Dragon 365: Codex of Betrayal, Beleth the Witch's Viscount

[Mouseferatu]

Ari, can you speak to how this article came about?

Sure, I don't think it's any big secret. I was talking to Chris Youngs about a number of projects, and he mentioned that he wanted to a series that was basically "The Demonomicon, but for devils." Everything else was basically us tossing ideas and names back and forth until we had the Codex of Betrayal as a name, and "Beleth, Prince of Imps" as the first entry. (He didn't want to restrict it to just the familiar arch-devils--though I'm sure they'll appear--since there's a lot fewer of them than there are arch-demons.)

The rest of it is just what I came up with that I thought was cool and fit the concept (except for the occasional changes in development, of course).

BTW, quick bit of trivia for you. The name "Brother Eiulo"--the mysterious writer of the Codex--actually means something. "Eiulo" is the base of a Latin word meaning "to weep" or "to lament." Seemed appropriate.

 

[Shroomy]

I know that Beleth is the name of an actual devil in occultic folklore, but did he appear in earlier editions, even as a name drop?

 

[Mouseferatu]

I know that Beleth is the name of an actual devil in occultic folklore, but did he appear in earlier editions, even as a name drop?

Indeed, albeit just a name drop. In the 1E Monster Manual II, there's a huge list of devils, what duke/lord they serve, and what forces they command. He's in there (although the name there is spelled "Bileth," one of the variant spellings of the same entity in occult/religious terms).

Gotta love Gary's comprehensive lists.

I think there might have been a passing reference to Beleth or Bileth in Fiendish Codex II, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[SSquirrel]

Actually--and I know I'm going to lose a lot of Geek Cred Points here--I've never ready any of the Myth series.

I chose to create a 4E version of assassin imps because they existed in prior editions (I think they were first introduced in 2E, in the Ravenloft setting), I really liked the concept, and this seemed a really appropriate place for them. I had no idea they existed in the Myth series.

I weep for you I truly do Robert Asprin had started to re-release the old books in 2:1 volumes as well as 6 books a pop omnibus editions, so it's pretty easy to get ahold of them these days. Sadly he passed just before MarCon. Very good humor fantasy stuff and I highly recommend them. In MYTH parlance, Imps are second-rate Deveels, but still snappy dressers

 

[Echohawk]

I chose to create a 4E version of assassin imps because they existed in prior editions (I think they were first introduced in 2E, in the Ravenloft setting)

You are correct, they did indeed first appear in the Monstrous Compendium Ravenloft Appendix, and then subsequently as card #604 of the 1992 Trading Card Set, reprinted in Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium Appendices I & II and updated for 3.x in Denizens of Darkness/Denizens of Dread.

Shameless plug: Complete index of all D&D creatures ever

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Interesting article indeed!

And looking at the statistics for the monsters, I think going to the Epic Tier really can change the world - high level characters have a good chance of taking out some seriously powerful Devils!

I like that. I wonder how this will be reflected in the up-coming adventure path or the Hx to Ex adventure books.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

Very fine work Ari, you carried on the outstanding tradition of the Demonomicon well in this new series.

 

[Jack99]

And because the other devils had no means of knowing which imps were Beleth’s and which were not, the newly christened “Prince of imps” was once again possessed of servants who had offices in the courts of his rivals, once again in a position to learn—and in some cases, even change—the messages and secrets dispatched from one devil to another.

I really liked your article Mouse, and this made me laugh ^^ (in the good way).
I think I just figured out who the warlock in my campaign serves.

Btw, the assassin imp, says level 7, but xp 600. I assume they just screwed up the xp?

 

[Rechan]

Good article, Ari! I'm impressed; this was a lot of history. Gives a lot of info on the whole Heavenly War for the Hells thingie.

Love the assassin imps. Cut and Run and Fade Away is delish. Shame the imp doesn't have any abilities to make anyone helpless (gotta wait several rounds for them to conk out so that helpless bleeding kicks in).

Definitely going to send one of these guys backed up by some assassins after the PCs.

(The shapechanger ain't bad either. But for me, Beleth's 'escape and leave behind a cloud of slowness' is a fantastic ability.)

And here I am, never having been one to go gaga over the Demons and Devils.

 

[Rakor]

You're Ari Marmell! That makes sense now. I always check the author's name first and I saw the name and couldn't place it, it was bothering me because I knew that I knew who you were but didn't know, you know? Can you start using Mouseferatu as your credit for published works? It'd make my life a touch easier.

I really liked the article, I can't wait to get into Epic with my group there is just so much cool stuff going on up there.