Plane of Acheron

[Sparky McDibben]

Hey all,

I'm planning an adventure that will take place in Acheron, where the PCs are trying to storm a floating fortress. I have two questions:


Has anyone played with the Bloodlust optional rule? Per DMG p 66: "Acheron rewards a creature for harming other creatures by imbuing that creature with the strength to keep fighting. While on Acheron, a creature gains temporary hit points equal to half its hit point maximum whenever it reduces a hostile creature to 0 hit points." Is this too much? My party's level 14, so we're talking 50+ hp per kill per PC. That feels like a lot.
Does anyone have a random encounter table for 5e with what exactly is on Acheron? I've got goblinoids and orcs and...fiends? Maybe? More generally, is there a table somewhere that has this for all the Outer Planes if I was wanting to run a planar campaign arc?



In case it's relevant, I have a half-orc Arcana cleric who's essentially Mr. Rodgers with a mace, a half-elf Open Hand monk who's basically a SoulCycle instructor that can punch ghosts, a vhuman evoker who's Yosemite Sam with fire magic, and a half-elf Thief who's Batman with a gambling problem. All are level 14.

Thanks!

[Brookshw]

Hey all,

I'm planning an adventure that will take place in Acheron, where the PCs are trying to storm a floating fortress. I have two questions:


Has anyone played with the Bloodlust optional rule? Per DMG p 66: "Acheron rewards a creature for harming other creatures by imbuing that creature with the strength to keep fighting. While on Acheron, a creature gains temporary hit points equal to half its hit point maximum whenever it reduces a hostile creature to 0 hit points." Is this too much? My party's level 14, so we're talking 50+ hp per kill per PC. That feels like a lot.
Does anyone have a random encounter table for 5e with what exactly is on Acheron? I've got goblinoids and orcs and...fiends? Maybe? More generally, is there a table somewhere that has this for all the Outer Planes if I was wanting to run a planar campaign arc?



In case it's relevant, I have a half-orc Arcana cleric who's essentially Mr. Rodgers with a mace, a half-elf Open Hand monk who's basically a SoulCycle instructor that can punch ghosts, a vhuman evoker who's Yosemite Sam with fire magic, and a half-elf Thief who's Batman with a gambling problem. All are level 14.

Thanks!

The temp HP does seem a bit high, but if you're running one long battle scene it might be okay, especially if you're using powerful foes or have lots of random explosions or other battlefield effects going off. I'd say go for it.

There hasn't been any official encounter table for Acheron that I've seen for this edition, but here's a brief list of creatures that appeared on it in PS and the 3.0 MOP.

Achaierai
Baatezu
Baku Dark Ones
Imp
Modron
Rakshasa
Rust Monster
Yugoloth
Bladelings
Rust Dragon
Members of the Mercykiller faction
Arrowhawk
Formians
Gith (both flavors)
Green Dragon
Inevitables
Mercane trading mission
Axiomatic creatures



One thing to think about with Acheron is what layers will be in play. If the players are hanging out in Avalas it's going to be a very different experience than if they're cruising through Thuldanin exploring junkyards (queue clockwork horrors/monsters), or getting shredded by the razor shards of Ocanthus. I'd work on narrowing down where the adventure is going to take them before trying to figure out what to populate it with. The best coverage your going to find for the plane is in the old Planes of Law supplement, it's worth a read.

[Sparky McDibben]

The temp HP does seem a bit high, but if you're running one long battle scene it might be okay, especially if you're using powerful foes or have lots of random explosions or other battlefield effects going off. I'd say go for it.

There hasn't been any official encounter table for Acheron that I've seen for this edition, but here's a brief list of creatures that appeared on it in PS and the 3.0 MOP.

Achaierai
Baatezu
Baku Dark Ones
Imp
Modron
Rakshasa
Rust Monster
Yugoloth
Bladelings
Rust Dragon
Members of the Mercykiller faction
Arrowhawk
Formians
Gith (both flavors)
Green Dragon
Inevitables
Mercane trading mission
Axiomatic creatures



One thing to think about with Acheron is what layers will be in play. If the players are hanging out in Avalas it's going to be a very different experience than if they're cruising through Thuldanin exploring junkyards (queue clockwork horrors/monsters), or getting shredded by the razor shards of Ocanthus. I'd work on narrowing down where the adventure is going to take them before trying to figure out what to populate it with. The best coverage your going to find for the plane is in the old Planes of Law supplement, it's worth a read.

Thanks! I love that the DMG gives you the broad strokes, but a quick overview of what lives there would be nice, ya know?

[Brookshw]

Thanks! I love that the DMG gives you the broad strokes, but a quick overview of what lives there would be nice, ya know?

I get it, hasn't been any good planar coverage since PS, if you get the chance definitely consider the Planes of Law/Chaos/Conflict books from 2e, though the canons changed slightly since they were published. Still good resources. If you want to talk a bit about what you want to do we can help expand on it and make better recommendations.

Btw, Todd Stewart, one of the planar canon authors, was posting today in the PS 5e discussion thread. He's a great source to chat with if you get the chance and can help flesh the plane out.