Do archfiends grant spells in your campaigns? And if so how?

[BOZ]

you were thinkin ahead even before the BoVD came out.

 

[Endur]

I gave the arch-fiends some number of divine ranks (0 to 5). All of the Arch-fiends that have at least one rank can grant spells in my campaign.

 

[reiella]

It honestly hasn't come up in my campaign yet, and the party has only had one cursory encounter with a minion of demon prince.

Although I'm leaning towards no Divine Spell granting (more so the PrCs as presented in BoVD).

I have the Demon Triad for cultists who desire divine magic.

Really I feel more like the Demon Princes/etc are more concerned with the politics of the planes than the Material.

 

[Shemeska]

I voted for the 'effectively deities' option. Of course in my own PS campaign some of them are actually true deities and can grant the whole gamut of clerical spells to worshippers. Others are not quite there yet and can grant a much more limited amount of power to their followers. In that case I use the information from 'Faces of Evil: The Fiends' back from the glory days of Planescape as others on this thread have mentioned.

The BoVD couldn't hold a candle to that book.

Of course being a true power both gives more power and gives more restrictions on an Archfiend's abilities. Some Archfiends that lack divine rank but that are bound to a planar layer such as some Abyssal Lords and the Lords of the 9 can command significantly more power on their given layer than can a true deity with a domain there. For example take the Oinoloth. While Anthraxus and (now) Mydianchlarus could arguably be demigods on their own right outside of the power granted by the Seige Malicious, as Oinoloth they're bound to the essence of the Waste and have powers stretching across the entire planar layer.

Despite lacking divine rank themselves, I would dare any power of the Waste to pick a fight with them. I can't see say Kelemvor or Cegilune even considering such a thing for a huge number of reasons.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Other. IMC, one of the methods of Arcane Casting is called "the Craft" (or Witchcraft). Casters that use the Craft enter a pact with an other-worldly being that can grant a bit of their power for the "Craftian" caster to fuel spells with. Outsiders that essentially gain control of a region of an Outer Plane (meaning the Fiends aren't the only ones that can do this) can grant this boon, and often do so in exchange for vows of service, some form of payment/tribute, or other reason known only to the Outsider. The power, however, isn't the Outsider's directly, but is rather residual power channeled from the plane.

There are more details, but as I have several Craftian Mage Classes (Witches and Medicine Men, for simple examples, although Prestige Classes for specific entities as patrons exist), those details vary from instance to instance.

 

[Orius]

I never really thought of it.

Anyway, reading this thread, I've decided to do things differently concerning demons and devils. In my campaign cosmology, Asmodeus is a full-fledged god, not just a devil, so he does grant spells. I figure the other archdevils (who are just mere fiends) sort of get the power to grant spells from him or something.

As for Orcus, Graz'zt, and the other more interesting demon lords, I'm not really sure how I want to handle that.

IMC, there is a demon lord that long ago ruled the human race before being banished from the world. He was merely a servant of the primary god of evil, and so did not grant spells, but the clerics of the god answered to him. He was recently freed from a millenia-long imprisonment by some cultists of that god, and he promptly went to the center of the god's worship, murdered the high priest, and took charge of things. But he still doesn't grant spells.

 

[Olive]

It's interesting how many people have their own extremely well thought out alternate nature.

One other thing I was thinking of was requiring the clerics/cultists of these creature to take a feat as a pre-req of gainign spells from these guys, like the disciple of darkness and thrall to demon feats from BoVD.

As far as faces of evil goes, I've heard lots of people say that the planescape books have it all over the 3e stuff, but I got the Guide to Hell and I have to be honest, I think it's really not very interesting. The 3e MotP has more useful info on Hell than that entire book.

 

[Nifft]

IMC, the nature of Divinity is under vigourous debate.

Some claim that there is only One True reality, and that the "gods" are mere aspects of it. They are Mystics.

Some claim that the Gods are the true reality, that the Gods sponsor certain spirits and avatars -- aspects of individual deities -- but are themselves eternal beings of the highest nature. They are Clerics.

Some claim that the Gods are merely mighty spirits, no higher than one's own ancestors. They are Shamen.

Some claim that the Gods and Arch-Fiends alike are annoying, as they too often seek to disrupt or subjugate the natural order for their own (noble or evil) goals. They are Druids.

Some claim that the Gods alone are annoying, since Arch-Fiends offer better powers at lower personal cost. They are Cultists.

-- N

 

[Whitey]

Reading this poll got Whitey thinking.

If fiends can't do so, how would they attract a following? Arcane spells like planar binding and contact plane would let a caster get some direct benefit - and run a serious risk too - without really needing to pick a particular archgoon. Evil type clerics are then shoehorned into a couple pairings of domains, and even moreso shoehorned into one evil deity's theology. Makes 'em get stale after a while.
Worst of all, that makes the big fiends just real big stats waiting for a munchkin PC squad to take a swipe.

Here's a possible solution. Demon princes/princesses, devil lordlings, and so on grant spells. But they aren't the 'battery' for them, so they don't need divine rank. Vaguely like the Devourer's spell deflection ability, they expend the life levels of those souls consigned to their plane. This gives them - particularly the CE bunch, a reason to traffic in those, and a compelling reason not to just gate in and thrash the Prime. All that arithmetic keeps them busy. The intrigues of who gets to cast what and when makes a hierarchy of both fiends and followers important - something the party may or may not want to get tangled up in.

Sure, that's not in some splatbook, periodical, FAQ, or whatever. But it's got that D&D plausability. If someone wants to give it a try, it'd be keen to hear how it turns out.

And if someone is really sweating how fiends do their thing, just tell them they really don't want to know.

 

[Olive]

Here's a possible solution. Demon princes/princesses, devil lordlings, and so on grant spells. But they aren't the 'battery' for them, so they don't need divine rank. Vaguely like the Devourer's spell deflection ability, they expend the life levels of those souls consigned to their plane. This gives them - particularly the CE bunch, a reason to traffic in those, and a compelling reason not to just gate in and thrash the Prime. All that arithmetic keeps them busy. The intrigues of who gets to cast what and when makes a hierarchy of both fiends and followers important - something the party may or may not want to get tangled up in.

This is another cool idea. Just so you know, I've always asumed that demon princes etc. can atract followers from prime races through offers of power etc. The Fiend of Corruption PrC in FF has cool things along these lines.