D&D 5E Monsters in Pandemonium

[the Jester]

I know that there is a serious dearth of monsters native to Pandemonium in D&D; the only one I know myself is the howler, though I guess there's some kind of howling dragon, too.

Are there any more? Is there a list of monsters to encounter on Pandemonium somewhere? Or cool environmental challenges? I have a damn good D&D library from all editions to draw on (though I don't recall where the howling dragon is from; anyone know the source off hand?), so go ahead and reference whatever books have anything I might use.

I have a group that's about to try to make it through Pandemonium to rescue a companion trapped by the Donjon card of a Deck of Many Things, and I have a bunch of unexpected prep to do! Help!

 

[NotActuallyTim]

There's a number of gods hanging out there, apparently, so servants of those gods might make an appearence. See the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemonium_(Dungeons_&_Dragons)

Another native creature appears to be the Murska, and here's a 3.5 homebrew + description of that critter from this very site!
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?53154-Murska-beetle-beasts-of-Pandemonium

Plus, dead people! FIGHT ALL THE GHOSTS!

 

[MonsterEnvy]

It's right next to the Abyss and Limbo so Demons and Slaadi wonder around in it.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

The 3e Planescape Campaign Setting section for Pandemonium says:

"Creatures: Howlers, howling dragons, cranium rats, tanar‘ri, slaadi."

So you might want to add cranium rats to the suggestions.

 

[Pickles III]

Doesn't Pandemonium drive you mad?

You could try "stray monsters that you would not normally fight in weird alliances" for some of your encounters. An insane Unicorn makes me smile for some reason.

 

[the Jester]

Awesome ideas, thanks!

You know who else I'd love to see chime in on this thread? [MENTION=11697]Shemeska[/MENTION]!

 

[Azurewraith]

Doesn't Pandemonium drive you mad?

You could try "stray monsters that you would not normally fight in weird alliances" for some of your encounters. An insane Unicorn makes me smile for some reason.

Im imagining a pregnant unicorn that has had a hit on the crack pipe in several days and is constipated.

 

[Shemeska]

Awesome ideas, thanks!

You know who else I'd love to see chime in on this thread? [MENTION=11697]Shemeska[/MENTION]!

I'm here and you didn't even need to sacrifice anything or pen a binding circle in blood or salt.

In one of my long-term campaigns I ran the PCs through a plot arc in the depths of Pandemonium, specifically the location known as Howler's Crag in the plane's second layer Cocytus. Heavy agoraphobic emphasis on the fact that you aren't in tight, confined tunnels, but you're in a massive cavity while also utterly blind beyond the edge of your light source or darkvision. Who knows what's out there lurking and waiting, and something was very much hunting down NPCs in the group the PCs had been paid to protect. Fun times.

The monsters I used included the ever fun howlers, a hive of bebeliths and their webbed over tunnels burrowing into the depths of the Crag itself, some random tanar'ri, some hints of Keeper activity in the past (2e/3e versions), and a sporadic gateway to the lair of an ancient and very much insane great wyrm howling dragon in the lowest layer, Agathion.

The monsters were honestly a secondary player to the atmospheric descriptions, the environmental hazards such as wind bursts, near deafness at times, and the overwhelming, oppressive darkness and the unknown fear of what might or might not be out there. Fun stuff. I wrote up that particular adventure within my 1st storyhour if curious (it straddles the first and second threads of that one).

If I went back now, I'd probably add in some undead, especially some bodaks, shadows, and various things connected to those who died within the plane itself (it might just be their reanimated remains, or an intersection of ambient planar energies acting on the remains rather than true undead), and absolutely some bonkers mad petitioners out in the howling darkness.

 

[the Jester]

The monsters I used included the ever fun howlers, a hive of bebeliths and their webbed over tunnels burrowing into the depths of the Crag itself, some random tanar'ri, some hints of Keeper activity in the past (2e/3e versions), and a sporadic gateway to the lair of an ancient and very much insane great wyrm howling dragon in the lowest layer, Agathion.

Where are the stats on the howling dragon located? I can work with stats from any edition; as many folks know, I am an inveterate monster converter!

 

[Shemeska]

Where are the stats on the howling dragon located? I can work with stats from any edition; as many folks know, I am an inveterate monster converter!

It appeared in Dragon magazine #300 for the planar dragon article therein. A version also appears in the 3.5 Draconomicon.