Summary

• Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse marks the return of the Planescape setting to D&D 5e.
• Players can customize their characters to better fit the setting with seven new feats and two new backgrounds.
• Both of the new backgrounds provide the feat Scion of the Outer Planes, granting bonuses based on a preferred plane of existence. Other feats in Planescape branch off from it, often depending on the chosen plane.

The Planescape setting has returned to the fifth edition of the Planescape setting, which establishes a detailed cosmology across a diverse range of existential planes. The new release, Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse, does just the same, adapting the original rules, lore, and geography required for reality-bending campaigns to the particulars of DnD's fifth edition.

However, players also need ways to create characters who belong in this setting. Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse provides ample opportunity to do so, with two new backgrounds and seven new feats, in addition to a batch of Planescape-themed magic items, to suit almost any kind of Planescape-tailored build. These new customization options allow players to design seasoned planeswalkers, staunch philosophers, and battle-scarred outlanders. These can at once make for interesting roleplaying opportunities and realistic settings. Here are all the new backgrounds and feats, how they affect each other, and what they're expected to do based on the equivalent skills in 2022's Unearthed Arcana: Wonders of the Multiverse playtest.

New Character Backgrounds In D&D 5e's Planescape

Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse adds two new character backgrounds to DnD. Each of them is pretty basic in and of itself, but what makes them more interesting is that they both grant the new feat Scion of the Outer Planes. This is kind of a catch-all feat that provides some damage resistance, but also opens the way to other, more specialized feats added by the Planescape setting. More on that will follow, but for now, these are the two new backgrounds in the Planescape setting.

The first new background is Gate Warden, which makes the most sense for characters who have spent a lot of time in the planar outlands. These contrasting, unpredictable planes are often at war with each other, and Gate Wardens thrive in the in-between, where they are staunch defenders of their own reality against outside invasion. If the Unearthed Arcana changes carry over, Gate Warden also allows those characters to find free - if humble - food and shelter in their hometowns.

The other background introduced for the Planescape setting is Planar Philosopher. This background is designed for characters who study the planes - in particular, those who live and work out of Sigil. Sigil is a large city, effectively the multiplanar capital. It exists at the center of the Multiverse, atop a giant spiral that extends through the middle of all other planes. It's home to a number of warring factions whose contrary worldviews often cause them to butt heads. Characters who take this background may select one of those twelve factions, and may receive free room and board wherever their faction has a base or its reside.

Scion Of The Outer Planes Is Planescape's Most Important Feat

Granted by both of the new backgrounds and with no requirements of its own, Scion of the Outer Planes is the primary new feat in Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse. In fact, since all the other new feats have it as a prerequisite, it might be more accurate to say that Scion of the Outer Planes is the root feat, and each of the six others is one branch of a skill tree extending outward from it.

Players can start a new Planescape character with Scion of the Outer Planes, then choose a more specialized feat to take their character in a specific direction. First, when taking Scion of the Outer Planes, players must pick a preferred plain of existence. Based on that choice, they'll receive resistance to a particular type of damage, along with a specific cantrip. In Unearthed Arcana, those are:

It's unknown whether these will carry over one-to-one in the full version of Planescape, but the final result should at least look similar. Once players have taken Scion of the Outer Planes and reached fourth level, they may accept one of the other available feats to create a more specialized build. Each awards both an ability score increase and a new feature.

Alignment-Based Feats In D&D 5e's Planescape

Most of the other feats in Planescape pertain to character and planar alignments. Each plane has its own code of morality roughly equivalent to DnD's character alignment scale, ranging from Lawful to Chaotic along one axis, and Good to Evil along another. While these don't govern a character's morals or behavior, some of them are affected by the preferred plane chosen for the Scion of the Outer Planes feat.

For example, only those who chose the Good Outer Plane variety of the Scion of the Outer Planes feat can take the Righteous Heritor Feat. Per Unearthed Arcana, this feat allows characters to use Soothe Pain, a reaction that reduces incoming damage to themselves or an ally. This works similarly to the Sentinel feat in the base game, except it reduces damage instead of striking back, and can be applied to any visible character, even the one using the feat.

Lawful Outer Plane-aligned characters can take the Agent of Order feat, allowing them to use a move called Stasis Strike once per turn. This deals a small amount of additional force damage, and can restrain the target on a failed Wisdom saving throw. Under the restrained condition, a creature's speed drops immediately to zero, and any feature that would provide a bonus to their speed is nullified. Attack rolls against them have advantage, while their own attack rolls and Dexterity saving throws have disadvantage.

Baleful Scion is only applicable to characters of the Evil Outer Plane. They gain access to Life-Draining Grasp, a feature that allows them to deal 1d6 additional necrotic damage on a melee attack, absorbing the result back as HP.

Finally, Cohort of Chaos is for characters from the Chaotic Outer Plane. Whenever they roll a Critical Failure or Critical Success on an attack or saving throw, they can activate a feature called Chaotic Flare. They may then roll a d4 to determine what happens: waves of force damage may emanate from them, a creature of their choice may go berserk, they may teleport to a distance within their walking speed, or strong winds may appear and give everyone within them disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws. While some of these have the potential for friendly fire, they can all be used to turn a bad situation on its head.

Other Feats In D&D 5e's Planescape

The remaining two feats in Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse are completely irrelevant to planar alignment. Instead, these apply to seasoned multiverse travelers, those who frequently cross the planes or commune with others from outside their domain. Outlands Envoy eases interplanar communication by granting access to the spell tongues, which allows a character to communicate across language barriers. Planar Wanderer grants two features: Portal Cracker and Portal Sense. Portals between planes normally require keys; not so for Planar Wanderers, who can open or shut them at will with Portal Cracker. Inactive portals are hard to find, but Planar Wanderers can always detect them within 30 feet using Portal Sense.

Those are all the new feats and character backgrounds confirmed to appear in Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse. Now available in early access through D&D Beyond, the three-book set will become available to all in physical and digital formats on October 17, 2023. Most Dungeons & Dragons players will have to wait until then try out the new character customization options.

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