Material Planes

"I have received dozens of letters asking me what it is like to travel to other Planes of the Multiverse. For example, many people have never experienced a trip to any of the Transitory Planes in order to travel from one World to another or even two different places on the same World. It's difficult for them to understand what it is like in such places. The truth is that each one of the Material Planes is unique unto itself. I shall do my best to describe the ones I have visited, but, really, one must experience such things for oneself in order to fully understand it. I will say that, while risky, one should not pass up the chance to visit some of the Transitory Planes and I think everyone should get to see Fantasia, one of the Echo Planes, at least once in his or her lifetime. But, with that said, one should never fail to appreciate the Plane on which one lives. For all the wonders I have seen, no place is as wonderful to me as the Cosmic Plane and its Worlds, particularly the Human World. It's nice to visit other Planes, certainly, but I will always call the Midlands 'home.' I suppose it took seeing other Universes for me to really see it for what it is."

Perdita Nightshade
"Answers to Frequently Received Letters of Inquiry"
Alliance Magazine

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Types of Material Planes

Traveling between Material Planes

  There are two ways to move from one Material Plane to another: Portals, which are found naturally and can be created artificially, and Planar Shifting, where one teleports from one Material Plane to another.  

Portals

  Portals, natural or artificial, have two sides, each one on a separate Material Plane. However, one side of a Portal may be in a fixed position on one Plane but mobile on the other. For instance, all naturally occurring Portals on the Transitory Plane of Earth are in a fixed location but all Portals, natural or artificial, on the Cosmic Plane are mobile. This is because the sides of the Portals on the Cosmic Plane are all on planetary bodies which rotate on an axis while orbiting a Star. Artificial Portals, which are always part of a Planar Gate, can be mobile on any Material Plane. (Indeed, that mobility can be the reason they are created.) Regardless of their origin and mobility, Portals are the primary method of traveling between Material Planes.  

Planar Shifting

  Planar Shifting is when a person uses Arcane or Psionic (or sometimes Divine) Magic to move from one Plane to another. This is essentially a type of Teleportation that exploits the Resonances of the different Material Planes. Each Plane has its own Resonance. When one moves through a Portal to another Plane, one's Resonance changes to match the Resonance of that Universe. However, if one changes one's Resonance to match the Resonance of a different Plane, one will shift to that Plane. This is easier said than done, of course, but it is further complicated because one must also be able to control where one materializes on the other Plane. One could very easily miscalculate and end up in a location on that Plane one did not wish to visit. This is why Planar Shifting is not a very common method of moving between Material Planes. It's simply easier and safer to rely on Portals.