In Dungeons and Dragons, the fantasy role-playing game, an Outer Plane is one of a number of general types of planes of existence. They can also be referred to as godly planes, spiritual planes or divine planes. The Outer Planes are home to beings such as deities and otherworldly creatures such as demons, celestials and devils. Each Outer Plane is usually the physical manifestation of a particular moral and ethical alignment and the entities that dwell there often embody the traits related to that alignment.

All Outer Planes are spatially infinite but are composed of features and locations of finite scope. Many of these planes are often split in to a collection of further infinites called layers, which are essentially sub-planes that represent one particular facet or theme of the plane. For example, Baator's geography is reminiscent of Hell as depicted in Dante's The Divine Comedy.

Standard D&D Cosmology

The standard Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) cosmology contains seventeen Outer Planes. Cosmologically, they are arranged in a ring of sixteen planes with the Good-aligned planes, or Upper Planes at the top, and the Evil-aligned planes, or Lower Planes at the bottom. The Lawful planes sit to the left, and the Chaotic planes to the right. One further plane sits in the centre of the ring, The Outlands, being neutral in alignment. At the center of the Outlands is a Spire of infinite height; the city of Sigil floats above the Spire's pinnacle. The standard D&D cosmology is the official cosmology

Clockwise from "top", the planes are:

Forgotten Realms Cosmology

The Forgotten Realms cosmology currently contains twenty-six Outer Planes, arranged in a tree-like structure around the central 'trunk' of the material plane of Toril. Unlike the Outer Planes of the standard D&D cosmology which are heavily alignment-based, the Outer Planes of the Forgotten Realms cosmology are faith-based.

• The Abyss
• Arvandor
• The Barrens of Doom and Despair
• Blood Rift
• Brightwater
• Clangor
• Deep Caverns
• The Demonweb Pits
• Dragon Eyrie
• Dwarfhome
• Dweomerheart
• The Fated Depths
• Fury's Heart

Eberron Cosmology

The Eberron cosmology, used in the Eberron campaign setting contains thirteen Outer Planes. They exhibit traits similar to those of the standard D&D cosmology but also some appear more like Inner Planes. The cosmology is unique in that the Outer Planes orbit around Eberron through the Astral plane. As they orbit, their overlap with the material plane changes and access to those planes may become easier or restricted.

• Danavi, the Perfect Order
• Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams
• Dolurrh, the Realm of the Dead
• Fernia, the Sea of Fire
• Irian, the Eternal Day
• Kythri, the Churning Chaos
• Lamannia, the Twilight Forest
• Mabar, the Endless Night
• Risia, the Plain of Ice
• Shavarath, the Battleground
• Syrania, the Azure Sky
• Thelanis, the Faerie Court
• Xoriat, the Realm of Madness

Alternative theories

Theories of organisation of the Outer Planes vary according to culture. Nordic lands see the plane of Ysgard as dominant over all others, in accordance with the importance they ascribe the powers there. Some Oriental lands see the planes not as separate regions, but as a single mass throughout which are scattered different agencies of the Celestial Bureaucracy, with the Celestial Emperor residing on one plane, and his Minister of State on another.

See also Alternative interpretations of the planes.

References