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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lancelot" data-source="post: 5563039" data-attributes="member: 30022">I'll second the posters who went with archon, deva and lamia. Those three have clearly seen some massive change. I'd say the eladrin have seen less change. Even in 2e, there were strong similarities between them and "grey elves".However, I'll also offer another creature that has seen significant change (and should appeal to Shemeshka): the humble nycadaemon.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Early 1e: First introduced wayyy back in D3 - Vault of the Drow, the nycadaemon was clearly a top-order fiend; perhaps the most powerful of the Neutral Evil fiends.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Their appearance in the vault was a Big Deal. The supreme priestess of Lolth, Charinida, had one on call in her bedchamber (...in an amusing piece of Gygaxian mischief, the nycadaemon could be accidentally summoned by the PCs and, in Gary's words, it would be quite unhappy to see the PCs - as it expected something else entirely...).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ed Greenwood, in his classic Nine Hells articles in Dragon magazine, described this: "It is said that the nycadaemon Daerith once appeared unannounced over the lake of Cocytus and flew toward the palace of Asmodeus, and before it reached the crags about the lake was destroyed utterly, torn apart bodily by pit fiends on patrol."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Stat-wise, a nycadaemon would have a Type VI demon (balor, to you youngsters) for breakfast. Seriously. It wouldn't even be a contest. Until the release of MM2, only pit fiends would come close.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">So, uber-powerful fiends. Named. Consorts of the mighty. Would dare to approach, alone, the mightiest citadel in all of the Outer Planes.</li> </ul> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Later 1e: Relegated to 3rd most-powerful of the non-unique daemons in MM2. Arcanadaemons and Ultrodaemons? Really?!? Goofy jackal-headed furries and humanoid hypno-toads? [...all hail the hypno-toad...]</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">2e: Oh, the embarrassment. DiTerlizzi, otherwise one of my favorite artists, makes the fearsome Nycaloth (name change!) look like a goofy teddy-bear with an under-sized axe. And the fluff turns them into glorified couriers and messengers. Still #3 on the 'loth pecking order, but the loss of street cred is palpable.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">3e: An artistic mistake (...this is true! It was a genuine mix-up between WotC art dep't and the artist!) gives the nycaloth two additional arms! They're now a 4-armed beastie, with two axes. This is one of the few... maybe the only time an iconic D&D creature has changed because of an art mistake.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">4e: More change, to nycademon (note: demon, not daemon). Fluff change - they're demons, not daemons or yugoloths. But, finally, 4e returns the nycademon to it's uber-power roots. The most powerful nycademon variants are higher level and more potent than either the ultrodemon or the raavasta (arcanademon). And, sigh, still four-armed. Due to an artistic error in 5e, I fully expect them to have six arms sometime later this decade.</li> </ul>So, in summary: three different names, major fluff changes, power changes, role changes, art changes, mechanical changes due to varying number of limbs (!).Certainly not as dramatic as the archon or the lamia (which have been completely redesigned), but the poor old nycadaemon has been kicked around in every single edition since AD&D.</blockquote>

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