Fiendish Codex II next month--Any scoop/rumors/etc.?

[mearls]

I was really puzzled by this thread, until I finally grokked the following quote from the preview:

"When his final plans fall into place, Asmodeus intends to punish his former masters of the celestial sphere for daring to look down upon the foot soldiers who did all the dirty work. "

Replace "celestial" with "divine" and you have the back story that FC II lays out. The story casts Asmodeus as a servant of ALL the gods (good, evil, lawful, chaotic), not just the good ones. It then goes from there...

It's funny, because in the context of the chapter the real meaning is clear, but in a preview it's easy to see that "celestial" would refer to celestial creatures, not the more general meaning.

I can't remember if the book puts forth Asmodeus as a one-time lawful good celestial, but the story of his rise to power is, IMO, much more interesting than a simple fall from grace. Asmodeus never falls; he's far too smart for that. If anything, he turns the tables on the the gods.

 

[Ripzerai]

Thanks for the clarification, Mike Mearls.

I would still rather they spoke in terms of multiple possibilities, various rumors and so on, leaving it for the individual DMs to choose which one they like better. Fiendish Codex I did that very well, drawing from a variety of fictitious sources (so the Demonomicon of Iggwilv said one thing and the Black Scrolls of Ahm said something different). Giving Asmodeus a single, objective origin is limiting in comparison.

 

[joshhg]

Replace "celestial" with "divine" and you have the back story that FC II lays out. The story casts Asmodeus as a servant of ALL the gods (good, evil, lawful, chaotic), not just the good ones. It then goes from there...

Whow. I never even thought of the gods as celestial, even though it never said outsiders specificly. That's a nice twist.

I can't remember if the book puts forth Asmodeus as a one-time lawful good celestial, but the story of his rise to power is, IMO, much more interesting than a simple fall from grace. Asmodeus never falls; he's far too smart for that. If anything, he turns the tables on the the gods.

That sounds about like the head of LE I know (or ponder about, as there is little on hard facts at this second)
You should fix that. *Wink, wink, nudge, nudge*
Josh

 

[Agamemnon]

As someone who was writing a very ambitious NWN mod about a millennia-long Asmodeus vs Lucifer grudge match for the control of the Hells, I'm definitely going to buy this one..

 

[Shemeska]

Replace "celestial" with "divine" and you have the back story that FC II lays out. The story casts Asmodeus as a servant of ALL the gods (good, evil, lawful, chaotic), not just the good ones. It then goes from there...

Well hmm, then Asmodeus is -incredibly- young compared to the oldest of the fiends then. Hmm.

I'll have to see where the book goes with this in the context of lower planar prehistory.

 

[Psion]

Well hmm, then Asmodeus is -incredibly- young compared to the oldest of the fiends then. Hmm.

That should work well with the Necromancer Games Tome of Horrors fans, which suggests that he was not the first king of hell, as it were.

That said, I still dislike anything that makes Asmodeus into any sort of super-god. I'm cautious about my expectations at this point.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

I like the scaled down versions now (after I had a good look at the FC1). The lower starting points helps me to be able to fashion the fiends into whatever power-level that I might find a use for them. Much easier to scale up by adding material, than to scale down these guys. That, with the wonderful insight gained from the Dragon magazine articles helps even more.

So Cheers on the scaled down fiends. Cannot wait to see the Devils (and then the Yugoloths (crosses fingers) - Anthraxus rules). Maybe a series of Cestial Codexs is in their minds too.

I'm pretty much with you on this one. I reacted much like Aus_Snow at first when I got FCI but upon further reflection I relized a couple of things
1) I have never had a game last into epic levels (ie beyond 18th)
2) I advancement rules in the FCI are actually better than the advancement rules in the MM
3) Dragon magazine continues to put out those Demonomicron articles and they are freaking awesome.

Ok that was 3 things but I'll still get the FCII and I loved the first one.

 

[BOZ]

I was really puzzled by this thread, until I finally grokked the following quote from the preview:

"When his final plans fall into place, Asmodeus intends to punish his former masters of the celestial sphere for daring to look down upon the foot soldiers who did all the dirty work. "

Replace "celestial" with "divine" and you have the back story that FC II lays out. The story casts Asmodeus as a servant of ALL the gods (good, evil, lawful, chaotic), not just the good ones. It then goes from there...

It's funny, because in the context of the chapter the real meaning is clear, but in a preview it's easy to see that "celestial" would refer to celestial creatures, not the more general meaning.

that's reassuring. in 3E, there are a lot of terms that now mean something very specific (sorceror, arcane, etc) which used to be in general use. words like "celestial" are easily associated with angels and the like now moreso than they once were.

 

[Nightfall]

Psion,

Admit it, you just want to send your PCs to Infernus and make them quake at the power of Lucifier.

 

[morbiczer]

I went in to my LGS today, and what did I see on the shelf? Yes, Fiendish Codex II - Tyrants of the Nine Hells. They even had a 20% discount on everything, so I decided to buy it.

So, I have it in front of me, and I'm ready to answer questions. I haven't read it yet, just skimmed through it on the way home on the bus, but I like so far what I'm seeing. (But I must admit, that I know nothing about devils in th old editions, so I wouldn't notice any changes in canon - or really care about them.)

I understand that the book isn't supposed to be sold yet, but I have seen threads like this in the past, and I assume that no forum rules are broken by talking about it.