Limbo

Hi, I'm Troy McLure, and you might remember me from other planar travel videos, such as "Fairies gone Feywild," and "Nine places to party in the Nine Hells." Today I'm here to talk to you about Limbo!

What is Limbo, I hear you ask? A plane of ever-changing chaos! Those who reside on this plane do so either to prove their strength or revel in the chaos… Or they just got lost and can't find a way to leave. Most traders and travelers want little to do with Limbo, treating it the same as lower planes like the Abyss or Gehenna. It’s not a pleasant place to visit, even if many of its chaotic elements might create breath-taking sights.

There is no day or night on Limbo as well as no clear way to mark the passing of time or days, this plane is full of chaos and it never slows down. The only light in this plane comes from the sudden bursts of fire and lightning that morph into and out of existence, none of it reliable or constant.

To any outsider, Limbo is a mess and there is no other way about it. Books often call it ever-changing, but that does little to accurately describe how chaotic and tumultuous this plane truly is. Most visitors like to compare Limbo to soup on a roiling boil with the contents and type of soup constantly changing in and out of different materials and energy. In one moment the soup could be full of potatoes and leeks, in the next moment the potatoes have changed into diamonds and the leeks into an explosive gas that sets fire to the peas that suddenly appeared in the broth. Just as soon as the peas appear, they morph into crackers made of hoarfrost that begin spewing acid and frozen metal in equal measure.

Many of those who choose to live here see Limbo as a brutal and deadly proving ground. Their resolve is unmatched and they revel in their constant fight for survival. Those who make mistakes or get sloppy are quickly destroyed by the plane, so those that have survived here have done so thanks to iron will and stubbornness.

The largest groups in Limbo are the githzerai and the slaadi, with the githzerai appearing here thousands and thousands of years ago and this being the slaadi’s native plane of existence. Each group rarely interacts with each other, and when they do it typically ends in violence. The githzerai are focused on training and bettering themselves, their entire race is focused on ‘fighting’ the chaos of Limbo to train themselves. The slaadi have the exact opposite approach to this plane, because they were originally born in the chaos, they can revel in the chaos safely. They exude a tight aura of stabilization around them and can travel this plane without worrying about suddenly being entombed in mithral or forced to breathe in a liquid fire that changes to solid lead in their lungs.

Every creature here, apart from the slaadi, must learn to rely on the group to survive. The chaos can only be controlled by creatures actively imposing their will on the plane, and as a creature must eventually fall asleep or rest from the mental exhaustion of concentrating so completely on the task of fighting the chaos, groups are the only way to survive. A traveler by themselves will only last as long as they can focus, even one slip up is enough for the plane to immediately change around you and subject you to a lightning rainstorm that soon turns into the blistering heat of the surface of the sun.

(This section adapted from Dump Stat's Limbo article)

## Effects of Limbo:

### Spell Casting:

Spellcasting in Limbo is unpredictably risky. Your spell could fail, and trigger a Wild Magic Surge.

To cast a spell, a spellcaster must roll a d20 and if they roll equal to or lower than their spellcasting ability score, the spell goes off successfully. On a failed roll, the spell slot is expended but the spell doesn’t go off, and instead, the spellcaster is required to roll on the Wild Magic Surge table, that effect immediately goes off. If a spellcaster rolls a 20 on this check, a Wild Magic Surge always goes off regardless of the ability score of the spellcaster. If that effect is a spell that normally requires concentration, it doesn’t require concentration in this case; the spell lasts for its full duration.

Wild Magic spellcasters who cast spells on Limbo never have any problems casting their spells but still must roll a d20. If they roll higher than their spellcasting ability score, then a Wild Magic Surge will happen alongside the normal effects of their spell.

Similarly, divine spellcasters can always cast their spells, as their deity can impose their will to allow the spell to operate as normal, but still must roll a d20. If they roll higher than their spellcasting ability score, then a Wild Magic Surge will happen alongside the normal effects of their spell.

The trouble with illusion spells in Limbo is that there is always a chance of something that isn’t real becoming real. Each time a spellcaster casts from the school of Illusion, there is a 10% chance of the effect becoming fully, permanently real. Well, at least as permanent as anything can be on Limbo.

Casting spells in a stabilized area is much less risky, but still has a small chance of triggering a Wild Magic surge. Roll a d20 immediately after you cast a spell of 1st level or higher for the first time each turn. If you roll a 1, roll on the Wild Magic Surge table.