Fiendish Codex I - What do you want to see in it?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Not really a fan of these guys. In fact, I'm not a fan of alot of anything even vaguely related to the Queen of Chaos / Miska the Wolf Spider thing. It struck me as a goofy hangover of very early stuff which never meshed well with later material.

They were never even created until the end of 2E. Any goofiness, real or imagined, is modern goofiness. In the 1E days, they were never even mentioned, only the Wind Dukes of Aquaa, who were given no detail.

 

[Shemeska]

Rubbing me the wrong way often brings a fireball.

They were never even created until the end of 2E. Any goofiness, real or imagined, is modern goofiness. In the 1E days, they were never even mentioned, only the Wind Dukes of Aquaa, who were given no detail.

I know them from the 2e Rod of Seven Parts adventure, but I thought that the Queen of Chaos versus Wind Dukes was from 1e, and later expanded in the 2e adventure (which I have a rather ho-hum reaction to). The Spyder Fiends might have been entirely a 2e thing from that adventure, but the whole setup, down to the names, just never struck me as all that serious. Hence my general feelings on stuff derived from it.

If I'm wrong here, and most everything is just from the 2e adventure/box, then shift my blame to it, but I'll keep the same feelings regardless of the origins.

 

[BOZ]

In fact, I'm not a fan of alot of anything even vaguely related to the Queen of Chaos / Miska the Wolf Spider thing. It struck me as a goofy hangover of very early stuff which never meshed well with later material. Constructive detail is rarely a bad thing, but these guys stick out like a sore thumb versus the rest of the Abyss, so color me skeptical on anything dealing with them. You'd have to really do a spectacular job to convince me of merit for these guys, but it's not a lost cause, and I could still be convinced otherwise.

i feel ya there.

from the 2E DMG (1989):

The Rod of Seven Parts: It is said that the Wind Dukes of Aaqa were the creators of this legendary artifact. Manifesting themselves upon the world at the battle of Pesh, where the powers of Chaos and Law arrayed themselves, the Dukes presented the Rod to the Captains of Law. In the battle, the Rod was supposedly sundered in the slaying of Miska, the Wolf-Spider, consort of the Queen of Chaos.
The Dukes, to prevent the Rod's capture, snatched up the seven parts and scattered them throughout the world. Ever since, agents of the Queen have sought out the Rod. It is rumored that if she regains all the parts, she can return Miska to the realms of men.
The original rod was said to be about 5 feet long, but the pieces are irregular in length. The parts go together in a specific order, the first being narrowest and each later piece increasing in diameter. Assembling the Rod is difficult, however, because the item is still protected by the Wind Dukes. Each section conveys a sense of the direction to the next piece. Pieces assembled to each other in the correct order will bond together; however, if any piece is placed out of sequence, it will instantly disappear, to appear randomly somewhere else in the world. Upon assembling the first three pieces, the owner will refuse to part with the item at any time, even when sleeping, eating, bathing, or engaging in other personal activities.
Because it was once shattered, the Rod is fragile. There is a 5% chance that it will break apart (and be scattered by the Wind Dukes) each time its major power is used.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Ok so is this book going to have collected stats and info on all the classic Demon Princes and Lords or will one have to have this, track down a bunch of back issues of Dragon, and have the Book of Vile Darkness (which is a joke IMO at least in terms of how the Demon Princes are done)? I know there is another thread on this but I can't read through 300 replies. Thanks.

 

[J-Buzz]

I -do not- want chapters of PrCs and feats. The less crunch the better. A writeup of non PrC associated pacts between mortals and Tanar'ri would be quite interesting to see.

DITTO. Unless somthing really really interesting captures my attention I no longer buy WOTC books that are in the format Pretige Classes, Feats, handfull of spells, handfull of items......etc...

 

[fafhrd]

DITTO. Unless somthing really really interesting captures my attention I no longer buy WOTC books that are in the format Pretige Classes, Feats, handfull of spells, handfull of items......etc...

I have faith that James and Erik are going to use the crunch to fill some important and neglected roles. I'm sure they're aware of the upcoming Pact and Truename magic, and James suggested in the other thread that that sort of thing is going to be the bent of the mechanics. Between the two works, I suspect that nice old fashioned Faustian magic is about to come back into vogue.

 

[Pants]

I know them from the 2e Rod of Seven Parts adventure, but I thought that the Queen of Chaos versus Wind Dukes was from 1e, and later expanded in the 2e adventure (which I have a rather ho-hum reaction to). The Spyder Fiends might have been entirely a 2e thing from that adventure, but the whole setup, down to the names, just never struck me as all that serious. Hence my general feelings on stuff derived from it.

If I'm wrong here, and most everything is just from the 2e adventure/box, then shift my blame to it, but I'll keep the same feelings regardless of the origins.

I'm pretty positive they're from 2e and not 1e.

i feel ya there.

It's mostly a background issue and the fact that the Rod of Seven Parts turns the conflict of the Law vs Chaos struggle into something that, seemingly, dwarfs even the Blood War. In fact, I'm no even sure if the Blood War is even mentioned in the adventure. In fact, I think the background material could work rather well if the importance of the Queen of Chaos and the Wind Dukes were scaled back a bit.

But other than that, I like them and a Rod of Seven Parts Campaign could be quite fun.

 

[Shemeska]

It's mostly a background issue and the fact that the Rod of Seven Parts turns the conflict of the Law vs Chaos struggle into something that, seemingly, dwarfs even the Blood War. In fact, I'm no even sure if the Blood War is even mentioned in the adventure. In fact, I think the background material could work rather well if the importance of the Queen of Chaos and the Wind Dukes were scaled back a bit.

But other than that, I like them and a Rod of Seven Parts Campaign could be quite fun.

I don't recall the Blood War being mentioned at all. And the L vs C war of the Rod of 7 parts mythos isn't mentioned in the chronology of the Blood War, even stretching back to the origin of the Tanar'ri, and you'd think that it would have been if it, the Queen of Chaos' war, was anywhere near the size that it claims. But it, and she, aren't even name dropped. They seem both uninvolved and irrelevant to the Blood War.

And since while the Queen of Chaos isn't a Tanar'ri, or even from the Abyss, her consort Miska was, so her war has to have happened at some point after the rise of the Tanar'ri and the start of the Blood War. As such, the only way to really rationalize it all is to radically scale back the scale of the Queen of Chaos vs Wind Duke war actually was. I generally keep it intact, no need to outright toss it all, but I have it confined to a scattered number of prime material worlds, and largely happening as something outside of the scope of the Blood War, and small enough to not gather the attention of other groups. I saw it as largely the self involved schemes of a minor abyssal lord, hoping to gain in power at home, and his patron, the self titled queen of chaos (who was from pandemonium IIRC).

 

[zoroaster100]

I'd like to see demons treated as the essence of chaotic evil and thus obviously natives of the Abyss, plane of essential Chaos and Evil. I'd like the Blood War concept reduced to a small footnote or sidebar for DMs that care to include such a concept in their campaigns. I'd like the focus to be on the relation of demons to mortals and to the Upper Planes of Good. I'd like to see the archfiends given similar treatment to the new deity articles in Dragon Magazine, focusing on the rituals and symbolism associated with each, spheres of influence, servitor demons, followers in the Abyss and on the material planes, allied creatures, special spells or planar allies associated with them, their objectives and the objectives of their followers, and some information about their realms in the Abyss. I don't particularily want stats for the archfiends themselves as much as stats for their major servitor demons and other creatures and prestige classes or spells for their followers.

 

[GVDammerung]

Meaning no offense to those who want (1) PS Revisited, (2) more detail on what we already have a grasp of, and/or (3) updated material, I want something else.

I want something new, never seen before that is as inutterably neat as the best that has come before and which will make me say "WOW!" these designers can to more that rehash, recycle, recirculate and resusitate.

See. This product is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to go new and wonderous places or go back for seconds. Doubtless it will try to do some of both and rightly so but in what proportion? I would like to see the larger portion be something new, interesting and different. Given that, no more definition is possible.