D&D 5E Quests from the Infinite Staircase TOC and Zargon.

Brandes Stoddard shared the table of contents from Quests from the Infinite Staircase, along with the stats for the elder evil Zargon the Returner, over on BlueSky. Quests from the Infinite Staircase comes out on July 16th, and is an adventure anthology for character levels 1-13.

 

[Stormonu]

Nothing about Zargon or his appearance in B4 strikes me as anything other than Chaotic, unless somehow it was involved with the various Cynidian factions (which I think predated Zargon's appearance).

 

[dave2008]

Nothing about Zargon or his appearance in B4 strikes me as anything other than Chaotic, unless somehow it was involved with the various Cynidian factions (which I think predated Zargon's appearance).

I agree. I don't want to judge a book by its cover - but he does appear Chaotic.

 

[Upper_Krust]

Is that 5e canon? That was 4e canon, but unless it has changed since the MM, the Asmodeus 5e canon gives him power like a lesser god, but implies he is not one (from the 2014 Monster Manual):

"The Nine Hells has a rigid hierarchy that defines every aspect of its society. Asmodeus is the supreme ruler of all devils, and the only creature in the Nine Hells with the powers of a lesser god."

If he has the power of a Lesser God then that assumes he has the status of a Lesser God even if the title of Arch-devil takes precedence over the title of deity.

...not sure why Asmodeus is the only Arch-devil with such power though? That doesn't make much sense in the overall context of his history in D&D, at least. In 1E all Arch-devils and Demon Princes had the power of a Lesser God.

 

[Parmandur]

Nothing about Zargon or his appearance in B4 strikes me as anything other than Chaotic, unless somehow it was involved with the various Cynidian factions (which I think predated Zargon's appearance).

Bit this isn't B4, this is a rewrite, and particuthe nature of the Cyndian factions seems to have been fundamentally changed.

 

[Zaukrie]

I can't imagine his alignment mattering to play at all.

 

[Necropolitan]

If he has the power of a Lesser God then that assumes he has the status of a Lesser God even if the title of Arch-devil takes precedence over the title of deity.

...not sure why Asmodeus is the only Arch-devil with such power though? That doesn't make much sense in the overall context of his history in D&D, at least. In 1E all Arch-devils and Demon Princes had the power of a Lesser God.

Asmodeus has had the status of Archfiend, Lesser God, Greater God, Elder Evil, etc. depending on the setting and edition and has numerous backstories.

Around 3rd Edition they stopped trying to reconcile them and instead just said that his true backstory isn't known but there are lots of possibilities.

Then 4th Edition had him become an angel who became a god by betraying his former god, but 4th edition is it's own setting.

And 5th Edition keeps retconning stuff relating to Hell so there's no knowing where it will stand in the near future.

Nothing about Zargon or his appearance in B4 strikes me as anything other than Chaotic, unless somehow it was involved with the various Cynidian factions (which I think predated Zargon's appearance).

It's like I said, the Lawful Evil alignment for Zargon was because the Elder Evils sourcebook retconned his backstory so he's an Ancient Baatorian from the Nine Hells, and thus had to be Lawful Evil.

 

[Not a Decepticon]

Ask and ye shall recieve! Here is a combined Zargon plus a bit of my own spice (PS - this uses a custom version of the new 2024 statblock format):

View attachment 370378

That looks amazing.

 

[dave2008]

If he has the power of a Lesser God then that assumes he has the status of a Lesser God even if the title of Arch-devil takes precedence over the title of deity.

...not sure why Asmodeus is the only Arch-devil with such power though? That doesn't make much sense in the overall context of his history in D&D, at least. In 1E all Arch-devils and Demon Princes had the power of a Lesser God.

Personally I don't care what he is "officially." I was thinking about the hierarchy of hell the other day and I think I'm going with something like this:

Duke of Hell: Ascended Initiate (=demigod)
Archduke of Hell: Ascended Temporal (=lesser deity)
King of Hell (one of the Nine): Ascended Celestial (=intermediate deity)
Emperor of Hell: Ascended Empyreal (= greater deity):

So Asmodeus is equivalent to an intermediate or greater deity in my book (depending in which fiction you choose to believe)

 

[Stormonu]

It's like I said, the Lawful Evil alignment for Zargon was because the Elder Evils sourcebook retconned his backstory so he's an Ancient Baatorian from the Nine Hells, and thus had to be Lawful Evil.

Well, guess what I'll be ignoring when I get the book.

 

[dave2008]

It's like I said, the Lawful Evil alignment for Zargon was because the Elder Evils sourcebook retconned his backstory so he's an Ancient Baatorian from the Nine Hells, and thus had to be Lawful Evil.

Of course this statblock has it identified as an Aberration, so that is some change from the 3e era.