D&D Deities, Demons and Devils that are "Open"

[Aeolius]

Keep in mind that while the names may be fair game, specific representations might not be.

For example; Dagon BEFORE:

(from pantheon.org's entry Dagon )

and Dagon AFTER the WotC Treatment:

(as represented in Fiendish Codex I)

 

[doctorhook]

For example; Dagon BEFORE:

(from pantheon.org's entry Dagon )

and Dagon AFTER the WotC Treatment:

(as represented in Fiendish Codex I)

Don't blame it all on WotC. Didn't Lovecraft have a hand in that? And didn't Dagon appear (in approximately the above form) in D&D prior to WotC acquiring TSR?

My point is that you can't just point at something and automatically assume that it's WotC's fault.

 

[JohnRTroy]

It's true about specific representations.

This depends on the demon or devil of course. It's a lot easier to duplicate D&D Devils and be okay, since a lot of it was influenced by Dante and other Middle-Age interpretations of Hell. It would be very hard to prove differences between an Asmodeus in another campaign and the D&D Asmodeus.

However, other stuff is harder, like Demons. You could have a Pazeuzu because it's inspired from the Babylonean demon of the same name. However, Demogorgon was a made-up name with no descriptions, so the Mandrill or Hyeana two-headed versions with tentacles and a tail could be ripping things off. ( Stuff like Grazz't, Lolth, Zuggtmoy, etc, would all definitely be off-limits.

 

[werekraken]

Geryon is a devil in Dante's divine comedy where he is a winged beast with the tail of a scorpion the dwells between the seventh and eigth circles of hell. The 9 hells themselves predate D&D and are inspired by the divine comedy.

Dagon first becomes a sea monster like that pictured in the posts above in the works of H.P. Lovecraft (the Esoteric Order of Dagon from the Shadow Over Innsmouth).

Belial is a demon from the Bible and is mentioned in medieval tomes of Goetia as a demon of lies and guilt.