Players' Guide to Immortals: New Characters Information

Immortality brings many new and different things.  Some old and familiar details, such as the five senses, are transformed.  And some entirely new character details are added.

Options and Abilities:

An incorporeal Immortal is extremely limited in possible actions.  For this reason. Immortals assume physical forms.  But these forms are stronger than any mortal shell, for they are designed to fill many special functions.

Senses:

An incorporeal Immortal can sense and interpret sound and light energy of all kinds.  But, without form, the Immortal has no sense of smell, taste, or touch.

Every Immortal has an additional sense, the ability to detect and use Aura, a psychic manifestation created by living creatures.

Illustration by Terry Dykstra, from Wrath of the Immortals, Book One: Codex of the Immortals (1992)

Defense and Repair:

Defenses and means of repair take several forms.  Armor Class is a measure of defense against physical attack, while Anti-Magic is a measure of defense against magic.

An Immortal's physical form automatically regenerates all losses of ability score points and hit points.  Immortal Power Points also regenerate automatically.

The rate of regeneration is determined by the relationship between an Immortal and his environment, called the planar or local bias.

The rate of regeneration is 1 point per round on a friendly plane, 1 point per turn on a neutral plane, and 1 point per day on a hostile plane.

Illustration by Terry Dykstra, from Wrath of the Immortals, Book One: Codex of the Immortals (1992)

Attack Forms:

Aura

Immortal Aura can be used to create either charm or terror in mortals.  Aura-inspired charm is more akin to awe (or even worship) than to simple friendship.  The terror effect is of similar intensity, a combination of overwhelming fear and utter panic.

Physical Combat (Melee)

Any Immortal in normal or mortal form can employ all mortal methods of physical combat.

Magical Attacks

When incorporeal, an Immortal cannot use spells or create magical effects of any sort, but the character is likewise immune to all magic.  In mortal or normal form, the character may use Power to create any spell effect.  Other magical effects which do not correspond to mortal spells may also be created.

Power Attacks

Power combat is almost entirely aggressive.  A victim normally "defends" by attacking in response to other attacks.

Attacks on Ability Scores

Ability score attacks are either Physical or Mental.  The Physical ability scores are Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution.  The Mental scores are Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.

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)

Players' Guide to Immortals: Changes

Immortals have stats.  They apply to the immortal's essence.  Physical aspects are irrelevant and unnecessary.

Immortals create material forms for use outside their home planes.  Those have a full set of D&D stats.  If you kill them (i.e. their material forms), then the immortal gets REALLY pist, 'cause the darn things are expensive.  Immortal Power Points that should be expended on home improvement (e.g. creating worshipper races on the home plane and developing the homeworlds) must instead be diverted into the emergency expenditure of creating a new form.  (All such expenditures are renewable only by going out and Doing Things to earn more XP and Power Points.)

Frank Mentzer, from Dragonsfoot (April 28, 2006)

Power Points:

Upon attaining immortality, a player character's experience points (XP) are converted to "Power" points (PP), at a rate of 1 PP for every 10,000 XP gained in mortal life.

Additional PP are earned in much the same way as XP, and can also be bestowed by other Immortals.

An important way in which PP differ from XP is that PP (alternately referred to simply as "Power") can be expended through various actions.

Power is temporarily expended by certain activities, regenerating at a rate determined by the Immortal's rank and other factors, or permanently expended by others.

Form(s):  

Immortals regularly use three or more material forms, also known as "normal" forms.

For example, whenever an Immortal revisits the Prime Plane, the character assumes his or her original mortal form.

Alternately, an Immortal may become incorporeal, becoming immune to most attack forms.

Name(s):

Every new Immortal gains a new common name, but also a secret "truename".

An Immortal's truename is linked to his or her existence, and those who know this secret truename may command or destroy the Immortal.

Immortals gain an additional truename upon reaching each new rank, for a total of five truenames upon becoming a Hierarch.

Rank and Level:

I mocked up an AD&D 1e type version of the Immortals Rank Advancement Chart (pg. 29):

Alignment:

Although specific alignments are favored by certain Spheres, Immortals themselves are not bound by the alignment restrictions of mortals, and may change alignment without penalty.

One controversial corollary of my last set is the argument that within it, Good and Evil (i.e. Alignments) do not exist.  I think that's a false deduction, as the implicit moral relativism of the RAW do not preclude an extension into Absolutes; go right ahead, if that's your thing.

I simply refused to make the work itself either pro or con vis a vis deontology or teleology or Kant or Plato or any other theoretical strain of our collective mental flu.

The biggie of course is that in this fantasy realm, vs the real world, there is absolute evidence of existence after death. That has a lot of ripple effects.

Frank Mentzer, from The Piazza (August 21, 2010)

Movement Rate:

An Immortal's method and rate of movement are determined by the form used, and by magical effects applied to that form.

The maximum rate for an incorporeal Immortal is 24 miles (the width of a standard large-scale campaign map hex) in one round, or 8,640 miles per hour.  This amazing speed results from the character's relative freedom from the limits of matter and time while in this form.  When incorporeal, a character may pass freely through material objects and magical effects.

Trans-dimensional travel always requires an expenditure of Power, though usually very little.  Trans-planar movement toward the Inner Planes also requires an expenditure of Power, but movement toward the Outer Planes requires none.

Illustration by Larry Elmore

Ability Scores:

An Immortal character keeps the same six ability scores used to describe the mortal form.  Although ranging from 0-100, these no longer affect AC, hit points, or saving throws.

An Immortal can increase his or her ability scores by expending Power permanently, to a maximum listed by rank.  The cost of increasing a score is determined by rank.

Talents:

Three ability scores are important to the character's Sphere.  The first corresponds to the Prime Requisite of the mortal class matching the Sphere.  This is the Primary Talent of every character in the Sphere.  The Secondary and Tertiary Talents are listed in order of their importance to the Sphere.  The total of these three scores is a new statistic, called the character's "Greater Talent".  The total of the three remaining scores is called the "Lesser Talent".

Saving Throws:

Four new types of saving throws are introduced:

Power Drain when a non-spell effect would reduce Power Points.

Magic Spell when a spell or other magical effect, including those produced by artifacts, would affect any part of the Immortal except the mind.

Physical Blow when an impact or other attack would inflict an amount of hit points of damage.

Mental Blow when an attack (magical or otherwise) could affect the Immortal's mind.

Players' Guide to Immortals: Transition

But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidst the war of elements,
the wreck of matter, and the crash of worlds.

Joseph Addison, from "Cato, a Tragedy" (5.1.29-31)

Illustration by Larry Elmore

In describing the transition to immortality, Mentzer opens with a quote from Joseph Addison's "Cato, a Tragedy", in which Cato, sitting pensively, holds a copy of Plato's "Phaedo", or "The Immortality of the Soul", wherein Socrates poses arguments for the soul's immortality.

When your character's spirit left the mortal world, your character's mind and body changed into pure Immortal power.  The character's material form was not destroyed, but merely changed, and can be created again.

The character's life force (which mortals can rarely see, even magically) can assume any form convenient to the time and place.  It can even exist on two or more planes of existence at once.  The character thus has no single "true" form.

The essence of your character remains the same.  Memories survive, and personality will be the most useful of the character's assets.  All former possessions were props, merely part of the setting for the character role.  The character can continue with different props, or even with none; the mind remains.

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

Mentzer's concepts for the D&D game multiverse are heavily informed by Plato's Theory of Forms, in that various abstract ideals (ie. the Spheres of Power) constitute the basis of reality.

Immortals Set

The D&D Immortals Set was released in 1986, a year after the publication of the D&D Master Set, serving as the cosmological capstone to the BECMI line.

D&D Immortals Set (1986).  Cover illustration by Larry Elmore.

The two-volume boxed set includes a 32-page "Players' Guide to Immortals" and a 64-page "Dungeon Master's Guide to Immortals" (52 pages, containing a 12-page "Reference Guide" insert in the middle of the book, removable by opening the staples).

Although material was included from "Eldritch Wizardry" (primarily the demons), together with inspiration from "Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes", Frank Mentzer is credited with the sole byline.  Neither Gary Gygax nor Dave Arneson are mentioned.*

*likely related to Gygax's ouster from TSR in October, 1985

Editing was by Anne Gray McCready (previously Anne C. Gray, who also worked on the previous boxed sets in the BECMI line) and development was credited to Harold Johnson.

Interior illustrations are by Larry Elmore and Jeff Easley, continuing the look and feel.

Advertisement for the D&D Immortals Set, from Dragon magazine #114 (October, 1986)

The idea for an Immortals Set was originally hinted at in "A New Game With a Familiar Name" by Mentzer in Dragon #77 (September, 1983). 

At the highest levels of power, the characters may strive for the greatest of goals: immortality. Details and procedures will be provided, and the adventure does not stop even at that high point, for the Immortals have their own adventures and methods of progression.

Frank Mentzer, Dragon #77 (September, 1983)

Frank's ideas continued to evolve as he worked on the BECMI line, as evidenced by the need for corrections (see "Corrigenda" in the DM's Guide to Immortals (pg. 14) in which it's stated that some of the details given about Immortals in the D&D Master Set were incorrect and/or oversimplified).

While many consider the Immortals Rules as a kind of "sequel" to the D&D game (Frank has gone on record to state, with some justification, "my goldbox transcended D&D"), the material actually serves as the final endgame to the material presented in the D&D boxed sets.

Gary Con XVII

Gary Con XVII took place in Lake Geneva this past weekend.  A memorial service was held on Sunday, March 23 in honor of Ernie Gygax, who passed away on February 28.

Artwork by Chet Minton

My friends and I were looking forward to the return trip, although one of us got delayed by shifting work deadlines and couldn't make it.

Rendezvous with 'Oumuamua:

Artist’s impression of 'Oumuamua

Our first game was the first of a three-part Savage Worlds scenario involving a scientific expedition to the mysterious interstellar object 'Oumuamua.

We had a lot of fun, despite concluding with a TPK.

It was my first experience playing Savage Worlds, and I immediately saw the possibilities for adapting ERB's lost world settings.

Earthshaker!

A short video, music by Iron Maiden.

Next, I ran CM4 "Earthshaker!" (1985) by David "Zeb" Cook, using its "not entirely serious" pre-rolled characters.

As I suspected, it was possible to run this module in one sitting.  The players were able to foil the dastardly villains' plot, saving the dominion.

Things might have turned out differently, if not for a well-aimed arrow of biting - the villain failed his save vs. poison with a roll of "1".

You Too Can Cthulhu: Black Sun Rising

I always try to play in at least one "Call of Cthulhu" game at Gary Con.

This year's "Black Sun Rising" was marked by constantly rising tension, culminating in our second TPK of the day.

It was one of the best "Call of Cthulhu" games I've ever played (I believe it will be published in the near future).

The Spindle of Heaven:

Illustration by Clyde Caldwell

The next game I ran was the mini-adventure "The Spindle of Heaven" on Friday morning.

Meant for characters of levels 26 to 29, this was undoubtedly the highest level D&D scenario at the con (the 29th level magic-user got to throw a meteor swarm).

I used the pre-rolled characters from M2 "Vengeance of Alphaks" by Skip Williams.

The Black Eagle Banner:

This year, I re-ran two Battlesystem scenarios from years past, along with Douglas Behringer.

The first of these was "The Black Eagle Banner", featuring a revolt in the Grand Duchy of Karameikos, which I first ran in 2023 for Gary Con XV.

The session was a success, thanks to help from my friend Vince.

Dungeons of the Ghost Tower:

Keep Inverness.  Illustration by Erol Otus.

As in previous years, we joined forces with prior teammates to compete in the "Legends of Roleplaying Tourney".

The scenario was a return to Allen Hammack's module C2 "The Ghost Tower of Inverness", featuring plenty of puzzles and strange encounters.

Our DM was Harold Johnson, which made up for placing a dismal 13th (out of 16 teams).

The Cursed Farm:

I was eager to try Chaosium's new "Age of Vikings" RPG, just released last month.

The scenario was originally titled "Horror From the Mound" but switched at the last minute to a related adventure "The Cursed Farm".

Another fun system, well worth checking out.

Against the Legion of Doom!

Goblin cavalry prepares to charge.

The second Battlesystem scenario I ran was "Against the Legion of Doom!", which I previously ran at Gary Con XVI.

The battle represents the final confrontation against the forces of the Master of the Desert Nomads as presented in module X10 "Red Arrow, Black Shield".

We didn't quite finish, but it's always interesting to see how differently things can turn out.

The Future King:

"The Future King" (1985) by Tom Moldvay.

The last game I ran was a small-press one-shot RPG written by the late, great Tom Moldvay.

Doc Holliday, Nostradamus, Bruce Lee, Harald Hardraada, Owen Glendower, and Cyrano de Bergerac are gathered from across time and space to find and wake King Arthur.

The dice rolls were truly amazing in this one, resulting in some unforgettable outcomes.

A Tale of Two Temples

My friend Vince got into a game with Douglas Niles on Sunday morning, so I signed up for a Blueholme adventure.

It was my first time playing this Holmes retroclone, which I'd been tangentially involved in contributing to, back in the day.

The game turned out to be a lot of fun, and a fitting conclusion to another great con.