I feel like dnd doesn’t tell us much about good aligned creatures as much cause honestly how many times is a DM going to have the players fight a good creature. It makes sense that we have more evil for the “hero’s” to slay.
Archons in particular (especially hound archons) fall more than any other celestial. Sometimes their sense of justice gets a little too... intense and they become like *those* paladins.
@@GrymmSoul I’ll preface this by saying I run games and try to run plenty of non combat stuff. With that said some peeps really just prefer the combat in dnd and it’s perfectly valid.
So basically Archon's are devoted souls on a pilgrimage that exceeded their own mortal life. And they become more & more divine by aspiring all the virtues attached to it. Intere~sting.
"Yo there's no way theres a dude up here, I PUT THIS MOUNTAIN HERE LIKE 10239213213 YEARS AGO? GET DOWN FROM THERE" -a God "nuh uh" -you "F-CK U MEAN NUH UH"- same God
It would be actually a good concept for a character creation to imagine what kind of afterlife would s/he want for her/himself. Drinking cocktails on tropical shores? Ending up in random orgies? Fighting eternal battles without restrictions? Or being in a place where your imagination shapes the reality itself? Than chose their alignment according to on which outer plane would they wind up if their wish comes true. One of the Planescape books actually even mentioned that petitioners in the Nine Hells aren't there as their punishment. It's THEIR heaven.
Well, sort of. They don't *want* to be in pain (I don't think). A lot of mortals think Hell is just like our world but slightly hotter and spikier. They don't think *they're* gonna turn into slime monsters. They just want the unlimited tyrannical power and that most closely aligns with Hell.
@@elegantoddity8609 I mean Hell is probably a good afterlife if you really enjoy climbing the ladder of power and kicking other people down that ladder.
@@InquisitorThomas Probably, if you manage to skip the stage where you have no mouth but must scream and lose all your personality and are picked for promotion at complete random.
@@elegantoddity8609 There is a difference between petitioners who got there because they served their infernal lords well, and those poor souls who gone their because they failed their goody-goodly deity.
Mount Celestia is probably the only place I'd actually WANT to end up at. I mean some of the other good alligned places are decent but theyre pretty weird.
I have heard a lot about demons and devils, but nothing about archons. Very interesting, and quite different from what I expected. Btw, there is a dragonbone golem in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons.
ANGELS (Any Good; all Upper Planes) ARCHONS (Lawful Good; Mount Celestia) ELADRIN (not the stupid extra-Fey elves, the REAL eladrin they deleted in 4e/5e; Chaotic Good; Arborea) GUARDINALS (Neutral Good; Elysium) MODRONS (Lawful Neutral; Mechanus; could also count INEVITABLES; and also FORMIANS in Arcadia) SLAAD (Chaotic Neutral; Limbo) RILMANI (Neutral; The Outlands) DEVILS (Lawful Evil; Baator aka the Nine Hells) DEMONS (Chaotic Evil; The Abyss; also the OBYRITHS) YUGOLOTHS (Neutral Evil; aka DAEMONS) DEMODANDS (Chaotic Evil mostly; Carceri; aka GEHRELETHS) There you have it.
After watching this I find mount celestia one of the most interesting planes. from the archons to the seven layers I find it all beautiful. And im very interested in Zaphkiel right now i always want to know more about these elite powerful entities across the multiverse. (sorry if i got anything misspelled)
Fun fact: no one knows what's on Chronia, the top layer of Mount Celestia because no one and nothing accept Zaphkiel has ever returned from there and he's not telling.
I think I remember the first layer of Celestia is where all the good bois (read: doggos) go to wait for their master in the afterlife and sometimes, when they are ready, merge to form an archon together. This beautiful piece of lore would likely make me want to become Lawful Good if I were a dog 'owner' in the D&D universe (I'm more of an NG type myself). I might not be a very good storyteller, but my eyes welled up a bit when AJ recounted it on his Hound Archon video.
I'm a cat person and thinking very hard right now where would they go... :D My first answer would be chaotic goodish, because they can be loving and an asshole at the same time :) (But probably they go wherever they want to go. They are cats.)
Thanks for this, I always found it a little strange how Celestia is more like another step in a soul's existence, as opposed to the "final destination" after death. I know that is more of what one would expect of Elysium or something instead now but it was a big surprise. Interesting how Archons are like Pokemon with long evolutionary branches, that's so cool.
I finally got my Grim Hollow player's guide and campaign book, I never would have been introduced to them if not for this channel. Thanks for plugging these things, and creating your own great content and source guides!
Something I’ve pondered over for some time is the fallen angles; specifically the exiled ones. There’s hardly any description of them, and they seem quite special as in they still retain their powers, even though they can never return to the upper planes. I get a ton of ideas flowing regarding fallen angles having a good amount of influence, not only to the plot, but also potentially shake up the material plane.
The Archedevil of the First Level of the Nine Hells is a Fallen Angel called Zariel. There is a decent amount of information on her. They CAN return to the Upper Planes, but they have to stop being Evil first. Many Archedevils either are or were suspected of being fallen Archons.
Amazing timing, we're finishing up our main campaign of a couple of years and for our new long term campaign I'm looking at playing a scourge aasimar celestial warlock, and the fact that archons aren't supposed to intervene with the mortal world is a great incentive to have a patron granting him powers
MrRhexx, your PDF is amazing sir! I have admittedly allowed my players in Tyranny of Dragons to get too strong. Your Draconic magic items and innate spells will surely help make the dragons a challenge again.
That would actually be an interesting campaign, with the party being a group of Archons on their pilgrimage on Celestia, gaining power and relevance, maybe eventually ending with a Judgement Day kind of climax, with the Heavens besieged and the PC Archons on the forefront of battle.
23:11 *Damn it, Jeffory, you're supposed to be climbing the mountain, not messing around with a kobold and two teiflings!* Wait. on the topic of archons being player characters, could you run a campaign where the party has to help guide one of their fallen allies up the mountain? Cause I think that would be a neat thing to play out. I could also see it as being part of a trial quest for power in some 1st to 20th level campaign so the party can beat the bbeg.
climbing the mountain is a campaign unto itself. the path up can even vary depending on what "path" and the sacrifice you take to start it. the good news is that you can follow another even though you get none of the benefits of he path (usually an increase in an ability)
About Irondrake Golem entry: 'Resistances: bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from non-magical weapons that aren't adamantine. Immunities: 'Resistances: bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from non-magical weapons that aren't adamantine.' Is it me, or is this part entirely redundant? Did you mean resistance to damage from magical weapons that aren't adamantine/adamantine weapons that aren't magical?
It means that adamantine weapons and non-magical weapons ignore the weapon resistance. Adamantine, meaning adamantine or other super-metal (like Meteorite Iron), is treated as magical for the purposes of defense bypassing. It's bad wording from a very old edition origin (late 1st Ed and all of 2nd Ed). Some magic-hating AD&D heroes used adamantine weapons and weapons infused with other materials to fight enemies that normally cannot be hit by nonmagical weapons. The scripts (words, texts) have been cut-n-paste out of context for decades and it got confusing.
@@That80sGuy1972 OK, but what about the immunity, then? What's the purpose of the damage resistance when the immunity accomplishes the same thing, only better?
I think it was a typo, it probably means resistance to adamantine weapons that aren't magic, and immunity against weapons that are neither magic nor adamantine at least that's what I think
@@Harrowed2TheMind Often immunity applies only to a certain + and immunity is sometimes situational. Also, sometimes the word "immunity" is redundantly applied, meaning weapons that don't do damage after the weapon resistance is applied. I haven't read the current entry on that one but the newest one might make weapon resistance redundant by adding immunities, AD&D started getting progressively wonkier after 2nd Ed. It could even be a typo or a misread of an older version, so same problem, different manifestation. I just read Gabriel Barbosa's comment and I think Gabriel nailed (or at least as close to nailing as one can) this one.
I enjoyed learning about Celestia as a afterlife and what the denizens strive for there. I'd like to see what other afterlife locations you could detail as a series.
I'm looking forward to your supplement, as my group killed a dragon when we were level 5 (it wasn't very big), and used it's hoard to found our own town where it's lair was (burnt out Thunder Tree).
Now you know that when you resurrect one of your team mates you are putting a trumpet archon in danger. If I were an agent of lawful evil then I would probably use this scenario to create traps to lure in trumpet archons to ambush and pick off.
Man, I love yours and AJ Pickett's channels so much. One of my PC's fought a basilisk. The eye got harvested and given to an NPC. As an example that if you don't "harvest," someone else will.
Looked up your channel, real quick. Good stuff. I can definitely feel the inspiration in the video editing style. You have a pretty soothing voice and narration, when compared with MrRhexx's enthusiasm, that being said.
First video I ever watched from you were the "What tey don't tell you about elves" and I was instantly mesmerized by your story telling style. it was just the perfect way to learn about DnD Lore, and since then I've been wondering "when are we getting a What they don't tell you about dwarves video".
Thanks man. D&D lore is really interesting to me. These videos help me sleep, as I love to play them over and over and sleep. It is also very interesting while awake lol. These videos lower my stress.
In my headcanon, Amodeus was the original ruler of Jovar, but known by a previous name, Lamauel. Along with Baalzebul (then Triel, the ruler of Mertion) and others, he attempted to overthrow Zaphkiel, but was struck down to Baator, where he overthrew Zargon and established himself as the new ruler of the Nine Hells. Thus, the other six original Tome Archons are not necessarily dead (although some were killed during the failed revolt), but Zaphkiel is the only one who remains.
@@christopherbravo1813 i dont know that anything in that video necessarily contradicts this (very interesting) theory. Rhexx's video basically said 'we dont know' if you wanted to sum it up to 3 words
@@christopherbravo1813 referencing what? The whole thing was about how not even the gods know where he came from. Being essentially the god of lies, everything about him is manipulation and a lie. It states that theres 3 consistencies across all stories that are probably true, one of them being that his origins are on mount celestia and that the gods assigned him down there to manage the blood war. He was manipulating them, in order to get his own plane, but the move was mutual on the part of both parties. We know hes not quite a god. But not a devil or demon. Maybe hes some weird form of archon
@@IzoniovKelestryn I don't recall what the source is, but I do know that according to it Asmodeus is one of the original creators of the Dungeons and Dragons reality.
Hey man, want you know how much I personally appreciate the work and research you put into these videos. I probably never would of found any of this information given how it’s spread out through editions. Including how the makers of recent editions seem to be dead set on not giving us any concrete info and just basic vague summaries. I’ve been a fan of both D&D and of your channel for a while now, sadly haven’t been able to play despite my best efforts, but if I did. I feel like I would have more knowledge about the campaign world and the creature’s in it then my DM running it. And it’s because of you. Thx for everything. I hope things are going well for you.
Top notch content, In about 10 years time, I wanna take all of "what they dont tell you" videos into 1 clip, put it on, smoke up, and just chilllllllllll
I love dnd lore so so much honestly. Its so complex and layered. And full of so many different inspirations from a plethora of different religions. I like learning about archons because it also gives me a lot of insight into how archons work in Genshin, wich also have 7 main ones. And how, lol, Celestia works there. Of course its not gonna be very similar but it helps to get a clearer picture of how it all works
Yeye Archons are glorious beacons of virtue with so much amazing lore etc. But allow me to ask what we're actually all thinking: CAN.THEY.STILL.BANG???
Looking forward to the next video, I'm running an outer planes campaign right now and Mount Celestia is coming up as one of the next places my players will visit.
...Acerack reached the top of Mt. Celestia and came back...So did the guy who is like the wizard lord of waterdeep, i used to know his name but it's been ages since he came up in conversation, i remember that he has spells named after him though so that narrows it down...well, by "reached" i mean just teleported, but still they were on the top and then left.
@@marmyeater hmm, i don't think that's it, but idk. I feel like i'd know it if i heard it though. In 3.5 when they still had epic levels the dude was a level 30 wizard and could use 10th level spells. All i really remember lore wise is some kind of wizard's council that basically ruled waterdeep or maybe all of faerun and him being the head of it. Like i said, very very long time since he's come up in conversation.
Imagine a war between the Archons and the ‘Good’ gods. I mean, considering how badly the gods did with the Pact Primeval and how their keep the status quo has led to a multiverse where evil festers unchecked save for mortal intervention, I could imagine the Archons evicting the gods one day
Imagine the frustration of the gods know that demons treathen the even balance of death, killing inocent and good people only to be sended to the abyss and couldn't do anything about it
Except the gods are too powerful to be evicted, and most archons are too wise to try something that would jeopardize the side of good as much as succeeding at evicting good gods from their place of power.
Well, the Pact Primeval only refers to the Blood War, which in 5e is only really confined to the Lower Planes, not the entire multiverse as it was in Planescape. Thus, there isn't as much incentive to directly intervene. The Pact Primeval doesn't prevent celestials from fighting other evil in the rest of the cosmos, and doesn't stop them from combatting devils trying to corrupt mortal souls. If devils can exploit that part of the Pact's clause, so can celestials. I imagine angels can and do go after fiends that bring the Blood War *outside* of the Lower Planes, and act through proxies or find a way to be summoned if it's in the Material. That being said, you definitely have an interesting idea going there. That's at least a viewpoint that Zariel had, and probably wasn't the only one. And since 5e has a depressingly low amount of lore for celestials and other Good-aligned entities it really does give the impression that cosmic Good does fuck all to do anything. Which is something I fault to the writers, but at least it's a viewpoint that can be exploited in-setting for plot hooks.
Sold me on the PDF! Also I wanted to support your channel since I get lots of inspiration from your lore videos to run creatures I probably never would have ran without your videos. Keep it up!
yay yay yay yay yay yay yay this is so cool! I know the playerbase always asks for upper planes stuff because there's a lack of it in 5e and it lives up to all the hype. I could run a whole campaign set in Mount Celestia where the players are sent to Mount Celestia to climb the mountain and have to fight creatures or go through dungeons that represent their different non-good aspects as they attempt to climb the mountain. As they go up they can find different Archons and Gods and interact with them as they go up the mountain.
Just ordered that PDF! Super excited about it! Btw, if you're ever looking for another video subject, a really deep dive into the eladrin would be awesome!!
im a VERY new DM and im running a campaign and its getting a lot better, having had my forever DM tell me im doing pretty good and theres a lot of celestials and demons and "fallen angels" and this helps a lot, the BBEG is one of these angels. while he's at his weakest so after this next session which may be the final fight, i may introduce a sort of stolen relic of the heavens
Already bought the PDF, and it was worth it! I like the work you did. It’s small page count, but a lot of info on those pages! Also, all those very obnoxious people who whine about “No Dragon Warlock?!?!”, theirs a very powerful one in the book!
Ty for doing these videos. After the fiendish codexes came out. I always wanted a set that went into more depth of the celestial realms and their inhabitants (and of gehenna and the yugoloths which made no sense why they skipped)
We rogues are allowed to do whatever we can get away with. As for that little tidbit, there's contradictory lore. According to the Planes of Law collection for Planescape, that's actually not the case. Planar travelers need to purify themselves, too. That's why it's so hard to get around that plane. Bahamut's domain actually crosses the first 3 layers, so he offers it as a sort of shortcut/back door for worthy enough causes.
Im a huge fan that you named you barbarian subclass the giant slayer, as that's a classification i use for some Drow in Eebrron. Loving it, idk why but i do.
Thanks MrRhexx, I love this, we get so much lore about Demons and Devils, granted, they are more interesting, but I would love to hear more about the Good Planes and what they have,
In my campaign setting, good-aligned creatures who die at level 10 or higher are given the option to keep their body and memories when they die. With their body reflecting who the individual truly was at heart. In simple terms, if you were truly a child at heart, then your afterlife body would be a literal child version of yourself that still is just as capable as you were in life at your prime. The idea being that a high-level mortal can genuinely be far more effective for the forces of Law and Good than what an Archon can be at times. In addition, those who become Archons, are eventually given the choice to get their mortal form and memories back if they want it. Shockingly few do this, as they are concerned of how this could have an effect on their goals as a Petitioner. This usually happens around the point of being promoted from a Trumpet Archon as a different path of existence for the Archon to chose from.
Not saying that Zaphkeil is similar to Ahriman consuming very specific souls to gain power... but maybe he is and the reason on one returns is because Zaphkeil consumes them.
Just got your book, and have to say: Looks absolutely amazing! Only thing I'm sort of "Eh" about is the Walock's Great Wyrm subclass... It seems, especially from level 10 onwards, absolutely *busted* in balancing terms.
Thanks for the video. I gotta say that mountain sounds more like hell than heaven. There is no way I'd want to spend my time in the after life doing chores in a realm thought up by a paladin with a stick up his butt 😂
It’s a lot of good stuff. He’s enthusiastic in explaining the lore and has good production values. It’s inspiring to listen to in the background while writing.
I hope the next video on celestial creatures/plane inhabitants will be about guardinals. Also aditional videos would be about their plane: Elysium or rulers: Talisid and five companions.
I'm thinking about buying your supplement Rexx. I have a player that's become a true dragon, along with his much weaker siblings, and I feel like a Hag coven would just love to get their hands on her little brothers & sisters and use their parts for dark magic.
what be nice is to have a book based on uniuqe paths a Player character can get to and the best means of it and the back story. Like "the path of godhood", "Lichdom", and the likes.
LG person who just died: I did it! I've faced all the trials of mortality with unyielding faith, and made it to Mount Celestia! A higher-level archon: Yeah, congrats kid, but the grind ain't over yet, start climbin'🧗
for background and well if ya got that cleric in the party I REALLY like this info. I have an aasimar zealot barbarian, playing like a dude born with holy power and guided loosely by angelic voice in head. But trying to get celestial info is much harder than fiends THANK YOU
this is so helpful! I made a cleric of bahamut and randomized his role on where he trained in the clergy. rolled outer planes, rolled mount celestia, and finally rolled for which layer and got mertion. turns out bahamut never appears there. unfortunately the campaign he's in keeps him constantly questioning his faith in one god to the point he fell and became a cleric to a more evil goddess, not tiamat thank goodness. but story wise definitely sets him up to try to redeem and purify himself into climbing the mountain if he ends up there, or in eternal service to misfortune.
tower shield, spear and extensive aa defense guns if you try raiding this place (upwards). or go paradropping by gate and teleport. in that case youll need suppression fire in quick succession which makes the deployment of evocation wizards a necessity. luckily, some of the inhabitants taste like chicken
@@MrRhexx But we started with residents of Nine hells, like Tiamat and Levistus, not to mention Asmodeus himself many years ago. I kind of assumed we were goeing bit of hells, bit of abyss and after all the Evil Planes we would go "highier" or to the good side of plains
Great video! Any possibility of shedding light on Olympus? The process of dying and then enlightening yourself to become progressively holier is a great concept, and I hope there is something equally interesting for those who die that lived chaotically good.
Hello! I used to watch your Skyrim battles all the time and then your eso vids but it seems you took a break back then. I’m glad to see you still actively posting!
barbarian hide? That sounds like a totem kind of deal channeling the strenght of a mighty beats by using its hide, a buff magic only barbarians can use
Question: what would happen to an Undead, Fiend, Demon, seeking to climb the mountain? Assuming they follow the rules and don't cause trouble or kill anyone would they be allowed to climb? Or would they be assaulted by the celestials? Edit: could you cover Liches and their sub races such as Arch Liches, Baelnorn, Demi Liches?
HIGH LEVEL CAMPAIGN IDEA So Clerics can be one shift away from their God's alignment. From this I get the feeling that the Lawful Good gods are more "Honored Guests" or "Tenets" of the plane. Imagine that because of the direction of the Blood War and the cosmic imbalance the Archons deliver an ultimatum from either the plane itself or brought out from Asmodeus making a poignant callout. The Lawful Good deities have to abandon their "one-shift clerics" or be evicted from the Mountain.
@@agsilverradio2225 If the LG Gods abandoned them then they would lose spells until they become LG and atone, otherwise they would go to their alignment's afterlife
Mr.Rhexx over here spoiling the shit out of me with more info on dragons. Dragons are my #! Special interest in life and I love you for making this PDF. I will buy the absolute crap out of it first chance I get.
Could you do a video on "What they don't tell you about orange dragons. Because there were a hole bunch of dragons you missed (mercury, gem dragons, and the deep and mist dragons) the mist dragon is my favorite. There are also 4 different chromatic types you missed. That being purple, brown, orange, and yellow dragons. I think you'll find purples to be really interesting.
Wow when knew mount celestia existence i always wanted to know more about it. Awesome video and im really hyped to see the next mountain celestial. Well done dude.
Excellent content as always. I'll have to look into getting your PDF when I finish my move and can save money again. I don't play 5E much but it sounds like a lot of excellent concepts that can still be perused.
Its funny, I was rewatching the night hags video and it got me thinking. "I know what happens to evil souls when they die but what about the good ones? What do they turn into? Well i should comment this on his recent video so he has a better chance to read it" then I watch your recent video and i get my answer lol
I feel like dnd doesn’t tell us much about good aligned creatures as much cause honestly how many times is a DM going to have the players fight a good creature. It makes sense that we have more evil for the “hero’s” to slay.
Archons in particular (especially hound archons) fall more than any other celestial. Sometimes their sense of justice gets a little too... intense and they become like *those* paladins.
@@daviddaugherty2816 Do they actually fall more often or is it just that we know more about fallen archons than other types of celestial?
If the only thing your DM has you do, is combat, then that DM needs to hang up their dice because they're complete failures.
@@GrymmSoul I’ll preface this by saying I run games and try to run plenty of non combat stuff. With that said some peeps really just prefer the combat in dnd and it’s perfectly valid.
I actually run games ov Evil aligned players fairly often. Gets busy being the good guys all the time
So basically Archon's are devoted souls on a pilgrimage that exceeded their own mortal life.
And they become more & more divine by aspiring all the virtues attached to it. Intere~sting.
and then someone harvests all that juicy power....
@@TauShasla That part sounds suspicious to me.
@@TauShasla Pretty sure Celestia isn't a Gith cult
I'd like to know if there's a correlation between the layers of the mountain and the stages of an Archon's evolution.
How of an introvert are you?
True HERMIT LEVEL: I've been up on a mountain for so long gods find hard to believe I even exist.
"Yo there's no way theres a dude up here, I PUT THIS MOUNTAIN HERE LIKE 10239213213 YEARS AGO? GET DOWN FROM THERE" -a God
"nuh uh" -you
"F-CK U MEAN NUH UH"- same God
It would be actually a good concept for a character creation to imagine what kind of afterlife would s/he want for her/himself.
Drinking cocktails on tropical shores? Ending up in random orgies? Fighting eternal battles without restrictions? Or being in a place where your imagination shapes the reality itself?
Than chose their alignment according to on which outer plane would they wind up if their wish comes true.
One of the Planescape books actually even mentioned that petitioners in the Nine Hells aren't there as their punishment. It's THEIR heaven.
Well, sort of. They don't *want* to be in pain (I don't think). A lot of mortals think Hell is just like our world but slightly hotter and spikier. They don't think *they're* gonna turn into slime monsters. They just want the unlimited tyrannical power and that most closely aligns with Hell.
Imo the closest thing to hell (pit of punishment for the souls) are the wall of Kelemvor's castle.
@@elegantoddity8609 I mean Hell is probably a good afterlife if you really enjoy climbing the ladder of power and kicking other people down that ladder.
@@InquisitorThomas Probably, if you manage to skip the stage where you have no mouth but must scream and lose all your personality and are picked for promotion at complete random.
@@elegantoddity8609 There is a difference between petitioners who got there because they served their infernal lords well, and those poor souls who gone their because they failed their goody-goodly deity.
Mount Celestia is probably the only place I'd actually WANT to end up at. I mean some of the other good alligned places are decent but theyre pretty weird.
As an Abjuration Wizard who's becoming a Seraph of Saint Cuthbert from Grim Hollow. I'm going to incorporate this info. Thank you!
Make Avacyn in Grim Hollow. Break D&D.
@@TheBayzent which book is that in?
@@sebastiancollins01 Avacyn is an angel character from MTG, specifically from the plane known as Innistrad.
@@LordOfDarkness8296 I see. Looks like I have some homework. Thanks.
@@sebastiancollins01 her story didn't end well
I have heard a lot about demons and devils, but nothing about archons. Very interesting, and quite different from what I expected.
Btw, there is a dragonbone golem in Fizban's Treasury of Dragons.
ANGELS (Any Good; all Upper Planes)
ARCHONS (Lawful Good; Mount Celestia)
ELADRIN (not the stupid extra-Fey elves, the REAL eladrin they deleted in 4e/5e; Chaotic Good; Arborea)
GUARDINALS (Neutral Good; Elysium)
MODRONS (Lawful Neutral; Mechanus; could also count INEVITABLES; and also FORMIANS in Arcadia)
SLAAD (Chaotic Neutral; Limbo)
RILMANI (Neutral; The Outlands)
DEVILS (Lawful Evil; Baator aka the Nine Hells)
DEMONS (Chaotic Evil; The Abyss; also the OBYRITHS)
YUGOLOTHS (Neutral Evil; aka DAEMONS)
DEMODANDS (Chaotic Evil mostly; Carceri; aka GEHRELETHS)
There you have it.
After watching this I find mount celestia one of the most interesting planes. from the archons to the seven layers I find it all beautiful. And im very interested in Zaphkiel right now i always want to know more about these elite powerful entities across the multiverse. (sorry if i got anything misspelled)
Fun fact: no one knows what's on Chronia, the top layer of Mount Celestia because no one and nothing accept Zaphkiel has ever returned from there and he's not telling.
@@daviddaugherty2816 It's where Half Life 3 resides
David Daugherty dude i cant wait for the video when he talks about the layers.
@@trappyboi8678 It’s too perfect for mortal eyes
@@daviddaugherty2816 This reminded me of Getting Over It since the only way to see the true ending at the top of the map is to play it yourself.
I think I remember the first layer of Celestia is where all the good bois (read: doggos) go to wait for their master in the afterlife and sometimes, when they are ready, merge to form an archon together. This beautiful piece of lore would likely make me want to become Lawful Good if I were a dog 'owner' in the D&D universe (I'm more of an NG type myself). I might not be a very good storyteller, but my eyes welled up a bit when AJ recounted it on his Hound Archon video.
I'm a cat person and thinking very hard right now where would they go... :D
My first answer would be chaotic goodish, because they can be loving and an asshole at the same time :)
(But probably they go wherever they want to go. They are cats.)
Don't good alligned creatures go to the beastlands though?
Omg, I am LOVING these deep dives into the heavenly realms!! It's such an untouched, underrepresented area of the lore, no one else is doing this!
So basically, after you die as lawful good, you become Skyrim player.
And many people don't know how to side steep jump glitch their way pass the fourth level.
I was going to say "Breath of the Wild", but that works too
@@Geraduss that's what celestial horses are for
Thanks for this, I always found it a little strange how Celestia is more like another step in a soul's existence, as opposed to the "final destination" after death. I know that is more of what one would expect of Elysium or something instead now but it was a big surprise. Interesting how Archons are like Pokemon with long evolutionary branches, that's so cool.
Pretty much all outsiders are that way.
@@marmyeater In what regard? Branching evolutionary paths, I assume you mean?
Or every animal we know about but yeah, Pokemon too 😂
I need this next video, damn. Rhexx is easily S-tier in terms of DnD content creators.
I finally got my Grim Hollow player's guide and campaign book, I never would have been introduced to them if not for this channel. Thanks for plugging these things, and creating your own great content and source guides!
Something I’ve pondered over for some time is the fallen angles; specifically the exiled ones. There’s hardly any description of them, and they seem quite special as in they still retain their powers, even though they can never return to the upper planes. I get a ton of ideas flowing regarding fallen angles having a good amount of influence, not only to the plot, but also potentially shake up the material plane.
The Archedevil of the First Level of the Nine Hells is a Fallen Angel called Zariel. There is a decent amount of information on her. They CAN return to the Upper Planes, but they have to stop being Evil first. Many Archedevils either are or were suspected of being fallen Archons.
Amazing timing, we're finishing up our main campaign of a couple of years and for our new long term campaign I'm looking at playing a scourge aasimar celestial warlock, and the fact that archons aren't supposed to intervene with the mortal world is a great incentive to have a patron granting him powers
MrRhexx, your PDF is amazing sir! I have admittedly allowed my players in Tyranny of Dragons to get too strong. Your Draconic magic items and innate spells will surely help make the dragons a challenge again.
That would actually be an interesting campaign, with the party being a group of Archons on their pilgrimage on Celestia, gaining power and relevance, maybe eventually ending with a Judgement Day kind of climax, with the Heavens besieged and the PC Archons on the forefront of battle.
23:11 *Damn it, Jeffory, you're supposed to be climbing the mountain, not messing around with a kobold and two teiflings!*
Wait. on the topic of archons being player characters, could you run a campaign where the party has to help guide one of their fallen allies up the mountain? Cause I think that would be a neat thing to play out. I could also see it as being part of a trial quest for power in some 1st to 20th level campaign so the party can beat the bbeg.
That would be awesome! Have the BBEG TPK the party only for them to come back as archons to level the playing field. That would be a great plot twist.
@@TheWickedSir Just remember it'd probably take a long time to come back, unless they get a special deal to start off way ahead than normal souls.
@@nuppetgemino1451 that’s the pressure the party needs. Every moment they spend during their trials, the BBEG is one step closer to world domination.
climbing the mountain is a campaign unto itself. the path up can even vary depending on what "path" and the sacrifice you take to start it. the good news is that you can follow another even though you get none of the benefits of he path (usually an increase in an ability)
Dude. Its a rpg. You can do whatever you want.
About Irondrake Golem entry:
'Resistances: bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from non-magical weapons that aren't adamantine.
Immunities: 'Resistances: bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage from non-magical weapons that aren't adamantine.'
Is it me, or is this part entirely redundant? Did you mean resistance to damage from magical weapons that aren't adamantine/adamantine weapons that aren't magical?
It means that adamantine weapons and non-magical weapons ignore the weapon resistance. Adamantine, meaning adamantine or other super-metal (like Meteorite Iron), is treated as magical for the purposes of defense bypassing. It's bad wording from a very old edition origin (late 1st Ed and all of 2nd Ed). Some magic-hating AD&D heroes used adamantine weapons and weapons infused with other materials to fight enemies that normally cannot be hit by nonmagical weapons. The scripts (words, texts) have been cut-n-paste out of context for decades and it got confusing.
@@That80sGuy1972 OK, but what about the immunity, then? What's the purpose of the damage resistance when the immunity accomplishes the same thing, only better?
I think it was a typo, it probably means resistance to adamantine weapons that aren't magic, and immunity against weapons that are neither magic nor adamantine at least that's what I think
@@Harrowed2TheMind Often immunity applies only to a certain + and immunity is sometimes situational. Also, sometimes the word "immunity" is redundantly applied, meaning weapons that don't do damage after the weapon resistance is applied. I haven't read the current entry on that one but the newest one might make weapon resistance redundant by adding immunities, AD&D started getting progressively wonkier after 2nd Ed. It could even be a typo or a misread of an older version, so same problem, different manifestation. I just read Gabriel Barbosa's comment and I think Gabriel nailed (or at least as close to nailing as one can) this one.
I enjoyed learning about Celestia as a afterlife and what the denizens strive for there. I'd like to see what other afterlife locations you could detail as a series.
I'm looking forward to your supplement, as my group killed a dragon when we were level 5 (it wasn't very big), and used it's hoard to found our own town where it's lair was (burnt out Thunder Tree).
Now you know that when you resurrect one of your team mates you are putting a trumpet archon in danger. If I were an agent of lawful evil then I would probably use this scenario to create traps to lure in trumpet archons to ambush and pick off.
The players of my campaign are going to be butting heads with a very powerful celestial down the line, so more of these videos please!
Man, I love yours and AJ Pickett's channels so much.
One of my PC's fought a basilisk.
The eye got harvested and given to an NPC. As an example that if you don't "harvest," someone else will.
Most people: I shall climb this mountain to achieve enlightenment.
Bard: Can we bang 'em?
“You’re a bard, so the answer is probably yes.” 🤣
This actually makes the upper planes cool! We have so much lore on the lower planes, but we need more celestials!
Ngl, my goal is to get to the level of editing in these videos. It makes it so much more visually interesting than where I'm at right now.
Good luck my dude!
@@Gildorify Ay thanks so much! I've got a LOT to learn haha
Looked up your channel, real quick. Good stuff. I can definitely feel the inspiration in the video editing style. You have a pretty soothing voice and narration, when compared with MrRhexx's enthusiasm, that being said.
@@Harrowed2TheMind I kinda like the enthusiasm... It grips the attention.
@@nxtsoaveragejoe6644 Agreed.
First video I ever watched from you were the "What tey don't tell you about elves" and I was instantly mesmerized by your story telling style. it was just the perfect way to learn about DnD Lore, and since then I've been wondering "when are we getting a What they don't tell you about dwarves video".
This is amazingly relevant to the background ploy of my current campaign. Thanks a ton for all the ideas.
Thanks man. D&D lore is really interesting to me. These videos help me sleep, as I love to play them over and over and sleep. It is also very interesting while awake lol. These videos lower my stress.
In my headcanon, Amodeus was the original ruler of Jovar, but known by a previous name, Lamauel. Along with Baalzebul (then Triel, the ruler of Mertion) and others, he attempted to overthrow Zaphkiel, but was struck down to Baator, where he overthrew Zargon and established himself as the new ruler of the Nine Hells. Thus, the other six original Tome Archons are not necessarily dead (although some were killed during the failed revolt), but Zaphkiel is the only one who remains.
didn't Mr Rhexx make a video on Asmodeus's origins though?
still, this is a very interesting idea.
@@christopherbravo1813 i dont know that anything in that video necessarily contradicts this (very interesting) theory. Rhexx's video basically said 'we dont know' if you wanted to sum it up to 3 words
@@IzoniovKelestryn you must be referring to a very different video then.
@@christopherbravo1813 referencing what? The whole thing was about how not even the gods know where he came from. Being essentially the god of lies, everything about him is manipulation and a lie. It states that theres 3 consistencies across all stories that are probably true, one of them being that his origins are on mount celestia and that the gods assigned him down there to manage the blood war. He was manipulating them, in order to get his own plane, but the move was mutual on the part of both parties.
We know hes not quite a god. But not a devil or demon. Maybe hes some weird form of archon
@@IzoniovKelestryn I don't recall what the source is, but I do know that according to it Asmodeus is one of the original creators of the Dungeons and Dragons reality.
It's interesting how this makes it sound more like a parallel dimension instead of an after life.
It’s both. D&D has treated the Outer Planes as both.
Hey man, want you know how much I personally appreciate the work and research you put into these videos. I probably never would of found any of this information given how it’s spread out through editions. Including how the makers of recent editions seem to be dead set on not giving us any concrete info and just basic vague summaries. I’ve been a fan of both D&D and of your channel for a while now, sadly haven’t been able to play despite my best efforts, but if I did. I feel like I would have more knowledge about the campaign world and the creature’s in it then my DM running it. And it’s because of you. Thx for everything. I hope things are going well for you.
I've always wanted an explanation of the good planes, I'm super excited that you are working on it.
Top notch content, In about 10 years time, I wanna take all of "what they dont tell you" videos into 1 clip, put it on, smoke up, and just chilllllllllll
I love dnd lore so so much honestly. Its so complex and layered. And full of so many different inspirations from a plethora of different religions. I like learning about archons because it also gives me a lot of insight into how archons work in Genshin, wich also have 7 main ones. And how, lol, Celestia works there.
Of course its not gonna be very similar but it helps to get a clearer picture of how it all works
A Bahamut vid would fit nicely in this Celestial series :)
Yeye Archons are glorious beacons of virtue with so much amazing lore etc. But allow me to ask what we're actually all thinking: CAN.THEY.STILL.BANG???
That's never brought up, oddly enough. Maybe try firsthand study?
@@daviddaugherty2816 It was brought up in the Devils vid. Advancing to a form that has a dick is apparently a huge driving factor.
It's good to know that there are also plenty of "good guys" out there. :)
Looking forward to the next video, I'm running an outer planes campaign right now and Mount Celestia is coming up as one of the next places my players will visit.
Me too! I'm going all 5e Planescape.
...Acerack reached the top of Mt. Celestia and came back...So did the guy who is like the wizard lord of waterdeep, i used to know his name but it's been ages since he came up in conversation, i remember that he has spells named after him though so that narrows it down...well, by "reached" i mean just teleported, but still they were on the top and then left.
Khelben?
@@marmyeater hmm, i don't think that's it, but idk. I feel like i'd know it if i heard it though. In 3.5 when they still had epic levels the dude was a level 30 wizard and could use 10th level spells. All i really remember lore wise is some kind of wizard's council that basically ruled waterdeep or maybe all of faerun and him being the head of it. Like i said, very very long time since he's come up in conversation.
Imagine a war between the Archons and the ‘Good’ gods. I mean, considering how badly the gods did with the Pact Primeval and how their keep the status quo has led to a multiverse where evil festers unchecked save for mortal intervention, I could imagine the Archons evicting the gods one day
Imagine the frustration of the gods know that demons treathen the even balance of death, killing inocent and good people only to be sended to the abyss and couldn't do anything about it
Except the gods are too powerful to be evicted, and most archons are too wise to try something that would jeopardize the side of good as much as succeeding at evicting good gods from their place of power.
Well, the Pact Primeval only refers to the Blood War, which in 5e is only really confined to the Lower Planes, not the entire multiverse as it was in Planescape. Thus, there isn't as much incentive to directly intervene. The Pact Primeval doesn't prevent celestials from fighting other evil in the rest of the cosmos, and doesn't stop them from combatting devils trying to corrupt mortal souls. If devils can exploit that part of the Pact's clause, so can celestials. I imagine angels can and do go after fiends that bring the Blood War *outside* of the Lower Planes, and act through proxies or find a way to be summoned if it's in the Material.
That being said, you definitely have an interesting idea going there. That's at least a viewpoint that Zariel had, and probably wasn't the only one. And since 5e has a depressingly low amount of lore for celestials and other Good-aligned entities it really does give the impression that cosmic Good does fuck all to do anything. Which is something I fault to the writers, but at least it's a viewpoint that can be exploited in-setting for plot hooks.
Sold me on the PDF! Also I wanted to support your channel since I get lots of inspiration from your lore videos to run creatures I probably never would have ran without your videos. Keep it up!
Really dig the "what they don't tell you" stuff. I greatly enjoyed the kobold video. Very insightful.
Hey! MrRhexx is back! This's gonna be goooood
yay yay yay yay yay yay yay this is so cool! I know the playerbase always asks for upper planes stuff because there's a lack of it in 5e and it lives up to all the hype. I could run a whole campaign set in Mount Celestia where the players are sent to Mount Celestia to climb the mountain and have to fight creatures or go through dungeons that represent their different non-good aspects as they attempt to climb the mountain. As they go up they can find different Archons and Gods and interact with them as they go up the mountain.
Just ordered that PDF! Super excited about it!
Btw, if you're ever looking for another video subject, a really deep dive into the eladrin would be awesome!!
I really like your videos and Celestial beings in D&D, and my favorite is the Solar, I hope one day you talk abour them.
im a VERY new DM and im running a campaign and its getting a lot better, having had my forever DM tell me im doing pretty good and theres a lot of celestials and demons and "fallen angels" and this helps a lot, the BBEG is one of these angels. while he's at his weakest so after this next session which may be the final fight, i may introduce a sort of stolen relic of the heavens
Last time I was this early, Jazirian and Ahriman were on speaking terms.
Damn shame they had to go biting each others tails and all that lol
@@dungeonguide6015 It really put a damper on the relationship.
Already bought the PDF, and it was worth it! I like the work you did. It’s small page count, but a lot of info on those pages! Also, all those very obnoxious people who whine about “No Dragon Warlock?!?!”, theirs a very powerful one in the book!
This was really interesting and fun to watch.
Read all this lore when I ran Planescape way back but I still enjoy it being read to me.
Ty for doing these videos. After the fiendish codexes came out. I always wanted a set that went into more depth of the celestial realms and their inhabitants (and of gehenna and the yugoloths which made no sense why they skipped)
6:00
A.J. "...If your a planar travler, can just do whatever you want..."
Rouge: "Does that mean I'm legally allowed to pick-pocket?"
We rogues are allowed to do whatever we can get away with.
As for that little tidbit, there's contradictory lore. According to the Planes of Law collection for Planescape, that's actually not the case. Planar travelers need to purify themselves, too.
That's why it's so hard to get around that plane. Bahamut's domain actually crosses the first 3 layers, so he offers it as a sort of shortcut/back door for worthy enough causes.
Im a huge fan that you named you barbarian subclass the giant slayer, as that's a classification i use for some Drow in Eebrron. Loving it, idk why but i do.
Thanks MrRhexx, I love this, we get so much lore about Demons and Devils, granted, they are more interesting, but I would love to hear more about the Good Planes and what they have,
In my campaign setting, good-aligned creatures who die at level 10 or higher are given the option to keep their body and memories when they die. With their body reflecting who the individual truly was at heart. In simple terms, if you were truly a child at heart, then your afterlife body would be a literal child version of yourself that still is just as capable as you were in life at your prime.
The idea being that a high-level mortal can genuinely be far more effective for the forces of Law and Good than what an Archon can be at times.
In addition, those who become Archons, are eventually given the choice to get their mortal form and memories back if they want it. Shockingly few do this, as they are concerned of how this could have an effect on their goals as a Petitioner. This usually happens around the point of being promoted from a Trumpet Archon as a different path of existence for the Archon to chose from.
Not saying that Zaphkeil is similar to Ahriman consuming very specific souls to gain power... but maybe he is and the reason on one returns is because Zaphkeil consumes them.
Just got your book, and have to say: Looks absolutely amazing! Only thing I'm sort of "Eh" about is the Walock's Great Wyrm subclass... It seems, especially from level 10 onwards, absolutely *busted* in balancing terms.
Thanks for the video. I gotta say that mountain sounds more like hell than heaven. There is no way I'd want to spend my time in the after life doing chores in a realm thought up by a paladin with a stick up his butt 😂
I guess I'm pretty lucky, I'm a new viewer and wasn't expecting to catch a video minutes after it came out
It’s a lot of good stuff. He’s enthusiastic in explaining the lore and has good production values. It’s inspiring to listen to in the background while writing.
I hope the next video on celestial creatures/plane inhabitants will be about guardinals. Also aditional videos would be about their plane: Elysium or rulers: Talisid and five companions.
Barbelo Great Mother Goddess from wear all thing come. I am so happy to see a vid on the archons did not even know there wear any in dnd.
The mythos described in your videos are simply amazing and spectacular! Thank you!
Thank you for the awesome video. I was really looking forward to the videos on upper planes !
I'm thinking about buying your supplement Rexx. I have a player that's become a true dragon, along with his much weaker siblings, and I feel like a Hag coven would just love to get their hands on her little brothers & sisters and use their parts for dark magic.
Really interesting and fun as well , ..would love to see more videos on celestials
what be nice is to have a book based on uniuqe paths a Player character can get to and the best means of it and the back story. Like "the path of godhood", "Lichdom", and the likes.
LG person who just died: I did it! I've faced all the trials of mortality with unyielding faith, and made it to Mount Celestia!
A higher-level archon: Yeah, congrats kid, but the grind ain't over yet, start climbin'🧗
YAY!! We're finally starting on the Celestial Denizens!
unpaid fan/actual customer- his pdf is legit. Useful af and really well assembled.
Can't believe I just realized Inkarnate was used a bit to show Mount Celestia. Very cool
Fantastic video! Thanks for releasing this on my birthday!
for background and well if ya got that cleric in the party I REALLY like this info. I have an aasimar zealot barbarian, playing like a dude born with holy power and guided loosely by angelic voice in head. But trying to get celestial info is much harder than fiends THANK YOU
I definitely want more videos on the inhabitants of celestia
this is so helpful! I made a cleric of bahamut and randomized his role on where he trained in the clergy. rolled outer planes, rolled mount celestia, and finally rolled for which layer and got mertion. turns out bahamut never appears there. unfortunately the campaign he's in keeps him constantly questioning his faith in one god to the point he fell and became a cleric to a more evil goddess, not tiamat thank goodness. but story wise definitely sets him up to try to redeem and purify himself into climbing the mountain if he ends up there, or in eternal service to misfortune.
I cant fucking stress enought how much I love your dnd videos
tower shield, spear and extensive aa defense guns if you try raiding this place (upwards). or go paradropping by gate and teleport. in that case youll need suppression fire in quick succession which makes the deployment of evocation wizards a necessity. luckily, some of the inhabitants taste like chicken
I love your videos I leave them on Auto play even when I sleep I can remember every video word for word so far
That Dragon harvest pdf... NOICE! and perfect timing too. my players just killed a dragon and are about to hunt more.
Huh, I tought we weren't done with 9 Hells yet, but this is nice too, the more Outer Planes info the better
well, we havent even started with the 9 hells :P
@@MrRhexx But we started with residents of Nine hells, like Tiamat and Levistus, not to mention Asmodeus himself many years ago. I kind of assumed we were goeing bit of hells, bit of abyss and after all the Evil Planes we would go "highier" or to the good side of plains
Great video! Any possibility of shedding light on Olympus? The process of dying and then enlightening yourself to become progressively holier is a great concept, and I hope there is something equally interesting for those who die that lived chaotically good.
Sadly, no, but they get to go to Arborea, the home of the best parties in the multiverse.
@@daviddaugherty2816 damn, dying and then becoming a fey party-goer would be pretty fun lmfao
Hello! I used to watch your Skyrim battles all the time and then your eso vids but it seems you took a break back then. I’m glad to see you still actively posting!
barbarian hide? That sounds like a totem kind of deal channeling the strenght of a mighty beats by using its hide, a buff magic only barbarians can use
Question: what would happen to an Undead, Fiend, Demon, seeking to climb the mountain? Assuming they follow the rules and don't cause trouble or kill anyone would they be allowed to climb? Or would they be assaulted by the celestials?
Edit: could you cover Liches and their sub races such as Arch Liches, Baelnorn, Demi Liches?
As long as they are genuinely trying to improve themselves, they are welcomed inside of Mount Celestia.
They would be allowed to, at least fiends. Climbing celestial as a devil that is a fallen angel is a way to return to angelic status
HIGH LEVEL CAMPAIGN IDEA
So Clerics can be one shift away from their God's alignment.
From this I get the feeling that the Lawful Good gods are more "Honored Guests" or "Tenets" of the plane.
Imagine that because of the direction of the Blood War and the cosmic imbalance the Archons deliver an ultimatum from either the plane itself or brought out from Asmodeus making a poignant callout.
The Lawful Good deities have to abandon their "one-shift clerics" or be evicted from the Mountain.
Would that make the 1-shift clerics false, or would they go instead to the plane of their alignment, instead of their God?
@@agsilverradio2225 If the LG Gods abandoned them then they would lose spells until they become LG and atone, otherwise they would go to their alignment's afterlife
I am stoked about this beyond belief.
Mr.Rhexx over here spoiling the shit out of me with more info on dragons. Dragons are my #! Special interest in life and I love you for making this PDF. I will buy the absolute crap out of it first chance I get.
Thank you for these great videos they were a big reason why I got into DND
That illustration at 14:01 is 🔥🔥
OMG THANK YOU! I was looking for celestials but it's a bit lacking on variety
This is gonna be legendary
(In the beginning) yeah that's exactly what we need in dnd and no hide armor was confusing to me too🤔🤔🤔 its D&D I should be able to wear that
Could you do a video on "What they don't tell you about orange dragons. Because there were a hole bunch of dragons you missed (mercury, gem dragons, and the deep and mist dragons) the mist dragon is my favorite. There are also 4 different chromatic types you missed. That being purple, brown, orange, and yellow dragons. I think you'll find purples to be really interesting.
Wow when knew mount celestia existence i always wanted to know more about it. Awesome video and im really hyped to see the next mountain celestial. Well done dude.
Excellent content as always. I'll have to look into getting your PDF when I finish my move and can save money again. I don't play 5E much but it sounds like a lot of excellent concepts that can still be perused.
This is going to be a fun series, especially when MrRexx gets to the Titans
Its funny, I was rewatching the night hags video and it got me thinking. "I know what happens to evil souls when they die but what about the good ones? What do they turn into? Well i should comment this on his recent video so he has a better chance to read it" then I watch your recent video and i get my answer lol