Planar Philosopher 5e
You subscribe to a philosophy that seeks to understand the nature of the planes or some hidden truth of the multiverse. You draw strength from your conviction and, perhaps, a network of like-minded thinkers, such as the factions of Sigil (summarized below). In your travels, you explore the depths of your understanding and spread your philosophy wherever you go.
Source: Planescape - Adventures in the Multiverse
Prerequisite: Planescape Campaign.
Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, the skill associated with your faction (see the Sigil Faction Affinities table) or on skill of your choice.
Languages: Two of your choice
Equipment: A portal key (such as a bag of golden tea leaves or the tooth of a planar beast), a manifesto of your guiding philosophy, a set of common clothes in your faction's style, and a pouch containing 10 gp worth of coins from different worlds and planes.
Sigil Faction Affinities
| Faction | Skill |
|---|---|
| Athar | Religion |
| Bleak Cabal | Insight |
| Doomguard | Nature |
| Fated | Intimidation |
| Fraternity of Order | History |
| Hands of Havoc | Stealth |
| Harmonium | Perception |
| Heralds of Dust | Medicine |
| Mercykillers | Survival |
| Mind's Eye | Persuasion |
| Society of Sensation | Performance |
| Transcendent Order | Athletics |
Factions of Sigil
Twelve Factions have risen to prominence in the City of Doors, though many more exist. Your character might belong to one of these groups or another ideological faction, perhaps one of your own creation.
The primary factions of Sigil adhere to the following philosophies:
Athar. Deities are frauds and merely channel the might of a true, higher power.
Bleak Cabal. There is no greater truth to the multiverse. Each being must discover their own meaning.
Doomguard. Nothing lasts forever. The purpose of everything is to crumble and decay.
Fated. Everyone makes their own fate and is entitled to whatever they can take and hold.
Fraternity of Order. All of existence is governed by laws, and power comes from understanding and exploiting them.
Hands of Havoc. Those who try to impose a single order on the multiverse are doomed to fail.
Harmonium. The multiverse will be perfect only when everything is in harmony, whether it wants to or not.
Heralds of Dust. Everyone is already dead; the entirety of the multiverse is an afterlife. Undeath holds the key to the next stage of existence.
Mercykillers. Cold, relentless justice is absolute, and no one is above it.
Mind's Eye. The multiverse exists to be explored. It shapes us, and we shape it in turn.
Society of Sensation. Sensation is the proof of existence. By experiencing everything, we can understand the multiverse in all its complexity.
Transcendent Order. Thought clouds action. To fall in step with the multiverse, one must act on instinct alone.
Feature: Conviction
You gain the Scion of the Outer Planes feat. In addition, members of your organization provide you free, modest lodging and food at any of their holdings or the homes of other faction members.
Building a Planar Philosopher Character
Some groups of planar philosophers might prefer certain types of characters, but by and large any character who upholds and furthers the beliefs of such a group is welcome within its ranks.
Suggested Characteristics.
Adventurers who dedicate themselves to a particular philosophy regarding the multiverse are welcomed among factions that embrace those beliefs. The Planar Philosopher Personality Traits table suggests various traits you might adopt for your character.
Planar Philosopher Personality Traits
| d6 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I don't venerate any gods. With time, we can be as powerful as them or greater. |
| 2 | Experience is everything, live in the moment. |
| 3 | When things crumble, I find meaning in the dust. |
| 4 | Life thrives through order; and I seek to maintain that order. |
| 5 | When others make plans, the multiverse laughs and so do I. |
| 6 | I know what’s right, and no one will stand in my way. |
Planar Philosopher Trinkets.
When you make your character, you can roll once on the Planar Philosopher Trinkets table, instead of on the Trinkets table in the Player's Handbook, for your starting trinket.
Planar Philosopher Trinkets
| d6 | Trinket |
|---|---|
| 1 | A locket with a picture of my mentor and an inscription I can’t read |
| 2 | A bleached cranium rat skull with colored glass beads in its eye sockets. |
| 3 | A torn parchment with half a rebus puzzle painted on it |
| 4 | A bracelet of twisted razorvine stems |
| 5 | Fragments of a bronze blade covered in verdigris |
| 6 | A broken holy symbol of a forgotten god |
Creating a Planar Philosopher
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
I think the name of this background is a bit of a misnomer- this thing pushes you to working with a specific faction and taking on their mentality. “Sigil Faction Agent” or something I think would be more apt for this, as if you forgo it, you’re basically just building your own background with the Scion of the Outer Planes feat. Philosophers aren’t well known for adventuring and grand combats. That’s not to say philosophy doesn’t matter, it just isn’t usually something I equate with a life of murder and looting dragon dens.
Planar Philosopher does offer a bit of goodness to entice you to play it, even if I don’t love the name.
Skills
You get arcana and basically one skill of your choice that pairs with the faction you select. Arcana isn’t a skill you’ll regularly find a ton of use for- this really pushes you to take something you can leverage a few times per adventure, making skills like stealth, perception, investigation, and the charisma trio are all very appealing.
Most factions provide you with a skill a lot of characters can find uses for, but four, in particular, stand out as poor choices should your primary objective be to get power from your background: Athar, Doomguard, Fraternity of Order, and Society of Sensation. They offer Religion, Nature, History, and Performance respectively, all of which are the kinds of skill you may struggle to get a lot of value from session to session. Paired with Arcana, you’d be setting yourself up to miss out on some opportunities to shine with more common skills.
Other Proficiencies
The only proficiencies this offers is two languages of your choice. That’s not regularly going to be particularly impactful, but does offer you an opportunity to expand your background into some wacky territory. As somebody who studies the planes of existence, you could know Celestial and Infernal from a deep study you’ve done related to wars between realms. I wouldn’t expect to get much value out of any random language unless your DM specifies some languages are going to be important.
Equipment
Ten gold and the clothes on your back are the basics of your equipment. The portal key, if it ever comes up, is freaking sweet, but I have a hunch it's the kind of thing that falls to the bottom of the bag of holding and forgotten about immediately. Your manifesto is a fantastic trinket, but ultimately entirely pointless. Your words are probably equally effective if your aim is to change minds.
Feature
Scion of the Outer Planes doesn’t hold up against other recent feats given out in backgrounds. Resistance to a damage type and one cantrip I think is going to perform worse on average than something like Rune Shaper, Squire of Solamnia, or Initiate of High Sorcery.
For this to be justified, I think you’re going to either really want to be a member of a specific organization within Sigil for story reasons, or want one of the feats Scion builds into. The problem is most of those are terrible.
You’ve got six options, most of which require a specific outer plane selection as their prerequisite. Agent of Order is probably the best of the bunch- it comes with a restrain you can use on hit a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, plus Lawful is the prerequisite that comes with Guidance, one of the better cantrip options. Cohort of Chaos has a cute gimmick, but fits a narrow window of classes well, being primarily, ironically, a paladin option first and foremost, maybe as something Hexblades and other melee warlocks want.
I struggle to see the justification any of these, but if you already want to commit to chaos or law, I don’t hate getting those down the road. The rest I’d skip.
Bonus Tables
Planar Philosopher is a mixed bag so far, with a feat that’s better than the background features in the PHB, but way worse than other feat-based backgrounds.
The tables, while I still am glad they’re here, are odd. They don’t really work with all the factions, making it not something you can easily roll on. If your chosen faction is a lawful, righteous organization, it can be challenging to jump through the hoops necessary to justify the “Gods aren’t real, I will usurp them one day” trait. Some are directly tied to specific factions- “When things crumble, I find meaning in the dust” directly pairs with Doomguard. It can fit a few other factions, but plenty can’t work with it at all on a fundamental level.
While I’m not a fan of this implementation of the personality traits table, the trinkets are wonderful. They directly tie to sigil and aren’t particularly narrow in presentation- I could see most characters from Sigil having one of these odd objects on them agnostic of faction for the most part.
All Together
Planar Philosopher fundamentally is a way to play as a member of one of the factions Sigil offers first and foremost. If you’re not in that setting and otherwise are considering this, I think there are plenty of better backgrounds that offer better utility and combat options with as or more flexible skill selections.
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