Demons or Devils?

[0bsolete]

I'm a Baatezu fan myself.

One published adventure I thought was great that never gets any mention is Planescape's: Fire's of Dis. It's setup to allow 5th-7th lvl PCs to travel across the first 2 layers of Baator and encounter all kinds of Baatezu. It had some really creative encounters including a Pit Fiend and even 2 of the Lords of the Nine. The PCs even have the chance to be a part of a multiverse altering event

I thought this adventure did a good job giving PCs a taste of what Baatezu are like.

A 5th level campaign in which they fight pit fiends and the Lords of the Nine? I have to be missing something here.

 

[Aeolius]

Neither. They pale in comparison to.......Modrons.

If we're playing that game then my night hags win, as they give birth to succubi and erinyes by demon and devil fathers respectively. I also devised female daemons and demodands, as well as diabolic, daemonic, and demodand versions of the cambion, for those times when a night hag assumes a male form.

 

[moritheil]

A 5th level campaign in which they fight pit fiends and the Lords of the Nine? I have to be missing something here.

I'm sure they don't directly fight them toe-to-toe but rather interfere with some of their plans.

 

[Woas]

Devils.

Chaotic Evil is cutesy and all around good shallow fun...
But it really takes a Lawful Evil Devil to whip up a horrible contract with microscopic fine print which binds the characters to do something completely opposite to what they need to do, lest their souls burn in a lake of fire.

 

[Oryan77]

A 5th level campaign in which they fight pit fiends and the Lords of the Nine? I have to be missing something here.

Yes, you are missing something....the "roleplaying" part of a Role Playing Game (RPG).

A lot of people seem to forget that not every encounter needs to be fought to overcome it. I never said you had to fight a Pit Fiend or the Lords of the Nine.

That's what makes Planescape so great. It's designed to kill leatherheads that just try to hack-n-slash their way to the next level

 

[hong]

Chuck Norris, closely followed by James T. Kirk.

 

[Lancelot]

Devils, and it's not even close. Three reasons...

1) The long-term scheming and manipulation is just more interesting to me than mindless destruction. Give me a Hannibal Lector over a chainsaw-wielding maniac any day.

2) The underdog nature of the devils (particularly in 2e). They're outnumbered at least 1,000-to-1 by the demons, but they're holding their own in the Blood War through brilliance and discipline. And that's with Asmodeus (c.f. "Guide to Hell") holding back a huge number of devils for a "confrontation with the Upper Planes that dwarfs the petty maneuverings of the Blood War". How cool is it when you're taking on the infinite hordes of the Abyss with a Thin Red Line?

3) The personalities. Yeah, Orcus is Orcus, Demogorgon is Demogorgon... blah blah. But the demons are, at the end of the day, mostly defined as monsters. Graz'zt is arguably the most complex of the demon lords (established history, siblings, generals, armies, children, goals and schemes, etc...), but he's more devil than demon anyway. The archdevils (and even some of the dukes of hell) are far better defined, in my opinion. There are so many uncounted Abyssal layers and lords that you can just add another Vucarik or Shami-Amourae or whatever. But there are only nine planes of Hell... nine archdevils... and every single one of them has been a big boy (or big girl) since the days of 1e.

 

[Lancelot]

...hmmm... with the exception of Levistus, I guess. But Geryon is still out there, baby!

 

[shilsen]

Gnomes. My players would sign contracts with demons and devils to protect them from the gnomes.

 

[Shemeska]

Me >>> 'loths >>> Gehreleths/Demodands >>> Obyriths >>> Ancient Baatorians >>> Tanar'ri >>> Rakshasa >>> Loumara >>> Baatezu >>> Hordelings >>> Night Hags*

*Unless they're being written by Joyblood, in which case they're at the top of the list.