How big is the Blood War?

[Dragonbait]

The Blood War ended when an endless flow of Kender, who were trained by Tinker Gnomes to be Tinkers, spilled onto the lower planes. All sides involved would rather not speak of what went down, but all the fiends are hiding in their fortresees cowering.

I can't let this little gem of a post go un-quoted.

I think that the general concensus is this: The Blood War is big. Very big. Bigger than a bread box. Bigger than the biggest big thing to go to Big Thing school, become a professor of bigology, and teach other big things how to be bigger. Yeah, it's that big.

 

[Kristivas]

I had that Bloodwar boxed set back in 2e days, and it was really nice. Unfortunately, I was never able to put it to much use.

On a homebrew world, the PCs were a big force. They were all around level 14. They'd just defeated the BBEG, who was the nemesis of their campaign, and were moving on to bigger and better things. I had this AWESOME Blood War thing ready, as in it was going to spill over and engulf the world if the group didn't find a way to stop it.

The chances for success were slim, but I was sure the PCs were up to the challenge.

Then, a lot of crappy issues with their "backstory" came up now that the guy they were battling was dead (he'd brought them together for a common cause, ect). They each wanted to do their own thing, and it came to a head that they freakin' went to war with each other. So, they all pretty much ignored all of the plots and quests and signs. Only the cleric paid enough attention. It ended up that as all their forces were battling with each other, massive portals from Baator and the Abyss cracked open and the fiends waded in and destroyed the world. The cleric wisely escaped to Sigil as this happened.

I got so mad, I scrapped the homebrew world.

I really wanted to run some Blood War stuff. Mortals can't influence the War on a grand, planar scale.. but maybe, just maybe.. they can save their own world from getting caught up in it.

 

[Tinker Gnome]

I can't let this little gem of a post go un-quoted.

Hooray! I feel important!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The Blood War is THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS big!

Of course, you should have been here in '78. That was the summer where I almost caught a war even bigger, but it broke my line and swam away. I come back here every summer, trying to catch it. One day I will.

 

[Simm]

The blood war isn't all that big right now. Since both sides realize that they cannot take and hold any considerable area they spend their time planing and army for invasions that never happen. All sides wait for some event which will allow a effective war. Demons and Devils arn't stupid what you think are major battles are just skirmishes.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

The blood war isn't all that big right now. Since both sides realize that they cannot take and hold any considerable area they spend their time planing and army for invasions that never happen. All sides wait for some event which will allow a effective war. Demons and Devils arn't stupid what you think are major battles are just skirmishes.

Yes but when your equivalent of squad level skirmishing involves a couple million troops that should clue people in on just how big the real thing would be.

 

[Joker]

My DM and I were talking about this the other day and he said something about all kinds of nasty inventions, like special siege engines, WMD's, particularly deadly poisons.

Does anyone know of any specific examples?

 

[Sejs]

My DM and I were talking about this the other day and he said something about all kinds of nasty inventions, like special siege engines, WMD's, particularly deadly poisons.

Does anyone know of any specific examples?

Well, WMDs would come in the form of really big spells, incantations, or items that replicated such I'd imagine. Big boom magic items.

Poisons, no point. Both sides are immune. Specially tailored disease on the other hand...

 

[DarkKestral]

Well, WMDs would come in the form of really big spells, incantations, or items that replicated such I'd imagine. Big boom magic items.

Poisons, no point. Both sides are immune. Specially tailored disease on the other hand...

Actually, poisons have a use. Not against the demons, daemons, and devils, but rather against the countless number of mortal Blood War mercenaries working for one side or another.

I find it interesting to think that "WMDs" for things like the Blood War aren't even things on the Wish scale of power.. they're rather more like epic spells which convert Baatezu to Tanar'ri and use the magical energy given off during the transformation to further feed the spell the energy it needs to keep going. Things that don't just blow an area apart... they can actually change force levels in an infinite area. "Blow it up" tactics don't work when you've got 5 INFINITE planes to fight over; destroying an area often has little strategic use except in 'small unit' skirmishes or when it takes down a main means of the enemy's production. Biological weapons and other weapons which 'feed' on the environment they're given to create more of the weapon are ideal, as they can actually effect changes in large quantities of infinite forces. That said, a nuke, in the Blood War would be treated as standard artillery. The Grey Waste already creates that sickening effect that is noted with nukes. Likewise, expect the siege engines to be BIG.

I also think they'd be rather common. Obviously there a still a lot of Baatezu and Tanar'ri running around with just their 'native' weapons, but technological advances would certainly be taken up by the two groups.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

That said, a nuke, in the Blood War would be treated as standard artillery. The Grey Waste already creates that sickening effect that is noted with nukes. Likewise, expect the siege engines to be BIG.

That is in my opinion the most cool and yet horrifying aspect of it. That the worst apocalyptic nightmares of the entire cold war would in the Blood War be considered simply normal. That the fiendish idea of a minor skirmish involves eight or ten million combatants in a single pitched field covered with clouds of chemical agents and swarming disease vectors lit by the strobing flash of the arcane equivalent of tactical nukes fired by seige engines that weight tens of thousands of tons and fire projectiles the size of houses. Dead and dying winged fiends crashing to the ground like bloody hail in a monsoon of offensive magic. Dretches and Lemure are considered munitions rather than combatants and used that way by units of higher fiends.