Great article your Mousishness.
Would you like to move to Lancaster and run games for me? I really like your style, the whole feel of the Codex of Betrayal seems quite In Nomine to me (a definite plus point) I'm so planning of using devils heavily in my next campaign.
Make me an offer that includes relocation expenses, and we'll talk.
What I really have enjoyed about the "Codex of Betrayal" series is that so far it hasn't covered the topmost echelon of the infernal aristocracy; I like the focus on unique and powerful devils who haven't really been covered in-depth in other sources. I also really enjoy the depiction of the war between Asmodeus and He Who Was; the way Ari has depicted it makes it seem epic, terrible, and mythological.
Thanks. I really think that, given the place the war holds in D&D's mythology, it
has to feel broad and epic, or else there's not much point.
As far as covering "lesser" devils, yeah, I'm enjoying doing that. There's a lot more creative freedom in doing that than there would be in covering one of the Lords of the Nine for the umpteenth time. Don't get me wrong, I like a lot of the arch-devils, and I might want to cover one (or see one covered by someone else) eventually. But right now, I'm enjoying exploring and/or creating some of the second-tier.
Ari, can you speak to why you chose Alloces for the second "Codex of Betrayal" article?
Well, most of it was just that he was the next idea to occur to me that both Chris Youngs and I thought would make for a solid entry. But part of it was that I wanted to try to fill in some of the "niches" of Hell that hadn't been covered before in any real detail.
Of course, both the devils presented so far--Beleth and Alloces--are sort of "behind the scenes" types. So I think my next one is likely to be a much more direct, "in your face" sort of devil. (There's a passing mention of a devil named "Stalos" in the Alloces article. He's very possibly my next subject, pending Chris's approval, when I next have time to write one of these.)