D&D Planescape Resource – The Book of Doors and Keys

The Foundry Tower

One of the central mysteries of my Erlendheim campaign was the PCs’ hometown. Dor’s Hill stood out like a boil on the perfect skin of an elf. The town stood atop a tall hill in the exact middle of the island of Erlendheim, surrounded by plains and forests. There was something else about it that was odd. A legend, or false history existed, indicating that, many generations ago, a number of very different people appeared in the vicinity of the hill, supposedly sent by the islanders’ primary deity, Helm, to act as guardians of the island. The native people were humans with a Nordic type of culture. The new people that appeared also included humans, though very different to the Erlendheimers, but there were also the goat-like Bariaur, a contingent of Githzerai and several Tieflings too. The legend told that they built the town of Dor’s Hill on top of the hill and swore to live in peace with the people of the island while acting to protect it at the behest of Helm.

As usual with such stories, there were elements of truth mixed into this largely fabricated tale. It was mostly made up or confused or deliberately mis-told over the centuries. In fact, the hill never existed prior to the coming of the new people. Because they arrived in it. It was a building, formerly of the city of Sigil, at the centre of the Outer Planes. It was the old headquarters of the Faction known as the Believers of the Source, or the Godsmen. It had been plane-shifted to the island by one of the Factions’ great rivals, along with everyone in it. When the Godsmen found themselves on Erlendheim, they also found there was no way back. So, rather than despair, they set themselves up on the island, allying themselves with the locals and assimilating.

The Foundry Tower, as it was known while situated in Sigil, had been rather brimming over with portals to other places and planes of existence. It had been renowned for being the most portal-dense building in a city filled with such portals. In Sigil, any door, window, pipe-opening, sewer grate or picture frame could also be home to a portal. You just had to know the key to activate it. So, although the PCs discovered the tower under the hill and uncovered the fact that it was home to dozens of portals that still worked, they had no way to activate them without some guide to the keys required. And they had to find them because the Druid’s kids had been kidnapped and transported through one of the doors. After losing access to the only extant copy of the book describing the keys on the island, they had no choice but to travel to Sigil in the hopes of finding another copy. So that’s what they did, through an underwater backdoor portal that happened to exist off the coast, conveniently.

Now, the fun thing about the doors in the City of Doors, was that the keys needed to open them could be almost anything, from a verse of poetry to the lost sword of a dead king. As a result, I thought I would let my imagination run wild with the keys needed for the doors in the tower. It turned out I didn’t need most of theses. I think they only ended up entering two or three of them in total, but it was still a fun exercise and I think it could stand to me in the future if I ever have another Planescape adjacent campaign.

So, as a break from the Erlendheim Character Options series, I thought I would present here “The Book of Doors and Keys.” If you can get any use out of this in your own Planescape campaign, that’s great! You may even be able to use them for some other purposes, I guess.

Bear in mind that the “Door” entries are specific to a map I was using for the tower. I’m not going to present it here as I think its usefulness to others is negligible, so you can just ignore those.

Also, please note that any destination with “Scatterhome” in it is from my own home-brew world, so you can safely substitute it for some other place.

The Book of Doors and Keys

Door: Doorway in Level 1, Room 3
Destination: Nidavellir, Ysgard
Key: The thought of your most beloved person

Door: Eastern Doorway in Level 1, Room 6
Destination: Abellio, Arcadia
Key: Eat a plate of ribs at the doorway

Door: Doorway in Level 1, Room 10
Destination: Dothion, Bytopia
Key: Turnip

Door: Doorway in Level 1, Room 11
Destination: Pandemonium
Key: Be drunk

Door: Doorway in Level 1, Room 13
Destination: The Shadowfell
Key: Whisper a secret to someone else which will make them think less of you

Door: Doorway in Level 1, Room 16
Destination: Para-elemental Plane of Smoke
Key: Smoke a strong joint

Door: Doorway in Level 1, Room 18
Destination: Chaste, Vitrean Empire, Scatterhome
Key: A symbol of Kaigun, God of the Sea, from a dead priest

Door: Well near Level 1, Room 20
Destination: Mechanus
Key: A gear from a magical construct from Sigil

Door: Doorway in Level 1, Room 22
Destination: Goldenfields, The Sword Coast, Faerûn
Key: A red ribbon tied into a knot

Door: Well near Level 1, Room 24
Destination: The Caverns of Thought, The Outlands
Key: The memory of a parent that is the most enraging

Door: Doorway in Level 1, Room 26
Destination, The Elemental Plane of Fire
Key: Dragon-breath

Door: Doorway in Level 1, Room 31
Destination: The Nords, The Outlands
Key: Crush a bunch of peck-berries (only obtainable from the Fae-wild) under foot before the door

Door: Doorway in Level 1, Room 33
Destination: Aquallor, Arborea
Key: Whistle the tune to the Hymn of the Mother

Door: Doorway in Level 2, Room 1
Destination: Elemental Plane of Air
Key: Eat a turtle cake and burp in the doorway

Door: North Archway leading to the statue of a Githzerai in Level 2, Area 2
Destination: The Astral Plane
Key: Break a bottle of healing potion in the doorway

Door: South Archway leading to the sculpture of a great palace in Level 2, Area 2
Destination: The Factol’s Palace, The Ethereal Plane
Key: Tell someone a secret that will cause emotional harm to them

Door: Doorway in Level 2, Room 4
Destination: Tír na nÓg, The Outlands
Key: Tell a joke

Door: Doorway in Level 2, Room 5
Destination: Khalas, Gehenna
Key: Stab yourself in the leg and spread the blood across the door before the doorway

Door: Northern Archway in Level 2, Room 6
Destination: Strixhaven University
Key: Frustration

Door: Doorway in Level 2, Room 8
Destination: Neverwinter, The Sword Coast, Faerûn
Key: Dance the Neverwinter Axe-dance

Door: Doorway in Level 2, Room 9
Destination: The Infinite Beerhall, Demiplane of Celebration
Key: Put a sausage somewhere it does not belong in front of the doorway

Door: Doorway in Level 2, Room 11
Destination: Elemental Plane of Water
Key: Speak the name of the person you would most like to have sex with

Door: Doorway in Level 2, Room 13
Destination: Malbolge, The Nine Hells
Key: Burn a book and throw it through the doorway

Door: Doorway in Level 2, Room 14
Destination: Minethys, Carceri
Key: Inscribe an arch around the doorway with the tip of a steel sword

Door: Doorway in Level 2, Room 15
Destination: The deepest dungeon of the Imperial Palace in Vitrea, Scatterhome
Key: Cut off a left hand and place it in the doorway

Door: Doorway in Level 3, Room 1
Destination: Krigala, The Beastlands
Key: Throw a beast’s tooth through the doorway

Door: Double doorway, Level 3, Room 3
Destination: The Arena, The City-state of Tyr, The Tablelands, Athas
Key: The tortoise blade of a Mul Gladiator left in the doorway

Door: Doorway in Level 3, Room 4
Destination: the Feywild
Key: Play the pan-pipes in front of the door

Door: Doorway in Level 3, Room 8
Destination: The Positive Energy Plane
Key: Roll two sixes on a pair of dice

Door: North Doorway of Level 3, Room 10
Destination: Krangath, Gehenna
Key: Wear a crown

Door: West Doorway in Level 3, Room 13
Destination: The Opera House, Rath an Croí, Scatterhome
Key: Place a diamond in the doorway

Door: Doorway in Level 3, Room 12
Negative Quasielemantal Plane of Ash
Key: A handful of Yugoloth ash poured on your head

Door: Doorway in Level 3, Room 15
Destination: Amoria, Elysium
Key: Pay a compliment to the person you find it most difficult to compliment

Door: East Doorway in Level 3, Room 16
Destination: Niflheim, Hades
Key: Cry genuine tears of sorrow

Door: Doorway in Level 3, Room 17a
Destination: Mercurua, Mount Celestia
Key: Tell a sad story in celestial

Door: Doorway in Level 3, Room 17b
Destination: The Mortuary, the Hive, Sigil
Key: Crush a cranium rat’s brain in your hand

Door: Doorway in Level 3, Room 17c
Destination: Limbo
Key: The memory of your most embarrassing moment

Door: Doorway in Level 3, Room 20
Destination: Avalas, Acheron
Key: Burn your skin and allow the heat from the burn to kill an insect