Yugoloths: Do They Have an Identity Beyond the Blood War?

[dave2008]

I have to wonder why the 5E designers brought back the Yugoloths as a distinct fiend race if they don't intend to utilize the pre-4E lore for them or give them something new to do.

Maybe they do, but just haven't gotten to it yet. Personally I love contradicting lore, so I hope they use bits of all editions.

 

[Jester David]

They are lacking a little self identity. They do need a little extra identity and self motivation for plots separated from demons and devils.
This is the kind of information any reasonable book on the plans and fiends should include. Too bad Tomb of Foes opted to focus on halfling and gnomes instead...

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I feel they are the easiest fiend race to throw into any in game situations. Their positions as mercenaries that hire to anyone, means that they can more easily work alongside humanoids and other intelligent monsters then Devils and Demons.

You can even mix them in with Devils and Demons as they hire out to them as well.

 

[AmerginLiath]

I wonder to what degree the issue is the lore over who created whom. If the Yugoloths created the Devils and Demons, that lessens the status of those entities compared to other “great powers” of the multiverse. If the Devils (in the person of Asmodeus) is behind the creation of the Yugoloths, that places the ‘loths in a subsidiary role. Especially with the development of Asmodeus as a uniquely powerful being, it strikes me as unlikely that Ba’ator is going to be brought down the ladder (unless there’s a secret history wherein the Yugoloths are the first army that the falllen Asmodeus sought to create for his use, but they were too independent and they rebelled against the First Rebel, so he developed the Ba’atorian army they had built for him into a perfectly loyal force). I wonder if the Yugoloths have a role to play further across the multiverse, as a “necessary evil” mercenary force for even forces of good who need someone to bloody their hands.

 

[gyor]

Yugoloths suck, but they don't suck quite as bad as demodands/gehreleths.

In my own game, the line between dark fae and demons is already blurred (fae look humanoid, and demons look monstrous), and one-off unique yugoloths like Shemeska fit right into that. Strict and distinct categorizations may be aesthetically pleasing to some, but I prefer my evil extradimensional monsters to be mysterious.

Pathfinder has done some awesome things with Fiends, including their version of Daemons, Demodands, And other fiend races. Daemons (they don't call them Yugoloths) are the ultimate nilists, they want to see everything dead and destroyed, including themselves after everything else is dead.

Demodands became the servants and worshippers of the Abyssal Titans qho rebelled against the Gods, and eventually created the Demodands.

Honestly the only interesting Yugoloths in MTOFs is the Marrenloths and the Oinioloths, because you can see uses for them beyond blood war mercanies.

I could see Githyanki hiring a Marrenloth to captain their flying ships for example. I also find it interesting that the Marrenloths are almost pacifists by nature, which is odd for fiends.

I can see Gods and Priests of Gods like Talona hiring Oinoloths to spread and cure plagues on her behalf.

Succubi as an independant race feels like a wasted opportunity, they could a released different types of Succubi. Also unlike devils and demons Succubi breed true among themselves, so Succubi can increase their numbers without mortal souls, aren't locked out of the Mortal Plane like Devils and perhaps other types of fiends.

A small group of Succubi can effectly create colonies of Succubi.

 

[gyor]

I wonder to what degree the issue is the lore over who created whom. If the Yugoloths created the Devils and Demons, that lessens the status of those entities compared to other “great powers” of the multiverse. If the Devils (in the person of Asmodeus) is behind the creation of the Yugoloths, that places the ‘loths in a subsidiary role. Especially with the development of Asmodeus as a uniquely powerful being, it strikes me as unlikely that Ba’ator is going to be brought down the ladder (unless there’s a secret history wherein the Yugoloths are the first army that the falllen Asmodeus sought to create for his use, but they were too independent and they rebelled against the First Rebel, so he developed the Ba’atorian army they had built for him into a perfectly loyal force). I wonder if the Yugoloths have a role to play further across the multiverse, as a “necessary evil” mercenary force for even forces of good who need someone to bloody their hands.

I can see some types of Yugoloths being willing to work for good, at hirer cost. Marrenloths and Oinoloths seem like they work for the Good guys sometimes. The more fightery types would be more rare, much more rare.

 

[Parmandur]

They are lacking a little self identity. They do need a little extra identity and self motivation for plots separated from demons and devils.
This is the kind of information any reasonable book on the plans and fiends should include. Too bad Tomb of Foes opted to focus on halfling and gnomes instead...

The "Complete Book of *" set-up for the PHB races seems to be as core to the book than anything planar: the Blood War seems to be dragged in by the Tieflings and the MMII component.

 

[dave2008]

Pathfinder has done some awesome things with Fiends, including their version of Daemons, Demodands, And other fiend races. Daemons (they don't call them Yugoloths) are the ultimate nilists, they want to see everything dead and destroyed, including themselves after everything else is dead.

Demodands became the servants and worshippers of the Abyssal Titans qho rebelled against the Gods, and eventually created the Demodands.

I fail to see what is so "awesome" about this lore, but to each his/her own I guess. Personally, I prefer the 1e MM entries that only give you the slightest morsels of lore, leaving the rest to your imagination.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I would say - give it time. We've only had two monster lore books for the edition thus far, and they haven't had time or space to cover every group fully. Heck, we haven't even had a dragon lore book yet, and they're half of the name of the game! Yes, they could have used some space in the Blood War chapter in MToF for the yugoloths, but that would have taken away from the two main antagonists of the titular conflict, which, frankly, were the two groups that needed to be focused on. I have a feeling we'll be getting a more planar-oriented book in the future - they keep teasing modron lore, for example, and the lack of celestials so far in the editions is little short of criminal - so we'll likely get more on yugoloths, such as deeper lore and detailed leaders, at that point (the fact that we didn't get leaders, as well as a stat block for one of the classic yugoloths in the piscoloth, in MtoF is something that makes me think that they are holding some yugoloth stuff back for later).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

They are pointless. Demons and Devils have a basis in religion, myth and fable. Daemons (pronounced demons) owe their existence solely to the AD&D alignment wheel and where invented to fill up space in the Fiend Folio (1st ed).