Fraz-Urb’Luu (MtoF, OotA)
The Demon Prince of Deception, and Lord of Illusion. No, I’m not typing in that name again, it was a pain the first time. I’m calling him Fraz for the rest of this entry. The Great Gargoyle already has so many different names that many of his cultists don’t know who they are worshiping anyway. Fraz particularly relishes helping demon hunters take out his rivals in increasingly corrupt ways, then claiming their souls. If you ever need someone who is lying about being a powerful being, Fraz is for you. His cultists have an ability that detects illusions and hidden creatures, which could be played off as some kind of lie-detecting boon that he is bestowing on the hapless fools.
Before the battle starts, you should have him cast
Mislead, and have a couple of
Programmed Illusions set up (maybe with a verbal command word) to create something that can eat up actions. Typical illusory tricks like another demon lord showing up, having a loved one tied up as a hostage, maybe something like having a few angels come down and say “You guys should run away, we will hold him off!”
Seeming can disguise a few cultists as prisoners, or as the PCs themselves.
Project Image can be used to provoke a few attacks before the PCs even get in the same room as him. Basically, he shouldn’t have any spell charges left (except maybe
Modify Memory) if he catches wind of the PCs being around his lair. It’s worth noting that Fraz is immune to detection magic and scrying, which is handy for tricking people for sure.
In combat, Fraz is a bit unique for a spellcasting high end threat. He has neither a multiattack that enables him to cast spells, nor a legendary action that can do so. Despite being the Lord of Illusions, don’t plan on having him toss many out in the heat of battle. Instead his multiattack enables the use of Phantasmal Terror, which is a ranged fear and damage power. It’s kind of like the
Phantasmal Killer illusion spell, to be fair. Instead he is going to brute force it. Swooping in with bites and punches, hoping to get off a tail grapple legendary action (which will be used to fly up and drop someone for sure). His Lair actions are devastating. Simulacrum creates an obedient copy of a PC, which will then nuke the party with everything they can before turning into dust one round later. The stronger the PC, the stronger the copy. And let me tell you, PCs are designed to be relative glass cannons to begin with, so this is extremely dangerous. He also has an unlimited range AoE to damage everyone he can see, and a nebulous ability that lets him swap doors for walls and vice-versa. The actual utility of such a power depends entirely on how well you set up the encounter beforehand. Meaning of all the Demon Lords, this one requires by far the most planning.
Fraz was significantly buffed for this reprinting, despite the loss of several cool RP spells. Like
Dream and
Mirage Arcane. Mostly thanks to the Phantasmal Terror attack, which was appended to his multi-attack. His magical weapons trait was replaced with force damage on his melee attacks. And once again, the madness table was removed.
