D&D: Five Of The Worst Planes To End Up Stranded On
D&D’s multiverse can be surprisingly hostile. Downright inimical. Here are five of the worst planes to end up stranded in with no way home.
One of the fun things about D&D’s cosmology is the sprawling cosmos created by its Great Wheel of other planes. These are fundamental parts of reality, other dimensions, and afterlives all rolled into other worlds for the bold and foolish to adventure in. We love a plane hopping adventure.
And yet, there are some places that nobody wants to go. Places that corrupt your being just for entering. Places that will devour your hope and joy. Here are five of the worst planes to go to, period, in D&D’s multiverse.
Pandemonium
Pandemonium sounds kind of fun. The name implies chaos and like an afternoon of limited parental guidance. But the true nature of the plane is anything but whimsical.
Pandemonium is a plane of overwhelming chaos – of hoing winds that carve through rock and stone and sanity. It is a cold, lightless planewhere the howling wind prevents you from gaining the full benefits of a long rest. In fact, every time you need to rest, you have to save or gain an Exhaustion level (max of 3) until you can escape the winds.
It is a disorienting, dark, noisy realm that will wear you down and then kill you. But at least all it will do is obliterate your body.
The Slime Pits (Abyss)
The Slime Pits live up to their reputation. The Abyss is hardly a nice place to visit, but, depending on which of its nigh-infinite layers you end up on, it might not be *that* bad, assuming you can survive. Not so with the Slime Pits.
As the 222nd layer of the Abyss, the Slime Pits, sometimes called Shedaklah, is a layer home to two different Demon Princes. Here, you’ll find the domains of Juiblex and Zuggtmoy, Demon Princes of Ooze and Fungi, respectively. And boy do the Slime Pits reflect this.
The landscape is covered in vast expanses of caustic slimes, and strange organic forms rise from the oceans of ooze at Juiblex’s command. Zuggtmoy’s palace consists of two dozen immense mushrooms, among the largest in existence, hollowed into grand chambers and twisting corridors. And if you’re lucky, you’ll only end up infected, and transformed into a host for Zuggtmoy’s fungal demons, which grow like wildfire, or become Jubilex’s oozes after a painful transformation that dissolves your body, bit by bit.
Carceri
Carceri is a plane of imprisonment and betrayal. A place where unknown horrors lie trapped for aeons, waiting and wailing. And it is a place from which there is no escape.
Carceri is a plane that traps all who fall within its grasp. And not just poetically, but mechanically, as well: Magical efforts to leave the plane by any spell other than Wish simply fail. Portals and gates that open onto the plane become one-way only.
It is said the only sure way to escape is by becoming stronger than the thing that has imprisoned you. But, betrayal moves like a flood here, surging through the Plane. As beings grow stronger, ancient horrors may momentarily break their bonds to drag them deeper into this planes tormentous depths.
Pluton (Hades)
Souls that are unclaimed by the gods and fiends in the afterlife may end up in Hades. Unfortunate adventurers, as well, may find themselves in this plane that is utterly devoid of joy, hope, or passion. And if they do, woe betide them.
Because within the depths of Hades, referred to as the Three Glooms, there is naught but an ashen sky. No sun, moon, stars, or seasons light this plain. All there is is an ashen gloom that leeches away color and emotion and may well transform your character irreversibly.
At the end of each Long Rest, characters have to make a Wisdom save or gain 1 exhaustion level that can’t be removed while the creature is in Hades. If the creature hits 6 levels of Exhaustion, instead of dying, it permanently transforms into a Larva – a terrible, maggot-like creature that carries only the barest semblance of the life it once was. But memory for these creatures is painful and disjointed. They await either a second death, imprisonment at the hands of evil magic-users, or, if they are very lucky, transformation into some sort of lesser fiend. Like a dretch or lemure.
The Positive Plane
You might think that a place called the Positive Plane is not too bad. You might even describe it as positive. And it’s not hard to see why. The Positive Plane is the source of all radiant energy and the life force that suffuses all living things.
But don’t be fooled. The Positive Plane will absolutely destroy you. For once, it is a literal “furnace of creation” that is oft-likened to the heart of a star. It is said to be full of brilliance beyond the ability of mortal eyes to comprehend. And oh yeah, it has no surface, so you’ll just fall forever whenever you’re in it.
Not only will you fall forever. You’ll also be suffused with the power of raw creation. Of overwhelming life itself. Naturally it is dangerous to mortal forms. Only creatuures that have Immunity to Radiant damage can survive within the confines of this plane. All others are scoured by the radiant energy emanating from the plane. Talk about toxic positivity.
What’s one plane YOU wouldn’t want to be stuck on?
