Characters Pathfinder Roleplaying Game

The Great Beyond

GameMastery Guide, page 187

In the cosmology of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, the planes are collectively known as the Great Beyond, and form a vast, nesting sphere. At the heart of the sphere lie the Material Plane and its twisted reflection, the Shadow Plane, bridged by the mists of the Ethereal Plane. The elemental planes of the Inner Sphere surround this heart. Farther out, beyond the void of the Astral Plane, sits the unimaginably vast Outer Sphere, which is itself surrounded and contained by the innumerable layers of the Abyss

The planes that make up the Great Beyond are briefly detailed below. For additional information on these planes, see Pathfinder Chronicles: The Great Beyond.

In this section

  • Material Plane The Material Plane is the center of most cosmologies and defines what is considered normal. It is the plane most campaign worlds occupy.
  • Shadow Plane The Shadow Plane is a dimly lit dimension that is both coterminous to and coexistent with the Material Plane.
  • Negative Energy Plane To an observer, there’s little to see on the Negative Energy Plane. It is a dark, empty place, an eternal pit where a traveler can fall until the plane itself steals away all light and life.
  • Positive Energy Plane The Positive Energy Plane has no surface and is akin to the Plane of Air with its wide-open nature. However, every bit of this plane glows brightly with innate power.
  • Plane of Air The Plane of Air is an empty plane, consisting of sky above and sky below. It is the most comfortable and survivable of the Inner Planes and is the home of all manner of airborne creatures.
  • Plane of Earth The Plane of Earth is a solid place made of soil and stone. An unwary traveler might find himself entombed within this vast solidity of material and crushed into nothingness, with his powdered remains left as a warning…
  • Plane of Fire Everything is alight on the Plane of Fire. The ground is nothing more than great, ever-shifting plates of compressed flame. The air ripples with the heat of continual firestorms and the most common liquid is magma.
  • Plane of Water The Plane of Water is a sea without a floor or a surface, an entirely fluid environment lit by a diffuse glow.
  • Ethereal Plane The Ethereal Plane is coexistent with the Material Plane and often other planes as well.
  • Astral Plane The Astral Plane is the space between the Inner and Outer Planes, and coterminous with all of the planes.
  • Abaddon (Neutral Evil) A realm of vast wastelands under a rotten sky, Abaddon is perpetually cloaked in a cloying black mist and the oppressive twilight of an endless solar eclipse.
  • The Abyss (Chaotic Evil) Surrounding the Outer Sphere like the impossibly deep skin of an onion, the layered plane of the Abyss begins as gargantuan canyons and yawning chasms in the fabric of the other Outer Planes, bordered by the foul waters…
  • Elysium (Chaotic Good) A vast land of untamed wilderness and wild passions, Elysium is the plane of benevolent chaos. Freedom and self-sufficiency
  • Heaven (Lawful Good) The soaring mountain of Heaven towers high above the Outer Sphere. This ordered realm of honor and compassion is divided into seven layers.
  • Hell (Lawful Evil) The nine layers of Hell form a structured labyrinth of calculated evil where torment goes hand in hand with purification.
  • Limbo (Chaotic Neutral) A vast ocean of unrestrained chaos and untapped potential surrounds and is coterminous with each of the Outer Planes. This is Limbo—beautiful, deadly, and truly endless.
  • Nirvana (Neutral Good) Nirvana is an unbiased paradise existing between the two extremes of Elysium and Heaven.
  • Purgatory (Neutral) Every soul passes through Purgatory to be judged before being sent on to its final destination in the Great Beyond.
  • Utopia (Lawful Neutral) Utopia is a bastion of order against the chaos of Limbo and the countless demonic hordes of the Abyss.