Pantheon: Archdevils

Pantheon: Archdevils

Again, just as demon lords, the archdevils do not have a definitive dogma. Most of them require their priests to find ways of them to gain power on the Material Plane.

Bel

Archdevil

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: a burning sword

Home plane: Baator

Domain (-30%): spells that improve physical characteristics, martial prowess; spells that repair weapons and armor; spells that improve weapons and armor; fire spells, devil summoning spells

Portfolio: tactics, war, treachery

Worshipers: warriors

Bel is the Lord of the First, a brutal warlord turned archdevil after supplanting his mistress.

            Cunning, cruel, and perhaps one of the greatest tactical minds of the Nine Hells, Bel is a rising star. Bel deals in treachery, double-cross, and ambush, using his keen mind to anticipate the treachery of his rivals.

            Bel has yet to establish a cult. He remains more interested in advancing Baator’s agenda in the Blood War than in complicated intrigues outside of the Nine Hells. A few warriors here and there still worship him.

Dispater

Archdevil

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: a fortress embossed on a reinforced miniature shield

Home plane: Baator

Domain (-20%): mind control spells, metal spells, protection and warning spells, devil summoning spells

Portfolio: war, intrigue, protection

Worshipers: cultists

Dispater is the Iron Duke, the Lord of the Second. A cautious fiend, he never leaves the impregnable Iron Tower that looms over all of Dis.

            Worshipers of the supremely conservative archdevil Dispater build impregnable outposts of evil and hunker down within them, waiting to be attacked and reviewing their defensive protocols and escape plans. His cults, which represent evil in its most stagnant and sterile form, appeal to adherents who value stability as much they do cruelty.

Clerics of Dispater wear gray clothing and hide their features behind iron masks.

Mammon

Archdevil

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: a medallion-sized coin emblazoned with Mammon’s snake-bodied image

Home plane: Baator

Domain (-30%): illusion and creation spells, mind control spells, devil summoning spells

Portfolio: greed, lust

Worshipers: cultists

Mammon is the archduke of Minauros, the third layer of the Nine Hells. He is ruthless, the personification of greed and lust.

            Enthusiastic practitioners of the sins of greed and lust flock to worship Mammon. His temples are ostentatious displays of obscene wealth that tower over the landscape. These lavishly appointed edifices, dripping with gems and precious metals, are not so much fortresses housing treasure as treasures shaped like fortresses. All implements within them, from altars to sacrificial knives, are made of gold and encrusted with precious gems.

As might be expected for such treasure troves, Mammon’s temples bristle with traps and are guarded by fearsome servitors, including dragons, beholders, and mind flayers. Like Asmodeus cultists, acolytes of Mammon prosper by carrying alliances made within the temple out into the wider world. In Mammon’s case, these alliances are primarily of a commercial nature.

Clerics of Mammon, often called covetors, wear gold-trimmed red robes.

Belial

Archdevil

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: a pair of red, glowing eyes over a horizontally positioned ranseur, with the whole image encircled by a red tail ending in a wicked barb

Home plane: Baator

Domain (-30%): mind control spells, knowledge spells, devil summoning spells

Portfolio: domination, temptation, trickery

Worshipers: cultists

Belial and Fierna rule Phlegethos, the fourth layer of the Nine Hells of Baator. They have insatiable appetites for the pleasures of the flesh.

            Members of this small cult devote themselves to domination, trickery, secrets, and seduction. Its adherents are generally more interested in personal than political corruption, even when working within a court or other institution.

Belial’s temples feature circular altars and black candles housed in elegant rooms and marble halls. The decor is always understated, yet tasteful.

Clerics of Belial sport thin, lovingly tended beards, dress in red and black, and wield their master’s signature weapon, the ranseur.

Fierna

Archdevil

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: a pair of red, glowing eyes over a horizontally positioned ranseur, with the whole image encircled by a red tail ending in a wicked barb Home plane: Baator

Domain (-30%): fire spells, mind control spells, devil summoning spells

Portfolio: fire, pain, trickery

Worshipers: cultists

Belial and Fierna rule Phlegethos, the fourth layer of the Nine Hells of Baator. They have insatiable appetites for the pleasures of the flesh.

            The fledgling cult of Fierna, daughter to Belial, has yet to establish a definitive agenda or mode of operation. Its few temples are improvised from available materials, and its worshipers are a motley group of outcasts, malcontents, and exiles.

Levistus

Archdevil

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: an iron cauldron in which chunks of ice are melted for rituals

Home plane: Baator

Domain (-30%): ice spells, cold spells, illusion spells, devil summoning spells

Portfolio: conspiracy, trickery, ice, murder

Worshipers: assassins, cultists, conspirators

Levistus is the Lord of the Fifth and Prince of Stygia. Though his true form lies imprisoned in a massive chunk of ice, his aspect is very active on other planes.

Followers of the frozen, vengeful Arch duke Levistus seem more like swashbuckling bravos than dour priests of evil. They generally pursue agendas of vengeance and betrayal so dreadful that bards sing of their actions for generations to come.

Known as bladereavers, Levistus’s clerics lead solitary, nomadic existences and worship at portable shrines.

Glasya

Archdevil

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: a copper-colored whip

Home plane: Baator

Domain (-30%): illusion and creation spells, body control spells, devil summoning spells

Portfolio: corruption, agony, pleasure

Worshipers: cultists

Glasya is the newest Lord of the Nine. She wrested control of the Sixth from the Hag Countess and now rules Malbolge with an iron fist, harvesting new devils from the flesh of her predecessor.

            Cultists of Glasya, the seductive, recently elevated daughter of Asmodeus, operate bordellos and brothels as fronts for their temples. They tend to cluster in areas of political unrest, where nations teeter on the verge of wholesale conversion to lawful evil. Glasya has also shown an interest in societies that uphold traditional gender roles. In such places, her cultists recruit the mothers, daughters, and consorts of mighty men and teach them to how to become the power behind the throne.

Baalzebul

Archdevil

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: a fly’s head, a web dangling with plump flies, and an enthroned slug

Home plane: Baator

Domain (-20%): communication and empathy spells, mind control spells, knowledge spells, devil summoning spells

Portfolio: power, trickery, lies

Worshipers: rebels, coup plotters

Baalzebul, the Lord of Lies, rules the seventh level of Hell. The Fallen One, also called the Slug Archduke, fell from the Upper Planes when his arrogance and ambition led him astray. Ironically, it was these same flaws that led him to his current wretched state.

            Where Asmodeus caters to mortals already on the path to power, the sluglike conspirator Baalzebul attracts nonconformists, coup plotters, and rebels. As much a conspiracy as a religious order, a sect of Baalzebul typically plots the overthrow of a regime, undermining the ruling house with lies and charm backed up by the judicious use of assassination, intimidation, and terror.

Shrines to Baalzebul reek with the stink of incense drawn from unspeakable sources, and his altars and decorations bear an insect motif. Floor space is often limited by a profusion of statuary.

Clerics of the Lord of Lies favor shaved heads, blue and black robes, gold jewelry, and pierced body parts.

Mephistopheles

Archdevil

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: a flame rendered in copper and gold

Home plane: Baator

Domain (-30%): fire spells, hellfire spells, meta spells, devil summoning spells

Portfolio: fire, magic, hellfire

Worshipers: cultists

Mephistopheles is the Lord of the Eighth. Next to Asmodeus, he is the most politically powerful fiend in the Nine Hells.

            Until recently, the subtle, fiery Mephistopheles operated cults for Asmodeus as part of his vassalage to the greatest of the archdukes. Now Mephistopheles is slowly relinquishing these subcontracted duties to build a peculiar cult of his own that promises its members control of hellfire - a relatively new magical substance of his design. This sect, which does not restrict its membership to lawful evil adherents, has hidden cult aspects because it’s as much a soul-harvesting operation as a means of entrenching diabolical power in the Material Plane.

Temples to Mephistopheles feature massive fire pits in which sacrificial victims are burned alive.

Asmodeus

Archdevil

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Symbol: a clawed fist gripping a skull or a ruby-tipped rod

Home plane: Baator

Domain (-20%): fire spells, meta spells, mind control spells, devil summoning spells

Portfolio: power, oppression, devils

Worshipers: tyrants, oppressors, conquerors

Asmodeus is the Lord of the Ninth, ruler of Nessus, and overlord of all the Nine Hells.

By far the largest of the Baatorian cults, the Cult of Asmodeus is the first choice of civilized devil worshipers everywhere. Though the cult claims some monstrous adherents, most of its sects are based in the towns and cities of humans, dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings.

Most Asmodeus cultists use the organization as a stepping stone to wealth and power. Devoted to might and oppression, the cult functions as a sort of sinister mutual aid society. Members form secret alliances, employing their wealth and connections to bootstrap each other into positions of power. In cities and kingdoms thoroughly devoted to the worship of Asmodeus, all persons of ambition must join the cult to advance socially, politically, or economically. Temples are hidden in subterranean complexes beneath ideologically hostile cities.