The Cage. The City of Doors. Sigil has gained many lofty titles as the center of multiversal travel and adventure. And when Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse arrives on October 17, you’ll be transported to this infamous city for some bizarre, plane-hopping adventures in D&D’s most multiversal setting: Planescape!

Before we embark on our interplanar travels, though, let’s take a look at what makes Sigil so special and what you need to know before you pay it a visit.

• The Outlands and D&D’s Cosmology
• Sigil, a City of Infinite Possibilities
• The Wards of Sigil
• What You Need to Know Before You Visit Sigil

The Outlands and D&D’s Cosmology

Artist: Claudio Pozas

When talking about Sigil, we’d be remiss not to first discuss the default cosmological arrangement of the Dungeons & Dragons multiverse, the Great Wheel. This theory suggests that the planes of the multiverse are arranged in concentric circles around the Material Plane.

The Great Wheel is more of a way for our tiny human brains to visualize how the planes interact. They’re not actually arranged neatly in a circle. You couldn’t open a door on the left side of Limbo and take a trip to Pandemonium.

While the structure of the multiverse is explored more in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, if you’re looking to explore the Outer Planes, there’s no place better suited to visit than the Outlands.

The Outlands

This plane is a flat disk that exists between the Outer Planes, linking them all. It’s true neutral, which means it is not influenced by any of the alignment forces that dominate the other planes—neither good nor evil, law nor chaos. In the Outlands, all things exist in a state of balance.

To access the Outer Planes, 16 Gate-Towns are spread across the Outland’s circumference, each with its own aesthetic based on where its portal leads. At the center of all of this stands—or floats, I guess—Sigil, the city at the center of the multiverse.

Sigil, a City of Infinite Possibilities

Artist: Mike Pape

In a multiverse of endless, unique locales, Sigil (pronounced si·gl, not si·jil) has a solid case for being the most extraordinary city of them all. It’s suspended in the air above an impossibly thin spire at the exact center of the Outer Planes, it’s shaped like a donut, and, as its nickname suggests, it’s got a lot of doors.

These doors aren’t just regular doors, mind you. Well, some of them are just plain, old doors. But Sigil’s claim to fame is that it has more interplanar portals than any other location in the multiverse. Because of this, Sigil acts as a crucial place for multiversal travel, trading, and diplomacy.

Nowhere else in the multiverse will you find as unique an assortment of residents. Githzerai share the streets with mind flayers. Demons and angels wax philosophical in cafes. Fey courtesans and Shadowfellians go for drinks at the pub. All of this is thanks to the city's central position between the Outer Planes, as well as its adherence to true neutrality.

The Wards of Sigil

Artist: Terraform Studios

Sigil consists of six wards, each of which serves a distinct purpose, offers a unique aesthetic, and contains various factions that call Sigil home:

• The Clerk’s Ward: The cleanest (in more ways than one) ward, this ward is the center for politics and policymakers. This is an excellent spot for newcomers to land because it’s the safest, most honest ward and contains locations like the Hall of Information where those new to the city can get their bearings.
• Hive Ward: This seedy ward is a hive of scum and villainy. Criminals rub shoulders with the destitute as they try to scrape a living in the lawless part of the multiverse’s most cosmopolitan city.
• Lady’s Ward: This is the wealthiest ward and home to the city’s nobles and government figures, though it isn’t bereft of its fair share of treacherous underdealings.
• Lower Ward: The Lower Ward is the driving force behind Sigil’s industrial sector. This section of the city is filled with smitheries, refineries, and other factories that process raw materials from across the multiverse. Be careful, though. This ward gets its name from the concentration of portals to the Lower Planes residing in this part of town.
• Market Ward: If you head to the Market Ward, you’ll be able to find just about any good or service from across the multiverse. But, buyers beware. Purchasing infernal goods from demons or food from the fey courts may cost you more than gold.
• Undersigil: Beneath the streets of Sigil lies the hidden Realm Below, a ward known for its labyrinthine tunnels, criminal activity, and monsters. Venture here at your peril.

What You Need to Know Before You Visit Sigil

Artist: Tyler Jacobson

While it may be one of the most fantastical cities in the multiverse, Sigil is by no means a place you’d choose for a relaxing or romantic getaway. Being the center of the multiverse bestows Sigil some unusual powers—or maybe Sigil is the center of the multiverse because it already had these powers—either way, here are five crucial things you need to know about the city:

1. Your Arrival and Departure Are Not Yours to Control

Before you blow a 7th-level spell slot on plane shift, it’s important to note that the only way into or out of Sigil is via one of the countless portals that provide access to and from the city. If you’ve just so happened to find one of these portals, you can try stepping through, but you might not always be successful.

You see, everyone who enters or exits Sigil does so with the permission of the Lady of Pain, Sigil’s mysterious ruler. This is how Sigil has garnered its second and less appealing nickname, the Cage.

2. Portals. Portals Everywhere.

Speaking of portals, you can’t throw a rock without hitting a portal in Sigil. But whether or not you can hit a portal with a rock isn’t the question. The main question is whether or not you can use the portal for its intended purpose: interplanar travel.

Once you’ve found one of Sigil’s many magical doorways, you may not be able to walk through it on a whim and expect to be taken to the other side. Instead, you may need a gate key—a focus attuned to the portal that causes it to open for the wielder. This key can be a literal key, or it could be more symbolic, requiring the proper creature type, time of day, or undergarments to venture through.

While the city may be littered with these portals, they may not always be easy to spot. Most portals are indistinguishable from their surroundings when inactive, even with detect magic. If you’re debating rolling up a Horizon Walker ranger, take this as your sign.

3. Magic May Be Wonky

The true neutrality and restrictions on entering and exiting the city may mean some spells won’t work as intended or at all. Because the only way in or out of the city is through a Lady of Pain-approved portal, any spell that would transport you in or out of the city will automatically fail (unless you have the number of a local permanent teleportation circle). You’re fine to use these spells to navigate within the city, however, so feel free to misty step to your heart’s content.

The restrictions on entities entering or leaving the city may also cause summoning and banishing spells to act unreliably. For example, naming a creature who’s not in Sigil with the gate spell will cause the spell to fail. Also, any creature who’s on Sigil and targetted with the banishment spell or similar effect is treated as if Sigil were its home plane, meaning it would return there when the spell ends.

4. Don’t Make a Scene

Being a true neutral convergence of the Outer Planes, Sigil acts as a ground for diplomacy, trade, and information gathering. If you were to break that neutrality by attacking a fellow resident, you would be dealt with in a swift and horrible fashion.

While the city has a legion of dabus—esoteric custodians that keep the city in shipshape—to deal with any small rabble, the city’s ruler has all the power she needs to deal with disturbances. Which brings us to…

5. Don’t Look at the Lady of Pain

Last but not least, this is the most simple and crucial tip if you don’t want your skin flayed from your body in the blink of an eye. If you come across a mysterious lady wearing ornate robes and a mask, drifting through the city, and see everyone averting their eyes, it’s best that you do the same.

This is the Lady of Pain, Sigil’s enigmatic ruler. She’s a mysterious entity that keeps the neutrality of Sigil in check. Some say she’s older than the gods and more powerful, and that very well may be true because deities are barred access from the City of Doors on the Lady’s authority.

Whatever she is, she resides over the city and could, in fact, be the reason the Great Wheel keeps spinning.

Get Ready to Explore Sigil

If there’s one thing Sigil’s not, it’s boring. This city is probably the only place in the universe you could make deals with a devil over tea in an angel’s cafe while being observed by a modron adjudicator. And that’s before you factor in the infinite possibilities for travel from one of the city’s countless portals.

So, when Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse drops on October 17, make sure you’ve got your wits about you because you’ll need them if you’re planning on paying the City of Doors a visit.

Mike Bernier (@arcane_eye) is the founder of Arcane Eye, a site focused on providing useful tips and tricks to all those involved in the world of D&D. Outside of writing for Arcane Eye, Mike spends most of his time playing games, hiking with his girlfriend, and tending the veritable jungle of houseplants that have invaded his house.