Negative Energy plane The Negative Energy plane , sometimes called the Plane of Death or the Negative Material plane , was an Inner Plane or Energy Plane of the Great Wheel cosmology and the World Tree cosmology models . After the Spellplague , the Negative Energy plane collapsed into the Elemental Chaos , mixing with all the other Inner Planes . The goddess Shar managed to channel some of this death energy into the Plane of Shadow and create the Shadowfell . Cosmologists believe that negative energy and its opposite positive energy , combined with the four elements , make up the known universe . This plane was extremely hostile to all forms of life and energy . Only the undead could travel with impunity here , and the more powerful undead could harness this death energy to attack the living with devastating effect . Cosmology . According to the Great Wheel cosmology model , the Negative Energy plane could be reached via the Ethereal Plane or an adjacent elemental plane , but " not " by an elemental vortex . ( However , there is speculation that the Void card in the " deck of many things " brought a person here . ) If traveling through the Deep Ethereal , a pure black " curtain of vaporous color " indicated the boundary of the Plane of Death ' s Border Ethereal region . Such was the influence of the Negative Energy plane that the boundary with the Border Ethereal was weak and fluctuated randomly at times . Travelers thinking they were safe staying in the Border Ethereal could suddenly be dumped on the Plane of Death some distance from the rapidly receding border . Using the spherical model , this plane was adjacent to the quasi - elemental planes of Dust , Ash , Vacuum , and Salt . Temporary gates could be created by the " plane shift " spell . As described by the World Tree cosmology model , the Astral Plane connected all planes with the Prime Material Plane and the Ethereal Plane was only used for journeying between locations on the Prime . The Negative Energy plane was not connected or coterminous with any other elemental plane . The spell " astral projection " could be used to reach the Negative Energy plane via a cold ebony " color pool " . Additionally , the " gate " and " plane shift " spells could be used to open a temporary portal to this plane . Description . Both cosmological models described this plane as being an airless , featureless void of darkness with gravity being an individual choice . Somewhat paradoxically , both models also allow that structures existed on a landscape of sorts , either made of the physical , solid darkness , or perhaps of elemental earth that could survive in regions of the plane ( called doldrums ) that did not exhibit the major - negative dominance trait . The atmosphere was not vacuum but could not be used by winged creatures for propulsion , nor could it sustain life , yet torches and lanterns would burn for a short while before being extinguished . Magical light sources worked as usual but visibility was extremely limited . These characteristics lead cosmologists to speculate that it was the energy - sucking nature of the plane that greedily devoured any life - giving energies rather than the complete lack thereof , but the difference is of interest only to sage s . In practical terms , without protection from the negative energy and elimination of the need to breathe , death was only a few minutes away at best . Just as there were areas where the negative energy seemed to recede and create the doldrums , some locations exhibited concentrations intense enough to create stable chunks of solid matter that were dubbed voidstone . These absolutely black blobs ranged from a few inches / centimeters in diameter to the size of a small house and perhaps larger . Anything that touched a voidstone was destroyed in the span of a few heartbeats — even the undead were not immune . This property lead scholars to speculate that voidstone may have been a component in the creation of magic items like the " sphere of annihilation " . Another curious and deadly property of these silent death traps was that voidstones of a certain size , not too small and not too large , were attracted to life and would move toward the nearest living creature in jerky , uneven leaps . The exact range of this attraction was unknown because of limited visibility , and all reports of attempted mental control indicated failure . Inhabitants . The Negative Energy plane was so inimical to life that , in the time of the Great Wheel cosmological model , the only creatures that had actually been seen in the plane were the inscrutable outsider s , the xeg - yi . The " energy vultures " known as trilloch s were thought to be from this plane but may not have originated here . By the time the World Tree cosmological model became popular it was discovered that undead creatures could survive here and that powerful undead , such as vampire s , lich es , wraith s , wight s , and spectre s made this plane their home base . And where undead are found , necromancer s are seldom far behind . The doldrums where best suited for necromantic work but there was always a danger the negative energy would surge and overwhelm the area .