RoboEmperor
2017-07-22, 07:10 AM
Trying to create a planar binding handbook, but instead of bloating it with every outsider in existence, I thought I'd list only the useful ones by spells. I mainly deal with fiends and angels, so haven't really had the chance to playtest non-fiends and non-angels, so need some help there. Also if you disagree with their classifications, please post your opinion. I've mainly focused on combat outsiders, so I have little experience with out-of-combat utility outsiders.
Here's all the ones I know.
Labels
Gamebreaking, never use
Awesome
Solid
Situationally Useful
List will be divided into 6hd, 8hd, 12hd, 14hd, 18hd, and 20hd for Lesser Planar Binding, Planar Binding, and Greater Planar Binding with and without the Infernal Bargainer feat.
6hd
Nightmare
At-will Astral Projection and Etherealness. Astral Projection makes you unkillable, copies all your equipment so you can use scrolls and wands infinitely without ever expending them, and travel to any plane. Some abuse includes buying a scroll of gate and using it in every encounter and being incredibly reckless because death has no meaning.
Mirror Mephit
1/day Simulacrum at CL8. No material components so this mephit can make any 16hd creature, albeit with halved stats and ability, but that is not a problem for the vast majority of monsters whose abilities are independent of hd, and you get 1 a day. Sooner or later you'll have yourself an army.
Ravid
At-will Animated Object, CL20. Combo with the spell Secure Shelter to create an expendable Gargantuan Animated Object. It has a grapple score of +31, 20ft reach, and DR 8/-. I daresay Ravids are the best outsiders to bind for Lesser Planar Binding. Stays useful all the way to Greater Planar Binding because of that +31 grapple score, massive hp and hardness, and expendability! You are only limited by the number of Secure Shelters you cast! 1 Ravid can potentially have up to 20 animated objects! The only reason why this is not game breaking is because their damage output is absolutely pathetic.
Movanic Deva
Best damage dealer. Stronger than Steel Devil. At-will polymorph self (wasn't removed in the update booklet like most 3.0 ported creatures!) & death ward amongst a ton of other stuff, 3/day cure serious wounds and plane shift, and 1/day raise dead.
Artaaglith
Cleric5 casting, and 1/day Animate Dead and Desecrate SLA at CL5. Free undead army and healing. He can raise and upto 20hd skeletons and zombies, and if you're an evil cleric, free permanent replenishable undead minions for your command undead ability.
Maurezhi
At will-Animate Dead, so you have an army of undead with you. No desecrate though so only 10hd Undead can be raised. He paralyzes foes on hit which is awesome but his attack is only +7. Can be upgraded upto 20hd by feeding him humanoids
Hollyphant
1/day raise dead. 3/day no-save no-SR AoE stun.
Succubus
At-will Charm Monster, Suggestion, Greater Teleport, Ethereal Jaunt, and Change Shape. Ultimate non-combat demon. Amazing scout, spy, intelligence gatherer, and DC22 charm monster in combat is nothing to sneeze at. With +19 to Bluff, Intimidate, and +12 to Diplomacy, can completely replace the party face. Note that however, protection from x spells will render her worthless in combat.
Steel Devil
At-willl haste (self only) and greater command, and Chant (Su). Great beatstick thanks to haste, +11 to hit with 2d6+4 longsword damage, and it can do some BFC by spamming greater command or disrupting spellcasters with chant.
Gulthir
At-will Greater Teleport, 10ft reach, 5/day Ray of Enfeeblement, and can swallow medium sized creatures with no-save dominate monster. Let me explain, if the Gulthir lands his bite attack, he gets a free grapple check, if he succeeds, he swallows a medium or smaller creature into his belly. The creature is now dominated no save. So if your BBEG is a medium sized creature, have the Gulthir swallow him. The end. The Gulthir can spit out the creature and the creature gets a will save at the end of every turn to break free, but until then it is dominated.
Formian Taskmaster
At-will dominate monster, but can only affect the same creature once every 24 hours, only affects up to large creatures, and maximum 4.
Janni
At-will Plane Shift. Useless for Clerics but very useful for sorcerers and wizards because sorcerers and wizards get plane shift at level 13.
8hd
Hellcat
Pounce, Grapple, and Rake. Permanently invisible in light. Excellent damage dealer, scout, and assassin. Assassinate target in broad daylight.
Chain Devil
Animates 4 chains upto 20ft away all with 10ft reach. Also has regeneration. Solid choice.
Orthon
Dimensional Interference. 20ft sphere of no teleportation for 4 rounds in that sphere.
12hd
Efreeti
3 free wishes a day, no limit, resulting in loops, epic equipment, etc. Do not use. Never use. This is pun-pun level brokeness.
Glabrezu
1 free wish a month.
Trumpet Archon
Level 14 Cleric stacked on top of a very powerful fighter. Since you gain access to Trumpet Archons at levels 10-12, you've just gotten a gestalt cleric that is 2-4 levels higher than you. Will make the party fighter and cleric obsolete.
Ghaele
Slightly weaker Trumpet Archon
Astral Deva
Very powerful fighter that can stun creatures. Very hard to kill, hits very hard, highly mobile.
Bone Devil
At-will Wall of Ice. Permanently divide and encase the enemies in ice endlessly, allowing your party kill one enemy at a time.
Barbed Devil
At-will scorching ray, solid physical damage, Major Image for minor BFC. A solid choice.
Bebilith
Solid beatstick.
Yochlol
Is a walking Stinking Cloud. 8 Tendril attacks at +16 attack is nice, although the damage is pathetic (1d4+4). Still though, if all 8 attacks hit, not bad. At-will Dominate Person (although at a measily DC 16) could prove useful.
14hd
Planetar
Level 9 spells. Earliest you can get this guy is ECL 11-13, so you just jumped ahead 4-6 levels. Not to mention the Planetar is an excellent fighter.
Ice Devil
At-will cone of cold and wall of ice, so blasting + BFC.
Lilitu
Level 9 cleric. Can give +2 Profane bonus to charisma for 24 hours.
Nalfeshnee
Decent fighter, blaster with Call Lightning, and BFC with smite.
18hd
Pit Fiend
1/year free wish. If you don't use this then he becomes an awesome choice. At-will create undead for evil clerics, at-will hold monster, and fireball, very powerful fighter. Guy is CR20.
Paelyrion
At-will Meteor Swarm! Best blaster ever! Just Meteor Swarm everything all day. That's not all though, has a bunch of other at-will spells.
Mature Nabassu
At-will Enervation! Just Debuff everything all day. Also, has an at-will SoD. So enervate guys until you can easily kill em.
Marilith
I promise you, no one is gonna deal more physical damage than a Marilith. 10 attacks a round.
20hd
Balor
In my opinion, weaker than Pit Fiend, but still very powerful. At-will Dominate Monster, excellent fighter, and a high DC Implosion doesn't hurt, since deathward doesn't block its effects.
Please post only useful outsiders, because again, I don't want a bloated list that is impossible to read through, like that Demonkeeping handbook XD. Also, if you think one of the outsiders I mentioned is useless or rendered obsolete by a different outsider, please post your opinion. I might add in inferior options that are core only in case certain books aren't allowed for some people.
Here's all the ones I know.
Labels
Gamebreaking, never use
Awesome
Solid
Situationally Useful
List will be divided into 6hd, 8hd, 12hd, 14hd, 18hd, and 20hd for Lesser Planar Binding, Planar Binding, and Greater Planar Binding with and without the Infernal Bargainer feat.
6hd
Nightmare
At-will Astral Projection and Etherealness. Astral Projection makes you unkillable, copies all your equipment so you can use scrolls and wands infinitely without ever expending them, and travel to any plane. Some abuse includes buying a scroll of gate and using it in every encounter and being incredibly reckless because death has no meaning.
Mirror Mephit
1/day Simulacrum at CL8. No material components so this mephit can make any 16hd creature, albeit with halved stats and ability, but that is not a problem for the vast majority of monsters whose abilities are independent of hd, and you get 1 a day. Sooner or later you'll have yourself an army.
Ravid
At-will Animated Object, CL20. Combo with the spell Secure Shelter to create an expendable Gargantuan Animated Object. It has a grapple score of +31, 20ft reach, and DR 8/-. I daresay Ravids are the best outsiders to bind for Lesser Planar Binding. Stays useful all the way to Greater Planar Binding because of that +31 grapple score, massive hp and hardness, and expendability! You are only limited by the number of Secure Shelters you cast! 1 Ravid can potentially have up to 20 animated objects! The only reason why this is not game breaking is because their damage output is absolutely pathetic.
Movanic Deva
Best damage dealer. Stronger than Steel Devil. At-will polymorph self (wasn't removed in the update booklet like most 3.0 ported creatures!) & death ward amongst a ton of other stuff, 3/day cure serious wounds and plane shift, and 1/day raise dead.
Artaaglith
Cleric5 casting, and 1/day Animate Dead and Desecrate SLA at CL5. Free undead army and healing. He can raise and upto 20hd skeletons and zombies, and if you're an evil cleric, free permanent replenishable undead minions for your command undead ability.
Maurezhi
At will-Animate Dead, so you have an army of undead with you. No desecrate though so only 10hd Undead can be raised. He paralyzes foes on hit which is awesome but his attack is only +7. Can be upgraded upto 20hd by feeding him humanoids
Hollyphant
1/day raise dead. 3/day no-save no-SR AoE stun.
Succubus
At-will Charm Monster, Suggestion, Greater Teleport, Ethereal Jaunt, and Change Shape. Ultimate non-combat demon. Amazing scout, spy, intelligence gatherer, and DC22 charm monster in combat is nothing to sneeze at. With +19 to Bluff, Intimidate, and +12 to Diplomacy, can completely replace the party face. Note that however, protection from x spells will render her worthless in combat.
Steel Devil
At-willl haste (self only) and greater command, and Chant (Su). Great beatstick thanks to haste, +11 to hit with 2d6+4 longsword damage, and it can do some BFC by spamming greater command or disrupting spellcasters with chant.
Gulthir
At-will Greater Teleport, 10ft reach, 5/day Ray of Enfeeblement, and can swallow medium sized creatures with no-save dominate monster. Let me explain, if the Gulthir lands his bite attack, he gets a free grapple check, if he succeeds, he swallows a medium or smaller creature into his belly. The creature is now dominated no save. So if your BBEG is a medium sized creature, have the Gulthir swallow him. The end. The Gulthir can spit out the creature and the creature gets a will save at the end of every turn to break free, but until then it is dominated.
Formian Taskmaster
At-will dominate monster, but can only affect the same creature once every 24 hours, only affects up to large creatures, and maximum 4.
Janni
At-will Plane Shift. Useless for Clerics but very useful for sorcerers and wizards because sorcerers and wizards get plane shift at level 13.
8hd
Hellcat
Pounce, Grapple, and Rake. Permanently invisible in light. Excellent damage dealer, scout, and assassin. Assassinate target in broad daylight.
Chain Devil
Animates 4 chains upto 20ft away all with 10ft reach. Also has regeneration. Solid choice.
Orthon
Dimensional Interference. 20ft sphere of no teleportation for 4 rounds in that sphere.
12hd
Efreeti
3 free wishes a day, no limit, resulting in loops, epic equipment, etc. Do not use. Never use. This is pun-pun level brokeness.
Glabrezu
1 free wish a month.
Trumpet Archon
Level 14 Cleric stacked on top of a very powerful fighter. Since you gain access to Trumpet Archons at levels 10-12, you've just gotten a gestalt cleric that is 2-4 levels higher than you. Will make the party fighter and cleric obsolete.
Ghaele
Slightly weaker Trumpet Archon
Astral Deva
Very powerful fighter that can stun creatures. Very hard to kill, hits very hard, highly mobile.
Bone Devil
At-will Wall of Ice. Permanently divide and encase the enemies in ice endlessly, allowing your party kill one enemy at a time.
Barbed Devil
At-will scorching ray, solid physical damage, Major Image for minor BFC. A solid choice.
Bebilith
Solid beatstick.
Yochlol
Is a walking Stinking Cloud. 8 Tendril attacks at +16 attack is nice, although the damage is pathetic (1d4+4). Still though, if all 8 attacks hit, not bad. At-will Dominate Person (although at a measily DC 16) could prove useful.
14hd
Planetar
Level 9 spells. Earliest you can get this guy is ECL 11-13, so you just jumped ahead 4-6 levels. Not to mention the Planetar is an excellent fighter.
Ice Devil
At-will cone of cold and wall of ice, so blasting + BFC.
Lilitu
Level 9 cleric. Can give +2 Profane bonus to charisma for 24 hours.
Nalfeshnee
Decent fighter, blaster with Call Lightning, and BFC with smite.
18hd
Pit Fiend
1/year free wish. If you don't use this then he becomes an awesome choice. At-will create undead for evil clerics, at-will hold monster, and fireball, very powerful fighter. Guy is CR20.
Paelyrion
At-will Meteor Swarm! Best blaster ever! Just Meteor Swarm everything all day. That's not all though, has a bunch of other at-will spells.
Mature Nabassu
At-will Enervation! Just Debuff everything all day. Also, has an at-will SoD. So enervate guys until you can easily kill em.
Marilith
I promise you, no one is gonna deal more physical damage than a Marilith. 10 attacks a round.
20hd
Balor
In my opinion, weaker than Pit Fiend, but still very powerful. At-will Dominate Monster, excellent fighter, and a high DC Implosion doesn't hurt, since deathward doesn't block its effects.
Please post only useful outsiders, because again, I don't want a bloated list that is impossible to read through, like that Demonkeeping handbook XD. Also, if you think one of the outsiders I mentioned is useless or rendered obsolete by a different outsider, please post your opinion. I might add in inferior options that are core only in case certain books aren't allowed for some people.