By a twist of fate and incredible bloody-mindedness, my players have ended up in Hades.
There is very little info on Hades in 5e and what little exists seems to change facts from previous editions. E.g. Hades used to be the home of the yugoloths, and now Gehenna is described as their home.
Can anyone recommend a good source with a cohesive vision of Hades I can use, regardless of edition?
Also, any suggestions for some random Hades appropriate encounters to help set the scene.
One PC is a paladin of kelemvor, and multiclassed into a warlock with a specific angel of kelemvor as a patron. Another PC is an Aasimsar Cleric of Myrkul. Hence why the party ended up in Hades
The thing about hades is that is their is nothing cool about it.It litterally is soul suckingly boring,not exactly the place for adventure.The stuff in dmg basically sumerizes anything intresting
In older Greek myths, the realm of Hades is the misty and gloomy abode of the dead (also called Erebus) where all mortals go when they die. Very few mortals could leave Hades once they entered. The exceptions, Heracles and Theseus, are heroic. Even Odysseus in his Nekyia (Odyssey, XI) calls up the spirits of the departed, rather than descend to them. Later Greek philosophy introduced the idea that all mortals are judged after death and are either rewarded or cursed.
There were several sections of the realm of Hades, including Elysium, the Asphodel Meadows, and Tartarus. The mythographer Apollodorus, describes Tartarus as "a gloomy place in Hades as far distant from Earth, as Earth is distant from the sky." Greek mythographers were not perfectly consistent about the geography of the afterlife. A contrasting myth of the afterlife concerns the Garden of the Hesperides, often identified with the Isles of the Blessed, where the blessed heroes may dwell.
In Roman mythology, the entrance to the Underworld located at Avernus, a crater near Cumae, was the route Aeneas used to descend to the realm of the dead.
For Hellenes, the deceased entered the underworld by crossing the Styx, ferried across by Charon "kair'-on", who charged an obolus, a small coin for passage placed in the mouth of the deceased by pious relatives. Paupers and the friendless gathered for a hundred years on the near shore according to Book VI of Vergil's Aeneid. Greeks offered propitiatory libations to prevent the deceased from returning to the upper world to "haunt" those who had not given them a proper burial. The far side of the river was guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed dog defeated by Heracles (Roman Hercules). Passing beyond Cerberus, the shades of the departed entered the land of the dead to be judged.
The five rivers of the realm of Hades, and their symbolic meanings, are Acheron (the river of sorrow, or woe), Cocytus (lamentation), Phlegethon (fire), Lethe (oblivion), and Styx (hate), the river upon which even the gods swore and in which Achilles was dipped to render him invincible. The Styx forms the boundary between the upper and lower worlds.
The first region of Hades comprises the Fields of Asphodel, described in Odyssey XI, where the shades of heroes wander despondently among lesser spirits, who twitter around them like bats. Only libations of blood offered to them in the world of the living can reawaken in them for a time the sensations of humanity.
Beyond lay Erebus, which could be taken for a euphonym of Hades, whose own name was dread. There were two pools, that of Lethe, where the common souls flocked to erase all memory, and the pool of Mnemosyne ("memory"), where the initiates of the Mysteries drank instead. In the forecourt of the palace of Hades and Persephone sit the three judges of the Underworld: Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus. There at the trivium sacred to Hecate, where three roads meet, souls are judged, returned to the Fields of Asphodel if they are neither virtuous nor evil, sent by the road to Tartarus if they are impious or evil, or sent to Elysium (Islands of the Blessed) with the "blameless" heroes.
Yes, wikipedia is accurate to Hades as a concept in Greek myth. However, Hades, the River Styx, and a bunch of other Classical Greek elements diverged from classic myth "canon" pretty much as soon as they were appropriated by D&D designers close to 50 years ago (and pretty wildly, I couldn't see the Orpheus myth really functioning in D&D Hades as usually presented). Nthal's and stuffattacksknightofrandom are both pretty much spot on as to representation of Hades in D&D. Classical Hades had Shades, which I think wound up elsewhere in the D&D cosmology. Hades instead has the icky larva thing going on.
Hades is one of the places in which the Bloodwar takes place, just as all the Outer Planes. There may be Celestials and Fiends anywhere you want. The spirits of the dead may include NPCs the players encountered in their travels who have passed away. Those may have goals of some kind, wishing to escape, or travel to one of the other regions. There's petty much every kind of terrain in Hades somewhere, so aquatic monsters, flying monsters, whatever you like, can easily be put in. Oozes, Slimes, and Jellies are unlikely to be found there, as they are ruled by Jubliex, and would normally be found in Shedakla, Jubliex's realm, but they would come as a great surprise if the characters did run into some. Elementals probably shouldn't be found in Hades unless Hades himself put them there. The Elemental Planes and the Outer Planes are completely different. I have a fondness for Rust Monsters.
Playing around with the waters of Lethe might allow aspects of a character to be rewritten since it washes away their memories. Once they get their memories back, they might regret their decisions and the DM can allow whatever they want to be altered when next the character levels, or right on the spot. The River Styx could make a character invulnerable to non-magical weapons just as Achilles, and just like him, the character could get into a lot of trouble with it.
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By a twist of fate and incredible bloody-mindedness, my players have ended up in Hades.
There is very little info on Hades in 5e and what little exists seems to change facts from previous editions. E.g. Hades used to be the home of the yugoloths, and now Gehenna is described as their home.
Can anyone recommend a good source with a cohesive vision of Hades I can use, regardless of edition?
Also, any suggestions for some random Hades appropriate encounters to help set the scene.
One PC is a paladin of kelemvor, and multiclassed into a warlock with a specific angel of kelemvor as a patron. Another PC is an Aasimsar Cleric of Myrkul. Hence why the party ended up in Hades
Best reference probably would be "Planes of Conflict" from the Planescape setting, which covers all three glooms of the Gray Wastes (aka Hades).
You can buy the PDF of this on dmsguild here
The thing about hades is that is their is nothing cool about it.It litterally is soul suckingly boring,not exactly the place for adventure.The stuff in dmg basically sumerizes anything intresting
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Hades - Wikipedia
Realm of Hades
In older Greek myths, the realm of Hades is the misty and gloomy abode of the dead (also called Erebus) where all mortals go when they die. Very few mortals could leave Hades once they entered. The exceptions, Heracles and Theseus, are heroic. Even Odysseus in his Nekyia (Odyssey, XI) calls up the spirits of the departed, rather than descend to them. Later Greek philosophy introduced the idea that all mortals are judged after death and are either rewarded or cursed.
There were several sections of the realm of Hades, including Elysium, the Asphodel Meadows, and Tartarus. The mythographer Apollodorus, describes Tartarus as "a gloomy place in Hades as far distant from Earth, as Earth is distant from the sky." Greek mythographers were not perfectly consistent about the geography of the afterlife. A contrasting myth of the afterlife concerns the Garden of the Hesperides, often identified with the Isles of the Blessed, where the blessed heroes may dwell.
In Roman mythology, the entrance to the Underworld located at Avernus, a crater near Cumae, was the route Aeneas used to descend to the realm of the dead.
For Hellenes, the deceased entered the underworld by crossing the Styx, ferried across by Charon "kair'-on", who charged an obolus, a small coin for passage placed in the mouth of the deceased by pious relatives. Paupers and the friendless gathered for a hundred years on the near shore according to Book VI of Vergil's Aeneid. Greeks offered propitiatory libations to prevent the deceased from returning to the upper world to "haunt" those who had not given them a proper burial. The far side of the river was guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed dog defeated by Heracles (Roman Hercules). Passing beyond Cerberus, the shades of the departed entered the land of the dead to be judged.
The five rivers of the realm of Hades, and their symbolic meanings, are Acheron (the river of sorrow, or woe), Cocytus (lamentation), Phlegethon (fire), Lethe (oblivion), and Styx (hate), the river upon which even the gods swore and in which Achilles was dipped to render him invincible. The Styx forms the boundary between the upper and lower worlds.
The first region of Hades comprises the Fields of Asphodel, described in Odyssey XI, where the shades of heroes wander despondently among lesser spirits, who twitter around them like bats. Only libations of blood offered to them in the world of the living can reawaken in them for a time the sensations of humanity.
Beyond lay Erebus, which could be taken for a euphonym of Hades, whose own name was dread. There were two pools, that of Lethe, where the common souls flocked to erase all memory, and the pool of Mnemosyne ("memory"), where the initiates of the Mysteries drank instead. In the forecourt of the palace of Hades and Persephone sit the three judges of the Underworld: Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Aeacus. There at the trivium sacred to Hecate, where three roads meet, souls are judged, returned to the Fields of Asphodel if they are neither virtuous nor evil, sent by the road to Tartarus if they are impious or evil, or sent to Elysium (Islands of the Blessed) with the "blameless" heroes.
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Yes, wikipedia is accurate to Hades as a concept in Greek myth. However, Hades, the River Styx, and a bunch of other Classical Greek elements diverged from classic myth "canon" pretty much as soon as they were appropriated by D&D designers close to 50 years ago (and pretty wildly, I couldn't see the Orpheus myth really functioning in D&D Hades as usually presented). Nthal's and stuffattacksknightofrandom are both pretty much spot on as to representation of Hades in D&D. Classical Hades had Shades, which I think wound up elsewhere in the D&D cosmology. Hades instead has the icky larva thing going on.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Some ideas of my own to pass along:
Hades is one of the places in which the Bloodwar takes place, just as all the Outer Planes. There may be Celestials and Fiends anywhere you want. The spirits of the dead may include NPCs the players encountered in their travels who have passed away. Those may have goals of some kind, wishing to escape, or travel to one of the other regions. There's petty much every kind of terrain in Hades somewhere, so aquatic monsters, flying monsters, whatever you like, can easily be put in. Oozes, Slimes, and Jellies are unlikely to be found there, as they are ruled by Jubliex, and would normally be found in Shedakla, Jubliex's realm, but they would come as a great surprise if the characters did run into some. Elementals probably shouldn't be found in Hades unless Hades himself put them there. The Elemental Planes and the Outer Planes are completely different. I have a fondness for Rust Monsters.
Playing around with the waters of Lethe might allow aspects of a character to be rewritten since it washes away their memories. Once they get their memories back, they might regret their decisions and the DM can allow whatever they want to be altered when next the character levels, or right on the spot. The River Styx could make a character invulnerable to non-magical weapons just as Achilles, and just like him, the character could get into a lot of trouble with it.
<Insert clever signature here>