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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2011239" data-attributes="member: 172">The Book of FiendsThe Book of Fiends is a creature sourcebook for d20 Fantasy by Green Ronin Publishing. It compiles, expands, and updates (to 3.5) material from three previous Green Ronin books (Armies of the Abyss, Legions of Hell, and parts of the Unholy Warrior's Handbook) and introduces material from a planned volume that did not make it out before the publication of D&D 3.5: Hordes of Gehenna. Green Ronin took the opportunity to update their previous books at the same time they introduced their latest volume.The book credits Aaron Loeb, Erik Mona, Chris Pramas, and Robert J. Schwalb as authors.A First LookThe Book of Fiends is a 224 page hardcover book priced at $34.95.The cover is adorned by a nicely done picture by Michael Sutfin depicting a woman wielding some sort of double weapon standing before a huge demonic being with an a flaming eye floating in the cusp of its crown-like head.The interior is black and white. Interior artists include Julain Allen, Toren "MacBin" Atkinson, Tim Baxa, Drew Baker, Brom, Brian Despan, Chris Keefe, Raven Mimura, Sam Wood, Mike Vilardi, Kevin Crossley, James Ryman, Dennis Detwiller, and Kent Burles. Much of the art herein is recycled from the previous books that went into this one, but there is a slug of great new art as well, both for new creatures and replacing some art from previous books. In particular, I have been impressed with Burles and Ryman's work since they became part of the stable of artists used by Green Ronin, and they continue that trend here. Allen is not one I am familiar with, but his fresh new talent combines nicely with that of Ryman and Atkinson to paint a picture of disturbingly inhuman fiends in the Hordes of Gehenna section.A Deeper LookThe Book of Fiends is arranged into three volumes plus appendices. Each of the "volumes" deals with one sort of fiendish creature, and each corresponds to either the existing or proposed volume dealing with the creature (i.e., Armies of the Abyss, Hordes of Gehenna, and Legions of Hell. Each of the volumes is further broken down into chapters which vary in subject between volumes.Though large amounts of both Armies of the Abyss and Legions of Hell are repeated here, they are both updated to 3.5 edition rules and are expanded with new creatures and refined. It is not my intent to replicate the entirety of my reviews of those two products here, rather focusing on changes and new material. For more information on these two volumes, see my original reviews of the individual 3.0 products.Creatures in both Armies of the Abyss and Legions of Hell volume see a number of changes to match changes in mechanics between editions, such as the new DR rules and new creature construction guidelines. Another major change is the fact that many formal names, such as Tanar'ri and Baatezu, did not appear in the final SRD, so they are likewise negated from the new versions here. This is not a big issue for Legions of Hell since most devils were Baatezu in the original; a direct correspondence was sufficient. However, Armies of the Abyss introduced a new race of demons, of the Qlippoth subrace. In this case, demon became a placeholder for Tanar'ri and Qlippoth became just "other chaotic evil outsiders native to the abyss." Though Green Ronin has little control over WotC's decision not to place the terms in the open domain, those less familiar with what is going on could be confused with the issue.By way of general update changes of the creatures to 3.5 rules, the creatures see the expected and necessary changes such as updates to newer DR conventions, new skill point methods, and so forth. Unlike the demons and devils in the 3.5 edition MM, the fiends here don't see an alteration of their power level (probably due to the fact that the original books were designed with an even CR spread and did not need such an adjustment as the MM fiends did) or gutting of their spell like abilities (the reason that the MM did this is beyond me.)The first four chapters form Volume I: Armies of the Abyss. This includes an introductory chapter, a chapter covering the thaumaturge class, a chapter with demon princes (with only background, no combat stats), and the creatures themselves. For more details on these, see my Armies of the Abyss reviews.The original thaumaturge was basically a cleric with inferior combat abilities and random "corruptions" every few levels, which made it seem a little weak compared to a PC class of the same level. Green Ronin shored up the class a bit in this iteration without changing it too deeply. The thaumaturge now can summon abyssal creatures as a quickened spell like ability once per day per four levels, which gives them a little more punch. The corruptions have also been expanded, and there is now a chance of better or multiple chances, but there is still about a 40% chance that a given corruption will be a hindrance vice a benefit.Though this section is largely a update of the Armies of the Abyss book, there is no shortage of new creatures. The abyssal dragon template, which was formerly relegated to a template, appears here in print. In addition, we see a number of new abyssal creatures: -Chernobue: Another Qlippoth, the chernobue has a fearsome venom that causes lots of permanent ability damage and leaves the victim disfigured. -Cresil the Impure: A demon lord, Cresil is a bloated and noisome the presides over a trash heap on his own layer. Though no prince stats are presented in this book, Cresil, who is CR 23, should challenge some fairly stout parties. -Daeobelinus: These fairly weak goblin-like creatures are fast and expert craftsmen. Sometimes they offer their aid to mortals, but demand a steep price... -Irecundia: These collossal and powerful demons are unfortunately not unique. However, they only form part of the Armies of the Abyss when the need is desperate, since they tend to devastate both sides of a battle.Other than these there are 7 additional demons, a demon lord, a construct, an ooze, an undead, and a magical beast associated with the Abyss.The second volume included in the Book of Fiends is all new: Hordes of Gehenna. As the Yugoloths (Neutral Evil fiends that were called daemons in AD&D 1st edition) were never made open content by WotC, Green Ronin was left to create their NE fiends from scratch. They reverted back to using the title daemon for these creautres.Deamons are based around the concept of the "seven sins". Each deamon is primarily concerned with or has abilities related to one of the classic seven deadly sins: wrath, envy, lust, sloth, gluttony, greed, and pride. Gehenna, the plane said to be held by Deamons (and having superficial differences from the same named plane in WotC's Manual of the Planes), is said to be divided into seven realms corresponding to these sins.Daemons as depicted here are more interested in mortal affairs than other types of fiends. They watch the mortals, record their sins, and sometimes tempt them into them and punish them accordingly. This becomes an underlying theme for the entire section, explaining both the motivations of the daemons, and their abilities.Daemons are cleft into seven categories like the seven deadly sins. They also are divided into roles within these categories: exarch, watchers, whisperers, mercenaries, and servitors. Exarchs are the arch-fiends of the demons, corresponding to demon-lords and arch-devils. Much as is the case for these powerful demons and devils, exarchs receive no game statistics.Other roles are watchers (who watch and record the sins of mortals), whisperers (who tempt mortals into sins), mercenaries (warriors in the wars between Hell and the Abyss), and servitors (powerful servants of the exarchs, often unique). Most of the daemons are actually that – deamon type outsiders. There are also undead and template-created creatures, who also fall into the above roles. Finally, there are some independent daemons who do not fall into the above classification.The creepy concepts and the outstanding artwork combine to bring the creatures home with a very alien feel. The sin and immortal punishment aspect is really played up for horrifying effect. As an example, consider the languishing, a creature that serves as the watcher of sloth. The appearence of the creature is creepy enough – an eerie picture by Ryman depicts a someone humanoid spined creature that has spider legs in the place of a jaw. The languishing waits for mortals who cannot rise out of their mourning and selfloathing. They decapitate them, doing so without slaying the sinner. They consume the jaws of the mourners, which become the source of a supernatural mourning wail used by the languishing as a weapon.The Legions of Hell volume is also an updated/revised version of the original. Much like the Armies of the Abyss volume, there are many new creatures introduced herein (see my review of Legions of Hell for a more detailed look at the creatures that appeared in the original). New creatures include one new infernal noble, five new devils, two new magical beasts, and one new template. This last one is actually not diabolical at all, but a wanderer in hell doing pennance that receives some measure of protection from devils. As with the original volume, this volume features three prestige classes which are servants of various infernal nobles herein: Balan's Jackals (followers of the infernal huntsman Balan), Mountebank (devious spellcaster in service of Jalie Squarefoot) and Plaguelords (servant of the fetid prince Nergal). Balan's Jackal is made a bit more appealing, and the abilities are better distributed through its advancement. The Mountebank could still probably use a level less of spellcasting advancement to make up for its abilities. As an additional update feature, each of the classes has epic advancements.Although Legions of Hell does not receive as much additional material as Armies, I don't think it needs it as much; the original seemed to use its space better and the creatures therein were loaded with campaign ideas.There are three appendices. The first is a three page treatise on angelic hosts, including a selection of fallen celestials in hell; this originally appeared in Legions of Hell.The second is the unholy warrior class. This class originally appeared in the Unholy Warrior's Handbook, but is updated to 3.5. Much like many 3.5 classes, the class is less front loaded, and the domain abilities are spread over the first three levels instead of the first two. For those not familiar, the unholy warrior represents sanctified warriors dedicated to evil powers, and follows the pattern of the holy warrior from Book of the Righteous. Each holy/unholy warrior has access to two domains that grant class abilities (not spell access like cleric domains), plus receive a gift of darkness special ability starting at 6th level related to the character's patron.Though this serves as a nice update for the class itself, there is more to be had in the Unholy Warrior's Handbook, such as prestige classes, feats, and more details on unholy warrior orders.The third appendix contains an overview of two infernal cities, one in the Abyss, and one in Gehenna. (A city in hell was featured in the Green Ronin adventure Hell in Freeport.)ConclusionsBook of Fiends both updates and improves the material from the prior volumes and stirs it together with a great new addition, Hordes of Gehenna, which is a worthy peer of the fantastic Legions of Hell. If you are interested in plots dealing with infernal powers and the lackeys of such powers, you could not ask for a more complete book.Overall Grade: A -Alan D. Kohler</blockquote>

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