Updated monsters in Expedition to Demonweb Pits!

[Shade]

Someone's got it and just posted the table of contents over in general:

New Monsters 184
Aspect of Graz'zt 184
Aspect of Obox-ob 186
Aspect of Yeenoghu 188
Corrupted by the Abyss 190
Dabus 182
Demon, Cambion 195
Demon, Carnevus 198
Demon, Oculus 200
Envoy of Lolth 202
Giant, Abyssal 204
Lamia Noble 206
Mirror Mephit 208
Ratatosk 210
Viper Tree, Elder 212

Dabus and ratatosks...woo-hoo!

 

[Shade]

More info from the poster:

Abyssal Giants are, well... giants living in the Abyss. One theory claims they originated on the Material Plane but were dragged into the Abyss as a result of their way of life, another theory claims they made an unfortunate bargain with the Prince of Demons. They can throw exploding rocks, reshape the ground around them permanently as a full-round action (e.g. creating a pit below the PCs feet) and deal extra dice of vile damage on a critical hit. Personally I am not very impressed by this monster.

Corrupted by the Abyss is indeed an inherited template which can be added to any corporeal creature. The entry states that it forst appeared in the Book of Vile Darkness. The creature gains fracial d8 Hit Dies, improved natural armor and natural attacks, some ability score adjustments, damage reduction and resistance against electricity, fast healing, resistance to poison and higher DCs for every special attack the base creature has.
The CR-adjustment and several of the mentioned abilities depend on the base creatures number of hit-dice.

Cembion actually should read Cambion. Looks like I generated some typos while typewriting the ToC. Sorry about that. I suppose the Cambion demon was introduced way before 3rd Edition and it is the offspring of a male demon and a female planetouched like a tiefling. The term is quite often used to descripe any humanoid half-fiend. Cambions are spurned by their fathers and specialize in gathering information to exchange them for power and prestige. They have the Alternate Form ability and do not suffer from armor check penalties when it comes down to Hide and Move Silently.

The Carnevus Demon is a CR9 Tana'ri with four arms and two mouth (but one head). It can cast two spells per round, can fight with a weapon in each hand without penalties, and can decide to cast only one spell per round and instead counterspell another spell as if using dispel magic one per round. In the Bloodwar they serve as backround tropps using their spell-like abilities. They are the child of a tanar'ri and a lamia noble and are often found in Graz'zts realms or on other planes.

 

[Shroomy]

I wonder if the Oculus Demon is the same one that appeared in Dungeon 129, especially since Wolfgang Baur wrote both adventures?

 

[Shade]

I wonder if the Oculus Demon is the same one that appeared in Dungeon 129, especially since Wolfgang Baur wrote both adventures?

I'd almost guarantee it.

 

[Kain Darkwind]

What is an 'envoy of Lolth'? Is it like a more powerful Aspect of Lolth? Between aspect and avatar in power level?


Is Lolth a goddess or still just a demon prince during this timeline? I know they reduced Strahd in levels to reflect the earlier time period for Ravenloft; did something similar happen here? Or are they retconning the story that you face this 'envoy of Lolth' rather than the real deal?

 

[BOZ]

Dabus 182
Demon, Cambion 195
Lamia Noble 206
Ratatosk 210

well, i guess we can take these off of any list we still have them on.

you think that will be the same lamia noble from ye olde Fiend Folio?

and did someone tell Shemmy that dabus and ratatosks are back?

 

[Shade]

New excerpts are up, including the cambion.

 

[Kain Darkwind]

I'd like to point out that the cambion as given to us with stats is different from the cambion as given to us 'for player characters'.


For one thing, +5 str, +3 dex/con is clearly an 'aimed too low' typo from the number pad. The sample cambion has 18 str, 16 dex and con. These should be +8 and +6 respectively.


Second, the average cambion's mental stats are 12 Int, 7 Wis and 4 Cha. That translates to a +2 Int, -4 Wis and -6 Cha. Not the -10 nonsense they list, let alone the "take the remaining points out of Int if you have reduced Cha to under 2..."


Cambion and other editing issues aside, I like this book. I do wish they would have done the occulus demons as obyrinths, since that suits their flavor, but I like them as written as well.

 

[Shade]

Cambion and other editing issues aside, I like this book. I do wish they would have done the occulus demons as obyrinths, since that suits their flavor, but I like them as written as well.

I'm glad to hear it. I'm really looking forward to this one. Wolfgang is a talented writer who knows the source material well, so I can't imagine being disappointed. What the WotC editing department did to it is another matter.

Occulus as obyriths makes good sense.

 

[Kain Darkwind]

I'm glad to hear it. I'm really looking forward to this one. Wolfgang is a talented writer who knows the source material well, so I can't imagine being disappointed. What the WotC editing department did to it is another matter.

Occulus as obyriths makes good sense.

Well, you shouldn't be disappointed at all. The adventure is big, spanning 3 planes. (Didn't like that they repeated the LN Lady of Pain alignment though) It involves a TON of other sources, including a quest for a weapon of legend. (Don't worry, you don't need a single noncore book to use anything found there though) Monsters from every single MM (including Fiend Folio) show up throughout the adventure, and of course, some new ones that are found in the book. Lamia nobles, aspects of demon princes, and some more elaborate work with aspects than we have previously seen. Even a possible encounter with that drow priestess from the ELH. (The caution notes in the adventure are almost funny, warning the DM to 'urge' the PCs in a non-confrontational method around those points.)

Occulus didn't get the obyrith subtype, but I hope that isn't going to be indicative of no new obyriths in future supplements. I noticed MM4 didn't have any either, a disappointment. All three of the demons in Demonweb are untyped, neither tanar'ri nor anything else.


I liked this. As I don't typically buy adventures, I can't really say if it is better or worse than others out there. But I can say I enjoyed it a LOT. Good stuff if you can move past OCD and the mis-edits.