Your favorite demon lord

[Desdichado]

For whatever reason, I've always been a huge fan of employing plots rooted in the machinations of demon lords as one of my primary campaign drivers. I use that plot device all the time. Demon lords as Machiavellian schemers trying to gain more power, souls, and/or influence on the Material Plane is a tried and true method, and who doesn't love the chance to thwart something that's so iconic and symbolic of evil itself? Plus, as an old timer, I have fond memories of the old demon lords, and their role in the game.

For those of you, like me, who like to employ this plot device, which are your favorites, and which do you see yourself using in the future? I've always been a big fan of the old standbyes Orcus and Demogorgon, and although I still have a fond spot for them, I'm usually the first to admit that they suffer from over-exposure. Graz'zt doesn't seem to have had the same problem, and I'm not sure why. Maybe because in general he's less straightforward of an antagonist, and fewer people are sure exactly how to use him? Graz'zt is a favorite of mine, but I like to play up the (obvious, IMO) aspect of him as the "Black Man"; the infamous figure from the folklore of witchcraft who represented the devil himself coming to visit witches and consort with them.

Another up and coming demon lord (in my estimation, anyway) is Dagon. IIRC, he was a throwaway reference in the 1e Monster Manual II, but he wasn't really described in any detail at all until the Fiendish Codex I. That's surprising to me; as a demonized god of non-Judaic neighbors of the Israelites in the Bible, he comes from the same source material as Pazuzu, Asmodeus, Baalzebul, etc. and therefore seems an obvious compatriot of them. His more recent prominence due to a couple of Lovecraft's more famous stories fits the role of a D&D demon perfectly as well, and would have given Gary Gygax no less than two vectors—both of which he was obviously familiar with and mined frequently as source material—from which to borrow him. The fact that he never really did so is somewhat surprising.

In any case, the combination of Classic folkloric roots and obvious Lovecraftian influence—especially given my predilection for setting D&D games in ports and including pirates and sailing ships, and whatnot—make Dagon a fast rising up-and-comer in my list of favorite demon lords to use.

I'm always on the lookout for good information about more, though, and possibly advancing the "official" timeline of where some of them could be. I really liked Serpentrous (or whatever his name was) from Elder Evils but I thought the idea of a dead demon lord was much less compelling than a live one—I'd advance him to roughly CR 30 like the other really tough demon lords from Dragon Magazine and run with him that way. I'd do the same with the Obox-ob stats from Dungeon Magazine 149 and have the entire lower planes in an uproar due to his return.

Anyway, enough rambling from me; for those of you who—like me—find the lure of including demonic elements in your D&D game a temptation too great to resist, what are your favorites?

 

[Derro]

Of the usual D&D fair I like Baphomet, Fraz-Urb'luu, and Kostchtchie. Baphomet and Kostchtchie are both rather bestial and have unsubtle followers. Giants and beastmen are great when you need a blunt, unholy menace.

Fraz-Urb'luu, as the Prince of Deception, will always have the great Machiavellian plans, double bluffs, lies in truth in lies, all that good stuff. He is upper medium weight as far as demon lords go and often at odds with Graz'zt and Demogorgon. I love having his cultists manipulate the PCs into waging war against other demon lords.

The Sorcerer's Crusade supplement Path of Screams, from White Wolf, has some pretty horrible demon lords in it. The book deals mainly with mortal infernalists but the material for making earthly minions is chock full of unclean inspiration.

 

[smootrk]

My favorite was always Yeenoghu (Gnolls/Ghouls), but I am not completely sure why. Probably had more to do with his pic in 1e MM.

Following up that, I made a massive maze dungeon in my youth, where the players ultimately fought against Baphomet (minotaur) from 1e MM2. And, another favorite was Antraxus but technically not a demon, but a daemon... but who can really tell the difference other than spelling.

 

[Desdichado]

And, another favorite was Antraxus but technically not a demon, but a daemon... but who can really tell the difference other than spelling.

Yeah, I tend to lump all my fiends together when I homebrew. I kinda like a cosmology more like the Beyond Countless Doorways book, and fiendish planes could have devils, demons, yugoloths, demodands, oni, efreet, slaad; heck any hostile extraplanar monster is a fiend as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Evilhalfling]

Demegorgon is a fav of mine, awakened apes with tentecals? sign me up!
yes perhaps he is over exposed now, esp after the savage tide.

Babezzulbub also made a play a in one campaign arc, flies were a theme in that one, and the BBEG a slime dripping barbed evil. Eventually the party even crossed into his layer, but only stayed long enough to close the gate. The air was toxic where they came through, and it made for a great challange - trying to avoid talking, using the 10min air supply in a bag of holding, one character with immunity to posions, etc....

I also used Gaping Maw, from the foundation of the dragon magazine articles. He wasnt very active since his aspect/avatar had been slain on the Prime Material, but he was interwoven through the history of the setting.

 

[Voadam]

I like the WFRP Chaos Lords. I used Nergle the Hungry Earth corrupter as a background thing in a D&D game where the party was hired by a goblin to track down a renegade apprentice spellcaster who had stolen one of four forbidden books dedicated to the four lords. The apprentice's minions were all diseased and there were dead bodies animated and filled with oozes. It was very atmospheric. I had planned for the apprentice to end up being a binder but the pbp game fell apart before that.

I like a bunch of the Moorecock eight Lords of Chaos as well, the Whisperer of Impossible Secrets is a fun one in particular.

Dagon I like as well, especially since I get to mix in different legends inspired by CoC, Infernal Codex, and Book of Fiends for varying presentations.

I've used Demogorgon as a foil for background legends with Heironeous. I had Heiro sending minions in ancient past to block D's demonic horde incursions out of the abyss, then Hextor made his break with Heiro and Heiro had to pull forces back from the demon front but not abandon it, knowing it would cost the remainder heavily to hold the horde back. A pit fiend of Belial's offered a no strings military alliance with the trumpet archon left fighting the demons who reported to Heironeous only that he would do everything he could to stop the demons. Heiro accepted this and focused on Hextor, expecting his archon minion to stop the demons but die trying. After the demon horde broke up from internal betrayals and Heiro had time to learn the full story he was angered at the deal with devils and cast out the archon until he repented. The archon felt he had not done wrong, that fighting demons was more important than avoiding devils and so turned from Heironeous, accepting an offer by the Belial agent to fight demons in the blood war, now-powered by Belial. This came out in a legend lore reading from a feather of a corrupted bad guy in my group's game.

I also used Demogorgon in creating background for Ochremeck, the demon lord in Monte Cook's Demon God's Fane, having Ochremesk originally serving D but then split from him when he underwent his balor wing sacrifice power ritual.

Orcus has only shown up as patron of 1e death masters so far in my games.

 

[Shemeska]

If we just look at old school demonlords, I've got to go with Demogorgon. Less humanoid than Grazzt and Orcus, more alien and just more in tune with my ideas of the Abyss in general. Two personalities in constant friction locked within the same body was just cool, even if it's not in the old school sources (ok most of the detail for most of the archfiends isn't in the early stuff). And as heretical as it might be to say so, I actually liked the art error in the BoVD that gave him a pair of hyena heads.

For not just old school stuff, it's Pale Night. McComb's description of her as this enigmatic, hollow -thing- wrapped in a gauzy veil was beyond creepy, even when written from the IC perspective of Xanxost the green slaad. Mona and Jacobs added an even stronger Lovecraftian element in FC:I, making her shroud not so much a physical object than a defect in the structure of the planes themselves when exposed to her true form. That's made of awesome.

 

[Set]

Demogorgon has worked his way into my Freeport game, which has an NPC who has a bunch of trained monkeys and a barely-trained baboon that wander around town putting on performances. (The little monkeys are dressed up as pirates, with little wooden swords, and put on pirate fights on the cart-sized 'pirate ship' that the baboon pushes around.)

I've linked that NPC and his secrets to a cult of Demogorgon out in the jungles, based on the Throne of the Gorilla King encounter from Paizo.

Other faves are Grazzt (he's just cool) and Yeenoghu (I'm a huge fan of Gnolls and hyenas in general).

Gosh, you never hear about Jubilex these days. I wonder what happened to him, other than Ghaunadaur killing him and taking his stuff...

 

[Desdichado]

And as heretical as it might be to say so, I actually liked the art error in the BoVD that gave him a pair of hyena heads.

I actually didn't notice that the first time I read through the entry. I only thought of it later.

I think hyena-headed Demogorgon is kinda cool too, although I prefer the original for tradition's sake, if nothing else. The pedantic side of me wants to ask why they're always described as baboon heads when they're illustrated as mandrill heads, but since mandrills are a type of baboon, I kinda grin and keep my mouth closed.

Speaking of art for Demogorgon, are there any decent electronic copies floating around of the Andrew Hou art used on the penultimate Dragon issue, and the WAR art used in the last Dungeon issue? I like those pictures quite a bit, and I'd love to have a copy that didn't have the titles and whatnot plastered all over them.

 

[Desdichado]

Demogorgon has worked his way into my Freeport game, which has an NPC who has a bunch of trained monkeys and a barely-trained baboon that wander around town putting on performances. (The little monkeys are dressed up as pirates, with little wooden swords, and put on pirate fights on the cart-sized 'pirate ship' that the baboon pushes around.)

I actually ran a Freeport Pbp (which sadly, I haven't even looked at in weeks because I've been extremely busy and harried at work lately; my poor players probably assume that I've abandoned them completely. I should go and officially put that game out of its misery) where I took an idea from Erik Mona's Armies of the Abyss and had the entire pantheon made up of demon lords with an occasional other archfiend. I gave them slightly modified names, but anyone who's played D&D at all could probably see right through them. I had Graz'zt be the Pirate God; the patron god of Freeport, Dagon was god of the sea, Yeenoghu was the god of the wilderness, Imix was the god of fire/the sun, Orcus was the god of death, etc.

Gosh, you never hear about Jubilex these days. I wonder what happened to him, other than Ghaunadaur killing him and taking his stuff...

I'm still trying to figure how (and why) his name got changed from Jubilex to Juiblex. Was that just a typo that got perpetuated, or what happened there?