Oudgebns&Dragons
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oUDgebns&Dragons Introduction ........................... 4 Chapter 4: The Nine Layers ............. 26 Chapter 1: Unwelcome Guests ............ 6 Chapter 5: Personalities ................. 37 Chapter 2: Character Options ............ 11 Chapter 6: The Diabolic Campaign ....... 52 Chapter 3: Spells and Magic ............. 20 Appendix: Denizens of Hell ............. 59 Designer: Chris Pramas Special thanks to Colin McComb for leading the Editor: Kim Mohan way with his outstanding work in the PLANESCAPEline. Cover Artist: Brom Interior. Artist: Hannibal King Sources: Sources for this work include the following: Cartographer: Rob Lazzaretti. DUNGEON MASTER® GUIDE and PLAYER' s HANDBOOK® by Zeb Typesetter: Eric Haddock Cook, MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM.® VOLUME I edited by Graphic Designer: Matt Adelsperger David WlSe, and the MONSTROUS M.ANuAL™tome by Creative Director: Ed Stark authors too numerous to catalogue here. Art Director: Dawn Murin Based on the original DUNGEONS& DRAGONS®game created by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. U.S., CANADA, ASIA EUROPEAN HEADQUARTERS PACIFIC, & LATIN AMERICA Wizards of the Coast, Belgium Wizards of the Coast, Inc. P.B. 2031 P.O. Box 707 2600 Berchem Renton WA 98057-0707 """""'_.,,7 Belgium (Questions?) +1-800-324-6496 +32-70-23-32-77 V1Sitour website at www.tsr.com ADVANCBDDuNGEONS & DRAGONS,AD&D, DUNGEONMAsn!R, DuNGBONS & DRAGONS,MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM, PLANESCAPII, and the TSR logo are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. MONSTROUSMANuAL is a trademark owned by TSR, Inc. All TSR characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. Distributed to the hobby, toy, and comic trade in the United States and Canada by regional distributors . Distributed worldwide by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., and regional distributors. This material ls protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained Sampleherein is prohibited without express written permission of TSR, Inc. file This product is a work of fiction. Any similarity to actual people , organizations, places, or events is purely coincidental ©1999TSR, Inc. All rights reserved. Made in the U.S.A. TSR, Inc. is a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. ISBN0-7869-1431-9 Sending their coils out into the endless chaos, Jazir ian and Ahriman created the first ring, so establishing ..44. .fl~c-....4-~/ a fundamental principle of the planes. When Ahriman took J azirian' s tail in his mouth and she did the same ~ -~ ~ ~ -~ with his, they demarcated the plane now known as ~~/ .f/o...,,.,.d,..d. the Outlands. Since this plane was created by the dJ,~ ~ y ..... ~~- ./-e- interaction of Law and Chaos, and was bordered by ~ .a- k ,.,,,, o4'd- ~ ~ both Good and Evil, it became the plane of true neu ~./~-~~~ trality. With the Outlands defined, the other planes ..d. ~-~ - y ~ fell in around it, creating what became known as the y .....a ~ d1- ~ ~~/ Great Ring. This construction-a central plane of neu - d1- ~ -~ ~ yc..A., trality with sixteen other planes of all alignments --~~ edo ~ ..d. ~ arrayed around it-is popularly known as the Outer ~ --~ ~ ..d_ ,,t:..,,(U.o.A,L Planes. ~ ~ ~- tf)~ / Jazirian and Ahriman's ouroboros had instituted ~ ~/ ~ ~ ~ ...........,~ the unity of rings already, establishing the importance ~ ..d. ~ ~ ~/ of rings in planar geography and philosophy. The ..,._,.,c---t.U>k ~ ~ .-.. ..d_ Twin Serpents then turned their attention to the other laws that would rule the planes. In honor of their ~ ~ -d:.., dJ,~ ~~ triple aspects-Law, Good, and Evil-the serpents y ..... ~ ~~/ ./ ~ ./ established the law of threes, decreeing the impor ~ k ..d, fo.--e- .a- .k--,~/ tance of the number three in all spheres. After apply ing this law, they decided they needed another law to complete their triumvirate. Both agreed they should define the center of the universe, about which they s~ry,~n:tf~ 1.-~w Being a Treatise on the Cosmic Serpents, the Birth of the Outer Planes, and the the Fall of Ahriman. The universe, at its birth, was little more than swirling chaos. A primordial soup of infinite possibilities, the cosmos was both everything and nothing. Through some unknown process, forms coalesced out of the chaos, including the planes themselves and those beings later known as gods. Some of these newborn powers reveled in the chaos, while others abhorred it. The conflict between these two groups, between Law and Chaos, defined the planes and the laws that they would obey. The mightiest of Law's champions were the Twin Serpents. These Cosmic Serpents expressed the duali ty of Law,Sample and were unstoppable when they worked file together. Jazirian, winged and feathered, dedicated herself to the cause of good, while Ahriman, scaled and forked of tongue, embraced the darker path of evil. Despite their differences, they were first and fore most agents of Law. 2 would remain coiled. Despite the clear advantages of Pit. He too bled as he fell, and his tainted vitae gave choosing ·the Outlands, a place already given over to birth to the devils of Baator. Ahriman, damaged from neutrality, J azirian pushed for Mount Celestia, while his fall and embittered from his struggle with J azirian, Ahriman agitated for the inverted mountain of Baator. embraced these dark offspring as his own. For the first time, the Twin Serpents disregarded With the unity of law broken, no center of the universe the importance of law. Ahriman wanted the plane of was chosen, and so it has remained. The planes, envi law and evil to have pride of place, while Jazirian felt sioned by the forces of law as bordered and finite, now the same way about the home of law and good. The stretched on into infinity.Paradoxically, the lack of a cen two Cosmic Serpents struggled back and forth, neither ter became the embodiment of the third law the Twin willing to concede the point in the interest of law. The Serpents desired-a nod to chaos in an orderly universe. Great Ring shook as the two serpents rocked the foun Both J azirian and Ahriman were weakened by their dation of the Outer Planes. With Jazirian pulling struggle. They had invested a great deal of their toward Heaven and Ahriman straining toward Hell, power in defining the Outer Planes and were much the two serpents tore themselves apart. diminished in the aftermath of their battle. So it was Jazirian, free at last from her evil consort, flew up that the other gods usurped them, founding pan to Mount Celestia, also known as the Seven Heavens. theons and spreading their influence throughout the Her tail, its tip bitten off by her rival, scattered blood planes. But neither J azirian nor Ahriman has passed among the Upper Planes. Where each drop landed, a beyond, as much as the multiverse would like to for couatl sprang up fully formed. get them. One day, a force of darkness may erupt from Meanwhile, Ahriman, lacking the wings of J azirian, the Pit of Baa tor, and only J azirian would stand in the fell into the Pit of Baator. The fall was long and way of the utter annihilation of the cosmos. Pray that deposited the great serpent on the lowest level of the day does not come. · Sample file 3 The concept of Hell has been around for a long time. Nearly every human culture has a version of it, from Sheol in ancient Judaism to the Yomi of Japanense The primary inhabitants of Hell are the baatezu , the so Shintoism to the more familiar Hades of the ancient called devils of folklore and legend. They are a race Greeks. Views varied on the purpose of Hell. To some unto themselves , and the quintessence of law and evil. cultures, it was simply the place of the dead, while to In the distant past , the baatezu discovered that the others it was a place of torment for the damned . The wriggling larvae they trampled underfoot were the key Buddhist Hells were certainly a place of torture, but to the perpetuation of their race. A process was devel such abuse was meant to cleanse the soul before its rein oped that could transform the wretched larvae into carnation . Christian Hell, on the other hand, is the final lemures, the lowest members of the baatezu race. This destination of the damned, where they will spend all of discovery swelled the ranks of the devils, and has eternity burning in the flames of perdition . enabled them to keep up with their rivals, the tanar 'ri But hey, this is gaming, right? Theology is perhaps of the Abyss . best left at the door. The purpose of this book is to ex The baatezu are a very strange race. Although the plain what Hell means in the AD&D®game multiverse lowliest members of the hierarchy are horribly mistreat and to provide advice and rules for incorporating the ed, devils believe in getting ahead (through any means). infernal into your campaign . So let's be clear from the A lemure can earn promotion to a higher form, and outset : What follows is fiction. It is not a guide on how from there conceivably climb up the hierarchy to be to do anything in the real world concerning devils . come a pit fiend or perhaps something even greater. The varied types of devils are really just different forms in f-kll in. tk~ AD6D q~ the evolution of devilkind. Although baatezu change shapes as they advance through the hierarchy , they There is no dominant religion or pantheon in the always retain their memories. What good would years ADVANCEDDuNGEONS & DRAGONS®game, but there is a of carefully collected secrets be if they were lost with Hell, originally called the Nine Hells and later known the next promotion? as Baator.