In 5e, the DMG, the prison plane of Carceri is described as:
The model for all other prisons in existence, Carceri is a plane of desolation and despair. Its six layers hold vast bogs, fetid jungles, windswept deserts, jagged mountains, frigid oceans, and black ice. All form a miserable home for the traitors and backstabbers that are trapped on this prison plane.
I love the flavor and am interested in putting together a small dossier of sorts on some of the more notorious prisoners of Carceri. I'm aware of the treatments Carceri has received from 2e Planescape and beyond, but I'm wondering what sorts of original entities you could imagine being trapped in Carceri by a higher power. I'll give you a list of some ideas I've had:
A yugoloth or other fiendish general that acted as a double agent in the Blood War, and betrayed both sides.
An accursed archive with a monstrous librarian, who is secretly the misbegotten child of a god of knowledge and wisdom.
An elder titan imprisoned for siphoning worship from the deities.
A malevolent gnome artificer who once tampered with the Clock of Ages, which sets time for the multiverse.
An otherwise noble angel infected with an intelligent demonic disease with no known "cure".
A very slightly biased Marut that has over time strayed far from the ideals of law, and has since formed an army of rogue modrons like a Mongol horde.
An exiled archfey who was too devious and evil for the unseelie court.
The Sun King, an undead king of a long-forgotten dynasty who ruled before any of the known deities arrived.
A promethean figure who introduced the concept of magic/psionics to mortals, earning the wrath of the gods.
A time or gem dragon supremacist, who has committed acts of genocide against the rest of dragonkind.
An ancient lawful slaad who found enlightenment under the tutelage of a githzerai monk.
The last remaining member of the third "side" in the Blood War; a type of fiend so powerful that the demons and devils temporarily aligned to wipe them out and their memory.
A monstrous arachnid that gains nearly unlimited magical power from an unknown source in the ethereal. The entity was trapped in Carceri, as it has no connection to that plane.
The Akashic equation, a sentient mathematical expression so perfect that its solution grants absolute knowledge of the past, present, and future of reality among other secrets the gods would rather leave undiscovered.
In my game world's pre-history Tiamat was once a unified single headed Scintillating Prismatic Dragon that became Tiamat we now know as a result of a flaying of Tiamat by Bahamut and an odd alliance with some demons and devils (sort of my game's Tower of Joy moment). It addition to be rended to have five heads, the flaying also spawned, or Tiamat let go of three additional dragon colors: The Yellow Dragon (dragon of fear), the orange dragon (dragon of hate) and the violet lingering on ultraviolet dragon (dragon of secrets and dark revelation). The Violet Dragon is in Carceri, sort of house arrest in prisoned in an entire city Umbrusitu (sort of a play on Black Site). It knows where the Yellow and Orange Dragons are, as well as powerful artifacts that remain from the flaying (the Flail of Tiamat has very different origins, and the Orbs of Dragonkind were Bahamut's creation, and some homebrew stuff), some of which are also vaulted away on Carceri. Some of the Planescape lore I believe makes mention of some Dragons doing sort of archaeology work in Carceri (in my game there's an uncomfortable pact among some Copper, Blue, and some varied Gem Great Wyrms who have a sort of Cult of the Dragon bent on restoring Tiamat. This work would be considered heretical by some pretty significant planar powers, but that wouldn't necessarily stop it.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
In my world, some of the most notable prisoners of Carceri are the chromatic dragon generals of Tiamat's army -- the only known greatwyrms in existence. They were put there millenia ago when Tiamat attempted to invade the material plane and the people of the Material Plane retaliated, utilizing a very powerful toxin called Wyrm's Quiet and sending them to the prison plane.
Some of these are really evocative! Interesting that two of you mentioned things relating to Tiamat, as Tiamat itself is trapped in Baator. I've had a few more ideas today if anybody is interested.
Expanding on the archfey I mentioned above, I think the "Name Eater" is a good fit; a fey lord that devours true names, which has the effect of deleting its prey from reality.
A high-tech construct from the distant future that the gods don't know how to dissassemble.
The gods' first attempts at creating life yielded horrific results. Pitying the monstrosities and unable (unwilling?) to destroy them, the gods banished their first creations to Carceri.
The Betrayer of Traitors is a seemingly low-ranking fiend who finds traitors, gains their trust, and betrays them in turn.
A powerful lich once threatened the gods. Unable to find and destroy its phylactery, the gods imprisoned the lich in Carceri and made it impervious to harm.
Some of these are really evocative! Interesting that two of you mentioned things relating to Tiamat, as Tiamat itself is trapped in Baator. I've had a few more ideas today if anybody is interested.
Expanding on the archfey I mentioned above, I think the "Name Eater" is a good fit; a fey lord that devours true names, which has the effect of deleting its prey from reality.
A high-tech construct from the distant future that the gods don't know how to dissassemble.
The gods' first attempts at creating life yielded horrific results. Pitying the monstrosities and unable (unwilling?) to destroy them, the gods banished their first creations to Carceri.
The Betrayer of Traitors is a seemingly low-ranking fiend who finds traitors, gains their trust, and betrays them in turn.
A powerful lich once threatened the gods. Unable to find and destroy its phylactery, the gods imprisoned the lich in Carceri and made it impervious to harm.
I can see a campaign in which the lich secretly hires a party of adventurers to find the one thing that can kill it so that it can return to the Material Plane.
Some of these are really evocative! Interesting that two of you mentioned things relating to Tiamat, as Tiamat itself is trapped in Baator. I've had a few more ideas today if anybody is interested.
In my game Tiamat is "trapped." But yeah I largely keep Tiamat herself bound there, the whole sent to Avernus thing is part of the larger plot between Bahamut and a few Arch Devils and a few Demon Lords, most fiends, like most dragons not being in the know that it's a sort of fix to the structure of reality..
Some of these are really evocative! Interesting that two of you mentioned things relating to Tiamat, as Tiamat itself is trapped in Baator. I've had a few more ideas today if anybody is interested.
In my game Tiamat is "trapped." But yeah I largely keep Tiamat herself bound there, the whole sent to Avernus thing is part of the larger plot between Bahamut and a few Arch Devils and a few Demon Lords, most fiends, like most dragons not being in the know that it's a sort of fix to the structure of reality..
Reminds me of how in 4e, Carceri was designed as a bandage on reality after the Dawn War, to contain the abominations that the gods created.
Some of these are really evocative! Interesting that two of you mentioned things relating to Tiamat, as Tiamat itself is trapped in Baator. I've had a few more ideas today if anybody is interested.
In my game Tiamat is "trapped." But yeah I largely keep Tiamat herself bound there, the whole sent to Avernus thing is part of the larger plot between Bahamut and a few Arch Devils and a few Demon Lords, most fiends, like most dragons not being in the know that it's a sort of fix to the structure of reality..
Reminds me of how in 4e, Carceri was designed as a bandage on reality after the Dawn War, to contain the abominations that the gods created.
That's cool, I think whatever lore you're basing your world around, Carceri is definitely available as a sort of "vault."
But yeah, in my homebrew cosmology, what happened to Tiamat (being flayed into her five headed incarnation with three aspects either deeper buried or fugitives, basically dominating a much more protean and dynamic form) allowed Bahamut and the Devils and some other now planar entities to literally "institute" the D&D world's cosmology, and some Demon Lords took part because the chief among them like the idea of a Big Lie in the cosmologies underpinnings. Tiamat is confined to Hell because if she was every truly loose, she'd likely dismantle the cosmology in an effort to make herself whole again. The lost/missing dragons are definitely abominations or aberrations of the sort that they're existence throws into question the accepted D&D cosmology. Yuggoloths will often provide game shaking lore dumps to parties in a tone of "just saying."
Like actual prisons, Carceri can be a literal mine of rumors and legends and sometimes just stories locked away so that various authorities can avoid being challenged by them. It also makes Yuggoloths an interesting faction. I usually play them as formidable, but also incredibly cynical, like their transactional, mercenary nature is a product of their knowledge of a cosmos built on compromise.
Oh, another entity I have in Carceri: Jareth, the Goblin King who lives in a labyrinthine prison, if ever liberated he could settle the division between Feywild goblinkin and the more martial/klingon like Hobgoblin order that was the norm until recently on the prime material plane, each side claiming the other to be "the lost ones." He's sort of a King Arthur by way of Once and Future King for goblin kin, but every time I try to introduce that meta plot to a table the players get annoyed with my David Bowie impression or just the notion.
A daemegoth titan who ran a tyrannical kingdom and fed upon the sorrow he inflicted on his slaves.
An undead fey bard who loved to sing and dance. One day when he was alone and bored he came across a graveyard and decided to dance with the dead. This crime caused him to become a vampire and he has been banished to Carceri.
A monkey warrior who feared death so much that he sought out immortality and found it many times. Now the gods fear his unkillable nature and they have trapped him in Carceri.
A planar traveler who got stuck in Carceri.
A Houdini-esque escapist who boasted that no prison could hold him. A fiend decided to see if it was true.
In 5e, the DMG, the prison plane of Carceri is described as:
I love the flavor and am interested in putting together a small dossier of sorts on some of the more notorious prisoners of Carceri. I'm aware of the treatments Carceri has received from 2e Planescape and beyond, but I'm wondering what sorts of original entities you could imagine being trapped in Carceri by a higher power. I'll give you a list of some ideas I've had:
In my game world's pre-history Tiamat was once a unified single headed Scintillating Prismatic Dragon that became Tiamat we now know as a result of a flaying of Tiamat by Bahamut and an odd alliance with some demons and devils (sort of my game's Tower of Joy moment). It addition to be rended to have five heads, the flaying also spawned, or Tiamat let go of three additional dragon colors: The Yellow Dragon (dragon of fear), the orange dragon (dragon of hate) and the violet lingering on ultraviolet dragon (dragon of secrets and dark revelation). The Violet Dragon is in Carceri, sort of house arrest in prisoned in an entire city Umbrusitu (sort of a play on Black Site). It knows where the Yellow and Orange Dragons are, as well as powerful artifacts that remain from the flaying (the Flail of Tiamat has very different origins, and the Orbs of Dragonkind were Bahamut's creation, and some homebrew stuff), some of which are also vaulted away on Carceri. Some of the Planescape lore I believe makes mention of some Dragons doing sort of archaeology work in Carceri (in my game there's an uncomfortable pact among some Copper, Blue, and some varied Gem Great Wyrms who have a sort of Cult of the Dragon bent on restoring Tiamat. This work would be considered heretical by some pretty significant planar powers, but that wouldn't necessarily stop it.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
An Arcane alias Mercane grand merchant who double crossed the wrong client during a magic item trade.
The demilich who messed up an experiment
An albino Drow otucast from Menzoberranzan
The crawling claw from a Death Knight punished for thievery.
A fallen Planetar errant for mysterious reasons
An Azer trapped there as a result of an Effreeti's badly worded wish
A Tiefling Warlock punished by its Fiendish patron
A Hell Hound tracking a lost prey
A Solar castaway by its deity
An Erinyes devil once angel that fell from the Upper Planes because of misdeed
A Nightmare who came here as a steed but lost it's rider
A Naga cursed awayt by a Yian-Ti
A Mind Flayer survivor of an Illithid spelljammer crash
A Night Hag banished by it's coven's sisters for treason
An Empyrian illegitimate godson hidden away
A female elven Banshee victim of a Turned Undead gone wrong
A Pseudodragon lost while looking for rare spell somponents for its master
An Oni planeshifted for unauthorized use of magic in Candlekeep
A Sphinx banished for createing an unsolveable riddle
In my world, some of the most notable prisoners of Carceri are the chromatic dragon generals of Tiamat's army -- the only known greatwyrms in existence. They were put there millenia ago when Tiamat attempted to invade the material plane and the people of the Material Plane retaliated, utilizing a very powerful toxin called Wyrm's Quiet and sending them to the prison plane.
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Be not afraid.
Wait. Actually, be very afraid.
Some of these are really evocative! Interesting that two of you mentioned things relating to Tiamat, as Tiamat itself is trapped in Baator. I've had a few more ideas today if anybody is interested.
I can see a campaign in which the lich secretly hires a party of adventurers to find the one thing that can kill it so that it can return to the Material Plane.
Come participate in the Competition of the Finest Brews, Edition XXVIII?
My homebrew stuff:
Spells, Monsters, Magic Items, Feats, Subclasses.
I am an Archfey, but nobody seems to notice.
Extended Signature
In my game Tiamat is "trapped." But yeah I largely keep Tiamat herself bound there, the whole sent to Avernus thing is part of the larger plot between Bahamut and a few Arch Devils and a few Demon Lords, most fiends, like most dragons not being in the know that it's a sort of fix to the structure of reality..
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Reminds me of how in 4e, Carceri was designed as a bandage on reality after the Dawn War, to contain the abominations that the gods created.
That's cool, I think whatever lore you're basing your world around, Carceri is definitely available as a sort of "vault."
But yeah, in my homebrew cosmology, what happened to Tiamat (being flayed into her five headed incarnation with three aspects either deeper buried or fugitives, basically dominating a much more protean and dynamic form) allowed Bahamut and the Devils and some other now planar entities to literally "institute" the D&D world's cosmology, and some Demon Lords took part because the chief among them like the idea of a Big Lie in the cosmologies underpinnings. Tiamat is confined to Hell because if she was every truly loose, she'd likely dismantle the cosmology in an effort to make herself whole again. The lost/missing dragons are definitely abominations or aberrations of the sort that they're existence throws into question the accepted D&D cosmology. Yuggoloths will often provide game shaking lore dumps to parties in a tone of "just saying."
Like actual prisons, Carceri can be a literal mine of rumors and legends and sometimes just stories locked away so that various authorities can avoid being challenged by them. It also makes Yuggoloths an interesting faction. I usually play them as formidable, but also incredibly cynical, like their transactional, mercenary nature is a product of their knowledge of a cosmos built on compromise.
Oh, another entity I have in Carceri: Jareth, the Goblin King who lives in a labyrinthine prison, if ever liberated he could settle the division between Feywild goblinkin and the more martial/klingon like Hobgoblin order that was the norm until recently on the prime material plane, each side claiming the other to be "the lost ones." He's sort of a King Arthur by way of Once and Future King for goblin kin, but every time I try to introduce that meta plot to a table the players get annoyed with my David Bowie impression or just the notion.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
A happy sorrowsworn
A daemegoth titan who ran a tyrannical kingdom and fed upon the sorrow he inflicted on his slaves.
An undead fey bard who loved to sing and dance. One day when he was alone and bored he came across a graveyard and decided to dance with the dead. This crime caused him to become a vampire and he has been banished to Carceri.
A monkey warrior who feared death so much that he sought out immortality and found it many times. Now the gods fear his unkillable nature and they have trapped him in Carceri.
A planar traveler who got stuck in Carceri.
A Houdini-esque escapist who boasted that no prison could hold him. A fiend decided to see if it was true.
The god of prisoners.
Hell yes. Even better, it wasn't a fiend who sent them to Carceri, it was a god of tricksters who really wanted them to succeed.
That is even better.
Do you mind if I use this in my campaign it seems really interesting and I would love for my players to fight these dragons eventually!
I also have the ability to manifest my thoughts in ways that cut people. I call this power words. -Tasha
I play 3.5E…sometimes.
Come swim over to the Bloody Barnacle! The Bloody Barnacle against the world!
They/them
My avatar is stuck in Archeon help would be ideal.
Silhouette of determination! Thanks drum!