The Abyss in Abholos 6

The most powerful demons are the demon lords. These individuals are unique demons that can command entire layers of the Abyss and function almost as deities. They can project physical manifestations onto the Astral Plane, and from there infiltrate other planes without placing themselves in danger of being slain. Some demon lords are known as demon princes, but such titles are largely meaningless in a realm as infinite and chaotic as the Abyss.
A demon lord that is slain is banished to its home layer for 100 years. According to the Black Scrolls of Cerria, a demon lord slain on its home layer is destroyed forever, although the Demonomicon of Iggwilv argues that the Abyss itself can respawn a supposedly destroyed demon lord for reasons that are unfathomable.

Fighting Demon Lords

Some of the demon lords described in this chapter originally appeared in Book of Vile Darkness. They have been updated to conform with the revised (5e) D&D rules. Slightly more powerful than their previous incarnations, they better serve as major villains for high-level—but not quite epic-level—D&D campaigns. These high Challenge Ratings are based on the demon lords’ abilities and also supported by a couple of assumptions:
(1) Characters are most likely to face a demon lord on its home layer of the Abyss. Here, the demon lord should possess an inherent tactical advantage, because its lair should contain environmental hazards that are troublesome or outright hostile to interlopers.
(2) A demon lord should never be encountered alone. Demons abound on the Abyss, and demon lords tend to surround themselves with powerful minions and consorts

Baphomet

This hulking, manlike brute stands 20 feet tall. His muscular frame is covered in thick, matted black hair. His head is that of a fiendish bull, and his great horns are stained in the lifeblood of countless victims. Cloven hooves and a bovine tail complete his bestial appearance.

Baphomet Lore

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

DC	Result
15	Baphomet is the patron demon of minotaurs, but rumor holds that some humanoid cults revere him as well.
20	Baphomet often fi ghts with a massive glaive capable of causing grievous wounds.
25	Baphomet’s roar can inspire fear, and his breath is a gout of unholy water infused with negative energy.
30	Baphomet can awaken cruel intelligence in animal life. The presence of evil animals is often an indication of his proximity

Strategy

Baphomet revels in melee combat, yet he is not blindly confident in his prowess. He begins combat by casting maze against his largest or most powerful-looking foe. He then uses powerful charge against the nearest enemy, followed the next round by a full attack with his glaive and gore attacks. He generally saves his bellow or breath weapon for situations where he faces large numbers of foes. Faced with enemies that assault him at range, Baphomet generally summons a goristro to provide ranged support while he follows up with his spell-like abilities

Servants, Enemies, and Goals

Baphomet is served by fiendish and half-fiend minotaurs, many of them possessing levels in barbarian, cleric, or ranger. His ability to cast awaken once per day ensures he always has a powerful ally such as an intelligent dire bear, dire tiger, dinosaur, or similar minion at hand. Baphomet is also served by bulezau and goristro demons.
A growing number of humanoid cultists have taken to his worship in poor rural areas. Desperate commoners sometimes turn to beast-cults organized by evil rangers who claim to venerate a nature deity who promises vengeance to those who have been wronged by the local government.
These rangers call themselves the Temple of Redemption (or simply “Redeemers”). Rituals involving the decapitation of prize bulls are an important part of the Redeemer faith. It is said that those who listen at the mouth of a sacrificed bull can sometimes hear whispers of advice on how best to punish those who oppress the common folk. These whispers are, of course, the doubtful advice of Baphomet himself.
Baphomet has a complex relationship with Pale Night. The two demon lords share control over the same Abyssal layer, although Pale Night’s influence doesn’t truly extend beyond the vast plateau on which her castle is located. The two demons have never joined forces to accomplish a goal, but any attempt to lay siege to one of their holdings in the Endless Maze might result in the other coming to his or her aid.

Demon Lord Relationships

Baphomet regards several other demon lords with particular hatred, especially Graz’zt (who imprisoned Baphomet for some time recently) and Yeenoghu (with whom Baphomet has been at war for eons).
Baphomet’s driving goal is the destruction of his hated foe Yeenoghu.
Neither demon lord remembers the genesis of this mutual hatred, but most of Baphomet’s actions on the Material Plane are tied in some way to his war efforts against the Demon Prince of Gnolls, be it the harvesting of fresh souls to fuel his Abyssal holdings to the acquisition of potent magic items to be transported into the hands of his most powerful agents and generals.
Clerics of Baphomet have access to the domains of Death, Grave, and War . His symbol is that of a twisted circular maze awash in blood.

Dagon

The demon is immense, its glistening bulk heaving monstrously into the air as a writhing storm of hook-suckered tentacles unfolds from its shapeless lower body. Its two longest tentacles terminate in immense five-fingered talons. Its head is that of a deep-sea fish, twisted with cruelty and leering with a primordial intelligence, its stiletto like teeth immense and translucent. Its body is not quite sea serpent, not quite mollusc, and not quite shark, but somehow, horribly, a combination of all three.

Dagon Lore

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

DC	Result
15	Dagon is an ancient demon whose worship extends beyond recorded history. His cultists range from backwater fishermen to the deep dwelling monsters of the ocean.
20	Merely observing the Prince of the Darkened Depths can cause madness of a specific sort—an irrational fear of the sea and those that dwell within.
25	Dagon can lure unsuspecting victims to him with a hypnotic song.
30	Dagon can constrict and swallow his enemies whole, but cannot himself be grappled or held against his will. Only lawful-aligned weapons made of cold iron or magical items of any alignment deal him full harm.

Strategy

All those who would assault Dagon must first withstand his horrific visage. Dagon’s true seeing ability allows him to observe which of his enemies possess the most magical auras, and it is these enemies he targets with quickened greater dispel magic during the early rounds of combat. Dagon generally eschews his spell-like abilities in combat, saving them for ranged attacks. He splits his attacks among as many targets as possible, focusing his attacks only against those foes that seem able to hurt him consistently. If brought below 50 hit points, Dagon teleports away to plot revenge at a later date, possibly using long distance spells on his enemies for many weeks or even years to come.

Servants, Enemies, and Goals

Today, Dagon is held as an oracle and seer among the tanar’ri. They come to this ancient demon with offerings of weapons and sacrifices in return for ancient knowledge of the Abyss and its holdings that predate the rise of the tanar’ri. Dagon has built a mighty empire in his realm on these offerings and today is one of the mightiest demon lords in the Abyss.
Dagon is served by all manner of aquatic demons and monsters in his realm, which is known as Shadowsea (layer 89). Despite his obyrith nature, myrmyxicus demons often pay him tribute if only to keep him appeased. His favoured minions are the wastriliths—once obyrith themselves, these demons retain loyalty to Dagon despite the fact that they have evolved beyond their ancient roots into their own beings.
Dagon’s presence is felt on the Material Plane as well. He is sought by powerful and insane spellcasters for the ancient secrets he guards, and has been known to grant these secrets through spells such as contact other plane. Treat Dagon as a demi-deity on all topics except for the ancient history of the Abyss, on which topic he is treated as a greater deity who always knows an answer (treat results of “don’t know” as “true answer” results). Contact with Dagon is particularly dangerous, though, and Intelligence checks made to avoid a decrease in Intelligence and Charisma take a –2 penalty.
Dagon is also venerated as a god by certain aquatic races. Kraken are known to worship him, as do some Chuul, sea hags, and water nagas. The most fanatic of Dagon’s Material Plane worshipers are certain ancient tribes of kuo-toa that dwell in the depths of the open sea and have never heard of Blibdoolpoolp. These kuo-toa hold that their race has existed for eons before the advent of the gods and that, in these ancient times, they were the chosen minions of Dagon. Today, their numbers are small and dwindling— they have been hunted nearly to extinction by intolerant sahuagin who view Dagon as a threat to Sekolah’s power. Isolated pockets of these ancient kuo-toas have relocated to shallower homes off the coast of isolated stretches of land. In many cases, these kuo-toas have come in contact with coastal communities of surface dwellers. These unsuspecting coastal villages are quickly converted to Dagon’s worship by force or trickery—in so doing, these kuo-toas hope to rebuild their numbers and strength so as to some day reclaim rulership of the depths.

Demon Lord Relationships

Dagon’s realm lies directly below Demogorgon’s, and the two have entered a strange sort of alliance. Dagon is survived the rise of the tanar’ri in large part due to his isolationist nature. When the Queen of Chaos called upon the obyrith lords to aid her in her battle against the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, Dagon refused her call. Other obyrith did so as well, and the Queen destroyed them for their trouble. Dagon was powerful enough that the Queen dared not raise her tentacles against him. When the obyrith were defeated, Dagon knew his choice had been the right one. Clerics of Dagon have access to the domains of Arcana, Death, Knowledge, and Tempest. His symbol is a set of six spiraling tentacles arrayed around a fanged mouth.

Demogorgon

The demon towers a full 18 feet tall, his body at once sinuous like that of a snake and powerful like that of a great ape. Two baleful baboon heads leer from atop his lumbering shoulders, attached to which are two long, writhing tentacles. His lower torso is saurian, like some great reptile with an immense forked tail.

Demogorgon Lore

DC	Result
15	Demogorgon is the self-styled Prince of Demons. Other demon lords might contest this title, but none is strong enough to wrench it from Demogorgon’s grip.
20	Demogorgon’s touch can rot flesh from bones or drain life from the soul.
25	Those who meet Demogorgon’s dual gaze can look forward to a life of madness, servitude, or both.
30	Demogorgon’s heads each have a distinct personality, and while they don’t always get along, they do grant the Prince of Demons all the tactical advantages of being two creatures in one body.

Strategy

Demogorgon is a powerful foe, yet he disdains direct confrontations. He would rather send his minions (of which he has many) into battle to settle his disputes. If Demogorgon must fight, he uses project image first from a secure location protected by demonic minions and symbols of death. He uses his spell-like abilities (leading with dominate person and feeble mind), using two per round until he is confronted in combat.
In melee, Demogorgon typically takes a full attack action, a move action, and a standard action to use a spell-like ability. He prefers to use his beguiling gaze and insanity gaze passively, rather than sacrificing opportunities to make physical attacks or use spell-like abilities. He saves his hypnosis gaze for when he fights a single foe.

Servants, Enemies, and Goals

Inside the Prince of Demons rages a secret war for control of himself. Demogorgon has two heads and therefore two minds, and each one seeks domination of the other. Aameul is the persona in control of Demogorgon’s left head, while Hethradiah controls the right. Each is unable to control the other, nor could one slay the other without also perishing. By most definitions, this internal conflict would be described as insanity, but that would be applying inappropriate mortal standards to one whom such standards can never apply.
Demogorgon is served by all manner of demons, some of which (such as the retriever) were actually created by him. Many powerful and unique demons serve him as well, and he commands armies of evil lizardfolk, scheming yuan-ti, sadistic troglodytes, vampiric ixitxachitl, and countless shoals of Abyssal aquatic predators. His close alliance with the ancient demon lord Dagon has provided him with access to Abyssal secrets that the other demon lords could only guess about. The methods of creating the powerful undead warlords known as death knights represent the least of these secrets, yet they are horrific and potent nevertheless.
Worshipers of Demogorgon are more likely to be scaly things that hide from the light than humans or members of other civilized races. Despite his statue in the Abyss, the vast majority of the Material Plane is blissfully ignorant of his existence, yet they know his works, if only indirectly.
The troglodytes worship him as Ahmon-Ibor, the Sibilant Beast, and use his teachings to bring vile intelligence and fanaticism to the beasts of the wild. Yuan-ti know him as Siosivash and raise great temples to him in sunken caverns. The unknowable ixitxachitl are his chosen minions on the Material Plane, and even they dare not speak his name aloud. The rare human cults that venerate the Prince of Demons welcome piracy and cannibalism with open arms. While humanoid cults dedicated to Demogorgon might be rare, individual humanoid worshipers of the Prince of Demons are more likely menaces. These followers often control the societies they live in or have much influence over those who do. They keep their faith secret from society, and use their power to spread evil and misery in his unspoken name.

Demon Lord Relationships

Demogorgon’s war with Orcus and Graz’zt has been epic in scope. Their armies have clashed throughout the Abyss since the dawn of the tanar’ri race. For a time, Orcus vanished (apparently slain), as did Graz’zt (who was imprisoned on the Material Plane by the archmage Iggwilv), yet never has the Abyss known complete peace from this eternal war.

Clerics of Demogorgon have access to the domains of Arcana, Death, Grave, and War. His symbol is a forked tail.

Fraz-Urb’luu

This hulking menace stands just over 21 feet tall, despite his hunched posture. His muscular body is covered with short, coarse pale-blue fur. Two black, leathery wings protrude from his back, and his coiling tail ends in a cruel razor-sharp point. His face is framed by large, ragged ears, and while his eyes are relatively small, his mouth is overly large and filled with fangs.

Fraz-Urb’luu Lore

DC	Result
15	Fraz-Urb’luu is the patron of illusionists and tricksters. His cultists specialize in deceiving others into worshiping the demon lord and (ultimately) into sacrificing themselves to him.
20	Fraz-Urb’luu was, until recently, imprisoned on the Material Plane, and is in the process of reclaiming his Abyssal realm and searching for his potent magic staff.
25	Fraz-Urb’luu is a master of summoning, and the creatures he conjures are more powerful than normal.
30	Fraz-Urb’luu’s most potent ability is to deceive other demon lords into believing they have been summoned. Fraz-Urb’luu uses this ability to cover his escape or to trick other powerful demons into fighting his fights

Strategy

Fraz-Urb’luu is never encountered without a spell in effect on all of his natural weapons. He opens combat by first summoning monsters and demons, sending these minions to engage the enemy while he hangs back and uses telekinesis and enervation to support them. 
Fraz-Urb’luu’s hatred of humanity tends to trump these tactics, though. Against humans, he prefers to close to melee immediately, focusing his physical attacks on such enemies until they are slain. Whenever Fraz-Urb’luu is brought below 100 hit points, he immediately uses his deception power to try to summon another demon lord, teleporting away the instant before the other demon appears.

Servants, Enemies, and Goals

The most significant event in Fraz-Urb’luu’s recent past was his imprisonment on the Material Plane below Castle Greyhawk by the mad archmage Kormi Nasatin. Fraz-Urb’luu remained imprisoned in those infamous dungeons, trapped in a bas-relief carving on a wall, for over two hundred years before he was accidentally released by a pair of adventurers whom Fraz-Urb’luu promptly repaid by destroying their gear and stranding them in his Abyssal realm. Since his escape, Fraz-Urb’luu has spent the past 25 years rebuilding his Abyssal realm of Hollow’s Heart and searching for his staff, a potent artefact that was stolen at the time of his imprisonment. Fuelling these goals is rage—rage focused primarily on all of humanity. Fraz-Urb’luu hopes that when he has fully re-established his power over Hollow’s Heart and has reclaimed his staff, he’ll be able to bring this rage to bear on his enemies.



Fraz-Urb’luu prefers minions that play to his strengths of deception, seduction, and treachery. Succubi are one of his favourite tools, as are the sinister lilitu. He also commands a large number of chaotic evil rakshasas known as the Hollow Rajahs. Fraz-Urb’luu’s cults are known as the Cults of Deception. A typical cult consists of a dozen of so members, most of which have at least a few levels of cleric. Posing as benign sects of obscure deities, these cultists seduce and trick people into joining their ranks and offering their unknown worship to Fraz-Urb’luu. These poor folk are doomed the moment they join a cult, for eventually they are sacrificed or goaded into sacrificing themselves. These poor deluded souls inevitably find themselves the eternal prisoners of Fraz-Urb’luu in his mighty city of Zoragmelok on Hollow’s Heart.

Demon Lord Relationships

Fraz-Urb’luu counts no other demon lord as an ally, because his ability to deceive them and trick them makes him a particularly hated demon lord. Rumours hold that this hatred might have encouraged some of the other demon princes to aid in Fraz-Urb’luu’s imprisonment. For now, his enemies keep a watchful eye on Hollow’s Heart but dare not move against him. He might be alone, but Fraz-Urb’luu remains one of the more powerful of the Abyssal lords nevertheless.
Clerics of Fraz-Urb’luu have access to the domains of Death, Knowledge, and Trickery. His symbol is his staff—a jewelled sceptre of adamantine cast at the end to resemble five bestial arms that splay outward to grip a horned and fanged humanoid skull.