10 Reasons You Should Check Out Hellbound Heists

Hellbound Heists is a new supplement for Dungeons & Dragons that can be found on Dungeon Masters Guild. It isn’t an official product. However, it should nonetheless be capable of providing plenty of useful material for those who want to play in the Nine Hells of Baator. Here are 10 reasons why someone might want to check out Hellbound Heists:

1. Support for Playing in the Nine Hells of Baator

For a lot of people, Dungeons & Dragons is most entertaining when it provides them with the chance to visit fantastic locations, fight their fantastic inhabitants, and then claim their fantastic loot. Unfortunately, while Dungeons & Dragons has a wide range of such settings to choose from, such campaigns need a lot more time and effort from DMs to flesh out because of their fantastic nature. Due to this, it can be very useful for such DMs to pick up supplements such as Hellbound Heists to provide them with usable content for their campaigns.

2. Visit a Fantastic Location

One of the most fantastic locations in Dungeons & Dragons is the Nine Hells of Baator. For those who are unfamiliar, it is an entire plane populated by devils, which are powerful Dungeons & Dragons monsters that tend to be Lawful Evil in nature. Combined with the inhospitable nature of the Nine Hells, this means that the entire setting is an excellent choice for high-level play.

3. Experience the Full Range of the Nine Hells

Given the name, it should come as no surprise to learn that the Nine Hells took a lot of inspiration from the nine circles of Hell envisioned by Dante Alighieri in his Inferno. As a result, while the plane is always inhospitable, it offers a remarkable range of landscapes. Something that can make it much easier for DMs to throw in a wide range of encounters under a wide range of circumstances. One potential example would be fending off raids from cold-resistant devils while struggling through a freezing blizzard in Cania, while another potential example would be dodging attacks from winged devils while climbing down the deep ravines of Nessus.

4. Guilt-Free Dungeons & Dragons

Some players care about the moral implications of their Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, whereas other players couldn’t care less. There is nothing wrong with either approach, particularly since it isn’t uncommon for people to switch from one to the other from time to time. In any case, for players who care about moral issues in their tabletop roleplaying, devils are a great choice for some guilt-free, classic-style Dungeons & Dragons. After all, devils are very literal embodiments of cosmological evil that do terrible things to mortals on a regular basis and would do even more terrible things to mortals on an even more regular basis if it wasn’t for the distraction of the Blood War. Due to this, hitting the devils in their home plane is pretty much 100 percent good 100 percent of the time.

5. Surprising Range of Play

With that said, devils are much more versatile characters than what a lot of people would expect on initial consideration. After all, devils are Lawful Evil whereas demons are Chaotic Evil. Due to this, devils exist in well-organized though cruel and hierarchal societies that nonetheless provide more opportunities for non-violent interactions. Suffice to say that while it is very dangerous, there are few things in Dungeons & Dragons as satisfying as beating devils at their own game by out-lawyering them.

6. New Monsters

Devils might be Lawful Evil, but they come in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and capabilities. Examples range from the pathetic nupperibo that are little more than mindless bulks to the bearded barbazu that wield huge, saw-toothed polearms with consummate skill. Naturally, Hellbound Heists introduces new monsters that DMs can use to challenge their players.

7. New Items

Loot is one of the main reasons that people play Dungeons & Dragons. Sometimes, this means money; other times, this means magical items. As such, it makes perfect sense for Hellbound Heists to introduce new items that can be used to challenge players as well as reward them for overcoming said challenges.

8. Nine Heists

In total, Hellbound Heists features nine adventures for the Nine Hells of Baator. They aren’t collected into a single campaign, but they could be if DMs prefer it that way. Otherwise, it is very easy for DMs to either run them on their own or insert them into existing campaigns, thus making them readily available for us. Something that should come as welcome news for DMs who are planning to run but are short on time with which to prepare material.

9. Tweak the Noses of Some of the Biggest Names in Baator

Some of the heists are meant for high-level characters. Naturally, this means that players will be going up against some of the biggest names in the Nine Hells. One example involves investigating the secret operations of Mammon, which could have profound implications for the Blood War itself. Another example involves infiltrating the fortress of Asmodeus at the very bottom of the plane, which promises great perils for great rewards.

10. Inspiration for Other Campaigns

Of course, the content of Hellbound Heists can be used for other campaigns as well. For instance, if DMs like the heists but don’t necessarily like the hellish setting, they should find it relatively simple and straightforward to strip out the Nine Hells-specific details before repurposing the remainder for use in their setting of choice. However, another excellent option would be incorporating these heists into a bigger over-arching campaign involving the Blood War between the devils and the demons. After all, the players are going to go up against some of the most powerful denizens of the Nine Hells anyways, so why not reward their courage by letting them make an impact on one of the most critical conflicts in the whole of Dungeons & Dragons? This is particularly true because the Blood War is the main reason that the devils and demons aren’t invading everyone else, meaning that anything that disrupts the conflict could make for a very rich source of further conflict and thus further stories indeed.