D&D 5E Valithia the Fallen Avenger

[Tyler Dunn]

I have an idea for a demon lord and I would like to know what you guys think of it

Her name is Valithia, she was once a Solar, but she was banished from Mount Celestia after killing a mortal hero who became nearly as powerful as her. She wandered the Abyss for a time, eventually conquering a layer of her own and becoming the demon lord of Pride.

Her layer of the Abyss is called Mount Valithia, a twisted mockery of Mount Celestia, the place she once called home, with her fortress at the top.

She seeks to become the most powerful being in the multiverse and lay waste to the upper planes and the material plane, with all other creatures bowing down to her superiority. Her cult consists of power hungry adventurers who were promised power by Valithia.

What do you think? I was thinking of having her cult seek out a powerful artifact called the Heart of the Abyss in my campaign, which she could use to become incredibly powerful. The players would seek the means to create an artifact to destroy the Heart to keep it out of her hands.

 

[Salthorae]

Sounds fun!

Most Artifacts usually have some "method for destruction" that doesn't involve another artifact. Like bathing the item in the tears of a demon or for an evil artifact like that, a pool in Celestia or something like that while you break the sword of a demon lord and submerge it into the pool with the item... or something like that.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I recommend making the artifact more pride-centric. "Heart of the Abyss" makes me think cultists for just about every demon lord, CE god, and archduke devil (just to spite the demon lords) would be after it. Not only would it help explain why this particular demon lord is after it, but the abilities (and how to destroy the artifact) would probably flow better.

I might do something like: Light of Pride. Once a celestial is exposed to the light of this lamp, if it destroys or banishes a fiend or undead, it must make a ridiculously high DC saving throw or be infected with excessive pride. The celestial will attack any being that refuses to obey an order from the celestial. If the celestial kills a creature with a good alignment, the celestial's alignment becomes CE.

The Light can be destroyed if a powerful (say CR 21+) being agrees to be permanently polymorphed into a commoner (this effect cannot be overcome even by anti-magic fields or wish spells) while holding the Light.

If Valithia can get to a good-aligned plane with the Light of Pride, she can commit a ritual to expose the entire plane to the Light of Pride. The ritual takes X time (it doesn't matter except that the PC's show up at the last minute to stop it).

 

[Mort]

Sounds fun!

Most Artifacts usually have some "method for destruction" that doesn't involve another artifact. Like bathing the item in the tears of a demon or for an evil artifact like that, a pool in Celestia or something like that while you break the sword of a demon lord and submerge it into the pool with the item... or something like that.

Right,

It should be something epic like buried in the snows of mt. celestia or better;

If Valithia questions her dedication to evil for even a moment (the players, or something else, makes her consider atoning) then the artifact shatters.