Book of Fiends

[Pramas]

Chris mentioned such plans a while back while collecting opinions. I suspect, looking at the shape of the BoF Unholy warrior, that wasn't the only thing he was canvassing for.

That is correct. I have someone working on an updated holy warrior. We nailed down the basic shape of it while updating the unholy warrior (pretty much a prerequisite). We haven't decided exactly form it'll take though.

 

[AaronLoeb]

Some of these are not very evil, IMO, and their write-up is more about what they spend their time trying to trick people into doing rather than what a typical adventurer (or what have you) would be doing with one. In other words, they're more interesting from a cosmological standpoint than from an adventure hook standpoint.

I'll be interested to know if you continue to feel that way when you've finished reading. Our goal was actually the opposite of this -- to make every daemon listed carried with it a seed for an adventure hook. As they all revolve around some kind of sin, any one of them might end up eating an NPC you've established as particularly yucky and facing the players afterwords (or actually tormenting one of your PCs directly). Usually with fiends of all variety there are fairly stock ways for them to get into your game: someone summons them; there's a portal to hell/gehenna/the abyss; an ancient whutzis tied to a hoozitz that draws the infernal, etc. Since all of the daemons are tied to mortal sin, they are able to enter into a game through most any roleplaying storyline that involves a sinner.

And aren't we all sinners?

Of course there are also the ones that are clearly brought into a game through summoning and whutzises tied to hoozitses...

AJL

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

I just picked up this book today (it finally came!) so I don't have too much to add yet, but I will say that the artwork for the new Daemon section is AWESOME - Especially the stuff by Kevin Crossley. I don't remember seeing his work before, but his "company" illo's and his renditions of the "impregnators" (did I really just type that?) are truly horrific and vile. If ever you folks at GR considered commissioning any metal figures, this is the concept art to base them on...

I was hoping for some stats for the Exarchs too... Maybe I can convince Demiurge1138 to do this - have you guys seen his take on the "The Seven Deadly Yugoloths" based on a similar "seven sins" premise? Good stuff:

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=77404

 

[Taelorn76]

The sins plot hooks is exactly what I was looking for. I was going to bring in the seven deadly sins into my campaign. And this is sounding just perfect for me. BoF just became a must buy for me.
Thanks

One other thing the unholy warior in BoF is replacing the one in the Unholy Warrior Handbook correct?

 

[Pants]

I don't really like the Sin Daemon idea, however the rest of the book sounds super solid. The preview art was excellent and I've heard great things about LoH and AotA so when I get some money, this book will be mine!

 

[Pramas]

One other thing the unholy warior in BoF is replacing the one in the Unholy Warrior Handbook correct?

Well, that depends on your campaign. If you are playing with the 3.5 rules, yes, the Book of Fiends' version is the one you want. Even so, there's lots of other material in the Unholy Warrior's Handbook that's still plenty useable, like feats, mounts, magic items, and the like.

 

[Ashy]

Chris, when are the comp copies going out? I cannot wait to get mine!

 

[Desdichado]

I'll be interested to know if you continue to feel that way when you've finished reading. Our goal was actually the opposite of this -- to make every daemon listed carried with it a seed for an adventure hook. As they all revolve around some kind of sin, any one of them might end up eating an NPC you've established as particularly yucky and facing the players afterwords (or actually tormenting one of your PCs directly). Usually with fiends of all variety there are fairly stock ways for them to get into your game: someone summons them; there's a portal to hell/gehenna/the abyss; an ancient whutzis tied to a hoozitz that draws the infernal, etc. Since all of the daemons are tied to mortal sin, they are able to enter into a game through most any roleplaying storyline that involves a sinner.

Well, the thing is, it was pretty much the same hook for a lot of them; somebody the PCs know (or a PC himself) commits XYZ sin and corresponing demon ABC shows up. The thing that makes this potentially difficult as 1) PCs aren't likely to be truly vile sinners, of the kind you'd expect to have daemons show up and drag away and 2) there's a suspension of disbelief issue if you do one of two things, a) have daemons show up for sinners who aren't truly vile and b) have it happen very often.

I guess what I'm saying is, you can only use that once or twice tops before you need to explain why daemons haven't completely over-run the world and dragged the entire popultion screaming into Gehenna.

Sure, there's plenty of other ways to use them, but in terms of really built-in plot hooks, that's it for a fair amount of the daemons. There's also not any powerful (Servitor type) daemon with a big plot brewing that could really become the basis for a whole campaign (at least not that I've seen so far; I still haven't finished), which was one of the particular strengths of Legions of Hell for example.

 

[Gothmog]

I just got my BoF yesterday, but I've read through about half of it now, including most of the daemons. I love the sin angle with daemons- you guys have taken a rather blah D&D outsider type and made them compelling, interesting, and VERY fiendish. Anybody can design an fiend that can rend you limb from limb, but the new daemons pose a danger to the souls of the characters, and that makes them much more horrifying. I especially like the watchers and whisperers- having a malevolent forces that knows every sin and evil thought you've ever had is chilling. These bad boys will definitely be seeing use in my games.

And Joshua, I think what Aaron was referring to the adventure ideas are the italicized bits at the start of every daemon entry. Also, the first few paragraphs of each entry are given to describing the daemon's specific role in Gehenna, wihch is good for further ideas. Some are better than others, but I got at least a dozen adventure seeds reading through those entries last night jotted down on a piece of paper.

 

[Taelorn76]

Looks like I will be doing a small Green Ronin shopping spree this weekend.