17 Planar Species: A Reimagining

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This is a cross-post from www.planewalker.com for those of you interested in the Great Wheel cosmology and/or Planescape. Any and all feedback/critique is welcome (and from any edition too!)

Why are Egyptian-esque animal-headed celestials the natives of Elysium, the NG plane of blessed rest?

Are yugoloths the main planar race on both Gehenna and the Gray Waste?

How can I make Slaadi usable in my game? And why are crazy spawning frog monsters the embodiment of Chaos?

As Planescape/Great Wheel fans, and especially as DMs, we are going to start asking ourselves these sorts of questions at some point, or else be asked them by our players. I'm embarking on a reimagining of the major planars races of the 17 Outer Planes, inspired by our work with jumpstarting the Planar Renovation Project again. The general rules are:

1. The race must represent its plane and be compelling in its own right.
2. There must be sub-species of the race.
3. Where possible, the representative race should be an adaptation of an existing D&D race (preferably a planar one), but if absolutely necessary it can be something made new whole-cloth.
4. It if ain't broken (e.g. Modrons, Baatezu, Tanar'ri) don't fix it.

As a quick guide to my notation: bold equals a species in its normal place in the cosmology, while bold+ indicates I'm suggesting story tweaks to the species without changing its fundamental place. Italics indicates I'm using an existing species in an unusual cosmological placement because it *feels* like a better match there. And dark orange indicates I'm advocating an entirely new race, or possibly such a radical change that I haven't found a suitable monster from D&D lore to fit yet.

Ok, let's dive right in! I'll start with 3 neutral planes, then the Lower Planes, then the Upper Planes.

Outlands: Rilmani+
Someone posted that he imagined Rilmani as alchemically perfected humans who once had an empire across the Plane of Concordant Opposition, who lost their humanity in pursuit of perfection. I found this really compelling and giving the Rilmani a spark of much needed life and adventure hooks. It fits their sub-species names too, which are derived from the alchemical names of metals. The thread is over here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showth...-you-re-envision-Guardinals-and-Rilmani-in-4e.

Mechanus: Modrons
Check.

Limbo: Slaadi+
As I've always interpreted them, they're more like horrific Lovecraftian demons, and I'm not sure they qualify as exemplars of Chaos, besides being crazy solipsists. Back in the old PRP: Limbo thread, someone mentioned a chaotic race called Proteans which infiltrated the individual after lives that souls in Limbo created for themselves, appearing as "characters" within the soul's "story", attempting to siphon energy from them and manipulate the inividual's imagined afterlife. First of all, that conception is just vastly more interesting! Secondly, maybe that idea could be applied to Slaadi? That they have their natural frog forms and then whatever form they take inside the afterlife-scape...

Acheron: ?
I'm stumped.

Baator: Baatezu
Check.

Gehenna: Rakshasa
These guys are LÈ outsiders, they just about embody exploitation, and they already have several sub-species. A perfect fit! I imagine them as governing illusion coated cities full of vices untold to attract mortals who they then feed off of at their leisure. The are in conflict with the invading yugoloths and territorial barghest lords.

Gray Waste: Yugoloths
Check.

Carceri: Gehreleths+
I think they're a good fit to Carceri as outcasts/failed experiments of the baernoloths who serve as jailers who themselves hunger for freedom. However, the race rarely appeared in any capacity beyond a "planar troll" capacity in Planescape, and it needs some work to make it more compelling and usable.

Abyss: Tanar'ri
Check.

Pandemonium: Manians/Desmanians?
Though there is no major planar species for Pandemonium, looking thru the art of Planescape I see several images that seem to suggest some kind of fiend that was never realized in the monster books. This is one plane that may warrant the creation of a new race, perhaps called Manians or Desmanians? As an exhibit, I submit these pictures...

A. From the "Xaos" entry in PSCS Sigil and Beyond. Who are you?

B. Ever wonder who/what that Mercykiller was wearing over his face?

C. Check out the sketch in the bottom right panel...what kind of fiend is that?

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Arcadia: Formians
I think they're probably fine as is, though perhaps need a bit more thought about how to use them in adventures.

Mount Celestia: Archons
Great! The only change I would make is to rename the Hound Archon and give it a more human or angelic appearance rather than a dog-man.

Bytopia: "Janusean Angels"
This is the other plane that I think definitely warrants a new planar race. I'm detailing them over here: http://planewalker.com/content/planar-renovation-project-bytopia, but basically imagine two-faced multi-winged wise mediator-merchant-sages and you're on the right track. Not sure what they'd be called yet.

Elysium: Aasimon
I think all non-deva Aasimon should be made natives of Elysium, and explicitly Neutral Good. This lets deva be the servants of all the Upper Planes and of varying alignment, and to more explicitly separate their mechanics from other Aasimon which I think has been the trend over the editions. The guardinals are just a poor fit thematically for Elysium. And Aasimon are like the ultimate symbol of Good, a fine counterpoint to the Yugoloths.

Beastlands: Guardinals (renamed)
Ok, now move the Guardinals over to the Beastlands, call them Warden Beasts or simply Animal Spirits, and now we're talking.

Arborea: Eladrin+
Check....I think. With one caveat: with the Plane of Faerie a thing in D&D now, Eladrin could use some differentiation from other fey-like creatures. Alternately you could go all Greek with them...

Ysgard: Valkyries
I know there's a lot of life in Ysgard - bariaur, giants, lillend, and other races, but none of them meet all the criteria I set out at the beginning. And there's been a gap in many depictions of Ysgard with a lack of the Valkyries (or they only were given a cursory treatment in Deities & Demigods). But how perfect are they conceptually? A plane all about celebrating personal glory and prowess in battle, home of the Norse gods. Then you have specters flying over battlefields on winged steeds, taking the spirits to their rightful reward, sleeping with them, championing them, going on adventures with them, deceiving them, lots of potential there. It would take a bit of doing to come up with a couple sub-species representing different power levels of Valkyrie. I like this idea, but I'm curious what you all think?

 

[Kinak]

Acheron
I think with Acheron, you really need a strong martial theme. Rank-based hierarchies are already major features of the modrons and baatezu, so we need to go a bit further than that.

It's common enough for petitions to be killed in the wars on Acheron, but what about the ones who are almost killed? Left in a pile of weapons, armor, and corpses, they heal over the course of years, using their surroundings as a chrysalis and emerging as something more.

They'd mostly be formed on Avalas, so let's call them the Avali. The lesser avali would be defined by the materials they gestated in: corpse avali as the "survivors" of massacres, scrap avali having absorbed broken weapons and armor, plate avali covering themselves in bloody overlaying plates, mounted avali having developed into something like a rotting centaur, and so on.

Their goal, as the rightful owners of Acheron, is to claim it from the warring gods. Higher ranking avali are those who can hold territory, their position and power waxing and waning with their control.

Most avali sovereigns never leave Acheron, but some take a longer view: the only way to topple the war gods it to prevent their worship on the prime and the soldiers it grants them. So when prime kingdoms' wars against goblinoids tip towards genocide, they may find they have help from an unexpected quarter...

Pandemonium
I feel like madness is a good theme here. Each subtype of fiend can represent a particular madness and temporarily inflict it on others (usually by whispering or shrieking).

I'm not sure if that fits with the images you're going for. I'd imagine more of a "featureless humanoid except for a mouth and whatever symbolizes their madness."

Bytopia
I like the two-faced angels idea here. I'd probably have each class represent a different duality between progress and safety.

So one that focuses on magic might have two gazes, one that cancels spells it knows and one that cancels spells it doesn't know. Another that focuses on metals might have a gaze of heat metal and one that renders organic equipment incorporeal.

There are probably easier ways to do that, but hopefully I'm making a little sense there.

It also gives them an excuse to show up when well-meaning-but-stupid PCs disrupt the balance enough to start hurting people.

Beastlands
I like this move.

Ysgard
I'd honestly tend toward einherjar here, but valkyries work too.

If I were going to create flights of valkyries, I'd start with who they go after. There are a lot of kinds of valor in battle, after all. So your basic valkyrie is concerned with soldiers' valor. But another kind could inspire rulers to join their soldiers on the battlefield and bring them to Ysgard when they fall. And another could harvest the souls of people who have no business joining a battle but do it anyway.

Different cultures also have different valors. For example, a valkyrie who gathers those who die pursuing a blood feud against all odds wouldn't apply to all cultures and a valkyrie harvesting souls who went into battle despite having millennia to live wouldn't have much to do with humans.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

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[MENTION=6694112]Kinak[/MENTION] You've got some investing ideas there! Definitely good stuff.

Acheron: Your Avali undead constructs are kind of the direction I was heading in too, only taken to a much fuller extent and with more diversity. Reminds me a little of the draugir wraiths of Norse/Scandinavian myth as depicted in the Witcher 2 video game; here's some concept art:

Pandemonium: Yeah, sinister madness was the theme I was working off of. Your physical description is certainly viable, the blindness or lack of eyes making sense for a tunnel dwelling race. The mouth thing I associate with Gibbering Mouthers/Beasts/Orbs, which I had thought about using but then decided should stay as Far Realms creatures. The Desmanians (?) are definitely fiends NOT incomprehensible abominations from beyond our reality, their madness probably closer to sociopathic paranoia or delusions of grandeur overall rather than incomprehensible madness.

Bytopia: The progress vs. safety duality is really interesting, and your examples go a long way toward establishing a tone for these Janusean Angels. I'll think about it some more.

Ysgard: Actually Einheriar were at the top of my list, and I thought about Valkyries and other sorts of psychopomps (dead-guides) falling under that heading as sub-species. What held my hand was how Einherirar are explicitly ties to several Upper Planar realms, for example the dwarves of the Arcadian Mount Clanggedin are explicitly called out as einheriar. Though perhaps this really is a matter of nomenclature. What would the types of Einheriar be then? The basic dead fighter ancestor coming thru the mists type , the Valkyrie type, and...?

 

[Kinak]

Acheron: Your Avali undead constructs are kind of the direction I was heading in too, only taken to a much fuller extent and with more diversity. Reminds me a little of the draugir wraiths of Norse/Scandinavian myth as depicted in the Witcher 2 video game; here's some concept art:

Looks good! Yeah, definitely some similarity to draugr.

Pandemonium: Yeah, sinister madness was the theme I was working off of. Your physical description is certainly viable, the blindness or lack of eyes making sense for a tunnel dwelling race. The mouth thing I associate with Gibbering Mouthers/Beasts/Orbs, which I had thought about using but then decided should stay as Far Realms creatures. The Desmanians (?) are definitely fiends NOT incomprehensible abominations from beyond our reality, their madness probably closer to sociopathic paranoia or delusions of grandeur overall rather than incomprehensible madness.

I was more going for one mouth, rather than several. Like this guy.

But, yeah, wouldn't want any mix-ups with abominations. I'd shoot more for "fear of insanity" than "fear of the unknown."

Ysgard: Actually Einheriar were at the top of my list, and I thought about Valkyries and other sorts of psychopomps (dead-guides) falling under that heading as sub-species. What held my hand was how Einherirar are explicitly ties to several Upper Planar realms, for example the dwarves of the Arcadian Mount Clanggedin are explicitly called out as einheriar. Though perhaps this really is a matter of nomenclature. What would the types of Einheriar be then? The basic dead fighter ancestor coming thru the mists type , the Valkyrie type, and...?

Doing Einherjar, I'd probably split them up by type of valor. If Valkyries are part of the group, they are those who had the valor to stand up and lead. The others are probably the flipside of what I was thinking about valkyries: valor to stand against overwhelming odds, valor to fight when no one else would, that sort of thing.

On a totally different tack, I'd be tempted to define einherjar by classes. They fight all the time. If anything, they're the archetypes from which adventurers spring. So dividing them by party role or fighting style would make a lot of sense.

Cheers!
Kinak

 

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I was more going for one mouth, rather than several. Like this guy.

But, yeah, wouldn't want any mix-ups with abominations. I'd shoot more for "fear of insanity" than "fear of the unknown."

I know exactly that scene from Pans Labyrinth. Was he called the Pale Man? Great, great monster, and I agree very well suited. The cool thing for planar species is that there are sub-types which, while having one or two key features similar, can appear quite different physically. So perhaps this Pale Man is either on the low end or the high end or the Desmanian power spectrum?

Doing Einherjar, I'd probably split them up by type of valor. If Valkyries are part of the group, they are those who had the valor to stand up and lead. The others are probably the flipside of what I was thinking about valkyries: valor to stand against overwhelming odds, valor to fight when no one else would, that sort of thing.

On a totally different tack, I'd be tempted to define einherjar by classes. They fight all the time. If anything, they're the archetypes from which adventurers spring. So dividing them by party role or fighting style would make a lot of sense.

No reason the two ideas couldn't be combined. Valkyrie are, essentially, death clerics with some special abilities.

Other classes that fit the archetype of Ysgard are Barbarian (berserker), Bard (valor), Cleric (varied), Fighter (champion), Paladin (avenger), Wizard (diviner, necromancer, or cold-themed).

So using those as a guideline that's 6 sub-species that also map well to party roles: Skirmisher, Face, Leader, Tank, Striker, and Controller respectively.

I'd envision Barbarian or Fighter as the most common type of Einheriar (or Einherjar) with not too many special powers. Valkyrie would either be at the top of their pecking order or close to it, and thus rare.

 

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Einherjar

Some further thoughts on how the Einherjar could be developed into a full-fledged planar race of Ysgard...

When not appearing out of the mists to aid beleaguered warriors, the Einherjar are either in their halls enjoying mead and the other perks of their afterlife in Valhalla, or else out defending Ysgard's borders. They are ancestor spirits to those of Norse descent or who see Ysgard as their spiritual home, and unlike normal petitioners, these exulted Einherjar may remember bits and pieces of their former lives such as clan loyalties or vague impressions of great deeds they accomplished.

Sub-types might include...

Berserkers, barbarians who displayed valor in the face of overwhelming odds

Skalds, bards (of valor!) who displayed valor when no one else would

Völur, wizards (evoker/diviners) who displayed tragic valor in facing a terrible fate, traditionally female

Champions (Norse name?), fighters who displayed valor to lead

Aesirhamars, paladins (avengers) who displayed valor to follow the gods commands without fully understanding even unto death