You and your cohorts have seen yourselves on this great journey from humble beginnings not out of any particular, select desire, but because you could not do it alone. Where some of you may have faced the echoes of darkness coming by yourselves, fighting against it at your weakest point, they outnumbered you then and even still do so now. However, whereas others' spirits could not endure these assaults, yours and these few others could; in a way, that is what drew you to them. It was not pure necessity that changed your fate, rather instead a sense of comradery, hope and levity that you all share. You are confident, through your own lens just as they with their own, that the dark tides can be turned.

Yet, you must not lose heart.

As just before your adventure truly began, those few days with your companions prior, you learned that the darkness consumes those who surrender to it and that no matter how small it is, it erodes away the spirit. For some, the struggle with their own evils gets the better of them. In others, it is a mechanism to kindle their light, the good they feel and desire. No matter how you internalize this knowledge - that you must remain kind, virtuous, noble and good - you must fight. That is what made you take up the sword or practice magic as your path alongside your friends.

The player characters come from the standard array of mundane races, being humans, elves, half elves, half orcs, gnomes and dwarves. These individuals, the "original" party, were the first to beat back the darkness and its forces to the doorway that led to the Planes abroad; unknowingly, by opening it to push their foes further back, they instead found themselves cast into the Planes as it collapsed. Separated and lost from their home, unaware where they are, they now can meet the potential second half of the party, such as aasimar, tieflings or the like. For one reason or another, the bare minimum being they all have the same motives and generally same feelings on the matter, they unite.

This said, the most common races will be aasimar, elves, half elves and humans. Everyone or everything else is viewed in varying shades of "odd". However, because good is just that, most are willing to give the character a chance. Just be forewarned it is almost always going to be brought up.

The true enemy the player characters are familiar to are always some form of evil being, be them demons, devils, undead or elemental. At its simplest, because you are on the Planes, "killing" them is not so much a thing as freeing their essence. The same is even true for non-evil beings. Striking one with a sword doesn't draw blood, but it does badly wound that connection; felling a creature disperses it back into ether which rapidly dissipates, just as a summoning spell would normally. This too applies to characters, but you needn't worry too much about "death". There will be a penalty of course and provided the party does not die as a whole, it will be minimal.

I note next player classes because of the general thematics as high in sword and spell play. The Eldritch Knight fighter, Arcane Trickster rogue, College of Valor bard, and other similar martial spellcasting classes, like a paladin or melee based sorcerer, are going to probably fare the best. Dedicated spellcasters, such as the wizard or the druid, will have their moments to shine, but because of the larger number of encounters, it will require a bit more creativity or willingness to dabble in lesser magic with cantrips.

Lastly, because it is high fantasy, expect more exotic and ornate armor or equipment. Feel free to embellish upon that once we get to such a place in the game when I note it, though do try to pick a theme to go with to distinguish yourself. As I stated before as well, I am intent on providing each player a personalized magic item specific to that character; something they are bonded to and iconic to only them. But from the start, the majority of everyone is wielding conventional arms and armor - of which while it protects the body on the Material Plane, does little to defend your very essence well while as a "spirit" on the Planes.