D&D 5E Chains of Asmodeus: Official 286-Page Nine Hells Book & Adventure Released!

For Extra Life, the children's hospital charity, Wizards of the Coast just released Chains of Asmodeus on DMsGuild in PDF format. Written by James Ohlen and Adrian Tchaikovsky, this book includes an adventure for levels 11-20, stat blocks for Asmodeus and the other archdevils, a corruption mechanic, and more.

Arcanum Worlds Presents: Chains of Asmodeus
Chains of Asmodeus is a 286-page source book and adventure for the Nine Hells written by legendary game designer James Ohlen (Baldur's Gate, Baldur's Gate II, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Dragon Age: Origins) and award-winning author Adrian Tchaikovsky (Children of Time, The Tiger and the Wolf, The Doors of Eden). This book is beautifully illustrated with haunting art from Sergei Sarichev, Sergey Musin, Julian Calle, Sebastion Kowoll, Paul Adams, Luis Lasahido, and the Aaron Sims Company.

Travel through the Nine Hells to save your soul in this tome that includes:

• 50+ High Challenge Monsters
• Stat Blocks for Asmodeus, Lord of the Nine, and all major Archdevils
• 20+ Infernal Magic Items
• New Item Corruption Mechanic
• Details on all Layers of the Nine Hells, with Beautifully Illustrated Maps created by John Stevenson
• A Fiendish Adventure for Levels 11-20

The book includes full stat blocks for Asmodeus (CR30), Beelzebub, Belial, Dispater, Fierna, Glasya, Levistus, Mammon, Mephistopheles, and more including Bel, Zariel, and a ton of monsters and NPCs.

You can pick it up for $29.99 on DMsGuild.

 

[Reynard]

A sensitivity reader would have prevented Wizards printing racist dumb naughty word in Spelljammer, so excuse me if I think that the job is important and taking their concerns seriously instead of boiling it down to the 'arrows of social media'.

I thought they had one for that product and everyone missed it.

 

[ReshiIRE]

I thought they had one for that product and everyone missed it.

... huh.

Okay, let me clarify. A good sensitivity reader or anyone even REMOTELY aware of the history of some of this stuff could have caught that.

 

[Retreater]

I thought they had one for that product and everyone missed it.

Yeah. If memory serves, a higher-up had put that content in Spelljammer. It didn't go through the regular editorial channels.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I thought they had one for that product and everyone missed it.

No cultural consultant listed in the credits of the Astral Adventurer's Guide

 

[Eyes of Nine]

4 consultants listed for Planescape

 

[Reynard]

... huh.

Okay, let me clarify. A good sensitivity reader or anyone even REMOTELY aware of the history of some of this stuff could have caught that.

Yeah. If memory serves, a higher-up had put that content in Spelljammer. It didn't go through the regular editorial channels.

No cultural consultant listed in the credits of the Astral Adventurer's Guide

I honestly did not recall. Maybe it is what started it.

But yes, it should have at least made someone in the art department pause.

 

[Morrus]

I've always read their role in the process as the person who tells you what things in your art people will be offended by and complain about. Change them or suffer the slings and arrows of social media,and be ashamed of yourself for not following the internet's lead on what's ok to present to the public.

Then you are uninformed. Educate yourself.

 

[Burnside]

I thought they had one for that product and everyone missed it.

No. That fiasco prompted them to start using them; they've had at least one for everything published since.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

In the case one doesnt believe in Gods (a stand in for these beings who are powerful and fueled on literal worship/belief), where does the soul go in FR/D&D 5e? You are not a petitioner, so...where do you go?

Considering of course that the LE/CE sides of the equation take souls, and corrupt them to because the fuel in their eternal war, it would seem to indicate the soul exists and matters, to all sides of the debate.

In my homebrew, the different Outer Planes of my modified Great Wheel have primary Moral/Ethical qualities tied to them. Anyone who doesn't worship a God due to nihilism, entropy, or despair, goes to the NE path of the Afterlife, and the LE, CE, and NE forces fight over the souls there. But if people don't believe in gods due to positive qualities rather than resentment (for instance, faith in something else positive), they go to an afterlife they are more suited for, without access to the deeper rewards of Divine Domains within that afterlife. They may yet become faithful in the afterlife. Good souls aren't punished. Just more welcome the more they are on board.

LE, Tyrannical Pride and Ambition. (Traditionally themed to the Nine Hells)
NE(L), Pernicious Persecution and Punishment (Traditionally themed to Carceri, location-swapped with Gehenna due to the lawful-adjacent invocation of control)
NE, Nihilistic Entropy and Apathy (Traditionally themed to the Gray Wastes)
NE(C), Vainglorious Greed and Selfishness (Traditionally themed to Gehenna, location-swapped with Carceri due to what I perceive as a more chaotic self-serving nature of greed.
CE, Maniacal Sadistic Savagery (Traditionally themed to the Abyss)

(The names of my Outer Planes are different than the traditional Great Wheel Cosmology. I don't use names like Hades, Tarterus, Gehenna, or Carceri)

 

[Thommy H-H]

Might be worth pointing out that the bit about atheists going to the Hells is a single line in Asmodeus's description in the appendix, and even he doesn't know for certain that that's how it actually works. It's just a theory to explain his intermittent interest in being worshipped as a god himself.

In fact, as written, the PCs don't even physically fight him in the adventure, so as DM, you'll probably never even directly refer to that section in play. It's not a major theme in the book or anything and, in fact, the whole issue of the Hells as an afterlife isn't really touched on. The only souls that are definitely trapped there are ones relevant to the PCs, and they all ended up there via taking out infernal contracts. The theme is very much about knowingly damning oneself.

In fact:

Spoiler: Spoiler for the endgame

Even the "bad ending", with a character that gave in to every temptation on the way down to Nessus and flubs the chance to wheedle a better deal out of Asmodeus, your fate is just to become a horned devil in his service when you die.