Demonology: The Dark Road, designed by Matthew Sprange, is the first in Mongoose Publishing's Encyclopedia Arcane series of d20 products. Designed to be used in most any setting, Demonology: The Dark Road provides a system for dealing with the arcane summoning of fiends.
The Book
Demonology: The Dark Road, a standard laminated, perfectbound, book, is sixty-four pages long. The inside front cover has drawings of several fiends on the page of a book. The inside back cover has a drawing of an insane demonologist's handwriting on the other page of the same book. The margins are filled with a variety of arcane items, appearing on a book shelf.
The cover illustration, by Anne Stokes, shows a demonologist summoning a vrock. The interior art, by a variety of different artists, is comprised of pictures of demons. The artwork is of mixed quality and matches the theme of the book.
The Meat/The Good/The Bad
Demonology is divided into fifteen sections, each covering a different aspect of demonology. Intertwined with the text are a variety of small flavor pieces, including bits of a short story detailing the rise and fall of a young demonologist named Santado.
The Introduction provides the standard introduction to one of Mongoose's books, providing an overview of demonology, the encyclopedia arcane series, and this book in particular.
Demonology-An Overview explains some of the assumptions that the book works under. That Demonology is a tool no more evil or good than a sword is but that by following it you stand a great chance of becoming corrupted. That through demonology one can summon demons far earlier than you would be able to through the normal arcane channels but at the same time you must have to deal with the risk of losing control once you call upon that demon. That when they refer to demons they actually refer to most fiendish outsiders, including such beings as devils, hell hounds, and nightmares.
To Tread the Dark Road introduces the three prestige classes that make up the practitioners of demonology: the Demonologist, the Binder, and the Possessed. The Binder and the Possessed prestige classes require levels of a class skill restricted to Demonologists, Binders, and the Possessed, and will need to gain levels of Demonologist before they can be entered. The Demonologist is the classic and core practitioner of demonology, gaining increasing power over controlling demons and instructing them as they gain in levels. The Binder are specialized practitioners of demonology who use their skill and knowledge to bind demons into items. The Possessed are those demonologists who seek to gain the powers of demons by exchanging pieces of their souls for the ability to force a demon to possess them. These prestige classes are largely flavorful and interesting, providing sufficient variety to cover all of the specialized practices of demonology covered in this book.
The Art of Summoning - First Steps provides an introduction to the mechanics of summoning and controlling demons. In the Demonology: The Dark Road system summoning and controlling demons are resolved by an opposed d20 check versus the demon's challenge rating +10 with modifiers depending on a number of things including the demonologists level, high ability scores in the appropriate ability score, quality of materials, and speed of the ritual. Also discussed is the cost of failure in both the summoning and control rituals. The basic rules for summoning and control are simple and efficient, making the most out of the d20 system.
The Art of Summoning - The Neophyte introduces more advanced rules and uses for demon summoning. Methods are introduced for siphoning demonic energy to gain extra spell slots for a day, to summon multiple demons, to deal with named demons, to make blood sacrifices, to summon with other demonologists, demonic possession, dismissing demons, and demonic familiars. These rules do a good job in adding flavor to the base system, providing several uses of summoned demons beyond the traditional seek out and kill missions.
The Art of Summoning - The Dark Road introduces more advances rules and uses for demons. Self-possession, soul sacrifice, soul servitude, and bound demons are all discussed. Like the Art of Summoning - The Neophyte, The Dark Road is largely centered around flavorful additions to the base system. Of particular interest is the bound demon section, which provides an alternate way to create magical items. Binding demons does not require any experience points, but the binding of demons into an object has its own potential pitfalls, the most painful of which is the potential for the demon to escape.
Demonological Feats introduces five new feats related to the practice of demonology. Most appear to be relatively balanced, but one, Dismiss Demon, is a bit too much and another, Permanent Control, is questionable. Using it allows one to use a full round action to attempt a dismiss roll, using the character’s charisma as a modifier, vs. 10+the demon' challenge rating. If it succeeds than the character is able to force the demon back to their home plane without a saving throw, a spell resistance check, or anything else. Permanent Control is also somewhat questionable as it allows the character to gain permanent control over one demon of challenge rating 5 or less after they have summoned and controlled.
Magical Items introduces a number of new demonology-related magical items. These are a mix between general utility items that help in rolls involved in the process of demon summoning and controlling and more flavorful items that produce more interesting results. Some samples include the Mask of Disguise, which conceals any disfigurements caused by possession at the time of the mask's acquisition, but will not conceal any further disfigurement caused by future possessions, and the Ring of the Balor, a minor artifact which allows the character to automatically summon a balor as a standard action. The character must still make a control roll, however, and if he fails than the balor will attack the wearer, kill him, and destroy the ring.
Help for Game Masters provides a six page discussion on how to handle demonology in the campaign, starting with a note saying not to panic. Topics covered include characters in demonology, considerations of alignment, research and study, summoning and controlling, of instruction and will, named demons, possession, and other evil outsiders. The advice given is sound and helpful, and sheds useful light on how to handle demonology in the campaign.
Other Races covers how various monstrous races, such as drow, goblinoids, and yuan-ti deal with demonology. The advice is largely interesting and well tailored to each of the races, but very little of it is that surprising.
Demonic Entities discusses the demonic entities and families of the infernal realms. The majority of the material goes into detail about each of the appropriate infernal creatures introduced in the Monster Manual, discussing their most frequent use, the demonic family they belong to, the pentagram component needed to summon them, and the summoning focus. This information is useful and provides a good model for fitting demons from other sources (such as Legions of Hell and the Creature Collection books) into the system.
The book concludes with designer's notes, the d20 and OGL licenses, and a summary of the rules introduced in the book.
Rating: 4/5
Demonology: The Dark Road is a solid and interesting introduction to the Encyclopedia Arcane line of books. If you are at all interested in demonology, even if you do not intend to use the one included, than this is a helpful addition to your gaming library. The book really does fell like a self-contained and complete system, and leaves me looking forward to the next book in the series.
The Book
Demonology: The Dark Road, a standard laminated, perfectbound, book, is sixty-four pages long. The inside front cover has drawings of several fiends on the page of a book. The inside back cover has a drawing of an insane demonologist's handwriting on the other page of the same book. The margins are filled with a variety of arcane items, appearing on a book shelf.
The cover illustration, by Anne Stokes, shows a demonologist summoning a vrock. The interior art, by a variety of different artists, is comprised of pictures of demons. The artwork is of mixed quality and matches the theme of the book.
The Meat/The Good/The Bad
Demonology is divided into fifteen sections, each covering a different aspect of demonology. Intertwined with the text are a variety of small flavor pieces, including bits of a short story detailing the rise and fall of a young demonologist named Santado.
The Introduction provides the standard introduction to one of Mongoose's books, providing an overview of demonology, the encyclopedia arcane series, and this book in particular.
Demonology-An Overview explains some of the assumptions that the book works under. That Demonology is a tool no more evil or good than a sword is but that by following it you stand a great chance of becoming corrupted. That through demonology one can summon demons far earlier than you would be able to through the normal arcane channels but at the same time you must have to deal with the risk of losing control once you call upon that demon. That when they refer to demons they actually refer to most fiendish outsiders, including such beings as devils, hell hounds, and nightmares.
To Tread the Dark Road introduces the three prestige classes that make up the practitioners of demonology: the Demonologist, the Binder, and the Possessed. The Binder and the Possessed prestige classes require levels of a class skill restricted to Demonologists, Binders, and the Possessed, and will need to gain levels of Demonologist before they can be entered. The Demonologist is the classic and core practitioner of demonology, gaining increasing power over controlling demons and instructing them as they gain in levels. The Binder are specialized practitioners of demonology who use their skill and knowledge to bind demons into items. The Possessed are those demonologists who seek to gain the powers of demons by exchanging pieces of their souls for the ability to force a demon to possess them. These prestige classes are largely flavorful and interesting, providing sufficient variety to cover all of the specialized practices of demonology covered in this book.
The Art of Summoning - First Steps provides an introduction to the mechanics of summoning and controlling demons. In the Demonology: The Dark Road system summoning and controlling demons are resolved by an opposed d20 check versus the demon's challenge rating +10 with modifiers depending on a number of things including the demonologists level, high ability scores in the appropriate ability score, quality of materials, and speed of the ritual. Also discussed is the cost of failure in both the summoning and control rituals. The basic rules for summoning and control are simple and efficient, making the most out of the d20 system.
The Art of Summoning - The Neophyte introduces more advanced rules and uses for demon summoning. Methods are introduced for siphoning demonic energy to gain extra spell slots for a day, to summon multiple demons, to deal with named demons, to make blood sacrifices, to summon with other demonologists, demonic possession, dismissing demons, and demonic familiars. These rules do a good job in adding flavor to the base system, providing several uses of summoned demons beyond the traditional seek out and kill missions.
The Art of Summoning - The Dark Road introduces more advances rules and uses for demons. Self-possession, soul sacrifice, soul servitude, and bound demons are all discussed. Like the Art of Summoning - The Neophyte, The Dark Road is largely centered around flavorful additions to the base system. Of particular interest is the bound demon section, which provides an alternate way to create magical items. Binding demons does not require any experience points, but the binding of demons into an object has its own potential pitfalls, the most painful of which is the potential for the demon to escape.
Demonological Feats introduces five new feats related to the practice of demonology. Most appear to be relatively balanced, but one, Dismiss Demon, is a bit too much and another, Permanent Control, is questionable. Using it allows one to use a full round action to attempt a dismiss roll, using the character’s charisma as a modifier, vs. 10+the demon' challenge rating. If it succeeds than the character is able to force the demon back to their home plane without a saving throw, a spell resistance check, or anything else. Permanent Control is also somewhat questionable as it allows the character to gain permanent control over one demon of challenge rating 5 or less after they have summoned and controlled.
Magical Items introduces a number of new demonology-related magical items. These are a mix between general utility items that help in rolls involved in the process of demon summoning and controlling and more flavorful items that produce more interesting results. Some samples include the Mask of Disguise, which conceals any disfigurements caused by possession at the time of the mask's acquisition, but will not conceal any further disfigurement caused by future possessions, and the Ring of the Balor, a minor artifact which allows the character to automatically summon a balor as a standard action. The character must still make a control roll, however, and if he fails than the balor will attack the wearer, kill him, and destroy the ring.
Help for Game Masters provides a six page discussion on how to handle demonology in the campaign, starting with a note saying not to panic. Topics covered include characters in demonology, considerations of alignment, research and study, summoning and controlling, of instruction and will, named demons, possession, and other evil outsiders. The advice given is sound and helpful, and sheds useful light on how to handle demonology in the campaign.
Other Races covers how various monstrous races, such as drow, goblinoids, and yuan-ti deal with demonology. The advice is largely interesting and well tailored to each of the races, but very little of it is that surprising.
Demonic Entities discusses the demonic entities and families of the infernal realms. The majority of the material goes into detail about each of the appropriate infernal creatures introduced in the Monster Manual, discussing their most frequent use, the demonic family they belong to, the pentagram component needed to summon them, and the summoning focus. This information is useful and provides a good model for fitting demons from other sources (such as Legions of Hell and the Creature Collection books) into the system.
The book concludes with designer's notes, the d20 and OGL licenses, and a summary of the rules introduced in the book.
Rating: 4/5
Demonology: The Dark Road is a solid and interesting introduction to the Encyclopedia Arcane line of books. If you are at all interested in demonology, even if you do not intend to use the one included, than this is a helpful addition to your gaming library. The book really does fell like a self-contained and complete system, and leaves me looking forward to the next book in the series.
You see, it`s seductive, one might even say `easy` at first and when dealing with the likes of imps and other lowly outsiders. 
