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.

Geography

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.
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.

Localized Phenomena

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.
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.

Tourism

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

Type

Plane of Existence

Location under

The Great Wheel