Friday, June 26, 2020

Planar Encounters, or a Lot Of Tables (TM)

Thanks to Oblidisideryptch (practically becoming a reliable name here on SSnSS, which is remarkably unfortunate due to how goddamn hard it is to remember and type) for the feedback and inspiration for this post! If you ever want to see something, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or reach out on Discord and I’d be more than happy to oblige!

(Each plane has a number in parentheses next to it. If you need to roll a random plane, roll a d20. This table assumes you’re on Prima Materia- if that’s not the case, simply take the plane you’re on and displace all the other numbers accordingly.)


(0) Prima Materia

What extraplanar creature is bothering us now?!

    1 A cult to a cosmic horror

    2 A demon, daemon or devil corrupting or destroying the land

    3 An angel instigating violent and cruel crusades

    4 A massive elemental causing chaos

    5 A shadow creature/undead monstrosity from the Shadowfell

    6 A Fey lord causing mischief

    7 A party of Gith storing a clutch of eggs

    8 A Slaad spreading an insanity plague

    9 Some hideous and aberrant incursion from the Far Realm

    10 A modron scouting/raiding party

    11 A plane-ship of diverse Outlands inhabitants

    12 A Reaver, gods help us all


1 Feywild

Which Fey court does this creature belong to?

    1 Summersbalm, Court of Trickery (led by Hephastia the Dandelion Duelist)

2 Wintersthrone, Court of Cruelty (led by Tatiana the Ice Monarchess)

3 Winescrumble, Court of Havoc (led by Oberon the Cricket Lord)

4 Voidshred, Court of the Unseelie, the Betrayer’s Court

What interrupts your journey?

    1 A party of satyrs drunkenly arguing and seeking the PC’s opinion

2 A talking weasel slithers onto the path and attempts to con the PCs into buying something they found in the woods. 50% worthless, 40% mundane item, 10% something actually valuable

3 The vines themselves pull towards the shiniest things on a PC’s person. They will continue to grow and grasp until the PCs flee or dispense of the item.

    4 A panicked child, crying and lost. 1-in-3 chance she is actually a Fey playing a prank.

5 A blind old witch of the Voidshred Court will try to poison a PC. She has the antidote, and will give it over in exchange for a service.

    6 The colors themselves swirl and tantalize. WIS save or fall asleep for d12 days.

7 A beartrap lies hidden by illusion in the PC’s path. When it clamps, a Wintersthrone Fey leaps out to laugh at the PC’s folly.

8 The party’s rations double each day, until it becomes a problem. This is the work of a Winterscruble Fey.


2 Shadowfell

What is this creature?

    1 Beastial or long-since mad

    2 A manifestation of the Sorrow, the inherent force that pervades the land

3 Lost, from some other plane seeking to return home

4 A servitor of the Dark Powers, long-dead demigods who locked horrors away in Sorrow-prison demiplanes

    5 An agent of the Raven Queen, judge of the dead and hated foe of Orcus

6 A cultist of one of the Locked Travesties, those who the Dark Powers sealed away (like Strahd, Lord Soth, or Orcus)


3 Ethereal

What do you meet?

1 A ghost, flowing from place to place. (50% fully passive no matter what, 20% hostile, 10% helpful, 10% neutral)

    2 A rogue elemental escaped from the Elemental Planes

    3 A shimmering wall of color that acts as a portal to a random plane

4 A thin barrier onto (1) the Material Plane, (2) the Feywild, (3) the Shadowfell, (4-7) the Elemental Planes, or (8) the nightmarish Deep Ethereal 

    5 Psychic winds rattle you. Make a CHA roll or be pulled into the Deep Ethereal

    6 d4 nightmare beasts hounds you until you feed them a memory

    7 A frozen wave of starstuff threatens to collapse over you

8 Great eyes watch from above. Entertain them and be gifted a star to orbit you (an ioun stone of the DM’s choice), disappoint them and face their servitor, the Eviscerating Gale


4 Astral

What floats in the void?

1 Roll 2 times and combine the results. You can roll this multiple times, each time this result comes up, combine an additional result.

    2 The petrified skeleton of a massive creature

    3 A giant hunk of glimmering crystal

    4 A floating castle/citadel built to accommodate the strange laws of the Astral plane

    5 A massive rock riddled with crannies and warrens, like a hornet’s nest

    6 Shrapnel from a destroyed planar ship/vessel

    7 A Githyanki battle-city

    8 A whirlpool to a random plane

    9 Massive eldritch creatures calcified into hideous spiralling monuments

10 An abandoned plane-ship. 25% chance there are no signs of struggle, a strange Mary Celeste scene...

What do you meet?

    1 A raiding party of Berbalangs, led by a Berbelang Haruspex

    2 An Astral Dreadnought, floating aimlessly in the stellar space

    3 A lone Githyanki, abandoned by a hunt

    4 A raiding party of Githyanki, a full planeship and perhaps a dragon battalion to bear

    5 A pocket of militant Githzerai, out for Githyanki blood

    6 Glittering glass dust? No, miniature creatures of crystal ready to shred you to bits

    7 Absolutely nothing. Just the howling of the wind in the void

    8 A strange Mind Flayer fortress

9 Synaptic disconnect abounds. Make an INT save against going unconscious and being HIGHLY susceptible to mental/psychic attack

10 An aged wizard wearing a broken modron unit as a hat. She has a gift for the PCs, but wants to trade something in return


5 Fire

What do you meet?

    1 A pack of impish magmins

    2 An efreet in a brass howdah, borne aloft by golems

    3 d4 fire elementals in some sort of contest

    4 A phoenix soars through the pyres above

5 The crust below your feet pops like a swollen blister, spraying maga and creating a pool of molten rock below your feet

    6 A Salamander warlord leads an army of Fire Newts in conquest

7 A pack of Core Dwarves wandering back to their forge, or to the City of Brass to trade their craft

    8 An iron-shoe’d hermit seeking the pyramid of Imix


6 Water

What is in the water?

    1 A broken ship, chunks of the hull hanging motionless in the water

    2 A kelp forest, grown on the mammoth aggregate of some clumped debris

    3 A floating raft-city lounging on the denser waters below

    4 A rusted metal craft tangled in or dashed against some obstacle (10% it’s workable)

    5 A corpse of a diving-suited Kin

    6 A swirling current that sweeps you into another random extraplanar body of water

    7 A massive chunk of fortress wall bobbing in the water

8 A glass orb, inside of which lives an air breathing creature (or creatures? Perhaps a colony or city!)

What do you meet?

    1 A massive and rune-scored clam, 25% chance of harboring a pearl

    2 An aboleth swirling through an inked cloud

    3 A marid riding the back of a massive manatee

    4 A school of telepathic fish who speak and think as one

    5 d4 water elementals swimming in aimless circles

    6 A sea hag seeking to trade for magical trinkets

    7 A water-logged undead creature

    8 A Morkoth, collecting more tchotchkes for their microcosm island


7 Earth

What do you find in the rock?

1 A pocket of air

2 More rock

3 Gold

4 Silver

5 Mithril

6 Adamantine

7 Shatterstar

8 Platinum

9 Common metal (copper, brass, whatever)

10 Gems

What do you meet?

    1 d4 hungry Bulettes

    2 A troupe of d6 Xorn, 50% fighting over a pile of gems, 50% hunting together

    3 An imperious Dao being carried in an airborne cart by gargoyles

    4 d6 Gargoyles playing hot-potato with a statue head or hunk of raw diamond

    5 Kin slaves in shackles. Their terran master is nearby, be quiet or they’ll hear...

    6 d4 Earth Elementals hunting for ores to subsume

7 A massive tank-drill, operated by some evil yet enterprising miner corporation from Prima Materia

    8 A crack in the earth that leads to a random plane of existence


8 Air

What hangs in the sky?

    1 A castle formed from clouds

    2 A massive birdcage

    3 A forest, growing on a chunk of dirt

    4 A raging cyclone pulling you ever closer to a portal to a random plane in the middle

    5 A tornado that will rip you off-course if you don’t act fast

    6 A lightning-scorched planeship

What do you meet?

    1 A Planetouched weaving a magic carpet out of Couatl feathers

    2 d2 Rocs guarding a nest of d8-2 eggs, and perhaps a piece of magical loot (40%)

    3 A Couatl, gently arcing through the clouds

    4 d4 Air Elementals in pursuit of something

    5 A Djinn, advising a cloud-architect on the specificities on her new palace

    6 A talking parrot that acts friendly, but will try its hardest to kill you

    7 A Zephyr, tossing and turning in a thunderhead prison

    8 A very lost and confused crab person from the Elemental Plane of Water


9 Elemental Chaos

Combine d6 items at random. Every item, roll to see where it comes from:

    1 Earth

    2 Fire

    3 Water

    4 Air

Repeat to taste or until you have a clusterfuck nightmare (which, in my case, are the same).


10 Olympus

Why are they bothering you?

1 Your (article of clothing) is too gaudy/promiscuous/tempting/corrupting. Remove it or destroy it at once, please, or I will have to do it for you.

2 Excuse me, could you spare some coin? We’re doing a charity drive. Well, mandatory charity drive. Those plague-bearing orphans need the pouch of gold more than you do, kind traveler. If you do not volunteer the funds, we must take them with force.

3 Sorry to bother, what god do you worship? Oh, THEM? I’m afraid we have a problem.

4 You are obviously noblehearted creatures, given your continued existence here. Please, if your hearts be pure and your intentions gold, do this deed on my behalf?

5 I suspect you to be an agent of evil. Prove me wrong or face justice. Justice is, naturally, the name of this massive fucking sword I have here.

6 Your presence is mudding up the place. You know, ley lines and psychic energy and whatnot. I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave.

What do you meet?

    1 An evil wizard seeking repentance, but yet unable to ascend to the next layer

    2 A snooty-ass elf ghost

    3 d4 muscular angels, guarding the path

    4 A humble pilgrim, preaching ever so dryly to al that will listen

    5 An infernal creature in disguise who wishes to tempt mortals and cause havoc

6 A snail living in a mother-of-pearl shell. 75% chance this is an angel or a god fucking with the party and calling it a “test of worthiness and/or kindness” or some shit. Other 25% of the time, you’ve just met a really cool snail


11 Valhalla

What did this warrior die fighting?

    1 In a holy war

    2 In a civil war

    3 In a war

    4 Protecting their home

    5 Cancer

    6 An abuser

    7 Addiction

    8 A dangerous monster

What do you meet?

    1 d4 giants wandering

    2 A titanic version of a prey animal, being hunted

    3 d6 spirits sparring, asking the PCs to join

4 A queen on a Giftstol, drinking mead. Appease her with a gift and a story to get a swig of her enchanted drink

    5 An elderly mage staring through a multifaceted blue lens

    6 A river of ale, gentle and freeflowing

What do you meet (sVoRdHeiM eDiTiOn)?

    1 A very lost and confused Underdark-dweller

    2 A book carved out of crystal, with a dangerous ritual inside

    3 A hulking, elephantine beast bound in mithril chains

    4 It slithers in the darkness of the tunnels, it smells the fear in your blood

    5 d10 cultists to some profane darkness-dweller

    6 A pool of… (1) Water (2) Acid (3) Venom (4) Memories


12 Outlands

Which Gate-Town do you bump into or Where is this person from?

    1 Tenterra // Prima Materia

    2 Krash // Elemental Planes

    3 Valor // Valhalla

    4 Exalt // Olympus

    5 Mechanius // Order

    6 Obligation // Inferno

7 Catcalyst // Ragnarok (the portals are boarded up, the town is nearly abandoned save the crime families)

    8 Xiddershins // Entropy

    9 Curst // Hades

    10 The Spire/Sigil // Outlands

Who do you meet?

    1 A devil

    2 A demon

    3 An angel

    4 A slaad

    5 A modron

    6 A githyanki

    7 A githzerai

    8 An oni

    9 A member of the Kin

    10 A Starborn

    11 A dabus

    12 Roll d6 times and combine

What are they doing?

    1 Sweeping the streets

    2 Loitering and trying to look cool

    3 Selling someone else something

    4 Trying to sell the PCs something

    5 Asking the PCs for help

    6 Playing cards/gambling

    7 Chatting amiably

    8 Running through the streets

    9 Looking for something

    10 Crying


13 Entropy

What’s poppin’?

    1 Githzerai

    2 Slaad

    3 Priests of Maelstrom

    4 d2 elements overwhelm the space, (1) Air (2) Fire (3) Water (4) Earth

    5-12 Just say random words in no particular order. Syntax optional


14 Ragnarok

What does this layer of Ragnarok look like?

    1 A vast and hellish desert

    2 A fetid jungle, teeming with bloodthirsty life

    3 A frigid and unforgiving glacial realm

    4 A landscape of rusted metal and broken citadels

    5 A sea, the water infused with salt and blood

    6 A slime- or fungus-coated nightmare

    7 A featureless void

    8 A monochromatic mass. Perhaps you must journey to find another color?

    9 A long-dead petrified forest

    10 A blood-smeared grass field. Flesh trees grow from pools of claret...

    11 A fiery land of magma and pyroclastic instability

    12 A network of claustrophobic and whispering caves

    13 An infinite roiling storm rages over a vast and featureless landscape

    14 A mass of writhing insects constitutes the landscape

    15 The layer itself is composed of flesh. Knowing Ragnarok, it’s probably hungry...

    16 A concrete, urban nightmare

17 A prison for the darkest of nightmares. Perhaps you will be confused for escaped inmates!

    18 A perfectly pleasant and placid village, or so it would seem from the outside

    19 Massive and foreboding mountain crags

20 Roll d4+1 times and combine the results

What demon do you meet?

    1 Deadly sin (Lust Demon, Pride Demon)

    2 Cardinal element (Fire Demon, Earth Demon)

    3 Material (Crystal Demon, Wood Demon)

    4 Terrain type (Grass Demon, Cave Demon)

5 Job (Lawyer Demon, Laborer Demon)

6 Hurty object (Knife Demon, Gun Demon)

7 Negative adjective/state (Cruel Demon, Rust Demon)

8 Animal (Giraffe Demon, Panther Demon)

    Roll a d20 to determine CR and you’re good to go

        (actually, I need to stat up a fucking GUN DEMON)

What else do you meet?

    1 A panicking demon hunter, in over their head

    2 A long mad druid who eats skin

    3 A lich, or agent of such, in charge of one of the panopticons of Ragnarok

    4 A corpse that walks, always speaking slowly and with an eerie smile on its face

    5 Some poor sap stuck on rusty pikes, yet kept alive by dark magic

6 Some overly placid archmage, studying the plane. 1-in-6 chance they’re long corrupted.


15 Hades

What do you meet?

1 A slouching undead legionnaire, clad in nigh-invulnerable armor. If you can pry it off them, it’s yours. Luckily, they seem to be ignoring you as much as they can...

    2 A daemon, trading souls bound to coins for stories

    3 1d10 slavering demons, ripping off and feasting on the flesh off of a devil

4 1d10 devils marching in orderly fashion, led by a slightly more impressive leader with a moderately valuable brass chestplate

5 A battered hobgoblin veteran asking for medical assistance. 25% chance they’re unsalvageable, 25% chance that they’re unsalvageable for a glaringly obvious reason, like their entire lower body being gone, or their face being concave

    6 A slouching, ethereal soul bearing the tool it was buried with walks a beaten path

    7 A butchered goat’s head on a pike, or some other hideous altar to a profane patron

    8 A massive chunk of iron shrapnel that goes from white-hot to frigid every hour


16 Inferno

What torture is being inflicted?

    1 A bog-standard spike-based torture

    2 A bog-standard liquid-based torture

    3 Tied to the outside of a wheel and being rolled back and forth in broken glass

    4 Pit and the Pendulum- type infinite approahching agony

5 Stack of bureaucratic papers that gets 2 sheets large for every sheet you fill out, right next to the reference manual that will never open to the same page twice, and never the right ne when you need it

    6 Use the twisted part of your DM imagination and say the vilest thing you can imagine

What do they want from you in the bargain?

    1 Your soul

    2 Sacrifice, of approximately 10^(d4-1) people, or maybe a more specific target...

    3 A huge amount of coin. Like, 500,000+. Good luck

    4 The life of an infant born from someone close to you, or yourself

    5 The head of your best friend

    6 A specific magical artifact that’s notoriously difficult to acquire

    7 The head of a hated demonic foe

    8 The pinkies of your entire party, taken in secret

    9 Your tongue, ears, or eyes

10 Roll twice and combine in the strangest/most annoying way you can (i.e. 8 and 1, find a pinky with a soul and convince it to give it up)

What do you meet?

    1 Some poor sap being tortured

    2 A book, written on flayed flesh and bound with barbed wire

    3 A devil wishing to make a deal

    4 d8 bloodthirsty devils wanting to wear your face as a nice hat

    5 A demon, poorly trying to pretend that it’s a devil

    6 A mortal who wants to help/convince the PCs to leave posthaste

    7 A damned mortal who wants to betray the PCs and escape

    8 d20 devils asking for help in repelling a demonic incursion


17 Order

What law commands you now?

    1 “No speech or communication allowed in this sector.”

    2 “Spellcasting is expressly forbidden.”

3 “Attention: divinity is outlawed. Any who have contraband 17B3, ‘holy symbol’, or seen giving service to a divine entity will be incarcerated and held on trial against execution.”

    4 “You are not allowed to make any noise of any kind. The foundries are volatile.”

    5 “You may not move more than a foot every second in any direction for any reason.”

    6 “Violence is prohibited.”

    7 “PRIMUS is watching. Execute any command, given by anyone for any reason.”

    8 “For your safety, you may not eat or drink for the duration of your stay on Order.”

What do you meet?

    1 d6 of the same type of modron

    2 Battalion of modron, d12 strong, with a clear internal hierarchy

    3 Priest of Vithitar suspiciously checking about for modrons

    4 An Inevitable on their way to enforce a broken contract

    5 The gear stops turning. The modrons all turn towards you…

6 A massive shell of a decimated Sigilian planeship. The bolts in the side of the hull are of modron origin...


18 Far Realm

What mind-shattering impossibility greets you?

    1 An eye with eyes

2 A bright rainbow flesh-river sweeping through 7 spatial dimensions and spitting out diamond acid

    3 A squamous and tentacle-based horror

    4 A stillborn fetus the size of a planet, mutated and tumorous

    5 A pi-legged spider chasing an e-nosed moth baby

6 A box whose interior dimensions are greater than its exterior dimensions. The thing is, all that bigger on the inside is leaking onto the outside...

    7 A ghost made of glass and spiders and loneliness

    8 A 17-edged perfect cube crashing into a two-sided circle

    9 A color that doesn’t exist

    10 Roll twice and combine

        (hell, that all just sounds like a fun party)


19 Demispace

What demiplanes hang in the air?

    1 A cluttered Bag of Holding

    2 The sparse stone stomach-sanctum of an Astral Dreadnought

    3 A wizard’s planar fortress, 75% chance of being abandoned by its creator

    4 A secretive Gith enclave

    5 The final vault of a lich’s phylactery

    6 A miniature version of some landscape

    7 An army waiting to be released

    8 A safe haven space. 25% chance some creature is hiding in its halls...


20 Widdershins

Are you fucked?

    1 Yes

    2 yes

    3 yEs

    4 YES

    5 Very much yes

    6 Praying is of no use, the gods can no longer hear you


If you find yourself in the Far Realm, Demispace or Widdershins, that’s basically a campaign-over button, unless you have some immediate way to escape, and even then you’re probably going to be irrevocably scarred in the process.


Not quite every plane outlined in my post on the multiverse is listed here. I had to parse it down to a d20 roll, so some of the fringe planes had to be omitted. Perhaps if there is great demand I can go back and add tables for the Bifrost and shit.

And with that, I'm gonna take a couple days of break from blogging. see you in a week or so.

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