They can be grouped into five basic categories: the Inner Planes (places of raw matter and energy); the Outer Planes (places of gods, souls, and raw philosophy and belief); the Material Planes (worlds balanced between the philosophical forces of the Outer Planes and the physical forces of the Inner Planes, these are the standard worlds of fantasy RPG campaigns); the transitive planes (connecting the other planes and generally containing little, if any, solid matter or native life); and the demiplanes (minor, often artificial planes, often possessing qualities of the other four types of planes).


The planes as a whole are usually presented as a series of concentric circles, with alternating spatial and transitive planes; from the center outwards, they are ordered as follows: Inner, Ethereal, Material, Astral, Outer Planes, and the Far Realm. The Shadow Plane and the Dimension of Time, if they are included, are separate from the others, and usually represented as being connected to the Material Plane. Demiplanes, although most commonly connected to the Ethereal Plane, can be found attached to any plane. 

Transitive planes 

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Astral Plane 
The Astral Plane is the plane of thought, memory, and psychic energy; it is where gods go when they die or are forgotten (or, most likely, both). It is a barren place with only rare bits of solid matter; some creatures, such as the githyanki, use the petrified corpses of dead gods as floating fortresses. The Astral Plane is unique in that it is infinitesimal instead of infinite; there is no space or time here, though both catch up with you when you leave. 

The most common feature of the Astral Plane is the silver cords of travelers using an astral projection spell. These cords are the lifelines that keep travelers of the plane from becoming lost, stretching all the way back to the traveler's point of origin. 

God-isles 
The immense petrified remains of a dead god. God-isles float on the Astral Plane, where githyanki and others often mine them for minerals and build communities on their stony surfaces. Tu'narath, the capital city of the githyanki, is built on the petrified corpse of a dead god known only as "The One in the Void." God-isles often have unusual effects on those nearby, including causing strange dreams of things that happened to the god when it was alive. God-isles are also the only locations on the Astral Plane that are known to possess gravity or normal time flows. 

Ethereal Plane 
The Ethereal is often likened to an ocean, but rather than water it is a sea of boundless possibility. It consists of two parts: the Border Ethereal which connects to the Inner and Prime Material planes, and the Deep Ethereal plane which acts as the incubator to many potential demiplanes and other proto-magical realms. From a Border Ethereal plane a traveler can see a misty greyscale version of the plane from which they are traveling; however, each plane is only connected to its own Border Ethereal, which means inter-planar travel necessitates entering the Deep Ethereal and then exiting into the destination plane's own Border Ethereal plane. Many demiplanes, such as that which houses the Ravenloft setting, can be found in the Deep Ethereal plane; most demiplanes are born here, and many fade back into nothingness here[. Unlike the Astral Plane, in which solid objects can exist (though are extremely rare) anything and everything that goes to the Ethereal Plane becomes Ethereal. There is also something here called the Ether Cyclone that connects the Ethereal plane to the Astral Plane. 

Mirror Plane 
A small plane connected to mirrors that can be located in any other planes throughout the multiverse. A mirror plane takes the form of a weightless lowly lit space with mirrors floating everywhere. The mirrors reflect your image unless you stare into them and then you can see what they are connected to. The sound of glass often echoes throughout the plane. In some areas vast glass ‘forests’ grow. Mirror planes allow quick travel between the various mirrors that are linked to each. Some say the mirror plane contains a mirror version of any traveler that enters it. This mirror version has an opposite alignment and will seek to slay its real self to take its place. All mirrors connect to the mirror plane. 

Temporal Plane 
It is a plane where physical travel can result in time travel. Also known as the "Demiplane of Time". This plane is a fundamental plane for the prime material and many guardians reside here to make sure that the temporal flow of the prime material is not compromised. 

Demiplanes 

Demiplanes are minor planes, most of which are artificial. Demiplanes are commonly created by demigods and extremely powerful wizards and psions. Naturally occurring demiplanes are rare; most such demiplanes are actually fragments of other planes that have somehow split off from their parent plane. Demiplanes are often constructed to resemble the Material Plane, though a few — mostly those created by non-humans — are quite alien. Genesis, a 9th level arcane spell or psionic power, is one of the few printed methods for a player to create a demiplane. 

The most notable demiplane is the Demiplane of Dread, the world of Ravenloft. 

Portals, conduits and gates 

Portals, conduits and gates are all openings leading from one location to another; some lead to locations in the same plane, others to different planes entirely. Although the three terms are often used interchangeably, there are notable distinctions. Portals are bounded by pre-existing openings (usually doors and arches); the portal is destroyed when the opening is. Portals also require portal keys to open; a key is usually a physical object, but it can also be an action or a state of being. Naturally occurring portals will often appear at random (a common occurrence in the city of Sigil, "City of Doors", some portals only exist for a brief period of time, or shift from one location to another. Conduits are also naturally occurring, but they are natural phenomena, the planar equivalent of whirlpools and tornadoes. Conduits are only known to occur in the Astral and Ethereal Planes. A type of conduit known as a color pool is a common gateway from the Astral Plane to the Outer Planes. A vortex is a link from a Prime Material world to the Inner Planes, which begin in areas of intense concentration of some element (e.g., the heart of a volcano might be a vortex to the Plane of Fire). There also used to be living vortices (plural of vortex) which the sorcerer-monarchs of Athas have managed to maintain, like siphoning water through a hose, and use to empower their "priests," the templars. Gates are portals that are not bounded by physical apertures; gates are rare, and usually appear as a result of magical spells and rare planar phenomena. Lastly, planar bleeding occurs when regions of two planes coexist, such instances can be disastrous for their environs especially if this occurs between the prime material and an outer plane as the energy of the prime material will be easily overwhelmed by the powerful concentration of energy from the outer plane. Anything within the area of the bleeding will be affected by the energy of the outer plane. 

Planar pathways are special landscape features appearing in multiple planes or layers of a plane. Travel along a planar pathway results in travel along the planes. Pathways are crucial tactically, because they are very stable compared to portals or gates, and don't require magic spells or portal keys. One notable planar pathway is the River Styx, which flows across the Lower Planes and parts of the Astral Plane. Another is the River Oceanus, which flows through the Upper Planes.

Outer Planes

Glorium's got two gates to Ysgard. One's on the water, big enough for ships to sail through, while the other is actually a part of Yggdrasil. Its people are well known for loving battle. Glorium's nestled on the shore of a great fjord, with its back to the craggy peaks.
The fortress city of Ribcage, nestled under the curving "ribs" of the Vale of the Spine mountains, protects the gate to Baator. The denizens are cautious and work hard and keep their eyes open as they do not wish to become like their predecessor town of Blackspine. They fight daily from merging into Baator while creating a thriving trade with several Trade house families.