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Random Dungeons and Dragons question

Posted: 2005-08-01 09:10am
by WacoKid
Does anyone know where in the 3e or 3.5e books, or where online I could find a description of Sigil, the City of doors? I'm trying to run a campaign that involves it, but I can't seem to find it in the Manual of the Planes, which is where I would expect to.

Posted: 2005-08-01 09:23am
by Coalition
I found the following:

++http://www.rpgshop.com/product_info.php ... s_id=35212&
++http://home.flash.net/~brenfrow/ps/ps-cage.htm
++http://www.ehobbies.com/wz17920.html

These are mainly for the book itself, which is "Planar Handbook". Cost is ~$25-30 (US).

Posted: 2005-08-01 09:25am
by Ghost Rider
Gaming off to G&C

Posted: 2005-08-01 09:26am
by WacoKid
It would, but I was hoping for something a bit more immediate, like an online reference. I'm running the campaign really soon.

I appreciate it, though.

Re: Random Dungeons and Dragons question

Posted: 2005-08-01 09:39am
by Mr Bean
WacoKid wrote:Does anyone know where in the 3e or 3.5e books, or where online I could find a description of Sigil, the City of doors? I'm trying to run a campaign that involves it, but I can't seem to find it in the Manual of the Planes, which is where I would expect to.
Hmm online? No

I can give you a brief rundown from what I remeber from my old Planescape books(Which should have never been killed off!)

Sigil is the City of Doors, it goes that every single(Or near every single) Doorway, Arch, Picture frame or any other kind of enclosed entrance is a portal to another plane. The portal keys could be anything and everything from a rose petal held between your third and fourth fingers, to your body temp at that moment to holding a ruby with both hands at midnight.

The Sigil "floats" above the Spire in the Center of the Outlands(Off-hand I can't remeber if you can see the city while in the Outlands or see the Outlands from the City)

You can't leave Sigil except via portal and the portals change from time to time as the Dabus's(Servents of the Lady of Pain) change the city around on a constant basis. The big established portals which have been there for awhile tend to have business or shops set up around it. They don't grow anything in Sigil however because of the portals its quite common to see heating from small portals into the Plane of Fire, Fresh water strait from the Plane of water-ect.

Sigil is for all intents and purposes the "center" of the planes, as much as any center can exist for infintie worlds. You can get to anyplace in any plane as long as you know the portal and know the key.

Controling the whole setup is the Lady of Pain. She is for all intents and purposes the ruler of the city. She rarley if ever speaks to anyone besides her Dabus's who themselves only speak if nessary and speak in pictograph(Pictures that require a fairly intellgent person to figure out). They speak all languages but don't unless orderd to by the Lady.

Speaking of the Lady she is for all intents and purposes untouchable. She is normaly seen floating down the odd street observing the going's on of the city. Break the Ladies laws(Which are few, simply keep the mass murder to a minium, don't try nuking city blocks and suchlike and you will be fine), and she will deal with you. Either she will let her shadow fall opon you at which point you will be stabbed to death quite quickly as if attacked by a million angrey knife weilding midgets.

Her preffered method however is to take a small part of the city out of itself and construct a maze within and send you there. Every maze is diffrent and every maze contains a single portal out. The challenge is to be able to find the portal out and then find the key. She will always leave a few clues but otherwise you are stuck there till you starve to death.

That's basic description. Along with there are Factions, City Elder's, Warrens, notable areas and more that I won't inculded here.


Oh one last note, Powers(Gods/Demigods) Can't get into Sigil without the Lady's express say-so. She can also kick them out at will if she does let one in. This does not affect Cleric's or Druids that much except when it comes to any kind of direct manifesting of thier God's power, any spell-like ability that bring part of that God's will or esscence into existance there might or might not work depending on how close they come to affecting the balance of power in Sigil. So while healing and smashing work us fine, Manifesting an Avatar is a no-go and likewise anything similar.

Posted: 2005-08-01 09:42am
by WacoKid
sweet, thanks a lot

Posted: 2005-08-01 10:32am
by SirNitram
Sigil in 3e will be found mentioned uber-briefly in Manual of the Planes. It's in more depth in Planar Handbook with updates on the Factions. Plot-wise, it's assumed Faction War came to a head and happened.

Posted: 2005-08-01 11:33am
by Solauren
http://www.mimir.net/
http://www.planewalker.com

I also believe there was a book published on Sigil, along with stuff in the Planescape campaign setting.

Re: Random Dungeons and Dragons question

Posted: 2005-08-01 11:44am
by Civil War Man
Mr Bean wrote:Speaking of the Lady she is for all intents and purposes untouchable. She is normaly seen floating down the odd street observing the going's on of the city. Break the Ladies laws(Which are few, simply keep the mass murder to a minium, don't try nuking city blocks and suchlike and you will be fine), and she will deal with you. Either she will let her shadow fall opon you at which point you will be stabbed to death quite quickly as if attacked by a million angrey knife weilding midgets.

Her preffered method however is to take a small part of the city out of itself and construct a maze within and send you there. Every maze is diffrent and every maze contains a single portal out. The challenge is to be able to find the portal out and then find the key. She will always leave a few clues but otherwise you are stuck there till you starve to death.
Couple additions regarding the Lady of Pain. She only referred to as a lady because of the way she dresses. She could be male, or some other undefined gender. She is insanely powerful in Sigil. IIRC, when the God of Portals made an attempt to take over, he ended up on the wrong side of one of the Lady's mazes.

Worshipping her as a deity is considered almost as bad of an idea as breaking one of her laws.

Oftentimes her mazes shift or loop back in on themselves in order to increase the chances of the prisoner starving.

Some advice when you are walking down the streets of Sigil and see the Lady of Pain approaching. Do not talk to her, do not stare at her, do not touch her, and stay out of her way. But don't make it look like you are going out of your way to do those things. Be as inconspicuous as possible.

Posted: 2005-08-01 12:16pm
by WacoKid
Wow, this stuff is exactly what I wanted, thanks. So If had an epic campaign, and wanted armies to start pouring in through portals and such, things might get very interesting? Especially if caused by one of the caharcters, so that the party was eventually mazed by the Lady, which would be a dungeon adventure in and of itself? SWEET.

Posted: 2005-08-01 12:41pm
by Mr Bean
WacoKid wrote:Wow, this stuff is exactly what I wanted, thanks. So If had an epic campaign, and wanted armies to start pouring in through portals and such, things might get very interesting? Especially if caused by one of the caharcters, so that the party was eventually mazed by the Lady, which would be a dungeon adventure in and of itself? SWEET.
Two quick notes, Maze's are not dungeon's, not realy anyway. Generaly they are completly empty of everything but your mazed people.

Second there are entire planes that are devoted to massed warfare(Arcon neut, Grey Waste-Evil) , not to mention there is the endless ongoing Blood War on the Lower planes plus clashs with the Upper planes on some of the Neutral planes.

Large scale combat however does not occure in Sigil, the Lady's will and all that prevents the army's from gathering or they get ported out when fighting. Except in a rare few instances, but don't expect Pit Fiends and Balor's to be dukeing it out in the streets of Sigil anytime soon.

Posted: 2005-08-01 12:50pm
by WacoKid
Yeah I know, I meant more like armies invading Sigil to get to one of the characters. Probably can't actually happen, but I might do it anyway just because it could be fun.

Posted: 2005-08-01 12:56pm
by Mr Bean
WacoKid wrote:Yeah I know, I meant more like armies invading Sigil to get to one of the characters. Probably can't actually happen, but I might do it anyway just because it could be fun.
Never said anything abit a Hit-team of high ups or getting ganked while portal travling. but your not going to see ten thousand ork's screaming Waarrghh! and sprinting down a Sigil street at them.

Meanwhile on some of the planes(The Grey Waste is famous for it) you likley WILL have ten thousand Demon's port out half a mile away and a thousand port out on the other side and go to town with your party in the middle.

And on a side note there is such an item you might like. The Night-Hag Ravel featured in Planescape Torment made a crystal that opened up locks. Not just any lock but EVERY lock inculding all the locks on the portals. Which caused quite alot of chaos when she sent a dupe into Sigil for her with the key as hundred of portals started opening on all sides. Took some time for the Lady to close them(After mazing him and Ravel) and took the Crystal to places unknow.

Re: Random Dungeons and Dragons question

Posted: 2005-08-01 02:23pm
by PrinceofLowLight
Civil War Man wrote: Couple additions regarding the Lady of Pain. She only referred to as a lady because of the way she dresses. She could be male, or some other undefined gender. She is insanely powerful in Sigil. IIRC, when the God of Portals made an attempt to take over, he ended up on the wrong side of one of the Lady's mazes.
Actually, it's worse than that. Aoskar was gaining followers in Sigil, but he wasn't really trying to take over. He was getting more respect than her, but Her Serenity doesn't care if she is respected, so long as people respect Her order.

However, when a Dabus decided to become a priest of Aoskar...

She killed the upstart God and nuked his temple, obliterating everything in a six block radius.

Don't fuck with The Lady of Pain.

Posted: 2005-08-01 06:16pm
by SirNitram
It's worth noting that Her Serenity doesn't kill people in Mazes. Food is provided and you find it easily. You simply die of old age or madness. Or you get out.

Posted: 2005-08-01 06:51pm
by General Zod
SirNitram wrote:It's worth noting that Her Serenity doesn't kill people in Mazes. Food is provided and you find it easily. You simply die of old age or madness. Or you get out.
Also worth noting that very few people manage to escape the mazes. There are a handful wandering Sigil that claim to have escaped, but usually they're stark raving mad and nobody pays 'em much mind. Needless to say escaping is insanely difficult.

Posted: 2005-08-01 06:57pm
by SirNitram
General Zod wrote:
SirNitram wrote:It's worth noting that Her Serenity doesn't kill people in Mazes. Food is provided and you find it easily. You simply die of old age or madness. Or you get out.
Also worth noting that very few people manage to escape the mazes. There are a handful wandering Sigil that claim to have escaped, but usually they're stark raving mad and nobody pays 'em much mind. Needless to say escaping is insanely difficult.
Of course, a certain Duke managed to get out, but he learned the very, very mean Dark of those mazes...

Mwahahaha.

Posted: 2005-08-01 07:52pm
by Mr Bean
SirNitram wrote:
General Zod wrote:
SirNitram wrote:It's worth noting that Her Serenity doesn't kill people in Mazes. Food is provided and you find it easily. You simply die of old age or madness. Or you get out.
Also worth noting that very few people manage to escape the mazes. There are a handful wandering Sigil that claim to have escaped, but usually they're stark raving mad and nobody pays 'em much mind. Needless to say escaping is insanely difficult.
Of course, a certain Duke managed to get out, but he learned the very, very mean Dark of those mazes...

Mwahahaha.
Ack you bastard! Its already because of you I plan on picking up the Factol War and the rest of the old Sourcebooks. Don't hint me with things I wish were "know" to me( :P ).

Posted: 2005-08-01 11:09pm
by Oni Koneko Damien
If you want a really brief rundown on the city, check out the DM guide, under the sample-planar sites.