Let’s take a little break from deities (don’t worry, there’s plenty more) and add some variety with some archfiends. It’s nearly October, so let’s have some spooky and edgy options!
As always, we’ll have five entries with descriptions, class, background, and location recommendations, and pregenerated level 1 characters so you can dive in to naked adventuring right away.
Malcanthet
The Queen of the Succubi, She Who Sits Upon the Razor Throne is an incredibly powerful demon lord who rules over Shendilavri, the 570th layer of the Abyss, an apparent verdant paradise filled with every sort of temptation. A number of Malcanthet’s sisters, fellow succubi of nearly comparable power have (and continue to) plot to take the Throne and with it the position of Queen of the Succubi, but so far, Malcanthet has overpowered, outmaneuvered, or outsmarted each of them. While she holds the rank of demon lord by merit of ruling over a layer of the Abyss, she is also a succubus and therefore independent in the Blood War between demons and devils, and works as freely with infernal forces as abyssal ones. Most of Malcanthet’s worshipers are hedonists in search of greater pleasure, sex workers in places where such professions are oppressed who seek her out for the power to protect themselves or to take revenge on those who have hurt them, slaves hoping to seduce their way to freedom, or succubus-descended tieflings who are already strongly attuned to her power.
Excellent Classes: Bard, Trickery Domain Cleric, Monk, Rogue, Shadow Magic Sorcerer, Fiend Warlock, School of Enchantment Wizard, School of Illusion Wizard
Excellent Backgrounds: Charlatan, Courtier, Criminal, Entertainer, Faceless, Faction Agent (Zhentarim or other criminal organization), Guild Merchant, Knight, Noble, Pirate, Smuggler, Spy, Urban Bounty Hunter, Urchin, Waterdhavian Noble
Excellent Locations: Scardale, Brynnlaw, Athkatla, Bryn Shander, Melvaunt, Luskan, Skullport, Baldur’s Gate, Calimport, Westgate, Thaymount, Eltabbar, Bezantur, Proskur, Unther, Chessenta, Calimshan, Thay, The Pirate Isles, Nelanther Isles, Halruaa, the Underdark, the Shadowfell, The Domains of Dread
Character Hooks:
- Any non-magical clothing or body coverings this cleric of the Succubus Queen attempts to wear will quickly singe and crumble to ash as if burned by an unseen fire.
- A warlock who must regularly incite lust in others to access their magical powers, and finds that wearing only clothing that call attention to their effective nudity is a reliable way to passively fulfill this requirement.
Pregenerated Character: Wisteria, Dhampir Cleric
Graz’zt
The Shadow King is an extremely handsome almost human looking demon prince with skin like polished obsidian who wears no armor but wields a massive greatsword. He is in fact a former archdevil who betrayed Asmodeus and “fell” to demonhood. Having already been a master of seduction and guile among the constant scheming and politics of Hell, he has become one of the most cunning and manipulative demons of the Abyss, conquering three entire layers of the plane. Graz’zt is fond of interacting with mortals and siring half-fiend children, and most scholars agree that he is most likely the “dark lord” contacted for power by hag cults and witches seeking a patron (or at least the individual who most often uses that guise). He is an extreme hedonist and revels in the corruption and undermining of good and innocent things. He has a vicious rivalry with Malcanthet due to their similar domains of power (decadent corruption in his case and seduction in hers) and their mutual jealous ambition.
Excellent Classes: Barbarian, Bard, Cleric (Especially Arcana, Knowledge, Trickery, or War Domains), Monk, Oathbreaker Paladin, Rogue, Divine Soul Sorcerer (Chaotic or Evil), Fiend Pact Warlock
Excellent Backgrounds: Acolyte (potentially of a different power), Charlatan, Cloistered Scholar, Courtier, Criminal, Entertainer, Faction Agent (Zhentarim or other criminal organization), Gladiator, Hermit, Inheritor, Noble, Pirate, Smuggler, Spy, Urban Bounty Hunter, Urchin, Waterdhavian Noble
Excellent Locations: Baldur’s Gate, Waterdeep, Skullport, Luskan, Westgate, Darkhold, Melvaunt, Mulmaster, Scardale, Any other major city, Anauroch, Amn, Calimshan, Thay, the Underdark, the Domains of Dread
Character Hooks:
- The price of this warlock’s pact with Graz’zt is that they must regularly indulge a sexual fetish which he implanted within their soul, in this case an intense arousal at the embarrassment of being seen naked.
- An extremely rare abyssal-sponsored paladin, granted power to smite evil to do battle against cultists of Demogorgon, Orcus, or the forces of the archdevils should they be encountered…so long as they keep to oaths that are perverse inverted parodies of many common paladin oaths of modesty, humility, and chastity.
Pregenerated Character: Debauchery, Tiefling Sorcerer
Baphomet
The Horned Prince of Beasts is an embodiment of savagery who insidiously tempts those who seek knowledge and wisdom into becoming brutal and vicious. In a curious apparent contradiction, he is also a thoughtful and cunning arcanist, patiently concocting or shaping new breeds of servitors for his endless war against Yenoghu. His more successful creations include goristros, bulezaus, baphitaurs, and ghours, all created in some imitation of his image. He resembles a massive shaggy-furred humanoid with a head like a bull’s, who wades into battle in a rage with nothing but his hide, his brilliant strategic mind, and a giant enchanted polearm of his own creation. It is unknown whether he bears a resemblance to minotaurs or they to him, but just as most gnolls worship his eternal foe, he is the dominant object of worship among minotaurs, though he also boasts many ogre, giant, and human followers as well.
Excellent Classes: Artificer, Barbarian, War Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk Oathbreaker Paladin, Fiend or Hexblade Warlock, Wizard (especially Transmuter or Conjurer)
Excellent Backgrounds: Acolyte, Athlete, City Watch Investigator, Clan Crafter, Cloistered Scholar, Criminal, Folk Hero, Gladiator, Guild Artisan, Hermit, Knight, Marine, Mercenary Veteran, Noble, Outlander, Pirate, Sage, Urban Bounty Hunter
Excellent Locations: Tarmalune, The Ruins of Llorkh, Skullport, Dorn’s Deep, The ruins of Solon, Halvan’s Keep, Kond, Vaasa, The Marsh of Chelimber, Greypeak Mountains, The Underdark (Especially The Labyrinth, between Neverwinter and Waterdeep)
Character Hooks:
- An aberrant Mind sorcerer whose powers are the result of a now-deceased Baphomet cultist’s bizarre experiments on captured commoners. They are accompanied, however, by an ineffable psychological inability to don clothing.
- A former urchin goliath/half-orc/bugbear/minotaur who discovered a secret chamber under a burned-out house that had been the sanctum of a Baphomet worshiper and studied the arcane lore collected there. Despite being a wizard, they learned from the foolish assumptions people make that Baphomet is a being of mindless violence, and so cultivates a false image of being a hulking, bestial brute with no grasp of civilized society (including clothing or manners).
Pregenerated Character: Voteus Turath, Minotaur Artificer
(This character utilizes the ability score optional rules from TCE)
Fierna
The Lady of the Fourth is the archdevil who rules over Phlegethos, the fourth of the nine hells. Most believe she is simply a puppet ruler in service to her father Belial (who ruled the layer before her), a mistaken impression she actively fosters with an image of being self-obsessed, mercurial, and exaggeration of her interests in depraved luxury and perversion. In truth, she and her father are equal partners in ruling with cunning and strategy. Her palace is a wondrous tower of crystal and marble with ornate and wondrous decor and filled with pleasure domes dedicated to countless carnal vices. She has only recently (by the standards of immortal archdevils) begun fostering cults—usually among outlaws, pariahs and misfits who thirst for the luxuries of great cities where they are not welcome. To these outcasts, she presents herself as patroness of fire and pleasure, and grants gifts of persuasiveness and an aura of authority that they may accumulate fanatic followers (and in so doing convince more to sell their souls to her).
Excellent Classes: Bard, Knowledge, Order, or Trickery Domain Cleric, Wildfire Druid, Fighter, Oath of Tyranny Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Divine Soul (Evil) Sorcerer, Fiend Warlock, Enchantment Wizard
Excellent Backgrounds: Charlatan, Criminal, Faction Agent (thieves’ guilds or other organizations operating outside the law), Folk Hero, Hermit, Mercenary Veteran, Outlander, Pirate, Sailor, Smuggler, Urchin
Excellent Locations: Slums or outskirts of any cities, unofficial settlements just outside the reach of authorities, anywhere that the downtrodden or petty criminals look on in envy at the excesses of the affluent
Character Hooks:
- A tiefling (Fierna variant) knight descended from a long-exiled noble family who forged pacts with the archdevil generations ago in a failed bid to retake their position of power. The knight has a powerful subconscious drive toward lascivious dress and behavior. As a result, they have no difficulty attracting squires and retainers despite having no true authority.
- A folk hero who freed themselves and many others from slavery in Thay thanks to Fierna’s influence replacing their shame and repression with pride and confidence. They wear only their old slave collar as a sign of what they overcame and that they won freedom with their skill at seduction and their bare hands. It also serves as an effective disguise when infiltrating slaver rings to free their captives.
Pregenerated Character: Vani Leagallow, Halfling Druid
(This character utilizes a custom background)
Glasya
The Princess of the Night, the Dark Prodigy, the Lord of the Sixth is the second most widely worshiped archdevil in all the realms, behind her father, Asmodeus. Where Fierna offers deals to those who feel trapped outside of society, Glasya focuses on those who feel trapped inside it. She has innumerable cults in societies with oppressive rules and social roles, especially patriarchal ones. Her appeal is greatest among those who feel helpless and wish to seduce or connive or even assassinate their way to having enough power that no one would dare cross them. To such people, she—having cleverly set into motion the downfall of two archdevil predecessors to ascend to her position of rulership of Malebolge, the Sixth Hell—is the ultimate dissenter from within the aristocracy, representing turning the system against itself, appealing to both those who feel power is just outside their grasp as well as those who hate the system as a whole. In addition she has extensive organized worship among kenku and goblins who wish to overthrow the more powerful forces they are minions to. In terms of personality, she is subversive and subtle and her favorite tactics involve unexpected and complex gambits and anything that wildly violates the spirit of a rule while only just barely technically following the letter of it. She is often considered the criminal mastermind of Hell. She adores surface beauty and people who boldly strike out against overwhelming odds. Her cults most often operate out of brothels, especially if brothels are illegal but still frequented by the powerful, since it provides automatic leverage against them to shield themselves from being rooted out. She prefers to avoid any direct confrontations but if she must her preferred weapons are whips and poisons.
Excellent Classes: Artificer, Bard (especially College of Whispers), Trickery Domain Cleric, Rogue, Fiend Warlock, Wizard
Excellent Backgrounds: Acolyte, Charlatan, Cloistered Scholar, Courtier, Criminal, Entertainer, Faction Agent (Thieves’ Guilds), Noble, Sage, Smuggler, Spy
Excellent Locations: Raven’s Bluff, Westgate, Thay, Any society or culture with strictly limiting social roles for some segment of the population.
Character Hooks:
- A fragile-seeming nude dancer at the lowest rung of the noble hierarchy and no apparent prospects, who has been trained to be an exceptional criminal by a thieves guild that exclusively targets powerful nobility and secretly spreads the teachings of Glasya.
- An extremely attractive warrior who caught Glasya’s capricious ire while fighting her cultists and was cursed to be unable to wear clothing or armor (or even cover themselves with their hands to preserve their modesty) and to be a constant object of sexual desire by others. However, through sheer force of will, the warrior was able to draw power through this magical link, gaining the powers of a warlock, paladin, or cleric.
Pregenerated Character: Elham El Pashar, Human Rogue
