Editing Xaositects (section)

==Xaositects in the World Axis==
The Xaositects are actually one of the [[Planescape]] factions that made the jump to the [[World Axis]] cosmology; as 4e began expanding into the planes, it took up the stance that stuff from [[Planescape]] generally happened, at least in broad strokes, with the Great Wheel either not existing or being a now-discredited way of viewing the [[multiverse]] that promoted various planar regions to being full-fledged planes. As such, the [[Faction War]] happened, amongst other things.

Xaositects were first mentioned in the sourcebook "The Plane Below", which covers both the [[Elemental Chaos]] and the [[Abyss]], which introduced the Speakers of Xaos, an offspring sect of the Xaositect belief system and also featured a sidebar noting that it's quite possible that "classic" Axisite Xaositects are still running around; if they are, they have no reason to bug their splinter-group and the Speakers likewise don't give them any second thought.

This would ultimately be expanded upon in [[Dragon Magazine]] #414, where the Xaositects made their return as a planar character theme, alongside the [[Society of Sensation]] and the [[Transcendent Order]]. In the World Axis, Xaositects believe that reality lacks rules and, by extension, any hidden meaning; attempting to impose any kind of structure is antithetical to what it all means, and trying to stem the tide of change and disorder puts you farther away from understanding it all and finding your place in the chaotic sea of reality. The Xaositect philosophy is one of contradiction; Reality is meaningless, but a lack of meaning isn’t a bad thing in and of itself. Abandoning a search for meaning is the surest way to find it. The more your life reflects chaos, the more your life is like the multiverse, and both are sources of endless surprise.

Whether or not this actually any different to the philosophy of AD&D is up for debate.

Mechanically, the 4e Xaositect theme is quite faithful to the powes of earlier versions of the Xaositect. Its bonus power, Babble, lets you curse a victim within 5 squares to be incapable of speaking coherently until they pass a saving throw once per encounter, whilst at level  5, they gain a +2 bonus to Arcana and Bluff checks, and at level 10, they gain +2 to all defenses against opportunity attacks and cannot be surprised whilst they are conscious. They can also take any of three utility powers; Hornung's Deflector (level 2 encounter, causes a ranged attack that hits you to hit a random creature within 3 squares, which might make it hit you after all), The Die Is Cast (level 6, 1/encounter, you can change the result of a D20 by adding +1d10 and then subtracting -1d4 from the result) and Battlefield Shuffle (level 10, 1/day, when you roll initiative, you and all creatures within a close burst 20 must re-roll initiative; you and your allies do so with a +4 bonus, enemies with a -4 penalty).