Planar stuffs

[Festivus]

Was looking for an Imp and a Balor for a story I was thinking of, but didn't see stat blocks for any. I suppose I can make some up but you recently posted on Facebook about ideas... a book of planar beings would be handy to have.

I really only need the imp and the balor for the first part of the story, the second part might end up in the city of brass or one of the layers of hell.

[SmootRK]

I am surprised that Imps (and Quasits) have not made it into BFRPG format somewhere.

The thing about BFRPG and the planes, is that much of the planar material from (ahem) those other games/editions are not Open Content. Also, Solo also has expressed a view of the planes that I happen to like also... where the planes are more like just alternate dimensions, each having its own rules and beings. He explained it somewhere as being rather like Marvel Universes than like the 'great wheel' stuff... especially since BFRPG does not have Alignments (except as a supplemental rule). I rather like the vague idea.

That said, there is no reason one cannot bring into games any/all pre-existing planar beings. When I have described such beings, I try to write them as being 'vile creatures from some netherworld' rather than trying to lock them into some rigid planar arrangement.

If you do write up anything, please share. Many would appreciate having such material on hand via the forums... even if the material cannot (for copyright reasons) appear in print in an actual supplement.

[Solomoriah]

Not merely vague. My theory is that the various other planes of existence are not arranged in any way that mortals can understand. Different religious and/or philosophical theories will exist, but they will be contradictory... following a specific theory may work while traveling between related dimensions (i.e. the various realms of the Norse gods) but each theory limits the believers therein to a subset of all possible dimensions or planes.

[Festivus]

I have been toying with writing up an adventure to demo this with at our meetup, I'll probably bite the bullet and do it. When I do, I'll certainly share.

Oh, and I thought only the following were considered product identity by that other company and couldn't be used:

beholder
gauth
carrion crawler
displacer beast
githyanki
githzerai
kuo-toa
mind flayer
slaad
umber hulk
yuan-ti

But then, I am just a consumer

[Solomoriah]

We have a variation of two of those monsters, that is, monsters that are different but which fill the same "ecological niche." Another is represented by a broadly different yet similar-looking monster in the Field Guide. None of the rest appear in any form at all, as far as I remember. I'm not interested in the "gith..." monsters, as in, it would be hard to fill that niche without infringing; most of the other monsters aren't all that necessary in the first place.

[SmootRK]

The Balor is a questionable entry. In the olden days, it was called a Balrog, ripped from Tolkein along with hobbits and rangers. To avoid the lawsuits that were being brought up by Tolkein estate, names were changed (Balor and Halflings), but little else was modified (and Rangers were not really protect-able). Thus, it presents a weird situation. It is not IP of WotC (actually they declared Open), but it has roots in other Intellectual Property. Personally, I would avoid any direct copy/port of it and come up with something that fits the same niche, but is otherwise dissimilar.

Gith is another weird one... the Githyanki name/race is actually lifted from a book somewhere (I am no expert on where exactly), but clearly the material has progressed and is quite unique to WotC. Coming up with a race that does not infringe would be difficult. I don't see how WotC can utilize the race, other than the author either has no knowledge of the infringement or does not care (or is dead or otherwise nobody is around to file suit).

That all said, what one uses in one's personal game is their own business. These sort of things must have alternates available if they are ever expected to make it to print... it is just better to be safe from legal issues (as there is a cost associated with defense), than to tempt legal fate. It is not whether one is right or wrong in many of these instances, as the fight itself is a losing situation.