Jubilex, Lord of Ooze. Makes slime, summons slime, controls all slime, and is an incredibly corrosive slime constantly expelling poison. Can also restrain, of course. Here's a fun fact, despite what everyone seems to think, Jubilex is one of the most knowledgeable and intelligent creatures in existence. He knows the true names of the eldritch gods and thier goals, the true nature of the Abyss, and when desired can move with near unrivalled strategy. Creatures that even demon lords dare not speak in the presence of, and Juiblex reads them easily. None of that matters because he has 0 desire to use any of that. He hates politics and conversation and pretty much anyone that isn't a slime. Has no need for the power, he's happy to just roam his half of a domain and chuckle as he eats things. Just him and the oozes that feel happy just from being around him. He's older than any god or eldritch horror because he's stayed out of every conflict, just chilling with his slime friends. If you managed to pull this off...I mean, you'll be a legend just from getting him to like you enough, let alone if you survive.

Dungeon: The Seeping Tombs

The learned and pious council of the king's advisors concluded that if sickness was a sign of moral failing, that medicine was a form of ennoblement allowing the sinner to bypass suffering without repentance. By royal decree the healers were thrown in along with their patients, the gates sealed behind them.

Constructed during an age of ignorance, these now innocuous ruins were used as a prison for those who had committed no crime besides falling ill. Pestilence ravaged the land, and after years of failing or outright refusing to control its spread the old king and his pious inner circle began to resent the masses who suffered under under their misrule.

The building that became the tombs was already under construction, intended as the foundations for a great temple dedicated to the king's imperious patron deity. When the work crews grew sick their bodies were passed into the lowest reaches to prevent the spread of miasma, joined soon after by dead from the local villages, and eventually those afflicted but still living.

It was not long after the gates were sealed that something otherworldly come to dwell within the tomb, suborning the natural process of decay causing those interred within to rot into a sickening and malevolent sludge.

Adventure Hook: A new magical malady besets those descended form the king and his pious council, and though some have inherited their forebearers' zeal and callousness many others are quite innocent. When traditional cures fail, The party are hired to seek an answer, and whether through research or the consultation of oracles find themselves pointed towards the seeping tombs. Irony of ironies, this exact sickness was being looked into by talented physician condemned by the king's order, consigned along with her research to a squalid death among those she tried to save.

Whatever the source of the present malady, it has a sense of cruel justice that the party should be wary of.

Challenges & Complications:

Summoned by the prolonged fear, suffering, and affliction of those trapped within the tombs, Juiblex, demon sovereign of ooze, has consecrated the tombs as an altar to despair and wretchedness. The tunnels are overrun with its spawn, along with undead who's spirits cannot rest for all the cruelty that was done to them in life.

The longer and deeper the party explore, the more sick they're likely to get.

Early chambers of this dungeon are a great excuse to use the classic "what looks like a skeletal warrior approaching slowly down a corridor is actually a gelatinous cube & its last meal" encounter, which is a treat in and of itself.

The upper reaches of the tomb are controlled by a nest of ghoulish knights and footmen, who were originally tasked with driving droves of the sick into the dungeon, only to find themselves sealed inside along with the afflicted. As fearful and proud as their departed liege, they play at piety and honour willing to lend aid to the party for a chance to escape the tombs and run rampant on the surface.

The middle reaches of the tomb see the party exploring twisting, sticky corridors, their progress fenced in by portcullises and other defences that need to be opened remotely. These hurdles do not stop the level's guardian, a massive and inexorable ooze that will chase the party with relentless slowness once alerted. Expect an oddly paced chase scene as the party works on opening a path forward while trying not to get trapped in a room by the sludgy green tide.

The cure to the magical malady lays with it's source: the ghost of the masterful physician who's long simmering resentment has manifested as a curse. Having been denied the chance to save her patients, she must be convinced why she should allow her research to be used to save the realm's ungrateful rulers while the victims of their callousness go unmourned. Her counter-offer is as brutal as it is poetic: Let the sickness at the heart of the kingdom devour those who benefit from it, and let the future come as it may.

Art 1

Art 2

Lesser Spawn of Juiblex Large ooze, chaotic evil Armor Class 12 (natural armor) Hit Points 123 (13d10 + 52) Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft. Str 20, Dex 12, Con 19, Int 4, Wis 13, Cha 10 Saving Throws Con +7, Wis +4 Damage Immunities acid, poison Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, poisoned, prone Senses blindsight 60 ft. passive Perception 11 Languages Aquan Challenge 6 (2300 XP) Amorphous. The spawn of Juiblex can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. Sludge Form. The spawn of Juiblex ignores the effects of difficult terrain. When it moves, it can enter other creatures' spaces. A creature whose space it enters for the first time in a turn must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or take 7 (2d6) poison damage and be poisoned until the end of the creature's next turn. Actions Multiattack. The spawn of Juiblex makes two slam attacks. Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) bludgeoning damage and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be coated in slime. A creature that is coated in slime takes 4 (1d8) acid damage at the start of each of its turns. On its turn, the spawn of Juiblex can make one or both of its slam attacks as if it were in the space of a creature coated in slime. A creature coated in slime can remove the slime from itself by using an action on its turn to make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. If a creature coated in slime is dealt 10 or more cold or fire damage, the slime is destroyed and the effect ends for that creature.

Greater Spawn of Juiblex Huge ooze, chaotic evil Armor Class 12 (natural armor) Hit Points 172 (15d12 + 75) Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft. Str 23, Dex 10, Con 21, Int 6, Wis 15, Cha 10 Saving Throws Con +9, Wis +6 Damage Immunities acid, poison Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, poisoned, prone Senses blindsight 60 ft. passive Perception 12 Languages Aquan Challenge 10 (5900 XP) Amorphous. The spawn of Juiblex can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. Horrific Presence. Whenever a creature starts its turn within 5 feet of the spawn of Juiblex, it must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw. On a success, the creature becomes immune to the Horrifying Presence of all spawn of Juiblex for 24 hours. On a failed save, the creature becomes frightened until it moves at least 10 feet away from the spawn of Juiblex. Sludge Form. The spawn of Juiblex ignores the effects of difficult terrain. When it moves, it can enter other creatures' spaces. A creature whose space it enters for the first time in a turn must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or take 10 (3d6) poison damage and be poisoned until the end of the creature's next turn. Actions Multiattack. The spawn of Juiblex makes two melee attacks or two ranged attacks. Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (3d8+6) bludgeoning damage and the target must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or be coated in slime. A creature that is coated in slime takes 9 (2d8) acid damage at the start of each of its turns. On its turn, the spawn of Juiblex can make one or both of its slam attacks as if it were in the space of a creature coated in slime. A creature coated in slime can remove the slime from itself by using an action on its turn to make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. If a creature coated in slime is dealt 10 or more cold or fire damage, the slime is destroyed and the effect ends for that creature. Sludge Orb. Ranged Weapon Attack: +10 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (5d6) acid damage.

Elder Spawn of Juiblex Gargantuan ooze, chaotic evil Armor Class 13 (natural armor) Hit Points 214 (13d20 + 78) Speed 40 ft., climb 30 ft. Str 26, Dex 8, Con 23, Int 8, Wis 15, Cha 12 Saving Throws Con +11, Wis +7 Damage Immunities acid, poison Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, poisoned, prone Senses blindsight 60 ft. passive Perception 12 Languages Aquan Challenge 14 (11500 XP) Amorphous. The spawn of Juiblex can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. Horrific Presence. Whenever a creature starts its turn within 5 feet of the spawn of Juiblex, it must make a DC 19 Wisdom saving throw. On a success, the creature becomes immune to the Horrifying Presence of all spawn of Juiblex for 24 hours. On a failed save, the creature becomes frightened until it moves at least 10 feet away from the spawn of Juiblex. Sludge Form. The spawn of Juiblex ignores the effects of difficult terrain. When it moves, it can enter other creatures' spaces. A creature whose space it enters for the first time in a turn must make a DC 19 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 21 (6d6) poison damage, is poisoned until the end of the its next turn, and must succeed on a DC 21 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. Actions Multiattack. The spawn of Juiblex makes two melee attacks or two ranged attacks. Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 26 (4d8+8) bludgeoning damage and the target must succeed on a DC 19 Dexterity saving throw or be coated in slime. A creature that is coated in slime takes 13 (3d8) acid damage at the start of each of its turns. On its turn, the spawn of Juiblex can make one or both of its slam attacks as if it were in the space of a creature coated in slime. A creature coated in slime can remove the slime from itself by using an action on its turn to make a DC 19 Dexterity saving throw. If a creature coated in slime is dealt 10 or more cold or fire damage, the slime is destroyed and the effect ends for that creature. Sludge Orb. Ranged Weapon Attack: +13 to hit, range 30/90 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (6d6) acid damage.

The spawn of Juiblex are disgusting slime creatures who serve the Faceless Lord in a variety of capacities. Sometimes they are gifted as companions and soldiers to his most faithful thralls, other times they are sent as assassins, or simply lurk forgotten in particularly-tainted ruins. Wherever they go, they leave a path of destruction, as they consume and corrupt everything in their path, growing and bloating until they split into new spawns, or grow greater and more powerful. Lesser spawn of Juiblex are around 10 feet in diameter and weigh one-and-a-half tons. Greater spawn are around 20 feet in diameter and weigh ten tons. Elder spawn are around 40 feet in diameter and weigh almost sixty tons. 

Originally from the Monster Manual V

Bringing in the new year with some cartoony demon lords!

From left to right(ish): Yeenoghu, Juiblex, Demogorgon, Orcus, Zuggtmoy, Grazzt, Baphomet, and Fraz-Urb’luu

Idle thought for a Spelljammer adventure:

One of the cartoons that defined my childhood was The Pirates of Dark Water, which was about … well, the intro explains it pretty well:

The alien world of Myrr is being devoured by dark water. Only Ren, a young prince, can stop it, by finding the lost thirteen treasures of Rule. At his side is an unlikely but loyal crew of misfits. At his back, the evil pirate lord Bloth, who will stop at nothing to get the treasures for himself. It’s high adventure with the Pirates of Dark Water!

This show seriously shaped a LOT of my views of, say, planetary romance, science fantasy, etc. The explicitly alien but extremely fantasy world of Myrr, plus pirates, really did a lot for me as a kid. And I still adore the concept of the Dark Water itself, this vast, creeping corruption of an oceanic world, this sentient acidic oil slick that corrupts and converts other things into itself. Or just devours them.

And I’m just … I look at the Dark Water now and a bit of me sees an ooze. Specifically, an absolutely gargantuan, globally spreading black pudding. A seed of Juiblex, maybe, a particularly intelligent and sentient and titanic black ooze, with maybe quite a few of Juiblex’ resistances and regeneration, who is seeking to spread across the world for the Faceless Lord and remake it in Juiblex’ image.

And while Myrr and that idea would make an excellent planetary setting for D&D as well, I feel like there’s also a thing you could maybe do by transferring it to the Astral Sea. It is, after all, fully Spelljammer’s vibe. You’ve still got the ships. You’ve still got the pirates. And there’s plenty of eldritch shit knocking around the Astral Sea.

Maybe that’s how the Seed of Juiblex became so powerful and intelligent, because the psychic winds of the Sea imbued it with knowledge and sentience and possibly magic, all of which combined with the endless hunger of Juiblex to create a terrifying threat that seeks to devour everything the Sea touches. And the Faceless Lord sensed it and was pleased, and bestowed further gifts to strength it, delighted by its miasmic presence in the Sea.

Just picture it. You’re sailing the vast silver void of the Astral Sea, the guardrail of your ship under your hands, your sails proud and arched above you. Suddenly you see something in the distance. A darkness. A vast, rippling obsidian shape. A colour pool, you think. It has to be, at that size. One of the black pools to Limbo. You think to say something, but already the helm has moved to avoid it. You’ve no business in Limbo right now.

But even as you turn, you realise that the shape has rippled. Moved. You realise it has turned to follow you. Whatever this is, it has sentience. It has will. It’s not a colour pool, it’s a creature. As large as the ship and larger, and it’s not slow either.

Maybe you escape. Maybe you fight it. Maybe you win. But when you next make port, you the hear the rumours spreading. You’re not the only one who saw such a thing. There’s a corruption, out there in the Sea, and it’s growing. It’s spreading. It’s not one creature. It can’t be. So many have seen it, or something like it. And some … have seen something bigger. Not the size of a ship, but the size of a city. The size of a port. A vast, obsidian blackness, spreading out across the silver sea, that whispers and speaks. Of hunger. Nothing but hunger. A vast, gnawing, incomprehensible hunger.

(I love oozes. I love oozes. Juiblex is as eldritch as anything the Far Realm could come up with)

And it cannot be destroyed. This vast, parent blackness. All the firepower of some of the greatest spelljamming vessels have died trying. If there’s a way to stop this, it has yet to be found. But someone, somewhere, must know how. This is the Astral Sea. There must be some fragment of a dream, blown by a psychic wind, that details how to defeat this creature. Some archive, that holds the knowledge of what this thing is, what it springs from, what force empowers it. And how to decouple it, how to detach it from the strength of the Faceless Lord, before it grows large enough to devour cities and ports and perhaps even planets whole. Some artefact, maybe, or artefacts …

I’m just saying. If, like me, you grew up with the Pirates of Dark Water. If you grew up with that space fantasy vibe. Spelljammer looks like such a good opportunity to live out the dream …

Art by u/Ganondilf on reddit.

Get in (the cube) losers there’s a new Roll History. It’s Juiblex! And we’re up to 5e! It’s interesting!!

Plus: Impressions of Christ, The Dichotomy of Shoes and Berries, “DM’s Tip”, and a chiptune cover of that one good Maroon 5 song

Our proper shownotes and links are over at rollhistory.co.uk as always! Give it a listen if you fancy!

Get goo’d!!! 🍄 🐙 💦 ☣️

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game) Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Zuggtmoy/Juiblex Characters: Juiblex (Dungeons & Dragons), Zuggtmoy (Dungeons & Dragons) Additional Tags: Demons (Dungeons & Dragons), The Infinite Layers of The Abyss, Demon lords, oh my god they were roommates, Unconventional Sex, enemies who fuck Summary:

Zuggtmoy the fungus demon and Juiblex the slimy demon lord share a layer of The Abyss.

Each represents the power of corrosion and decay, but they have a surprisingly pleasant enmity. Congrats to me on being the first to write this ship on ao3

BBEG end game

I know it’s ambitious, but I want Zuggtmoy to be my home game’s BBEG. BQ is just a baby level 1 half-orc barbarian, and I’ve done my fair share of prepping basement rat quests and fun, friendly NPCs...now it’s time for evil. The main gist of things is that Zugg wants to spread her hold and power to the Material Plane, and she’s utilizing the war happening between the Empire and the Dynasty in Wildemount as a way to harvest corpses and spread her spores. There will be a slight twist though, as I’m throwing in a red herring - Juiblex - due to their historic rivalry. The below potentially unintelligible writings/internet gatherings are plot hooks/encounters that could easily be tied to either of these demon lords. 

Fevergulf Lake, Xhorhas: Eyes of the Lake [Wildemount Guide quest], sub Zugg for the long-forgotten god

Dreemoth Ravine, Xhorhas: Bones of Frigid Doom [Wildemount Guide quest], have the death knight have ties with Zug. Vorugal resurrected as ancient white dracolich

Charis, Xhorhas: small community of vegetarian farmers, forest guardians + druids - corrupted by Zug. Before corruption, they were hoping to cleanse the Lotusden Greenwood of the evils in the shadows 

Grimgolir, Dunrock Mountains: young black dracolich that has a breath weapon causing a cloud of disease-spreading spores. Thought to be called to battle by the Kryn Dynasty, really a puppet of Zug. Not meant to be fought, just witnessed.

[Jungle Location]: leaf cutter ants feed off of fungus they cultivate in their warrens, a group of giant ants have been corrupted by the fungus. Corrupt giant ant society (based on leaf cutter ants, creating fungus), one queen, ant hill is as organized and complex as any town the PC would expect to encounter. Bulldog ant stats (+1 strength), maze of tunnels, large encounter

[Mountain Location]: PC comes upon large nest with one single egg, flapping wings are heard and a large adult vrock swoops down to defend it’s offspring (Zugg can summon 1d4 vrocks/day)

[Bog/Swamp Location]: vathugus and hezrous demons stalk the bogs. Chasmes and rutterkin can also be encountered frequently. 

     - Vathugu Tanar’ri demon: solitary creature found in wetlands/swamp corrupted with fungi

     - Hezrous demon: solitary creature resembling a toad found in wetlands/swamp corrupted with fungi

     - Chasme: cross between human + fly. Reproduce via eggs + lay up to 10 eggs/year. Nest deep in swamp, near a destroyed teleportation circle to the Abyss. Arcana check to discern where the portal once lead

      - Rutterkin: malformed tanar’ri, wandered through rift in the planes. High DC check to find the rift somewhere in the area 

[Many Locations]: devout fungi-worshipers, comprised mostly of misguided druids, clerics + maddened academics such as wizards 

     - group of human cultists, maddened by the fungus eating their minds. not difficult, but impactful as the humans have already started tearing each other apart when the PC arrives

     - Parth, elite Death Cultist: leader of a small team of The Knights of Death

     - Circle of Spores Druid: lone half-elf found in the wilderness, crazed look in their eyes. They speak in a made-up language that the PC can’t decipher 

     - Cleric of Corruption: found alone at an overgrown, ancient altar to Zugg (high DC religion check to understand cracked and ruined symbols)

     - Dark Mage: an outcast that could befriend the PC, will eventually realize the dark power the mage holds is slowly consuming their free will 

[Underdark Location]: ruined underdark temple to Zug, myconids lead by a sorcerer/druidic priest with fungal-infested companion. PC is told this is where to find more information about Zug 

     - Ogre druidic priest with fungal-infested panther companion

     - Myconid workers and myconid guards have created a small settlement within the ruined temple

     - Multiple traps and puzzles throughout the temple, as well as encounters with molds and slimes

     - Underdark tunnels lined with phosphorescent fungi + filled with mushroom eating duergar in acid trip berserker frenzy 

Additionally, here’s some Zugg themed loot I saw a few people on Reddit (?) I think (sorry people of Reddit) talking about utilizing: 

     - A quiver that regrows arrows from hard mushroom-like wood and “thorn”

     - A bag of puffshrooms that act like a grenade exploding into a stink cloud

     - Ring of barkskin 

     - Shield that you can use a reaction when hit to spray a cloud of spores out, blinds the target and spreads Zug’s spores 

     - Scarab inscribed with “TZGY” 

     - A bow made of a sentient mycinoid, shoots better in darkness, speaks undercommon

     - Boots that give you advantage on stealth by growing little mushrooms each step, activate or deactivate as desired 

Hope you have enjoyed your time here. Bye bye. 

- Aspiring DM Margot Marrs 

Jaless, Thrall of Juiblex

this incredible Oozemancer belongs to the wonderfully creative @/jmaeq09 ♥♥

Reading about the demon lords in out of the abyss is great bc sometimes you get "if the "I'll kick my own ass" meme was a 20ft hyena" sometimes you get "this demon lord shares their layer of the abyss with their mortal enemy but doesn't care that much bc their layer isn't in front" and sometimes you get "this demon lord loses his magic artifact literally all the fucking time for fucks sake get your act together"

Well, whatever the problems of the previous modules in the series, H4: The Throne of Bloodstone (1988) has no intention of leaving players wanting. The theme here is ���Go big” and, well, it does. The “H” always stood for “high-level” but none of the previous modules earn that classification quite like H4, which has a rating of level 18 to ONE HUNDRED.

Plot? Simple. Get the Wand of Orcus. Destroy it. And also Orcus. In his house. The adventure starts with the final confrontation with the Witch King who had been the source of all the problems in H1-3. They then journey to the Abyss and make their way to Orcus’ fortress. The encounters are frankly ridiculous. Demogorgon, Yeenoghu, Juiblex, Graz’zt and more await to be battled or bargained with along the way. There is a city of 100 liches. There is another tarrasque. There are multiple hard to parse mazes that defy conventional physics. Then you fight Orcus. And after all that, you know what you need to do to destroy Orcus’ stupid wand? It needs to be dipped in the heartblood of Tiamat. Sure, no biggie, off to Hell we go!

I don’t think H4 gets talked about enough. It is possible the most over the top, ridiculous, improbably difficult adventure TSR ever produced (the book offhandedly recommends two DMs run the fight against Tiamat, but gives zero guidance on how that would turn out). Everybody is always like “Oh, yea, gonzo old school, like White Plume Mountain,” or “Oh, yea, deadly old school, like Tomb of Horrors.” This thing has both those beat. Handily.

Great cover by Keith Parkinson. Among my favorites. The lads from the band Final Gasp like it too.

One thing I truly appreciate about Pathfinder's take on Jubilex is just how much they've apparently buffed him from his time in 3.5 as Juiblex. He was among the weakest of the Demon Princes, if not the weakest, but if his lore block in the Complete Book of the Damned is anything to go by, this is very much no longer the case.

Poisons which bypass poison immunity, acid which bypasses acid immunity, the ability to congeal air and turn it into difficult terrain, an acidic aura that blights the surrounding land and damages nearby enemies... and, most horribly, the ability to animate the bodily fluids of other creatures and turn them into voracious ooze monsters, even while they're still inside a victim's body!

It's certainly a loaded kit, a far cry from the simplicity of Juiblex's original stat block. My pipe dream is to one day see it in its full glory.

[Discussing Juiblex, the demon lord of slimes and oozes]

“He’s in Pathfinder too, but they had to change his name to Jubilex because of copyright nonsense … I dunno, can you use he/him pronouns for a sentient ooze? I feel like it/its pronouns might fit better.”

“Well, it is sentient. That’s why you always ask.”

I’m watching Pathfinder lore videos, because I just enjoy looking at other people’s worldbuilding, and a tiny little nugget stuck with me. I was watching this video on the demon lords of the Abyss, and it came to Angazhan, the great ape demon of jungles, apes and tyranny. And it just mentions that his realm, Ahvoth-Kor, is formed in a great ravine in the Abyss, with jungles on either wall, but gravity pulls towards the walls, so as you stand on the ‘ground’ in one jungle on one wall, you can see the other above you. Trees and rope bridges cross the gap, which must be fascinating as you cross the halfway point and gravity abruptly reverses itself. And I just. I mean, Angazhan doesn’t do much for me as himself, but his realm caught my attention the most in the entire video, just for that one detail. Because it’s so cool. He lives in a folded realm. You can climb a pillar to the sky and then fall up the top half of it to the ground on the far side.

And it just made me realise that I love the Abyss, or rather the potential of the Abyss, in both its D&D and Pathfinder incarnations. Because chaos gets all the cool world states. Because chaos feels free to break the rules and get weird, and therefore give you fantastic landscapes like Ahvoth-Kor. Which is actually quite normal, aside from the fact that it’s folded double on itself. You could go so much weirder.

But, at the same time, I also hate the Abyss, just slightly. Because you can’t get weird, apparently, without also getting evil. Because, while I have seen the chaotic good and chaotic neutral planes mentioned, they don’t get anywhere near as much attention. How many people even know the names of the good-aligned chaotic planes? And, yes, Limbo and the Maelstrom are more of a thing, and the Maelstrom at least is fantastically cool, but they’re not focused on really either. Because they don’t have cool themed villains hanging out in them. Which is, granted, another excellent selling point of the Abyss. Demon lords are a lot more idiosyncratic than archdevils, more, again, weird and wonderful. On the D&D side, which I’m more familiar with, I do adore Juiblex, Zuggtmoy and Fraz-Urb’luu. When you are shaping your realm out of raw chaos to match your personality, it gives you a degree of wild customisation that more lawful, rigid planes just don’t allow. The demon lords are exciting, in a way archdevils just aren’t for me.

But. It means that if you want really cool fantastic landscapes and batshit world states, you have to go to an evil plane where everything is trying to kill slash torture you. The good aligned chaotic planes of the respective ttrpgs, Elysium and Arborea and the Beastlands, are to a large extent just ‘unchecked nature’, the extremely pastoral idea of untouched wilderness. If you want to see truly cool and alien and fantastic things, you have to get tortured for it.

Or, granted, try the Maelstrom in Pathfinder. The Maelstrom is really cool.

Like. If they’re both formed from raw chaos, why can’t good be equally as batshit? Why can’t you have, I don’t know, a chaotic good sea god whose ship sails upside down on the surface of a vast ocean of air, and whose sea sprite petitioners venture down in diving bells to marvel at the stars? (Sidenote: there could also be more good-aligned sea gods, just as a general note). Why isn’t there a heaven for the souls of subterranean travellers and explorers where they get to spend eternity spelunking absolutely mind-boggling and impossible caves that open out into the raw foam of chaos? Why couldn’t the chaotic good plane also be a nested stew of personalised bubble worlds shaped from raw fundament by strong-willed but mildly-to-majorly batshit themed entities, that are just in this case also friendly and unlikely to torture you out of hand?

Why is good so tame? Even at its wildest, it’s so tame compared to how batshit and weird evil gets to be. Like, yes, good means safety, but safe doesn’t have to mean ‘bounded’. It could mean ‘I will touch my grace upon you so we can witness wonders together’. It could mean ‘let me make a place where fire does not burn so I can turn a sun inside out and let you experience the strange geometries of its interior’.

I just. The Abyss is really, really cool, this strange bubble realm of nested psychoses written onto reality by larger than life beings. I do love it. But. You could have that, and not have it built on suffering. Not instead of, but as well. With equal weight.

Let good be weird too. Let chaos in general just be the place where both horrors and wonders beyond imagining are explored.

As another, related complaint, I know it's to do with game balance and player capabilities, but it's also a bummer that the outer planes in general are something most PCs will never experience first hand, owing to being in general fantastically lethal and/or hard to get to. I just wanna wander Zuggtmoy's fungal fields, and climb rope bridges across the gravity line in Ahvoth-Kor!

Anyway. Carry on.