That said, though, Mordenkainen's first chapter does have a gigantic listing of all of the primary Archdevils that rule over the various levels of Hell.... but my attempt to really talk about them here ended up basically just listing them out and regurgitating the lore that Mordenkainen gives us, and that's not really the point of these reviews. Since we're talking about the actual monsters, I'm not going to cover those, at least not in this series of articles, just about the ones that have a stat block and proper artwork in the book.
Being very fiend-heavy, Mordenkainen gives us a lot of variations for playable Tieflings, but it's basically establishing that Tieflings (which are fiend-touched anyway) are able to gain extra powers and boons depending on their infernal parent..
- Click here for the previous part of Mordenkainen's, covering Demons and Demon Lords.
- Click here for the final part of Mordenkainen's, covering Oblexes to Vampiric Mists.
- Click here for the index.
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Devils: Abishai / Scaly Devil
So we get a different artwork for each variant of the Abishai, which is some neat dedication from the art team! Previous versions just had all five lumped into a single illustrative picture, like that 3E piece. The Abishai (or Scaly Devils) are basically minions of Tiamat, the five-headed god-queen of chromatic dragons. Tiamat's technically a dragon god, but she makes her lair in the Nine Hells, so I guess it's appropriate for her to have a bunch of dragon-themed devils to serve her. These Abishai are the warped souls of Tiamat's followers, who are transformed as a reward into devils to serve their mistress. As a rule they tend to follow the same body layout -- gaunt dragon-men with wings; the same head design as their dragon basis; and dreadlocks for some reason. They're a lot more draconic in this edition compared to the more gargoyle-like 3E and 4E Abishais. Unlike the demons, devils do have a strict hierarchy, and it's noted that the Abishai stand outside of this strict heirarchy, still technically being devils but answering mostly only to Tiamat.
Each of the Abishai have slightly different skills, which, interestingly, isn't actually tied to their chromatic dragon counterparts. Black Abishai are assassins and infiltrators that can meld into shadows. Blue Abishai are strategists, seekers of lore and fight with magic. Green Abishai are like Tiamat's personal secret service, acting as diplomats, envoys, intelligence gatherers and leaders of Tiamat's forces. Red Abishai are, of course, the generals of the army, because D&D really loves their red dragons, and Red Abishai command even dragons and other devils to carry out Tiamat's commands. The White Abishai, meanwhile, are the weakest of their kin and are just shock-troopers. They have cool artwork and it's a neat, thematic expansion to a Tiamat-themed dungeon run.
Devils: Amnizu / Styx Devil
Another new devil is the Amnizu, which is another one that has shown up a couple of times... and been drawn as ugly mofos in every single incarnation. Each version of the Amnizu goes for a completely asshole-looking corpulent visage, from the straight-up flayed-lower-face of the 1E Amnizu, to the bestial 3E one, to the Star Wars alien looking 2E one, to the 5th Edition one that just looks so wrong with a face that's stretched all over the place. Also it's got wings that sprout and are bent from a place that's not quite right, not quite the shoulder blades but not quite the sides of the head either. Also, they have fancy robes, and I think it's that little juxtaposition between the pretty robes and the toady figure within is a neatly stark one. Amnizus basically act as asshole strategists, leading the devils' infernal legions into battle, being intelligent but completely foul-tempered, all arrogant and ruthless and stuff. Not much of a unique personality since basically all other devils act similarly to this, but at least it's a personality that's consistent with the appearance. The Amnizus are also called the 'Styx Devil' because they guard the River Styx in the Nine Hells, basically acting as, uh... the welcoming committee and the 'tutorial' for the newly-minted wretched lemure souls that will soon face eternity in the servitude of the Evil Corporation of the Nine Hells (copyright pending). This little random footnote about how they basically double as hell's HR department makes me chuckle a fair bit.
Hellfire Engine
Demons have walking giant minotaurs and stuff, but the civilized devils have Hellfire Engines. It's a concept that has cropped up a couple of times under different names in D&D lore, and while it's classified as a construct rather than an actual devil, I'm still including the Hellfire Engine here because Mordenkainen's groups it with the devils. It's a theme we've seen a lot in fantasy fiction, the fact that hell apparently has these lava-spewing clattering engine-tanks of doom. 3E's version is even more demonic, less of a machine and more of a formless demon-thing that just happens to have chimneys and wheels. I'm not sure what the ur-example for this trope is, but D&D's Hellfire Engine is... it's neat. It's got a bunch of screaming monster faces with clawed robotic hands and stuff. They're also semi-autonomous, obviously intelligent enough to attack and blow non-devils up, following their primary directive to mow down anything in their paths. They also have a neat little ability to 'soul-trap', cursing any non-fiend that it slays to join the devilish legion's charge within hours (presumably turning them into imps or some other lesser devil) and are doomed to hell if some powerful magic-user doesn't intervene. Which is a surprisingly brutal subversion of how devils are all about making Faustian deals to trick people to sign off their souls and whatnot. Anyway, it's a pretty cool hell engine, but I don't have a whole ton to say here.
Devils: Merregon / Legion Devil
Merregons first appeared in 4th Edition as a more generic soldier/trooper member of the huge devil armies, and it had a well-drawn but ultimately kinda boring design. Even moreso than any other devil or demon, 4E's Merregon is just... it's just some armoured dude with demon horns and a tail. It's still cool and drawn well, but it's just not super exciting especially with how the artwork pairs him up with the far more distinctive-looking Gelugon and Imp, yeah? And then 5th Edition sort of reinvents the Merregon, keeping most of the lore similar (which is good, because more low-level minions is always good)... but a single important change gives the Merregon such a bizarrely unique vibe -- that fucking golden baby face it has, which is a wee bit more disturbing than it has any right to be. Merregons are noted to be the souls of fallen evil soldiers, mercenaries and bodyguards who ended up basically being quickly drafted into eternal hellish servitude as Merregons, but are quite literally turned into faceless foot-soldiers.... because all they have for a face are the golden masks to prevent them from having any individuality, which is such a neat exaggeration of the "only your rank and function matter". I like it.
Devils: Narzugon / Hell Knights
We have a
Devils: Nupperibo
It's interesting to see how much the Nupperibo has evolved over the different editions. The concept is still a vile sloth/gluttony-themed devil, but as people become nicer and realize it's mean to mock people for being fat, we go from the Nupperibo being just a fat fucker into being a fat butcher fucker into its 5th edition version, which actually exaggerates all the lumpy flesh folds and tumours into something that's clearly unnatural and not just a fat joke, while also keeping the whole 'glutton' theme. I am absolutely creeped out by that face, which doesn't even have normal features anymore but have stitches (I think?) where eyes and mouths should be, as well as little vents that give out smoke. The Nupperibo are created whenever souls that are noted to be particularly worthless, souls that are slothful and careless and only bumble their way into getting themselves turned into devils, get turned into Nupperibos, being blind, bloated and hungry and they just wander the Hells to scoop up whatever they can find and shove it into their mouths. They're basically a mindless hungry monster that swarm in bulk to block pathways and attack any non-devil interlopers. The little bit of lore that Mordenkainen has is pretty funny, noting that any devil can give Nupperibos orders and they are the easiest devil to command, but most devil commanders are just straight-up embarrassed to use them. Shut up, you dang Amnizu, it's not like you're much of a looker either!
Devils: Orthon
Now we have the Orthon, which is a huge muscular dude with elephant tusks and a hunched skull-face. These are apparently the hunters and trackers of the Nine Hells, quite literally termed a 'infernal bounty hunter' in the sourcebook. They hunt down their quarry across the multiverse with that crossbow and goofy curved sword, famed for their ability to basically become invisible. Like a bit of a combination between the Predator and Boba Fett, Orthons basically love the thrill of the hunt, and while it won't go as far as to betray the archduke of hell that commands it, it's not beyond engaging in a sporting, worthy struggle against a foe, which is pretty neat. Also, apparently, in their downtime when bounties are thin or some such, they apparently also double as guides through the different realms. Invisible bounty hunter by day, multiversal tour guide by night! It's a bit off the beaten path for what I expect fiends to be, and the design isn't especially unique, but the flavour is pretty fun.
Archdevils: Bael
Now where the demons have Demon Lords, devils have Archdevils, the mightiest lords and dukes that serve atop the strict hierarchy of the lawful evil empire of the Nine Hells, and just like a real-world corporation, names rise and fall. And while I only have the 3.5E sourcebook on hand to check, I do know that devils tended to receive a fair bit less spotlight than demons, and other than the big honcho Asmodeus himself, the archdevils that tended to be spotlighted differ from edition to edition. Duke Bael (not to be confused with Bel) is a name that's shown up a couple of times, though, and in 5E... he, uh, kind of looks like a generic minotaur? It sure is a cool artwork for Bael, but without the context I would've assumed that this is just a minotaur adventurer. Bael's a vassal to the Archdevil Mammon, Lord of the Third Layer, and leads 66 companies of Barbazus (Barbazi?), and apparently he's so dang effective that he's never lost his job. It's just that he's a simple, loyal soldier in an environment where it's 99% politics, so Bael ends up finding himself out of touch, all he wants to do is to be a good general and go protect Mammon's territory and enslave all his enemies. He's not dumb, but I get the vibe that he just doesn't give a shit about the backstabbing and constant scrabbling for position, all he wants to do is do his job and these damn mortals keep worshiping him and asking to make deals with him. Also, according to 5E, apparently Bael has a cult, but even among members of his cult Bael's appearance and deeds are hotly debated, with some claiming that Bael looks like a toad or a cat. Apparently, though, he's a cow-man.
Archdevils: Geryon
Geryon is the former Lord of the Fifth, and one of the longest-running named archdevils in D&D, showing up as far back as the first edition. Apparently circa 5E he's been ousted from his position by some dude called Levistus, and the two basically fight over control of the Fifth Layer, Stygia, for eons. Apparently they're now locked in a stalemate -- Levistus is the technical Lord of the Fifth, but is frozen in a massive block of ice by Asmodeus, so Geryon is able to command the forces of the Fifth Layer... but really, really wants his title back. Apparently, Geryon just gets way too into murdering his enemies to really do the whole 'soul collecting' thing well, and apparently the whole civil war test might be a test for Asmodeus to purge the worst impulses of the two rivals. Okay, then. Geryon's design is relatively simple, a muscular humanoid man with dragon wings, and a snakey lower body tipped with a scorpion tail. Also he carries around his magic horn. It's not super impressive, but it gets the point across. He's all right.
Archdevils: Hutijin
I feel that the archdevils, at least the 5E ones... don't really deviate a whole ton from the classic Pit Fiend look? At least visually, anyway. A lot of them are just bipedal, muscular scaly dudes, and you just have to toss in any combination of fangs, horns, bat-wings, a tail of your preferred size and a weapon. And it fits with the theme of fiends from hell, don't get me wrong, but it really doesn't give me much to talk about Hutijin beyond "yep, he's sure a big imposing-looking devil man!" Like Bael, Hutijin is another one that's not one of the big honchos, but another minion of one of the actual arch-devil, serving Mephistopheles, Lord of the Eighth. Hutijin is a bit rare among devilkind, noted to be very loyal and basically a staunch enforcer of his boss Mephisto, leading armies of Pit Fiends to root out any aristocratic rival and basically just be the Luca Brasi to Mephisto's Don Corleone. It's noted that Hutijin has absolutely no cults or followers outside of the hells for the simple reason that he hates morals. This also means that he never really leaves his master's side, so other archdevils try and make a scenario to goad Hutijin away from the Nine Hells so that they might gain an advantage over Mephisto. He's a great devil that actively sends out his minions into the material plane to snuff out anyone who has learned of his name and the ability to summon him, which is sure an interesting situation, actually! One that could easily work well into a D&D campaign.
Archdevils: Moloch
Unlike the demon lords, Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes is basically a huge spotlight for the B-listers among the devils, huh? No Dispater, no Mephistopheles, no Mammon or Belial or Baalzebul. Moloch, at least, is a relative long-runner among D&D's archdevils. His design is another one that's pretty generic, albeit bulkier than Hutijin's and swapping the wings and tail for bull-horns and feet. Again, it's an imposing design and a cool artwork, but not very memorable. Moloch ruled over the sixth layer, Malbolge, and was ousted and exiled from the Nine Hells. He was once one of the most honoured arch-devil, and Asmodeus kept him around because while Moloch schemed for power, he never schemed against Asmodeus, thus Moloch ended up keeping the other archdevils in check... until Moloch took in a night hag advisor that ended up getting Moloch to try and go big. Moloch's coup d'etat ended up very nearly succeeding, and Moloch was very nearly executed if not for the help of a very convenient planar portal... but he ended up being trapped in the material plane while his army and followers were wiped out. He can't return into the Nine Hells without being turned back into an Imp thanks to the rules of the plane; so he basically just sort of wanders from plane to plane looking for some plot device to bring him back to power. It's certainly a fun backstory, making Moloch very much suitable for a one-off big antagonist your adventuring party can 'safely' kill without causing repercussions and bringing the wrath of an entire army of devils down upon your party; while at the same time Moloch might very well be a quest-giver that enlists the aid of your party, offering help in exchange for you retrieving some terrible plot device that might give him an advantage in his attempt to challenge Asmodeus.
Archdevils: Titivilus
Titivilus has a funny name, and I'm genuinely surprised to learn that "Titivilus" is a real European-myth demon. Like Bael and Hutijin, Titivilus is another bodyguard to one of the true Lords of Hell, this time being Dispater, the paranoid Lord of the Second, who hides in his labyrinthine iron palace. Dispater is one hell of a paranoid dude, surrounding himself with traps and keeping himself sequestered in his palace whenever he can to avoid entanglements with other arch-devils... but poor Dispater made the mistake of appointing Titivilus as his primary advisor. And, well, Titivilus is basically positioning himself in a place where he can safely gain power, having wormed his way up not by strength but by charm and manipulation, making everyone -- even Dispater himself -- believe that he is their friend. Titivilus has convinced Dispater that everyone is conspiring against him, and caused poor Dispater to become even more paranoid, and thus Dispater leaves the day-to-day managing of the realm of Dis and the negotiation of dels with mortals to his most trusted advisor Titivilus, which is, of course, what Titivilus wants in the first place. It's a pretty great bit of cloak-and-dagger and manipulation bit, because Titivilus himself now has to work hard to keep the deception out, sending assassins to kill problematic devils that realize what Titivilus is doing. And sometimes this might lead to an interesting meeting with adventurers in the mortal realm, who may or may not be receptive to a request from Titivilus to help wipe out another devil or other.
Titivilus's design is all right. It's a bit less boring than Hutijin and Moloch because of the fancy accessories and being a different shade of colour than just blood red, but it's still just kinda there? I do appreciate how so much of the flavour of devilish villains ended up being mostly revolving around the fact that whenever you deal with a devil, you're basically making their rivals stronger, and it leads to this interesting damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't situation.
Archdevils: Zariel
Last among our archdevils is Zariel, who's got a far more interesting bit to talk about because she's actually a long-running character, and the star of one of 5E's newer sourcebooks, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus. And what do you know, Zariel's the archdevil that rules over Avernus, the first layer of the Nine Hells! Her saga is told in the background of various sourcebooks over the past couple of editions... on paper, her backstory is pretty generic but at the same time a classic one, a former angel charged with goodness and purity, but eventually fell from grace after being corrupted and being way too war-hungry in the fight against the fiends. A failed assault to try and wipe out all the fiends ended up with her allies dead and her transformed into the monster she hates so much, and then Zariel became one of the mightiest devils there is. After a bunch of back-and-forth over the sourcebooks in 3E and 4E, Zariel eventually broke free from her imprisonment, ousted the previous Lord of the First, Bel (not to be confused with Bael), and ended up becoming a far more brutal leader of the devils in their fight against the demon hordes... although, of course, what she truly desired is revenge against good ol' Asmodeus. As ruler of the first layer of hell, Zariel basically has final say on who comes and enters the Nine Hells, and is keenly interested in collecting souls to add to her ever-growing army. I'm pretty sure we'll talk about her more if/when we cover the actual campaign sourcebooks, but as it is, Zariel's got a far, far cooler design on the cover of Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, with that pale porcelain corpse-face and halo of flames being far cooler than the generic devil-lady in Mordenkainen's. _________________________________________________
Yugoloth: Canoloth
Poor, poor Yugoloths, always getting the short end of the stick in terms of page-time and variants among the three main D&D fiend families. I suppose compared to the brutal chaotic madness of the demons and the organized hierarchical enterprise of the devils, the vaguely-defined mercenaries playing both sides simply aren't that interesting? Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes has a whole lot of fiendish lore in it, though, including six new Yugoloths.
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| 3E Canoloth |
Yugoloth: Dhergoloth
Hee hee hee, look at that 2E artwork, with the tiny little mantis head on a huge spherical body with very human-ass feet and gangly monster arms. That 2E Dhergoloth is hilarious! For the most part, though, the concept of the Dhergoloth seems to be a creature that can attack on all directions, and it just looks kinda goofy overall. The 5E artwork makes the bug theme a lot more explicit, with the Dhergoloth's head looking more like a mutated bug and all the limbs and the body being segmented and covered with chitinous material. And as a huge fan of bugs and insects, I approve of this! But at the same time, I also do think that the previous edition's bug-head-on-a-fleshy-body has some merit to them, particularly in making the Dhergoloth look a bit more like a hideous abomination not of this world. Obviously I prefer the cooler-looking 5E Dhergoloth, but I can definitely appreciate that 'bug head growing out of a mass of fleshy limbs" of his 3E artwork.
There's not a whole ton to really say about Dhergoloths, they're basically more dumb mooks for the Yugoloth army, except they're just particularly sadistic and really relish in the butchery they cause. It's noted that they're particularly dumb, and can really only be used for relatively simple tasks. This is a creature who basically is a cool design and really not much else.
Yugoloth: Hydroloth
Another frog demon! I do like the Hydroloth. 4E turns the Hydroloth into this pretty awesome fishman demon, and that sure is a cool-ass artwork, but all the other editions have the Hydroloth be this awkward grmpy frog-demon-man with a cape of flesh between its limbs. This is far from our first evil frog-man, since we've got the Slaad, the Hezrou, the Bullywug, and now also the Grung, but eh. Like the Slaad, the Hydroloth isn't exactly as frog-like as it initially seems, with long tapering claws and a mouth full of fangs, but design wise, it's... it's serviceable, I guess. The Hydroloths hang out in the River Styx, stealing memories and thoughts of the creatures they attack, which is not something you expect a fat frog man would be able to do. They otherwise don't really have a whole ton of lore to them, with various editions just noting that, hey, the creature called a Hydroloth is very good at aquatic battles.
Yugoloth: Merrenoloth
While the Hydroloths swim in the River Styx, it's the Merrenoloths who cosplay as Charon the boatman with their cloaks and boats and oars to ferry people across the River Styx. It's, y'know, basically just straight-up Charon from Greek mythology in D&D form. And I suppose public transport is a term of mercantilism, since that's what the Yugoloths are all about? It's noted that you can apparently hire Merrenoloths to become a captain of a different ship and basically offer the vessel its protection. They're literally just there built to be an NPC. It's an interesting enemy creature, and it's noted that Merrenoloths have basically complete control over his vessel, preventing it from sinking. It can fight, but its contracts always stipulate that it won't have to fight, which is a fun little detail. Not super memorable as a monster, but a neat creature concept overall.
Yugoloth: Oinoloth
We're almost done with fiends, and now we've got the Oinoloth, who is this gaunt, malnourished goat-man with a hideous tumour and blister covered head that's just straight-up uncomfortable to look at. I don't tend to get turned off easily with depictions of fictional demons like this, but I'm not sure what it is about the Oinoloth's 5E artwork that immediately causes me to go "oh ew oh no". The concept of the Oinoloth is relatively simple; they are pestilence fiends that have a very simple solution to all of the problems they are hired to solve -- kill everyone with the plague they carry. They're essentially the desperate 'red button' for the Yugoloth mercenary forces, if a siege goes too long or the tide of battle needs to be turned right now, then they'll bring in an Oinoloth or two to blanket the entire battlefield and scourge the earth. And then they'll actually charge an even higher price if their employers want them to actually cure the very plagues that they spread. That's good business!
Yugoloth: Yagnoloth
Our last fiend in Mordenkainen's is the Yagnoloth. Nope, we don't get like a token Yugoloth big boss, unlike the half-dozen Archdevils and Demon Lords we covered. The Yagnoloth is basically the operator or customer service for anyone who is trying to broker a deal with more than a single Yugoloth, and the Yagnoloths are specifically mediators and contract negotiators (and, of course, are experts of inserting loopholes in them). Like, I guess if some random novice demonologist happens to summon a Mezzoloth and negotiate with them for a one-time freelance offer to beat up their rival, it's allowed, but for larger-scale endeavours, the Yagnoloths pop up to negotiate. Yagnoloths basically outrank and organize all of the lesser Yugoloths in the performing of a contract, only being outranked by the Arcanoloths and Ultroloths.
The Yagnoloth's design would be a boring generic red-skinned devil man if not for its most distinctive feature. One arm is the size of a human, and the other is the size of a giant's. Which is meant to be a surprise; the Yagnoloth is meant to shake hands and sign contracts with the smaller arm, and reveal the larger arm from under a cloak when a show of force is needed. In practice, though, all this ended up doing is cause masturbation jokes in every single D&D table that the Yagnoloth is used. I'm not sure if I like the 'just a malformed dude with a face that's trying to look friendly' look in 5E, or the lizard-man face from 3E.
Anyway, that's all the devils and yugoloths in Mordenkainen's! That's a lotta evil folk hanging out in the Lower Planes, and also we have way more entries in Mordenkainen's than I expected. We'll be back with the rest of this bestiary soon!
The 5E stats for these creatures:
- Black Abishai: Medium fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 7
- Blue Abishai: Medium fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 17
- Green Abishai: Medium fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 15
- Red Abishai: Medium fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 19
- White Abishai: Medium fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 6
- Amnizu: Medium fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 18
- Hellfire Engine: Huge construct; lawful evil; CR 16
- Merregon: Medium fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 4
- Narzugon: Medium fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 13
- Nupperibo: Medium fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 1/2
- Orthon: Large fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 10
- Bael: Large fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 19
- Geryon: Huge fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 22
- Hutijin: Large fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 21
- Moloch: Large fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 21
- Titivilus: Medium fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 16
- Zariel: Large fiend - devil; lawful evil; CR 26
- Canoloth: Medium fiend - yugoloth; neutral evil; CR 8
- Dhergoloth: Medium fiend - yugoloth; neutral evil; CR 7
- Hydroloth: Medium fiend - yugoloth; neutral evil; CR 9
- Merrenoloth: Medium fiend - yugoloth; neutral evil; CR 3
- Oinoloth: Medium fiend - yugoloth; neutral evil; CR 12
- Yagnoloth: Large fiend - yugoloth; neutral evil; CR 11
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