One of my favorite concepts is leaning into that theme of "the shadow fell is a decayed version of the material plane", which immediately tells you where you can find portals or crossover points into the shadowfell. Basically, if a location on the material plane is decaying and decrepit, then you are going to cross into the Shadowfell in that location because the material plane and the Shadowfell are one of the same in that location. And depending on how you leave that location, you might end up trapped in the Shadowfell even after you leave.
Shar is more like Mystra's "step mother". In the FR's creation "myth" Ao created Selûne and Shar by parting light from darkness and thus they represent light and life, and darkness and oblivion/void respectively. Shar actually tore a part out of Selûne and that part became Mystra. When you learn this you know - you understand - that Shar will ever be there, no matter whatever you do. You might push back on oblivion, but you will never defeat it.
I am surprised how deep and detail oriented is D&D . I have Neverwinter Night 1 and 2, and all expansion, and it was deep and rich with lore. What i hear in this series of videos, about D&D and Lore in pen and paper verison, i see i did known only 10% .
Keep in mind that this game, the settings and associated supplements, novels and games on other platforms, are 30 years old, and have been in constant flux and development over that time. It is an industry of story telling, so, the story is incredibly detailed and rich.. I have to filter out information otherwise these subjects would takes hours and hours to cover.
If you learn that much, you have done some insane research. What AJ has covered is a tiny fraction, and it would take hundreds of hours to view it all. And this is almost only the Forgotten Realms. There's also Dragonlance, Mystara, Greyhawk, a few other official ones and that isn't even touching upon homebrew.
Shadowfell is fun as hell. Always reminded me as being a Silent Hill type of place. A reflection of the prime material plane...but....shadowy-ier? 😆 Idk...I can be an edgelord sometimes, admittedly, and Shadowfell and the Kytons are just...so much win.. Or am I thinking of a different Plane?
The Shadowfell may be closer to "the fog world" of Silent Hill, terrifying, but not the "curl into a ball" scary that the "other world" of silent hill, that is- the one that is all rusted and covered in blood.
the Soul Reaver from the Legacy of kain franchise plugged an omnipresent Tentacle 'God' visible to the dead underground; within the scope of the game physically dying sent consciousness into an other similar contorted scape where the immediately departed stayed apostate until depredation subsumed them: there is a gigantic neutral phylactery jar within the caves of that game. what in D&D would it be?
Sounds like a demiplane, with a portal only visible to the dead, it might be ethereal, so, some sort of entrapping demiplane that captures souls as they attempt to cross over into the border ethereal and then saps the souls slowly until they are destroyed, This sort of artifact would be VERY much a no-no in the D&D multiverse, as all the powers have a pact that preserves the sanctity of souls.
The artwork is amazing and fits the videos very well. I LOVE the Shadowfell and the Raven Queen. Also I absolutely love the explanation of the Dark powers. I've been an avid Ravenloft reader/ DM and fan since the early 90s. Never have I heard an explanation of what the intent behind the dark powers trapping the dark lords in these demi planes that make up Ravenloft but I'm so using this.
You have the best lore videos for dnd my man, thank you for your work you put into these videos. You help me DM and add life into all of my sessions with these videos.
I love sorrowful situations in real life, it's why I love dnd, so many things regular non dnd people hate, your heart slips out and you toughen up, your gonna get old one day, gotta get used to it lol
You need a bard with some inherited boots of levitation that he doesn't KNOW the command word for but he keeps SAYING it because he talks so much. Then maybe the boys are kinda worn so the activation might take an extra round. So discover what words keep making him float or grab his own butt or bootstraps and then, thus just slowly revolve in space...
I always think of the Shadowfell like Lorule in my campaigns. It's like a reflection of the normal world, but something went horribly wrong (destroying the Triforce, or Shar placing a curse on the land), and now it exists as a land of decay and shadow. However it is still a reflection of the world, and just as rich. Thinking of it like a counterpart to the Feywild, the Shadowfell seems like it should naturally be a place of decay, dulled emotions, and weakened senses, yet enhanced logic which can be good or bad. It could manifest as clairvoyance/the quiet of night that brings a sense of peace, encouraging self-reflection and rational thought. But it would also be the perfect place for a lich or vampire to engage in cold, calculated scheming, away from prying eyes, no less. Death, decay, and cunning-the symbolism of a raven, perhaps? 🐦⬛ Creatures that evolved here might have adaptations mirroring deep-sea creatures', as well as natural shadow magic & a more predatory lifestyle (in the absence of abundant plant life), so adventurers native to the material plane may be easy prey, leading to a reputation of hostile, evil monsters in the Shadowfell. To make the plane of shadow not *just* hostile and gloomy, I also like to make it fulfill some cosmic role of decay, which is essential for the cycle of life. Perhaps this manifests as a cycle of souls-souls of the deceased come here, and if they are not picked-up by their deity or a devil contract, they are eventually consumed by the Raven Queen/grim reaper goddess, who then takes their memories & wears them like jewelry. The new souls (or maybe just raw magic for the creation of new souls) is released and absorbed like fertilizer for the Feywild's rampant growth, which trickles-down to the material plane, enabling healthy forests there as well. To take this one step further, perhaps this cycle of souls can be seen as the seasons, or perhaps seasons are caused by the material plane resonating more strongly with the Shadowfell in Autumn and more with the Feywild in Spring (whatever that means to you). Lastly, I like to make the Shadowfell rewarding & tempting to explore despite the risks, not just a dangerous place that players will want to escape asap. If "plane of shadow" means it is the metaphorical dark as much as it is literally hard to see, it could be a final frontier of exploration & adventure, with new lands, magic items, and alchemical uses for various plants/fungi & minerals never seen in the Material or Feywild. New peoples and cultures adapted to the Shadowfell could spice up social encounters, while providing possible allies & enemies for players. And as mentioned, the Raven Queen collects memories, so maybe parts of history lost to time can be rediscovered here-for a price. The Raven Queen hates those who cheat death, so any undead, soul-dealing devils, reincarnating demons, and even immortal celestials are her enemies. Slay them, and bring some balance to the Cycle of Souls, and the lore (and spells) of ages past shall be yours... Hexblades for soul-reaping are down the hall, to the left, if you have the guts to embrace the power & secrecy of the Shadowfell. >:)
The Netherese presence in the Shadowfell is because some of the Netherese took refuge in the Plane of Shadow when Netheril fell. Some of them returned to Toril in 3E, but I think for the most part, through 3.5E and 4E most of those have been defeated in Toril proper, so what is in the Shadowfell are those that either didn't try to return, fled *back* to the Shadow, or are the Shadowfell's mirroring.
Does anyone remember the novels where the heroes are fighting the shadovar? I'm trying to figure out if it was an Ed Greenwood novel or an Elaine Cunningham novel. Pretty sure it wasn't R.A. Salvatore's
The full history of the Shadovar is simple: A long time ago, the first goddess of magic had no rules. Spells went WAY past 9th level. Several ancient empires were built on levels of magic that cannot be replicated today. One of these was Netheril. Netheril made it a policy that when they built a city, they did it by chopping a mountain off at its base, levitating it in the air, flipping it upside-down, and using that flying cone as the foundation, before building a mile-radius magic enchantment that passively enchanted everything else in its radius. Every sword, dagger, and butterknife became a +1 weapon. Every pair of shoes were Slippers of Spider-Cimbing or Boots of Leaping or something else. Magic was EVERYWHERE, but they mostly only worked within those magical fields. Well, one particular wizard was a brilliant idiot. Karsus, last great archmage of netheril. He made the world first, and last, fifteenth level spell. *Karsus' Avatar*. It allowed the caster to steal all the power from a god or goddess of their choosing. The material components of the spell included the gizzard of a gold dragon, the heart of the tarrasque, and... a bunch of other near-impossible stuff to acquire, but he got it all. And he cast it. What do you think happened? He tried to steal all the power of the goddess of magic first, not understanding that the goddess of magic was CONSTANTLY balancing the weave of magical energies that made magic possible. He managed to siphon off half her power before magic started to fail, everywhere. What do you think happened to those flying cities? Boom. The dying goddess sacrificed what was left of her life to stabilize the weave. Karsus died a half-god failure. But one of those cities managed to survive. They did so by shifting the city and all its inhabitants into the Plane of Shadow. Not a perfect solution, but it was an act of desperation. They needed a place empty of hostile life, but where magic still worked, and nobody would come looking for them. But magic works DIFFERENTLY there, and they couldn't come back. Especially since the new goddess of magic changed the rules on Toril so that spells cap at 9th level. So the Shadovar have been stuck in Shadow for thousands of years, until Shar merged Shadow and whatever else to create the Shadowfell, and they now had an easy way to return to their former home.
@@mitchhaelann9215 5e 2014. Retcon and the 4th edition retcon mentioned it. karsus caused the death of mystral, not mystra shar took advantage of her sisters rebirth to create the shadowfell out of the plane of shadow
Ya my favorite part of the shadow fell and the feywild is if you have a good gm you can run your full adventure in these places.. I love spooky shit and it's a great place to have a rhakshash mess with the party or have a black crusade sweeping the land, dark shit that you'd never see in real life
My party just had a tpk after the party split and the barbarian tried to think ("I should save my rages for later!"). I've been working on a Campaign for the dead party traveling through the Shadowfell and breaking free. This has been a good help. Thank you.
My players are in the shadow fell right now… and there is a doorway to the negative plain. And the Shadow Walker is close. Simple fetch quest that is going to be freely scary. Just for October
I was thinking about having my half-elf shadow sorcerer being a merchant noble born in Gloomwrought and journeying to the material plane to find his twin sister who never returned after venturing there. Considering both shadar kai and humans live there it is not out of the question.
It's allot like the Gray Wastes of Hades. Living in an actual universe/multiverse akin to D&D would at once be cool, and terrifying - because there are so many more threats to life and happiness than in our mundane world... Including horrors and cruelties that can be made to last forever, and can be run into quite accidentally or randomly.
My question is whether World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, Is closer to the Shadowfell, Or the " Fugue " plane? ... I know " The Emerald dream " was almost directly tkaen from the Feywild, And ive always thought the Shadowfell was its direct opposite, Yes?
Few things, a.) Shadow Dancers' class ability "Shadow Jump," is a variant on "Dimension Door." With all of it's problems. i.) Dimension Door Will Not work on the Astral Plane because you are already on the Astral Plane. The spell "D.D" uses Astral plane as a short cut to move a given distance in the prime material plane. x.) If a character ends up in the Astral plane from a Fumble with the spell Dimension Door, they must make a Will sv DC: 25 to get out of the Astral plane back to the material plane. b.) If you can look up AD&D2e and 3.5e spell " Shadow Walk," 7th-level spell. Also in 3e " Manual of the Planes," the book covers the Shadow Plane and the landscape of the plane "Drifts." Our game shop house rule where the location shifts 7ft each melee round. i.) A failed Shadow Jump lands the character within the Plane of Shadows. " Write up a new character." I go with running two character groups with the same players.
i liked the dark powers back when they were ancient, enigmatic, unknown beings of great power that not even Shar could control now that someone has actually given an explanation for they existence thy kind of losed their charm jajajaja at least to me i prefer to have at least a couple of enigmas in my settings
I'm not telling you how to run your campaign Javier :) Personally, I constantly change aspects of the settings to suit what I want to do, or the mood I want to convey, in my campaigns. I'm glad you identified something about your world building that is central to your enjoyment, something you can expand on in your games. Also, the unknown is always scarier than the known, but it would be annoying if videos about D&D lore just said "Nobody knows, it is a mystery" all the time ;)
The Shadowfell seems to be borrowing slightly from The Shadowlands of 1994's Wraith: The Oblivion from White Wolf's World Of Darkness to me. If you are unfamiliar with that RPG setting the Shadowland is the highest level of the world of ghosts where all buildings that exist in the living world have worn & decaying reflections. Buildings or objects that have & had strong memories tied to them continue to exist in the Shadowlands. I'm pretty sure you're familiar if you've played World Of Darkness, & really who just plays the ONE table top RPG once you've started.
This place really needs some healing. Not too long ago I was calling the shadow fell the shadow veil instead. Why must all depictions of the shadow plane be depressing and horrible? What I imagine is a wonderous and fantastical place defined by the moon and night as opposed to the sun and day. I read somewhere that traveling planesmen talk about the light of the shadow fell that was taken away at one point and now it is said that it lies in the deepest darkest parts of the shadow fell, where the effects are at it's strongest. What if we are able to release that light?
When you explore the Shadowfell, the Shadowfell explores you ... The darker side of the Feywild. Back twenty some years ago went 3e first came out and it's " Manual of the Planes," The Demi-shadow plane corresponds with the prime material plane with given locations, slightly off by a few yards or miles, in a twisted version. Creating nightmarish effects for new comers from their own personality and memories. a.) Location inhabit by undead had closer ties to the negative plane and cause a suggested 1d6 necro/cold dmg per hour. b.) Deep forest areas or ruin places had an Unseelie court fairy connection. c.) Since the 7th-level spell Shadow Step can travel a person in a Seven Mile direction, we added the effect of everything was seven foot off from its prime locations and any short range local village travel puts the PC seven feet " factor of 7," from where they are at. After this explanation my DM smirked and said the prestige class Shadow Dancer doesn't make ten foot dimension door jumps through shadow locations but 7ft.
Yraskeric (sp?) was an alhoon (a kind of illithid lich). When crenshinabon was destroyed, the spirits of 7 liches were released to the shadow realm. Yraskeric was present and killed in the blast, it also blinded the red dragon Haephestus.
You are my favorite TH-camr for sure! I live the depth you get into everything i want to know about- thank you for your hard work! These alternate plane videos are my favorite, they really help me understand how to use them in my games
Your video on Acheron was awesome because it taught me about a plane that i didn't understand at all, likewise with your series in the hells. Feywild is logical next stop after shadowfell, but i think that the most helpful videos would be on planes that that are hard to DM in. For example, i would have trouble running the positive energy plane, because all i know is that it heals you until you pop lol. Your video on merids inspired an adventure to the elemental plane of water, but without a location like the city of brass its hard to understand source material. Travel and interactions lack variety for me It would also be cool to understand the heavens and the interactions of the diferent faiths, and how there can be conflict among beings that are nothing but good. I think i could go on for days with ideas for you haha
I havent found any answers for this but for my character backstory on why they're a shadow sorcerer is that his soul was lost in the shadowfell for a short time after he died from plague but managed to escape and turned to there body. Would that be possible?
Have you done a video discussing the Phaerimm, Netherese and that timeframe within the FR timeline ? The Shade Enclave and such are an interest that I'm cultivating for my current gaming group.
I have not, but I sure do want to, that was such a pivotal time for the civilised populations of Faerun and lays the groundwork for the modern population groups, but also some of the more ancient and interesting ruins!
I'm running that period of time now in my group. Just after the Goblin Wars and I'm using rivalry with Cyric/Bane (re-emerged) and Valsharoon. The Red Wizard (Szass Tam/Arnu Thrul) are pawns for the Gods in this endeavor. Of course...I'm using the Cult of Dragons and my favorite Haunted Halls as the epicenter of the "undead invasion" into Cormyr and Western Heartlands. Throwing in the re-emergence of the Netherese in Anarouk desert as well. Too bad King Azoun IV has died 4 months earlier. LOL !
The sorta energy in d&d is still more tangible than the abstract yet handily conserved quantity used in physics. Also. Mandatory sarcastic "Well done Karsus"
Well, sorta abstract. Everything can be expressed in electron-volts ultimately, and is deeply connected with binding energies between different subatomic species - that is, it is these bonds that are the energies being expressed - in their creation and destruction. But, I still get what you mean. It's very hard to really conceptualise these things. It's just that the math works out really well and makes fantastically accurate predictions.
@@mduckernz Energy is always more of a quantization of some abstract, non physical property tangential to matter, and forces, rather than a part of either category, at least as far as my insight goes. Sure you can express many things in entirely or partial energy terms, but energy is still quite non-physical. Moreso a quantization of states, which just seems so odd when it works so well.
Working on a possible Shadar Kai character for a new campaign within my group. Given some of the interesting stuff coming from the Shadowfell does to someone, this should be an interesting experience.
REcently got back into Magic and D&D. I've never been part of a campaign before but I'm looking forward to the day. Found your channel a while ago while looking for information on something. Fell inlove instantly, haha. Thanks for all the great work. Playing catch up with your vids is taking over my life, but I forgive you:3 Think you might do a video on the Genasi at some point? Subscribed!
Theres always lots of people looking to play D&D that have no idea how to find a group. Post a note somewhere or something. You could probably just yell "D&D" until enough of us nerds have gathered around you :D I recommend a group size of 5-7, though you can do with more or less.
excellent.. I love the jewelry box music at the beginning! I love the shadowfell, the first of the negative part of the human psychology part of the planes lol
One of my favorite novels is " Lord of the Necropolis " a Ravenloff book by Gene DeWeese. After watching this video I think it's time for me to return to the Ravenloff World.....again. hahahaha
If it is truly neutral, shouldn't you have areas that are not ruined? A ruined castle on the PMP may be a non-ruined one here? What happens if you try and rebuild a ruined castle?
Thanks. I had a short jaunt into the Shadowfell for a campaign I ran a couple of years ago. I saw the Raven Queen mentioned in the DMG page 10 and I did a little research and thought she was really cool sounding.
AJ Pickett Well, since she is a warlock patron now, the UA errata says she rules the Shadowfell, so I guess they shoehorned her back into the cosmology.
Question: If the Shadowfell is a "copy" of the Prime Material, does it "update" as time goes on? As an example: If I were to build a castle somewhere, would it materialize in the Shadowfell at some point? Would it just appear as I build it, but in its decayed "shadow" state? If I destroy that castle in the Shadowfell, but not in the Prime Material, would the "shadow" version rebuild itself? Would it stay destroyed there or maybe even be impossible to destroy? This whole thing gives me some very 'Brazen Locked Room' kind of vibes. I could easily see using the Shadowfell's "update" process to enact some really interesting traps.
There is a relationship between the echoes of objects and features in the border ethereal plane, and the strange mirror that is the dark future of the Shadowfell. What that is, only the gods know.
Ya the key to life, level 1 to 5 prime material plane, 6 to 10 shadowfell, 11 to 15 plane of fire and negative energy plane, and 16 to 20 hell and the abyss, hades, life gets more depressing as you get older lol. Society teaches it's about be as happy as possible but this IS the happiest way possible lol. Get your heart out lol
So would a necromancer be interested in harnessing power from the Shadowfell? I ask because I am running an evil campaign and while listening was thinking it might be interesting to introduce a secret portal to the Shadowfell they might find in a place they would usurp from an angry Bone Naga which it took over from a Minotaur cult (reason to use minotaur skeletons). Was then wondering if going through the portal would have a reflection of the already ruined labyrinth. Also, I thought the Shadowfell had something to do with the Raven Queen, where does she fit in? For a player having the goal of wanting to be a lich I thought she might p,ay an adversary role.
Good questions! First, yes, the school of Necromancy would definitely focus a LOT of lore on the shadowfell, and keep in mind that this means, in Faerun, the lore of Necromancy had one hell of a shake up in 1385 DR, so every tome, scroll and spell book written before that time, may be useless, or may have results that are unpredictable, so, since 1385 DR the school of Necromancy has been a hot bed of discovery and innovation, as you would imagine, the two major planes of .. lets call it opposite polarity power... were vastly altered by a massive display of divine might.. reality itself was altered permanently by a major god. So yeah, Necromancers in Faerun are intensely interested in mapping and mastering the new reality, and so they are very active and the things they do in the name of discovery, can be extremely dangerous. Second.. Yes the Raven Queen makes her home in the Shadowfell, however, and here is the tricky part.. she is not a part of the Faerun pantheon. While she was an important aspect of 4th edition and it's cherry picked cosmology, she is not an official goddess of the Forgotten Realms, so fades into the background in 5th edition. One acceptable way to shoehorn the Raven Queen into your game, if you are running the Realms as your setting, is to have Raven Queen worshippers enter the world of Toril, via the Shadowfell, and have some weird traits of the Shadowfell, due to it being a melding of two different planes.. so there may be a means to traverse from one prime material plane to another, via the Shadowfell, or even to travel to different time periods in the prime material plane. The Raven Queen has a lot of lore, and so I am just going to give you a good link to it.. www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/2kp770/raven_queen_lore/
I am not too familiar with the different game universes, I have largely read the 5e reference books, watched critical role, reading Unearthed Arcana, and now your videos. Honestly I am more interested in creating my own game world without needing to rely on heroes already created. An Unearthed Arcana a while back released two Warlock pacts which had one for the Raven Queen and another for Hexblade as a sentient weapon also connected to the Shadowfell, and I was interested in incorporating them. The books do give examples of Shadow Dragons and Shadow Mastiffs, was wondering if the inhabitants have similar ethereal like form. Actually, thinking about the manual, is there some connection to Shadows, the undead monster? It says that a person actually loses their shadow if it becomes one of the monsters, and there is a bit in the DMG that mentions that a shadowy blot in some crypt could be a shadow crossing. As for the Raven Queen, I was already imagining she would have agents looking over portals to her domain or notable places within the Shadowfell within the material plane. Which mostly came that I liked the idea of some tower having a warlock defending it with full range eldritch blast allied by the pact spirit and familiar acting as eyes hidden amongst flocks of ravens that appear dead by being touched by the Shadowfell. Which I got from some visual inspiration from Dark Souls 3. Which also goes into I was considering homebrewing in some sort of Dark Souls like undead curse.
I like it. I run home brew settings as often as I run Forgotten Realms, but the realms are my preferred world setting of the published variety. The inhabitants of the Shadowfell who have a Prime origin are physical, biological beings, though some have adapted to take advantage of the weird shadow physics, much like Fey creatures can use Misty Step and have some mastery of illusionary magic, shadow mastery is more starkly sinister and murderous in nature, with stealth, fear, cold, numbing and draining aspects.. they don't called them domains of Dread for nothing. I have had a few requests for Shadow Dragons, and they are on the monster ecology list. This explorer series will most likely come back to have a closer look at shadow cults and the city of Gloomwrought, as no doubt I will pick up more details and learn more stuff, as I delve across the Forgotten Realms lore. I found that with the monster vids, my early ones had a lot more guesswork and less fact checking, so, there are some parts that make me cringe a little these days.. but, that's part of the fun of doing the channel.
What about places that once existed, like a vast temple, but were later destroyed. Echo in the Shadowfell makes sense and would be simple to portray. BUT - what happens if the ruins of the temple in the Prime Material Plane is then remodeled into a vast bath house, or palace, casino, etc? Which echo is in Shadowfell? Do old echos update? This always bothered me about planes which mirror the MP.
Yes they do! You will end up with the faded structures of the old being replaced with more solid and vibrant structures, but the strange thing is, ghosts will still follow old paths, repeat the same patterns of behavior (those not predated on by Ethereal creatures), fading slowly over centuries as they do, wearing thin as the pull of the Fugue plane saps away their essence like a chill desert wind.
@@AJPickett Interesting! Your response made me think of ghosts in the material plane as well. Do those that haunt a given location move on to the echo location in the Shadowfell? If so, what could cause that? I'm wondering if they are anchored to a place, like a haunted house, and it is destroyed in the MP, would they haunt the slowly fading echo in the Shadowfell?
Beautiful, thank you very much. Got some scary shit in store for them, but this provides a less dread and terror inducing soundtrack for combat. Definitely some wicked necromage boss time.
Hey! sorry if someone actually said this already. I found that part where you mentioned Crenshinibon and Yharaskrik very interesting, those are both characters in the novel "Servant of the Shard" by R.A. Salvatore I didn't know or rather maybe didn't pay attention to their ties to the shadowfell. Yharaskrik in the book is kind of a mindflayer spy who studies this Chraon's Claw sword, I think.
If you keep reading the never-ending series of Drizzt books eventually you will get to "The Ghost-King" which covers this. Basically the resurrection of Crenshinibon and Yharaskrik in the body of Hephaestus (the dragon that destroyed Cren & Yhar). Lots of Shadowfell coolness in that book.
Oh! I just remembered the Birthright setting! That's one of the best, and most unusual, settings for D&D. It basically adds a whole new political dimension to the game, making it something like D&D, plus...Civilization, sort-of? a little bit? It's also very very Game of Thrones-like, although of course it predates it by years and years. It also has different Gods, and different Dragons, different elves and dwarves, and on and on---and, player characters "inherit" magical abilities, from the *old* Gods of the Birthright setting, who were basically destroyed, in a massive battle. It's VERY elaborate, and something which transforms D&D into a "new level" kind of experience.
I'm still reading the book as I received my copy quite late, but once done I am sure to dive into some videos on all the topics and locations it mentions.
Argg! You kids... The Shadowfell did not come from Shar/Cyric's attack on Mystra. The "Plane of Shadow", later renamed the Shadowfell in 4th Edition, first appeared in *3rd* edition. You can see it prominently in the "Return of the Archwizards" Forgotten Realms trilogy from 2001 - which would put it early in 3rd Edition. The "Plane of Shadow" was the same shape and geography as the real world, but composed of dark shadows and with somewhat twisted geometry so you could go long distances with a few steps if you knew how the plane worked. In 4th Edition they reworked it into a less instantly-lethal version of Negative Material Plane from 1st & 2nd Editions and dropped the remains of the "Ravenloft - Domains of Dread" Campaign Setting in it.
So if shadowfell is a reflection of the material plane and the material plane is made up of crystal spheres floating in the phlogiston, is there a shadowfell equivalent of the phlogiston and crystal spheres in shadowfell?
AD&D2e, magic item " Cube Gate." roll one one d6 and get sent to a random Lower Plane. Or have a demon summon to your location. 3.5e " Planar Binding " spell to call a chain devil, or a cruel DM can send your character to Baator for a week.
Assassin rogue, warlock, any of the sort of shadow monk, twilight ranger, sort of classes, eldritch knight, vengeance paladin, etc. They are a fairly edgy race.
The Netherese basically come from one of the flying cities that escaped the destruction of its brethren by plane shifting into the plane of shadow. These people were once **the** magical specialists of the world.
Netheril was a civilization on the decline long before one of their cities wound up in the Plane of Shadows. Netherese came from farming communities who learned magic from the elves coming from Feywild.
I like the idea of a fey banished from feywild to shadow fell and raising warlock to help a return the warlocks will gain some shadow and some fey abilities but will need to fight a war at some stage
3.5e " Manual of the Planes, " Demi Plane of Shadows, .. Home of the Fae Unseelie Court and all creatures have the Half-fiend template. Locations with undead have closer ties to the Negative plane of energy, where your living PC take 1d6 per hour of negative energy till they die and raised as undead equal to their current character class HD, lawful PC become wights and chaotic PC become ghouls. The unseelie .. chose in live in the Shadow Fell.
A good campaign I think would be to go to the Shadowfell to bring people back to the Prime Material Plane to give them an opportunity for a better life
One of my favorite concepts is leaning into that theme of "the shadow fell is a decayed version of the material plane", which immediately tells you where you can find portals or crossover points into the shadowfell.
Basically, if a location on the material plane is decaying and decrepit, then you are going to cross into the Shadowfell in that location because the material plane and the Shadowfell are one of the same in that location. And depending on how you leave that location, you might end up trapped in the Shadowfell even after you leave.
also the new show on netflix stranger things is all about the shadowfell. and the first season actually starts with the kids playing D&D.
I noticed that too. Its awesome. Though a technically the Upside-down or the Shadowlands (Think that's what the call it?)
@@firetarrasque4667 the veil of shadows, I assume they call it that to avoid legal trouble
I always thought that the upside down was a form of semi reference to the Underdark.
There is now even multiple stranger things official DND products.
I haven't heard good things about it but it might be great
Which is funny, because the whole show reads like the writers played World of Darkness.
Shar is more like Mystra's "step mother". In the FR's creation "myth" Ao created Selûne and Shar by parting light from darkness and thus they represent light and life, and darkness and oblivion/void respectively. Shar actually tore a part out of Selûne and that part became Mystra. When you learn this you know - you understand - that Shar will ever be there, no matter whatever you do. You might push back on oblivion, but you will never defeat it.
thats literally not what the wiki says
Suggestion: Do Sigil next. You could return to Sigil each episode and step through the next "door" to a new location.
That's a great idea, Sigil is one of my all time favorite locations in the D&D universe.
Good on ya cutter! You're no berk.
I would also love to hear what you have to say on Sigil!
Please carve out a moment for Gatecrashers from 3.5 and planar keys from across the additions
Nightwatch was a good movie. I think a great representation of the city of Gloomwrought was Dark City.
Absolutely
I am surprised how deep and detail oriented is D&D . I have Neverwinter Night 1 and 2, and all expansion, and it was deep and rich with lore. What i hear in this series of videos, about D&D and Lore in pen and paper verison, i see i did known only 10% .
Keep in mind that this game, the settings and associated supplements, novels and games on other platforms, are 30 years old, and have been in constant flux and development over that time. It is an industry of story telling, so, the story is incredibly detailed and rich.. I have to filter out information otherwise these subjects would takes hours and hours to cover.
If you learn that much, you have done some insane research. What AJ has covered is a tiny fraction, and it would take hundreds of hours to view it all. And this is almost only the Forgotten Realms. There's also Dragonlance, Mystara, Greyhawk, a few other official ones and that isn't even touching upon homebrew.
Shadowfell is fun as hell. Always reminded me as being a Silent Hill type of place. A reflection of the prime material plane...but....shadowy-ier? 😆 Idk...I can be an edgelord sometimes, admittedly, and Shadowfell and the Kytons are just...so much win..
Or am I thinking of a different Plane?
The Shadowfell may be closer to "the fog world" of Silent Hill, terrifying, but not the "curl into a ball" scary that the "other world" of silent hill, that is- the one that is all rusted and covered in blood.
Fr in the game the otherworld is pretty damn scary, but imagine actually being in it, are pampered brains would break down so fast
Kytons are devils in the hells. Wouldn't be surprised to see one in the shadowfell, though
the Soul Reaver from the Legacy of kain franchise plugged an omnipresent Tentacle 'God' visible to the dead underground; within the scope of the game physically dying sent consciousness into an other similar contorted scape where the immediately departed stayed apostate until depredation subsumed them: there is a gigantic neutral phylactery jar within the caves of that game. what in D&D would it be?
Sounds like a demiplane, with a portal only visible to the dead, it might be ethereal, so, some sort of entrapping demiplane that captures souls as they attempt to cross over into the border ethereal and then saps the souls slowly until they are destroyed, This sort of artifact would be VERY much a no-no in the D&D multiverse, as all the powers have a pact that preserves the sanctity of souls.
12:50 This is sounding an awful lot like... by the Emperor’s gilded ballsack, call the Inquisition! Slaanesh! *HERESY* !
The artwork is amazing and fits the videos very well. I LOVE the Shadowfell and the Raven Queen. Also I absolutely love the explanation of the Dark powers. I've been an avid Ravenloft reader/ DM and fan since the early 90s. Never have I heard an explanation of what the intent behind the dark powers trapping the dark lords in these demi planes that make up Ravenloft but I'm so using this.
You have the best lore videos for dnd my man, thank you for your work you put into these videos. You help me DM and add life into all of my sessions with these videos.
I appreciate that!
Night watch is a part of a book series. There is a second movie called day watch
I've not seen that one yet.
I love sorrowful situations in real life, it's why I love dnd, so many things regular non dnd people hate, your heart slips out and you toughen up, your gonna get old one day, gotta get used to it lol
You need a bard with some inherited boots of levitation that he doesn't KNOW the command word for but he keeps SAYING it because he talks so much. Then maybe the boys are kinda worn so the activation might take an extra round. So discover what words keep making him float or grab his own butt or bootstraps and then, thus just slowly revolve in space...
I always think of the Shadowfell like Lorule in my campaigns. It's like a reflection of the normal world, but something went horribly wrong (destroying the Triforce, or Shar placing a curse on the land), and now it exists as a land of decay and shadow. However it is still a reflection of the world, and just as rich.
Thinking of it like a counterpart to the Feywild, the Shadowfell seems like it should naturally be a place of decay, dulled emotions, and weakened senses, yet enhanced logic which can be good or bad. It could manifest as clairvoyance/the quiet of night that brings a sense of peace, encouraging self-reflection and rational thought. But it would also be the perfect place for a lich or vampire to engage in cold, calculated scheming, away from prying eyes, no less. Death, decay, and cunning-the symbolism of a raven, perhaps? 🐦⬛
Creatures that evolved here might have adaptations mirroring deep-sea creatures', as well as natural shadow magic & a more predatory lifestyle (in the absence of abundant plant life), so adventurers native to the material plane may be easy prey, leading to a reputation of hostile, evil monsters in the Shadowfell.
To make the plane of shadow not *just* hostile and gloomy, I also like to make it fulfill some cosmic role of decay, which is essential for the cycle of life. Perhaps this manifests as a cycle of souls-souls of the deceased come here, and if they are not picked-up by their deity or a devil contract, they are eventually consumed by the Raven Queen/grim reaper goddess, who then takes their memories & wears them like jewelry. The new souls (or maybe just raw magic for the creation of new souls) is released and absorbed like fertilizer for the Feywild's rampant growth, which trickles-down to the material plane, enabling healthy forests there as well. To take this one step further, perhaps this cycle of souls can be seen as the seasons, or perhaps seasons are caused by the material plane resonating more strongly with the Shadowfell in Autumn and more with the Feywild in Spring (whatever that means to you).
Lastly, I like to make the Shadowfell rewarding & tempting to explore despite the risks, not just a dangerous place that players will want to escape asap. If "plane of shadow" means it is the metaphorical dark as much as it is literally hard to see, it could be a final frontier of exploration & adventure, with new lands, magic items, and alchemical uses for various plants/fungi & minerals never seen in the Material or Feywild. New peoples and cultures adapted to the Shadowfell could spice up social encounters, while providing possible allies & enemies for players. And as mentioned, the Raven Queen collects memories, so maybe parts of history lost to time can be rediscovered here-for a price. The Raven Queen hates those who cheat death, so any undead, soul-dealing devils, reincarnating demons, and even immortal celestials are her enemies. Slay them, and bring some balance to the Cycle of Souls, and the lore (and spells) of ages past shall be yours...
Hexblades for soul-reaping are down the hall, to the left, if you have the guts to embrace the power & secrecy of the Shadowfell. >:)
The Netherese presence in the Shadowfell is because some of the Netherese took refuge in the Plane of Shadow when Netheril fell. Some of them returned to Toril in 3E, but I think for the most part, through 3.5E and 4E most of those have been defeated in Toril proper, so what is in the Shadowfell are those that either didn't try to return, fled *back* to the Shadow, or are the Shadowfell's mirroring.
Does anyone remember the novels where the heroes are fighting the shadovar? I'm trying to figure out if it was an Ed Greenwood novel or an Elaine Cunningham novel. Pretty sure it wasn't R.A. Salvatore's
The full history of the Shadovar is simple:
A long time ago, the first goddess of magic had no rules. Spells went WAY past 9th level. Several ancient empires were built on levels of magic that cannot be replicated today. One of these was Netheril.
Netheril made it a policy that when they built a city, they did it by chopping a mountain off at its base, levitating it in the air, flipping it upside-down, and using that flying cone as the foundation, before building a mile-radius magic enchantment that passively enchanted everything else in its radius. Every sword, dagger, and butterknife became a +1 weapon. Every pair of shoes were Slippers of Spider-Cimbing or Boots of Leaping or something else. Magic was EVERYWHERE, but they mostly only worked within those magical fields.
Well, one particular wizard was a brilliant idiot. Karsus, last great archmage of netheril. He made the world first, and last, fifteenth level spell. *Karsus' Avatar*. It allowed the caster to steal all the power from a god or goddess of their choosing. The material components of the spell included the gizzard of a gold dragon, the heart of the tarrasque, and... a bunch of other near-impossible stuff to acquire, but he got it all.
And he cast it. What do you think happened? He tried to steal all the power of the goddess of magic first, not understanding that the goddess of magic was CONSTANTLY balancing the weave of magical energies that made magic possible. He managed to siphon off half her power before magic started to fail, everywhere.
What do you think happened to those flying cities? Boom. The dying goddess sacrificed what was left of her life to stabilize the weave. Karsus died a half-god failure. But one of those cities managed to survive. They did so by shifting the city and all its inhabitants into the Plane of Shadow. Not a perfect solution, but it was an act of desperation. They needed a place empty of hostile life, but where magic still worked, and nobody would come looking for them. But magic works DIFFERENTLY there, and they couldn't come back. Especially since the new goddess of magic changed the rules on Toril so that spells cap at 9th level.
So the Shadovar have been stuck in Shadow for thousands of years, until Shar merged Shadow and whatever else to create the Shadowfell, and they now had an easy way to return to their former home.
Idk if thats acurate... At all
@@oguguaobidike9251 Go back and read some of the Second Edition source material that never got retconned.
@@mitchhaelann9215 5e 2014. Retcon and the 4th edition retcon mentioned it. karsus caused the death of mystral, not mystra shar took advantage of her sisters rebirth to create the shadowfell out of the plane of shadow
I love the shadowfell, I bought mordenkaidens time of foes just to get my hands on the sorrowsworn list of mobs
Ya my favorite part of the shadow fell and the feywild is if you have a good gm you can run your full adventure in these places.. I love spooky shit and it's a great place to have a rhakshash mess with the party or have a black crusade sweeping the land, dark shit that you'd never see in real life
My party just had a tpk after the party split and the barbarian tried to think ("I should save my rages for later!").
I've been working on a Campaign for the dead party traveling through the Shadowfell and breaking free. This has been a good help. Thank you.
My players are in the shadow fell right now… and there is a doorway to the negative plain.
And the Shadow Walker is close.
Simple fetch quest that is going to be freely scary. Just for October
I was thinking about having my half-elf shadow sorcerer being a merchant noble born in Gloomwrought and journeying to the material plane to find his twin sister who never returned after venturing there. Considering both shadar kai and humans live there it is not out of the question.
I really enjoyed your explanation of the Shadowfell setting. Thanks!
Most welcome :)
The Shadow-Kai have to continuously seek ever higher levels of experience, pain, please and emotional stimulation? This pleases Slaanesh.
It's allot like the Gray Wastes of Hades. Living in an actual universe/multiverse akin to D&D would at once be cool, and terrifying - because there are so many more threats to life and happiness than in our mundane world... Including horrors and cruelties that can be made to last forever, and can be run into quite accidentally or randomly.
My question is whether World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, Is closer to the Shadowfell, Or the " Fugue " plane?
... I know " The Emerald dream " was almost directly tkaen from the Feywild, And ive always thought the Shadowfell was its direct opposite, Yes?
My DM let's me temporarily pop into shadow fell when my warlock misty steps. Kinda a slower version of nightcrawler.
makes me wonder why in stranger things they call it th upside down and not just th shadowfell? copyright reasons??
Because the shadowfell was not a thing back in the 80's maybe? But also, yeah, legal reasons probably factored into it a little bit.
In the 3rd Edition dungeon Master's guide there is a Prestige class called Shadow Dancer I wonder how brutal they would be in the shadowfell
Few things,
a.) Shadow Dancers' class ability "Shadow Jump,"
is a variant on "Dimension Door."
With all of it's problems.
i.) Dimension Door Will Not work on the Astral Plane because you are already on the Astral Plane. The spell "D.D" uses Astral plane as a short cut to move a given distance in the prime material plane.
x.) If a character ends up in the Astral plane from a Fumble with the spell
Dimension Door, they must make a Will sv DC: 25 to get out of the Astral plane back to the material plane.
b.) If you can look up AD&D2e and 3.5e spell " Shadow Walk," 7th-level spell.
Also in 3e " Manual of the Planes," the book covers the Shadow Plane and the landscape of the plane "Drifts." Our game shop house rule where the location shifts 7ft each melee round.
i.) A failed Shadow Jump lands the character within the Plane of Shadows.
" Write up a new character."
I go with running two character groups with the same players.
i liked the dark powers back when they were ancient, enigmatic, unknown beings of great power that not even Shar could control now that someone has actually given an explanation for they existence thy kind of losed their charm jajajaja at least to me i prefer to have at least a couple of enigmas in my settings
I'm not telling you how to run your campaign Javier :)
Personally, I constantly change aspects of the settings to suit what I want to do, or the mood I want to convey, in my campaigns. I'm glad you identified something about your world building that is central to your enjoyment, something you can expand on in your games.
Also, the unknown is always scarier than the known, but it would be annoying if videos about D&D lore just said "Nobody knows, it is a mystery" all the time ;)
you got me on that and besides you are not to blame jaja the writers of the curse of strahd are to blame Great video as always
You can always use far realm.
Can you still use the Shadowfell to travel quickly or find a way to alternate material planes?
Yes.
This is exactly what I've been hoping for. More planes please.
VoiceOfMan yessir
Can't wait to have a squizz.
AJ: The fine details you include in your descriptions make my imagination explode with inspiration. Thank you!
The Shadowfell seems to be borrowing slightly from The Shadowlands of 1994's Wraith: The Oblivion from White Wolf's World Of Darkness to me. If you are unfamiliar with that RPG setting the Shadowland is the highest level of the world of ghosts where all buildings that exist in the living world have worn & decaying reflections. Buildings or objects that have & had strong memories tied to them continue to exist in the Shadowlands.
I'm pretty sure you're familiar if you've played World Of Darkness, & really who just plays the ONE table top RPG once you've started.
Another great video. I appreciate that you've started providing links to your resources, so we can do more digging on our own if we'd like.
This place really needs some healing. Not too long ago I was calling the shadow fell the shadow veil instead. Why must all depictions of the shadow plane be depressing and horrible? What I imagine is a wonderous and fantastical place defined by the moon and night as opposed to the sun and day. I read somewhere that traveling planesmen talk about the light of the shadow fell that was taken away at one point and now it is said that it lies in the deepest darkest parts of the shadow fell, where the effects are at it's strongest. What if we are able to release that light?
When you explore the Shadowfell, the Shadowfell explores you ...
The darker side of the Feywild.
Back twenty some years ago went 3e first came out and it's " Manual of the Planes,"
The Demi-shadow plane corresponds with the prime material plane with given locations, slightly off by a few yards or miles, in a twisted version. Creating nightmarish effects for new comers from their own personality and memories.
a.) Location inhabit by undead had closer ties to the negative plane and cause a suggested 1d6 necro/cold dmg per hour.
b.) Deep forest areas or ruin places had an Unseelie court fairy connection.
c.) Since the 7th-level spell Shadow Step can travel a person in a Seven Mile direction, we added the effect of everything was seven foot off from its prime locations and any short range local village travel puts the PC seven feet " factor of 7," from where they are at.
After this explanation my DM smirked and said the prestige class Shadow Dancer doesn't make ten foot dimension door jumps through shadow locations but 7ft.
Yraskeric (sp?) was an alhoon (a kind of illithid lich). When crenshinabon was destroyed, the spirits of 7 liches were released to the shadow realm. Yraskeric was present and killed in the blast, it also blinded the red dragon Haephestus.
Thanks Rob! :)
Is the negative material plane gone?
No, it's still there.
Was there ever a Shadar Kai video from our mighty gluestick?
Raven Queen video?
@@AJPickett I'm off to find'er
You are my favorite TH-camr for sure! I live the depth you get into everything i want to know about- thank you for your hard work!
These alternate plane videos are my favorite, they really help me understand how to use them in my games
Thank you!
Do you have a suggestion for which place to explore next? I have a new list to build for this series!
Celestia,talk about celestia next brother. :)
Your video on Acheron was awesome because it taught me about a plane that i didn't understand at all, likewise with your series in the hells.
Feywild is logical next stop after shadowfell, but i think that the most helpful videos would be on planes that that are hard to DM in. For example, i would have trouble running the positive energy plane, because all i know is that it heals you until you pop lol.
Your video on merids inspired an adventure to the elemental plane of water, but without a location like the city of brass its hard to understand source material. Travel and interactions lack variety for me
It would also be cool to understand the heavens and the interactions of the diferent faiths, and how there can be conflict among beings that are nothing but good.
I think i could go on for days with ideas for you haha
Coach Colbath all great ideas that help me bring content that is useful.
I havent found any answers for this but for my character backstory on why they're a shadow sorcerer is that his soul was lost in the shadowfell for a short time after he died from plague but managed to escape and turned to there body. Would that be possible?
Yes, for sure. He might be on the Raven Queen's naughty list.
perfect, he's also a kenku doctor as well. He's been one of the party's big healer with the healers feat
Mystra was killed by Cyric, not Shar, she only helped him get in.
Have you done a video discussing the Phaerimm, Netherese and that timeframe within the FR timeline ? The Shade Enclave and such are an interest that I'm cultivating for my current gaming group.
I have not, but I sure do want to, that was such a pivotal time for the civilised populations of Faerun and lays the groundwork for the modern population groups, but also some of the more ancient and interesting ruins!
I'm running that period of time now in my group. Just after the Goblin Wars and I'm using rivalry with Cyric/Bane (re-emerged) and Valsharoon. The Red Wizard (Szass Tam/Arnu Thrul) are pawns for the Gods in this endeavor. Of course...I'm using the Cult of Dragons and my favorite Haunted Halls as the epicenter of the "undead invasion" into Cormyr and Western Heartlands. Throwing in the re-emergence of the Netherese in Anarouk desert as well. Too bad King Azoun IV has died 4 months earlier. LOL !
Should do a video on Crenshinibon that’s always been an interesting artifact imo
It certainly is!
The sorta energy in d&d is still more tangible than the abstract yet handily conserved quantity used in physics.
Also. Mandatory sarcastic "Well done Karsus"
Well, sorta abstract. Everything can be expressed in electron-volts ultimately, and is deeply connected with binding energies between different subatomic species - that is, it is these bonds that are the energies being expressed - in their creation and destruction.
But, I still get what you mean. It's very hard to really conceptualise these things. It's just that the math works out really well and makes fantastically accurate predictions.
@@mduckernz Energy is always more of a quantization of some abstract, non physical property tangential to matter, and forces, rather than a part of either category, at least as far as my insight goes. Sure you can express many things in entirely or partial energy terms, but energy is still quite non-physical. Moreso a quantization of states, which just seems so odd when it works so well.
Working on a possible Shadar Kai character for a new campaign within my group. Given some of the interesting stuff coming from the Shadowfell does to someone, this should be an interesting experience.
What kind of "icky, dangerous pleasures" are you taking part in at the carnival!?
grafting exotic flesh onto people, gambling games involving self mutilation, pact dealers, narcotics, soothsayers, curse merchants, etc
So a trip to Australia then?
@@susinator or los Angeles
REcently got back into Magic and D&D. I've never been part of a campaign before but I'm looking forward to the day. Found your channel a while ago while looking for information on something. Fell inlove instantly, haha. Thanks for all the great work. Playing catch up with your vids is taking over my life, but I forgive you:3 Think you might do a video on the Genasi at some point?
Subscribed!
Yep, Genasi are on the list, I quite often played Genasi characters in campaigns.
Sweet! Can't wait to watch it! I was planing on building a Windsoul Genasi monk:D
Theres always lots of people looking to play D&D that have no idea how to find a group. Post a note somewhere or something. You could probably just yell "D&D" until enough of us nerds have gathered around you :D I recommend a group size of 5-7, though you can do with more or less.
this place really feels like it should've been the neutral evil afterlife
What creatures would be present in the shadowfell?
excellent.. I love the jewelry box music at the beginning! I love the shadowfell, the first of the negative part of the human psychology part of the planes lol
One of my favorite novels is " Lord of the Necropolis " a Ravenloff book by Gene DeWeese. After watching this video I think it's time for me to return to the Ravenloff World.....again. hahahaha
Shadowfell Park is a favorite vacation destination for loth and daemons.
Is there anything on Stormy Sea in shadowfell, i cant find anything and want to use it for my fathomless warlock
Hmm dunno, I will have to investigate.
If it is truly neutral, shouldn't you have areas that are not ruined? A ruined castle on the PMP may be a non-ruined one here? What happens if you try and rebuild a ruined castle?
Did you talk about the Raven Queen or did I miss that?
Thanks. I had a short jaunt into the Shadowfell for a campaign I ran a couple of years ago. I saw the Raven Queen mentioned in the DMG page 10 and I did a little research and thought she was really cool sounding.
AJ Pickett Well, since she is a warlock patron now, the UA errata says she rules the Shadowfell, so I guess they shoehorned her back into the cosmology.
Question: If the Shadowfell is a "copy" of the Prime Material, does it "update" as time goes on? As an example: If I were to build a castle somewhere, would it materialize in the Shadowfell at some point? Would it just appear as I build it, but in its decayed "shadow" state? If I destroy that castle in the Shadowfell, but not in the Prime Material, would the "shadow" version rebuild itself? Would it stay destroyed there or maybe even be impossible to destroy?
This whole thing gives me some very 'Brazen Locked Room' kind of vibes. I could easily see using the Shadowfell's "update" process to enact some really interesting traps.
There is a relationship between the echoes of objects and features in the border ethereal plane, and the strange mirror that is the dark future of the Shadowfell. What that is, only the gods know.
Is the shadowfell exclusive to Toril, or do other planets/crystal spheres have access to it as well?
There is a shadow plane parallel to the entire prime material plane.
Ya the key to life, level 1 to 5 prime material plane, 6 to 10 shadowfell, 11 to 15 plane of fire and negative energy plane, and 16 to 20 hell and the abyss, hades, life gets more depressing as you get older lol.
Society teaches it's about be as happy as possible but this IS the happiest way possible lol. Get your heart out lol
can demons/devils travel in the shadowfell?
Yes
So would a necromancer be interested in harnessing power from the Shadowfell? I ask because I am running an evil campaign and while listening was thinking it might be interesting to introduce a secret portal to the Shadowfell they might find in a place they would usurp from an angry Bone Naga which it took over from a Minotaur cult (reason to use minotaur skeletons). Was then wondering if going through the portal would have a reflection of the already ruined labyrinth.
Also, I thought the Shadowfell had something to do with the Raven Queen, where does she fit in? For a player having the goal of wanting to be a lich I thought she might p,ay an adversary role.
Good questions!
First, yes, the school of Necromancy would definitely focus a LOT of lore on the shadowfell, and keep in mind that this means, in Faerun, the lore of Necromancy had one hell of a shake up in 1385 DR, so every tome, scroll and spell book written before that time, may be useless, or may have results that are unpredictable, so, since 1385 DR the school of Necromancy has been a hot bed of discovery and innovation, as you would imagine, the two major planes of .. lets call it opposite polarity power... were vastly altered by a massive display of divine might.. reality itself was altered permanently by a major god.
So yeah, Necromancers in Faerun are intensely interested in mapping and mastering the new reality, and so they are very active and the things they do in the name of discovery, can be extremely dangerous.
Second..
Yes the Raven Queen makes her home in the Shadowfell, however, and here is the tricky part.. she is not a part of the Faerun pantheon. While she was an important aspect of 4th edition and it's cherry picked cosmology, she is not an official goddess of the Forgotten Realms, so fades into the background in 5th edition.
One acceptable way to shoehorn the Raven Queen into your game, if you are running the Realms as your setting, is to have Raven Queen worshippers enter the world of Toril, via the Shadowfell, and have some weird traits of the Shadowfell, due to it being a melding of two different planes.. so there may be a means to traverse from one prime material plane to another, via the Shadowfell, or even to travel to different time periods in the prime material plane. The Raven Queen has a lot of lore, and so I am just going to give you a good link to it.. www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/2kp770/raven_queen_lore/
I am not too familiar with the different game universes, I have largely read the 5e reference books, watched critical role, reading Unearthed Arcana, and now your videos. Honestly I am more interested in creating my own game world without needing to rely on heroes already created. An Unearthed Arcana a while back released two Warlock pacts which had one for the Raven Queen and another for Hexblade as a sentient weapon also connected to the Shadowfell, and I was interested in incorporating them.
The books do give examples of Shadow Dragons and Shadow Mastiffs, was wondering if the inhabitants have similar ethereal like form. Actually, thinking about the manual, is there some connection to Shadows, the undead monster? It says that a person actually loses their shadow if it becomes one of the monsters, and there is a bit in the DMG that mentions that a shadowy blot in some crypt could be a shadow crossing.
As for the Raven Queen, I was already imagining she would have agents looking over portals to her domain or notable places within the Shadowfell within the material plane. Which mostly came that I liked the idea of some tower having a warlock defending it with full range eldritch blast allied by the pact spirit and familiar acting as eyes hidden amongst flocks of ravens that appear dead by being touched by the Shadowfell. Which I got from some visual inspiration from Dark Souls 3. Which also goes into I was considering homebrewing in some sort of Dark Souls like undead curse.
I like it.
I run home brew settings as often as I run Forgotten Realms, but the realms are my preferred world setting of the published variety.
The inhabitants of the Shadowfell who have a Prime origin are physical, biological beings, though some have adapted to take advantage of the weird shadow physics, much like Fey creatures can use Misty Step and have some mastery of illusionary magic, shadow mastery is more starkly sinister and murderous in nature, with stealth, fear, cold, numbing and draining aspects.. they don't called them domains of Dread for nothing.
I have had a few requests for Shadow Dragons, and they are on the monster ecology list.
This explorer series will most likely come back to have a closer look at shadow cults and the city of Gloomwrought, as no doubt I will pick up more details and learn more stuff, as I delve across the Forgotten Realms lore.
I found that with the monster vids, my early ones had a lot more guesswork and less fact checking, so, there are some parts that make me cringe a little these days.. but, that's part of the fun of doing the channel.
My Necromancer Warlock deity gets all his power from the plane of Shadow! Works well too.
What about places that once existed, like a vast temple, but were later destroyed. Echo in the Shadowfell makes sense and would be simple to portray. BUT - what happens if the ruins of the temple in the Prime Material Plane is then remodeled into a vast bath house, or palace, casino, etc? Which echo is in Shadowfell? Do old echos update? This always bothered me about planes which mirror the MP.
Yes they do! You will end up with the faded structures of the old being replaced with more solid and vibrant structures, but the strange thing is, ghosts will still follow old paths, repeat the same patterns of behavior (those not predated on by Ethereal creatures), fading slowly over centuries as they do, wearing thin as the pull of the Fugue plane saps away their essence like a chill desert wind.
@@AJPickett Interesting! Your response made me think of ghosts in the material plane as well. Do those that haunt a given location move on to the echo location in the Shadowfell? If so, what could cause that? I'm wondering if they are anchored to a place, like a haunted house, and it is destroyed in the MP, would they haunt the slowly fading echo in the Shadowfell?
@@vos7183 I believe they do, it makes them something the players can figure out with experience encountering them.
@@AJPickett Appreciate all your thoughts and time!
Domains in the material plane? (26:22) What is that referring to?
I gotta ask what song that is at the opening. Would like to throw some zombies at my party with that music playing.
Antichrist - Night Shadow (F.O.O.L Dubstep Remix) (HD)
Beautiful, thank you very much. Got some scary shit in store for them, but this provides a less dread and terror inducing soundtrack for combat. Definitely some wicked necromage boss time.
Hey! sorry if someone actually said this already. I found that part where you mentioned Crenshinibon and Yharaskrik very interesting, those are both characters in the novel "Servant of the Shard" by R.A. Salvatore I didn't know or rather maybe didn't pay attention to their ties to the shadowfell. Yharaskrik in the book is kind of a mindflayer spy who studies this Chraon's Claw sword, I think.
If you keep reading the never-ending series of Drizzt books eventually you will get to "The Ghost-King" which covers this. Basically the resurrection of Crenshinibon and Yharaskrik in the body of Hephaestus (the dragon that destroyed Cren & Yhar). Lots of Shadowfell coolness in that book.
I love it! Do kara-tur or al-quadin next! There are very littly videos abuut it.
Ruub Steen that's on the list :)
Sweet!
Oh! I just remembered the Birthright setting! That's one of the best, and most unusual, settings for D&D.
It basically adds a whole new political dimension to the game, making it something like D&D, plus...Civilization, sort-of? a little bit? It's also very very Game of Thrones-like, although of course it predates it by years and years. It also has different Gods, and different Dragons, different elves and dwarves, and on and on---and, player characters "inherit" magical abilities, from the *old* Gods of the Birthright setting, who were basically destroyed, in a massive battle.
It's VERY elaborate, and something which transforms D&D into a "new level" kind of experience.
the shadowfell which was of course famously featured in mario bros. 2
I am sure your list of topics to cover is large but could you do an update for this topic as the latest book MTOF changed a bunch of this =/
I'm still reading the book as I received my copy quite late, but once done I am sure to dive into some videos on all the topics and locations it mentions.
Art Bell intro!!!
loved the carnival analogy you used.
Do you have a playlist or something we the people can check out for the music you listen to/play in the beginning?
Argg! You kids... The Shadowfell did not come from Shar/Cyric's attack on Mystra. The "Plane of Shadow", later renamed the Shadowfell in 4th Edition, first appeared in *3rd* edition. You can see it prominently in the "Return of the Archwizards" Forgotten Realms trilogy from 2001 - which would put it early in 3rd Edition. The "Plane of Shadow" was the same shape and geography as the real world, but composed of dark shadows and with somewhat twisted geometry so you could go long distances with a few steps if you knew how the plane worked. In 4th Edition they reworked it into a less instantly-lethal version of Negative Material Plane from 1st & 2nd Editions and dropped the remains of the "Ravenloft - Domains of Dread" Campaign Setting in it.
So, pretty much the Shadowfell is like the spectral realm from Soul Reaver, it looks like the material realm, but it's darker and distorted
The Quasi-Elemental plane of Shadow, after what Shar did to it...
I jave a character im attempting to use to write a book upon. Telflammar shadowlord from before the spell-plague. How has he changed in 5th edition
So if shadowfell is a reflection of the material plane and the material plane is made up of crystal spheres floating in the phlogiston, is there a shadowfell equivalent of the phlogiston and crystal spheres in shadowfell?
Oh I wish it were that simple... no.
Been awhile since I've seen the movie, but the Nightwatch books refer to it as the Twilight
Very nice place to put a Barker Cenobite like "Pinhead" ;)
Chain devils.
AD&D2e, magic item " Cube Gate." roll one one d6 and get sent to a random Lower Plane. Or have a demon summon to your location.
3.5e " Planar Binding " spell to call a chain devil, or a cruel DM can send your character to Baator for a week.
HOME SWEET HOME ❤
What was that opening song? Creepy & cool
The song in the beginning please please please what is it
Antichrist - Night Shadow (F.O.O.L Dubstep Remix) (HD)
Thanks AJ! Very appropriate tune for a video about the shadowfell. I don’t really even like dubstep that much, but it’s just a dope tune.
No mention of the Raven Queen? Or was she introduced after this video was posted?
ddrew1973 I think the focus of the video is the setting rather than the inhabitants that reside there.
Anyone know the artwork for 23:00, I love that piece
Just asking...didn’t the Shadow realm start with Birthright campaign?
I don't know.
What classes would the shadar-kai be as most?
Edit: great video.
Assassin rogue, warlock, any of the sort of shadow monk, twilight ranger, sort of classes, eldritch knight, vengeance paladin, etc. They are a fairly edgy race.
@@AJPickett okay, be more edgy than drows, thanks.
P.s love your mustache.
AJ have you ever played dungeons and dragons online?
You mean the MMORPG? No.
what was that song you played in the beginning?
Antichrist - Night Shadow (F.O.O.L Dubstep Remix) (HD)
@@AJPickett thank you so much!
the noise removal sounds a bit weird in this
The Netherese basically come from one of the flying cities that escaped the destruction of its brethren by plane shifting into the plane of shadow.
These people were once **the** magical specialists of the world.
Netheril was a civilization on the decline long before one of their cities wound up in the Plane of Shadows. Netherese came from farming communities who learned magic from the elves coming from Feywild.
awesome video!
Thanks Terry!
I like the idea of a fey banished from feywild to shadow fell and raising warlock to help a return the warlocks will gain some shadow and some fey abilities but will need to fight a war at some stage
3.5e " Manual of the Planes, " Demi Plane of Shadows, ..
Home of the Fae Unseelie Court and all creatures have the Half-fiend template.
Locations with undead have closer ties to the Negative plane of energy, where your living PC take 1d6 per hour of negative energy till they die and raised as undead equal to their current character class HD, lawful PC become wights and chaotic PC become ghouls.
The unseelie .. chose in live in the Shadow Fell.
a revamp of this video i feel would be neat
I love Nightwatch! There's a book series, which is very good!
So being shadow-kai. Is like being Chev Chelios from the movie Crank.... interesting... interesting 🤔
Keep up the awesome work, AJ. You are the DnD lore-master we all do not deserve, yet woefully need and want. Cheers mate 🍻
can cambions also travel in the shadowfell
A good campaign I think would be to go to the Shadowfell to bring people back to the Prime Material Plane to give them an opportunity for a better life
Shadowfell sounds like the upsidedown from stranger things. Is there a connection?
This seems like an excellent place for a Lich to hide a phylactery.
Mystra was killed by Cyric, cyric was hidden by Shar to complete the deitycide.