The Outer Planes
If the Inner Planes are the raw matter and energy that makes up the multiverse, the Outer Planes provide the direction, thought, and purpose for its construction. Accordingly, many sages refer to the Outer Planes as divine planes, spiritual planes, or godly planes, for the Outer Planes are best known as the homes of deities.
When discussing anything to do with deities, the language used must be highly metaphorical. Their actual homes aren't literally places at all, but exemplify the idea that the Outer Planes are realms of thought and spirit. As with the Elemental Planes, one can imagine the perceptible part of the Outer Planes as a border region, while extensive spiritual regions lie beyond ordinary sensory experience.
Even in perceptible regions, appearances can be deceptive. Initially, many of the Outer Planes appear hospitable and familiar to natives of the Material Plane. But the landscape can change at a whim of the powerful forces that dwell on these planes, which can remake them completely, effectively erasing and rebuilding existence to better fulfill their divine needs.
Distance is a virtually meaningless concept on the Outer Planes. The perceptible regions of the planes can seem quite small, but they can also stretch on to what seems like infinity. Adventurers could take a guided tour of the Nine Hells, from the first layer to the ninth, in a single day - if the powers of the Hells desire it. Or it could take weeks for travellers to make a grueling trek across a single layer.
Travelling the Outer Planes
Travelling between the Outer Planes isn't dissimilar from reaching the Outer Planes in the first place. Characters traveling by means of the astral projection spell can go from one plane into the Astral Plane, and there search out a color pool leading to the desired destination. Characters can also use plane shift to reach a different plane more directly. Most often, though, characters use portals - either a portal that links the two planes directly or a portal leading to Sigil, City of Door, which holds portals to all the planes.
Two planar features connect multiple Outer Planes together: the River Styx and the Infinite Staircase.
The River Styx
This river bubbles with grease, foul flotsam, and the putrid remains of battles along its banks. Any creature other than a fiend that tastes or touches the water is affected by a feeblemind spell. The DC of the Intelligence saving throw to resist the effect is 15.
Sinister ferries float on the waters of the Styx, crewed by pilots skilled in negotiating the unpredictable currents and eddies of the river. For a price, these pilots are willing to carry passengers from plane to plane. Some of them are fiends, while others are the souls of dead creatures from the Material Plane.
The Infinite Staircase
The Infinite Staircase is an extradimensional spiral staircase that connects the planes. An entrance to the Infinite Staircase usually appears as a nondescript door. Beyond the portal lies a small landing with an equally nondescript stairway leading up and down. The Infinite Staircase changes appearance as it climbs anddescends, going from simple stairs of wood or stone to a chaotic jumble of stairs hanging in radiant space, where no two steps share the same gravitational orientation. It is said that one can find one's heart's desire on the Infinite Staircase through diligent searching of each landing.
Doors to the Infinite Staircase are often tucked away in dusty, half-forgotten places that no one frequents or pays any attention to. On any given plane, there can be multiple doors to the Infinite Staircase, through entrances aren't common knowledge and are occasionally guarded by devas, sphinxes, yugoloths, and other powerful monsters.
Maps
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The Outer Planes
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