Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ripvanwormer 10-19-07, 07:45 PM	In the Digital Initiative, or D&D Online, or Dragon Magazine, or whatever it's called: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drfe/20071017 Illustrations (!) and extensive background detail on Moloch, Titivilus, Bael, Balan, and Bathym. Kinda neat. I like it.
Taeldrin Laesrash 10-19-07, 11:36 PM	Me too. Too bad the DI is so obscure (I doubt anyone cares about it).
Deacon Liadon 10-20-07, 03:28 PM	I saw this a couple of days ago. wasn't sure wether to post about it though. I can see it being a useful article though. it's nice to see what the other archfiends of hell are doing these days. Especially Titivelius. He rocks.
TRCEttin 10-22-07, 01:57 AM	Me too. Too bad the DI is so obscure (I doubt anyone cares about it). :mymy: Seriously though, that's pretty interesting. I am starting to consider using devils more instead of driving players mad by using demons as villains in every game ever. Is there going to be more like this?
Deacon Liadon 10-22-07, 08:59 AM	I hope so, after all, they must be starting to run low on Demon Lords for the Demonomicon articles. Let's see: Pale Night; Sess'Innek probably wouldn't provide a hugely interesting article; Yeenoghu might be interesting; Ilsidahaur could be good. We haven't seen him in a while; Kostchtchie; I'd like to see something on Lynkhab... Ok, maybe there are still a few to go. It would be nice to see something more on the Hells though.
Kain_Darkwind 10-22-07, 01:23 PM	I hope so, after all, they must be starting to run low on Demon Lords for the Demonomicon articles. Let's see: Pale Night; Sess'Innek probably wouldn't provide a hugely interesting article; Yeenoghu might be interesting; Ilsidahaur could be good. We haven't seen him in a while; Kostchtchie; I'd like to see something on Lynkhab... Ok, maybe there are still a few to go. It would be nice to see something more on the Hells though. Kostchtchie was already done. I don't think a Dukes of Hell series needs to be done 'in place' of Demonomicon articles. The two can compliment each other nicely if the people doing them are in communication with each other. As for the actual article, I found the flavor to be more impressive than the mechanics. Crossposted from DF: Black Ops: I'm honestly not that impressed with them. They suffer from the same flavor to stats issues as many of WotC's builds do. For instance, some of the regenerations are penetrated by silver, where as others need epic. This is fine, but this doesn't even correspond to their DR in all cases. I don't like the dropping of silver from the DR. Three conditions for DR isn't too much, and epic doesn't need to be on all of them. % chance on summoning, when pit fiends don't have one? Bad. Also, the 3.5 pit fiend rears its ugly ability score inflated self here. Many of the Dukes, despite having more HD and theoretically more power than a pit fiend, fail to measure up in terms of mental or physical ability scores. Most don't even come close. Now, I personally advocate a lowered pit fiend, perhaps with 20 or 22 scores in the mental department, and certainly with less than a 37 base strength. If that makes its CR dip down under 20, I could care less. It was never a 20th level challenge in any other edition, 1-3.0, and the task of holding such a place has caused ability score inflation of the worst degree to occur. As for the HD totals, I do like placing Dukes in the 30 HD range. It leaves room for advanced pit fiends in the 20 HD range, and true forms of the Lords in the 40-50HD range. However, when you look at the HD of the Aspects of the Lords, they are in the 20 range, with similar CRs. Something seems...off. I like how Bael ignored the fighter prereq for Weapon Spec. It seems like I'm not the only one who thought that arbitrary. The flavor for the Dukes is also a nice step away from single sentences that marked earlier Duke flavor. Taking a page from either GoH or the Demonomicons, they've given quite a bit of new flavor and story that makes these statblocks actual characters rather than just another combat waiting to happen. Bottom line, these Dukes aren't great. They lack a cohesive design strategy that the Demon Lords from the Demonomicon had. It shows.
Andyr 10-29-07, 01:18 PM	Kobold Quarterly (Wolfgang Baur's production, which kicked off after the demise of Dragon) has also had a "Dukes of Hell" series of articles, which I'd highly recommend. Interestingly, the first was also called Titivillus. http://wolfgangbaur.com/kobold_quarterly/default.aspx I am intruigued as to whether the new Dragon people were influenced in any way in their choice of articles by KQ. With respect to the Demonomicon, I too would like to see more of Yeenoghu (and Doreisan!).
Witch 10-29-07, 02:03 PM	Kobold Quarterly (Wolfgang Baur's production, which kicked off after the demise of Dragon) has also had a "Dukes of Hell" series of articles, which I'd highly recommend. Interestingly, the first was also called Titivillus. http://wolfgangbaur.com/kobold_quarterly/default.aspx I am intruigued as to whether the new Dragon people were influenced in any way in their choice of articles by KQ. With respect to the Demonomicon, I too would like to see more of Yeenoghu (and Doreisan!). Titivilus has been in D&D since first edition, and was even mentioned in the Book of Vile Darkness if my memory doesn't deceive me. In all likelihood, Wolfgang Baur used him because he's a real-world demonology figure, and hence, WotC can't claim him as intellectual property.
Thanael 10-31-07, 03:56 AM	KQ2 features Belphegor Baron of Laziness and Invention btw. KQ3 will feature Arbeyach, Lord of Locusts, by Ari Marmell.
Andyr 11-02-07, 11:09 AM	Titivilus has been in D&D since first edition, and was even mentioned in the Book of Vile Darkness if my memory doesn't deceive me. I didn't know that. In all likelihood, Wolfgang Baur used him because he's a real-world demonology figure, and hence, WotC can't claim him as intellectual property. That's what I assumed, yes.