Hades

The lowest of the Lower Planes, Hades is between the races of fiends and is the battlefield where they wage war with one another. The endless battle of the Devils of the Nine Hells and the Demons of the Abyss never gives quarter to either side. The devils are organized and make coordinated attacks while the demons attack with sheer numbers and chaotic ferocity. It is an otherworldly stalemate that both sides know neither can win, but to back down would mean defeat and their obliteration.

It is where evil springs eternal.
It is a plane of endless apathy and despair.
It is the great battlefield of the Blood War.

— Manual of the Planes

In the Gray Wastes of Hades, even the insidious plotting of the Nine Hells and the all-consuming rage of the Abyss are subjected to the woeful subjugated hopelessness. Being the nexus of evil, Hades eats away at a person's desires, leaving them hollowed out, apathetic husks of what they once were, leaving all those who stay within its borders in a near-catatonic and careless state. Each of Hades' three layers called Glooms that are filled with uncaring and malevolence that permeate within.

Hades Links

Winding throughout the uppermost layer of Hades flows the River Styx which the sinister ferrymen sail to and from other planes. There are spiral coin-shaped portals that lead to other planes of existence, each one color-coordinated. Golden portals lead to Carceri, silver leads to the Outlands, and platinum ones lead to the Astral Plane though the latter are few and far between. Due to the dull and color-drained property of the Gray Waste, these portals can be seen from miles away.

Hades Inhabitants

Other-dimensional creatures of all kinds can be found in the Gray Waste due to it being the focal point of the battle between several planes. Demons, Devils, Slaadi, Formian, and even the occasional Celestial can be found here, either evaluating or, more likely, participating in the great battle. Yugoloth can also be seen with this being their plane of origin, even though the species have moved onto the plane Gehenna.

Art By: Chris Platz

Gray Wasting

The gray wasting takes over its victims skins and causes it to decay in a mass of mucus and rotting flesh. Due to its magical nature of being created from the Siege Malicious, it is more potent than typical diseases, requiring a Greater Restoration to reverse the effects.

• Infection. Contact.
• Consitution Save DC. 20.
• Incubation. 1 Day.
• Damage. 1d4 Charisma.
• Cure. Greater Restoration.

Night Hags are also fairly common in Hades, searching for specific partitioners of the Gray Wastes known as larvae, poor souls that have succumbed to a unique form of the Gray Waste. These unsightly creatures are often used as currency between malevolent creatures and Deities. Aside from the various debris left behind from the Blood War, Hades is commonplace to a myriad of monstrosities only dreamed of.

Hades Petitioners

Petitioners of Hades usually appear as sickly gray ghosts that shamble even in their incorporeal state. Though normally they wander aimlessly throughout the Gray Wastes, they suddenly and quickly flock to any outsiders like insects to light, seeking the warmth of their emotion and hope that they may still possess. Particularly malicious or selfish petitioners will sometimes form into a special form known as larvae. The larvae appear like human-sized worms that bear the face they once wore in life. These creatures serve as currency between the Lower Planes and are typically consumed by spells and incantations. There are rare larvae, however, that are lucky enough to be promoted to a lower form of fiend.

Art From: Dungeon Magazine #150

Features of Hades

The glooms of Hades were not named ironically. The dull gray earth, sky, and even petitioners are colorless and drab. There is no sun here and likewise, only a bleak gray radiance that emanates from its sky. This grayness isn't only literal, however, but even the hearts of those who inhabit the Gray Wastes are dull, gray, and devoid of any feeling. No laughter, weeping, or despair can be heard; Only apathetic existence.

Oinos

The highest gloom of Hades is a barren land of withered trees, sickly dull fields, and teeming with pestilent disease. More than even the natural environment, however, are its signs of war. Being the main battlefield for the Blood War, fiends, beasts, hired mercenaries gather here, waging horrific war on epic scales. Bodies of the dead, discarded equipment and broken weapons of siege constantly litter the fields. The sound of tearing flesh and clashing weapons echoes across its entire layer.

Khin-Oin the Wasting Tower

A twenty-mile high and twenty-mile deep tower made from the spinal column of an ancient Yugoloth deity pierces the surface of Oinos, the tower is ruled by an ultraloth prince. There are stories that say the entirety of the Yugoloth race was birthed from the flesh and bone of the creature whose spine this once possessed, arising in a deep cavernous pit lying at the bottom of Khin-Oin. Despite the constant onslaught from devils and demons alike, this has known no ruler other than that of Yugoloth blood.

The Grays

Any creature not possessing a form of magical resistance must make a Wisdom Saving Throw (DC 13) for every twenty-four hours spent in the Gray Wastes. A failed save deals 1 point of Wisdom damage to the victim. A victim can be drained to a minimum Wisdom of 1 in this fashion. Unlike most ability score damage, Wisdom damage dealt by The Grays does not heal until the victim has left Hades behind. Each point of Wisdom damage dealt in this fashion represents growing apathy, hopelessness, and despair. This effect is concurrent with the entrapping trait of Hades. Wisdom damage take from the grays makes it harder to make the weekly Saving Throws to resist the loss of all hope that the entrapping trait represents.

Art By: Wizards of the Coast

Alternative Name(s)

Gray Wastes

Type

Dimensional plane

Characters in Location

• Indryth

Hades Traits

Hades has the following traits.

• Normal Gravity.
• Normal Time.
• Infinite Size. Hades may extend infinitely, but its realms are finitely bounded.
• Divinely Morphic. Entities of at least lesser deity status can alter Hades, though few deities deign to reign in Hades. The Gray Waste has the alterable morphic trait for less powerful creatures; Hades responds normally to spells and physical effort.
• No Elemental or Energy Traits.
• Strongly Evil-Aligned. Nonevil characters in Hades suffer Disadvantage on all Charisma, Wisdom, and Intelligence checks.
• Entrapping.This is a special trait unique to Hades, although Elysium has a similar entrapping trait. A non-outsider in Hades experiences increasing apathy and despair while there. Colors become grayer and less vivid, sounds duller, and even the demeanor of companions seems to be more hateful. At the conclusion of every week spent in Hades, any non-outsider must make a Will Saving throw (DC 10 + the number of consecutive weeks in Hades). Failure indicates that the individual has fallen entirely under the control of the plane, becoming a petitioner of Hades. Travelers entrapped by the inherent evil of Hades cannot leave the plane of their own volition and have no desire to do so. Memories of any previous life fade into nothingness, and it takes a Wish or a successful Divine Intervention to return such characters to normal.
• Normal Magic.
• Petitioner Qualities.
• Immunities. Cold, Fire
• Resistances. Lightning, Acid
• Wounding. (Larvae Only) Every time a larvae deals damage the victim must roll a Constitution Saving Throw (DC 15) or take 1d6 additional damage. This persists at the end of each of the victims' turns until the check is successful.
• Disease. (Larvae Only)
After combat with a larva in which someone had taken any damage from a larva, they must make a successful Constitution Saving Throw (DC 17) or lose 1d4 Strength.
• No Planar Commitment (Larvae Only)
Unlike normal petitioners of Hades, larvae can be removed from this plane of existence.