Astaroth. Wasn't he a devil or something?

[demiurge1138]

To be fair, a lot of other vestiges have the problem of multiple identities. Amon is a vestige and a Duke of Hell. Haagenti, Ipos and Marchosias, among others, were included in Green Ronin's Army of the Abyss as demon princes. That's the problem with taking cool names from historical demons...

Demiurge out.

 

[Deset Gled]

Off the top of my head, there was originally an Abyssal Lord by that name, who was killed by the Baatorian noble Gargauth (prior to his expulsion from Baator), and Gargauth has used Astaroth as an alias from time to time.

So you're saying that the bad guy from the Smurfs killed the big dude with the axe in Soul Calibur and took his identity. Makes sense to me. Chasing after Smurfs all the time would get boring after awhile.

Wait... what?

 

[Mouseferatu]

I was certainly aware that Astaroth was a demon of the goetia. So were many of the vestiges that Matt created for the Tome of Magic, and I was simply following in his footsteps.

I was not aware that Astaroth had already appeared as a demon in D&D, though. Sorry for any confusion that might have caused.

 

[Huw]

Nope, he was a demon all right, and a pretty important one at that...

Use the correct gender, please - she. She was female for thousands of years before some medieval mystics got their hands on her; the wikipedia article splits Astaroth from Astarte, whereas most mythological references combine the two. She might be the same as the Babylonian Ishtar, probably is the same as the Greek Aphrodite, and probably isn't the same as "Easter" (which is also derived from the name of a goddess).

Interestingly, some variants of Jewish mythology have her as the wife of Jehovah. That should give you an idea of her influence before Judaism became strictly monotheistic. Similarly, there's an Arabian pre-Islamic goddess Al-Lat, daughter of Allah, who can be tentatively linked with Astarte.

 

[Pbartender]

Use the correct gender, please - she.

I was. The demon Astaroth is most commonly depicted as male, whatever the origin of his name might be.

 

[Plane Sailing]

The Wizard Astaroth was also the creator of the Substitutiary Locomotion spell.

Would you believe I came into this thread to suggest just the very same obscure example (having spent some of the afternoon looking at an ancient 'Viewmaster*' Bedknobs and Broomsticks this very afternoon!)



* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ViewMaster

 

[Voadam]

Would you believe I came into this thread to suggest just the very same obscure example (having spent some of the afternoon looking at an ancient 'Viewmaster*' Bedknobs and Broomsticks this very afternoon!)



* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ViewMaster

Heh, I was about to ask Ourph if it was an old edition spell I could look up in my old spell encyclopedias (the 2e ones I forget what they are titled) or if it was a 3e one in the Spell Compendium and I'd have to look in the one at the local Waldenbooks the next time I went there.

This is the witch spell that lifted the bed?

 

[Ourph]

Heh, I was about to ask Ourph if it was an old edition spell I could look up in my old spell encyclopedias (the 2e ones I forget what they are titled) or if it was a 3e one in the Spell Compendium and I'd have to look in the one at the local Waldenbooks the next time I went there.

This is the witch spell that lifted the bed?

No, that's the travelling spell. Substitutiary Locomotion is the one they used to animate all the old suits of armor in the museum to fight off the Germans.

 

[demiurge1138]

So Substitutiary Locomotion (somatic component "Traguna macoities tracorum saitus di") is probably animate object with a duration of 10 minutes/level. I'd say level 7 or so.

Demiurge out.

 

[Remathilis]

I thought he was a golem...