ORCUS! EXCLUSIVE! ESCAPIST!

The Escapist has an awesome preview of Orcus himself! And by preview, I mean the stats -- along with some background features for Out of the Abyss. He's a CR 26 monster, wielding his famous wand. Also interesting his the quote from Chris Perkins, who clarified that the PCs would not fight him directly, but that "Fortunately, Out of the Abyss gives characters the chance to amass a small army and also turn the demon lords against one another, thus weakening them. There are also a couple other ways to banish the demon lords back to the Abyss, which is the party's ultimate goal."

For more, click on either of the images below! For tons more Out of the Abyss coverage, click here! It comes out September 15th (or the 4th in preferred stores - that's next Friday!)

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[Scorpio616]

It's a con save.

It certainly would be if it was marked as such, and it's the likely one, but that not how the entry reads and there is precedence for Ability-less saves in the ruleset.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

It certainly would be if it was marked as such, and it's the likely one, but that not how the entry reads and there is precedence for Ability-less saves in the ruleset.

It's a con save because I am the DM and say it's a con save.

 

[GX.Sigma]

Maybe it's supposed to be finger of death.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I don't see that the PWK effect of the wand allows a save.

This is definitely cool. Glad to see we'll be getting demon lord stats in the module, even if they aren't supposed to be directly confronted by the PCs.

Orcus reads as if he'll be devastating. I'm curious to see him in actual play, and see what the players come up with. The actions he have all compliment each other pretty strongly. I can see him ripping through a high level party pretty easily.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I don't see that the PWK effect of the wand allows a save.

It does not grant a save. The PWK effect of his lair grants one. As he can use it way more often then his Wands version.

 

[hawkeyefan]

It does not grant a save. The PWK effect of his lair grants one. As he can use it way more often then his Wands version.

I think in my excitement to read his actual stats I scanned right over the lair info...my bad. Even more potent, and I'm sure that's why a save is granted.

 

[Valador]

Paladin aura of protection should still apply to the PWK save, so that's a little something. Lol

 

[ZE_Lumis]

500 HP of undead is not something I want to find myself in the middle of. Especially when I think I've got Orcus on the ropes.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

"Orcus summons 500 HP of skeletal pixies." Karma for rules lawyers.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

500 HP of undead is not something I want to find myself in the middle of. Especially when I think I've got Orcus on the ropes.

Yeah, because a party wouldn't have prepared themselves to fight/defend against undead when they are going up against the Demon Lord of the Undead.



Personally, I find Orcus' stats and stuff to be a bit too weak for my liking.

(1) I think there should be a line under the Wand of Orcus that says "If Orcus is the one wielding the wand, it doesn't use any charges at all. Orcus is the Demon Lord of Undead and can use his Wand at-will".

(2) His AC needs to be a bit higher; I'm thinking... 24 for some reason, 30 with the Wand in his hands.

(3) As a Bonus Action, he can have any undead within 30' of him leap in front of any attack at him that would have otherwise have hit him; the undead taking the full force of the attack in stead of Orcus.

(4) He has the ability to Hover, as long as he can still Fly.

(5)[Lair Action] Anything that drops to 0hp or lower within 120' of him is raised the next round as an undead being, fully under Orcus' control; the newly formed undead has all the capabilities of it's former self when it died, but becomes Chaotic Evil and fanatically devoted to Orcus. There is no save/protection against this.

....yeah....that seems more like it.

IMHO, when presenting "unique" monsters like this, they need to be "Suicide Mission Worthy". At NO POINT should a group of players be thinking Yeah, with some planning, the right magic spells and items, and a bit of luck, we should be able to take him.. They should be thinking Yeah, we're all going to die...if we're lucky... but if we can just get close enough to stab the Branch of Life into his chest, we can banish him back to the Abyss and save the world. One or two of us *may* survive...but it's unlikely. Now, lets go get that sum-bitch and show him nobody messes with our world!

Again, IMHO, reducing Orcus (and, presumably, the other Demon Lords) to such "rules-bound" stats as we have here does a HUGE disservice to the potential and magnitude that having a freaking Demon Lord...and ancient spirit that's been alive for thousands, or tens of thousands of years, ruling over an entire "infinite plane of existence"... show up on your plane of existence to wreck havoc. Defeating such a being (even...or especially?...at the cost of ones life) should be an EPIC achievement, worthy of song and story for centuries to come. The stats we're seeing? Not even close, IMNSHO.

^_^

Paul L. Ming