce R. Cordell

Visit New Dimensions The most powerful adventurers know that great rewards--and great perils--await them beyond the world they call home. From the depths of Hell to the heights of Mount Celestia, from... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786918500
• ISBN13: 9780786918508
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.6" x 11.2"

Customer Reviews

3e skeptic of supplementary material converted . . . mostly.

Until now, the only supplementary 3e book I've felt was worth the extra cost was the Forgotten Realms book. The Manual of the Planes provides information on exactly what it should: the planes. There is detailed information on aspects of every major Inner and Outer plane, as well as the Ethereal and Astral. For those, like myself, who have always found the Astral Plane boring, you now have good suggestions for using an alternate, either the Spirit Plane, or the Fairie Plane. The information provided on each plane includes rough planar features (magic type, time and gravity variances, planar alignments, etc.) as well as information on planar inhabitants. With the exception of the Abyss, various layers of a plane are also detailed, along with highlights of those layers/planes. As I mentioned before, there is also information on alternate planes, including in one case, a sentient plane.In the monsters section, there are a couple new monsters that are relevent to planar travels, and several new templates, such as half-elemental, the shadow template, and elemental creatures (such as the earth element minotaur, and the wood element leopard). The four prestige classes are pretty cool, and allow for progress by different base classes. This shows that the authors did not forget fighters, for example, when creating the classes. One of the prestige classes even allows the character to (slowly) start building a demiplane. Very small to start, but a very cool feature. Spells dealing with the various planes are also included, some of which are really interesting. For those who play games with a strong Shadow element (Forgotten Realms or Birthright, for example), will likely love this book. There are a number of spells dealing with the Shadow plane, and a lot of references to benefits/limitations of those spells and abilities on other planes. There is also the Shadow monster template, which dramatically expands a DM's ability to populate their Shadow realm with easily created monsters.Most of the artwork is pretty good. As usual, there are some that are excellent, though thankfully, there's only a couple I found to be disappointing.The book layout was also sensible. However, I find myself flipping back and forth quite a bit, but that is really due more to the nature of the planes than to problems with the book layout.Overall, I found the book to be well-worth the money. I still object to the WotC policy of jacking up the price of these supplementary books, but can't deny their logic in doing so. For those that don't realize it, this policy will result in more players using the same rules. With 1e and 2e, players had different experiences based on the books they or their DM had. Since this will result in fewer resource books being purchased, more people will have similar experiences.

The best 3e book, period

This is an excellent work. Its not perfect (what is?) but it lacks obvious flaws and comes off as a professional and solid read. It has attractive art, useful illustrations, and a distinct look & feel that all combine to create a specific identity for the work. Its not just another hardback with some crunchy bits; when you crack the covers, you know that you are reading a complete product.What I like about the MotP is that it basically says 'Heres how we've always done it, and here are a half dozen other ways it could be done too'. Rather than giving a DM a supplement on THE PLANES, chiseled in stone, it grants a structured and easy way to 'dial-in' a unique cosmology. It pretty much assumes that if you are reading it thinking 'where is Planescape in here?' you probably already have a fair amount of the Planescape material. This doesnt prevent you from using the setting laid out in those out of print products, nor does it expect that other readers have them. It does an exceptional job of presenting a modular approach to describing and defining the expanse of reality beyond the Material world.Unlike every other WoTC product I can think of, it is totally open to interpretation and individual implementation. The book is scattered with interesting variants, and indicators of what can be changed, a few examples of how, and coverage of important game mechanic concerns if you do change things from the 'default' cosmology.All that aside, however, the single most compelling feature of this book is that upon reading it, dozen of new ideas occured to me. Basically, it got the wheels in my head spinning in a way that only some Mage the Ascension supplements have previously. This alone is enough to Transcend the product from a good, solid, professional book to a SUPERB and crucial addition to my collection of RPGs. New ideas are priceless, and this book kick started several in my head at least.I have the original Manual of Planes (well cared for and treasured), which I have reffered to over the years, as well as the basic box set for Planescape and the Chaos boxed set, and the Monstrous Compendium appendix for the planes so much of the 'default' info was not new to me. What was new was the modular tool-box approach to Reality.Highly recommended to any DM designing thier own game setting for its Cosmology-building rules, and to any DM that is ready to take thier players beyond the Material plane, whichever plane that may be.

One of the DM's best books to have...

Really.I borrowed my Birthright DM's copy, since, well, I'm not DMing, don't plan on doing so anytime soon, and had no need to purchase it...but it'd still be interesting, I figured.I found a detailed guide to the default D & D cosmology, suggestions on alternate cosmologies, decent prestige classes, new monsters and monster types, new spells, and...a write-up of every single plane in the standard cosmology...even alternate material planes!Note that this book is really only of use to DMs, not players. There's not enough there for you to justify the expense. But for DMs...oh, yes.You have three basic types of non-material planes: Transitive, Inner, and Outer. Transitive planes are those whose main purpose is to get you from one plane to another...such as the Astral, Ethereal, and (new to this book) Shadow. Inner planes are the elemental planes...fire, water, earth, air, plus the paraelemental planes (where the infinite planes meet), as well as the positive and negative energy planes. And, finally, there are the outer planes...where the celestials and fiends and other outsiders live.Each plane has a standard format, discussing specific characteristics of that plane and any special effects (like the 3d10 points of fire damage/round an unprotected person receives on the Elemental Plane of Fire). There are also non-standard planes included as options, such as Faerie, the Elemental Plane of Wood, and the Far Realms (where multi-tentacled insanity-causing monstrosities dwell).Creatures range from new celestials to new fiends, including a new (to 3e, anyway) category, the yugoloths. There are also new templates...half-elementals, axiomatic and anarchic creatures, etc. There are also non-psionic versions of the githyanki and githzerai...some people might not like buying two versions, but not everybody uses psionics.The book is of uniformly high quality...the art is great, the writing is great, and it all just *works*. I can't think of anything bad about this book. If you're planning on running a D & D 3e game and it might involve the planes, you owe it to yourself to get this book.

The Best of the Best!

The new Manual of the Planes really kicks butt. With a enormous amount of cool stuff both new and old (updated for 3E), this is the best D & D book since the 3rd edition's arrival. First of all, WotC has not thrown the old cosmology in the trash bin. Quite the contrary, the updated core cosmology makes much more sense than the older versions, is crammed with nice new ideas, and is presented in such way that even Planescape old fans like me get a refreshing new look at the planes.Second, the planes now are manageable. Before this MotP incarnation, the magic rules were really impossible to use. Now the planes are defined in easy, rational terms, with physical, spacial and magical traits that quickly and efortlessly sum up the main characteristics of any given plane. You can better convey the otherworldly nature of the planes to your players, but with much less effort and less book-keeping. Better yet, the planar traits mechanics is intuitive, allowing you to wing it easily if needed, with little or no preparation time. The Prestige Classes and spells are good too, but I think the best touch of all are the tools for building new cosmologies. Total freedom at least, without throwing away the good old Great Wheel! A dream come true, really!Overall, I was absolutely impressed by the new Manual of the Planes. All DMs should purchase it, even those who do not use the planes, because the amount of goodness in this book can bring new blood to any campaign.

Beyond your wildest (plane of) Dreams

Excepting the reasonably priced three core books (Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide and Monster Manual), I have been rather critical of WOTC's high prices for medium level product.No more.The Manual of the Planes is everything promised and more.This hardback contains:*Detailed descriptions of the Planes of the traditional D & D cosmology*Rules for constructing your own Cosmology*Denizens of the Planes*Rules for creating Outsider PCs*Templates for creating Planer creatures (beyond celestial and Fiends)*Four EXCELLENT Prestige classesAnd a LOT more.Gone on the insultingly vapid Modrons... now we have Axiomatic (read: Perfect) creatures and the Inevitables (Robotic Creatures of law seeking justic)...Slaad Mutations are fully deatiled...The book just keeps getting betterAnd the artwork is amazing.If you were a fan of Planescape, here is your 3rd edition jumping off point...And for those of you that we Spelljammer fans... check out the Mercane... and grin.