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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Clint" data-source="post: 2009118" data-attributes="member: 2283">Armies of the Abyss is a book from Green Ronin Publishing describing both a host of new demons and a new system of worship for demon worshippers, splitting between these two topics relatively equally.Physical Description / Criteria for Review:This 64-page softcover book has a color cover and black and white interiors. I paid cover price, $15.My fantasy campaign has demons and demon-worshippers in it, and I was looking for a more interesting worship system than what was available in the core books. I have included elements of this book in my campaign.To adore:* A new demon-worshipping base class, the Thaumaturge. A Thaumaturge is a divine spellcaster who gains their spellcasting ability from demons much the same way that clerics gain powers from Gods. Thaumaturges must conduct obscene rituals to regain their faith every day, and these rituals differ depending on the Demon Prince chosen to worship. In accordance with the old fantasy standby, these worshippers become physically warped by their faith, ultimately becoming somewhat demonic themselves (not with universally beneficial effects). They are ready-made, despicable villains!* A complete Demonic Pantheon is described in detail, with twenty-two new Demon Princes to worship. Each Lord is described in terms of their goals, domains, and worshippers. In addition, Thaumaturge rituals are described for each one, making each Thaumaturge subflavor unique. There is enough material in this section to be a foundation of a demon-fighting (or worshipping!) campaign. To top it off, it's modular enough to extract out only the ones that you want for your campaign.* The black and white artwork is absolutely excellent and evocative of the subjects described.To love:* The new demons listed, taking up half the book, are both interesting and unusual. Most monster books don't leave an imprint, but I wanted to use these in my game. The concepts and art really drive each other: just look at the Spineseeker! A full range of challenges is provided, from CR 2 all the way up to CR 25. Combine these with the Monster Manual demons, and you have a full range of unique and interesting enemies to throw at players.* A listing of new demons ranked by CR is given on the inside back cover, including both the demons presented in this book and the ones listed in the Monster Manual. Green Ronin knows how this book will be used.* Many new demonic-flavored domains added for the demon worshippers, like Pain, Catastrophe, Fear, Subterfuge. They use both arcane and divine spells, as well as custom spells listed in the book. These new domains add grit and distinction to the class.* The text density is high, with a large number of words per page. Maximum value packed into this small book.* The text quality is high, with universally well written and edited prose. It is never difficult to follow any description. Furthermore, it's all meat, no stories of adventurers meeting a Demon Lord to help get you in the mood.To like:* The cover, by Brom, is attractive, but I've seen it before.* The new spells are interesting and memorable. Most are excellent and logical additions. The pleasure-dreaming-healing spells in particular were amusing in a bad way.* A Bibliography is given, in case you want to find more information than the huge amount given here.* The inside covers are used to good effect (Open Gaming License, Monster Index by CR, Bibliography)To note:* While interesting and well written, the section for the Demon Princes runs long for those of us who aren't looking for a whole new full-blown demonic pantheon to add to a game.Conclusion:This book is polished and packed with usable information. Balanced and interesting rules content, excellent artwork, detailed and interesting description of how to use demons in your world... it just cries out to be used. The highest praise is that I'm using it now, in my world. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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