Hordes of the Abyss: Q&A

[Shemeska]

I'm sure most of it will be useful even in purist games.

How is it a purist thing to run an FR campaign using a 'unique' cosmology that's a few years old and ignores, glosses over, or takes a hacksaw to several decades of planar material referencing or referenced by FR? Anecdotally speaking, all of the major hardcore FR fans I've known tend to spit nails over the cosmology retcon, not just think it was poorly conceived or carried out, they absolutely despise it.

 

[Sammael]

So basicly your saying Hordes of the Abyss is a strictly Great wheel only book? Fair enough I wont bother getting it then

Considering that the Abyss is exactly the same in both cosmologies (except in the case of Demonweb Pits), I really fail to see your point.

The funny part is that I don't think there's anybody left at WotC who actually cares about Sean's Christmas Tree cosmology. They certainly don't care enough to make it distinct from the Great Wheel in any way except the shape.

 

[Shemeska]

Trust in me and fall as well

So basicly your saying Hordes of the Abyss is a strictly Great wheel only book? Fair enough I wont bother getting it then

If you actually use the 3e FR cosmology, just use the Great Wheel Abyss as is, because the 'new' FR Abyss is just a carbon copy of it, just with any FR deity who in 1e or 2e had a domain in the Abyss, it's now no longer in the Abyss and is its own plane. Take the Abyss in the FC:I and strip it of some detail, then you're all set

And heck, apparently the FC:I includes names of archfiends like Eltab who entered planar lore through their involvement with things on FR. Combine that with FR specific people like Karsus being used as Vestiges in the Tome of Magic side by side with specifically Greyhawk or Great Wheel entities, and seperate cosmology? What seperate cosmology? *grin*

 

[Baron Opal]

I have a homebrew cosmology and I'm sure that this book will be greatly useful to me. I have a number of planar shards and demiplanes that the minor abyssal layers will be perfect for.

 

[Shemeska]

Broodswarm: Not really a demon, but instead a swarm of little CE implings formed from the flesh of a night hag. They swarm over victims for their hag master, sew their eyes, mouth and ears shut (as well as thoroughly catching them in string) and turn them over to the hag for debauchery.

Odd on the alignment part, but it's a nifty little thing nonetheless.

Dybbuk: One of the loumaras, borne of the fragmented dreams of dead gods. They're incorporeal jellyfish that possess corpses and spread death in their wake while integrating themselves into mortal society.

Oooooh I like these. They remind me very much of the Shedim spirits from Shadowrun. I wonder if they were an inspiration? Regardless the origin story is yummy.

Ekolid: An obyrith, ekolids are monstrously fecund Abyssal vermin, laying eggs in their hosts with six sharpened ovipositors that rapidly hatch into flesh-eating grubs. They have quickness like a choker, but limited to move actions only.

*insert Aliens references here* Yummy.

Guecubu: The other loumara, these wisps of thought possess people and murder their families telekinetically. An interesting way to model traditional poltergeists, but kind of boring otherwise.

Ketchum and Kill 'em!

Lilitu: Created of a succubus who incinerates herself and an entire cult in an orgy of flame, lilitu excel at robbing the gods of both power (casting as clerics) and followers, seducing and manipulating priests of good gods above all others.

*giggle* 'loth toys. I like.

Sibriex: My personal favorite of the new monsters, the sibriex is a massive lump of floating flesh, so hideous that its very visage is enough to break the mind, making those who succumb to its madness see it as ultimate beauty. Sages and fleshweavers, they dominate those that attack them and turn them into flesh-grafted minions. Oh, and they have chains embedded in their flesh, which they telekinetically manipulate to walk and attack (although they don't have a land speed, oddly).

What subtype of fiend were these guys? If any lineage specifically.

The walking on telekinetically manipulated chains is disturbing and oh so cool.

 

[Ripzerai]

The walking on telekinetically manipulated chains is disturbing and oh so cool.

Yes, and also gives a possible origin for Vucarik other than making him half-kyton.

 

[BOZ]

Web Enhancement I is up:

Fiendish Aspects I: Juiblex, Kostchtchie, Zuggtmoy, Demogorgon
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060609x

whoo boy, those things are definitely puny. not even half the CR of the FC1 lords. i guess they could still be useful if you send them out in packs.

"oh god, i'm fighting 4 Demogorgons! they're not as tough as i expected them to be, but in a group they're pretty badass!"

 

[demiurge1138]

What subtype of fiend were these guys? If any lineage specifically.

The walking on telekinetically manipulated chains is disturbing and oh so cool.

Forgot to mention - they're the other obyrith in the Demons chapter. The demon princes that got "promoted" to obyrith are Dagon, Obox-ob, Pale Night and Pazuzu.

The idea behind the obyrith is that they're the primordial Abyss-spawn, like the qlippoth in Armies of the Abyss. A combination of the Queen of Chaos' defeat on the Fields of Pesh and an invasion by eladrins nearly annihilated the race and drove it into hiding. The tanar'ri crawled out of their ashes (spawned by the baernoloths, perhaps? The book does not say, although the Black Scrolls of Ahm still maintain that the tanar'ri were birthed by the will of the Abyss itself).

Dagon managed to escape the Queen of Chaos' conscription plans by virtue of his physical power and the value of his wisdom. His special insanity causes intense phobia of deep-sea creatures, and his tactics specifically state that anyone who escapes him will be the victim of nightmare spells for the rest of his life. Nice homage, I thought.

Obox-ob was the Prince of Demons, but the Queen of Chaos stripped him of his title and gave it to Miska the Wolf Spider. Obox-ob tried to fight the Queen and was destroyed, but one of his aspects festered in Zionyn and regained some semblance of his true power. He seeks, of course, to murder Demogorgon and reassert obyrith dominance.

Pale Night is kept alive, even though she is an obyrith, for some mysterious reason, perhaps because her claim to having mothered seveal extant demon princes is legitimate.

And Pazuzu is actually an obyrith that evolved into a tanar'ri in order to survive. His maddening appearance has been commuted into the aura of servile avians, and he's gained the ability to summon tanar'ri.

Demiurge out.

 

[BOZ]

OK, i'm basically satisfied with any "pre-initial skimming" curiosities i've had. i can now officially wait for the book to come out, occasionally feeding on things people post on the internet in the meantime.

 

[demiurge1138]

whoo boy, those things are definitely puny. not even half the CR of the FC1 lords. i guess they could still be useful if you send them out in packs.

"oh god, i'm fighting 4 Demogorgons! they're not as tough as i expected them to be, but in a group they're pretty badass!"

Well, yeah, aspects are supposed to be weak. They let the Minis department make minis of iconic gods and demons without unbalancing the point buy system of warbands. But CR 6 for the aspect of Zuggtmoy? What'd the Queen of Fungi ever do to you guys? So sad. Even Juiblex got CR 8.

Demiurge out.