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166 views8 pages

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yesojab318
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Available Formats
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m$ N s + REDu s CEDmp E N D I um® APPENDIX Ill

by Monte Cook

HEDW DEBES A BERK. f I G H + S EDmE +HING

T
HE CAN ' + EVEN UNDERS+AND?
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hings're different on the Inner Planes. Oh, some bashers might say they're deadlier, or
harsher, or just plain weirder, but the truth is, they're merely different. And on planes
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full of nothing but searing magmas, swampy ooze, glittering mineral, utter desolation,
or life incarnate, is it any wonder that a body'd .find creatures as alien as any the multiverse
has ever seen? Things that eat color, leaving a victim fully transparent. Beasts that spread life
like a 1Jirus,animating all things around them. Spirits that form bodies by forcing hundreds of

-1.
,,
liai''' - L
smaller animals to act as one. It's enough to make a sod long for a pit .fiend.
iven up any PLANESCAPE ' or ADftD ' campaign with the MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM
m

-~ .·• Appendix III, which features 128 pages of monsters that lurk on the Inner Planes,
,~ the Astral Plane, and the Ethereal Plane - some of the strangest and most
-
_,iiL inhospitable environments in the multiverse. Most of the critters are brand new, though a
~ ' few old favorites have been updated. This book also provides a detailed look at the
'1,:(' ecology of the planes in question, not to mention an appendix of inner-planar creatures
P- that're more like animals than monsters. And, of course, all-new illustrations vividly bring
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each of these exotic beings to life.

U.S.,CANADA, ~ - ,-~ EUROP EANHEADQU ARTERS


ASIA, PACI_F
IC fl LATIN AME RICA . .. ~' [Link] of the Coast,Belgium
Wizards of the Coast, lnr. , . P.B.34
[Link] 707 · 2300 Turnhout
Renton , WA98057 - 0707 ·• Belgium
+1-2 06 - 624-0933 +32- 14- 44-30-44

Vis it our webs ite at [Link]


An\ii\NCI u DIINl,I ONSft l>RAt10Ns. J\l>rtD. MnNSIIUH !S COMl'I N1111
1,i.1, P1,\N~Sf/\PI, till' I ady of Pain log:o. and
lhl' '!Sil logo arc· regisll'n ·d lra,kmarks nwn,·d by rSR. lne . · 19')8 ·1sR. Im-. /\II rigl11, n·S<-rwd.
M:"k III lhe U.S./\. I Sil. lnr . is a subsidiary of Wiz:ird, of llll' Cnasl, Inc.
I.\
•:

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Being a Guide to previously Unknown Inner-Planar
Creatures, both Malevolent and Benign , and Including
selected Revised Entries from older Sources.
CR.t:DI+S
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Designer: Monte Cook ♦ Editors: Ray Vallese, Michele Carter
Proofreader: Keith Strohm
Cover Artist: Randy Post ♦ Interior Artists: Brian Despain, Tony DiTerlizzi,
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Scott Fischer, John Matson, Jeff Miracola, Adam Rex, Philip Tan, Drew Tucker
Project Manager: Steve Winter ♦ Conceptual Artist : Dana Knutson
Art Direction: Dawn Murin, Paul Hanchette ♦ Graphic Design: Dawn Murin, Matt Adelsperger, Dee Barnett
Electronic Prepress Coordinator: Terry Craig ♦ Typography: Angelika Lokotz

Some of the monsters in this book first appeared in the following products: FIEND Fouo® tome,
Monster Manu al II tome (2016), MYSTARA® MONSTROUS COMPENDIUM Appendix (2501),
DARKSuN® MON STROUS COMPENDIUM Ap p endix II (2433),
m

and various issues of DRAGON® Magazine.

U.S., CANADA, EUROPEANHEADQUAR TERS


ASIA, PACIFIC, Et LATINAMERICA Wizards of the Coast, Belgium
Wizards of the Coast, Inc. P.B.34
[Link] 707 2300 Turnhout
Renton, WA 98057-0707 Belgium
+ 1-206-624-0933 +32-14-44- 30-44
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Visit our website at [Link]


2635
ADVANCED DUNGEONS Et DRAGONS, ADEtD,DARK SUN,DRAGON, FIENDFouo, MONSTROUS COM PENDIUM,MYSTARA, PLAN ESCAPE,the
Lady of Pain logo, and the TSR logo are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. MONSTRO USMAN UALis a trademark
owned by TSR, Inc. All TSR characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by
TSR, Inc. Distributed to the book trade in the United States by Random House, Inc., and in Canada by Random House of
Canada, Ltd. Distributed to the hobby, toy, and comk trade in the United States and Canada by regional distributor.;.
Distributed worldwide by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., and regional distributor.;. This material is protected under the
copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or artwork
contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of TSR, Inc.
c 1998 TSR, Inc. All rights reserved. Made in the [Link], Inc. is a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
HEDW+ED us, +HIS BEDEDK

Plenty of berks who've traveled Thus, choices had to be made as to which older beasts'd get
from Mechanus to Limbo and another chance in the spotl ight. Those included were picked
everywhere in between think on the basis of how important they were, how unique they
they've seen the best and were, and how sodding difficult they were to find anywhere
the worst the multi- else. So a body shouldn't worry if he can't find the fireta il,
verse has to offer, the nightshade, or the ice crab in this book. They haven't
whether it's the been forgotten - they just didn't make the cut. Maybe next

e
shining cities of Mount time, berk.
Celestia or the fetid swamps of
the Abyss. Perhaps they've
dined with archons, marched
♦ USING +HIS BE9E9K. ♦
with modrons, and even pu t a few pit fiends into the dead-

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book. But if they haven't exp lored the Inner Planes - well, Like the PLAN ESCAPE MONSTROUS COMPENDIU M Appendix (2602)
they just haven't seen anything yet. and Appendix II (2613), this volume follows the entry format
See, the Inner Planes present some of the oddest and of the MO NSTROUS MANUAL™ tome . Brief exp lanations of the
most dangerous environments of all the cosmos. Most folks categories used in each entry appear below.
know of the four Elemental Planes (Air, Earth , Fire, and Ct 1 1 \If /TrRR\IN: The plane(s) the creature inhabits most
Water), but few can spea k with aut hority about the four of the t ime. Creatures can, and often do, leave their home
Paraelemental Planes (Ice, Magma , Ooze , and Smoke), t he plane through norma l means (porta ls, spells, innate ab ilities,
eight Quasielemental Planes (Ash, Dust, Lightning , Mineral, and so on).
Radiance, Salt, Steam , and Vacuum), or the two Energy rREQl rNcv· The likelihood of encountering the creature

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Planes (Positive and Negative). Some of these places're as in-
hospitable as a body could imagine - yet they teem with life.
'Course, the inhabitants of these planes 're unlike those of
any other , and even a seasoned planewalker can't know the
on its home plane. "Very rare" indicates a 40/ochance; "rare"
means an 110/ochance; "uncommon" is a 20°/o chance; and
"com mon" indicates a 650/ochance.
ORuANI/\ll0N: The social structure the creature typica lly
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dark of them all. Most creat u res have unexpected appear- adopts. "Solitary" can include small fami ly groups.
ances and powers , and sometimes unknowable motives and Arnv1n CYCII:The time of day when the monster is
mysterious goals. most active . Since none of the planes dealt with in this
The PLANESCAPE ® MONSTROUS book follows the standard cycle of day and
COMPENDIUM ® Appendix Ill YEBU CAN LIS+EN n ight, th is entry is often meaningless.
looks to set the record +EB +HA+ SCREED ABEBU+ D E : What the creature usua lly eats. Car-
st raight. Assembled here nivores eat meat, herbivores eat
+ E. PLANES BEING ALL
plants, and omnivores eat ei-
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are dozens of monsters


from the Inner A B EB U + BE L I E f If- vet.J WAN + +e , ther. However, many inner-
Planes, along with a BU+ HERE EBN + i E I N NE R p LANE s' planar monsters consume
handful from the wr FEBcus e"' s EBmE+HING DIFFEREN+: other substances entirely.
Astra l Plane and SURVIVAL. INHI IC,NU' Descrip-
the Ethereal Plane. tive terms range from "non-" to "godlike,"
Most of 'em are GREGGAR RHCDNH, and the cor responding Inte lligence ability
sco re is presented in parentheses.
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brand new, but A PLANEWALKER


some appeared - TRI \Sl RI: This refe rs to Table 84: Treasure
in much more ab- Types, found in Appendix l of the DUNGEON MASTER® GUIDE
brev iated form - in (DMG). If possible, inte lligent monsters make use of magical
old magazine articles or items in their possession.
products that're now out of r\1IUNMI NI The genera l behavio r of the average monster
prin t. Still, this volume puts a of that type. Note that exceptions may be encountered.
fresh twist on the older creatures, so a body shouldn't as- No. A ,,,r \RINl,:An average encounter size. Adjust this as
sume he knows all there is to know about a beast just be- appropriate to the situation and playe r character capability.
cause he's seen it once before. A~ 10R Cl \ss· A comb ined rating of the protective value
Naturally, this tome doesn't include every old favorite. of the creature's hide, reflexes, speed, magical protect ion,
Why not? First of all, it tries to cove r each Inner Plane (not typica l armor worn, an d so on.
to mention the Silver Void and the Misty Shore) in relatively Mov 11,,1 N 1: The creature's speed rating. Unusual move-
equal measure. Enough fire- related monsters alone exist to men t types include Fl (flying), Sw (swimm ing), and Br (Bur-
fill this book from front to back, but no one plane was meant rowing). Fliers have a maneuve rability class rating of A
to be stressed here. Second, the Appendix Ill isn't su pposed (exce llent) to E (clumsy); for deta ils, refer to the aer ial com-
to be a rep rint volume - most of the creatures he re are new. bat rules in Chapter 9 of the DMG.

♦ 2 ♦
J · The amount of damage a creature can with- 511 , \I D Any special protections (such as im-
stand before dying. Hit Dice are eight-sided; roll the indi- munities or regeneration), which are listed here and detailed
cated quant ity to determine the creatu re's hit point total. An in the text.
addition noted after the number is an extra amount of hit M ,l RI<; The percentage chance that a monster
points. For example, 4+3 HD is 4d8+3 hit points. Creatures ignores the effects of magic it interacts with, from a spell or
with a bonus of 3 or more hit points are t reated as having item to the innate power of another being. Even if the magic
the next higher Hit Die for purposes of determining saving isn 't ignored, the monster still makes norma l saving throws.

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throws and attacks. Creatu res may also be immune to specific types of magic,
I \C. ) An acronym for To Hit Armor Class 0. This does but that's not considered magic resistance.
not include any special bonuses that may appear in the mon- 51 • Abbreviated as T (tiny, 2 feet tall or smalle r), S
ster's description. (small, 2 to 4 feet), M (medium or human-sized, 4 to 7 feet),
The basic number of attacks that a crea- L (large, 7 to 12 feet), H (huge, I 2 to 25 feet), or G (gargan-

f il
ture can ma ke in a single round, not necessa rily including tuan, 25+ feet in length or height).
spec ial attacks. M 11"' A rating of how likely the creature is to perse-
J The amount of da mage each of the vere against adversity or armed opposition. Adjust this for
monster 's attacks causes, in terms of the die to be rolled . "By current circumstances; even cowardly creatures
weapon" means that the amount of damage is based on the don't run away from a fight they're easily
type of weapon the creature uses . winning. Morale ratings fall into the fol-
'->1 Any special offensive capabiJities (such lowing ranges: unreliable (2 to 4),
as breath weapons or poison), which are listed here and de- unsteady (5 to 7), average (8 to 10),
tailed in the text. steady ( 11 to 12), elite ( 13 to 14),

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champio n ( 15 to 16), fanatic ( 17 to 18), and fearless ( 19 to An elemental in the strictest sense of the word is a spiritual
20). For more details, refer to Chapter 9 of the DMG. creature found only on the planes of Earth, Air, Fire, and
xr \. . Experience points awarded for defeating (but Water that inhabits its respective element. It flows freely
not necessarily killing) the monster. Modify this for cam- throughout its plane, and when it wants to interact with its
paign balance and the danger characters face during the environment, it can assume a material form by wrapping a
encounter. Don't let the death of a monster in unfair circum- portion of elemental force around itself. (This resultant
stances result in free XP for the PCs. "body" isn't really the elemental at all.) And the same is true

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In addition to the base statistics outlined above, the text of paraelementals and quasielementals. Both are free-willed
describing each monster is organized as follows: spirits that shape bodies for themselves out of their environ-
l< T An explanation of the monster's special com- ments.
bat abilities, arms and armor, and tactics. Unless otherwise However, not all creatures native to the Inner Planes are
noted, a creature with more than one special ability or spell- elementals, paraelementals, or quasie lementals, and these

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like power can use them at the rate of one per round. other beasts don't possess quite so much freedom. Instead,
II S1 11 A look at the monster's behavior, na- like most terrestrial beings, they're tied to a physical form,
ture, social structure, lair, goals, and interaction with others. even if that form - say, that of a water weird - is composed
I 1 1 A description of the niche the monster fills on entirely of a single element.
its home plane, what the creature eats, how it reproduces, Still, whether a creature is a true elemental or just a na-
and other miscellaneous information . tive, any inhabitant of an Inner Plane is immune to the
harmful effects of that plane. For example, all beings from
the plane of Fire are immune to flames and heat, and all
CREA+URES E9f +HE those from the quasiplane of Dust are exempt from its disin-
♦ I NER [Link] ♦
e
As this book focuses on the Inner Planes, it won't come as a
surprise to well-lanned bloods that it deals mostly with ele-
mental, paraelemental, and quasielemental creatu res. Many
tegrating properties.

PA RAJ. J.t: J.I Sm


Parallelism is the belief that the Inner Planes are essentially
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such beasts - including the elemental grue, elemental "kin," variants of the same theme. In terms of the inhabitants, this
and the four basic elementals themselves - have been pre- would mean that any creature found on one plane had its
sented in a previous PLANESCAPE MONSTROUS COMP ENDIUMAp- counterpart on all others. Well, each plane does have its own
pend ix or in the MONSTROUS MANUAL tome. While those native elemental, paraelemental, or quasielemental, and each
creatures haven't been reprinted here, this book does contain also has its own mephit. The theory of parallelism certainly
monsters that share a number of similarities with them (par- holds on the four Elemental Planes - each has a native grue,
ticularly with the elementals). geniekind, gen, vermin, plasm, and fundamental. And gray-
m

The Monstrous Manual tome presents elementa ls from a beards can point to plenty of other examples. Thus, adhe r-
prime-material point of view - as creatures summoned to the ents of parallelism claim that the study of one Inner Plane is
Prime by spellcasters. On their own planes, however, elemen- really the study of them all, for they're all the same.
tals're treated a bit differently. At home, their frequency is 'Course, this school of thought has as many opponents
common, they're often encountered in bands of ld6, and as it does supporters. The naysayers're quick to point out all
many of them have high Intelligence ( 13-14) or better. What's of the creatures that seem to have no parallels - the fire bat,
more, they're free-willed creatures with societies, leaders, the khargra, the xorn, and so on. Besides, they argue, even if
Sa

fears, and aspirations. Some of the more intelligent elemen- a bit of parallelism does exist, it doesn't mean that all things
tals have even changed alignments, so a planewa lker might elemental follow the rule. After all, there's no reasoning (as
encounter the rare one that's become good or evil - or the yet) for parallelism. Supporters have never produced proof of
even rarer elemental that's given itself over to law or chaos. any force or multiversal mechanism that causes
Unfortunate ly, folks who aren't too fam iliar with the the elements to stay in synch
Inn er Planes rattle their bone-boxes endlessly about "ele- (though Guvner paral-
mentals," using the term to describe anything that lives on ~
,,-
_~,j.~ leiists try and try to find
any of those planes. But they're wrong. it). They've offered nothing
but wild theories.
Despite all the controversy and
debate, parallelism has been and continues to be
the standard theory taught regarding the makeup of
the Inner Planes. Only recently have bloods been able
to challenge the notion and make a believable case
against it. It's something that all scholars of the
Inner Planes must deal with, eventually.
♦ 4 ♦
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EC$J.$GY $f +HE Other natives, especially mephits, regularly trave l back
♦ INNER [Link] ♦ and forth between planes with (usually) less hostile intent.
Kharg ra are a good example of this; they "swi m" between
It may take a while, but any canny cutter'll tumble to one Earth and Mineral, occasionally getting lost and wandering
thing regarding the Inner Planes: They're nothing like home. into Dust, Ooze, or even Magma (where they soon die).
In places whe re there's virtually no plant life, where the re's True elementals, paraelementals, and qua sielementals,
no up or down, and where many of the inhabitants are lite r- on the other hand, usually stay where they're most comfort-
ally compose d of the same substance as thei r surroundings , ab le and powerful - on their home planes.

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things begin to seem very alien. But even alien things can be
understood.
[Link]+AJ. $PP$Sl+ES
Well, a body can try, at least.
For the purposes of this book , which describes and Much has been made of the enmity between opposi ng ele-

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studies denizens of the Inner Planes, a blood shou ld focu s ments - fire versus water, earth versus ai r, magma versus
primari ly on understanding the basics of inner -planar ecol- ice, and ooze versus smoke (not to mention the opposing
ogy. It's next to useless to know anything about the creatures negative and positive quasiplanes) . But don't worry to o
that live on these planes witho ut know ing much about memorizing every pair of opposites. In-
how they interact. Nothing lives in a EACH FffiRCE, stead, just remember one hard and fast rule: Creatures
vacuum (well, the of one element hate creatures of all other elements.
egarus, the vacu-
mA+ER IAL It proves to be true more often than not.
ous, and a few EllR CREA+URE FffiUND Sure, plenty of exceptions exist, but
others do - that's ffiN E!lNE E!lF +HE INNER PLANES they're minor: earth elementals
a joke, berk). They
all fill a niche within
their own ecosystem, no
matter how strange the
creature or how bizarre
e s CE R +A I N +e HAVE
CffiRffiLLARY
flNN WES THURESH,
A p A RA LL E LI s+
I+ S
ffi N EVERY ffi+HER.
and mineral par aele mentals,
smoke mephits and efreet, and
dozens of others. And, of course,
many inner-plana r creatures
never get the opportunity to inte ract. When
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the environment. would an immoth from the parap lane of Ice
and a lesser sala mander from the plane of Fire ever
meet? Neither really leaves its home plane, a nd even if one
IN +E RAC+ I$ N did, it cou ldn't survive in the env ironm ent of the other. Nev-
♦ BE+WEEN [Link] ♦ ertheless, a canny basher'd bet his jink on the idea that if
they could meet, they'd hate each other.
A well-known planewalker once made the point that, all in This isn't to say that all is peaceful and harmonious
m

all, it's easier to get around on the Inner Planes than on the within each plane, however. On the contrary, elementa l crea-
Outer. That is, it's not a difficul t matter to get from one Inner tures have waged great and devastating wars against other
Plane to another. That's probably true. However, inter-planar native s o f the sa me pla ne. The Pri nces of Elementa l Good
inte raction is limited, because many of the natives can't sur- and Evil embody this sort of inner strife (if a body'LI pardon
vive in th eir neighbor ing enviro nment s. For example, the the pun).
planes of Fire or Magma would make short work of most
creatures from the Paraelemental Plane of Ice.
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Still, some inte raction does exist, particular ly between IN +E RAC+ I EDN W I H I N +
the Elementa l Plane s and their related paraplanes and qua si-
♦ EACH [Link] ♦
pla ne s. This is certainly true of the ge niekind. Djinn are
found not only on the plane of Air, but also on the planes of The ecology of each Inner Plane varies considerably. Accord-
Ice, Smoke, Lightn ing, and even Vacuum. Dao slave rs roam ing to some graybeards, each element has a sort of "person-
all of the Inner Plane s (and even the Astral and Ethereal) ality" - creatures of fire are hot-tempered, beasts of earth
with magical protection, but they live in great numbers on are ponderou s and slow, and so on. But only an addle-cove'd
the plan es of Mineral, Dust, Magma, and Ooze. Efreet and assume that such generalizat ions are always true .
other natives of Magma (as well as Radian ce, Steam, and When readin g th rough the following sectio ns, even the
Ash), so met imes war with the dao there. most well-lanned of planar scholars're bound to come upon a
Fact is, confli cts between elemental creatures on ad- reference or two to creatures they've never heard of. Don't be
jo ining paraplanes make them dangerous places to visit. too upset by this. Some of the monsters mentioned come from
Many are the kings, dukes, and prince s of the various races, obscure sources and are included only for the sake of com-
and it seems that they're always engaged in petty squa bb les pleteness (although there still wasn't room for everyt hing).
that send elemental armies clashing together. That's the way See, the Inner Planes are full of life, and if all a basher knows
of the Inner Planes. is what's in this book alone, he's doing all right.
♦ 6 ♦

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