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Title: Armies of the Abyss: Book of Fiends, Vol. 2 (d20 System) by Erik Mona ISBN: 0-9714380-0-5 Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing Pub. Date: February, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Much better than Legions of Hell
Comment: Upfront Legions of Hell was mostly a monstrous manual book with a bunch of nasty critters that frankly aside from the "fallen" template of Angels had no real enjoyment factor to me. No information was given on the 'real meat' of the Lords of the Nine. They make up for that mistake here with the incredibly large amount of nasty Demon Lords listed here and their large amount of followers which they are much more interested than the silly eternal fighting of the abyss (Gawds! Thank goodness we got rid of it! Demons should be about destroying man not each other!). The Thaumatauge class is perfect for my game and I straight lifted it. Unlike the Monsters in Legions of Hell I might actually use the ones listed here. Another word about the Demon Princes-they rock. All of them are competing for mortal resources usually occupied by evil Gods and their focus gives them unique personality. I also am pleased by the amount of real demonology in here such as Vephar the Demon of the Oceans, Abaddon, and others. All in all great stuff. As for the 'names' of various groups being similar to Legions of Hell, its hardly like people arn't occasionally named after places or vice versa.
Rating: 4
Summary: More of a lark ...
Comment: I suppose one convenient thing about the Abyss is that since it's supposed to be nigh-infinite, you can populate it with any number of lords and layers and generally not have to worry about stepping on anyone else's toes. Some things in this book are just throwaways, though: I wasn't exactly impressed with the dinosaur-like qlippoth demons. The Abyssal lords (now generally referred to as demon princes in 3E) presented here make up for this, however.
There's a new class: the thaumaturge is a bit like a cleric, except a thaumaturge worships a demon prince (any demon prince is eligible) and has to perform a(n) (often obscene) daily "obedience" ritual to replenish spells. Other sections have thaumaturge-specific feats, (spell) domains, and (fittingly) spells. One interesting bit is Table 2-3, which lists a number of "corruptions" that are one of the consenquences of being a thaumaturge. Many of the entries would serve equally well for a tiefling's various physical traits.
The best part of the book is the section on many less-known demon princes: Abaddon/Apollyon, Abraxas, Anarazel, Astaroth, Azazel/Urian, Azidahaka/Zohak, Behemoth, Decarabia, Eligor, Flauros, Gamigin, Haagenti, Ipos, Marbas/Barbas, Nocticula, Raum, Sabnach, Seere, Shax, Socothbenoth/Succor-Beloth/Succorbenoth, and Vepar. The (Abyssal) layer, diposition, appearance, cult, and obedience ritual of each prince is thoroughly described and his/her/its title(s), (conceptual) areas of concern, (spell) domains, and favored weapon are specified. Really, the only things missing that would otherwise make them complete are stats, but Erik Mona's descriptions are so good that I had no trouble determining what the stats for a given demon prince would most likely be-for instance, Astaroth and Haagenti both probably have an Int of around 40 and Behemoth's Str must be *at least* 40.
I'm kind of disappointed, though, that some (admittedly well-known) demon princes are only mentioned in passing: Arachnadia/Lolth, Baphomet, Demogorgon, Kostchtchie, Lord of Many Forms / Juiblex, Orcus, Pazuzu, Vaz'zht/Graz'zt, Yughooragh/Yeenoghu, and Zhar'Ub-Luur / Fraz Urblu (?). Still, their areas of concern, domains, and favored weapons are specified along with descriptions of their obedience rituals. I guess I enjoyed Mona's well-written (and researched) write-ups on the other demon princes so much that I was hoping he'd cover *all* of them.
This book also has some minor unique beings: Eurynomus, the Corpse-Eater; Malohin the Strangler; Merihim; Rahu the Tormentor; and Shiggarreb; and many non-unique creatures: the alastor, alrune, armageddon beast, darba, enveloper of the innocent, razorwire golem, hydraggon, incubus, jahi, locust demon, mandragoras, nyogoth, paigoel, schir, shoggti, skulldugger, solesik, soulkeeper, spawn of Marbas, spineseeker, and Stygian interloper.
This is basically a good book if you aren't looking for anything in particular other than some info on the Abyss and its many inhabitants. If you are looking for something specific, chances are you're going to be at least a little disappointed with this book. Still, it makes an excellent resource for tons of demon princes and an interesting character class. I just wish it covered more than what's offered here.
Rating: 4
Summary: Prey on the Unsuspecting PCs
Comment: Legions of Hell was so good, I bought this one sight unseen. Here's how it stacks up: one new class (thaumaturge), effectively a cleric of a demon prince; 20 new demon princes presented as religions for the thaumaturge (plus stats on 10 more that you'll recognize from elsewhere); 21 non-unique abyssal monsters; 5 unique demons presented as monsters; 10 new domains; 9 new spells, some better than others; 6 new diseases.
Since Legions of Hell set my expectations, I was initially disappointed at the number of really compelling encounter-monsters available (possibly just because the bar is higher now--I expect to use about half of what's in the book). Also, I found the spells and domains a little underwhelming. The book's real purpose, however, seems to be less about offering scads of new game stats than in justifying the concepts of tanar'ri as just one race on the Abyss, explaining how the tanar'ri came to dominate the Abyss, and most importantly how humans could fall into the service of demon princes without being drooling maniacs. To that end the book introduces qlippoth, a Lovecraftian abyssal race that predates the tanar'ri, and plausibly presents twenty demonic religions with unique appeal to particular kinds of people, whose members can still function very effectively in human(oid) society. A few of these are bound to fit into any campaign, tolerated by all but the most orthodox societies. This "how do demons work in the campaign" treatment has been largely lacking in D&D products to date, and I expect it to make my villains much harder to spot among the crowds of the misled, self-deluded, and merely power-hungry followers involved in these new cults.
Note to Christians and concerned parents: unlike most D&D materials, this one describes rituals (in connection with the thaumaturge class) that people could actually emulate. As references to Aleister Crowley and the Hell-Fire Clubs are listed in the bibliography, I expect at least some of these are based on actual and reputed Satanic practices--fully in line with the subject matter, but if you're already concerned with the amount of occult content in D&D, this one's probably not for you.
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Title: Legions of Hell by Chris Pramas ISBN: 0970104847 Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing Pub. Date: 01 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Fiend Folio (Dungeons & Dragons Accessory) by Eric Cagle, Jesse Decker, James Jacobs, Erie Mona, Matt Sernett, Chris Thomasson, James Wyatt ISBN: 0786927801 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: April, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Dungeon Master's Guide: Core Rulebook II (Dungeon & Dragons, Edition 3.5) ISBN: 0786928891 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Book of Vile Darkness (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) by Monte Cook ISBN: 0786926503 Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: October, 2002 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
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Title: Monster Manual: Core Rulebook III (Dungeons & Dragons, Edition 3.5) ISBN: 078692893X Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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