Converting the Dukes of Hell

Hello! Welcome to our first (and probably will be the only) mega-project.

In this thread, we will be attempting to convert the stats of all the major, unique Dukes of Hell from 1st edition. This does not include any of the current Lords of the Nine, and encompasses the following 59 unique devils (from Monster Manual II, Dragon 75, 76, and 91): Moloch, (maybe Geryon too, pre-death), Amon, Bael, Bitru, Hutijin, Titivilus, Amduscias, Malphas, Nergal, Bist, Caim, Lilis, Arioch, Biffant, Merodach, Alocer, Focalor, Caarcrinolaas, Melchon, Naome, Chamo, Balan, Bathym, Gaziel, Cozbi, Gorson, Herodias, Agares, Machalas, Lilith, Tartach, Bileth, Baftis, Neabaz, Barbatos, Abigor, Zepar, Baalphegor, Bele, Adonides, Barbas, Bifrons, Bensozia, Adramalech, Phongor, Buer, Bune, Morax, Rimmon, Zagum, Armaros, Azazel, Cahor, Dagon, Duskur, Kochibel, Malarea, Nisroch, and Rumjal (not in that particular order, though).

NOTE: Those in bold have since appeared in Dragon Online's Infernal Aristocracy articles.

These beings will appear on the Creature Catalog site when finished, and we will be working on them one layer of Hell at a time. We will start with Avernus (which will include the most conversions, considering the outcast dukes), then Dis, Minauros, Phelegthos, Stygia, Malbolge, Maladomini, Caina, and then Nessus.

The target CRs for most of these creatures will be higher than a pit fiend, and lower than Dispater's in Book of Vile Darkness. We'll see how that comes out as we go. I think before doing any conversions, we'll need to set a range for HD.

Thoughts, and initial reactions?

Initial reaction: Woo-hoo!

HD Range:

A pit fiend has 18 HD at CR 20. That should be rock-bottom for these guys.

The BoVD Dispater has 34 HD at CR 26. I'm assuming that is our uppermost range.

HD by CR in this range:

CR 20: Pit fiend (18 HD), Aspect of Bel (22 HD), Bel (26 HD)
CR 21: Aspect of Belial (30 HD), Aspect of Dispater (28 HD), Aspect of Levistus (25 HD),
Aspect of Mammon (28 HD)
CR 22: Aspect of Glasya (28 HD), Geryon (30 HD), The Hag Countess (33 HD)
CR 23: Aspect of Baalzebul (30 HD)
CR 24: Aspect of Mephistopheles (30 HD), Belial (36 HD), Fierna (36 HD)
CR 25: Mammon (34 HD), Levistus (33 HD)
CR 26: Dispater (34 HD)

Given that the CR range is very small, whereas the HD range should be bigger, I'd rather start with HD and let the CR-chips fall where they may, accordingly.

The 1E pit fiend had 13 HD, which if you assume an average of 4.5 on a d8 would mean the average one would have 58 hp; thus, a whole lot less than the average duke.

Moloch should still be powerful like the other archdevils, but of course his political influence and the advantages of controlling a whole layer are gone. It still shows that he was merely one of the most powerful dukes before gaining his own layer, since he has the same hp as Amon.

Going by the assumption that a pit fiend would have had 58 hp, then the absolute weakest of the unique devils was Lilis, who was just a little bit more powerful than a pit fiend (in terms of hp at least). The weakest of the original archdevils were Moloch, Geryon, and Mammon (again, in terms of hp). Almost all of the dukes had fewer hp than Moloch; the only exceptions being Bael, Amon, Gorson, and Buer (who tie with him), Chamo, Herodias, Adramalech, and Zagum (who are slightly higher than him), Bune and Morax (who are higher than Geryon), and Bifrons (who is even higher than Mammon!); all dukes are below Dispater in terms of HD though, which supports my statement that the projected CRs should be below his BoVD stats.

Speaking of BoVD stats, let’s have a quick look at the HDs of some of those lords: Dispater 34, Mammon 34, Belial 36, Baalzebul 38, Mephistopheles 38, and Asmodeus 35 (for some unknown reason). A 3.5 pit fiend has 18 HD. So, likely, Lilis would be at 19 or 20 HD, and we could put Bifrons as high as 34, making all others fall somewhere in between. What we need to do is figure out a scale.

Here’s a possible method; going up by 6’s.

HD – 1E hp
21 – 60-66
22 – 66-72
23 – 72-78
24 – 78-84
25 – 84-90
26 – 90-96
27 – 96-102
28 – 102-108
29 – 108-114
30 – 114-120
31 – 120-126
32 – 126-132
33 – 132-138
34 – 138-144

Going that way, most dukes would have HD in the mid-high 20s, with a few breaking over 30, and only some of the consorts going below 25 HD. I’d be willing to adjust that down by one, if you feel strongly that the dukes should all be at least one step below the archdevils HD-wise, but I’d put even Lilis at no less than 20-HD.

(Tiamat)
Amduscias - 92
Malphas - 90

Nergal - 106
Bist - 90
Caim - 93
Armaros - 99
Azazel - 97
Cahor - 93
Dagon - 91
Duskur - 111
Kochibel - 104
Malarea - 96
Nisroch - 99
Rumjal - 100

Dispater - 144
Lilis - 66
Titivilus - 86
Arioch - 123
Biffant - 84
Merodach - 92
Alocer - 90
Bitru - 99

Mammon - 139
Bael - 126
Glasya - 69
Focalor - 121
Caarcrinolaas - 104
Melchon - 101

Belial - 154
Naome - 69
Chamo - 131
Balan - 112
Bathym - 102
Gaziel - 116

Geryon - 133
Cozbi - 67
Amon - 126
Gorson - 126
Herodias - 129
Agares - 119
Machalas - 122

Moloch - 126
Lilith - 71
Tartach - 114
Bileth - 121

Baalzebul - 166
Baftis - 79
Neabaz - 124
Barbatos - 122
Abigor - 120
Zepar - 118

Mephistopheles - 188
Baalphegor - 82
Hutijin - 111
Bele - 112
Adonides - 121
Barbas - 110
Bifrons - 141

Asmodeus - 199
Bensozia - 86
Adramalech - 133
Phongor - 129
Buer - 126
Bune - 136
Morax - 135
Rimmon - 125
Zagum - 127

Also, note that a couple of the Dukes had (abbreviated) stats in BovD and its web enhancement:

Amon (CR 18; HD 26d8+234; hp 351)
Martinet (CR 13; HD HD 18d8+90; hp 171)

3E CR notwithstanding, Amon is Bel's (Bael's) equal in both 1E and 3E in terms of HD.

i'm not thinking of messing with Martinet at the moment, although i do want to get to Amon; note that with my above chart, Amon will definitely be higher than his BoVD WE stats. also, Bel and Bael are two separate individuals (believe it or not; a few of these names are awfully close).

i took the liberty of filling in the names from the above list into my range chart:

HD – 1E hp
21 – 60-66 – Lilis*
22 – 66-72 – Naome, Cozbi, Lilith
23 – 72-78 -
24 – 78-84 – Biffant*, Baftis, Baalphegor
25 – 84-90 – Malphas*, Bist*, Titivilus, Alocer*, Bensozia
26 – 90-96 – Amduscias, Caim, Cahor, Dagon, Malarea*, Merodach
27 – 96-102 – Armaros, Azazel, Nisroch, Rumjal, Bitru, Melchon, Bathym*
28 – 102-108 – Nergal, Kochibel, Caarcrinolaas
29 – 108-114 – Duskur, Balan, Tartach*, Hutijin, Bele, Barbas
30 – 114-120 – Gaziel, Agares, Abigor*, Zepar
31 – 120-126 – Arioch, Bael*, Focalor, Amon*, Gorson*, Machalas, Moloch*, Bileth, Neabaz, Barbatos, Adonides, Buer*, Rimmon
32 – 126-132 – Chamo, Herodias, Phongor, Zagum
33 – 132-138 – Geryon, Adramalech, Bune, Morax
34 – 138-144 - Bifrons

That gives us 7 in the 20-24 HD range, 27 in the 25-29 HD range, and 26 in the 30-34 HD range. However, note that any lord with a * falls on the edge of moving up to the next range; I left all of these on the lower range with the potential for moving up. Personally, I nominate at least Moloch and Amon to go up to 32-HD.

That looks doable.

Other noteworthy archdevil traits (based on FCII avatar versions):

• SR = 13 + CR
• Languages: Celestial, Common, Draconic, Infernal; telepathy 100 ft.
• Dark Speech feat
• Regeneration (5 for CR 19-21, 6 for toughest CR 21 and all CR 22, 8 for CR 23-24)
• DR 20/good and silver

Regeneration (Ex): Good weapons, and spells and effects with the good descriptor, deal normal damage to archdevil. If archdevil loses a limb or body part, the lost portion regrows in 1d6 minutes. Archdevil can reaattach the severed member instantly by holding it to the stump.

Standard devil traits:

• Immunity to fire and poison.
• Resistance to acid 10 and cold 10.
• See in Darkness (Su): All baatezu can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell.
• Summon (Sp): Baatezu share the ability to summon others of their kind (the success chance and type of baatezu summoned are noted in each monster description).
• Telepathy.
• Except where otherwise noted, devils speak Infernal, Celestial, and Draconic.

that sounds like a good point to start from; might as well standardize all of that. anything you'd care to add from the BoVD stats?

as i was looking through the Dragon 75 & 76 dukes, i noted that all, or nearly all of them had a fear ability - by touch, gaze, or aura (and i think one even had a breath weapon!), but we can handle those individually when the time comes. nearly all were given a summoning power. i think all had SLAs of course, as well - though the lists are likely to need to grow. do you have a comparative list of SLAs common to devils and archdevils?

i was also thinking we should probably also have an ability score array for these guys to make things even easier - maybe add one point per HD to give the tougher guys an even edge. that, and/or +1 / 4 HD. we should figure out what that needs to be, to be comparable to other archdevils.

I think we had developed some standard archdevil abilities based on the BoVD in an earlier thread . . . something like "Statting Epic Level Fiends"?

yes, i recall that thread, but i haven't had a look at it in awhile.