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Demiplane

2019-07-09T00:16:37Z

2601:843:C202:F33C:6CE4:AC8F:4CC4:16BF:

{{dnd-stub}}

A '''demiplane''' is a term introduced in the [[Planescape]] setting for [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. In a nutshell, it refers to a "miniature" [[plane]], one featuring well-defined limitations as opposed to extending on to infinity in all directions, having variable gravity and time traits, etc. Demiplanes can be big - [[Sigil]] is technically a [[demiplane]] - but are usually associated with small sizes, from "big as a large room" to "the size of a mansion".

Creating demiplanes is a popular past-time for high level [[wizard]]s, as it essentially lets them create their own personalized pocket of reality. With enough time and investment, a demiplane can grow into a full-fledged world in its own right.

==1st Edition==
The concept of demiplanes has been around since the earliest days of the game, but it was mostly an example of DM fiat in creating pocket dimensions for all kinds of crazy adventures. Examples include the original Ravenloft module (I6), Dungeonland (EX1) and its sequel The Land Beyond The Magic Mirror (EX2). There's really nothing substantial about these places, just the vague notion that they are created by powerful (usually long-lost) magical techniques.

==2nd Edition==
In the early days of 2nd edition, demiplanes still remained a DM tool; adventures like Isle of the Ape (WG6) continued in the same vein as the prior edition.

All that changed with Planescape. In The Planewalker's Handbook, ''demiplane seed'' was available as an 8th-level spell to mages. That book, and A Guide To The Ethereal Plane established that these "minor" demiplanes had to be created on the Ethereal Plane (probably because it was considered something of a proto-reality plane). The process was pretty arduous, involving a pretty pricey gemstone and 100 days of spellcasting and other work, but otherwise, it did what it said on the box: you created your very own demiplane to fill with traps, treasure, whatever you felt you needed to keep up with.

There was also a 9th-level spell called ''demiplane decay'' that could destroy demiplanes under specific conditions, but it was pretty horrible overall; anyone who couldn't plane-hop out of the place was dissolved with the rest of the plane in the very end.

Special "major" demiplanes were beyond the scope of any mortal magic and were mainly the province of divine-level beings.

==3rd Edition==
Demiplanes made a definite comeback, but there was a lot of weird stuff throughout the edition. The first appearance was in the 3.0 Manual of the Planes: the Planeshifter prestige class gained access to the ability demiplane seed at 10th level.

The next mention of making demiplanes was in the Epic Level Handbook, under the ''genesis'' 9th-level spell, available only to wizards or clerics with the Creation domain (until the domain was reworked in 3.5). It was costly at 5,000 XP and a week's casting time (8 hours/day), but you didn't have to take some arbitrary class to get to it; it still had to be done on the Ethereal Plane as in 2nd edition.

In 3.5, ''genesis'' was also made a 9th-level psionic power, restricted to Shaper psions, who got it for a much less stringent 1,000 XP and could be created on the Astral Plane.

Oddly, there is one final source for creating a demiplane: the 9th-level general cleric spell ''Word of Genesis'', which had a truename component (basically, you had to buy ranks of a specific unique skill and pass a check at DC 50; yeah, it was about as [[Skub|well-written]] as the rest of the Truenamer section).

It should be noted that you don't really have to use such powerful magic to get yourself a little pocket dimension, at least temporarily. Rope trick has long been regarded as an infinitely useful "rest area" spell in dungeons, and ''Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion'' is even better, giving access to plenty of food and space for various tasks (along with a very long duration at the time you get access to it). In fact, there is a somewhat obscure reference in Complete Scoundrel to a permanent ''mansion'' effect (the headquarters of the Blind Tower criminal organization); given that the ''permanency'' spell even mentions that you can research certain spells to be made permanent, and that it costs a pretty pinch of XP to make any high-level spell permanent, it's not a far-fetched notion for a DM to approve such a thing. But there is a downside: the thing can be dispelled, causing all the contents - and guests - to spill out of it, so be advised.

==Pathfinder==
When [[Pathfinder]] was a 3.5 setting it added the Genesis spell, which was pretty much the psionic power of the same name as a spell, exclusive to Clerics of the Artifice domain. When Pathfinder became a setting, it ignored all off the previous methods, even though all three were OGL, and even created a new version of the artifice domain without Genesis in the core rulebook.

This would be rectified in Ultimate Magic. Printed in that book was the spell Create Demiplane alongside its lesser and greater variants. Demiplanes now come online much earlier than they did before, requiring only 7th level spells and a cheap focus to create. On the downside, a demiplane now has a limited duration unless you cast permanency it, ensuring only Wizards and Clerics of an obscure subdomain get access to permanent ones. You are also limited to what traits you can select for your plane, so some of the cheese is off limits.

==5th Edition==
Yeah, they're still around, if bit neutered. You can still create a demiplane with the apparently named ''Demiplane'', an 8th Level Conjuration spell that opens a spooky door to your brand new demiplane!... An empty 30ft. x 30ft. x 30ft. room made of stone or wood. Yeah... But anything placed inside (including creatures) remain inside the room indefinitely, even when the spell ends and the door vanishes. So... not exactly [[Mordenkainen]]'s place, but it's serviceable if you need a decent-sized off-plane hidey-hole. Oh, AND if you know of another demiplane's existence and makeup, you can get into it by using ''Demiplane'' or ''Planes Shift'' and pull an 'All your... modest studio apartment... are belong to us!'

==Demiplanes For Fun And Profit==

Even as early as 2nd edition, one can use a demiplane for all kinds of fun stuff.

The most basic use is to make your own private homestead or farm: the bottom of the demiplane is the ground, the top is the "sky". Give it a nice, moderate temperature good for crops and livestock, normal day/night cycle, basically the most ordinary environment you can. You want access to spells like ''control weather'' and ''plant growth'' to kickstart your first few years of crops, but if you keep careful control of the demiplane's environment, you automatically bypass several problems farmers contend with: various diseases and blights, pests/vermin, poor weather, natural disasters, etc.

Another option is to run a big ol' business out of the place. This is a great option in big cities where real estate is at a premium. Buy a small, cheap property, and install portals going to the demiplane where you put in all your manufacturing or services for your business. Now, most folks know this option is how a lot of wizards run their wizard towers, where the outside is smaller than the inside, but don't let yourself be limited to that old cliche. Imagine a little shack that runs the city's biggest tavern, inn, brothel, and casino, a vast pleasure palace.

All of this is enhanced with additional magic to provide labor and resources. For example, if you can summon up a djinn, even for just a short time, you can create permanent plant-based materials; while this stuff could theoretically be dispelled (a nuance that comes up in 3rd edition), that still means you can conjure up firewood, which by itself is a big fucking deal. (Why? Because you don't have to chop down trees for it now. This curtails a lot of effort to acquire fuel, as well as making a LOT of side folks like druids, elves, and sylvan creatures happy that you aren't cutting down their forests.) You can use ''permanent image'' to create decorations; in 2nd edition, these are difficult to change, but in 3rd edition the caster can change them at will, allowing for redecorating for special occasions.

Throw in some choice magic items, constructs, and other permanent effects, and you have a real piece of work to call home. Best part is, this provides a luxurious place for your favorite NPCs to come hang their hat. Any cohorts, followers, and loyal hirelings can be given room and board, either for some work on your behalf, or possibly even just to spend the rest of their days enjoying life.

Now, before you get super excited to try any of this, note that all this falls on the DM to approve of, and some may not want to bother with the whole thing. Having said that, if you are a DM, then this is a pretty good way to motivate your players to go on adventures to acquire the treasure needed to pay for all this kind of stuff. Nothing like a spare dragon hoard to fund the ultimate retirement plan, after all.

The most attractive feature of the demiplane is the fact that it's damn hard to find out about. All but the most powerful divination effects can't cross planar borders. Only a few effects can take you there (unless there's a portal somewhere); you can theoretically wander the Ethereal or Astral Planes looking for curtains/pools that lead to the right demiplane, but even if you find one, the chances you found the correct path to the correct demiplane are worse than the chances of a "good" result of using a ''rod of wonder''. Security like that is at a premium at the higher levels, and can be stacked with other effects to make it even better.

[[Category: Planescape]]

Mordenkainen

2019-07-09T00:16:13Z

2601:843:C202:F33C:6CE4:AC8F:4CC4:16BF:

'''Mordenkainen''' is an archmage from the [[Greyhawk]] setting, and technically that setting's equivalent of [[Elminster]]: he's an avatar of Gary Gygax as much as Elminster is one for Ed Greenwood (and thus may qualify as a [[Mary Sue]], though the judgement is still out on that one; Elminster has '''never''' done a single thing wrong and never will as far as Greenwood is concerned, whereas Gygax actually seemed to acknowledge at some points that Mordy is a bit of a dickbag). Mordy is famous as the head-asshole-in-charge of the [[Circle of Eight]], a group of archmages who mostly serve him as grunt-labor for Mordy's plans, and is an old adventuring buddy of [[Iggwilv]], [[Murlynd]] and [[Zagyg]].

While some of the ancient neckbeards of D&D still talk lovingly of Mordenkainen, the plain and ugly truth is that he's a giant fucking shitbag of the highest order. In contrast to their creators' responses, Elminster seems to be the less harmful in-universe. While Elminster is a creeper (and, arguably, a closet pedo), he at least knows that Evil and will get off his wrinkled balls and do something positive for the world once in a while without fucking over a lot of people in the process. By contrast, Mordenkainen deliberately fucks '''everyone''' over, just to maintain his [[Stupid Neutral|"enforced neutrality"]] philosophy. That said, he's good at making spells, but bad in politicking and maintaining neutrality in Greyhawk.

==Background==

Mordy, according to various sources, seems to have been born around 509 CY and spent his younger days around the Wild Coast (wedged south of the City of Greyhawk, north of the Pomarj). He founded a group called the Citadel of Eight, in 561, named for having eight members: himself, Bigby, Robilar, Yrag, Riggby, Serten, Otis, and Tenser. The idea was simply to place a big fucking stronghold in a place where adventure would be within easy reach no matter which direction they headed in. Then the Battle of Emridy Meadows happened; Serten died, and it exposed deep ideological differences between the members, so they fucked off to do whatever.

Mordy, not hearing a fucking thing Tenser tried to tell him about how stupid he was being, forged on ahead with a newer-and-better Circle of Eight in 571, comprised only of wizards. Things weren't so bad for a while, this time; they mostly all just kind of screwed around with their own projects and Mordy kept thinking everything was going Just As Planned. Then, Vecna, showing Mordy what actual cunning and guile looks like, used some throwaway minion to murder the entire fucking Circle. No, seriously, eight fucking arch-wizards were taken out by what was basically a henchman. Mordy, being the "shadow" ninth member, wasn't there when it happened (a recurring theme with Mordy, never being where the actual action happens), and put together a group to go retrieve pieces of his "friends" (really, he treats them like minions, but whatever helps him sleep at night I guess), and use the wizard spell ''clone'' to put them back together.

Bad news for Mordy, though, was that this might have been a cover for the start of the infamous Greyhawk Wars. It wasn't called that because any fighting actually happened in that city; the war consumed most of the Flanaess region, and Greyhawk was where they signed the treaty ending it. Apparently Mordy didn't want to bother risking his own neck doing much about Iuz, Ivid, and the other dozen or so villains running around and ruining (almost literally) everything, so he decided to hide out in the Obsidian Citadel to grow some friends.

After he grows back all the wizards, he realizes he fucked up and missed the actual threat to stability for things, and gets his <s>minions</s> friends working to stop the fighting. What he doesn't realize is that his former bestie Rary has been having some second thoughts about Mordy's plans and schemes, or that Robilar got his dumb ass zapped by a magic mirror in the ruins of Castle Greyhawk, which replaced him with Bilarro (and I'll give you two guesses whether or not the mirror-universe version was evil). So Rary gets with "Robilar" and orchestrates the utter and total betrayal of the Circle one last time. "Robilar" takes the best soldiers he can to raid all the hiding spots for the other wizards' clones (kept in storage in case they got killed again), while Rary fucks around in Greyhawk trying to create a fuckhuge magic trap to kill all the ambassadors and diplomats trying to end all the fighting. Otiluke and Tenser stumble on Rary, and a major, vicious magic fight breaks out, killing both of the good mages. Rary and "Robilar" fuck off to the Bright Desert to pat themselves on the back for at least destroying two of their enemies once and for all (though not really; Tenser learned not to depend on Mordy or anyone else for that matter and made a backup-backup clone on the moon).

Now, any savvy person might have thought Mordy would say, "You know what? I fucking give up. I clearly have underestimated how powerful Evil will get if given even half an opportunity. I should stop being Stupid Neutral and try something else." But no! Mordy doubles down, recruiting three more fucking dupes into signing on for the shitshow that the Circle of Eight has become at this point (since Rary had fucked them over, Otiluke was dead, and Tenser wisely refused to work for an asshole like Mordy).

Since then, Mordy seems to realize how he should fuck off and stop doing things. He only appears in 3.5 in Expedition to Castle Greyhawk to fix the Robilar/Bilarro situation. In 4E, he appears in Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium to tell everyone how bad it is for you to have magic items, nevermind that he owns fucking dozens of them, including possibly various artifacts.

5E seems to be giving him more of a showing. In ''Curse of Strahd'', he apparently is trapped by the "dark powers" of Barovia to fight against Strahd; the vampire, showing himself to be one of the true badasses of D&D, defeats Mordy and throws his ass off a cliff. Mordy goes a touch insane, and may or may not be helpful. Later, in the Forgotten Realms novel, 'Death Masks', he is directly referred to being in the care of Elminster and Storm Silverhand, trying to help him recover from his madness.

One wonders if maybe Strahd and Vecna could put any possible differences aside and just go take Mordy out once and for fucking all, so we won't have to hear about any more of his failures. Bonus points if Dalamar from Dragonlance - one of Mordenkainen's supposed peers that he used to chat with (in the old Dragon "Wizards Three" articles) - would step in to deliver the killing blow and/or keep Elminster out of it.

==Legacy Spells==
Aside from completely being a fuck-up who can't seem to learn that he's bad at being some kind of quasi-political mastermind, Mordy has, in point of fact, created some very useful spells. The ''Mordenkainen's disjunction'', ''Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion'', and ''Mordenkainen's private sanctum'' spells are three of the most clutch spells for big-time wizards: the first one can break almost any magic in the game (even a slim chance to break artifacts), the second is essentially an hours-long buffet and resting area that nobody can get into, and the last one provides (potentially permanent) protection against scrying and mind-reading. He's got a few other spells, though most aren't hugely useful, though ''Mordenkainen's capable caravel'' is basically the god-mode way to travel when you don't have an airship since it's a self-propelled ''magnificent mansion'' in ship form.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category: Greyhawk]]

Mordenkainen

2019-07-09T00:14:18Z

2601:843:C202:F33C:6CE4:AC8F:4CC4:16BF:

'''Mordenkainen''' is an archmage from the [[Greyhawk]] setting, and technically that setting's equivalent of [[Elminster]]: he's an avatar of Gary Gygax as much as Elminster is one for Ed Greenwood (and thus may qualify as a [[Mary Sue]], though the judgement is still out on that one; Elminster has '''never''' done a single thing wrong and never will as far as Greenwood is concerned, whereas Gygax actually seemed to acknowledge at some points that Mordy is a bit of a dickbag). Mordy is famous as the head-asshole-in-charge of the [[Circle of Eight]], a group of archmages who mostly serve him as grunt-labor for Mordy's plans, and is an old adventuring buddy of [[Iggwilv]], [[Murlynd]] and [[Zagyg]].

While some of the ancient neckbeards of D&D still talk lovingly of Mordenkainen, the plain and ugly truth is that he's a giant fucking shitbag of the highest order. In contrast to their creators' responses, Elminster seems to be the less harmful in-universe. While Elminster is a creeper (and, arguably, a closet pedo), he at least knows that Evil and will get off his wrinkled balls and do something positive for the world once in a while without fucking over a lot of people in the process. By contrast, Mordenkainen deliberately fucks '''everyone''' over, just to maintain his [[Stupid Neutral|"enforced neutrality"]] philosophy. That said, he's good at making spells, but bad in politicking and maintaining neutrality in Greyhawk.

==Background==

Mordy, according to various sources, seems to have been born around 509 CY, and spent his younger days around the Wild Coast (wedged south of the City of Greyhawk, north of the Pomarj). He founded a group called the Citadel of Eight, in 561, named for having eight members: himself, Bigby, Robilar, Yrag, Riggby, Serten, Otis, and Tenser. The idea was simply to place a big fucking stronghold in a place where adventure would be within easy reach no matter which direction they headed in. Then the Battle of Emridy Meadows happened; Serten died, and it exposed deep ideological differences between the members, so they fucked off to do whatever.

Mordy, not hearing a fucking thing Tenser tried to tell him about how stupid he was being, forged on ahead with a newer-and-better Circle of Eight in 571, comprised only of wizards. Things weren't so bad for a while, this time; they mostly all just kind of screwed around with their own projects and Mordy kept thinking everything was going Just As Planned. Then, Vecna, showing Mordy what actual cunning and guile looks like, used some throwaway minion to murder the entire fucking Circle. No, seriously, eight fucking arch-wizards were taken out by what was basically a henchman. Mordy, being the "shadow" ninth member, wasn't there when it happened (a recurring theme with Mordy, never being where the actual action happens), and put together a group to go retrieve pieces of his "friends" (really, he treats them like minions, but whatever helps him sleep at night I guess), and use the wizard spell ''clone'' to put them back together.

Bad news for Mordy, though, was that this might have been a cover for the start of the infamous Greyhawk Wars. It wasn't called that because any fighting actually happened in that city; the war consumed most of the Flanaess region, and Greyhawk was where they signed the treaty ending it. Apparently Mordy didn't want to bother risking his own neck doing much about Iuz, Ivid, and the other dozen or so villains running around and ruining (almost literally) everything, so he decided to hide out in the Obsidian Citadel to grow some friends.

After he grows back all the wizards, he realizes he fucked up and missed the actual threat to stability for things, and gets his <s>minions</s> friends working to stop the fighting. What he doesn't realize is that his former bestie Rary has been having some second thoughts about Mordy's plans and schemes, or that Robilar got his dumb ass zapped by a magic mirror in the ruins of Castle Greyhawk, which replaced him with Bilarro (and I'll give you two guesses whether or not the mirror-universe version was evil). So Rary gets with "Robilar" and orchestrates the utter and total betrayal of the Circle one last time. "Robilar" takes the best soldiers he can to raid all the hiding spots for the other wizards' clones (kept in storage in case they got killed again), while Rary fucks around in Greyhawk trying to create a fuckhuge magic trap to kill all the ambassadors and diplomats trying to end all the fighting. Otiluke and Tenser stumble on Rary, and a major, vicious magic fight breaks out, killing both of the good mages. Rary and "Robilar" fuck off to the Bright Desert to pat themselves on the back for at least destroying two of their enemies once and for all (though not really; Tenser learned not to depend on Mordy or anyone else for that matter and made a backup-backup clone on the moon).

Now, any savvy person might have thought Mordy would say, "You know what? I fucking give up. I clearly have underestimated how powerful Evil will get if given even half an opportunity. I should stop being Stupid Neutral and try something else." But no! Mordy doubles down, recruiting three more fucking dupes into signing on for the shitshow that the Circle of Eight has become at this point (since Rary had fucked them over, Otiluke was dead, and Tenser wisely refused to work for an asshole like Mordy).

Since then, Mordy seems to realize how he should fuck off and stop doing things. He only appears in 3.5 in Expedition to Castle Greyhawk to fix the Robilar/Bilarro situation. In 4E, he appears in Mordenkainen's Magnificent Emporium to tell everyone how bad it is for you to have magic items, nevermind that he owns fucking dozens of them, including possibly various artifacts.

5E seems to be giving him more of a showing. In ''Curse of Strahd'', he apparently is trapped by the "dark powers" of Barovia to fight against Strahd; the vampire, showing himself to be one of the true badasses of D&D, defeats Mordy and throws his ass off a cliff. Mordy goes a touch insane, and may or may not be helpful. Later, in the Forgotten Realms novel, 'Death Masks', he is directly referred to being in the care of Elminster and Storm Silverhand, trying to help him recover from his madness.

One wonders if maybe Strahd and Vecna could put any possible differences aside and just go take Mordy out once and fucking for all, so we won't have to hear about any more of his failures. Bonus points if Dalamar from Dragonlance - one of Mordenkainen's supposed peers that he used to chat with (in the old Dragon "Wizards Three" articles) - would step in to deliver the killing blow and/or keep Elminster out of it.

==Legacy Spells==
Aside from completely being a fuck-up who can't seem to learn that he's bad at being some kind of quasi-political mastermind, Mordy has, in point of fact, created some very useful spells. The ''Mordenkainen's disjunction'', ''Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion'', and ''Mordenkainen's private sanctum'' spells are three of the most clutch spells for big-time wizards: the first one can break almost any magic in the game (even a slim chance to break artifacts), the second is essentially an hours-long buffet and resting area that nobody can get into, and the last one provides (potentially permanent) protection against scrying and mind-reading. He's got a few other spells, though most aren't hugely useful, though ''Mordenkainen's capable caravel'' is basically the god-mode way to travel when you don't have an airship, since it's a self-propelled ''magnificent mansion'' in ship form.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]] [[Category: Greyhawk]]

Demiplane

2019-07-09T00:10:42Z

2601:843:C202:F33C:6CE4:AC8F:4CC4:16BF:

{{dnd-stub}}

A '''demiplane''' is a term introduced in the [[Planescape]] setting for [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. In a nutshell, it refers to a "miniature" [[plane]], one featuring well-defined limitations as opposed to extending on to infinity in all directions, having variable gravity and time traits, etc. Demiplanes can be big - [[Sigil]] is technically a [[demiplane]] - but are usually associated with small sizes, from "big as a large room" to "the size of a mansion".

Creating demiplanes is a popular past-time for high level [[wizard]]s, as it essentially lets them create their own personalized pocket of reality. With enough time and investment, a demiplane can grow into a full-fledged world in its own right.

==1st Edition==
The concept of demiplanes has been around since the earliest days of the game, but it was mostly an example of DM fiat in creating pocket dimensions for all kinds of crazy adventures. Examples include the original Ravenloft module (I6), Dungeonland (EX1) and its sequel The Land Beyond The Magic Mirror (EX2). There's really nothing substantial about these places, just the vague notion that they are created by powerful (usually long-lost) magical techniques.

==2nd Edition==
In the early days of 2nd edition, demiplanes still remained a DM tool; adventures like Isle of the Ape (WG6) continued in the same vein as the prior edition.

All that changed with Planescape. In The Planewalker's Handbook, ''demiplane seed'' was available as an 8th-level spell to mages. That book, and A Guide To The Ethereal Plane established that these "minor" demiplanes had to be created on the Ethereal Plane (probably because it was considered something of a proto-reality plane). The process was pretty arduous, involving a pretty pricey gemstone and 100 days of spellcasting and other work, but otherwise, it did what it said on the box: you created your very own demiplane to fill with traps, treasure, whatever you felt you needed to keep up with.

There was also a 9th-level spell called ''demiplane decay'' that could destroy demiplanes under specific conditions, but it was pretty horrible overall; anyone who couldn't plane-hop out of the place was dissolved with the rest of the plane in the very end.

Special "major" demiplanes were beyond the scope of any mortal magic and were mainly the province of divine-level beings.

==3rd Edition==
Demiplanes made a definite comeback, but there was a lot of weird stuff throughout the edition. The first appearance was in the 3.0 Manual of the Planes: the Planeshifter prestige class gained access to the ability demiplane seed at 10th level.

The next mention of making demiplanes was in the Epic Level Handbook, under the ''genesis'' 9th-level spell, available only to wizards or clerics with the Creation domain (until the domain was reworked in 3.5). It was costly at 5,000 XP and a week's casting time (8 hours/day), but you didn't have to take some arbitrary class to get to it; it still had to be done on the Ethereal Plane as in 2nd edition.

In 3.5, ''genesis'' was also made a 9th-level psionic power, restricted to Shaper psions, who got it for a much less stringent 1,000 XP and could be created on the Astral Plane.

Oddly, there is one final source for creating a demiplane: the 9th-level general cleric spell ''Word of Genesis'', which had a truename component (basically, you had to buy ranks of a specific unique skill and pass a check at DC 50; yeah, it was about as [[Skub|well-written]] as the rest of the Truenamer section).

It should be noted that you don't really have to use such powerful magic to get yourself a little pocket dimension, at least temporarily. Rope trick has long been regarded as an infinitely useful "rest area" spell in dungeons, and ''Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion'' is even better, giving access to plenty of food and space for various tasks (along with a very long duration at the time you get access to it). In fact, there is a somewhat obscure reference in Complete Scoundrel to a permanent ''mansion'' effect (the headquarters of the Blind Tower criminal organization); given that the ''permanency'' spell even mentions that you can research certain spells to be made permanent, and that it costs a pretty pinch of XP to make any high-level spell permanent, it's not a far-fetched notion for a DM to approve such a thing. But there is a downside: the thing can be dispelled, causing all the contents - and guests - to spill out of it, so be advised.

==Pathfinder==
When [[Pathfinder]] was a 3.5 setting it added the Genesis spell, which was pretty much the psionic power of the same name as a spell, exclusive to Clerics of the Artifice domain. When Pathfinder became a setting, it ignored all off the previous methods, even though all three were OGL, and even created a new version of the artifice domain without Genesis in the core rulebook.

This would be rectified in Ultimate Magic. Printed in that book was the spell Create Demiplane alongside its lesser and greater variants. Demiplanes now come online much earlier than they did before, requiring only 7th level spells and a cheap focus to create. On the downside, a demiplane now has a limited duration unless you cast permanency it, ensuring only Wizards and Clerics of an obscure subdomain get access to permanent ones. You are also limited to what traits you can select for your plane, so some of the cheese is off limits.

==5th Edition==
Yeah, they're still around, if bit neutered. You can still create a demiplane with the apparently named ''Demiplane'', an 8th Level Conjuration spell that opens a spooky door to your brand new demiplane!... An empty 30ft. x 30ft. x 30ft. room made of stone or wood. Yeah... But anything placed inside (including creatures) remain inside the room indefinitely, even when the spell ends and the door vanishes. So... not exactly Mordenkainen's place, but it's serviceable if you need a decent-sized off-plane hidey-hole. Oh, AND if you know of another demiplane's existence and makeup, you can get into it by using ''Demiplane'' or ''Planes Shift'' and pull an 'All your... modest studio apartment... are belong to us!'

==Demiplanes For Fun And Profit==

Even as early as 2nd edition, one can use a demiplane for all kinds of fun stuff.

The most basic use is to make your own private homestead or farm: the bottom of the demiplane is the ground, the top is the "sky". Give it a nice, moderate temperature good for crops and livestock, normal day/night cycle, basically the most ordinary environment you can. You want access to spells like ''control weather'' and ''plant growth'' to kickstart your first few years of crops, but if you keep careful control of the demiplane's environment, you automatically bypass several problems farmers contend with: various diseases and blights, pests/vermin, poor weather, natural disasters, etc.

Another option is to run a big ol' business out of the place. This is a great option in big cities where real estate is at a premium. Buy a small, cheap property, and install portals going to the demiplane where you put in all your manufacturing or services for your business. Now, most folks know this option is how a lot of wizards run their wizard towers, where the outside is smaller than the inside, but don't let yourself be limited to that old cliche. Imagine a little shack that runs the city's biggest tavern, inn, brothel, and casino, a vast pleasure palace.

All of this is enhanced with additional magic to provide labor and resources. For example, if you can summon up a djinn, even for just a short time, you can create permanent plant-based materials; while this stuff could theoretically be dispelled (a nuance that comes up in 3rd edition), that still means you can conjure up firewood, which by itself is a big fucking deal. (Why? Because you don't have to chop down trees for it now. This curtails a lot of effort to acquire fuel, as well as making a LOT of side folks like druids, elves, and sylvan creatures happy that you aren't cutting down their forests.) You can use ''permanent image'' to create decorations; in 2nd edition, these are difficult to change, but in 3rd edition the caster can change them at will, allowing for redecorating for special occasions.

Throw in some choice magic items, constructs, and other permanent effects, and you have a real piece of work to call home. Best part is, this provides a luxurious place for your favorite NPCs to come hang their hat. Any cohorts, followers, and loyal hirelings can be given room and board, either for some work on your behalf, or possibly even just to spend the rest of their days enjoying life.

Now, before you get super excited to try any of this, note that all this falls on the DM to approve of, and some may not want to bother with the whole thing. Having said that, if you are a DM, then this is a pretty good way to motivate your players to go on adventures to acquire the treasure needed to pay for all this kind of stuff. Nothing like a spare dragon hoard to fund the ultimate retirement plan, after all.

The most attractive feature of the demiplane is the fact that it's damn hard to find out about. All but the most powerful divination effects can't cross planar borders. Only a few effects can take you there (unless there's a portal somewhere); you can theoretically wander the Ethereal or Astral Planes looking for curtains/pools that lead to the right demiplane, but even if you find one, the chances you found the correct path to the correct demiplane are worse than the chances of a "good" result of using a ''rod of wonder''. Security like that is at a premium at the higher levels, and can be stacked with other effects to make it even better.

[[Category: Planescape]]