Our next stop in The Planes series is Pandemonium - a plane of chaos, howling winds, and shrieking never-ending winds.

Introduction to the Planes

Reflections: Feywild, Shadowfell

Outer Planes: Astral Plane, Mechanus, Sigil

Inner Planes: Elemental Chaos, Plane of Water

What is Pandemonium

Pandemonium, also known as the Windswept Depths of Pandemonium or the Howling Land, is a plane of chaos with just a tinge of evil. It is one of the Outer Planes and is between Limbo, a plane of pure chaos, and the Abyss, the home of demons. It is best known for its howling winds that can drive any mortal creature to insanity, it’s lack of any deities that watch over it and those who have been banished from everywhere else. The windswept tunnels are never-ending, the howling winds never ceasing, and is a largely barren plane; but despite all of its flaws, Pandemonium is home to hoards of treasure and powerful magical artifacts hidden throughout its domain.

History

Pandemonium was first introduced, like the rest of the Outer Planes, in Dragon Magazine #008 (1977) in the article titled: Planes: The Concepts of Spatial, Temporal and Physical Relationships in D&D. Like many of the planes, it did not receive a single sentence in that article, but rather it had to wait until the Manual of the Planes (1987) was released for it to be fully fleshed out. This plane is made of pure stone with thousands upon thousands of crisscrossing and interweaving tunnels that are filled with the ever-present howling of the wind.

This ear-splitting, deafening wind is the hallmark of this plane and is what drives off many who would try to venture throughout the tunnels. Apart from the constant gale, the plane is completely dark with the gusts of wind extinguishing any non-magical light in seconds. Magical light can illuminate your way through the tunnels, though it is a beacon to all the inhabitants of this plane, calling them forth to either destroy you or to spread the madness of the tempest.

An Outsider’s Perspective

First arriving on Pandemonium, and if you have no ability to see in the dark, you will only be greeted by the deafening howl of the wind. The wind instantly deafens you with no real permanent impact unless your ears stay unprotected to its fury from anywhere from an hour to a day. This wind rips away all sounds, pulling hard at your clothes and stripping you of any item not secured to your person. Staying in the wind for just a few hours is enough to make most people go insane, and as an outsider, everyone that lives here can easily be discerned as they have a variety of different madnesses to handle the howling wind.

Apart from the wind, the next issue facing visitors is the lack of light. Unlike most planes, Pandemonium has no natural light source, it is a plane in total darkness. Lighting torches, lanterns or fires is a huge problem as the wind immediately extinguishes them, forcing only the use of magical light through its thousands of miles of dark and twisting tunnels. The problem with having any type of light though is that the inhabitants of Pandemonium can easily spot you. With several tunnels being a few hundred miles wide, a single light source can draw a lot of attention.

The only reason why most adventurers travel to this desolate plane is that there are hoards of treasure hidden throughout its tunnels and guarded by ancients monsters. While most who travel here perish, enough leave these unending tunnels with powerful magic items and hoards of gold that many think the risk of madness and death is worth it. Hidden near the bottom of this plane are the lairs of monsters, dragons, demons and powerful undead who watch over their domains.

A Native’s Perspective