Manual of the Planes

NINE HELLS OF BAATORIt is Hell, where sympathy withers and malice blooms.It is home to devils.It is the plane where the rule of law reveals evil’s heart.The Nine Hells of Baator, sometimes simply calledBaator or even Hell, best satisfy the imagination of travelers,the greed of treasure-seekers, and the battle-fury ofpaladins. It is the ultimate plane of law and evil, the epitomeof premeditated, crafted cruelty. The devils of theNine Hells all obey a higher law than themselves, but allthat really means is that they chafe and rebel in theircaste. Most undertake any plot or action, no matter howfoul, to advance themselves. At the very top of the hierarchyis Asmodeus, who has yet to be bested. That is the lawof the Nine Hells.The Nine Hells compete with any other lower planefor their sheer diversity of vileness. The devils are morecunning, more subtle, and more dangerous than otherfiends—or so say the devils. A demon revels in slavering,insane, evil power, but a devil always has an agenda, aplan of attack, and a carefully conceived plot for retributionif necessary.Baator consists of nine layers, each lower than thenext, like ledges stepping down into an ever-deeper pit.Each layer descended gives a traveler a better view ofthe Nine Hells as a whole; the layers fit together likepuzzle pieces, and each new descent allows a travelergreater understanding of how the puzzle comestogether. It is an evil enticement.The Nine Hells are home to minor, major, and nobledevils, as well as true deities of evil (such as Kurtulmak ofthe kobolds and Sekolah of the sahuagin). The DarkEight are eight powerful pit fiends who control the primarydevil armies engaged in the Blood War. Worse stillare the Lords of the Nine: Each lord controls one layer ofthe Nine Hells, hovering in status somewhere betweenscion pit fiend and demideity. Of course, all the lords ultimatelyanswer to Asmodeus, the Lord of the Nine, whorules from Nessus, the bottom layer of the Nine Hells.NINE HELLS TRAITSThe Nine Hells have the following traits.• Normal Gravity.• Normal Time.• Infinite Size: The ledge-layer extends outward infinitely,but the circumference of each inner ledge(which opens onto the Pit and the next lower ledgelayer)is finite.• Divinely Morphic: Entities of at least lesser deitystatus can alter the Nine Hells. Ordinary creatures findthe Nine Hells as alterable as the Material Plane is.• No Elemental or Energy Traits: Elemental andenergy influences are balanced, except on the layer ofPhlegethos (which has the fire-dominant trait). Onthe layer of Cania, cold is king, and a special “colddominant”trait applies there.• Mildly Law-Aligned and Mildly Evil-Aligned:Chaotic characters in the Nine Hells suffer a –2penalty on all Charisma-based checks, as do goodcharacters. Chaotic good characters suffer a –4penalty on all Charisma-based checks.• Normal Magic.NINE HELLS LINKSThe River Styx flows through the uppermost layer of theNine Hells, Avernus, just as it does all the lower planes.Offshoots and waterfalls of the Styx can be found onevery layer of the Nine Hells.Portals to other planes are fairly common. Usually,such gates appear as free-standing hoops of reddish light.A well-known gate is in the town of Ribcage located inthe Outlands. Travelers usually must have an invitationfrom a Lord of the Nine to pass the Cursed Gate, thoughParacs the gatekeeper, a devil, can be bribed. Also, a landingof the Infinite Staircase provides access to the thirdlayer of the Nine Hells, Minauros, somewhere within thesuspended city of Jangling Hiter.NINE HELLS INHABITANTSThe largest population of the Nine Hells is made up ofvarious devils: barbazu, cornugons, erinyes, gelugons,hamatula, narzugons, osyluths, pit fiends, spinagons,and countless others in the devilish hierarchy. Devils ofevery sort delight in making complex deals with travelersand with mortals on the Material Plane. Those dealingwith a devil often live to regret it, even if they onlylive for a little while. Devils always seek ways to increasetheir own power and thus gain promotion into a higherform of devilhood.Besides devils, such creatures as hellcats, hell hounds,imps, kytons, nightmares, and even rakshasas call theNine Hells home. A few hardy mortals have set up permanenthomes in the Nine Hells, living in mightyfortresses defended by lesser devils lawfully bound toshort-term contracts.Nine Hells PetitionersSeveral kinds of petitioners are found in the Nine Hells.Evil, proud, ambitious souls unconcerned with others andbereft of empathy find their way there. Most of those soulstake the form of ghost-white shades, shells of their mortalforms, which devils cruelly mold and shape into twisted,agonized forms of horror. Only when the soul is so twistedand molded that it is truly, finally slain does its essencemerge with that of the Nine Hells itself. Often, devils ordeities of a particular hellish realm molds petitioners intheir realm to conform to a specific, macabre aesthetic.These average hellish petitioners, sometimes called soulshells, have the following special petitioner qualities:Additional Immunities: None.Resistances: Cold 20, fire 20.Other Special Qualities: Powerful devils have aninnate power to warp and mold soul shells, usually intoshapes that are inherently painful and degrading.CHAPTER 7:THE OUTERPLANES115