The game begins with character creation, where the player assigns attribute points, such as strength, intelligence, and charisma, to The Nameless One. The Nameless One starts the game as a fighter class, but the player may later freely change it to a thief or wizard. The player may recruit companions over the course of the game to join the party. There are seven potential companions, but only a maximum of five may accompany The Nameless One at any given time. Conversation is frequent among party members, occurring both randomly and during conversations with other non-player characters. The gameplay often focuses on the resolution of quests through dialogue rather than combat, and many of the game's combat encounters can be resolved or avoided through dialogue or stealth. The Nameless One carries a journal, which helps the player keep track of the game's numerous quests and subplots. As The Nameless One is immortal, running out of health points usually imposes no penalty beyond respawning in a different location.
Planescape: Torment uses the D&D character alignment system, in which a character's ethical and moral perspective and philosophy is determined based on axis of "good vs. evil" and "law vs. chaos", with neutrality bridging the two opposing sides. In Planescape: Torment, The Nameless One begins as "true neutral", but can be incrementally changed based on the character's actions throughout the game, with reactions from the game's non-player characters differing based on his alignment.
Synopsis
Setting
Planescape: Torment is set in the Planescape "multiverse", a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting which consists of various planes of existence, the creatures which live in them (such as devils, modrons, and deities), and the properties of the magic that infuses each plane. A large portion of Planescape: Torment takes place in Sigil, a large city located atop an infinitely tall spire at the center of the multiverse, that connects the planes with each other via a series of portals. The city is overseen by the powerful Lady of Pain, while numerous factions control different functions of the city related to each group's world view, with The Nameless One being able to join several of these factions during the game. The story eventually moves on to other planes, such as Baator and Carceri, where The Nameless One continues to discover more about his past. Over the course of the game, The Nameless One slowly learns about his previous incarnations and the influence they have had on the world.
Characters
Planescape: Torment's protagonist is known as The Nameless One, a man cursed with immortality for thousands of years. Every time he dies, another person in the multiverse dies to fuel his resurrection. Upon rebirth, The Nameless One has little to no recollection of his past life, and often with completely different personalty than before. When the game starts, The Nameless One wakes in a mortuary as a result of his latest death. He then sets out on a quest to discover how he died and why he is immortal, also hoping that the adventure will help him regain memories of his past incarnations.
During his quest, The Nameless One meets several characters who can join him as companions: Morte, Annah-of-the-Shadows, Dak'kon, Ignus, Nordom, Fall-From-Grace, and Vhailor. These playable characters can also interact with the Nameless One to further the game's plot. Morte is a cynical floating skull originally from the Pillar of Skulls in Baator. He is introduced at the game's beginning in the mortuary. Morte loyally follows The Nameless One, partly out of guilt for having caused the deaths of some of his previous incarnations.
The Nameless One meets Annah-of-the-Shadows, a young and brash tiefling rogue, outside the mortuary, but she does not join the group until a later point in the game. Dak'kon is a githzerai, who once made an oath to help The Nameless One until his death, but became enslaved to him for eternity due to not knowing of his immortality. Ignus is a pyromaniacal being who was once an apprentice mage of one of The Nameless One's past incarnations. In the Rubikon Dungeon Construct, the Nameless One can find Nordom, a modron disconnected from its species' hive mind. Fall-From-Grace is a succubus who acts as proprietress of the Brothel of Slaking Intellectual Lusts in Sigil; unlike other succubi, she is not interested in seducing mortals. Vhailor, found below the city of Curst on the plane of the Outlands, is essentially an animated suit of armor dedicated to serving merciless justice.
Plot
The game begins when The Nameless One wakes up in a mortuary. He is immediately approached by a floating skull, called Morte, who offers advice on how to escape. Morte also reads the tattoos written on The Nameless One's back, which were inked there as reminders by a previous incarnation of himself, that contain instructions to find a man named Pharod. After a conversation with the ghost of his former lover, Deionarra, and passing by enslaved undead who work at the mortuary, The Nameless One leaves to explore the slums of Sigil. He finds Pharod, who is the chief of an underground village of scavengers, and is asked to retrieved a magical bronze sphere for him before he will give answers. After returning, Pharod does so, giving him further hints to help piece together his forgotten past. Later on, The Nameless One learns from a powerful sorcerer named Lothar that the night hag Ravel Puzzlewell caused his immortality, but that she is imprisoned in a magical maze for committing crimes against the Lady of Pain. The Nameless One eventually finds a portal to enter the maze, but realizes that it requires a piece of Ravel to activate it; for this, he locates a daughter of hers and takes drops of her blood.
Once in the maze, The Nameless One converses with Ravel, who asks him "what can change the nature of a man?" — a question that plays a prominent role throughout the game. Ravel is pleased with The Nameless One's answer because he offers his own thoughts; she claims she has killed many men in the past who, instead of giving their own answers, tried to guess what her answer, which they assumed was the only answer, might be. As the conversation progresses, Ravel explains that a past incarnation of The Nameless One had asked her to make him immortal. However, the ritual she performed was flawed, which causes The Nameless One to risk losing his memory each time he dies. She also reveals that the mortality she separated from him was not destroyed, and that as long as he was alive, his mortality must still be intact somewhere. Not knowing where it is, she suggests that the fallen deva Trias might know.
