D&D (2024) D&D Marilith Is Far More Bestial In 2025

The new 2025 Monster Manual has all-new art, and one major change is the depiction of the marilith. Up until now, the marilith has been depicted as a six-armed humanish female from the waist up; while in the 2025 book, the picture is far more bestial in nature.

Not only is the imagery more demonic, it also features the creature in action, simultaneously beheading, stabbing, and entwining its foes with its six arms and snake-like tail.

Left 2025 Marilith / Right 2014 Marilith​

 

[Alzrius]

I don't really remember any fiends in Birthright.

Warlock of the Stonecrowns (affiliate link) had a few planar beings:

• Ishardeel is a female greater guardian yugoloth who guards the Tower of Storms for the Warlock.
• A male movanic deva named Akhibel, "The Lord of Comets," is kept prisoner in the Warlock's tower, being periodically tortured for information on evocation magic.
• In the Elder Library of the Shadow World version of Wyrmstone Keep, there's a collection of the names of seven different Lords of the Abyss; speaking any of them aloud results in rutterkin tanar'ri being sent to punish the offender.
• Deeper in the Shadow World version of Wyrmstone Keep, the PCs can find an ebony cube that's a gate to the Wasting Tower of Khin-Oin on Gehenna (a major yugoloth stronghold). Trying to use it results in them meeting Pundeleg, a male guardian yugoloth (the adventure says to scale him to the PCs' level, making him a least guardian if they're lower-level or a greater guardian if they're not).

 

[I'm A Banana]

probably 6 breasts

(snilk)

 

[Voadam]

I may be thinking of “The Gorgon”. I.E. there was one singular Gorgon. And I thought they carried that through to a few monsters.

That was a big Birthright thing.

Each kingdom had a divinely powered ruler and about half were ruled by dark god powered monster ones who were singular unique powerful beings like The Spider, The Banshee, The Gorgon, The Goblin. As a class the divinely powered monster rulers were called the Awnshegh I believe.

 

[TheSword]

All you have to do is see the art to determine if you like the art (or not). Not the whole book.

All 320 images?

 

[Reynard]

(okay I'm trolling a bit here, I'm sure that I'll be corrected in that demons and devils have boobs for reasons)

I admit it: I'm the reason.

 

[Reynard]

All 320 images?

If you watch all the preview videos, you see quite a lot of the art from the book.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Mandarin, which are the male medusae.

But lack the snake hair, have different powers, and overall don't really look like Medusae. 5e just had male Medusa instead of Maedar.

Marlos was our primary and early example of a male medusa and I think he worked well.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I don't recall where I read it but at one point in D&D there was THE MARILITH all the others where subordinate to her and looked like her more or less.

That's still a thing, minus the subordinate thing. There is Nalfeshnee, Marilith, and Balor greatest of their kind. They are the mightiest of those demon types and all the demons of that type share their name. If say Nalfeshnee were to be slain by Trantolox another nalfeshnee, then the type would become known as trantoloxs.

 

[Chaltab]

So if there was a balor named Jeff that killed Balor then all demons of that type would be called jeffs?

 

[Parmandur]

I don't really remember any fiends in Birthright.

In 1e Maralith was the name of a single Type V demon, the way Balor was the name of an individual Type VI, etc. others had different personal names.

The 1e DMG monster appendix has more.

View attachment 397976

Yeah, Demon Types as broad categories to group large scale statistical noise patterns were way better IMO, and I say that as someone who started with 3E as a teenager!