Plane of Water

Geography

Arriving in the Plane of Water may be incredibly deadly to any outsiders, or they may not even realize they are there. If you are unlucky enough to arrive hundreds of feet below the surface, you may not be able to enjoy the experience for very long before you drown. On the other hand, there have been stories of ships going through portals to this Inner Plane during a storm at sea, and not realizing they have traveled to another plane.
On the surface, the Plane of Water resembles a normal ocean with endless horizons of water. Clear blue skies, a warm sun that arcs across the sky is interrupted multiple times per day with intense rainstorms and lightning before suddenly clearing up to a beautiful day. Of course, while these storms might be hard for sailors unused to them, the biggest threat to ships is the massive wave that forms when the Plane of Water shifts. This creates a wave so huge that it sweeps from one side of the plane to the other, sinking ships, crashing into islands and showing the full destructive power of the ocean.
But the Plane of Water is one of the most hospitable Inner Planes, with only a few considering that the Plane of Air is a more hospitable location. There is plenty of air on the surface of this plane, and this ocean is made up of salt and freshwater that is filled with fish of all kinds. If you are lucky enough to find an island, plants grow easy on these spots of land and even the elementals that make up this plane are less likely to attack as they are easy-going.
If you can find some way to breathe underwater, the true Plane of Water opens up to you and the many locations and civilizations are ready for you to explore. Huge balls of coral that float through the ocean are the home of Marids and Tritons, currents of ice form near the borders of the Frostfell and even balls of fire spring up from time to time.

Ecosystem

The Plane of Water is a lot like the oceans of The Material Plane, with open skies above its surface and vibrant and rich water below. Those who find themselves on the surface are in perfectly breathable air that is clean and crisp, while those below the surface find water of all types. The closer they travel to the border of the Plane of Air, the closer they get to Frostfell, also known as the Plane of Ice, and the closer they get to the border of the Plane of Earth, the closer they get to the Swamp of Oblivion, also known as the Plane of Ooze.
Each border of the Plane of Water has its own differences. The Frostfell introduces flowing rivers of ice, icebergs and big bubbles of air that travel through the ocean. On the other side of the plane is the Silt Flats where motes of earth, clouds of dirt and swamps pollute the water. At either location, elementals of those planes can be found co-mingling with the water elementals, though they typically don’t stay long as they find it too different than their normal home plane.
In older editions, there was no surface but rather water everywhere. You could swim up for all eternity and never find a surface to the water, just like you could swim down and never find a bottom. Everywhere you swam was the same soft, blue-green glow of the water and the light pressure of water as if you were only a few feet below the surface.

Tourism

Traveling to this plane is one of the easier ones to arrive too, so long as you know where to look. Throughout the bottom of the oceans of The Material Plane and during horrible storms, portals appear and disappear constantly, sending fish, creatures and even ships into the Plane of Water without anyone realizing what happened. Then again, those portals aren’t always reliable and a ship trying to make its way through a horrible storm in The Material Plane might slip through a portal and find themselves hundreds of feet below the surface and being crashed against rocks.
Another way of arriving at the plane is to travel from the Plane of Air, though that requires you to travel through the Plane of Ice. You could also travel from the Plane of Earth, which requires you to travel through the Plane of Ooze, which is just a massive swamp and a great way to be devoured by oozes. At the very extent of the Plane of Water, it merges into the Elemental Chaos, and that is another way to arrive on the Plane of Water.
Traversing the Plane Traveling across the plane isn’t very difficult, especially if you have the ability to swim and breathe water. For those that can’t do either, ships are a great way of traveling. Despite the multiple lightning storms a day that sweeps through the plane, it is relatively safe to travel by ship from one island to the next, as those who reside below the waves care not for those who stay on the surface.
On the surface, a traveler might find a vast island of ships and driftwood that has been tied together as makeshift mega-rafts with traders, adventurers, and more surface folk. They travel from island to island on the Plane of Water, selling, trading and bartering for supplies.
Below the surface, it is highly recommended for any travelers to hire an elemental guide to take them through the waters. These deepwater locations are hard to find, and many of them float on the currents of the water. If you don’t know how fast the currents are, or where the coral palace of the Marid is located, you may never find it in this massive ocean of shifting currents.

Type

Plane of Existence

Location under

Inner Planes