TEXT: 1
  MORE PLANAR
  TOUCHSTONES
  A Web Enhancement for 
  the Planar Handbook
  CREDITS
  Design:
  Skip Williams
  Additional Design:
  Bruce Cordell, Gwendolyn
  Kestrel, and JD Wiker
  Editing:
  Penny Williams
  Typesetting:
  Nancy Walker
  Web Production
  Julia Martin
  Web Development:
  Mark A. Jindra
  Graphic Design:
  Sean Glenn, Cynthia Fliege
  Based on the original DUNGEONS & DRAGONS® game by E.
  Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and on the new edition of the
  DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game designed by Jonathan Tweet,
  Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, and Peter Adkison.
  D&D, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, and DUNGEON MASTER are registered trademarks owned
  by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. The d20 logo is a trademark owned by Wizards of the
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  ©2004 Wizards of the Coast, Inc. 
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  The Planar Handbook describes extraplanar locations
  suffused with the power of all existence that are known
  as planar touchstones. Characters linked to these natu-
  ral hubs of planar activity can tap their power for per-
  sonal use, gaining abilities that reflect the nature of the
  specific locations. But gaining power from the planes is
  not without risk, and those wishing to exploit their
  planar connections to the utmost must brave the dan-
  gers of the touchstones with which they are linked.
  Dozens of planar touchstones are described in the
  Planar Handbook, complete with abilities gained and
  specific perils of the locations. Now designers Bruce
  Cordell, Gwendolyn Kestrel, JD Wiker, and Skip
  Williams offer four additional planar touchstones for
  plane-hopping PCs to exploit.
  PLANAR TOUCHSTONES
  The cosmological association of linked planes, demi-
  planes, and connected dimensional realms creates a
  vast network through which the energy of existence
  itself is channeled. Less-connected planes and demi-
  planes are the nodes of this network, and the most
  highly connected planes are the hubs. These hubs,
  known as planar touchstones, are usually suffused with
  excess energy by virtue of their numerous connections.
  Thus, many of them are legendary sites of power, or at
  least places resonant with mythic possibility.
  The Planar Touchstone feat described in the Planar
  Handbook allows a character who possesses a portable
  object native to a given touchstone to forge a link with
  it. Such a linkage grants the character a base ability that
  is always active. A personal visit to the touchstone site
  discharges its inherent power directly into the linked
  character, granting her a higher-order ability that she
  can call upon a limited number of times. Additional
  visits to that planar touchstone can revitalize this
  charge, restoring the number of available uses of the
  ability to maximum. 
  If a character with the Planar Touchstone feat visits a
  touchstone other than the one to which she is linked,
  the base ability of the new site replaces that of the old
  one. In like manner, the character immediately gains
  the higher-order ability of the new site and loses any
  remaining uses of the one corresponding to the old
  site. Characters intimately familiar with planar touch-
  stones often refer to visiting multiple such sites as
  “taking the touchstone tour.”
  In addition to conferring benefits on characters,
  planar touchstone sites can serve as story elements for
  campaigns. For instance, a prophecy might state that a
  
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  particular scourge can be overcome only by “one who
  looks upon the stars of Oxyrhynchus” (see Planar Hand-
  book, page 172). On a less dramatic scale, planar touch-
  stones also make great alternatives to treasure—when
  characters overcome a particularly difficult threat asso-
  ciated with a touchstone site, the higher-order ability
  gained makes a good reward.
  WHAT MAKES A TOUCHSTONE?
  A touchstone site is often special in some way that goes
  beyond its status as a hub of the cosmological network.
  Relatively few touchstones exist on the Material Plane,
  but almost every one of them has historical or geo-
  graphical importance, or is significant for some other
  reason besides its cosmological status. For example,
  one Material Plane touchstone is the peak of the
  world’s tallest mountain.
  Planar locations previously described in other game
  products might also be considered planar touchstones.
  Adventurers might have known about and even visited
  such a site several times without ever realizing that it
  had the power to confer special abilities. Determining
  the base and higher-order abilities conferred by these
  sites is an exercise for the DM (see the Behind the Cur-
  tain sidebar on page 154 of the Planar Handbook for
  instructions on creating touchstone abilities.)
  Some very powerful characters  eventually gain the
  ability to create small demiplanes. Such fledgling loca-
  tions can never be planar touchstones, but after several
  thousand years of growth, linkage, and expansion, such
  a created plane could become host to one or more
  planar touchstones.
  TRAVELING TO TOUCHSTONE SITES
  A character who lacks the ability to visit a touchstone
  site cannot access the higher-order ability inherent to
  it. Thus, anyone who wishing to take the Planar Touch-
  stone feat and forge a link to a particular planar loca-
  tion should possess a reliable method of reaching it.
  Perhaps the character knows of a permanent portal that
  opens near the touchstone, or has access to spells such
  as plane shift, either personally or via a friend. Whatever
  the method of transportation, the character must have
  access to a method that is at least somewhat reliable.
  But reaching the planar touchstone is the only first
  step. Some planar touchstones have environments that
  are inimical to nonnative life. In particular, elemental
  planes require some preparation because of their
  energy-dominant traits. For instance, the planar touch-
  stone location called the Burning Rift (see the Planar
  Handbook) is located on the Elemental Plane of Fire.
  Unless a linked character arranges for proper protec-
  tion, his visit to this touchstone may be short.
  TOUCHSTONES ON THE PLANES
  The following section offers four new planar touch-
  stone locations. Each of these sites is described in the
  following format.
  Name: The most common name or names of the
  planar touchstone are given in this entry.
  Description: Each location has a description that
  details its appearance and general conditions.
  Location: This entry provides the planar location
  of the touchstone, if known. The major planes of exis-
  tence are described starting on page 151 of the Dungeon
  Master’s Guide. Refer to those descriptions for details,
  especially when a character must travel through some
  of the intervening planar locations before arriving at
  the touchstone.
  Initial Encounters: This entry offers informa-
  tion on the type of encounters that characters may face
  on their first visit to the touchstone. An encounter
  table is provided, if appropriate.
  Subsequent Encounters: Information on the
  type of encounters characters may face on subsequent
  visits to the touchstone is given here.
  Base Ability: This entry describes the base ability
  gained by a character who takes the Planar Touchstone
  feat and links to this site. This ability is always available
  to the character (to the limits of any supernatural abil-
  ity) and has unlimited uses.
  Recharge Condition: Many planar touchstones
  require not only a visit, but also the fulfillment of some
  condition in order to recharge the higher-order ability
  it confers. The linked character need not fulfill this
  condition to gain the planar touchstone’s base ability,
  but she must do so each time she recharges the higher-
  order ability.
  Higher-Order Ability: A character with the
  Planar Touchstone feat who visits the touchstone and
  fulfills its recharge condition gains this ability. It can
  be used a limited number of times before recharging,
  which requires another visit to the touchstone and ful-
  fillment of its recharge condition. All higher-order abil-
  ities are considered either supernatural or spell-like, as
  indicated in the individual descriptions. Each such
  ability is usable only once per day.
  Higher-Order Uses: Each time the character
  recharges her higher-order ability, she brings her
  remaining uses of it up to this number. 
  
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  THE BLEAK TOWER (EL 13)
  Ages ago, a powerful lich created a swampy demiplane
  in which to build her stronghold—a single obsidian
  structure known as the Bleak Tower. Although the bog
  seemed to surround the tower for miles in every direc-
  tion, the plane was really only 1 mile in diameter. The
  lich made the plane self-contained so that no one who
  entered could move very far from her clutches.
  For centuries the lich remained in her tower,
  researching new and innovative ways to turn dead
  flesh into undead servants. Whenever she needed new
  subjects for her experiments, she opened a portal from
  her demiplane to some other place in the multiverse.
  The creatures pulled into the swampy plane through
  such portals were never seen again—at least not in any
  recognizable form.
  No one knows what happened to the lich, but she
  has not been seen or heard from in millennia. The
  demiplane’s boundaries have grown so weak that it
  periodically breaches them, spilling into swampy
  regions of other planes. When such a tear occurs, the
  Bleak Tower beckons to all the undead in the region,
  augmenting its own forces.
  Location: A nameless demiplane.
  Initial Encounters: Roll on the Bleak Tower
  Encounter Table below when the characters visit the
  site for the first time, or for the first time in more than
  a year.
  Bleak Tower Encounter Table
  d%
  Encounter
  01–20
  1 dread wraith
  21–35
  6 balor skeletons*
  36–60
  1 lich
  61–85
  1 elite vampire, 13th-level half-elf monk/shadowdancer
  86–100
  1 mature adult black dragon
  Subsequent Encounters: Once the characters
  clear out the area, the chance of an encounter is only
  25% on each subsequent visit. If the PCs fail to visit the
  location for more than a year, they must roll for
  encounters as if they had never visited the site.
  Base Ability: You gain a +1 bonus on all Fortitude
  saving throws.
  Recharge Condition: Walk across the demi-
  plane, beginning at the entrance to the Bleak Tower
  and walking away in a straight line until you arrive at
  the entrance again. Traversing the demiplane in this
  manner is possible because it is self-contained. While
  walking, you have a 50% chance of having an
  encounter, in addition to any encounters that may
  occur as a result of your arrival on the demiplane.
  Higher-Order Ability: Once per day, you may use
  inflict serious wounds (caster level 10th) as a spell-like ability.
  Higher-Order Uses: 5.
  *Balor Skeleton: CR 8; Large undead; HD 20d12;
  hp 130; Init +12; Spd 40 ft.; AC 19, touch 17, flat-footed
  11; Base Atk +10; Grp +26; Atk +21 melee (1d10+12,
  slam) or +21 melee (1d6+12, claw) or +14 melee
  (1d8+13/19–20, +1 vorpal longsword); Full Atk +21 melee
  (1d10+12, 2 slams) or +21 melee (1d6+12, 2 claws) or
  +14/+9 melee (1d8+13/19–20, +1 vorpal longsword) and
  +22 melee (1d2+1 plus 1d6 fire, +1 flaming whip);
  Space/Reach 10 ft./10 ft.; SQ damage reduction
  5/bludgeoning, darkvision 60 ft., immunity to cold,
  undead traits; AL NE; SV Fort +6, Ref +14, Will +12; Str
  35, Dex 27, Con —, Int —, Wis 10, Cha 1.  
  Skills and Feats: Hide +4, Jump +16, Listen +8, Spot +8;
  Improved Initiative(B).
  Undead Traits: A balor skeleton is immune to
  mind-affecting effects, poison, sleep effects, paralysis,
  stunning, disease, death effects, and any effect that
  requires a Fortitude save unless it also works on objects
  or is harmless. It is not subject to critical hits, nonlethal
  damage, ability damage to its physical ability scores,
  ability drain, energy drain, fatigue, exhaustion, or death
  from massive damage. It cannot be raised, and resurrec-
  tion works only if it is willing.
  Possessions: None.
  THE CUSP OF THE TRYST (EL 14)
  The 148th layer of the Abyss is a rocky, wind-blasted
  plain named Torrent. Dark blue and green clouds roil
  endlessly through the sky, and bolts of lightning strike
  the ground incessantly. Only creatures made of light-
  ning—or those with immunity to its effects—can live
  in this dismal place.
  Any creature standing on the surface of Torrent will
  eventually be struck by lightning. The inhabitants con-
  sider such an event joyous—a sensual joining between
  the sky and the earth via the body of a fortunate inter-
  mediary. Most visitors, however, have no such roman-
  tic notions about several million volts of electricity
  coursing through their bodies.
  The tallest point on Torrent is a relatively small
  mountain that the locals call the Cusp of the Tryst
  because it is struck by lightning more frequently than
  any other spot. Many of Torrent’s inhabitants consider
  it a sacred place, and those who travel to it can enjoy
  the kiss of the lightning more than ten times per hour.
  Location: Torrent, the 148th layer of the Abyss.
  Initial Encounters: Roll on the Cusp of the
  Tryst Encounter Table below when the characters visit
  
  the site for the first time, or for the first time in more
  than a year.
  Cusp of the Tryst Encounter Table
  d%
  Encounter
  01–15
  1 young adult blue dragon
  16–30
  3 vrocks
  31–65
  1 glabrezu
  66–90
  3 hezrous
  91–100
  1 mature adult blue dragon
  In addition, every 10 minutes that a group of characters
  remains above ground on Torrent, one of them may
  (25% chance) be struck by a natural lightning bolt. This
  chance increases to 50% every 5 minutes for characters
  standing atop the Cusp of the Tryst. Each of Torrent’s
  lightning bolts deals 5d6 points of electricity damage
  (Reflex DC 15 half).
  Subsequent Encounters: Once the characters
  clear out the area, the chance of an encounter is only
  20% on each subsequent visit. If the PCs fail to visit the
  location for more than a year, they must roll for
  encounters as if they had never visited the site. The
  chance of a lightning strike does not change.
  Base Ability: You gain electricity resistance 5.
  Recharge Condition: Climb to the top of the
  Cusp of the Tryst and stand there until lightning
  strikes you. The lightning deals 5d6 points of electric-
  ity damage (no save).
  Higher-Order Ability: Once per day as a full-
  round action, you can create an effect similar to that of
  the lightning bolt spell, except that it deals 1d6 points of
  electricity damage for every two character levels you
  have achieved (maximum 10d6, Reflex DC 3 + your
  character level).
  Higher-Order Uses: 5.
  THE SENTINEL GROVE (EL 9)
  The towering oaks of the sentinel grove are massive
  and ancient even by the standards of Arborea. Many
  rise hundreds of feet into the air and have boles more
  than 20 feet across. A thick bed of moss, fallen leaves,
  and delicate ferns blankets the ground under these
  trees, except where occasional gaps in the canopy let in
  shafts of pure sunlight. Beds of gorgeous wildflowers
  thrive in such locations, filling the air with their heady
  perfume.
  In the heart of this grove stands an ancient temple—
  ruined, yet still magnificent. Flowering vines twine
  around its stately marble columns, and within the roof-
  less sanctuary lies a pond filled with lilies. The remains
  of friezes depicting epic battles between heroes and all
  manner of terrible foes decorate the interior walls, but
  no clues reveal the identity of the deity to whom the
  temple was dedicated. Some say the building is simply
  a monument to struggle, and that it was created as a
  ruin to indicate the fleeting nature of glory.
  Location: The first layer of Arborea.
  Initial Encounters: Roll on the Sentinel Grove
  Encounter Table below when the characters visit the
  site for the first time, or for the first time in more than
  a year.
  Sentinel Grove Encounter Table
  d%
  Encounter
  01–15
  1 celestial treant 
  16–30
  3–5 anarchic satyrs
  31–70
  4–7 anarchic dryads 
  71–85
  3–5 celestial giant eagles
  86–100
  3–5 celestial giant owls
  Subsequent Encounters: Once the characters
  clear out the area, the chance of an encounter is only
  50% on each subsequent visit. If the PCs fail to visit the
  location for more than a year, they must roll for
  encounters as if they had never visited the site. The
  creatures of the sentinel grove resent constant intru-
  sions but are basically good-natured. They may consent
  to give the characters access to the grove in return for
  some service rather than simply fighting.
  Base Ability: When standing upright on any natu-
  ral terrain, you gain a +1 bonus on any opposed checks
  you make to resist bull rush, trip or overrun attempts,
  and on saving throws to resist being moved against
  your will (by wind effects or telekinesis, for example).
  Recharge Condition: You must climb to the top
  of the tallest oak in the grove, harvest an acorn, and
  plant it in fertile soil. The relative heights of the trees
  may change from time to time because of irregularities
  in growth and vagaries in the weather, so a fresh deter-
  mination of the correct tree is necessary with each visit.
  Higher-Order Ability: Once per day, you can
  create a heroes’ feast effect, as the spell (caster level
  equals your character level).
  Higher-Order Uses: 2.
  THE DEEPING POOL (EL 11)
  The Deeping Pool is actually a small lake, perhaps a
  quarter mile wide and several miles long. It lies hidden
  within a broadleaf forest on Krigala, the realm of eter-
  nal day. Though the sun shines perpetually overhead,
  the forest’s thick canopy casts the whole area in a green
  twilight gloom—except for the exact center of the lake,
  where shafts of golden light stream down and make the
  waters sparkle like a field of precious diamonds. The
  pool’s depth has never been precisely determined,
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  perhaps because its verdant surroundings are so lovely
  that no one has ever bothered to do so, or perhaps
  because it is bottomless indeed.
  The Deeping Pool is the only sizable body water for
  hundreds of miles in any direction. Thus, for inexperi-
  enced travelers, the forest surrounding the pool is effec-
  tively a cool, green desert. At any given hour, dozens or
  even hundreds of animals visit the pool to slake their
  thirst. Most of these visitors are harmless enough, but
  some come here for more than a cool drink.
  Location: The first layer of the Beastlands.
  Initial Encounters: Roll on the Deeping Pool
  Encounter Table below whenever the characters visit
  the site for the first time, or for the first time in more
  than a year.
  Deeping Pool Encounter Table
  d%
  Encounter
  01–15
  1 gaspar
  16–30
  5–8 dire wolves
  31–70
  6–11 giant crocodiles
  71–85
  1–2 dire tigers
  86–100
  3–6 celestial unicorns
  Subsequent Encounters: The Deeping Pool
  serves as a watering hole for all manner of wildlife. PCs
  who make an effort to clear the area of monsters find it
  just as busy each time they visit. If they make a con-
  certed effort to clear out the bigger predators in the
  area, however, treat an encounter with dire animals or
  giant crocodiles as no encounter during subsequent
  visits. If the characters don’t visit for a year or more, go
  back to using the regular encounter table.
  Base Ability: You gain a +2 bonus on all Handle
  Animal checks and on Survival checks made to forage
  for food and water.
  Recharge Condition: Share a drink from the
  pool with an animal. To do so, you must be adjacent to
  an animal, and the two of you must drink from the pool
  at the same time. For the purpose of recharging the
  pool’s higher-order ability, an “animal” is any creature
  with the animal type or the augmented animal subtype.
  Characters with animal companions should find meet-
  ing this condition fairly simple, but others must calm
  or control the animal in some fashion.
  Higher-Order Ability: Once per day, you can
  assume one of the following animal traits for 1 minute
  per character level. The duration of the ability need not
  be consecutive minutes or rounds, and starting or sus-
  pending the effect is a standard action for you. Choose
  from the following traits each time you use the ability.
  • Gain the low-light vision special quality.
  • Gain the scent special quality.
  • Increase your current natural armor bonus by +2.
  • Gain a climb speed equal to the base land speed for
  your race (maximum 30 feet).
  Higher-Order Uses: 3.
  ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  Skip Williams keeps busy with freelance projects
  for several different game companies, and he was
  Dragon Magazine’s Sage for eighteen years. Skip was
  a codesigner of the D&D 3rd edition game and the
  chief architect of the Monster Manual. When not
  devising swift and cruel deaths for player characters,
  Skip putters in his kitchen or garden. (His borscht
  gets rave reviews.)
  
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