Asmodeus (Azz-moh-day-us, Azz-moh-dee-us)
The Archdevil, God of the Nine Hells
For more information on all Betrayer Deities, see: Betrayer Deities
The Devil God of the Hells is the master of tyranny and domination. His words are honeyed and carefully crafted, soothing and corrupting the mortal heart. Asmodeus rules his domain with an iron fist, and the punishments awaiting those that cross him are the basis of nightmares. Evil entities pay him tribute alongside his devils, and many are drawn to his power. Asmodeus is a primal embodiment of lawful evil and a supreme strategist of unparalleled skill. His sinister machinations can take centuries, if not millennia, to come to fruition, and his master plans extend across the entire multiverse. His labyrinthine, insidious intrigues can seem inexplicable to most outside observers, for Asmodeus lets even his own servants stew in fear of his next move. With all the planes as his board, he maneuvers the forces of evil like chess pieces in his grand designs, slowly and subtly manipulating everyone from deities to, when needed, lowly mortals.
Physical Description
Asmodeus looks like a slim, charismatic, red-skinned humanoid over 13 feet tall, with horns on his head and glowing red eyes. Overall, he has charismatic and beautiful looks that captivate people. He always has a perfectly trimmed beard and wears very expensive red and black clothing, which are valuable enough to cover the annual national spending of any nation. However, underneath these expensive garments, his body is wracked with bleeding injuries. While he is in pain, he manages to give the impression of someone unconcerned with the pain the injuries cause him.
Divine Realm
Asmodeus rules the entire plane of Baator. His seat of power is Nessus, the ninth layer. Being a man to whom his privacy and safety are important, he usually remains within his fortress of Malsheem, primarily using other people to make his will clear to others. The other Archdevils are annually called to Malsheem. Asmodeus has a huge store of souls in the citadel, and these can be bought from him at an extremely high cost, rumored to be entire kingdoms for one soul. By devil law, only Asmodeus can issue letters of safe passage that do not just cover one layer but for travel between layers. However, he never issues such things for Nessus.
Tenets of Faith
- Assert dominance and power over others. Show your strength of will in the image of the Asmodeus.
- Repay cruelty done unto you with further evil. If others show you kindness, exploit it.
- As you ascend to power, do not pity or show mercy to those you climb over to get there. Compassion is for the weak.
Divine Goals & Aspirations
In truth, Asmodeus is a tyrant, an authoritarian overlord who seeks complete control over as many subjects as he can obtain and nothing less than absolute dominion over all reality. Torture is his tool to break the wills of others and impose his own, and knowledge of secrets and dealings are his desired instrument to claim others as his. The Prince of Evil is confident in his position as one of the multiverse's strongest beings, and genuinely believes his rule is for the best. Under his rule, and only his rule, the multiverse would be pristine and perfect, with everyone in it having a place and a purpose to fulfill. In Asmodeus' mind, only he has the strength, insight, and charisma needed to guide all to an ideal utopia, or at least the infernal hierarchy that the Archfiend interprets as such. His rivals are inferior minds lacking the skill to see his vision through. The forces of the Abyss are loathsome opposition, their very existence a threat to his mastery of evil and their armies a direct threat to his supremacy. The forces of good are foolish, sentimental beings too soft and weak to do what has to be done. This arrogance would have led to his destruction if he lacked the competence to back it up, yet Asmodeus has managed to thwart all conspiracies against him and survive against the Upper Planes with nothing but his wit. Asmodeus attributes his wicked deeds to necessity and the mandates of law, alluding to the rules of Hell in his defense and arguing that his contracts are never broken. He makes the case that the souls he harvests serve the ultimately noble end of protecting the cosmos, and notes the sanctity of law as what separates him from the demons of the Abyss. Without him and his devils to defend it, he argues, the multiverse would be overrun by demonkind and ultimately destroyed, and in this, Asmodeus might technically be correct. Although one of the ultimate powers of law, Asmodeus does not uphold the rules out of respect. To the mind of Asmodeus, the law is merely a tool by which others can be bent to his will. Civilization, as he understands it, is a means of gaining power, the structures and technology created by society instruments to crush his enemies. Chaos makes for easy conquest, and to conquer is to bring others under control. Asmodeus uses tradition as his protection and wording as his weapon, appealing to the letter of the law, and frames his deeds as upholding the natural laws of the cosmos. Even his masterfully crafted plans obey universal laws, and he believes himself the multiverse's chosen protector. More than any of these however, Asmodeus is dedicated to obtaining absolute authority for himself, and if necessary, is willing to break every law in existence to do it.
Social Aptitude
Just as Asmodeus is an unmatched schemer, he is an unrivaled orator, a legendary political master of unquestionable prowess. He is the most well-mannered of the Archdevils, soft-spoken and eloquent as he lures others into serving his ends. Even when wracked by constant pain, he manages to appear blithely unbothered, and seems almost chillingly reasonable. However, though he can seem generous, the quickly offered rewards of the Archdevil are given to those willing to sign away their souls, after which they suffer as a pawn in his dark designs. Despite his charisma, Asmodeus is nonetheless a representative of ultimate evil, revealing his true nature at his will. Despite his cunning and charisma, Asmodeus is not intellectually invincible. Though he is not above pretending otherwise, he is capable of being surprised, feigning foreknowledge and acting as if all is going according to plan either way. Furthermore, even Asmodeus is capable of fury, and, if he forgets himself, can end up bursting into a rage, his mask of civility slipping to unveil the evil that lurks below.
Worshipers
Asmodeus does not need mortal worship to either maintain or enhance his power. Nevertheless, Asmodeus has a large following, much larger than any other infernal cult combined, such that his is often the first choice for prospective devil-worshipers. Furthermore, every diabolic cult is viewed as a subdivision of Asmodeus's cult and ultimately swears allegiance to him and not the entity it follows. In fact, what boons the other cults can provide is not determined by their Archdevils, but by Asmodeus. While Asmodeus maintains cults dedicated to fictional entities, those cults in which he is worshiped as himself fall into a category called a revealed cult. Their followers understand that their object of worship is a devil. To members of these cults, signing up means to join a secret mutual-aid society. Members help each other into positions of influence and affluence. Their prime motivation for joining is greed, and it begins by making a pact with Asmodeus that consigns their soul to the Nine Hells on death. As mentioned above, Asmodeus is a deity for whom mortal worship is not required to maintain his powers, who predates the concept of faith. He is willing to pay attention to the fate of individual mortals and not just the grand scheme of things. That said, Asmodeus is effectively free from the infernal duty of meeting a quota of damned souls, because every damned soul is damned under Asmodeus' name and therefore every soul is also beholden to him. His efforts to corrupt others are concentrated on important people like angels and demigods with the goal of turning them into unique devils, such as Zariel.
Holy Books & Codes
"The Asmodean Monograph", sometimes referred to as the "Asmodean Disciplines", is an unholy text that records a simplified version of the doctrine of Asmodeus, although it relies on many supplemental volumes and appendices. The earthly version of the book is a mere 1,000 pages long, although there are hundreds of supplementary texts, focusing on universal (and often terrifying) truths, in addition to countless exceptions and caveats to the rule. The book hides no diabolical names or hellish revelations, but instead includes instructions for religious rites, lessons on contract writing, and polemics on the nature of power. Those who study the text for a long period of time (about a week) have reported suffering terrifying nightmares of devils and hellscapes that, while mentally scarring, reveals to the victim terrible, soul-wrenching truths. "The Asmodean Monograph" is edited only by mandate from Hell itself.
Contacts & Relations
Prime Deities
Asmodeus' enemies are numerous, even among the Betrayer Deities, many of whom only follow the Archdevil for fear of his immense power. His archnemesis is Avandra, the Change Bringer, whose mischief and cunning has vexed him throughout the eons. It was she who defeated him in the Dawnspear War by tricking his fiendish armies into attacking one another. The Devil Lord's greatest triumph during the Dawnspear War was fooling and betraying the Dawnflower and slaughtering all her followers in one fell stroke—an act that has united the followers of Sarenrae and Avandra in a bond of unbreakable fellowship ever since.Betrayer Deities
Asmodeus keeps Tiamat's influence small. Among other things, he took away control of Avernus from her. In fact, she is contractually imprisoned by Asmodeus.The Pact Primeval
The lawful deities Erathis, Bahamut, and Asmodeus have an ancient agreement called the Pact Primeval that, among other things, allows his devils to corrupt mortals and wring divine magic from their souls. From time to time, rumors about the forces of law allying to take over Baator from Asmodeus pop up, but never amount to anything. The lawful deities are not really capable of changing the status quo and, even if they were, the ability to agree on who is to take control of the Nine Hells is beyond them. Like the gods, Asmodeus does not want an open war either.Archdevils
Asmodeus is the creator of the devils. It was from his blood the first of them arose. He is an entity that outranks both common and noble devils and falls in a category onto himself, but is still a devil like the others. Among the devils, Asmodeus rules supreme and made his superiority publicly clear in an event called the Reckoning of Hell, and every single devil serves Asmodeus either directly or via a line of authority back to Asmodeus from its position in the infernal hierarchy. Among greater devils, Asmodeus is the default authority to report to. Every time a devil has an opportunity for promotion to greater devilhood, they need the approval of a superior, an Archdevil. When a devil is not sure to whom it is supposed to report, Asmodeus is the one they have to choose. Asmodeus is also the source of the divine magic the devils use alongside the Archdevils. Asmodeus rules supreme among the Archdevils. He annually calls the Archdevils to his court. When the position of an Archdevil needs to be filled for some reason, it is Asmodeus' right to choose the new one. His choice is always one of the unique devils who stands above the greater devils but below the Archdevils. The Archdevils themselves want to topple Asmodeus from his throne and take over his position as Ruler of Hell. However, since the Reckoning, they had to admit that Asmodeus was superior to them and caved in. In practice, none of them have the courage to move openly against him.Demon Lords
Graz'zt was an Archdevil employed by Asmodeus as an advisor. However, after conquering three layers of the Abyss, he broke away and became a Demon Lord.Divine Traits
General Information
Alternative Name(s)The Archdevil
The Archfiend
Archdevil of the Ninth
Devil God of the Hells
The Devil Lord
God of the Nine Hells
Lord of Nessus
Lord of the Nine Hells
Lord of the Ninth
Prince of Darkness
Prince of Evil
Supreme Master of the Nine Hells
Alignment
Lawful Evil
Pantheon
Betrayer Deity
Areas of Concern
Contracts, pride, slavery, subjugation, tyranny
Favored Weapon
Mace
Sacred Animal(s)
Goat
Sacred Color(s)
Black, red
Symbol
Crown of spiked onyx and curved horns
Bureaucrats, cultists, diabolists, lawyers, slavers, those who seek rulership or discipline, tyrants
Worshipers' Adjective(s)
Asmodean
Plane
Baator - Malsheem, Nessus (9th layer)
D&D 5e
DomainsTrickery, War
Pathfinder 1e
DomainsCharm, Evil, Fire, Law, Trickery, War
Subdomains
Arson, Blood, Corruption, Deception, Devil, Greed, Lust, Slavery, Tyranny
Pathfinder 2e
DomainsFire, Passion, Trickery, Tyranny
Alternative Domain(s)
Duty, Glyph
Divine Ability
Any, though characters who commit themselves to Asmodeus this way have their souls bound to him for all eternity
Divine Font
Harm
Divine Skill
Deception
Cleric Spells
1st: Charm
4th: Suggestion
6th: Mislead
Divine Boons
- Minor Boon
Pleased by your talent for manipulation, Asmodeus amplifies your skills. Once, when you fail on a Diplomacy check to make a significant or consequential Request, you can cast Suggestion on the target of your Request, suggesting the same course of action. This is a divine innate spell. - Moderate Boon
Your eyes glow red like embers and your skin takes on a crimson tone. You gain darkvision and fire resistance 5. - Major Boon
Asmodeus helps enforce your bargains and contracts. When a creature enters a bargain or contract with you, uncoerced and of its own free will, it can’t voluntarily violate its side of the bargain as long as you uphold your side. You can always choose to violate the bargain yourself, but if you do, the creature is no longer bound to fulfill its part.
Divine Curses
- Minor Curse
Asmodeus’ flames burn you with great malice. You gain weakness 5 to fire. - Moderate Curse
Asmodeus forces your compliance. You can’t voluntarily back out of an agreement or contract or go back on your word, though you need follow only the letter of the agreement, not the spirit. - Major Curse
Asmodeus has taken note of the chaos you have wrought. You receive an ancient wound that feels older than time itself. You become permanently drained 4, and nothing short of another intercession can remove the condition. Your wound aches fiercely whenever you perform a particularly chaotic act, causing you to become sickened 1.
Children
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