Maybe do something where the forms of the players actually change? Like only certain aspects of them can exist on the elemental planes? So for air, have all the players be in gaseous form or something. Suddenly their physical attacks work different (or not at all), but they have other nifty abilities. Would be interesting for them I would think.

Not sure how the other planes would work.

That's a great idea! I really like this.

God bless this community. :-)

A friend of mine came up with these ideas a while back...

Air: Rather than the standard 'endless empty sky' of the standard D&D cosmology, picture the plane as an infinite hurricane, with ferocious storm winds, lightning arcs hundreds of miles long, rain and snow and hail being driven by winds that could tear apart lands... And at the very center, the Eye of the Storm, the single permanent calm spot in the plane. Naturally, the creatures who aren't of the storm are going to congregate here. I keep picturing something like the floating islands of the Gegs from the Death Gate Cycle books with this, personally.

Earth: A mountain which extends downward from the peak, ever-widening, possibly extending into infinity. The slope is steep, and avalanches, volcanic eruptions, and just the loose footing make the surface hazardous, to say nothing of those creatures which live here. One or two towns may be carved into the mountainside in a terraced style, possibly with immense barriers above them to deflect the hazards from higher up the mountainside. The inside of the mountain is filled with tunnels and caverns, from chambers full of gurgling molten stone to halls of crystal that turn even a single candle into a dancing starscape.

Water: Canon D&D simply has this as an infinite underwater region; my friend suggested instead giving it three parts - the deep underwater, much like the classic Plane of Water, but then there's a surface area, filled with vast sheets of ice and immense icebergs - the frozen form of water - and above that are skies filled with steam and mist, water turned gaseous.

Fire: This he suggested being a crude mirror of the Prime - only where water flows in the rivers, here molten stone and liquid fire flow, the trees have leaves of dancing flame, the grasslands are fields of fire, and so on. It was dominated by a volcano where a mighty Phoenix - possibly the Phonenix - roosts.

Positive: Again, a mirror of the Prime, only here /everything/ is overrun with life and creation. Staying in one place too long is asking for some odd plant to root in your skin, but the aura of energy removes the need to eat, drink, or sleep - although you'd best be careful about breathing, what with the spores and seedlings floating on the air. This is a major difference from the canon plane, which is a hostile-if-healing airless void.

Negative: This was like the Positive plane, in canon D&D, draining rather than imbuing. His suggestion was, instead of an airless void, a vast plain of soft, rotting, bloated flesh - a plane of death and decay in the truest sense. Pools of foul ichor, sickly 'trees' of hair slowly crumbling away, Mountains and hills of sagging folds of gruesome flesh piled up, rivers of foul blood and other foul-smelling liquids, and the like. A horrific plane, in the extreme, and likely laden with strange and exotic diseases.

Another way of rendering the Negative Energy Plane is to make it like a photographic negative of the Prime, possibly the Prime at night, with a blazing white sky filled with inky black stars, shadows that glow white, and generally even the PCs themselves end up looking demonic from the ambient effects. Combined with the tendency towards decay that the plane would have, this could create an incredibly eerie, quiet world of warped colors and crumbling ruins...

On Air: maybe there's no way to even transport/create land in the air plane, so the people all live on the backs of large flying things. warfare is especially nasty, with the attackers killing the things that keep the city up.

Earth could be a massive mud sea, with only Gemstones and certain nougats of other hard rocks and such to burrow into. Big, city sized chunks are hollowed out and cities are installed inside.

I can't come up with anything for Water and Fire.

Posi. Plane could be a bit like what I imagine walking on the inside of a lightbulb would be. there is subjective ground. if you belive that there's ground beneath you, there is, and such. flecks of solidified goo and crystals, made of posiitve energy, are there for the taking. could be good money to sell for positive equipment and for making..stuff and whatnot. completely silent. empty.

The Negi. Plane could be a bit like a rave. waaay too dark to see anything honestly. thank god. loud and in your ears with too much noise, smells of gods-know-what, and no way anyone could not get lost. and it feels like someone is always grinding on you.

:D