The Abyss in Abholos 3

The Corruptor

Power corrupts, and fiends enjoy corruption. The Abyss reaches out through Corruptor demons to twist mortals and the Material Plane into mirror images of itself. The Corruptor does not revel in overt destruction, but in lasting decay. The Corruptor subtly brings the Abyss to the Material Plane. While it does employ temptation and lures beings into its influence with offers of favors and service, the Corruptor’s chaotic evil nature keeps it from living up to all of its long term bargains. While demons are known for impulsiveness, as ageless creatures, Corruptors have learned to look at least a short time into the future, recognizing that a little patience now might pay off with more chaos later. Corruptors usually set up a base of operations somewhere on the Material Plane, finding or creating lairs reminiscent of their home plane. Indeed, Corruptor demons seek to corrupt more than just living creatures. They endeavor to change the Material Plane, and all other planes, into reflections or extensions of the Abyss. A haunted castle, a bottomless well, a labyrinthine maze of caverns hidden in a nearby hillside—any of these places could be home to a demonic Corruptor. Corruptor demons do venture out into the open, but they use disguises and possession (the ultimate demon weapon) to collect souls and change the land to benefit their masters. No other demon serves the Abyss’s goals so directly while using such a seemingly nondemonic strategy.

Corruptor Combat Tactics

As a Corruptor, you might face combat at the beginning or end of any relationship. You aren’t a devil, so you don’t use word play or contractual tricks to snare your victims. You use force—the offer, the promise, the threat, and the application. Your goal is generally to manipulate others into serving your cause, willingly or unwillingly. As such, you usually don’t want to kill your enemy. You might want to make him beg, but you don’t want to kill him.

Single Out Your Opponent: Corruptors set up lairs on the Material Plane for several reasons, but none are more important than gaining the home field advantage. Use your knowledge of the dwelling you have prepared to lure in foes, separate them, and confront them separately. Minions, traps, and even simple terrain features make this remarkably easy. When you isolate a character, then you can bargain, threaten, or simply converse. Some useful skills in this endeavor are Hide, interacting with objects and Dash.

Plant the Seed: Once you get one of your opponents alone, you can use one of many different tactics to begin the process of corrupting your new minion. Show Off: Make it obvious that anyone who attempts to fight you or refuses your offers of “help” faces only frustration, terror, and death. As a demon, you have special abilities and resistances your mortal victim can’t hope to emulate. Kill unimportant victims in sight of your target, showing that you mean business. Some useful skills in this endeavor are Deception, Perception, and Intimidation.

Terrify Your Target:A devil might appear in a pleasing form, and a few of the best Corruptors (such as the succubus) can do this as well. However, you are a creature of power. At some point during the negotiations, you need to put the fear of chaos into your victim’s soul. Make it quite apparent that while he might gain access to demonic powers and abilities, he should be terrified of crossing you. Demonstrating your abilities can help with this, and using your considerable Intelligence to decide what frightens your lowly target is essential.

Some useful skills in this endeavor could be Intimidation,

History, and Perception.

Negotiation: Once you have separated and primed your target, move on to the negotiation. Remember, the best way to lure someone into your service is to make him feel like he’s getting something valuable in return. Here are a couple of ways to accomplish that. Provide Immediate Benefits: Nothing cements a good demonic bargain better than a few “free samples,” some of which can be good—and some of which can be very, very bad. If you feel you can tempt your victim with promises of power, let him try out whatever you’re offering. If he has an affinity for strength, chaos, and evil, this can cement the bargain. Otherwise, providing a little negative reinforcement might be worthwhile. Show how you can use the powers you offer to destroy innocents (perhaps one or two of your victim’s friends). Some useful skills in this endeavor could

be Intimidate, Deception, and Perception/Investigation

Offer Something the Victim Wants: If you’re bargaining to spare the mortal’s miserable life, this is easy, but some Corruptors have difficulty determining exactly what mortals will trade for their souls and service. Before you begin the negotiation, have a few things ready. If you wish to offer your personal services, show the mortal an easy way to summon or call you. You can always modify the rules later (perhaps requiring human sacrifice or other suitably evil acts), as your relationship solidifies. Have a few magic items on hand as well. If they contain demonic curses or evil spirits, so much the better. Some useful skills in this endeavor could be Religion, Perception, and Sleight of Hand.

Corruptors in the Campaign

Corruptors don’t simply show up at someone’s doorstep, offering the planes on a silver platter. A demonic Corruptor plans ahead, often observing a target for weeks or months before springing its trap. Sometimes, Corruptors work together, pursuing multiple targets, perhaps ones that are close friends.

If they can tempt more than one person at the same time (especially if this eventually puts the mortals at cross purposes), this makes the ensuing chaos even sweeter.Additionally, Corruptors frequently rely on powers not commonly employed by other demons, such as possession. In fact, while PCs sometimes find themselves the direct targets of Corruptor fiends, more likely adventures include those where the characters have to prevent a Corruptor from taking over another individual or even a whole community or region. Possession is a powerful tool for Corruptors. Unlike other demons, they commonly begin an encounter by offering to possess a weakened, desperate, or power-hungry individual. By offering to become a known rider or mutterer (see Demonic Possession), the demon gives the mortal some of its power in exchange for a very subtle link to the Material Plane. The demon undoubtedly plans on eventually establishing more control over the possessed mortal, but it seldom tells

its victim that up front. Object possession also makes for an excellent Corruptor

tool. A Corruptor could possess an innocuous object (or even a dangerous one) and observe intended victims while they remain unaware of its presence. Some fiendishly clever Corruptors have been known to possess magic items (possibly pretending to be intelligent swords or rings), and gullible PCs often accept them at face value.

The Manipulator

Always looking for an opportunity, the Manipulator uses sweet words and gifts when claws and fangs won’t work. The power behind the throne, the figure behind the curtain, the whisper in the dark—the Manipulator enjoys being second in command until it can take unquestioned control. Few demons make good Manipulators, since chaos does not inspire careful planning and patience. Still, those that do follow this path follow it well. Manipulator fiends often subsume their pride in deference to their schemes, often disguising themselves (either physically or simply in motive) and letting others think they run the show. While no demon likes to hide its power, the Manipulator often tries, allowing other demons or mere mortals to order it around and even abuse it while awaiting its chance to strike. The Manipulator supplies power, support, and advice, allowing its “allies” to take the risks. When the time is right, the Manipulator demon jumps in, often steering the action in a frighteningly different direction than its unknowing supporters could have anticipated. That said, Manipulators are still demons, so don’t expect extreme levels of patience and subtlety. Yes, like Corruptors, they are among the most intelligent and most patient of the chaotic evil crowd, but this goes only so far. Demons like immediate gratification, and many a planner has abandoned its schemes for the immediate offer of blood and souls. As a result, most Manipulators put themselves in situations where they can directly participate in the chaos and destruction of their schemes—but they take lesser roles, hoping to disguise

their true nature or powers until the end.

Manipulator Combat Tactics

As a Manipulator demon, avoid being the central figure in combat. Participate as necessary, but try to remain in the background. If possible, subtly appear to be on more than one side and end up with the winners. Since encounters with Manipulator demons aren’t best expressed in combat terms, use the following general advice when running a fight involving a fiendish Manipulator.

Appear Marginally Competent: Friends and foes alike should see you as a noncombatant and dismiss you out of hand. Still, you don’t want to appear too useless—no one wants an ally that can’t defend itself—but if you appear relatively nonthreatening, you can slip away or toward the protection of the winning side at the appropriate time. Some useful skills in this endeavor might be Deception, insight, and Disguise Kits.

Don’t Appear Too Eager: It’s difficult for a demon to shy away from the deliciously chaotic nature of combat. Most demons lose control when they enter a battlefield—all that blood, screaming, and death. However, as a Manipulator, you have to avoid battlefield heroics, appearing to be an unwilling participant. Some useful skills in this endeavor might be Deception, History, and stealth.

Let Others Fight for You: Cajole, taunt, or advise your allies to defend you and your interests. When possible, work to keep both sides guessing about where your true loyalties lie. This might be dangerous later on, but if things work out, you could defeat your enemies and weaken your rivals. If a situation threatens to get out of your control, don’t be afraid to pull back the cloak a little and show off your true power to weaker allies. Some useful skills in this endeavor might

be Intimidation and Deception.

If All Else Fails, Sneak Attack: While you might not actually have a rogue’s sneak attack ability, when you feel things aren’t going well—or perhaps, when it finally seems time to bring your plan to fruition—spring your trap. Do everything you can to convince your most dangerous enemy that you’re harmless, you aren’t a foe, or you just want to be left alone. Then, betray him with the most devastating attack you can muster. Don’t rely on your natural abilities to do the job; set up a situation where you can attack your foe, push him off a cliff, and drop a 16-ton weight on his head. Make him think you’re on his side right up until that moment. Some useful skills in this endeavor might be Deception, Stealth, and Sleight of Hand.

Have a Handy Escape Route: Make sure you can get out of any combat faster than you got into it. Even if this damages your reputation with your “allies,” it’s more important for the Manipulator to escape and deceive another day. This often means giving up full attack actions, since you want to attack and move (when you have to attack at all). For this reason, teleport is always a Manipulator demon’s best friend.

Manipulators in the Campaign

One of the most entertaining demonic roles, the Manipulator can be friend, foe, ally, and enemy—all at once. A talented Manipulator demon uses magic and mundane abilities to deceive and maneuver PCs and villains alike, setting up a series of events designed to serve its interests and, since it is a demon, hurt others as much as possible. Manipulator demons like working with others and often take on several roles in an adventure, disguising themselves appropriately. Whenever possible, the fi end sets itself up as both best friend and worst enemy to the characters, using its role as confidant to either side to betray both. The following adventure example shows how a Manipulator demon (specifically, a succubus or incubus) might employ its talents toward achieving fiendish ends.

The Overlord

An Overlord occupies and controls. It commands troops, summons reinforcements, and dispatches foes with skill and finesse. The Overlord fiend masters its impulses for direct chaos and destruction, recognizing that it can more effectively sow dissention, distrust, entropy, and evil by bending others to its will. A demon makes a mercurial Overlord. Its love of chaos and absolute commitment to evil make it difficult for a demon to engender any sort of loyalty. However, by offering vast rewards and following up on those promises (mostly), Overlords attract mortals and other creatures that normally refuse to serve such dangerous leaders. True, a demon might sacrifice its minions for amusement or in the execution of a bizarre, nonsensical plan, but a servant that curries its Overlord’s favor can gain vast, disproportionate rewards as well. Like Corruptors, Overlords enjoy staking out territory, aping demon princes in their need to dominate locations as well as servants. When a fiend takes over a place on the Material Plane, it could become an Overlord, attracting followers and shaping its new home into an image of the Abyss.

Overlord Combat Tactics

As an Overlord, plan ahead. Take tactical advantage. Spend your allies and servants like resources—cleverly, but with no remorse. Lead by example, but remain free to escape. Disrupt

your opponents and finish off the weak. Overlords see battles as giant chess matches—matches where they can flip over the board and ruin their opponent’s game at any time. With

that in mind, an Overlord demon might employ the following strategy in an encounter.

Round 0—Assemble Minions: Surround yourself with minions. Call in the guard, bring in corrupt servants, and use any abilities you have to summon more creatures to your side. An Overlord is an Overlord only when it has minions to direct. If possible, use spells or tactical choices to position yourself where you can see the battle, but where it is difficult for the opponent to engage you immediately.

Round 1—Acquire Targets: Unlike other generals, an Over lord demon wants to engage in battle, so by this time you’re probably eager to enter the fight. However, it’s best if you can resist these urges for a while longer. First, direct your troops, assess the threat, and use either a long-range offensive spell or a defensive spell that will muddle the fight for your foes. Invariably, you want to single out your counterpart in the rival forces (their leader), so you can destroy or overwhelm him while enjoying the battle. Still, if you can divert the enemy leader’s attention away from yourself at the same time, so much the better.

resists this attack better than the others should catch your

attention. Meanwhile, keep using those minions to separate

the party and move them around on the battlefield.

Round 2—Outmaneuver Foes: While your minions continue to harass the party’s leader or its most mobile members, focus on controlling the battlefield and countering your foes’ strengths. Since you usually fight on a field of your own choosing, now is the time to spring any traps or summon any hidden reinforcements you had waiting. Use these surprises to cut off the characters and restrict their movements. A foe that can’t move, can’t fight (at least not well). By now, you have almost certainly identified the roles of the different party members and can focus on countering their special skills—thwarting spellcasters in the act of casting spells, rogues in their attempts to sneak attack, and monks trying to maneuver around the

battlefield. Remember, you don’t have to do all these things by yourself; you have minions to help.

Round 3—Chaos Takes Over: You have been patient long enough; it’s probably time to take a more active hand. If your opponents are winning, wade in and even the odds. If your troops are ascendant, join the slaughter. But don’t forget: You are a general first, a warrior second. Find an opponent that seems to be giving your troops difficulty, or one out on the edge of combat, and engage. If possible, direct your minions into positions where they can shield you from the rest of your enemies. You enjoy gloating and intimidating your opponents, so use the shock value of your appearance to best effect. Alternatively, you can always immediately eviscerate an opponent to announce your presence. It’s all a matter of preference.

Round 4—Killing Stroke: Use your favorable position to eliminate an enemy you have already cut off from aid, positioning your minions to block or absorb rescue attempts by remaining foes. In this round, you function much like a Brute, although you are employing this tactic not only for maximum cruelty, but also to set up victory for yourself and your minions. If you can kill or capture an opponent at this point, you might consider withdrawing, even if you currently have the advantage. Either way, continue having your minions swarm your remaining foes to keep them busy.

Round 5 and Beyond—Assess and Act: Overlord battles often run to 5 or more rounds, simply because you fight more deliberately than most other kinds of demons (plus, you never fight alone). If you have killed or captured a foe, you might use later rounds to escape, using your demonic abilities to take prisoners or even corpses along with you. You definitely know the benefit of escaping while the opportunist presents itself. However, if you find yourself in a situation where you can’t—or simply won’t—retreat, figure out ways to gain reinforcements. If this is your last stand, you want as many minions around as possible. Even if you can’t bring forth powerful minions, simply try to clog up the battlefield with fodder. In subsequent rounds, use every method at your disposal to kill your enemy’s leader (or perceived leader). Now is when you really start to fight like a Brute, possibly taking risks even a Brute wouldn’t find worthwhile. As an Overlord, you might fight to the death if doing so seems preferable to losing.

Overlords in the Campaign

Usually, Overlords play the role of “boss” during an adventure. Even if the Overlord is not the ultimate villain, it is at least a local general causing chaos and destruction. Overlords can also be sergeants or lieutenants of evil, using their tactics and their strategic knowledge to serve greater powers. Overlords serve other demons or mortals only slightly less often than Brutes. The best Overlords crop up multiple times in an adventure, using stronger and stronger minions to harass and “test” the adventurers, mocking them and taunting them at every occasion. These fiends stand between the characters and their goal, and unlike many foes, they usually know what the PCs are after. Overlords encountered in the beginning of an adventure often fast-forward through the sample tactics presented here, skipping to the “vengeful escape” and leaving with less frustration at first, but with growing rancor as the PCs continue to overcome its forces. Overlords almost always have their own sanctums, usually constructed in the image of their home plane—chaotic and dangerous. Uneven terrain, dangerous pools of lava, and stinking gasses mark their lairs. Demon Overlords love living on the Material Plane because they can cause all kinds of havoc using their minions, their powers, and their connection to the Abyss. Overlords work well with Brutes and often command Assassins, but they dislike the complicated plots of Manipulators and Corruptors. An Overlord working for a Manipulator probably harbors resentment over this philosophical disparity, which clever characters might be able exploit. Naturally, Over lords often follow other Overlords, but like fiends everywhere, they gladly look for opportunities to advance

their own power.

Battling an Overlord

Overlords make for exciting opponents, but sometime the greatest success the PCs can hope for is simply surviving. The characters must also decide quickly whether a battle with an Overlord is a climax or merely a prelude, or they could end up on the short end of a rather sharp stick. To survive combat with a deadly Overlord, the PCs should consider employing the following tactics.

Stick Together: Standing side by side often invites area attacks, so this tactic can sometimes bring disaster. However, when confronted by the Overlord’s numerous minions, you need to keep your demonic foes from dictating your position and movement. Look for opportunities to knock down individual opponents and resist spreading out on the battlefield or allowing your team to be pushed apart. If you can draw the Overlord out using these tactics, you stand a better chance against it as a group than you do separately.

Follow the Leader: Once you identify the Overlord, try to separate it from the protection of its minions or its tactical position. This could mean an outright retreat, or a dangerous trap exposing one of your party members. Cut the fiend off in any way possible. Spells such as silence can be quite potent in this regard, and nothing frustrates an Overlord more than not being able to direct its minions. If you force an Overlord to quit the battlefield earlier than it chooses, you have won at least a partial victory.

Don’t Let It Escape: Notorious for effective smash-and-grab tactics, the Overlord wants to divide the party’s attention. If it can force you to try to rescue an ally—even a fallen one—it will, since that means you will be paying less attention to the rest of the battle. When an ally is badly wounded or separated from the rest of the party, try serving as a shield to keep the Overlord or its minions from finishing the job or abducting him.

Exploit Its Weaknesses: While Overlords might sound very organized and tactical, they are still demons. You can’t beat them by defeating their minions and hoping they will pull out before they incur too many losses. They don’t care if every one of their servants dies. However, you can embarrass them. If you turn an ambush back on an Overlord, or make use of its own terrain advantage, it might grow flustered and retreat, or even lose its head and attack. Either way, you can put it off its strategy, which is always good.