You've given him the ability to be infinitely aware, so with infinite resources he could take over the infinite Primes all at once, right? Except he can't, because even if it was possible for him to launch that many devils onto the prime, he'd end up dead before he got halfway through even a single Prime plane. The gods wouldn't play around.
You made him infinitely aware and in infinite planes, by claiming he was the CEO too concerned with the "big picture" to worry about a little thing like an entire prime material plane. I've just been following your lead on that. Now you don't like that though, so now you are trying to shift it to me.
And what can the Gods do to him? They have no ability to just enter Nessus and kill him, if they could, they would have done it already. Well, except for the Blood War, right? And one of the conceits of the Blood War is if it ends, then whoever won is free to conquer all of reality.
Not really. I didn't see what he described directly, but what you said he said was, "he said that PP (I'm assuming power points) allowed Immortals to act in a location." A location. Singular. And from that you wildly assumed that one location with power points somehow meant infinite locations all at once with infinite power points, which isn't anything anyone who knew about the Immortals set would have come anywhere close to saying.
You claimed Asmodeus was a "CEO" and operating in near infinite plans. Helldritch said that operating in a single location requires PP. If you are both correct, then Asmodeus is operating in near infinite planes, which would require near infinite PP.
Okay. Well, he's still a god and his portfolio is indulgence.
In the Realms, supposedly. So, is he more powerful in the Realms than anywhere else?
The difference between an Archdevil and a god is personal power. The god would trounce the Archdevil unless it was weakened severely somehow.
And where do you have proof of this?
If by every edition before 4th you meant no editions, you would be correct. Archdevils have never been able to make clerics. I think you got confused by the earlier in the thread revelation that there could be clerics of Asmodeus with up to 2nd level spells. Asmodeus literally had nothing whatsoever to do with that and would never have been aware that he had any clerics unless the clerics somehow got word to him and let him know. In 1e and 2e a person's faith alone gave him the first two levels of spells. If Farmer Stan had enough faith in his rutabaga, he'd gain 1st and 2nd level cleric spells.
Pemerton has quoted multiple times for 1e and 2e. The D&DG set has been quoted that Archdevils and Demon Lords should be considered lesser gods, just like St. Cuthbert, whose followers were not limited to 1st and 2nd level spells.
Additionally, I quoted the Fiendish Codex's which talked about the domains of Baator and the Abyss being given to clerics of Devils and Demons respectively.
So, no, by "every edition before 4e" I meant 1st, 2nd and 3rd editions, as proven by quotes and text provided.
No. They are not. They don't derive power in the same way that gods do.
And what does how you derive power have to do with the power you have?
Pretty much. If he had gone tyranny, he wouldn't be a god there. He opted for more power and a different portfolio on Toril.
As amusing as that is, it doesn't match with his stated goals, intentions, or methods.
Which is completely irrelevant. Gods have different power levels on different planes, depending on the number of local worshippers. A devil with 1000 followers on an infinite number of planes isn't even remotely close enough to being a god on even one of them, whereas a god with 10 million on one plane is probably a greater god.
This fundamental lack of understanding is probably why you think Archdevils are close to gods in power when they never have been. Well, they've been close to being demigods, but that's about it.
So, is a god only a god on the plane where they are worshipped? Is their power only equal to the lowest number of worshippers they have in any plane?
I'm sure you can see the problems with this. If Asmodeus is only as powerful as his weakest area of worship in the multiverse, then the other gods are even weaker, because they have areas where they have zero worshippers.
We could assume then that the divine realms of the gods are set-up only to be calibrated by the prime's they are the most powerful in... and then we could assume the same thing for Asmodeus, who quite possibly has a world he rules absolutely, making him a greater god.
So, if a god goes to Nessus, how does it work? They have left their place of power, and they are fighting in a location where they are powerless? If they kill Asmodeus, does Asmodeus die everywhere? If that is the case, why can't he draw power from everywhere, if he is singular?
Your arguments only make sense if you look only at the Prime's, but we are talking about outside of the Primes, and that is the issue at hand.
No it's not "many" as they are spread around and they derive not enough local power from their small cults.
So, your argument is that his power is too diffuse, but it is personal power, so isn't it all vested in him?
I mean, sure, a guy who has a savings single account making 1 million dollars annually is very rich, but he isn't richer than the guy with a million seperate savings accounts that make 10 dollars annually. So, how come Asmodeus can't use the personal power being focused on him, but Bane can?
Okay. It seems like you have not been careful to avoid conflating one edition with another, because I've seen you arguing that the 5e Asmodeus is tyranny in FR because he was tyranny elsewhere. Not that Bane ceases to have a good reason to exist in 4e, but at least in 4e there's some overlap and competition.
Personally, as the embodiment of Lawful Evil and the ruler of the Infinite Plane of Lawful Evil... shouldn't he be Tyranny? I mean, I don't think that anyone disputes that Primus is a being of ultimate law, and Lawful Evil is Tyranny.