Post by Kaber on Dec 22, 2007 19:31:21 GMT -5
(I have used the Beastlands often as an introduction to planar travel. Fairly easily accessibil from the Prime plane, it allows a DM to introduce many Planar inhabitants without getting players killed in a hostile enviroment. A good place to learn about survival in the planes and the nuances of social interaction with planar creatures)
BEASTLANDS TRAITS
The Beastlands has the following traits.
Normal Gravity.
Normal Time.
Infinite Size: The part of the Beastlands known to most visitors is relatively small, but there may be vast realms beyond it, and deities as yet undiscovered within.
Divinely Morphic: Deities can shape the plane's traits with a thought, but mortal creatures must use spells or physical effort to affect a change in the plane.
No Elemental or Energy Traits.
Mildly Good-Aligned: Evil characters suffer a –2 penalty on all Charisma-based checks.
Normal Magic.
BEASTLANDS LINKS
The Beastlands borders the neighboring Outer Planes of Arborea and Elysium. Natural portals between these locations are common, and shifting borders can whisk travelers from one plane to another. Often these natural portals take the form of hollow trees. Stepping within the rotted core of a lightning-blasted oak takes the traveler to Arborea, and ducking within the hollow of a toppled sequoia connects to Elysium.
Portals between the layers are insubstantial and erratic, and many of them tend to be one-way. By passing between two trees or ducking beneath a branch, the light changes from day to twilight (Krigala to Brux) or from dusk to night (Brux to Karasuthra). Such portals are common, so a wanderer may find his or her way back to the top layer of the Beastlands fairly easily.
The River Oceanus flows through the Beastlands on its way from Elysium to Arborea. The course of the river is straight and true across the plane, but the border between the planes is a stretch of white-water rapids. Travelers should not risk these planes with sturdy ships. (See Oceanus topic below. I may provide an entierly seperate section on this river later)
THE BEASTLANDS - General Description
The Beastlands consists of three layers, each layer frozen at part of the day. The top layer is a place of eternal daylight, its second layer a domain of perpetual twilight, and its third layer a land of night illuminated only by a pale moon. The most important aspect of the Beastlands is how it favors animals of all kinds. Like Arcadia, it is a plane heavily populated by animals, beasts, and magical beasts. Traditional towns, cities, and strongholds are few and far between. Those who make their homes here seek to live with the trees, not against them.
It is a domain of natural savagery and plenty.
It is the forest eternal.
It is where the most loyal animal companions go when they die.
The Wilderness of the Beastlands is a plane of nature unbound. It is a plane of forests ranging from mangroves hung heavy with moss to snowfall-laden pines to acres of sequoias 50 thick that no light penetrates their canopy. Oak, birches, spruces, firs, and maples are common here, and explorers into the plane's distant corners find great forests of giant fungi and mushrooms. There are vast deserts as well, though they are hardly barren wastelands. Cactus, aloe, and other desert plants thrive in the arid parts of the Beastlands.
The air of the Beastlands is ideal for anything that grows. It is humid and warm in the swampy regions, calm and cool beneath the sequoias, breezy and clear among the beeches, and arid and hot in the more open lands.
"The Perfect Wilderness", "The Beastlands" or "the Happy Hunting Grounds" are filled with sentient speaking (and often spellcasting) animals in all their beautiful diversity. There are no tame animals here, and any animal brought here from another plane immediately becomes feral, though not necessarily unfriendly. All kinds of terrain are here. This is a realm of primitive, feral beauty.
BEASTLANDS INHABITANTS
A variety of creatures live in the Beastlands. First and foremost are outsiders, often celestial versions of wild creatures found on the Material Plane. These celestial animals, beasts, vermin, and magical beasts inhabit every environmental niche in the Beastlands. Occasionally a nonevil aberration calls the Beastlands home, but few intelligent creatures other than magical beasts such as unicorns stay in the wilderness for long.
Some sages contend the spirits of wild creatures drift after death to the Beastlands, where they are reincarnated as celestial versions of their mortal selves. Whether this is true depends upon your cosmology, but it does explain why such a huge number of celestial wild things live in the Beastlands.
Regardless of their origin, most of the animals are profoundly wise and holy, and serve as exemplars of individual virtues, as in the medieval bestiaries. All of them can talk, though most prefer not to. Those that do will question the party about how they have treated animals, and about goodness. Celestial creatures in the Beastlands, in addition to the other traits provided by the celestial template, have their Intelligence raised to 3 and can speak Celestial. This increased Intelligence score does little to dull their natural tendencies, and the deadly dance between predator and prey continues even in this extraplanar arena. The increased Intelligence lets the prey try to bargain its way out of danger, just as it enables more effective communication within a pack of predators.
Celestials are common in the Beastlands, especially the eladrin but also planetars and solars. Lillends may be found here as well.
ELADRIN
eladrin.com/elves/index.html
PLANETARS
www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/angel.htm
LILLENDS
www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/lillend.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillend_(Dungeons_&_Dragons)
The plane is the home of many beasts of legend—superior versions of powerful animals, beasts, and magical beasts. The Lords of each kind of animal live here, knowing all that concerns the species.
Warden animals serve them and supervise each species in turn. (Natural ecosystems, dominated by good animals, may be found on all the upper planes.) Good-aligned lycanthropes (and their petitioner spirits after they die) can find great joy with their animal kin in the Beastlands, though they lose their lycanthrope abilities in this plane.
Planar travelers are common on Krigala, Brux, and Karasuthra, mostly because there are so many portals between the layers that spreading out over all three layers is easy. Some visitors to the Beastlands are travelers moving between Elysium and Arborea. Others are sages and acolytes seeking knowledge that can only be gleaned in the darkest woods. Some are hunters from other planes seeking the beasts that populate this plane. Hunters often find themselves overmatched by the wild creatures of the Beastlands and beat a hasty retreat. Evil visitors get hunted, while good visitors are usually left alone, but don't get over-confident.
Beastlands Petitioners
Because not many deities make this plane their home, mortal souls drawn to the Beastlands primarily arrive based on their philosophy: good and just a bit on the side of freedom over order. They usually live in small communities at the bases of great trees, leading simple lives in harmony with the other creatures of the plane. These petitioners take on animal traits soon after they arrive. Their hair grows long in lustrous pelts, short horns sprout from their foreheads, and they develop cats' eyes or fox ears. Over the course of centuries, they become celestial beasts or animals. Beastlands petitioners have the following special petitioner qualities:
Additional Immunities: Electricity, poison.
Resistances: Cold 20, fire 20.
Other Special Qualities: Fast healing 2.
All ranger skills, and all skills and proficiencies related to animals or to the wilderness, get a bonus of +10.
A few humans live here -- noble savages or happy hippy-types. Most of the area is beautiful wilderness. This is a common location for the headquarters of good sects devoted to animals, nature, or the wilderness.
The "Signers" philosophic sect, which holds that the universe is their dream, has its headquarters here. ("You're all just figments of my imagination.") Primitives will enjoy hunting the animals for sport, which the animals don't mind since it is natures way. To hunt or be hunted and most creatures are cunning enouph to make hunting a challange. This is the only place in the multiverse where fantasies about noble primitives and nature's harmony are really true. The Verdant Guild ("Wylders") are the local protect-the-environment movement, and oppose all encroachment of civilization.
The Beastlands is not a place inhabited by many deities, though it is as divinely morphic as the other planes of the Great Wheel. Deities that might establish a realm here would share a love of creatures or the wilderness itself, and their kingdoms would fit neatly into the surrounding forests. Two such deities are Ehlonna, Deity of the Woodlands, and Skerrit, the deity of the centaurs. They both have their personal kingdoms in Krigala, the Beastlands' top layer.
MOVEMENT AND COMBAT
The Beastlands does not present any worse penalty to movement than any Material Plane forest or woods. Creatures with the ability to climb or brachiate (swing among the branches) are able to move through the Beastlands without touching the ground. The Beastlands does not present any inherent benefit or penalty to combat, thought cover and concealment are plentiful.
FEATURES OF THE BEASTLANDS
The Beastlands is divided into three layers: a land of eternal day known as Krigala on the top, a territory of dusk called Brux in the middle, and a moonlit place of fireflies and wandering stars, Karasuthra, on the bottom.
Krigala
The Beastlands' top layer is Krigala, split in two by the River Oceanus. The river flows through the layer in a strong torrent, flanked by verdant forests that often bridge the great river with intertwined branches above. Small side channels depart from the river, and there are numerous bayous and oxbow lakes formed whenever this extraplanar river alters its banks. Krigala is a land of eternal afternoon. A warm sun basks the land in its continual glow. It is just warm enough in Krigala for the plant life of the area, and temperatures remain in a comfortable range unless manipulated by spells or divine will. Time passes normally but is not tracked by the moving of the sun. Instead, gentle rains drift in on soft breezes once per day. More rarely, occasional thunderstorms strike, sending many of Krigala's beasts to cover. The centaur deity Skerrit lives in Krigala with his closest petitioners. Skerrit is a lesser deity, but he is greatly venerated by the centaurs. The deity's realm looks little different from the surrounding woods, and the homes of his petitioners are often small huts and lean-tos. When a feast is called (and that's often if you're a centaur), the centaurs set out great tables in the midst of the forest, trusting to Krigala's benign nature and Skerrit's power to keep them in line. Skerrit's petitioners take centaur form but are otherwise similar to other Beastlander petitioners. They attack as centaurs do (two hooves at a +3 attack bonus, dealing 1d6+2 points of damage). In extreme cases, Skerrit might arm them, but such events are exceedingly rare. Most of the creatures encountered in Krigala would be active during the day if they lived on the Material Plane. Most of the native life has a basic understanding of how me portals between the layers work, and they can avoid the portals instinctively if they choose. those who stay here for a day get +1 to wisdom as long as they stay.
The plants here grow to enormous sizes. The ratatosk squirrel-folk inhabit branches of Yggdrasil that reach to here. The Forbidden Plateau is a basalt pillar topped with a realm of dinosaurs and green- furred beastfolk. Signpost is a frontier-style camp for the Signers' faction. Standing Stones is the home of a powerful antlered tiefling who will turn sport hunters into the hunted. Triberove is a huge travelling town of wemics who will welcome most decent creatures to travel with them
The Grove of the Unicorns: Deep within the Beastlands is the realm of Ehlonna, deity of forests and woodlands. The grove sits at the base of a cluster of great sequoias that form a natural cathedral for those beneath the canopy. The lowest branches of the great redwoods are hundreds of feet in the air, such that those with wings can fly through Ehlonna's cathedral without difficulty. Those who reside within the borders of Ehlonna's realm live in peace with the trees and animals, and they are similarly left alone by the wild creatures. The thinking creatures of the Beastlands adore Ehlonna, such that she is often aware of occurrences that happen far from her Realm. True to its name, the grove attracts groups of unicorns. These are both unicorns with the celestial template and half-celestial/half-unicorns (as described in the Monster Manual). In addition, there are flocks of bariaurs in Ehlonna's service. The grove is not far from Skerrit's realm; centaur petitioners are found in Ehlonna's realm and half-celestial/half-unicorns in Skerrit's. Ehlonna has taken advantage of the Beastlands' divinely morphic trait to give her realm the enhanced magic trait. All spells cast by rangers within the Grove of the Unicorns are extended (as the Extend Spell feat), and all spells that create food or water are maximized (as the Maximize Spell feat). Ehlonna has the power to make other alterations to the traits within her realm, if she so desires.
The kenku god Quorlinn's realm of Filchnest can be found on Krigala.
Remnis, the god of giant eagles, lives in the realm of Goldenroost on Krigala.
Brux
Brux is the second layer of the Beastlands and a land of eternal dusk. The sun is a red ball along the horizon, casting long, ruddy shadows through the forest. Where it can be seen above the trees, a silvered moon hovers low over the opposite horizon. Time passes normally on this layer, but newcomers often get the eerie sense that the world is frozen at sunset. Brux is slightly cooler than Krigala, and fogs and mists roil through the trees. The animal life on Brux is active in morning and evening, sleeping during the heat of the day and getting food when the sun is low in the sky. Travelers who find themselves on Brux by accident may find their way back to Krigala by following the creeks and streams. Many of them lead eventually to Oceanus; others lead to boggy marshes and swamps.
Al Karak Elam-Ihankhal is the realm of the xenophobic flying elves. The Cat Lord's Prowl is cat terrain, and visitors will usually be eaten at once. Anything that any cat knows, the Cat Lord knows. Ursis is home to the good bear people, and those infected with lycanthropy and not yet of evil alignment can be cured here.
Al Karak Elam-Jhankhal, the realm of the avariel is located on Brux.
The Cat Lord shares her realm of The Cat Lord's Prowl with Ferrix, the god of weretigers, though Ferrix usually prefers to wander.
The Library of All Knowledge is shared by the gods Deneir and Milil of the Forgotten Realms.
Puchan's realm of Reastweal is found on Brux.
The wandering Seelie Court frequently appears on Brux, though never in the same place twice.
Ursis, the realm of the werebear god Balador is located on Brux.
Karasuthra
The lowest layer of the Beastlands, Karasuthra wears a cloak of continual night. A silver moon whose phases change achingly slowly hangs in the open sky, surrounded by stars that lazily drift across the sky. Only a few beacons of moonlight piece the thick canopy of the forest here, forming silver shafts that touch the forest floor. Karasuthra is the home of the most dangerous night creatures, hunters relentless in the pursuit of their quarry. Hunters from the Material Plane sometimes journey to Karasuthra looking for the most dangerous of trophies. Some even survive to try a second time. If you've designed a cosmology in which the Plane of Shadow is coterminous to or coexistent with the Beastlands, Karasuthra's darkness makes it a convenient arrival point from that plane. In such a cosmology, dusk beasts, ecalypses, and umbral banyans could be found throughout Karasuthras, as could shadow versions of animals and beasts (created by applying the shadow creature template). Evil-aligned creatures would be uncomfortable in the Beasdands and hunted mercilessly by the many celestial creatures that catch their scent. But desperate evildoers could use Karasuthra as a hiding place from other, more foul creatures on their home plane.
There are gates to the Demiplane of Shadow, and there are rumors that Brux is the repository of items that were safely locked away but vanished anyway.
The giant god Stronmaus lives on Karasuthra in his realm of Stormhold.
Kura Okami's realm The Misty Valley is on Karasuthra.
Three gods of the Dragonlance setting (Chislev, Zivilyn, and Habbakuk) share a realm on Karasuthra called Zhan, the Grand Forest Beyond the World.
OCEANUS
Sailing on Oceanus is relatively safe, free of hideous fiends, but there are still hazards. Giant versions of natural creatures swim in the river and will hunt for food. Waterfalls, snags, whirlpools, and rapids - the hazards of normal boating - are greater here, as befits the majestic scale of this plane. Many traders and travelers of the planes use the river as a means of travel and lively hood.
THE RIVER OCEANUS
Rising on the plane of Elysium is a great river, broad in its banks, whose waters flow smoothly across the upper realms. Its surface is calm, barely marred by ripples, and its depths are deeper than any line can fathom. The water isn't dangerous, but sweet - indeed fragrant - to those who stand on its shores. Its surface is calm, yet it has its share of dangerous currents and creatures in the depths below. This is the River Oceanus. Rising on the plane of Elysium is a great river, broad in its banks, whose waters flow smoothly across the upper realms. Its surface is calm, barely marred by ripples, and its depths are deeper than any line can fathom. The water isn ' t dangerous, but sweet - indeed fragrant - to those who stand on its shores. Its surface is calm, yet it has its share of dangerous currents and creatures in the depths below. This is the River Oceanus.
Like its sister the Styx, the Oceanus is a worldspanning river, a waterway between realms, layers, and planes. Its headwaters lie in Thalasia, on the plane of Elysium. From there it flows through all of Elysium's layers and eventually breaks through the boundary between the planes, passing through the top layer of the Beastlands. After this, it crosses another boundary and enters Arborea, passes through the first layer, and finally disappears somewhere in that plane's second layer, Ossa. Like its sister the Styx, the Oceanus is a worldspanning river, a waterway between realms, layers, and planes. Its headwaters lie in Thalasia, on the plane of Elysium. From there it flows through all of Elysium's layers and eventually breaks through the boundary between the planes, passing through the top layer of the Beastlands. After this, it crosses another boundary and enters Arborea, passes through the first layer, and finally disappears somewhere in that plane's second layer, Ossa.
Although Oceanus looks like a normal river, it's far from that. In some places the river is, but in other places it isn't. It flows in and out of existence without once breaking its continuous flow, defying the logic of connection. A ship might sail through one plane or layer for an hour or a week (depending upon the DM's plans). Passage through the barriers can be arduous or instantaneous. Sometimes, a body just slips from one plane to the next while he wasn't looking.
Oceanus is a commonly used path between planes and the layers of planes. Trading vessels sail up and down its length, and small towns line its banks. Travelers can usually find a boat to hire somewhere along its shores. Oceanus is a commonly used path between planes and the layers of planes.
NPC's
Tshooklu - a netral evil blue devil (Using an amulate to disquise his alignment), lives on the river in a house boat and makes his living as a trader. Traveling both Oceanus and Styx, selling and trading his wares. A great source of information with some uncommon items for sale or trade...if the price is right.
the Dra' en.
A pack of Dire Wolves who dwell in the third lair. Serving their own lord of canines, they occasionally venture beyond their layer to hunt. It is said that they aided a demon disquised as a sorcerour who corrupted them. While not wholy evil they have been known to carry out tasks and missions not in alignment with other creatures of the plane. Some suspect that their lord routinly visits the shadow plane but for what purpose none can say.
Taunis
Taunis is a centaur who often works directly under Skerrit. He keeps an eye open for the Dra' en and their activities as well as guiding new commers.
BEASTLANDS TRAITS
The Beastlands has the following traits.
Normal Gravity.
Normal Time.
Infinite Size: The part of the Beastlands known to most visitors is relatively small, but there may be vast realms beyond it, and deities as yet undiscovered within.
Divinely Morphic: Deities can shape the plane's traits with a thought, but mortal creatures must use spells or physical effort to affect a change in the plane.
No Elemental or Energy Traits.
Mildly Good-Aligned: Evil characters suffer a –2 penalty on all Charisma-based checks.
Normal Magic.
BEASTLANDS LINKS
The Beastlands borders the neighboring Outer Planes of Arborea and Elysium. Natural portals between these locations are common, and shifting borders can whisk travelers from one plane to another. Often these natural portals take the form of hollow trees. Stepping within the rotted core of a lightning-blasted oak takes the traveler to Arborea, and ducking within the hollow of a toppled sequoia connects to Elysium.
Portals between the layers are insubstantial and erratic, and many of them tend to be one-way. By passing between two trees or ducking beneath a branch, the light changes from day to twilight (Krigala to Brux) or from dusk to night (Brux to Karasuthra). Such portals are common, so a wanderer may find his or her way back to the top layer of the Beastlands fairly easily.
The River Oceanus flows through the Beastlands on its way from Elysium to Arborea. The course of the river is straight and true across the plane, but the border between the planes is a stretch of white-water rapids. Travelers should not risk these planes with sturdy ships. (See Oceanus topic below. I may provide an entierly seperate section on this river later)
THE BEASTLANDS - General Description
The Beastlands consists of three layers, each layer frozen at part of the day. The top layer is a place of eternal daylight, its second layer a domain of perpetual twilight, and its third layer a land of night illuminated only by a pale moon. The most important aspect of the Beastlands is how it favors animals of all kinds. Like Arcadia, it is a plane heavily populated by animals, beasts, and magical beasts. Traditional towns, cities, and strongholds are few and far between. Those who make their homes here seek to live with the trees, not against them.
It is a domain of natural savagery and plenty.
It is the forest eternal.
It is where the most loyal animal companions go when they die.
The Wilderness of the Beastlands is a plane of nature unbound. It is a plane of forests ranging from mangroves hung heavy with moss to snowfall-laden pines to acres of sequoias 50 thick that no light penetrates their canopy. Oak, birches, spruces, firs, and maples are common here, and explorers into the plane's distant corners find great forests of giant fungi and mushrooms. There are vast deserts as well, though they are hardly barren wastelands. Cactus, aloe, and other desert plants thrive in the arid parts of the Beastlands.
The air of the Beastlands is ideal for anything that grows. It is humid and warm in the swampy regions, calm and cool beneath the sequoias, breezy and clear among the beeches, and arid and hot in the more open lands.
"The Perfect Wilderness", "The Beastlands" or "the Happy Hunting Grounds" are filled with sentient speaking (and often spellcasting) animals in all their beautiful diversity. There are no tame animals here, and any animal brought here from another plane immediately becomes feral, though not necessarily unfriendly. All kinds of terrain are here. This is a realm of primitive, feral beauty.
BEASTLANDS INHABITANTS
A variety of creatures live in the Beastlands. First and foremost are outsiders, often celestial versions of wild creatures found on the Material Plane. These celestial animals, beasts, vermin, and magical beasts inhabit every environmental niche in the Beastlands. Occasionally a nonevil aberration calls the Beastlands home, but few intelligent creatures other than magical beasts such as unicorns stay in the wilderness for long.
Some sages contend the spirits of wild creatures drift after death to the Beastlands, where they are reincarnated as celestial versions of their mortal selves. Whether this is true depends upon your cosmology, but it does explain why such a huge number of celestial wild things live in the Beastlands.
Regardless of their origin, most of the animals are profoundly wise and holy, and serve as exemplars of individual virtues, as in the medieval bestiaries. All of them can talk, though most prefer not to. Those that do will question the party about how they have treated animals, and about goodness. Celestial creatures in the Beastlands, in addition to the other traits provided by the celestial template, have their Intelligence raised to 3 and can speak Celestial. This increased Intelligence score does little to dull their natural tendencies, and the deadly dance between predator and prey continues even in this extraplanar arena. The increased Intelligence lets the prey try to bargain its way out of danger, just as it enables more effective communication within a pack of predators.
Celestials are common in the Beastlands, especially the eladrin but also planetars and solars. Lillends may be found here as well.
ELADRIN
eladrin.com/elves/index.html
PLANETARS
www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/angel.htm
LILLENDS
www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/lillend.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillend_(Dungeons_&_Dragons)
The plane is the home of many beasts of legend—superior versions of powerful animals, beasts, and magical beasts. The Lords of each kind of animal live here, knowing all that concerns the species.
Warden animals serve them and supervise each species in turn. (Natural ecosystems, dominated by good animals, may be found on all the upper planes.) Good-aligned lycanthropes (and their petitioner spirits after they die) can find great joy with their animal kin in the Beastlands, though they lose their lycanthrope abilities in this plane.
Planar travelers are common on Krigala, Brux, and Karasuthra, mostly because there are so many portals between the layers that spreading out over all three layers is easy. Some visitors to the Beastlands are travelers moving between Elysium and Arborea. Others are sages and acolytes seeking knowledge that can only be gleaned in the darkest woods. Some are hunters from other planes seeking the beasts that populate this plane. Hunters often find themselves overmatched by the wild creatures of the Beastlands and beat a hasty retreat. Evil visitors get hunted, while good visitors are usually left alone, but don't get over-confident.
Beastlands Petitioners
Because not many deities make this plane their home, mortal souls drawn to the Beastlands primarily arrive based on their philosophy: good and just a bit on the side of freedom over order. They usually live in small communities at the bases of great trees, leading simple lives in harmony with the other creatures of the plane. These petitioners take on animal traits soon after they arrive. Their hair grows long in lustrous pelts, short horns sprout from their foreheads, and they develop cats' eyes or fox ears. Over the course of centuries, they become celestial beasts or animals. Beastlands petitioners have the following special petitioner qualities:
Additional Immunities: Electricity, poison.
Resistances: Cold 20, fire 20.
Other Special Qualities: Fast healing 2.
All ranger skills, and all skills and proficiencies related to animals or to the wilderness, get a bonus of +10.
A few humans live here -- noble savages or happy hippy-types. Most of the area is beautiful wilderness. This is a common location for the headquarters of good sects devoted to animals, nature, or the wilderness.
The "Signers" philosophic sect, which holds that the universe is their dream, has its headquarters here. ("You're all just figments of my imagination.") Primitives will enjoy hunting the animals for sport, which the animals don't mind since it is natures way. To hunt or be hunted and most creatures are cunning enouph to make hunting a challange. This is the only place in the multiverse where fantasies about noble primitives and nature's harmony are really true. The Verdant Guild ("Wylders") are the local protect-the-environment movement, and oppose all encroachment of civilization.
The Beastlands is not a place inhabited by many deities, though it is as divinely morphic as the other planes of the Great Wheel. Deities that might establish a realm here would share a love of creatures or the wilderness itself, and their kingdoms would fit neatly into the surrounding forests. Two such deities are Ehlonna, Deity of the Woodlands, and Skerrit, the deity of the centaurs. They both have their personal kingdoms in Krigala, the Beastlands' top layer.
MOVEMENT AND COMBAT
The Beastlands does not present any worse penalty to movement than any Material Plane forest or woods. Creatures with the ability to climb or brachiate (swing among the branches) are able to move through the Beastlands without touching the ground. The Beastlands does not present any inherent benefit or penalty to combat, thought cover and concealment are plentiful.
FEATURES OF THE BEASTLANDS
The Beastlands is divided into three layers: a land of eternal day known as Krigala on the top, a territory of dusk called Brux in the middle, and a moonlit place of fireflies and wandering stars, Karasuthra, on the bottom.
Krigala
The Beastlands' top layer is Krigala, split in two by the River Oceanus. The river flows through the layer in a strong torrent, flanked by verdant forests that often bridge the great river with intertwined branches above. Small side channels depart from the river, and there are numerous bayous and oxbow lakes formed whenever this extraplanar river alters its banks. Krigala is a land of eternal afternoon. A warm sun basks the land in its continual glow. It is just warm enough in Krigala for the plant life of the area, and temperatures remain in a comfortable range unless manipulated by spells or divine will. Time passes normally but is not tracked by the moving of the sun. Instead, gentle rains drift in on soft breezes once per day. More rarely, occasional thunderstorms strike, sending many of Krigala's beasts to cover. The centaur deity Skerrit lives in Krigala with his closest petitioners. Skerrit is a lesser deity, but he is greatly venerated by the centaurs. The deity's realm looks little different from the surrounding woods, and the homes of his petitioners are often small huts and lean-tos. When a feast is called (and that's often if you're a centaur), the centaurs set out great tables in the midst of the forest, trusting to Krigala's benign nature and Skerrit's power to keep them in line. Skerrit's petitioners take centaur form but are otherwise similar to other Beastlander petitioners. They attack as centaurs do (two hooves at a +3 attack bonus, dealing 1d6+2 points of damage). In extreme cases, Skerrit might arm them, but such events are exceedingly rare. Most of the creatures encountered in Krigala would be active during the day if they lived on the Material Plane. Most of the native life has a basic understanding of how me portals between the layers work, and they can avoid the portals instinctively if they choose. those who stay here for a day get +1 to wisdom as long as they stay.
The plants here grow to enormous sizes. The ratatosk squirrel-folk inhabit branches of Yggdrasil that reach to here. The Forbidden Plateau is a basalt pillar topped with a realm of dinosaurs and green- furred beastfolk. Signpost is a frontier-style camp for the Signers' faction. Standing Stones is the home of a powerful antlered tiefling who will turn sport hunters into the hunted. Triberove is a huge travelling town of wemics who will welcome most decent creatures to travel with them
The Grove of the Unicorns: Deep within the Beastlands is the realm of Ehlonna, deity of forests and woodlands. The grove sits at the base of a cluster of great sequoias that form a natural cathedral for those beneath the canopy. The lowest branches of the great redwoods are hundreds of feet in the air, such that those with wings can fly through Ehlonna's cathedral without difficulty. Those who reside within the borders of Ehlonna's realm live in peace with the trees and animals, and they are similarly left alone by the wild creatures. The thinking creatures of the Beastlands adore Ehlonna, such that she is often aware of occurrences that happen far from her Realm. True to its name, the grove attracts groups of unicorns. These are both unicorns with the celestial template and half-celestial/half-unicorns (as described in the Monster Manual). In addition, there are flocks of bariaurs in Ehlonna's service. The grove is not far from Skerrit's realm; centaur petitioners are found in Ehlonna's realm and half-celestial/half-unicorns in Skerrit's. Ehlonna has taken advantage of the Beastlands' divinely morphic trait to give her realm the enhanced magic trait. All spells cast by rangers within the Grove of the Unicorns are extended (as the Extend Spell feat), and all spells that create food or water are maximized (as the Maximize Spell feat). Ehlonna has the power to make other alterations to the traits within her realm, if she so desires.
The kenku god Quorlinn's realm of Filchnest can be found on Krigala.
Remnis, the god of giant eagles, lives in the realm of Goldenroost on Krigala.
Brux
Brux is the second layer of the Beastlands and a land of eternal dusk. The sun is a red ball along the horizon, casting long, ruddy shadows through the forest. Where it can be seen above the trees, a silvered moon hovers low over the opposite horizon. Time passes normally on this layer, but newcomers often get the eerie sense that the world is frozen at sunset. Brux is slightly cooler than Krigala, and fogs and mists roil through the trees. The animal life on Brux is active in morning and evening, sleeping during the heat of the day and getting food when the sun is low in the sky. Travelers who find themselves on Brux by accident may find their way back to Krigala by following the creeks and streams. Many of them lead eventually to Oceanus; others lead to boggy marshes and swamps.
Al Karak Elam-Ihankhal is the realm of the xenophobic flying elves. The Cat Lord's Prowl is cat terrain, and visitors will usually be eaten at once. Anything that any cat knows, the Cat Lord knows. Ursis is home to the good bear people, and those infected with lycanthropy and not yet of evil alignment can be cured here.
Al Karak Elam-Jhankhal, the realm of the avariel is located on Brux.
The Cat Lord shares her realm of The Cat Lord's Prowl with Ferrix, the god of weretigers, though Ferrix usually prefers to wander.
The Library of All Knowledge is shared by the gods Deneir and Milil of the Forgotten Realms.
Puchan's realm of Reastweal is found on Brux.
The wandering Seelie Court frequently appears on Brux, though never in the same place twice.
Ursis, the realm of the werebear god Balador is located on Brux.
Karasuthra
The lowest layer of the Beastlands, Karasuthra wears a cloak of continual night. A silver moon whose phases change achingly slowly hangs in the open sky, surrounded by stars that lazily drift across the sky. Only a few beacons of moonlight piece the thick canopy of the forest here, forming silver shafts that touch the forest floor. Karasuthra is the home of the most dangerous night creatures, hunters relentless in the pursuit of their quarry. Hunters from the Material Plane sometimes journey to Karasuthra looking for the most dangerous of trophies. Some even survive to try a second time. If you've designed a cosmology in which the Plane of Shadow is coterminous to or coexistent with the Beastlands, Karasuthra's darkness makes it a convenient arrival point from that plane. In such a cosmology, dusk beasts, ecalypses, and umbral banyans could be found throughout Karasuthras, as could shadow versions of animals and beasts (created by applying the shadow creature template). Evil-aligned creatures would be uncomfortable in the Beasdands and hunted mercilessly by the many celestial creatures that catch their scent. But desperate evildoers could use Karasuthra as a hiding place from other, more foul creatures on their home plane.
There are gates to the Demiplane of Shadow, and there are rumors that Brux is the repository of items that were safely locked away but vanished anyway.
The giant god Stronmaus lives on Karasuthra in his realm of Stormhold.
Kura Okami's realm The Misty Valley is on Karasuthra.
Three gods of the Dragonlance setting (Chislev, Zivilyn, and Habbakuk) share a realm on Karasuthra called Zhan, the Grand Forest Beyond the World.
OCEANUS
Sailing on Oceanus is relatively safe, free of hideous fiends, but there are still hazards. Giant versions of natural creatures swim in the river and will hunt for food. Waterfalls, snags, whirlpools, and rapids - the hazards of normal boating - are greater here, as befits the majestic scale of this plane. Many traders and travelers of the planes use the river as a means of travel and lively hood.
THE RIVER OCEANUS
Rising on the plane of Elysium is a great river, broad in its banks, whose waters flow smoothly across the upper realms. Its surface is calm, barely marred by ripples, and its depths are deeper than any line can fathom. The water isn't dangerous, but sweet - indeed fragrant - to those who stand on its shores. Its surface is calm, yet it has its share of dangerous currents and creatures in the depths below. This is the River Oceanus. Rising on the plane of Elysium is a great river, broad in its banks, whose waters flow smoothly across the upper realms. Its surface is calm, barely marred by ripples, and its depths are deeper than any line can fathom. The water isn ' t dangerous, but sweet - indeed fragrant - to those who stand on its shores. Its surface is calm, yet it has its share of dangerous currents and creatures in the depths below. This is the River Oceanus.
Like its sister the Styx, the Oceanus is a worldspanning river, a waterway between realms, layers, and planes. Its headwaters lie in Thalasia, on the plane of Elysium. From there it flows through all of Elysium's layers and eventually breaks through the boundary between the planes, passing through the top layer of the Beastlands. After this, it crosses another boundary and enters Arborea, passes through the first layer, and finally disappears somewhere in that plane's second layer, Ossa. Like its sister the Styx, the Oceanus is a worldspanning river, a waterway between realms, layers, and planes. Its headwaters lie in Thalasia, on the plane of Elysium. From there it flows through all of Elysium's layers and eventually breaks through the boundary between the planes, passing through the top layer of the Beastlands. After this, it crosses another boundary and enters Arborea, passes through the first layer, and finally disappears somewhere in that plane's second layer, Ossa.
Although Oceanus looks like a normal river, it's far from that. In some places the river is, but in other places it isn't. It flows in and out of existence without once breaking its continuous flow, defying the logic of connection. A ship might sail through one plane or layer for an hour or a week (depending upon the DM's plans). Passage through the barriers can be arduous or instantaneous. Sometimes, a body just slips from one plane to the next while he wasn't looking.
Oceanus is a commonly used path between planes and the layers of planes. Trading vessels sail up and down its length, and small towns line its banks. Travelers can usually find a boat to hire somewhere along its shores. Oceanus is a commonly used path between planes and the layers of planes.
NPC's
Tshooklu - a netral evil blue devil (Using an amulate to disquise his alignment), lives on the river in a house boat and makes his living as a trader. Traveling both Oceanus and Styx, selling and trading his wares. A great source of information with some uncommon items for sale or trade...if the price is right.
the Dra' en.
A pack of Dire Wolves who dwell in the third lair. Serving their own lord of canines, they occasionally venture beyond their layer to hunt. It is said that they aided a demon disquised as a sorcerour who corrupted them. While not wholy evil they have been known to carry out tasks and missions not in alignment with other creatures of the plane. Some suspect that their lord routinly visits the shadow plane but for what purpose none can say.
Taunis
Taunis is a centaur who often works directly under Skerrit. He keeps an eye open for the Dra' en and their activities as well as guiding new commers.