The Outer Planes

If The Inner Planes are the raw matter and energy that makes up the multiverse, the Outer Planes provide the direction, thought, and purpose for its construction. Accordingly, many sages refer to the Outer Planes as divine planes, spiritual planes, or godly planes, for the Outer Planes are best known as the homes of deities. When discussing anything to do with deities, the language used must be highly metaphorical. Their actual homes aren’t literally places at all, but exemplify the idea that the Outer Planes are realms of thought and spirit. As with the Elemental Planes, one can imagine the perceptible part of the Outer Planes as a border region, while extensive spiritual regions lie beyond ordinary sensory experience. Even in perceptible regions, appearances can be deceptive. Initially, many of the Outer Planes appear hospitable and familiar to natives of the Material Plane. But the landscape can change at a whim of the powerful forces that dwell on these planes, which can remake them completely, effectively erasing and rebuilding existence to better fulfill their divine needs. Distance is a virtually meaningless concept on the Outer Planes. The perceptible regions of the planes can seem quite small, but they can also stretch on to what seems like infinity. Adventurers could take a guided tour of the Nine Hells, from the first layer to the ninth, in a single day — if the powers of the Hells desire it. Or it could take weeks for travelers to make a grueling trek across a single layer. The default Outer Planes are a group of sixteen planes that correspond to the eight alignments (excluding neutrality, which is represented by the Outlands, described in the section on “Other Planes”) and the shades of distinction between them.

Outer Plane	Alignment
Mount Celestia, the Seven Heavens of	LG
Bytopia, the Twin Paradises of	NG, LG
Elysium, the Blessed Fields of	NG
The Beastlands, the Wilderness of	NG, CG
Arborea, the Olympian Glades of	CG
Ysgard, the Heroic Domains of	CN, CG
Limbo, the Ever-Changing Chaos of	CN
Pandemonium, the Windswept Depths of	CN, CE
The Abyss, the Infinite Layers of	CE
Carceri, the Tarterian Depths of	NE, CE
Hades, the Gray Waste of	NE
Gehenna, the Bleak Eternity of	NE, LE
The Nine Hells of Baator	LE
Acheron, the Infinite Battlefield of	LN, LE
Mechanus, the Clockwork Nirvana of	LN
Arcadia, the Peaceable Kingdoms of	LN, LG

The planes with an element of good in their nature are called the Upper Planes, while those with an element of evil are the Lower Planes. A plane’s alignment is its essence, and a character whose alignment doesn’t match the plane’s alignment experiences a sense of dissonance there. When a good creature visits Elysium, for example, it feels in tune with the plane, but an evil creature feels out of tune and more than a little uncomfortable. The Upper Planes are the home of Celestial creatures, including angels, couatls, and pegasi. The Lower Planes are the home of Fiends: demons, devils, yugoloths, and their ilk. The planes in between host their own unique denizens: the construct race of modrons inhabit Mechanus, and the Aberrations called slaadi thrive in Limbo.

Included Locations