Who is Older: Dragons or Demons?

[Stormonu]

Anyone recalls from the top of his head how long a pit fiend aspirant had to spend in this special pit of fire? I think it was either 66 years, 666 years, 99 years or 999 years. If it's the last, then most pit fiends should be well over 1,000 years old just from having to have sit 999 years in this pit for their final transformation

Not off the top of my head, but from MC8 - Outer Planes Appendix:

Pit fiends are spawned from the powerful gelugons of the Nine Hells' eighth layer. When those icy fiends are found worthy they are cast into the Pit of Flame for 1,001 days (about 3 years) after which they emerge as a pit fiend (see Gelugon for more detail).

From the Gelugon entry:

Wholly unnatural creatures, gelugons can only be created by promotion from lower stations...First, the gelugon must have served flawlessly for 777 years. Any blemish on its record, even the slightest one, will eliminate it from the promotion list.

This means a pit fiend is at least 780 years old, not including the time it served to go up through the lower ranks. We're talking promotion of at least Mortal -> Larva -> Lemure -> Spinagon -> Abishai (Black -> Green -> Red) -> Barbazu /Hamataula -> Amnizu/Cornugon -> Gelugon -> Pit Fiend

 

[Pseudonym]

And for that matter, what is the age range of Liches?

I don't have my older edition books anymore, but if I recall correctly a lich eventually becomes a demilich at some point as its physical body decays to just a skull and a pile of dust. Does anyone know if a specific amount of time was ever stated for this to happen?

 

[jonesy]

Otherwise, it is setting-dependent.

In Dragonlance the first intelligent beings created were the dragons. I don't recall, but they might even have been the first any creatures created. I might be remembering wrong, but I can't find anything in the books that says otherwise.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

The answer is: How old do you, the GM, want them to be?

Otherwise, it is setting-dependent.

This. Alternatively, which race does your DM like the most? Members of that race have a likelihood to be older than the others proportional to how much of a fanboy your DM is.

In Dragonlance the first intelligent beings created were the dragons. I don't recall, but they might even have been the first any creatures created. I might be remembering wrong, but I can't find anything in the books that says otherwise.

But didn't DL dragons turn out to be aliens from another planet or something?

 

[jonesy]

But didn't DL dragons turn out to be aliens from another planet or something?

No. There were dragons who came to Dragonlance from a planet other than Krynn. The dragons from Krynn were from Krynn.

 

[Sorrowdusk]

I don't have my older edition books anymore, but if I recall correctly a lich eventually becomes a demilich at some point as its physical body decays to just a skull and a pile of dust. Does anyone know if a specific amount of time was ever stated for this to happen?

I dont THINK it took a minimal amount of time; I thought it was something they each had to learn how to do. In that state their skull became like a phylactery while their spirit wandered the planes.

On a side note-does anyone think it interesting that according to FCI most demons keep their age a secret, and wont let on to exactly how old they are?

 

[DrunkonDuty]

I guess that makes Succubi "Ladies of a certain age."

 

[Eridanis]

On demi-liches:

Ages past, a human magic-user/cleric of surpassing evil took the steps necessaly to preserve his life force beyond the centuries he had already lived, and this creature became the lich, Acererak. Over the scores of years which followed, the lich dwelled with hordes of ghastly servants in the gloomy stone halls of the very hill where the Tomb is. Eventually even the undead life force of Acererak began to wane, so for the next 8 decades, the lich’s servants labored to create the Tomb of Horrors. Then Acererak destroyed all of his slaves and servitors, magically hid the entrance to his halls, and went to his final haunt, while his soul roamed strange planes unknown to even the wisest of sages... se of the second key alerts the now demi-lich that he must be prepared to do battle in order to survive yet more centuries.

A lich is a human magic-user and/or cleric of surpassing evil who has taken the steps necessary to preserve its life force after death. Ultimately, even the undead life force of a lich begins to wane. Over centuries the lich form decays, and the evil soul roams strange planes unknown to even the wisest of sages. This remaining soul is a demilich.

Demiliches are wiser, older, and far deadlier than common liches...In their planar wanderings, which span centuries, demiliches seek to discover all the secrets of the multiverse, and beyond, applying themselves to the study of epic spells, the location of unique artifacts, and the keys to release and control imprisoned abominations.

So, we're talking centuries, not millenia. Seems like they can last a lot longer as a demilich than as a regular lich.

 

[prosfilaes]

On a side note-does anyone think it interesting that according to FCI most demons keep their age a secret, and wont let on to exactly how old they are?

While it doesn't play a big part in D&D, in a lot of fantasy, knowledge is power. To summon a demon takes its true name, which is not trivial information to find. I can see adding age to that, especially if names weren't as special. Perhaps in D&D to properly summon or bind a specific demon, it takes not only its name, but its age.

 

[the Jester]

The oldest known dragon in my campaign is around a million years old. He's the size of a football field or bigger. He claims an entire mountain range as his lair.

There is one demon prince in my campaign that is older than the (present) multiverse.

Some dragons and demons are far younger, so it depends on a case by case basis, and obviously my campaign's version of dragons are longer-lived than the 'default' D&D dragon is (they do not die of old age, they just get tougher and meaner).