Players' Guide to Immortals: The Spheres of Power

Relationships between the Spheres of Power

The Spheres of Power:

The structure of the organization of the Immortals is divided into five areas, called Spheres.  Everything in the multiverse contains part of one or more of these Spheres — Matter, Energy, Time, Thought, and Entropy.  Every Immortal serves one Sphere only.  Player character Immortals can choose to serve any Sphere except Entropy, which is reserved for NPCs only.

Frank Mentzer, from the Player's Guide to the Immortals (pg. 2)

The Spheres of Power and their interrelationships were introduced in the Master DM's Book section on Immortals.

Matter

Favored Class: Fighters
Alignment: Lawful
Element: Earth
Aura: Order and similarity
Purpose: To withstand destruction and decay
Interplay: Opposes Time's attempts at change, resists the attacks of Energy, forces Thought to be practical

Energy

Favored Class: Magic-users
Alignment: Chaotic
Element: Fire
Aura: Disorder and uniqueness
Purpose: Create more energy and activity
Interplay: Opposes Thought's attempts to create order, resists the attacks of Time, forces Matter to change


Time

Favored Class: Clerics
Alignment: Neutral
Element: Water
Aura: Continuous regular change
Purpose: To promote change in all and maintain time's flow
Interplay: Opposes Matter's resistance to change, resists the existence of Thought, forces Energy to have duration


Thought

Favored Class: Thieves
Alignment: All
Element: Air
Aura: Purpose and meaning
Purpose: To conceive of and categorize all of existence
Interplay: Opposes Energy's outbursts, resists the limitations of Matter, forces Time into organization


Entropy

Favored Class: None (NPC only)
Alignment: None
Element: None (the void)
Aura: Conflict and despair
Purpose: To destroy everything in the multiverse, always making way for the new
Interplay: Uses and opposes all other Spheres; destroys Matter, drains Energy, stops Time, prevents Thought

Immortals are free to change Spheres at any time, but suffer such extreme penalties (in effect starting completely over) that they rarely do so after passing Initiate level.

Update:

Existence is 'organized' as Matter, Energy, Time, Thought, and Entropy.

All five Spheres work together equally. The mortal preconception of Destruction=Evil is invalid; if nothing ended that would be bad. Life-Death-Change are all part of Normal.

The published 'rules' do state that Entropy 'opposes' the other Spheres. That's the simplified version for mortal readers. A degree of censorship to match the intelligence of the reader/listener is appropriate, just to facilitate comprehension. (As another example, beyond the game the Old Ones use higher dimensions regularly, but lesser folks don't understand them at all.)

Functionally, yes, Entropy 'opposes' the others. Certain other spheres also 'oppose' others. Opposition brings negotiation and progress and maximizes harmony in the broader perspective. Lack of opposition depresses change and increases the chances of both error and regressive actions like conflict. (Death & destruction are only negative from a personal perspective, both being utterly necessary to the long view.)

And from a Game Design pov...
wouldn't it be disappointing if you could easily understand the multiverse? 🙂 It's SUPPOSED to be vast and mysterious and mind-blowing.

I found a way to approach that, in a humble mortal way. And I avoided the milennia of hubris wherein mortals describe the universe with self-centered bias.

Put us in our place... a tiny niche in the infinite Prime amidst a googleplex of Planes of Existence, which are yet one small part of all of reality (the first 5 of many dimensions, frex). [Want to hurt your head? search 'Branes'.)

And yet, we are Special, we are Unique. The Prime, especially its Humanoids, are the #1 source of new Immortals. It is thus the cosmic womb, the holy place that is not to be disturbed by immortal whims. (Yet Entropy must fulfill its role even there, in due measure.)

Frank Mentzer, on Facebook (September 20, 2025)