Barrens of Doom and Despair

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the Barrens of Doom and Despair is an evil-aligned plane of existence. It is one of a number of Outer Planes that form part of the cosmology retroactively introduced in the 3rd edition of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting. In the revised cosmology, the Barrens of Doom and Despair strongly resemble the Gray Waste of Hades present in earlier editions of the setting, and still present in the orthodox D&D cosmology.

It is a plane of inhospitable locales, including vast deserts of black sand and huge plains of dark granite. There is no water to be found anywhere on the plane, and no sunlight fills the blood-red sky.

Five deities make their homes here, including Bane (his home was previously referred to as Acheron), Beshaba, Hoar, Loviatar, and Talona.

Structure

The Barrens of Doom and Despair consist of a single infinite plane, there are no constituent layers. It links via the Astral Plane to the planes of the Prime Material (such as Toril) and a number of portals directly connect it with Hammergrim and the Blood Rift. Beshaba's realm, the Blood Tor, links directly to the Abyss.

References

• Baker, Richard; James Wyatt (2004). Player's Guide To Faerûn. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 0-7869-3134-5.