Malcanthet

This statuesque beauty wears a sardonic smile on her ruby lips. Curved horns jut from her brow and hold back her long dark hair—and her eyes smoulder with dangerous red sensuality. Large leathery wings stretch from her back, the joints of which are laced with razorlike claws, and a sinuous tail ending in a thin curved spike completes the image of demonic beauty. She wears a revealing gown of diaphanous silk and razor-studded leather straps, and she idly toys with a glittering and sparkling scourge made of fi ne adamantine spiked chains

Malcanthet Lore

Characters with ranks in religion or Arcana can learn more about Malcanthet. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC	Result
15	Malcanthet is the queen of Succubi and the patron of hedonists and those who use their charms to control and ruin those around them.
20	Malcanthet’s beauty is so perversely intense that it can drain the life from good creatures that try to attack or touch her.
25	Malcanthet can control a creature’s will in a number of ways; she possesses many enchantment spell-like abilities, her sting drains wisdom and results in domination, and even her gaze can wipe away free will and make a person her eternal thrall.
30	Enchantment spells that fail to affect Malcanthet are reflected back on their original caster, possibly resulting in the caster’s enslavement to the Queen of Succubi.

Strategy And Tactics

Malcanthet is a formidable foe in combat, yet she finds no pleasure in participating in a fight. Rather, she prefers to summon allies to fight for her while she hangs back, observes the fight, and uses command, dominate monster, charm person, glibness, and suggestion to sow dissent among her enemies. 

When directly confronted and forced to fight, Malcanthet responds with seething rage, focusing all her attacks on a single target. If possible, she flanks her target with an allied creature to gain her sneak attack damage. She usually fights with Combat Expertise at full effect, mixing up her attacks with disarm and trip attacks to keep her foes off balance and unarmed. Malcanthet uses battle master manoeuvres and superiority dice only if her foe seems particularly difficult to hit, limiting her to one attack with her scourge, but at her best attack bonus and with the possibility of dealing sneak attack damage.

Servants, Enemies, And Goals

Malcanthet dwells on an exquisitely beautiful plane of the Abyss known as Shendilavri (layer 570). To the casual observer, this realm might seem like a hedonistic paradise—in a way, this is exactly what it is. The problem for visitors is that it serves only as Malcanthet’s paradise, and the Queen of the Succubi often takes great pleasure in the torment and ruin of her guests. 

Malcanthet is served in her palace by numerous incubi and Succubi, along with a cabal of 13 lilitu bards called the Radiant Sisters. These Lilitus do not exhibit their kind’s notorious intolerance for other Lilitus or Succubi, and their songs can be heard throughout Malcanthet’s palace at all times, haunting and erotic melodies that can have unwelcome effects on those whom Malcanthet has not invited into her realm. Lamias, harpies, and half-fiend nymphs serve her as well. 

Demon Lord Relationships

Among the demon lords, Malcanthet’s greatest allegiances are with her sometime lovers Pazuzu (with whom she has sired numerous particularly deadly Succubi children) and Demogorgon (with whom she has sired things best left unmentioned). She has had trysts with most of the other demon lords, although these were idle affairs engineered by the Queen of the Succubi to gain some favour or prize. Many other minor demon lords such as Shami-Amourae and Lynkhab vie for the title of Queen of the Succubi, but none have been able to usurp Malcanthet from her throne as of yet. 

She has long been in conflict with Yeenoghu, and her only contact with him now is when she sends armies to his realm to assault his kingdom (or vice versa). The exact source of their conflict is unclear, but it seems tied to the Maures, a powerful family of wizards who dwelt years ago in a massive castle on the Material Plane. Among the Maures, Malcanthet’s greatest servant was a woman named Darcy. Other factions in the Maure family served Yeenoghu, and when Darcy attempted a coup to gain control over the family’s holdings (with Malcanthet’s support), the resulting magical catastrophe ruined the entire family and left none (except perhaps Malcanthet herself) the victor. In any event, Malcanthet and Yeenoghu have been at war ever since. Only her relationship with Graz’zt is worse. Malcanthet maintains that she spurned Graz’zt for being unworthy of her attentions eons ago when he tried to court her, and that his wounded pride created the legendary rift between the two. Graz’zt, of course, maintains the opposite. In any event, the conflict between these two is less one of open warfare and more one of constant scheming on how best to upset and ruin the other’s realms and plans. Malcanthet has many cults on the Material Plane—groups of courtesans, hedonists, and bored nobles seeking a dangerous thrill to add to their lives. Her clerics have access to the domains of Blood, Tempest, and Trickery. Her symbol is an iron thorn drawing a drop of blood from the lower edge of a pair of feminine lips. 

Lilitu Bard Darcy

One of her most loyal advisors was in fact Darcy. From her death in her family's conflict, she was reborn as a Lilitu to once again serve her incredible lord. For her loyalty, she became the final Lilitu bard that accompanied the Succubus. She was also the most powerful, proficient in fighting with almost any weapon. Darcy even went toe-to-toe against the great Yeenoghu, during one of Malcanthet and the other Demon's squabbles.