Elemental Plane of Water (Inner Plane)

The Elemental Plane of Water is a sea without a floor or a surface, an entirely fluid environment lit by a diffuse glow. It is one of the more hospitable of the Inner Planes once a traveler gets past the problem of breathing the local medium.

The eternal oceans of this plane vary between ice cold and boiling hot, and between saline and fresh. They are perpetually in motion, wracked by currents and tides. The plane’s permanent settlements form around bits of flotsam suspended within this endless liquid, drifting on the tides.

The Plane of Water is a seemingly endless ocean with neither surface nor floor, a sunken realm that lies between the Planes of Air and Earth.

With the Plane of Air serving as a vast sky and the Plane of Earth forming its floor, the Plane of Water is a breathtaking, endless ocean of salt and fresh water alike. Generally growing more saline with increased proximity to the Plane of Earth, the Boundless Sea nonetheless contains within its primeval tides vast pockets of pristine fresh water, salt-choked dead seas, freshwater rivers flowing in tandem with ocean currents, and even enormous bubbles of floating air, all of which contain their own unique and vibrant ecosystems.

Sprinkled throughout the plane are even stranger features, such as enchanted springs that bubble into underwater pools, warping whatever wildlife lives within them, and pockets of acid and poison that form roiling lagoons and refuse to dilute into the surrounding ocean. Enormous, whirling torrents of blood and chum, too large to have formed through organic means, sustain environments incomprehensibly alien to all but the most savvy natives of this plane. Although the Boundless Sea’s temperature is largely tepid, strong currents of ice-cold and boiling-hot water thread throughout it, imperiling those unfamiliar with the terrain.

Most of the plane is liquid, but foreign elements can be found here as well, having fallen into the plane over the eons. For instance, hunks of rock from the Plane of Earth form vast floating reefs alongside fragments of lost cities and forgotten worlds. Enormous chunks of ice have also meandered into the Boundless Sea from the Plane of Air; on many such solid escarpments natives have constructed bustling cities, often alongside small populations of ice elementals. Jagged spires of solidified magma reach straight into the Endless Sky, while a handful of sunken spheres from the Plane of Fire light some portions of the seas, burning like underwater stars. The Boundless Sea’s other light sources include gently filtered light from the Plane of Air and, near where it meets the Plane of Earth, massive, roving schools of luminescent fish.

TRAITS

The Plane of Water has the following planar traits:

• Subjective Directional Gravity: The gravity here works similarly to that of the Plane of Air, but sinking or rising on the Plane of Water is slower (and less dangerous) than on the Plane of Air.
• Water-Dominant This plain is mostly liquid. Visitors who can’t breathe water or reach a pocket of air likely drown. Creatures of the fire subtype are extremely uncomfortable on water-dominant planes. Those made of fire take 1d10 points of damage each round.
• Time normal
• Realm immeasurable
• Structural lasting
• Essence water-dominant
• Alignment mildly neutral-aligned
• Magic enhanced (spells and spell-like abilities with the water descriptor or that use, manipulate, or create water [such as those of the Water domain and the elemental water bloodline]) or impeded (spells and spell-like abilities with the fire descriptor or that use or create fire [such as those of the Fire domain and the elemental fire bloodline])

DIVINITIES

Elemental lords of water, Kumugwe (Qaniqilak), Poseidon

Outsiders marids, mephits (ooze and water), tojanidas, water elementals (including water wysps), and water veelas

Petitioners water pneuma (watery-bodied forms)

Qualities aquatic subtype, immunity to water and cold effects, swim speed 40 ft.

INFUSIONS

Basic You gain a +2 bonus on Swim checks and a +2 bonus on saving throws against water and cold effects.

Improved You can use control water once per day as a spell-like ability.

Greater You can use vortex once per day as a spell-like ability.

Water pressure remains even throughout the plane, allowing disparate life forms to travel throughout without much difficulty, and kingdoms and creatures alike can and often do grow to unfathomable sizes. Near the border with the Plane of Air, enormous storms occasionally descend into the turbulent waves, forming mountain-sized whirlpools and waterspouts. At the border with the Plane of Earth, the waters are clogged with iron and silt, and thermal vents shoot out jets of nutrients and superheated blasts of brine.

DENIZENS

Though civilization exists only in pockets of the Boundless Sea, water-breathing life-forms of all types thrive on this elemental plane. Merfolk, sahuagin, and numerous other humanoids dwell in the endless depths, gathering in villages, cities, or even nations, while deadly monsters like krakens and scyllas are less common but much feared. Unlike their kin on the Plane of Air, elementals and mephits native to the Plane of Water do not gather in groups. Water elementals act much like brutal beasts of the wild, while mephits prefer to lurk in the nooks and crannies of other societies. The petitioners known as water pneumas, like other pneumas, are short-lived and swift to make the transition into elementals once they arrive on the Plane of Water. The most significant denizens of the plane are explored below.

Brine Dragons Past the Boundless Sea’s salinity interchange, the Plane of Water teems with brine dragons. Although most scholars assume that the dragons bask aimlessly in the plane’s saltier depths, in reality most live there at the behest of their elemental lord.

Marids The Boundless Sea’s water genies claim to be the absolute and rightful rulers of the Plane of Water in its entirety, but in truth, the disparate marid nations have been divided for nearly 10,000 years. Visitors to the Boundless Sea tend to find that the marids are some of its more accessible natives. Marid society follows very strong rules of hospitality, meant to help facilitate peace between members of their notoriously capricious race. Marids also enjoy foreign visitors and performers for their own sake, and the genies go out of their way to invite and support such guests. Many marid cities have a foreign quarter that provides food and breathable air, and nobles eagerly welcome opportunities to do business with surface dwellers. The lack of safe, reliable, and organized transport routes between the marid settlements, however, means such trade is infrequent at best.

Merfolk Merfolk immigrants to the Plane of Water prefer to dwell in dimly lit waters, while their deep merfolk kin keep to the lightless seas near the border with the Plane of Earth. Merfolk are a secretive people, going to great lengths to avoid other races and keep intruders out of their domains. An explorer is more likely to merely feel the presence of merfolk than to actually see one, as merfolk weave complex webs of illusion, build decoy cities, and construct misleading trails to lead curious outsiders miles away from their true homes. They have also been known to relocate or even destroy sites of significance to keep adventurers from finding them. This causes no end of frustration for other denizens of the plane, from knowledgeseekers to travelers who simply need stable landmarks.

Sahuagin Often dismissed as simple savages, the sahuagin of the Plane of Water are entrenched planar immigrants whose strength should not be underestimated. The Boundless Sea’s sahuagin originated from the Material Plane and, they say, alighted here several thousand years ago to fulfill a prophecy. While well known for quick and vicious invasions of neighboring kingdoms, these sahuagin are even more infamous for fighting among themselves. Most major nobles in their cities claim lineage back to the first sahuagin emperor. Sahuagin warlords are some of the most adaptable residents of the Plane of Water, grasping for any advantages they can find to bring them to greater heights of conquest and power.

d%	Encounter	Avg. CR
1–7	2d6 merfolk	3
8–15	2d6 undines	4
16–23	1d8 Small water elementals	5
24–25	1d8 Small ice elementals	5
26–30	2d6 water pneuma petitioners	6
31–35	1d8 Medium water elementals	7
36	1 young brine dragon	7
37–38	1d8 Medium ice elementals	7
39–43	2d6 sahuagin	7
44–47	2d6 ooze mephits	8
48–51	2d6 water mephits	8
52–55	1d6 tojanidas	8
56–59	2d6 water wysps	8
60–64	1d8 Large water elementals	9
65–66	1d8 Large ice elementals	9
67–68	1d8 mudlords	9
69–72	1d6 water veelas	10
73–77	1d8 Huge water elementals	11
78	1 adult brine dragon	11
79–80	1d8 Huge ice elementals	11
81–84	1d8 greater water elementals	13
85–87	1d8 marids	13
88–89	1d8 greater ice elementals	13
90	1 marid shahzada and 1d6 marids	14
91–94	1d8 elder water elementals	15
95	1d6 monadic devas	15
96	1d8 elder ice elementals	15
97	1 ancient brine dragon	16
98	1 scylla	16
99	1 kraken	18
100	1d8 mythic elder water elementals	18