D&D General Let's make the upper planes playable!

[Corinnguard]

It even has an Allspark, in the form of Primus' energy pool.

Mechanus- home of the Constructed Heritage (Level Up) or a planar version of the Warforged?

 

[Clint_L]

The upper planes are currently useless for gaming potential beyond "paradise invaded."

Mount Celestia and Aboria, might be helpful if you squint, but has anybody ever used Bytopia?

So my challenge is as follows.

Let's make the upper planes somewhere enjoyable to run an adventure with a definite theme and opponents.

Stipulations.

1. Every outer plane needs its locals. Part of the problem is that they use Angels as a grab bag to fill in the whole upper planes, thus making them generic.
2. Every plane needs one unique thing that can be built on.
3. It cannot be just because it was invaded by bad guys, and you are bad enough, dude, to save the planes.
4. It still has to be built on the same overall themes. You cannot turn Bytopia into a plane of the Abyss or anything like that.

So what can be done?

Do the planes have to be associated with alignment still?

For instance, in my campaign, Bahamat is basically a tyrant who insists that his particular vision is what's best for everyone, and isn't shy about how he or his minions enforce it, for the greater good, of course.

 

[Corinnguard]

Do the planes have to be associated with alignment still?

They don't have to. They could instead embody a particular philosophical motif that has nothing to do with the alignments.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Mechanus- home of the Constructed Heritage (Level Up) or a planar version of the Warforged?

My Mechanus is just full of constructs. But then, so is the rest of the world. Constructs and undead are my favorite types of monsters.

 

[Shades of Eternity]

I went full "Doctor Who Villains" with the Modron and it was a blast.

 

[Corinnguard]

I went full "Doctor Who Villains" with the Modron and it was a blast.

Modrons as stand-ins for the Daleks?

 

[Shades of Eternity]

Modrons as stand-ins for the Daleks?

Cybermen actually, but with the ability to rewrite entire planes in the name of order.

Because they are totally immune to both the positive and negative elemental planes, they setup power stations there to use it as power sources (and to have dungeons that the pcs can survive in on those planes).

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Maybe it is just the murderhobos I have to deal with, but I think the story line is less "paradise invaded" and more "five-finger discount or heist caper, with consequences to follow."

 

[Shades of Eternity]

ah yes

the influence of time bandits is real.

 

[Corinnguard]

ah yes

the influence of time bandits is real.

Since we are dealing with the Upper Planes, wouldn't it be Planar Bandits? An all Dwarven party hanging out on the streets of Sigil who are carrying a map of the Upper Planes.