Archdevils are the most powerful devils in the Nine Hells. Unique beings of depthless evil, they are
feared and reviled throughout the planes. Such is their might that they function in many ways as deities. They can project their physical manifestations onto the Astral Plane, from where they can travel to other planes without risk. However, if they are slain on another plane, they are banished to their layer for 99 years. Archdevils, for good reason, rely on aspects to deal with diffi culties outside their domains.
Among the various lords of the Nine Hells, Dispater, Mammon, Belial, Mephistopheles, and the mighty Asmodeus most actively broker warlock pacts.
Dispater, Lord of the Second
Lawful Evil Baatezu, Lord of Dis
This dark-haired figure stands just over seven feet tall. He could pass for human if it weren’t for the small horns protruding from his brow and his glowing red eyes. Dressed in regal finery, he carries a long rod capped with a macelike head.
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.Lawful Evil Baatezu, Lord of Dis
This dark-haired figure stands just over seven feet tall. He could pass for human if it weren’t for the small horns protruding from his brow and his glowing red eyes. Dressed in regal finery, he carries a long rod capped with a macelike head.
Dispater buys time by creating walls of iron and loosing quickened suggestions to drive his opponents away. While his foes struggle to get past his defenses, he calls for reinforcements, using summon baatezu to bring in a pit fiend or multiple devils depending on the skill and nature of his opponents.
If pressed, he uses Combat Expertise and flesh to iron. If at any point he feels the battle turning against him, he doesn’t hesitate to use greater teleport to beat a hasty retreat.
Dispater is the very definition of caution. He is vigilant beyond compare, weaving a web of impenetrable defenses around himself and his holdings. His plans are far-reaching, taking generations to come to fruition. Yet he is not a craven, frightened fiend who grasps at power out of fear of losing it. He is calm, composed, and charming. He is the perfect gentleman, not given
to emotional outbursts or acts of passion. He knows the political games of the Nine Hells, and he’s one of the best players.
Dispater has a finger in everything. He has agents scattered throughout the layers, all working toward some convoluted scheme. Most of Dispater’s goals lurk behind countless lies and deceptions, but his hatred of Baalzebul is the worst kept secret in the Nine Hells. The two fight a war of secret betrayals and assassinations, each winnowing away at the other’s defenses.
The Lord of the Second has forged an alliance with Mephistopheles, who shares Dispater’s hate of the Lord of Lies. But even with help, the plots against Baalzebul consume almost all of Dispater’s time, distracting him from expanding his influence elsewhere—or so the baatezu believe.
Dispater favors erinyes, since they are not only beautiful, but also competent and unswervingly loyal. Protecting his fortress are scores of iron golems and other constructs that follow his every command.
Mammon, Lord of the Third
Lawful Evil Baatezu, Lord of Minauros
This massive fiend has the lower body of a brown-spotted serpent and the upper body of a muscular humanoid with two large arms. The creature’s bestial head is terrifically monstrous, with a black-lipped maw filled with pointed teeth and a pair of serpent’s fangs. His eyes are pale white, without irises or pupils, yet he seems to see perfectly
Mammon is the archduke of Minauros, the third layer of the Nine Hells. He is ruthless, the personification of greed and lust.Lawful Evil Baatezu, Lord of Minauros
This massive fiend has the lower body of a brown-spotted serpent and the upper body of a muscular humanoid with two large arms. The creature’s bestial head is terrifically monstrous, with a black-lipped maw filled with pointed teeth and a pair of serpent’s fangs. His eyes are pale white, without irises or pupils, yet he seems to see perfectly
Mammon is more than a match for most foes, but he fights with care. He toys with his enemies, seducing them with charm monster and suggestion, luring them into a false sense of security.
He especially enjoys the look of surprise when he turns on them, sinking his dripping fangs into the tender flesh of their torsos or plunging his spear into their twitching bellies.
Despised by his peers, no one trusts Mammon thanks to his record for duplicity. Condemned to his stinking mire, he dreams of one day throwing off Asmodeus’s curse and attaining his rightful place, with Glasya at his feet.
Fully aware that he has exhausted any hopes of gaining allies from the other Lords, he has abandoned the political maneuverings in Hell to focus on subverting mortals to his cause. He invites those who prove themselves loyal to attend him in his court. The service is disgusting, and one must suffer Mammon’s vile attentions, but the riches and power to be gained are beyond imagination.
Mammon’s cults on the Material Plane are widespread and wealthy. Having gained their station from dirty deals, extortion, and coercion, they are invested in the highest ranks of society. Mammon
is also popular among nonhumanoids.
Among his servants he includes beholders and mind flayers, but none are as beloved as the evil dragons he subverts—something Tiamat most keenly resents.
Belial (and Fierna), Lord(s) of the Fourth
Lawful Evil Baatezu, Lords of Phlegethos
These two humanlike figures are tall, dark, and sensual. They each have a pair of small horns jutting from their brows. Their red eyes smolder with the promise of physical pleasure, and the fine clothing that clings to their bodies completes the debauched image.
Belial and Fierna rule Phlegethos, the fourth layer of the Nine Hells of Baator. They have insatiable appetites for the pleasures of the flesh.Lawful Evil Baatezu, Lords of Phlegethos
These two humanlike figures are tall, dark, and sensual. They each have a pair of small horns jutting from their brows. Their red eyes smolder with the promise of physical pleasure, and the fine clothing that clings to their bodies completes the debauched image.
Fierna exults in combat, erecting a fire shield and then using meteor swarm to destroy as many opponents as she can. So long as no one closes on her, she follows up with a volley of fireballs. She’s quick to call for reinforcements, but if the outcome is certain, she ignites her flame blade and leaps into the fray to finish off her enemies.
Belial is not so rash. He always summons a pit fiend first, and then while his ally deals with the tougher opponents, he casts dominate monster to turn his foes against each other. Belial uses Dark Speech to scatter and weaken his opponents before closing in to hack apart the survivors with his foul polearm.
Both Belial and his daughter enjoy killing. They crave the feel of hot blood splashing on their bodies. Though eager, they are not fools, and they know when to cut and run.
In name, Fierna rules Phlegethos, commanding the fiery layer from her palace of rock and magma. In truth, her father, Belial, is the power behind the throne. Sequestered away in the central Hall of One Thousand Sighs and Screams, he advises his daughter in the arts of love and pain, taking a personal hand in ensuring she learns all there is to know.
Up until now, the situation suited Fierna just fine. But thanks to her flowering relationship with Glasya, she has become more interested in taking Phlegethos in more than just name. No longer is she content to sit idly by and let her father make the decisions. She has even cultivated a few cults
on the Material Plane.
Fierna’s newfound ambition concerns Belial, but he has other worries. He had been assembling armies to invade the fifth and sixth layers, confident his forces could overcome those of Levistus and the Hag Countess. But Glasya’s surprising coup stalled his plans, and now he can’t move at all, since doing do so would invoke the full force of Asmodeus’s ire.
For now, Belial is content to watch and see what develops with this new player in Hell’s vicious political game.
Belial and Fierna surround themselves with a variety of devils, including several legions of barbazu and hamatulas, but they are most famed for their kennels. These breeding pits produce powerful
hellish beasts that rival even the Nessian warhounds Asmodeus uses to protect his halls.
Mephistopheles, Lord of the Eighth
Lawful Evil Baatezu, Lord of Cania
This diabolical fiend has crimson skin, massive red leathery wings, curling horns, white eyes, and long, straight black hair. Swathed in a flowing black cape, he is the vision of evil.
Mephistopheles is the Lord of the Eighth. Next to Asmodeus, he is the most politically powerful fiend in the Nine Hells. Lawful Evil Baatezu, Lord of Cania
This diabolical fiend has crimson skin, massive red leathery wings, curling horns, white eyes, and long, straight black hair. Swathed in a flowing black cape, he is the vision of evil.
No one understands the dangers of Hell’s politics more than Mephistopheles. Since enemies lurk in every shadow, he is never without a pair of fiendish bodyguards. Anyone bold enough to attack him deserves annihilation, so Mephistopheles holds nothing back. He sends his minions forward to
engage the enemy while he calls in more reinforcements, typically a pair of pit fiends. He then unleashes a barrage of offensive spells and spell-like abilities.
Should it seem he faces a serious threat, Mephistopheles teleports away, leaving his allies to fend for themselves.
Mephistopheles is something of a walking contradiction. Unstable and thoroughly wicked, he presents multiple faces to those he meets. On the one hand, he can be charming, erudite, and civil. But beneath the veneer of respectability is a vicious temper and unchecked ambition. He is patient and cunning, yet when alone, he flies into a fury, screaming and shrieking, tearing at his skin and destroying everything around him in a thunderous explosion of hellfire and devastating magic.
He has one goal, one reason for existence: He covets Asmodeus’s throne. It is, in his mind, his destiny to rule the Nine Hells. So confident is he that he has told this to Asmodeus himself. One would think that such arrogance would be reason enough for the Lord of the Ninth to bring this
archdevil to heel, but curiously, Asmodeus hasn’t. It seems he’s content to let Mephistopheles have his delusions.
Mephistopheles’s naked ambition and haughtiness does not sit well with his peers. Some are drawn to his power, such as Dispater, but most despise him, seeing him as an unstable and unpredictable element in the Hells’ convoluted politics. Among his enemies, Baalzebul is his greatest. The Lord of Lies has long opposed his every effort. So long as Baalzebul lives, Mephistopheles spends his time hatching plots to eliminate his ancient rival, leaving Asmodeus secure in his position as the Lord of the Nine Hells.
Despite his distractions, Mephistopheles still poses a grave threat. He commands legions of ice devils as well as the pit fiends, barbazu, and cornugons that have flocked to his banner. In addition, it falls to him to protect the only gate into Nessus, so he nominally commands the army whose sole duty it is to safeguard Asmodeus’s realm. To make matters worse, he has mastered the essence of Hell, channeling it into a foul destructive energy called hellfire. With such tools at his disposal, it seems Mephistopheles will one day make good on his promise to rule in Asmodeus’s stead.
Thankfully, Mephistopheles does not exert the same influence on the Material Plane. Many mortals confuse him and Asmodeus, believing they are one in the same. This frustrates Mephistopheles to no end; above all, he wants to be worshiped as a god. Still, he has a number of small cults that revere him as the god of hellfire. He also attracts disaffected devilworshipers, stealing individuals from other archdevils.
His temples are strange places, hidden and out of the way. Decorated with fire pits, they are
unbearably hot and the pits are rigged so that they flare up during ceremonies at the most dramatic moments. The cultists meet to perform sacrifices, binding their living victim on a blackened altar and immolating him alive. His screams add the chorus to their silent prayers.
Asmodeus, Lord of the Ninth
Lawful Evil Baatezu, Lord of Nessus
This diabolical creature stands thirteen feet tall. He has lustrous dark skin and black hair. Handsome and dangerous, his red eyes shine with infernal power. A pair of small sharp horns crowns his head. He wears fine red and black robes studded with black diamonds and fiery rubies, and he carries a rod seemingly made of a single carved ruby that shines with the power of Hell.
Asmodeus is the Lord of the Ninth, ruler of Nessus, and overlord of all the Nine Hells.Lawful Evil Baatezu, Lord of Nessus
This diabolical creature stands thirteen feet tall. He has lustrous dark skin and black hair. Handsome and dangerous, his red eyes shine with infernal power. A pair of small sharp horns crowns his head. He wears fine red and black robes studded with black diamonds and fiery rubies, and he carries a rod seemingly made of a single carved ruby that shines with the power of Hell.
Asmodeus rarely reveals himself to others; when he does, it is through a project image spell.
If by some chance his aspect is drawn into a fight, he is always prepared. He casts shield of law, spell immunity, and protection from energy (sonic) before the combat begins. If he has time, he also uses summon baatezu until he has a sizable force at his side. He summons a pit fiend first, then rounds
out his force with aspects of other archdevils, cornugons, paeliryons, and anything else he might
need to defeat his opponents.
Once the fighting commences, Asmodeus fights from the back. He alternates uses of his chill gaze with his fear and weakness gaze between uses of implosion, destruction, and fire storm. Even if enemies somehow manage to close on him, they must contend with his aura of submission and his terrible Ruby Rod. Should Asmodeus actually take any damage, he teleports away.
Asmodeus is the undisputed master of the Nine Hells, commanding fear and respect from all those who occupy his realm. Even the gods who dwell in the Nine Hells give Asmodeus his proper due. Though the archdevils might work to usurp him, few have the courage to act in the open.
Asmodeus’s machinations are long in the making, and they might take centuries, if not millennia, to see resolution. He works on a grand scale, carefully constructing insidious and inexplicable intrigues, maneuvering the forces of wickedness like chess pieces on a board that encompasses all the planes.
His core concerns are simple. First, he wants the power structure currently in place to remain exactly as it stands now, with him in charge. He has spies on every layer, plants in every court. No fiend knows for sure which of its minions actually serve Asmodeus, so the climate is one of justified paranoia.
Asmodeus also expands evil. He directly opposes celestials and good-aligned deities. His minions combat the agents of the Upper Planes, murdering them whenever and wherever they can.
Finally, Asmodeus wages war against the demons. He sees the untold legions as a direct threat to his supremacy. Until he can wipe them out, he will never achieve that which he most desperately covets: godhood.
Asmodeus is aware of every plot hatched against him. Older than the oldest archdevil, he has watched the rise and fall of other archdevils far craftier than any of Asmodeus’s contemporaries. He keeps to himself, letting his minions stew in fear of what he will do next. Of course, few have forgotten that Asmodeus emerged unscathed in the Reckoning, proving to all that he is their better.
On the Material Plane, Asmodeus has more cultists than all the other archdevils combined. Mortals who worship devils actually draw power from Asmodeus. He influences all levels of society and has followers of nearly every race, even within the strongest bastions for good. His path is the way to great and unattainable power, so his clerics are mighty men and women with influence and personal magnetism that makes them natural leaders among their kind.
Source: http://thyamath.com/donjons/[DD]Fiendis ... _Hells.pdf