Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss

[Shemeska]

I'd love to see the Hordelings tables in there. I'm sure it is much too late to influence the content, but since Demons are beasts of Chaos and evil, that would be great.

Since when were Hordelings considered demons or beings of chaos? Were they from the Abyss in 1e or something? Because I'm only familiar with them as NE natives of the Waste.

 

[Zaukrie]

Really, maybe I'm remembering wrong. I thought that was the name of the demon that had the random table for rolling and figuring out what they looked like/were. I assumed (frankly, I haven't looked in years) they were demons.

 

[demiurge1138]

They're NE, but with chaotic tendencies (back from the days on the MMII, and I think they're listed as usually CE in the recent Dungeon conversion). Also according to the Dungeon conversion, they're found in Hades, Carceri, the Abyss and Pandemonium.

Demiurge out.

 

[Shemeska]

They're NE, but with chaotic tendencies (back from the days on the MMII, and I think they're listed as usually CE in the recent Dungeon conversion). Also according to the Dungeon conversion, they're found in Hades, Carceri, the Abyss and Pandemonium.

Demiurge out.

Aye, and that bugged me when I read the Dungeon conversion because it really deviated from the later material. Their ecology in FoE made their Waste origin via larvae pretty clear, and the conditions for it make it unlikely for them to be on the CE planes. Wierd.

Random and unique forms don't necessarily imply chaos. *shrug* No big deal, the random tables were interesting to see, even if the alignment and plane stuff was off.

 

[Pants]

Yeah, for whatever reason, Hordelings were NE back in the day. Never made much sense to me then, since Hordelings seemed much more inclined to chaos than even demons (what with their almost limitless forms).

 

[demiurge1138]

Yeah, for whatever reason, Hordelings were NE back in the day. Never made much sense to me then, since Hordelings seemed much more inclined to chaos than even demons (what with their almost limitless forms).

I agree. I like the new chaotic hordlings, despite the deviation from Planescape. IMC, I've decided they're the effluvia of the planes, chaotic and evil souls formed into larva out of the way of harvesting teams, or those that manage to escape being used or consumed. They're the (intelligent, malicious) rats of the Lower Planes. Everywhere the dominant fiends of the plane aren't.

Demiurge out.

 

[BOZ]

weren't the hordelings derived from the "random demon" tables in the 1E DMG?

 

[demiurge1138]

weren't the hordelings derived from the "random demon" tables in the 1E DMG?

I'm pretty sure that's where the idea came from. And a lot of the entries were the same or similar.

Demiurge out.

 

[Alzrius]

IIRC, the recent take on Hordlings (from Dungeon #124, "Chambers of Antiquities") at least justified their CE alignment, by saying that they were from Pandemonium (again, IIRC).

 

[zoroaster100]

No Demiurge, I have not seen the Book of Fiends. Who is the publisher? I do have Armies of the Abyss and the other book in that line about devils. I thought both were interesting. I had a vague recollection of hearing about the Book of Fiends and I thought it was a compilation of those to other books, but that could be completely mistaken, since I never bought nor read Book of Fiends. Is it good?

As for hordelings: I was glad to see the hordelings presented as choatic, as their randomness is perfect for a plane of pure chaos and evil like Pandemonium or the Abyss. I never liked their previously assigned neutral evil alignment.