Hordes of the Abyss: Q&A

[BOZ]

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.

he's so lovecraftian, it's delicious.

 

[dargoth3]

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*

Well Beshaba and the Drow Pantheon are obvious differences (Both now a bide on there own plane outside the Abyss in the 3ed cosmology)

Erik was hinting that Kiaransalee is some how weakened, when this is not the case in the 3ed FR. Kiaransalee is infact stronger than shes ever been (See the COSQ WE)

 

[Nightfall]

Yeah well she's weak now that Lolth is back in action.

*still wishes Orcus would slay the entire Drow panethon and be done with it.*

 

[Sammael]

*still wishes Orcus would slay the entire Drow panethon and be done with it.*

Good grief, for once, I can agree with you on something Orcus-related. He can slaughter the entire drow race while he's at it as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Rystil Arden]

2. The broodswarm, dybbuk, ekolid, guecubu, lilitu and sibriex are all new.

This list has a higher ratio of awesome to bland monsters than any of the recent WotC monster books. Clearly WotC needs Erik and James to help brainstorm ideas for monster books too--but don't let them get away before FC2 and FC3 are in the works

 

[Shade]

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.

Does he have both subtypes, or is he a full-fledge tanar'ri now?

 

[demiurge1138]

Does he have both subtypes, or is he a full-fledge tanar'ri now?

No, Pazuzu is listed as an obyrith, but he has some abilities more suited to a tanar'ri (summonning, and his electricity resistance from obyrith has been upgraded to tanar'ri immunity).

Demiurge out.

 

[Shade]

No, Pazuzu is listed as an obyrith, but he has some abilities more suited to a tanar'ri (summonning, and his electricity resistance from obyrith has been upgraded to tanar'ri immunity).

Demiurge out.

Interesting. Thanks!

 

[Shade]

Designer Interview and Steal this Hook are up.

A few cool things gleaned from the interview:

Of course there were a few I absolutely had to cover (The Demonweb, Thanatos, Azzagrat, Gaping Maw) and a few I threw in for fun but which got cut for space (The Mansion of the Rake, Woeful Escarand, Spirac),

I'm guessing there's some of our contents for the next web enhancement.

One of the sources I used was the first edition Deities & Demigods, as a few entities from that tome were said to live in the Abyss. I'm thinking specifically of Ma Yuan, the Chinese slayer of the gods and Dahak, an apocalyptic dragon spirit. Both are now imprisoned in the Wells of Darkness, a layer mentioned on the poster map that accompanied the Planescape Planes of Chaos boxed set. Other inhabitants of the Wells include the villain from my first ever RPGA tournament (The Ebulon Affair), plenty of folks from the infamous list of demons on page 35 of the first edition Monster Manual 2, and two demon lords from old Dungeon adventures. My section of the book dealt with the Abyss, and I'd be willing to bet that every layer I designed pulled stuff from at least five different sources. The Demonweb in particular is riddled with Easter eggs.

Very, very cool. Ma Yuan is an old fave of mine, and I just recently statted up my own version of Dahak.

 

[NexH]

Designer Interview and Steal this Hook are up.

I can't believe they actually answered the question (made in the Wizard's boards) about depopulating the abyss at 5th level.