Why all the demon love?

[James Jacobs]

If that's an issue than why are we basically seeing retreads and complilations of existing material rather than new material? We are seeing existing demons being covered, not brand new demons.

As far as the Demonomicon articles are concerned, we started with demons that people had heard of before but hadn't had much attention in third addition. Yet at the same time, in each one, I had the freedom to expand greatly upon the demons. Each Demonomicon article introduces 2 or 3 new demon lords, and expands on regions of the Abyss that haven't been covered before. The same's not the case, really, with devils and the Hells, especially since they got those awesome articles by Ed Greenwood back in Dragon Magazine years ago.

And in any event, the Demonomicon articles have done brand new demon lords for the last two installments (Malcanthet and Dagon are both relatively new to D&D).

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Devils are like Pirates

They can't spreak properly, can't keep hold of all their limbs, and let a bird do their thinking? And have cheesy names like Blackbeard(ed Devil)?

 

[lukelightning]

Because devils are boring! They're absolutely predictable, predictable to a fault.

Hey, they are Lawful Evil not Lawful Stupid!

I, too, am sick of all the demon-love. Of course, I've gotten rid of the whole demon/devil distinction; they are all "fiends" in my world (I run an Arcana Evolved game in which there is no alignment; these creatures are evil, to be sure, but alignment isn't a mechanical rule).

 

[lukelightning]

That's right. It's one definiton of chaos. The part they also use in chaos theory (we all know the butterfly effect).

But D&D Chaos has nothing to do with Chaos theory. Just because they have the same word doesn't mean they are related; one could argue that Chaos theory has more to do with D&D Lawfulness than it does with D&D chaos.

 

[Fishbone]

Over 50 posts and only a one-liner about the complete decades-plus shafting of Daemons/Yugoloths. Weird. Fiendish Codex III seemed to be on most everyone's wish list less than 3 months ago.
Why are Devils boring?
The core devils can beat the everloving crap out of the core demons, any day of the week. They are intensely smart, wise, charismatic, and measured individuals and as such I feel make better masterminds and BBEGs. I'm not much of a demon guy. The whole "devils are boring" carp reminds me of what I heard countless times as a kid when I whined about being "bored": Boring people are always bored. Your devils are just as boring/interesting or fresh/played out as you make them.

 

[hong]

But what about monkeys and robots?

 

[sckeener]

The whole "devils are boring" carp reminds me of what I heard countless times as a kid when I whined about being "bored": Boring people are always bored. Your devils are just as boring/interesting or fresh/played out as you make them.

Exactly...but that is an issue more for the actual use of said creation....namely Devils. There is already plenty of stuff for Devils and very little room to add new to them. I really don't want
Ed Greenwood (or Robin D. Laws and Robert J. Schwalb) to do an architecture of hell article.

Demons can rise and fall in popularity. James could create a totally new Demon Lord and if it gained traction in the gaming community then it might be the bright star for the next couple of years. Demons will always be the New since there is always room to add more.

With Devils...it isn't like some designer could create some totally new Lord of Hell and expect it to have any traction.

People like New.

 

[BOZ]

And in any event, the Demonomicon articles have done brand new demon lords for the last two installments (Malcanthet and Dagon are both relatively new to D&D).

well, Dagon's been there for awhile... of those demon lords listed in MM2 (and not fully detailed since), he had at least a few throw-away lines to go by, whereas the rest of them didn't even get that much. still, for the most part, he remained beneath notice until FC1.

 

[lukelightning]

With regards to behavior, I don't think there's any reason to dwell on demon vs. devil alignments. I wouldn't worry at all about if my devil was acting appropriately "lawful" or my demon was acting really chaotic. I'd just pretend that their real motive and plans are inscrutible and beyond the ken of mortal minds. Perhaps the devil does have some sinister plan or is some special cog in an overall scheme of deviltry; you don't need to flesh it out since it may not ever come up.

 

[Shade]

Over 50 posts and only a one-liner about the complete decades-plus shafting of Daemons/Yugoloths. Weird. Fiendish Codex III seemed to be on most everyone's wish list less than 3 months ago.

Trust me, it still is. We've just reached the "it goes without saying" point.