In D&D and Planescape, there are lots of Deities but very few ultra-powerful beings that are not divine. I'm thinking along the lines of such beings as Marvel Comic's Living Tribunal and Eternity or DC's Antimonitor... beings that aren't gods but can still destroy planets, etc... the kind of beings that Dr. Strange deals with on a regular basis. The closest things in Planescape are the Lady of Pain and the Serpent, and Ao is ultra-powerful on Faerun (but is a deity, abeit an Overpower). I'm thinking in terms of plot elements, not beings the PCs are actually supposed to fight for the most part... Oh, I forgot about the Old Ones and the Draedens! Any others I missed?
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
Tue, 2008-02-19 15:15
#1
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
Tue, 2008-02-19 16:27
#3
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
Vecna.
Half the NPCs in the Forgotten Realms. In fact, some of the NPCs in Faerun are so overpowered they could probably beat up a deity and take its lunch money.
Dragon kings.
Iuz.
I forget whether all the Elder Evils referred to in Lords of Madness are truly divine or not.
Tue, 2008-02-19 18:31
#4
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
The various exemplar lords are pretty damn powerful. Look in BoED & BoVD. eg - the 9 as mentioned (LE), Primus (LN), The 7 (LG), The companions (NG), The Eldarin Court of Stars (CG), The Slaad Lords (CN), Various Demon Lords (CE) and The Yugoloth Lords (eg. The General of Gehenna & the Oinoloth) (NE).
The Altraloths & Baerns (As Shemmy presents them) also probably deserve a mention.
The stats for these as they appear are only supposed to be 'aspects', or so we're told, so the real things would probably be beyond the reach of conventional party attacks.
[edit] I forgot about the non-outer planes! - The elemental lords are all pretty powerful non-deities (there's 3 per element I believe), Neth, The Githyanki lich queen was pretty powerful but may be dead now.
I'm sure there's more on the transitive planes but I can't remember them right now.
Wed, 2008-02-20 17:50
#5
Let me correct myself...
After giving this some thought, what I actually was getting at is not so much ultra-powerful beings as UNIQUE beings; beings that are not a member of any known race. The Lords of the Nine and the Abyssal Princes are mighty, but despite their individuality are all members of either the Baatezu or Tan'nari race; likewise Primus is a promoted Modron, the Archon leaders are either top-shelf Archons or former mortals (if you believe Book of Exalted Deeds), Talsid is a super Leonal, etc... whereas beings like the Living Tribunal, the In-Betweener, Shuma-Gorath, etc... are totally unique with no other known relatives. It doesn't have to be a matter of how powerful the creature is, I'd like my PCs to meet something that they just plain CAN'T IDENTIFY!
Wed, 2008-02-20 19:06
#6
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
Neth, the plane that lives should fit the bill then.
Wed, 2008-02-20 21:14
#7
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
Something along the lines of the Transcendant One of PS:T kind of sounds like that. An incarnated concept that didn't technically exist until TNE no longer had it which became a force to be reckoned with over time
Wed, 2008-02-20 21:26
#8
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
Speaking of PS: T, what about O the incarnated letter.
Wed, 2008-02-20 21:33
#9
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
The Sun and Moon of the Beastlands are powerful beings in their own right.
And going on to the subject of comicbooks already brought up, there's likely to be beings like The Endless (Dream, Death, Destiny, Despair, Desire, Delirium and Destruction) that are anthropomorphic personifications of certain forces.
Thu, 2008-02-21 02:24
#10
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
Then there are all 15 factols (before faction war that is): they are all powerfull and influential individuals. Expecialy factols: Rowan Darkwood (Fated), Erin Montgomery (Sensates) and Skall (Dustmen and on top of that he/she is lich old at least 2000 years).
EDIT: ...oh, and lets not forget all of elder Titans traped on Carceri.
Thu, 2008-02-21 20:33
#11
mighty beings
Oh, no question there's lots of powerful beings in Planescape (and D&D in general... let's not forget the Tarrasque!) In fact, some of the critters in Epic Level Handbook are MEGA-powerful (i.e. the Devastation Vermin, who you'd need Godzilla to fight... which reminds me; I've GOT to stat him out one of these days...) One of the things I like about Planescape is the idea that you don't neccessarily have to fight something directly in order to defeat it; you can thwart the enemies' PLANS instead (I love it in comics when a character meets an opponent he just plain CAN'T defeat in combat, and has to THINK his way out of the situation...)
Fri, 2008-02-22 02:20
#12
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
Well the Elder Evils aren't divine. And there is always cthulhu from the 2.0 call of cthulhu...though he would be considered a deity now that i think about it.
Fri, 2008-02-22 07:31
#13
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
... Then there are: Apomps (creator of gereleths), Animal Lords, "Monsters of Legend" (uniqe planar versions of "ordinary" prime monsters), and all that ultrapoverfull criters that are imprisoned in third (swampy) layer of Elisyum.
... And not to forget: Doctor Who, TARDIS, Master and Davros/Dalek Emperor... 
Fri, 2008-02-22 08:28
#14
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
One of the things I like about Planescape is the idea that you don't neccessarily have to fight something directly in order to defeat it; you can thwart the enemies' PLANS instead (I love it in comics when a character meets an opponent he just plain CAN'T defeat in combat, and has to THINK his way out of the situation...)
Of course, that's equally true of other settings as well...
To add to the list, I've been considering the idea of the slaad Spawning Stone having taken on a sentience of its own.
Fri, 2008-02-22 16:57
#15
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
I'd also like to propose Mr. Grey, from the Grey Waste project. While I might be taking him out of the original context, I've used him in my games as sort of an avatar of secrets, placing him beyond the reach of PCs. And, also, a unique creature of sorts, not really based on any "common" planar species.
Fri, 2008-02-22 17:14
#16
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
Mr. Grey rocks.
Fri, 2008-02-22 23:13
#17
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
Oooh. I'd forgotten about him. He really does sum up the idea of this thread better than any of the other options so far.
I loved that material
Fri, 2008-02-22 23:39
#18
Ultrapowerful, non-Power beings in D&D/Planescape
That reminds me - I need to go scrounge up some Grey Waste fans and get that going again... *begins to plot evilly*
There's the Spelljammer Star system Sized Beings that inhabit Crystal Spheres.
Like a Jester who juggles planets.
There's also Asmodeus and the Other Lords of the Nine.
One presumes Archangel versions exist as well.