D&D 5E Planar Travel [Demons/Devils] Advice Requested

[Mistwell]

My players, who are all 7th level, are about to chase a villain through a planar portal contained within a special card in a unique Deck of Many Things.

I don't know where to take them. The adventure has involved some demons and/or devils (they never found out which so that remains open).

Does anyone have an adventure, or section of adventure, to recommend? I can convert from a prior edition, though obviously an existing 5e adventure would be much easier to run. Does Rage of Demons have anything I could use for this? 3rd party is OK as well.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I find the various past Manual of the Planes to be of great inspiration for extraplanar adventures. But if you’re looking for something more concrete…hmm. Queen of the Spiders springs to mind. The last part involves entering the Abyss to face Lolth.

 

[Eltab]

Rage of Demons is not going to help you; only the (CR20+) Demon Lords are introduced there. The MM entries - especially the fluff text - will be of more help.

What do you want their opponent to "feel" like? Demons tend to be Hulk-smash direct and quite destructive to the landscape, while Devils are more refined and manipulative and clever and stay in the background and choose their targets carefully.

If you use the Cosmic Wheel, you also have the NE planes and their denizens, the yugoloths. A bunch of beings who stomp on everybody else (if they are powerful enough to do so) and only care "what's in it for ME?"

 

[Demetrios1453]

My players, who are all 7th level, are about to chase a villain through a planar portal contained within a special card in a unique Deck of Many Things.

I don't know where to take them. The adventure has involved some demons and/or devils (they never found out which so that remains open).

Does anyone have an adventure, or section of adventure, to recommend? I can convert from a prior edition, though obviously an existing 5e adventure would be much easier to run. Does Rage of Demons have anything I could use for this? 3rd party is OK as well.

At 7th level? Both the Abyss and the Nine Hells would tend to be... unpleasant for characters around that level. If you're playing it realistically, there isn't going to be much of a safe haven in either to keep them from being immediately harried and then overwhelmed by fiends.

Honestly, the place to put them at that level where devils and demons might be involved would be Sigil. There they could meet all sorts of extra-planar denizens without it being immediately fatal. And there is plenty of information on the City of Doors out there that you can use. And if they gain a few more levels, then they can actually go to more exciting locales like the Lower Planes...

 

[GSHamster]

Low-level planar adventures can work well if your players don't automatically attack everything. Even going to something like the first level of the Nine Hells can be fine if the players sneak around.

I'd go with something iconic from the underworld. Perhaps the Rivers Styx or Lethe, and a boat ride/negotiation with Charon the Ferryman.

 

[Mistwell]

At 7th level? Both the Abyss and the Nine Hells would tend to be... unpleasant for characters around that level. If you're playing it realistically, there isn't going to be much of a safe haven in either to keep them from being immediately harried and then overwhelmed by fiends.

Honestly, the place to put them at that level where devils and demons might be involved would be Sigil. There they could meet all sorts of extra-planar denizens without it being immediately fatal. And there is plenty of information on the City of Doors out there that you can use. And if they gain a few more levels, then they can actually go to more exciting locales like the Lower Planes...

Sigil is a great idea. Next question - what's a good source book on Sigil, and possibly an adventure based there?

 

[jgsugden]

I would third the idea of Sigil, or perhaps the City of Brass if you don't want to incorporate such a massive concept as Sigil. If you don't have a definite plan, you're better off doing a short adventure in a place that you can use to spawn new adventure ideas in the future.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Good call...Necromancer Games put out an awesome City of Brass sourcebook for 3e.

I would third the idea of Sigil, or perhaps the City of Brass if you don't want to incorporate such a massive concept as Sigil. If you don't have a definite plan, you're better off doing a short adventure in a place that you can use to spawn new adventure ideas in the future.

 

[Shemeska]

Sigil is a great idea. Next question - what's a good source book on Sigil, and possibly an adventure based there?

2e: 'In the Cage: A Guide to Sigil', 'Uncaged: Faces of Sigil'. Uncaged is one of the best NPC books ever for D&D IMO, with each entry dripping plot and adventure hooks.
3e: 'Manual of the Planes', 'Planar Handbook'

Various 2e adventures in Sigil (fully or partly):
2601 The Eternal Boundary
2604 Well of Worlds
2614 Harbinger House
2619 Something Wild
2626 Doors to the Unknown
2629 Faction War

 

[Demorgus]

I wish I could remember the source, but there was an adventure I've played more than once where the party ends up in like Pandemonium or one of the lower places, at the site of a Blood War battle. Basically the party has to cross the battlefield to get a gate key from one of the side's command tent and then recross the battlefield to get back to the gate. The most memorable time I played this, one of the party members ended up accidentally falling into the River Styx, lost his memory, and not knowing why he was holding a demon jaw bone (the gate key) chucked it into the river. My character and his were the last of the party alive. My character killed him out of rage and then slowly wasted away in despair realizing he had no hope of getting off the plain.