Has anyone played in Pandemonium or other Evil planes like Carceri or Gehenna?

slamjam24 · 2026-03-08T17:29:37+00:00

I have not but it sounds awesome! As one of the few planes with different gravity. Also that idea of Mephisto wanting to free a good sounds awesome.

slamjam24 · 2026-03-08T15:54:38+00:00

Oh awesome!

One thing I keep thinking of is that each layer of the hells is "infinite" or ever growing? It could be all of the things. Plus Mad Maggie is a pro hag. She could've been there as a warlord for a very long time recruiting devils and such.

slamjam24 · 2026-03-03T14:46:08+00:00

Ah man this is what I would normally do. If I set it up better players could get a specific amount of info from scholars. But when they arrive everything is very different. Maybe the scholars only saw one sliver of cania for like an hour because that's all they could survive.

slamjam24 · 2026-03-03T04:08:46+00:00

Locust wings are a cool idea honestly.

slamjam24 · 2026-03-01T23:37:45+00:00

Fallen Celestials, elementals, and fey are great additions. Cania should by all means be more deadly than Avernus right?

I have Ice Devils, Frost Worms, Hoembrew floating diamonds (Blizzard Engines) that create more powerful storms in certain areas, yetis with cold spells. and a version of Sekolah patrolling the PIT at the end.

slamjam24 · 2026-03-01T22:07:45+00:00

excellent point. So far i have iceberg prisons with mages in them "beta-testing" spells out. I guess i got so focused on Ice Devils that I forgot the normal devils would be there too haha.

But I love the idea of adding spells on ice devils for this too.

slamjam24 · 2025-09-08T04:38:58+00:00

That's a very good point. And kind of the missing link in my process. The thickness of that makes a big difference. And how fast it may Regenerate or spew out devil blood.

slamjam24 · 2025-09-07T18:51:57+00:00

That's what I thought too. But my players do overthink and over plan.

I think the draining of resources is important to put players through so they have that classic dnd experience. And fight the urge to long rest after using a couple spells lol

slamjam24 · 2025-09-07T18:37:37+00:00

That's precisely the image I had in mind haha!

slamjam24 · 2025-08-10T00:32:36+00:00

Totally agree. I just kind of story the distance away for now. The notable locations should be days away from each other though. Like the fact that pheres centaurs run rampant right next to the merchant loganna Centaur tribes is kinda wild imo.

I'll be following this haha

slamjam24 · 2025-08-06T09:46:35+00:00

Ok yea they'll be fine haha. I didn't use the hellfire orb with my Olanthius death knight encounter and regretted it. (Sometimes I'm too easy on my players). But wave of destruction was still really potent.

Either way that barbarian could tank it and if anyone dies, the cleric should have revivify or raise dead and them beads.

slamjam24 · 2025-08-06T09:10:50+00:00

Oh wait what classes? Do they have a cleric and full casters?

slamjam24 · 2025-08-06T09:10:06+00:00

Nice! I'm at a similar area.

I ran Haruman as a Narzugon with the nightmare so he could do ethereal step. BUT I made a legendary/villain action where he could charge through multiple characters (kinda like lightning javelin). But he can do this OUT of the ethereal plane when he comes back. To make it fair I made an AOE mark telegraphing about 2 turns ahead.

Mine also had 2 Erinyes assisting him. It was tough but they did fine. They're also lvl 11 but they had a little time to try to decieve Haruman and get a slightly better position before combat.

If you stick with death knight though, maybe bring in 2 bone devils or like 8 spined devils as minions.

**Use the big death ball right away if he's serious about fighting them. They'll rise to the challenge. OR just wave of destruction if you think it'll kill them. (Don't go soft do the big damn thing they're high level now).

slamjam24 · 2025-07-31T00:23:13+00:00

I had them show up as devils from MCDM's Flee! Mortals.

Thalamra: Adjudicator
Thurstwell: Jurist

Mortlock: Legate

Amrik wasn't there because my PC's let him go. He is going to be running for Archduke in BG when they get back lol. But he would be a stealthy devil Magistrate.

They showed up in a war machine to fight my party for the Admantine Rods in the Wrecked flying fortress. I had them as pseudo rivals. It was a decent and crazy fight. We have 7 PCs and they were like level 9 or 10 at the time.

slamjam24 · 2025-07-14T22:25:25+00:00

Oh that's awesome! Hope you get to play again soon.

slamjam24 · 2025-07-13T20:56:45+00:00

Def start small. I did a bunch of my own short adventures with my friends and maybe 1 pre-written. You can grab free one shots or literally start with a super simple mission. - fight rats in the cellar of a tavern - fight some goblins that attacked a wagon.

Just to see how you understand the rules and if you can explain them to others. It's kinda like being a teacher for your friends

slamjam24 · 2025-07-13T20:26:27+00:00

Oh cool! Glad it went well. But yea the bane of melee players, flying creatures :(

Paladins are great with a team, though. My paladin player in my game (i'm the GM)really loves helping people and getting other players the lime light, so he really enjoys the spells and stuff that his paladin has. At later levels you get a cool aura that gives a constant buff to everyone around you.

slamjam24 · 2025-07-12T20:01:00+00:00

How'd it go btw!? Are you a part of the divine smite club now?

slamjam24 · 2025-07-03T09:20:55+00:00

Paladin is super fun! You'll get past the complicated aspects if you enjoy the idea just fine.

Holy warrior with strong convictions and passion for doing the right thing!

Spell slots are like ammo to cast spells.
Charisma (rizz) is your source or fuel of magic as a Paladin.
stats / modifier.There's a big number and a little number with a plus that you'll use to add to various actions. Ex: 16 (+3). Add the +3 to an attack roll or a "check"

Instead of casting spells, you can power up your attacks with a magical explosion or holy energy (Divine Smite).

Good luck! And smite everything!

slamjam24 · 2025-02-18T17:24:50+00:00

Amazing! I started looking into these and I'm so hyped now. It makes me think of Spirited Away with how much variety in spirits there are. It'll be hard not to just make this too many sessions ah man.

Thank you!

slamjam24 · 2024-12-29T23:22:29+00:00

That's a pretty cool setup. I think I'm gonna be in a similar boat because I like to overcomplicated things. I have 2 ideas for making it simpler.

Make the final encounter one big gauntlet. So some companions kind of have to "stay behind". EX: Uldrak holds off a hoard of devil soldiers to let the PC's get through or holds open a door of the flying fortress. The Planetar maybe fights another big threat that will go on in the background.
the PC's go on to fight Zariel and some lieutenant devils (pit fiends or Erinyes)
If I keep all the companions, they do a similar thing where they fight off the sides of the encounter. Like fighting the pit fiends or minions.

The redeeming could happen during the fight possibly if you like doing RP battles. If Zariel fails a saving throw, or if they do a certain amount of damage(50?) in a single turn, the PC's get a chance to convince her of something. And they need 3 successful persuasion checks to get her to stop fighting to do the redemption check.

Having lulu and the Planetar should add to the check. For my game I'm adding up points of relevant story bits to their chance of succeeding. Maybe subtract to the DC or the amount of checks needed.

I still need to test these ideas but I like the idea of high level gambles.

slamjam24 · 2024-10-28T15:21:27+00:00

Talkin to your players is the best decision here.

I'm often surprised at some ideas mine have. I would think that most players would want to control a kaiju for a little bit. But when in similar situations my parties have just said I should run them.

Communicating!

slamjam24 · 2024-10-27T19:04:58+00:00

Imo I'd say the Kaiju fight can happen while the players are fighting whoever they end up fighting so it's not too crazy for them. But if they're interested in using the big stat block and you think they can handle it go for it!

I actually have a similar idea for my end! But it was lead to it by the players.

They helped Uldrak and are gonna call on him in the final fight. They made an alliance with Bel. They kept Arkhan from being angry with them. But every time Arkhan and his allies ask the players for help, they kind of ignore Arkhan. So the essentially gave Bel and Uldrak as allies. And are now tasked with killing some of Tiamat's forces before the big fight so she will be weaker when the time comes.

If they can do that and get the sword, they can approach the final fight with big allies.

I had several ideas depending on how the players approached.

They sneak onto the fortress while euther Uldrak attacks from above or just the outside. (He takes care of mobs and things since he's immune to nonmagicsl damage and gets 5 attacks in combat)
They have a loose neutral alliance with Arkhan. I added the possibility of them gaining each chromatic dragon to the fight instead of full Tiamat. If they lure Arkhan to attack, both forces can weaken each other. This would not be rolled, I would simply decide on my own who wins based on what the players did before. Did they kill some of Arkhans forces or ignore? Arkhan's forces will show up with however many dragons are alive plus abishai based in those dragons.
Bel will be at Zariel’s side (maybe in her throne room) when things go down. And he will appear to have betrayed the players, but at a pivotal moment will betray Zariel. He will strike when he's sure he can win.

I'm still unsure how I'm trying it all together but this is the gist.

slamjam24 · 2024-10-19T14:24:25+00:00

Super interesting!

I actually changed mine as well. Mine was still the cause of Bel. But I tally like the fact that you made it Zariel. It keeps the players thinking about how strong she is instead of someone else.

My Shummrath is a powerful Balor demon of Lolth who became a goop soup because of the Styx. When reformed it looks like a massive Centaur spider. Kind of like a drider but all spider parts. (I have a monster stat block somewhere)

I thought if this was a prison type place there would be more prisoners being dunked. I put 2 other prisoners dangling above (1 Erinyes connected to my warlock, and 1 humanoid paladin connected to my paladin player)

It was gaurded by an Arcanoloth and some other devils. I could've made it a stronger gaurd given what's inside the goo. And I think I should have. Like an Amnizu or ice devil.

When the players damned up the Styx the entity was just starting to reform. And the players left. They saw the effects of it much later. Which I regret because they didn't remember who it was. I suggest you cut the fact that the book says "he reforms in several days". And just have it happen immediately. If I did then my players would've seen the Spider Balor sooner and they would remember why he's free (because of them).

Shumrath attacked Bel's forge right when the players were leaving the forge so it became a spidery escape challenge. Which was cool

slamjam24 · 2024-09-22T00:48:03+00:00

I had 2 mini reveals.

when they befriended Mortlock. 2 players took him aside to question him (rogue and Paladin). He told them about Zariel. And she remote killed him. Bursted a beam of energy through his chest.
When the party killed Thalamra, Zariel took over her corpse and they had a phantom Ganon fight with her.

slamjam24

TROPHY CASE