Monster Manual Sewn From Pants: Limbo final edit

I COLLAPSED A COUPLE OF POSTS INTO THIS ONE AND NOW I'M REPOSTING IT AND MAKING A MESS OF EVERYTHING

SO this is edit number 5 of Scrawling Over The Classics Planescape part 5 Limbo, and I'm leaving it alone now:

Limbo. So here's the stuff I have to work with:

So it has no gravity or subjective gravity so you decide which way is down for you and the githerzai live here and the slaadi, with some swishy new types by me.

And lumps of raw elemental materials. Which you can learn to shape into stuff.

I am... yeah.

So yes a void with bland lumps in it.

Okay, sure pure randomness leads to nothing and blah entropy is the arrow of time pointing only to eventually heat death of the universe, but lets ignore the laws of thermodynamics and instead lets all look at the infinite monkeys on infinite typewriters. Who I do not out-source to, despite lingering rumors of the contrary.

Basically amongst the lumps of rock and churn there is found nearly anything if you look long enough. Things appear without history or function to drift , and slow dissolve into nothing again. These are referred to as Glecks. Very rarely a gleck will happen of bizarre complexity . There is a table at the bottom of this post for these Artifacts of No Purpose Nor History.

There is no gravity in limbo until you get near a largish mass (say.. the size of one room cottage) then gravity is directed toward the middle of the mass. It is a gradual thing so its not like you drift too near a lump of rock and then suddenly start fall toward it. But eyes sideways berk! Glecks often have their own physical laws! So this sudden plunge could happen!

Some, like the above, will be invested with the slaad. Either a couple of mobs of bickering red and blues (maybe with egg laden humanoids in the middle of it) or a couple of more powerful slaad like grey slaad quantophrenic or melliflous. In these occasions they have been known to play games where each slaad seals up a number of creatures into the twisted hive and watch or listen to the creatures explore and fight . Other times a more recognizable arena is made, with an audience of slaadi and githezerai and planetravelers. The conditions of the arena are prone to sudden change by the grey or death slaadi who has claimed it.

Sometimes various structures and buildings or half a city is stolen by the slaadi and used as playground/battlezone/gladiator arena/ zoo. It's not so much a co-ordinate effort, as more a mob of slaadi all randomly have the idea at the same time and pour through a portal to drag whatever architecture and flora fits the bizarre whim.

The haphazard clumps are steadily warped and dissolved by limbo causing the ill nature of it to be even more.

These stolen landscapes/battlegrounds/arenas/playgrounds are known as a Glean and sometimes they proceed to attract more floating pieces of what ever from the churning matter seas of limbo, and grow and grow. Slaad are then more likely to dump more found structures on top of this mix. The difference between a Gleck and a Glean is that a Gleck has been generated by the chaos stuff of Limbo and a Glean is material from elsewhere brought to Limbo. It is not unlikely for Glecks and Gleans to be combined to some fashion.

The largest is know as detropolis and it is more of architectural junk yard than a city. Yet it has a thriving trade city , somewhat hampered by it having no portals directly opening to it, meaning visitors have to make a dangerous journey across limbo to find it. The safest bet, is to use it's trash gravity and dump a large mass of rubbish and hide in this trash raft, the currents of limbo will guide in towards detropolis. Nothing is certain though in Limbo, and while most slaad will not bother investigated a trash raft some might.

Surprisingly detropolis is safe (ish) from slaad attacks, rumored to be because of a particular large and powerful quantophrenic slaad in it's core. Leading strength to this rumor is the fact that Whisperforms

(which are created by quantophrenic slaad, if you don't have a cool idea of what a whisper form is , here's one; A quantophrenic slaad may invest a number of hitpoints to bring into existence a translulence version of a person that is being talked often about within 6 miles of the quadtophrenic slaad. The personage has their face distorted to look some what like the quantophrenic slaad (ala Aphex Twin videos). It will have a percentage of its ability and hitpoints equal to the hitpoints invested (but as a percentage, so 20 hit points invested is a whisperform at 20% the strength of the original). If the hitpoints invested are equal to personages hitpoints at full health then the whisperform has 100% of the abilities of the personage )

of unusual power defend the city and inflict a mockery of city codes on it's inhabitants. Most of chromatic slaadi (blue,green,red) barely visit here, but Desiccated , Slangral, melliflous, spumscent bleached,and quantophrenic do

damn it blogger why are messing up the font colour.

DISCARDS: native mainly to detropolis but found else where in Limbo, but very rarely outside of there.

THey just showed up one by one and kind of just.. are. The don't really have a collective name, although in a pinch the Discards will do. The are a fairly benign bunch just kind of pottering around the place. Here is a trailer for the movie I'm totally ripping them from:The Lost Thing Trailer

There is a table to generate them at the bottom of this post.

Detropolis: yes it has cute things that are not going to drill inside your bones. Look the last post was horrible things okay? Felt like some cute happy guys. Look at that guy up there, he's just living in a cloud of wahey!

Also githzerai?

The monastery like fortresses of this guys dote the churning void here, adorned with strange devices of research and protection. Sometimes have one tower, sometimes 2 forming a card like symmetry . Some even develop until they are like spikey ball of cranky wizard monks.

Severance Blades are the Githzerai silver sword, although they would be angered with that comparison. Severance blades give a natural free-action effect to the user and the wielder may choose instead of inflict damage on a hit, instead sever an advantage of the opponent , removing a external enhancement such as a protection magic, effects of a magic item (including armour bonuses) or even terrain advantages. This severing lasts a day. This is particular dangerous if the individual is say in elemental plane of fire and the githzerai removes the fire protection effect allowing them to survive...

Severance Blade

Also the githzerai zoom around in ships. These are called Void Razors. The ships can cut through weak spots in the planar boundarys allowing travel from remote corners of planes to another planar outskirts. Sometimes they abandon one to the slaadi, letting the slaadi go all viking on the great ring, but not before entwining strange magics to monitor the ships progress. A mob of slaad running amok will put a new ship design through every possible situation and stress. The magics also allow the ship to disintegrated remotely by the githzerai. The Voidrazors look like this

RANDOM TABLES FOLLOW:

A merry Discard of Detropolis, Limbo and unknown gentlemen.

here is some tables to generate the Discards of Detropolis, the environment of said place, artifacts of no purpose and history, and Gleans.

DISCARDS:

WHAT DOES THAT CHEEKY LITTLE GUY LOOK LIKE?

Okay so the Discards of limbo range in intelligence from a smart animal to a person in smartness.

They are pretty much just local colour and to make some npc interaction a tad more interesting by having a clock face tube cat on wheels trying to sell you a rowboat. These tables might be more excessive than is needed. But hey, random tables. If you need stats for them just reskin an animal of similar size.

How big it is?

1 the size of a large beetle or mouse

2 the size of a cat

3 the size of medium dog (colour of dog not important)

4 as big as praying mantis that is big as person who is average in size

5 the size of horse

6 the size of a elephant

roll 1d4+1 , and then roll that many time of this table. Or , more quickly, roll a d20 and look across the table a roll a d4 times. Combine the results in some haphazard fashion. For example you are using the quick method. You roll a 11, and then roll 3. So that's hourglass (going down the table) and going across is anvil , kite and rabbit. So its some combination of those. Lets make it have a anvil for its body, hopping (loudly) with rabbit legs. There is a somehow a suggestion of a face at the front of the anvil. From its rear hovers a kite string but leading to a floating hourglass instead.

Savvy?

1 lemur 21 accordion 41 eel 61 sting or manta ray 81fragrant herb bush

2 chain 22 wagon wheel 42 cauldron 62 mushroom 82 newt

3 barrel 23 panther 43 cart 63 piano/harpsichord 83 walnut

4 bird cage 24 giraffe 44 windmill 64 scrolls 84 turtle/ tortoise

5 monkey 25 gazelle 45 kangaroo 65 magnifying glass 85 mortar and pestle

6 pig 26 horse 46 sloth 66 telescope 86 hat

7 tuba 27 donkey 47 rug 67 spider 87 clock

8 crossbow 28 shark 48 rose bush 68 catfish 88 dried seaweed

9 catapult 29 broomstick 49 orchid 69 flounder 89 candle

10 cutlery drawer 30 butter-churn 50 egg 70 beetle 90 pelican

11 hour glass 31 Anvil 51 kite 71 rabbit 91 hand drill

12 door 32 printing press 52 umbrella 72 bluebird 92 butterfly net

13 snake 33 organ 53 plough 73 condor 93 toasting fork

14 centipede 34 mattock 54 moose 74 vulture 94 pterodactyl

15 candelabra 35 pineapple 55 shield 75 owl 95 possum

16 bear 36 tree 56 bucket 76 lizard (gecko/skink) 96 bellows

17 dolphin 37 picture frame 57 teapot 77 iguana 97 mirror

18 squid 38 key(s) 58 drum 78 hedgehog 98 crocodile

19 cuttlefish 39 cat 59 flute 79 goose 99 kiln

20 book(s) 40 dog 60 grasshopper 80 cow 100 cupboards

and roll on this table if you want some addition pizazz . YOu could even roll twice if you are one who kicks caution out the backdoor while inviting the devil in the front!

EXTRA DOODAD OR WHATNOT

1 little jingling bells

2 Smoke stacks with weird coloured smoke puffing out

3 glowing orbs like head lights or a deep fishes lure

4 little tiny versions of it's self run about its body making repairs and adjusments

5 has tentacles for locomotion purpose

6 wheels (or wheel) that it toddles around on it

7 Ribbons and flags, baby , ribbons and flags

8 wearing clothes , possibly well , possibly like a tree in floodwater.

9 Has some cheap gaudy scepter , miter , or incense burner of authority

10 bounces around on springs

11 attached to a balloon, either decorative or large enough to support it's weight

12 has various slogans and mottos written on it in a variety of formal scripts

HEY CAN IT TALK TO ME?

1 its communicate with elaborate colour changing

2 it talks like a regular person

3 with body percussion!

4 with only 1d6 phrases!

5 scratches or writes on the ground or a chalk board

6 silent, except for surprisingly expressive body language

Note: All Discards can communicate silently with each other, with about a sight range

WOW WHAT'S IT DOING?

(supposing that you have not already decided that is a shop keeper, bartender or clue giver)

1 Hovering around like a humming bird , trilling musically

2 Sessile , watchful and ponderous

3 Follows people and mimics them

4 Shy, it runs and hides

5 stacking things artfully

6 offers people little wrapped gifts

7 drawing or painting on everything

8 being cheeky and playful , knocking stuff over

9 Collects things. Has little collections of things on artful display around the place

10 Is being protective of a person or place

11 Is being a teacher /mother for 1d12 miniature versions of it

12 Eating its environment

13 dancing with steady , but drunken, rhythmic lurches

14 Repairing its environment

15 Has a collection of objects that it has stolen. Its currently repairing and polishing them and will return them later

16 delivering messages at high speed, or asking if anyone would like a message delivered anywhere in limbo. Message will be at plot based speeds

17 Slowly dragged an improbable load

18 pushing a fancy tea trolley around , with dainty cakes. Will offer dainty cakes to p.cs

19 observing and taking notes

20 climbing it's surroundings and nearby tall objects and placing flags atop.

WOW GM THIS IS GREAT WHERES THE DUNGEON?

ah ..

So Gleans are parts of bulidings and stuff limbo has swallowed or the slaad have dragged back on some DIRE WHIM.

remember?

And detropolis is huge ball of them clumped together and constantly added to.

Here's a table to determine what its like. If you are generating a glean, also roll on the additional What is this Glean Being Used For.

A GLEAN/SECTION OF DETROPOLIS IS MADE FROM WHAT???

Mass of fused boxes, crates and rooms
Pillars from a 1000 lands , stacked and balanced
Upside down trees suspended from other upside trees by chains
Log cabin(s) and longhouse(s) with statues replacing some of the logs
Maze of severed church steeples
Floor, wall and possibly ceiling is made from wrought iron gates, portcullis, and taut sails and flags
giant sandstone bricks (Egypt like) and stained glass windows
Boats standing upright
Chinese style temple with headless stonelions. Severed animal and humanoid heads placed instead on stone lions.
Clay (still wet) walls with threatening drawings carve into them
Staircases, huge cauldrons and tapestrys
Wheels, ropes, cheap plaster walls, elaborate painted backdrops and other props from a theatre
Interwoven sticks and hair
Huge pearly shells and giant bees wax cells
Walls of empty shelves and iceberg hunks
Chimneys, mehirs, monoliths, irregular stone walls. Garden paths and herb garderns
Big Aztec stone faces, stacked like bricks, with child skulls inplace of the mortar
Curved half melted stones walls with irregular streaks of glistening metal and metal boiler plates riveted in places
Vaulted archs, big wooden doors and mighty anchors
books nailed together and grass meadows

AND IT'S LIKE A ROOM OR A CLEARING OR WHAT?

Its a clearing or a open town square type thing. Choose one of the features to be the floor and the others politely bordering it
Its like a mess, you are pretty much crawling through tiny gaps in between what its made of
It is stacked like an apartment block having sex with an apartement block with most of the walls missing
Mostly opened with irregular partitions
Everything is just floating in the air like a platform game
The structure of it is like a winding alley way or ravine
The matter of it is piled like a hillock
It has been formed into a cavern like space with small alcoves branching of it

OH HOW BIG IS IT? (gleeks, detropolis sections and gleans)

THe size of a 3 bedroom hut
2 of these huts!
The size of a town square
The size of a festhall/medium buliding
about half a city block
The size of cricket pitch

SO WHAT IS HERE THEN? d20 roll it baby

If this is a section of Detropolis roll here:

1-5 nothing at the moment

6- a copse of trees planted by Desiccated slaadi. Roll once on the Discard table to determine what the trees are growing

7 a fight between 2 creatures (1-2 is just starting, 3-4 it's in the crux of it, 5-6 one lies defeated). Roll on any encounter table you want to determine creature

8 Roll on the Artifacts of No purpose nor History. Note, if the players leave this area, without taking ridiculous methods to make sure they can find it again, the chances of every being able to find it again is slim. As in roll again and if you get an 8 again its there

9 A bustling market selling 1 food, 2 clothing and general goods, 3 weapons and armour, 4 arcane objects and trinkets, 5 jewellery 6 roll twice

10 Various shops and professional services tucked away in little alcoves. 1 a shop , roll on above, 2 blacksmith 3 cobbler 4 leather worker 5 sage 6 healer or cleric 7 masseuse 8 Fortune teller 9 brothel catering to bizarre fetishs 10 pet shop 11 library 12 roll twice, combining results

11Fountain. Out of which flows 1 nearly rusted to dust coins 2 oil 3 blood 4 water 5 salt 6 ink

12 A mural is covering half this space made with paint , clay and mirrors. 50/50 chance it reveals the location and key of a portal somewhere in sigil if studied

13 A garden 1 medicinal 2 fruit 3 herb 4 poisonous 5 psychoactive 6 roll twice

14 Giant tools and weapons, swinging ponderously by vines/cloth/rope/chain/spider web

15 1000s and 1000s of lit candles

16 Completely out of place animals looking gormless

17-18-19 1d6 discards/ slaad/ or humanoid (githerzai , human, tiefling etc) inhabitants and roll again

20 roll twice combine results

AND MY EXITS OUT OF HERE?

draw the shape of this section on a bit of paper. Roll a d6, trying to get it inside this outline of the section. If it lands on the outline that's where a secret/hidden exit is. If it rolls over the outline there is no exit. If it is a 1, trace a line from the top left corner of the die (using the upright numbered face as the orientation ) on 45 degree angle. Where that line hits the the outline of the section, put an exit there. If you roll a 2,3,4 do the same and then for the additional corners , counting clockwise from the top left.

If it's a 5 there is trapdoor in the floor on that spot where the die landed. ANd reroll the die. If it's a 6 there is a trapdoor on the roof, and then reroll the die.

If it's a Glean/Gleck

roll a d20 here to see just what is being done with the place

1-2 A fighting pit /ring /arena 1 in use 2 empty 3 looking for new contestants 4 crowd just starting to form

3-6 Roll on detropolis table

7 Slaadi!

8.A lair for a monster (roll on any encounter table )

9A stockpile of dangerous leaking magical equipment or a ongoing experiment, unattended at present (may contain telsa coils, caged monsters, eggs, bubbling vats , forges or kilns)

10 1d10 trees planted by dessicated slaadi. 1 in 3 chance they are around still. If you can't think of something cool for the trees to be doing, roll on the discard form table and that's what they are growing.

11 A library , the books have inside 1 words, as books do 2 words completely at random 3 pressed leaves 4 pressed faces 5 pressed insects 6 music

12A meditation room for githzerai 1 in 3 chance inhabited now

13 A wrecked Voidrazor

14 A stockpile of pickles and cheeses and/or weapons

15 Githzerai. Doing something githzerai. Presumably some else has done a "what is that humanoid group doing" table, because I do not want to. Oh wait I think I did here scroll down a bunch.

16 Some other humanoid group like halflings or something. Roll on some other table someone else wrote

17 Seemingly empty, 50% of something there but hidden! roll again it that case. If you get this result again,ignore the 50 % thing just roll again again but make it super super hidden.

18 A theatre, 1 is perfoming, 2 is rehearsing 3 is empty but still used 4 is long abandoned 5 undergoing repairs 6 about to began / just finishing. Thespians a mix of Xaostects, githzerai, bleached slaad and others. Audience potentially anything

19 treasure stash badly hidden/well hidden, and it's rubbish!/kinda cool/ real good but someone will come looking for it and its got a tracking device

20 prisoners infected with blue /red slaad eggs. 1 slaad not here 2 slaad guarding 3 slaad with arrive in a couple of minutes 4 some other creature tied up and guarding (roll on any encounter table, reroll if it seems too stupid like a lich, but keep if it's only kinda stupid like a giant crayfish or octopus)

OKAY SO WHATS A THiS GLECK MADE OF THEN?

A insane warren of cardboard cells (like the picture)
A clump of stone with ever burning trees growing out of it
An iceberg with iron poles frozen in it
A paper thin plate of obsidian
A spiders web of coral
A hollow crystal skull
An Tropical island made entirely of glass
Smooth iron ball 50% chance of being hollow
Columnar Basalt
A ball of water
A churning yet solid storm cloud
A castle made entirely of flesh
A dirt mass with giant fungus also made from dirt
A giant ball of string
Big rock mass
Big dirt mass
A frozen wave of blood
A honeycomb made from tin
A delicate fluted tower made from solid purple light, 1 in 3 chance of it existing in a radial symmetrical form
A goliath Diatom!
A big flat clay dish with miniature sand dunes
An massive organ fully functioning (1 heart 2 lung 3 stomach 4 intestines 5 liver 6 brain )
A tent like structure like a massive leather box kite
A tooth
some kind of giant candy!
some kind of congealed half dried organ mass like old meat and very old coffee
Snow ball
Roll on Discard form table, if result is an animal, it is not alive but not rotting. (..or it can be if you want, but you know that right?) 1 in 3 chance to roll again and either merge the results or have them on top each other
Roll on Glean table and 2 in 3 chance to roll again and either merge the results or have them on top of of each other
roll twice and merge the results.

HEY THIS GLECK IS THERE MADNESS IN ITS VERY PHYSCKS?
d20
1-12 no not really
13 okay it's gravity kicks in as soon as you get within 20 metres of it, thus sending you falling toward it at high speed
14 it looks flat but actually is a sphere, and if you go off one side you wind up on the other
15 weird lagging effect. every round or what have you roll a d6 1-2 affected as if by a slow 3-4 as if by a haste 5-6 nah you good
16 All surface on the Gleck are frictionless. As a grease spell but also means you do not stop sliding
17 the air tension is weird. It's like being underwater, but in air.
18 Lighting reversed. shadows glow and light sources darken
19 sound is twice as loud
20 silence, no sound can be made

SLAADI I CAN'T HELP BUT NOTICE THERE IS NOT A TABLE FOR TYPE OF SLAADI:

really? Fine

1-5 Chromatic

4-7 Perverse , Lesser

8-9 Perverse , Coherent

9 -10Perverse, Wanton

11 grey or death slaadi

12 roll twice

Chromatic

1-2 green

3 red

4 blue

Perverse, lesser

(weaker, or more animalistic)

1 slangral

2 bleeding

3 Dessicated

4 Verminous

Perverse, Coherent

(medium to strong power, will start encounter with conversation, will have to be motivated to commence violence)

1 Quantophrenic

2 Spumescent

3 mellifluous

4 Bleached

Perverse, Wanton

(strong to very strong in power, immediately dangerous, do not approach, does not play well with others)

1 Radiant

2 Prismatic

3-4 Fizzing

Artifacts of No Purpose Nor History

this is a table for huge weird things that can be stumbled upon in limbo. Each artifact is unique. That does not mean it can't keep showing up in unlikely places. Indeed it's incredibly unlikely that they will be in the same place as they were last time.

1 A huge brass bull (the size of a 4 story building) with 7 long necked swan heads emerging in place of its head. It is hollow and the insides of it can be accessed via its anus. If one travels up to any of the swan heads (which is difficult climb) there is a large pearl the size of a baby's head. Looking it to this pearl's murky depths reveals a vision of who hates you the most.

If all the pearls are removed from inside the bull (and not just the swan head), it animates and relentlessly and unerring chases the pearls (going for the closest one first) and when it reach of them will swallow them up with a swan head. It will then continue until it has retrieved all of them. It cannot planeshift but will hone in on a portal large enough for it that will take it a step closer to the pearl. It will not attack or undertake action other than moving towards the pearls. Anything in its way will be crushed however if it cannot evade its great hooves.

2 A insanely complex siege engine. Anyone educated in engineering matters who attempts to decipher it's workings must make will save (d.c20) or spent all the time engrossed its endless gears and devices. They will not sleep or seek out food (and so will starve unless food is brought to them). After each week they may attempt the save again. If they are entranced for 4 weeks in a row, they discover that the underlying logic that has been teasingly out of reach, is in actual fact a cosmic farce , and will forever crush any hope of a greater order to the multiverse. They lose any lawful alignment (and can choose another off either axis to replace it) and 6 points of wisdom. However if they succeed in the 2nd will save (the one they attempt after the first week) the will gain exp equal to 200 times their level. But still be convinced that there is something more to discover in the workings of the artifact.

3 A featureless glossily black cube of 20 by 20 by 20 feet. It is immune to everything, including spheres of annihilation. Can be moved around though, but weighs as much as an iron cube of twice its size would (assuming gravity is present).

4 An endless waterworks. See picture on left.

5A great stone foot with 4 toes and inscription on its plinth. The inscription is in a language that the viewer knows (if any) , and will be describing a childhood moment of theirs of utter bitterness.

6 A rat wheel , big enough for a man to run in. Actually contains a man, naked and endlessly running and screaming. He will not respond to stimulus, and is just a weak ass 0 level human if you shot him with something. If you remove him from the wheel, he will stop screaming, and give a look expressing emotions unknown to any other. Then he will age in seconds to dust. IF this dust is mixed with water and drank , the drinker will awake from their next sleep 1d4 times 10 years younger, and haunted by dreams of eerie grandeur and loss that they will never quite shake.

7 A large black iron crab, adorned higgledy piggledy with fine wooden chairs with lush red velvet cushions. Emerging from its head is a formidable cannon, the length of 2 horses. If the cannon is primed and fired as would you any other cannon, the ball (or indeed anything else in the barrel) shoots out and arrives somewhere else in the multiverse, unhurt. The destination is seemly random, but may be influenced by additives to the black powder used to fire it.

8 A great ornate empty frame. big enough to ride a stage coach through. Anyone passing through it feels lighter and freer but with a sadness as if something was lost a long time ago and suddenly not quite recalled.

9 A whale skeleton formed from compressed sherbet

10 A huge book, the size of emperors bed. Opening it and laboriously turning its pages reveals blank page after blank page. Every now and now again things seem to flicker off the page just as it is turned. Shutting someone in the book will press them flat and reduce them to a inky silhouette . The may then explore a hidden 2 d world of inky silhouette in the pages out of sight, the inhabitants of which are welcoming but do their best to remain unseen. One thus transformed maybe freed from the book by cutting out their outline. They will then be able to move around the wider world as a Shadow (but without the strength drain). ANy items they have will however be only able to effect them and other shadows. They do not count as undead. The book will heal from the cutting like butter melting in the sun. It should be difficult but not entirely impossible for them to recover their original form, depending on your whims.

11A grinding wheel the size of a largish hill. On its side is a complex series of gears leading down to a small pedal drive , allowing someone of human size to pedal the wheel into motion. With this wheel one could grind down a towers worth of steel into a blade that could sever an astral cord or the fabric of the planes, depending on the quality of the steel.

12 A hourglass tall as a giraffe. If the glass is broken the sands will rush out in terrible roaring wind, to quick disappear from sight. Randomly choose a person of great personal significance in the breakers life. The sands will sweep to that person , and whip past, taking with them the curse of age. They will no longer age , naturally or by any other means.