Ash: the Snuffing, the quenching, and the Extinguishment


quenching of fire
inner fire

dyihg heat hate hat
dying warmth
chimney sweeps
industrial ash
toxic ash
atomic ash
ashcan artists

Ash Witch
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Climate/Terrain: The Quasielemental plane of Ash
Frequency: Very Rare
Organization: Solitary
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Carnivore (desicrats, ulish, ash animental snakes, ash children, mephits, etc.)
Intelligence: Genius (18)
Treasure: M (Z)
Alignment: N
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No. Appearing: 1
Armor Class: 5
Movement: 12
Hit Dice: 6
THAC0: 15
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 1d6+5
Special Attacks: Spells, Poison blast, draining
Special Defenses: none
Magic Resistance: 10%
Size: L (7-8')
Morale: Elite (13)
XP Value: 3000

"Sure, I could've taken it. It wasn't no god or nothin'. It's just that... it was like there weren't no person there; like I was hitting bags of ashes."

"What's wrong with that?"

"I mean, I felt so stupid, like part of the plane had decided to wear clothes, and here I was pounding on the whole plane. It kept staring at me, with a face like a wall of ash with not even an eye to give it personality, and everything started feeling so hopeless, like what was I doing here anyway..."

"So... you just left? That doesn't sound like you at all."

"I dunno... it's just that, I mean, you weren't there..."

Ash witches are extremely tall and thin female forms composed of gray ash, with no faces. They wear long ash dresses and pointed, broad-brimmed ash hats. They carry brooms, which they use to sweep vainly at their surroundings.

Combat: Ash witches are magi, often necromancers, of levels 3-5. They can strike with their brooms for 1d6+5 points of damage. The witch may, once every five rounds, attack with a blast of the poisonous essence of ash, a truly ghoulish thing that inflicts 5d4 points of damage and afflicts its victim with a wasting curse, causing 1d4 points of damage for 2d20 rounds thereafter. A remove curse spell halts the loss, as does leaving the plane.
The ash witch can also create weakness in its opponents by gazing at them with its blank ashy face. A saving throw vs. petrification is required, or the victim loses a point of strength each round. The witch can only affect one character at a time, and the strength drain stops when the witch is no longer concentrating.

An Ash Witch only attacks to preserve its solitude or in self defense. They don't like to be bothered, but won't pursue.

Habitat/Society: Ash witches are hermits, living in small caves and huts or found wandering. Occasionally one will be found in an advisory position among a group of quasielementals or ruvoka, the creatures the witches find most worthy of their time. A school of ash children will usually be found clinging to the ash witch's skirts. Ash witches never talk to each other, although they will make soft murmuring sounds to the ash children under their care. When casting spells or advising allies, the witch speaks in an almost unheard whisper.

Ecology: A night hag named Hateful came to the plane of Ash quite a long time ago, fleeing yugoloth creditors. How she created her servants is unclear, even to them. Perhaps she used her dwindling supply of larvae, used a variant of the mephit creation spell, or somehow mated with an ash quasielemental. There is evidence that it was a combination of all three things.
The draining effect of the Ash plane was one that even the hag, who understood the Waste so well, couldn't comprehend. The ash witches served the hag for few centuries until one day they conferred with each other for the first and only time. They then coldly killed their mistress and wandered off to explore the plane in solitude.

Variants/Current Chant: An elder ash witch has been dismissed from her position in the Citadel of Former Flame, but was apparantly (and evidently mistakenly) left alive and whole. Everyone from the efreet to the ruvoka to the mephits want to talk to it and find what secrets it knows, but it has thusfar evaded or slain all investigators.
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Ash Children
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Climate/Terrain: Plane of Ash
Frequency: Rare
Organization: School
Activity Cycle: any
Diet: Ashes
Intelligence: Average
Treasure: O (A)
Alignment: N
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No. Appearing: 2-12
Armor Class: 5
Movement: 15
Hit Dice: 1
THAC0: 19
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 1d4
Special Attacks: Poisonous bite, suffocation
Special Defenses: nil
Magic Resistance: nil
Size: S (four to four and a half feet tall)
Morale: Steady (11)
XP Value: 65

"Heh. Look at those little guys. Do you want to play? Do you want a penny? It's shiny, isn't it? I bet you've never seen a copper piece before, living so far away from anything earthy... hey! Leggo! One at a time! Stop that! SLOW DOWN! BACK OFF! No more... AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHEERRRGGGGGggg..." --Finn Mallow,

Slim (almost skeletal), childlike beings wearing overcoats and tall hats. They carry large, stiff brushes useful for dusting each other off. They have large eyes the same uniform gray as their skin and enormous pointed ears like a gremlin has.

Combat: Ash children cling to their opponents, attempting to overbear them with surprise and numbers. Their bite is mildly poisonous, causing itching and occasional vomiting for a week or so unless cured (-2 to attack), but their most feared attack is suffocation. On a successful natural roll of 20, an ash child sticks its ashy hand or tongue into the mouth of its victim, cutting off all breathing (assuming the victim needed to). A strength check at -2 is required to pull the little pest out, at which point up to eight other children will all be competing to see who rolls a twenty next.

Habitat/Society: Ash children congregate in schools, and are often found around ash witches, although if none is available they will associate with even a mephit. Like the witches, they communicate in whispers, inventing rhymes and rhythmic patterns as they chatter excitedly at one another. They attack if ordered to, in self-defense, or if panicked by bright light.

Ecology: Ash children are thought to be related to brownies, kilmouli, and other hearth spirits occasionally found on this plane.
It's possible they were created by the same hag who first shaped the ash witches, but they're now manufactured by the witches themselves. Most sages suspect that after a century or so, the children grow into adult ash witches, and go off alone, never again to talk with its former siblings.

Variants/Current Chant:
As PCs:

Ability Score Adjustments
Ash children get a +1 to Strength and Dexterity, and a -1 to Wisdom.
Ability Score Range

Ability Minimum Maximum

Strength 11 18
Dexterity 7 18
Constitution 4 18
Intelligence 3 16
Wisdom 3 16
Charisma 3 18

Class Restrictions
Class Maximum Level

Warrior
Fighter 10
Ranger --
Paladin --
Wizard
Mage 10
Illusionist --
Priest
Cleric 9
Druid 4
Shaman 11
Witch Doctor --
Rogue
Thief unlimited
Bard 16 (if not required to sing much)

Hit Dice. By class
Languages: A well-educated ash child might know planar common, ash quasielemental, or night hag. The far-traveled might know the language of the genies.
Role-Playing Suggestions: An adventuring ash child has likely had its witch abandon or try to eat it, and it knows that another witch won't accept it after that. If alone, it will be very lonely and likely to attatch to virtually anything friendly that comes by. It will initially expect its companions to help it overbear its enemies, and thus might easily get over its head in danger. Ash children like to touch and hug, and don't understand what anyone would have against soot stains. They are extremely loyal to their friends.
Special advantages:
A wandering ash child retains its poisonous bite and suffocation ability. It is immune to the effects of the plane of Ash and to non-magical cold. It has a natural armor class of five, which is not cumulative with armor. If it takes up the way of the pick and crowbar, its skills are adjusted as follows:

Move silently +10%, Hide in Shadows +35%, Open Locks -5%, Find/Remove Traps -5% (ashy fingers just aren't built for it, eyes aren't sensitive enough), Detect Noise -5% (soot in their ears), Climb Walls +5%, Read Languages -15%, Pick Pockets -5%.

Special Disadvantages: An ash child must be fed approximately thirteen pounds of ashes every day. While they don't leave a literal trail of ashes, they have great difficulty keeping things clean. It's difficult to fit armor for. It is not immune to the wasting effects of the Gray Waste. Fire causes it double damage, and it loses 2 points of strength for every ten degrees Fahrenheit above 60. When its Strength score reaches 0, it falls into a coma.
When wet, an ash child gets sticky. Removing a wet ash child from whatever it was clinging to requires a bend bars/lift gates roll with a + 20% bonus.

Monstrous Traits: Small, gray, no pupils, big ears, speaks in whispers, tends to leave soot marks on things.

Height in Inches Weight in Pounds
Base Modifier Base Modifier
46 1d8 52 1d8

Starting Age Maximum Age Range
Base Age Variable (Base + Variable)
0 1d100 100+ 1d20 *

*Upon attaining this age, the ash child curls up into a little ball and goes to sleep. After 6+1d4 months it emerges as a full-grown ash witch, after which it may or not be a NPC, DM's discretion.

Aging Effects: None

Superstitions: Ash children believe they're dying when they overheat, and they will never harm an ash witch. Bright lights spook them, but cause no other hindrance.
Weapon Proficiencies: Ash children prefer small weapons, and pokers. Their brushes aren't weapons, and will be found hanging around their necks when not in use.
Nonweapon Proficiencies: Survival (Ash), Blindfighting, hunting, set snares, tracking, tumbling, jumping, gaming, dancing, and painting are common skills.
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Hearth Spirits (brownies, etc.)
Ash Quasielemental
Desicrat
Rast
Ulish
ash xorn
deathamander
ash mephit
ash snake (South Park)
ruvoka (sartarin)

Ashes of Penance.
Centuries ago, a civilization created a war so massive that it summoned the direct intervention of the powers themselves.. Pantheons warred. A world died. The remaining gods paused in their fighting, saw what they had done, and felt sorrow. Wading through the wreck of their world and the burnt bits of their worshippers the gods bowed their heads in prayer to the Great Unknown before shaking hands and vowing to fight no more. Before departing for Elysium to begin their new existences, they set up a memorial in the Quasielemental Plane of Ash.
The ash dunes part. Daylight emerges, revealing a great city filled with art and knowledge. This is the best of what was, and it's preserved here in the midst of a plane called the Snuffing as a gesture of humility and as a reminder of what was wrought.
The aura of peace and disappointment here is palpable, and any fighting suffers a penalty of -12 to hit, with a 60% chance of a combat spell failing. If anything is destroyed, the gods will replace it in a century or two. Rasts, quasielementals and other such creatures tend to avoid the place.
Once every gigaflux great numbers of the Sartarin tribe of ruvoka come to Penance dressed in sackcloth to confess their sins and make resolutions. In respect, they model their civilization closely on the lost one, and borrow the books here to teach their children.
Any harm done to the city or its relics will be quickly avenged by the Sartarin, but they will aid those who come honestly seeking wisdom.
Dark Chant: It is said that not every veteran of the divine war has reformed, and that a fierce god of war seeks the ashes of Penance and its destruction. It seems that the peoples of these unrepentant gods are not represented in the city's archives, and angry at this snub, baatific minions sweep the plane of Ash on dark wings, trying to penetrate the wards of obscurity hiding the shrine. The ruvoka carefully screen those they trust with the knowledge of the realm's location, but what if they fail?

Mesugi, a ruvoka, wields a chainsaw in one hand and a shotgun in the other.

Charcoal
the Charring
Vrimful of Asha
devestation

Smoke Powder collects in an explosive realm near the borders of Ash, Dust, and Fire.
Hippo-like creatures called the Giff seem to believe these regions are a fabled lost paradise the souls of their faithful travel to after death, and so it is true. This is the Inner Planes, of course, so this doesn't change the realm's shape or form, but exactly what a utopia is is as subjective here as it is anywhere else.

The Ashtray is an arena thing. Was/is used by quasielementals to celbrate Chanakah. Today it functions as a village for mephits and ashchildren. Too bad so sad I'm yor dad. The dark of Ashtray is that some of the lions are attracted by it. I turns into a swimming pool if you press GRIND. Is really fun,

Mephit dancegrounds
Dark of dance: The steops and places celebrated by the mephitfolk are same as ancient ancient ritual lo habitual de oldgod. Almoth Sunkiller!! Almoth will crush! Destroy!! Snuff out you puny ashlings and then erupt through the multilverse!!!!!!! Motho the Moon is dead and cannot save you, silly ashling. Eat my ash! Lookit my big white flabby flabby ash!! Ha! I say and Ha! again for there will be no other in my membrane.

nice piece of ash right there

Almdrid Sunkiller,
demigod
AoC: Night, Cold, Love
Alignment: NE
WAL: any evil
Symbol: A solar disk with a jagged hole in the center.
Home P/R: Quasielemental plane of Ash/Starfall

The twin brother of a minor sun god, Almdrid was overloved by his mother and spoilt by it. Almdrid loves everybody: he hungers for the love of the sun. He leeches love and incidently heat as well.
Almdrid's realm is a cold neutron star, completely inhospitable to nearly all lifeforms.
Almdrid's proxies are nightshades, enormous negative energy creatures he has modified to have eyes like dying embers. They cry out their longing for love as they kill their victims.



Ash Quasielementals
A Chinese Portrait:

A Natural Phenomenon
A star dying

A Metal
Cold Iron

An Animal
An ancient serpent.

A color
White, Gray, and Black

A mythological Being
Hel

A famous Human Being
Bob Dole.

A human activity
A wedded couple, drifting apart.

A work of Art
A dirge, sung in a monotone on the coldest night of the year.

A weapon
A revolver.

An object
An abandoned furnace in a junkyard.

Ash Quasielementals
Familiarity: The Empire of Former Flame dispatches quasielementals to make contact with those who might aid them in their "cold war" against the plane of Fire. To summon an ash quasielemental on the plane of Ash, snuff a flame and softly call for the spirits of former flame.
Demands: Snuff spirits ask those who would remain their friends to help them hurt things and entities of flame, heat, and passion.
Benefits: Ash spirits can act as guides and allies. The very powerful grant shamans, quasielemental priests, witches and sha'irs spells dealing with negative energy and cold.
History: In the Old Days, the spirits of Fire swept across the landscapes of the planes, creating and destroying, smelting and forging. The other spirits began complaining
about what a nuisance they were, and eventually the gods got together to help control Fire's relentless shaping. "Fire," they said, "from now on there will be things you can burn only once, and afterwards they will remain, forever unburnable, and will strive against you. It was in this spirit that they took some of the most reckless Burners and killed them, bringing them back to sentience as ash quasielementals, who cannot burn or even join their former siblings, instead draining from their vicinities everything they once loved. The ash quasielementals hungrily seek to extinguish all the fire there is in the hopes that this will banish their feelings of loss and lack.
Spiritual correspondences: The quenching of outer and inner fire, the quenching of life, and the ending of the power to create, shape, and destroy.
Material correspondences: Ashes.
Taboos: Ash quasielementals must avoid Fire.
Attitude: Ash quasielementals meet strangers eagerly, aware of the effect their presences have.