|
Hi, i just want to let you know how much i've enjoyed James Jacobs Article on the demon prince Pazuzu in issue 329.
It is one of the best written and most informative article in months and i liked the fact, that you seemed to continue the concept from the 'Ebon Maw'-Article (including stats for followers and stuff) from issue 312, which i found very useful.
I really hope that these Demonomicon-articles will become a regular feature in the magazine as you announced previousley.
In the preview for Dragon 330 there was no mentioning of another Demonomicon-article and i really hope, that you didn't change your mind...
Will the next articles in the series be written by Mr.Jacobs too?
And which demon prince will be next?
Will there be articles on demon princes that were already covered in the Book Of Vile Darkness, like Graz'zt and the boyz?
:)
Director of Games
|
Hi, i just want to let you know how much i've enjoyed James Jacobs Article on the demon prince Pazuzu in issue 329.
It is one of the best written and most informative article in months and i liked the fact, that you seemed to continue the concept from the 'Ebon Maw'-Article (including stats for followers and stuff) from issue 312, which i found very useful.
I really hope that these Demonomicon-articles will become a regular feature in the magazine as you announced previousley.
In the preview for Dragon 330 there was no mentioning of another Demonomicon-article and i really hope, that you didn't change your mind...
Will the next articles in the series be written by Mr.Jacobs too?
And which demon prince will be next?
Will there be articles on demon princes that were already covered in the Book Of Vile Darkness, like Graz'zt and the boyz?
:)
There will be more demonomicon articles.. oh yes, you can be assured of that. The demon princes are all in line and won't let us stop. They have chained poor James to the pillars of pain and are forcing him to take down their life stories. The screams are unimaginable.
Who will be next, if I tell you, they might just eat my skin.
|
Contributor
|
Aaagh! How am I supposed to read the title of this thread -- or the cover of Dungeon #120, for that matter -- without damning myself and shifting alignment?!
Just don't read it aloud, Gary. ;)
Absinth, the Demonomicon will be an irregular feature. Maybe every few months or so. I haven't heard of any plans for a similar arch-devil feature, but that doesn't mean the idea hasn't been bandied about.
hi i'm new to the messageboards, but i thought i'd add my own thoughts to this board
first of all, i haven't read the issue yet, as over here in england we generally get dragon and dungeon about a month late (i could get it sooner from other places, but the guy i get them from has been getting them for me specially since i started 4 years ago, and i am the only person in the area who does so he gets it special for me and keeps it behind the counter incase someone else might buy it out of interest) anyway, back to the topic at hand
1: does the article contain stats for the demon prince of the aerial kingdoms? i have been hoping that it does since i heard about it, but will be more than happy if it doesn't
2: as a suggestion for the later articles, can i suggest Verin/Stephano (i know he is fairly minor, but i think he is one of the most interesting and complex) or maybe Vucarik in Chains (again, more complex than, say, Yeenoghu or Kostchchie)i also wouldn't mind seeing Pale Night or Lupercio. oh hell, their all great!
i would like to thank everyone involved for this feature. i got so exited when i heard that it was coming, as Pazuzu! is one of my favourite demon lords.
|
...the Demonomicon will be an irregular feature. Maybe every few months or so. I haven't heard of any plans for a similar arch-devil feature, but that doesn't mean the idea hasn't been bandied about.
First of all, let me just thank you guys! I absolutely loved your treatment of Pazuzu and am REALLY looking forward to future intallments of the Demonomicon. Pazuzu has been one of my favorites (well, one of the tops of my 'Love to Hate' list) since 1st Ed. and I though the article was wonderfully thought out. And adding the Ecology of the Kenku was just the cherry on top. I'm hoping that we see Kostchchie and Baphomet in the near future, but I find the anticipation delicious, so I won't beg for what I know you won't tell me anyway.
Second, I think that the look at the demon princes deserves the strong treatment it's getting since the Devils were pretty strongly covered in Book of Vile Darkness. And really, the very nature of demons make them perfect for this kind of article...there is almost infinite variability in them and you know you can get at least 666 or so articles out of 'em ;)
Anyway, I was exceedingly happy with the mag and just wanted to thank you for an outstanding work.
|
|
1: does the article contain stats for the demon prince of the aerial kingdoms? i have been hoping that it does since i heard about it, but will be more than happy if it doesn't
It does and they're pretty scary.
But i won't drop Pazuzu into my campaign, 'cause i think his minions are far more interesting (and far more healthy to deal with for my vict...erhh..players).:)
1: does the article contain stats for the demon prince of the aerial kingdoms? i have been hoping that it does since i heard about it, but will be more than happy if it doesn't
It does and they're pretty scary.
But i won't drop Pazuzu into my campaign, 'cause i think his minions are far more interesting (and far more healthy to deal with for my vict...erhh..players).
:)
thanks, now i'm even more exited! have you seen that episode of futurama with pazuzu in it, one of the funniest, and made even better because of Pazuzu's presence.
|
|
No, i haven't...
About half way through season one i moved away from "cable-wonderland"...:(
Is it the one with Gygax?
No, Gary is in the episode "Anthology of Intrest" from Season 2. Pazuzu (Pazuzu, Pazuzu) was in "Teenage Leela's Mutant Hurdles" from Season 5. Pazuzu is the name of Prof Farnsworth's gargoyle.
Futurama is one of the best shows ever, and truly a friend to gamers.
(I'm assuming this is okay....sorry if it's not... You can see a couple of pics from the episode here: http://www.mecha.com/~conkle/evilphotos/pazuzu/why.html)
i should be able to finally get my hands on the issue next week, and i expect the world to show me some respect and retreat for an hour or two so that i can worship at the altar of Puzrael in peace.
on the futurama front, although they have never said that pazuzu's presence was a D&D reference, i think we can assume that he was there in spirit. also, there are three other futurama episodes with overt D&D references. can anyone out there guess? a no-prize will be winging it's way to the first person to do so. (i will also accept a general rememberence of what happened in the episode if you can't remember the name)
it's a little off-topic i know, but i couldn't resist.
"on the futurama front, although they have never said that pazuzu's presence was a D&D reference, i think we can assume that he was there in spirit."
On the DVD commentary for that episode, they mention that it is and one of them asks if Pazuzu was in Dieties & Demigods.
|
|
also, there are three other futurama episodes with overt D&D references. can anyone out there guess? a no-prize will be winging it's way to the first person to do so. (i will also accept a general rememberence of what happened in the episode if you can't remember the name)
it's a little off-topic i know, but i couldn't resist.
There are more than 3, I can think of 4 off the top of my head...
1) Most obviously, "Anthology of Interest" which featured Gary Gygax, wacky little odd-shaped dice, and the original Monster Manual
2) "How Hermes Requesitioned His Groove Back" the group has to pass a sleeping Beholder to get into the Central Bureacracy (sp?, I don't really do spelling)
3) "I Second that Emotion" when Leela, Fry, and Bender take Nibbler to the vet's office after he breaks his fang, there is a robot with a rust monster in the waiting room.
4) "A Clone of My Own" shows a young Hubie Farnsworth wearing a shirt that reads "Dungeon Master"...whatta geek ;)
Probably more I can't think of, but I never got to see much after season 2... Still, one of the best shows ever on!
It's nice to see bits of our world and it's past showing up strongly in Dragon and Dungeon alike. Whether it's an obscure wind demon like Pazuzu (who I still think should have pea soup as a breath weapon!), Mesopotamian gods or Druid's with links to historical Druidry. I was surprised to find the Awen and Triskele/Triskelion had their names mixed up yet the rest was pretty much on the nail. Minor boo-boo, my tree hugging grove cohorts won't burn anybody for it. :P
Beannachd agus slainte.
/|\
|
Hi,
I must also express my awe regarding this article! It is really really great. I am so glad I just signed up for a subscription for this magazine.
One question: the advanced half-fiend griffon mentioned on page 59, I cannot seem to locate its stats in the article? Did I fumble my search check????
Stegger
"on the futurama front, although they have never said that pazuzu's presence was a D&D reference, i think we can assume that he was there in spirit."
On the DVD commentary for that episode, they mention that it is and one of them asks if Pazuzu was in Dieties & Demigods.
i heard the commentary, and it seems to be saying that they couldn't remember if pazuzu was d&d, and that they were mostly getting the name from the exorcist. i may have interpereted it wrong though
as for the futurama references, those were the 4 that i was thinking of (i edited my previous question when i rechecked a second later) so have a No-Prize!
let's hear it for more articles like this one. :D
well, i finally got the issue, and Oh..My..God! putting aside the incredible, but non Pazuzu related material, that one article was good enough to justify the entire Demonomicon of Iggwilv series of articles to come. as well as some fully charged and epic stats for the most cunning of the fiendish lords, it contained a new artifact, monster and a plethora of nice fluff material explaining his history. and a prestige class with a lot more going for it than the other thrall classes.
i was also impressed with how it was tied in with the rest of the issue, via the ecology of the Kenku.
the pleasure i got from the stats was immesurable . the previous 3.0 stats from the BoVD web enhancement were alright, i guess, but with a CR of 24 it didn't seem impresive enough. now, well, a +5 increase to CR has to be earned, and by the Elder Elemental Eye, i think Lord Pazuzu did just that. i wonder, does this mean that the rest of the demon lord stats will be increased in 3.5? of the ones in the BoVD, only Orcus and Demogorgon seemed to be anywhere near powerful enough to be true Demon Princes. i guess i will have to wait for the rest of the pages from this verbotten grimoire
anyway, my thanks to Janmes Jacobs for this unflinching look at abyssal practices and princes, and of course, to Eric Mona for allowing such heretical material to be published, writ in blood in a corrupt and ancient tome. it does my blackened evil heart good to see such corruption and perversion of the natural order, and i think (sniff) it is what Lord Pazuzu would have wanted.
|
Creative Director
|
Boss Pazuzu was always one of the tougher demon princes. In 1st edition, he was close to, if not beyond, Demogorgon in power. Definately a tougher customer than Orcus.
Anyway, thanks for all the kind words on this one, everyone! It was a blast to write, and I'll (hopefully) be turning over the next installment in the Demonomicon series to Boss Mona tomorrow. And no, I'm not allowed to say who it's about yet...
It dosen't much matter to me who is next- If its a demon lord or archfiend, you're bound to see me mark out. Sadly, I have little use for Pazuzu in my games, but still. Demon lords inspire me. (As I said before, HUGE Juiblex fan here. No doubt one of the few...)
People have called me 'evil'. I have no idea why...
I've got to say that I found the Pazazu article rather thrilling...except for those evil nightmares I had after reading it...darn those chocolate covered expresso beans. *smiles* But seriously, on a more analytical level. The sidebar (on who Pazuzu is in real life and also that short blurb on him in the media) was highly informative, just the sort of thing I love when playing D&D. Once again Dragon magazine expressed it's psychic abilities in giving me just the background to that evil dissembling intrigue game I was running at the time. And my fetish for Fiendish enemies was definetly sated by the horrificly strong Anzu.
As someone mentioned earlier, the foremat for these demon articles are quite helpful, they make referencing the rather substantial article a pleasure instead of a pain.
Plus, it came at the perfect time, I was just starting to delve into the MMIII and was truly pleased to see a 3.5 rendition of Kenkus, the article on Pazuzu and also the Ecology of the Kenku were two of my favorite articles from the issue. Together they spelled out a future campaign I might just run. I hope to see more of these articles about Demon Princes.
I'm curious as well, will we be seing any Archdukes of Hell in similar articles?
Pazuzu is the Lord of Skies and Pestilence. As such he uses all manner of flying demons, such as succubi. If you need more flying demons than the succubi, the vrock, the Anzu and whatever other demons with fly happen to be in the Monster Manual (my memory eludes me) the Dragon Magazine Humour and Hellspawn (it was an April issue with a succubi on the cover) contained an interesting demon called the air demon which may also b a possible servant of Pazuzu. Furthermore, as stated in the Ecology of the Kenku article (right after the Pazuzu article if memor serves) it was stated that the Kenku had a history with Pazuzu, and that some may still serve him in the hopes of retining their former glory. Beyound this anyone could be a servant of Pazuzu. Unlike many demon lords, Pazuzu takes a personally vested interest in the Material Plane, and as such could have recruits in all manner of places. Even a famous hero in your campaign world could have been subverted by Pazuzu, and if so it makes it all the more tragic if he sold his soul to save his nation, or the people he cares about. Pazuzu makes for an insidious and interesting opponent.
Edit: I forgot about the pestilence part! Some more possible servants of Pazuzu could be locusts, rats, or other creatures that bring about plague and famine. Interesting additions could be any creature that has a disease as part of an attack form. Look around also in your history books or search Google or something for interesting plagues or famines and what caused them. Your players may expect to fight a demon cultist or a flying demon, but what will happen when Pazuzu throws the bubonic plague at them?
|
|
@Gavgoyle: You seem to be right about Fraz-Urb'luu!
According to the First Watch-section in Dragon #332 it will be in the july-issue (#333).
I just can't wait to get my hands on this issue.
Great Pazuzu, spare me the pain of waiting...:)
Cool! I look forward to getting #332 so I can look forward and daydream about issue #333. Thanks for the update!!!
Thank god for back issues! I just got this one and can't wait to use the Thrall of Pazuzu PrC. I've been searching for something that uses swarm forms and besides Master of Flies, this is the only thing I've found.
A question, though. Is the Swarmform really only supposed to be 1 minute/thrall of pazuzu level? That seems like not much to get for a whole level in a class. Compared to the Master of Flies, the duration is HOURS and HOURS less. Compared to druid wildshape and wizard polymorph, this is substantially less powerful. Can anyone clarify?? IF this were 1 hour/thrall of pazuzu level than this class would be way cooler, and more balanced.
|
|
Well, i think the swarm feature is quite powerful, even if the duration is only one minute per ToP-level.
Note that the character gets a bonus feat or an advancement in spell-progression on the same level as well.
At 9th level the ToP can use the swarm form thrice a day with a duration of nine minutes each.
This seems right to me.
Otherwise it would be far too powerful...
|
Creative Director
|
Advanced half-fiend griffon: CR 13; Huge outsider; HD 20d10+200; hp 290; Init +5; Spd 30 ft., fly 80 ft. (average); AC 23, touch 13, flat-footed 18; Base Atk +20; Grp +40; Atk +31 melee (3d8+12/19–20, bite); Full Atk +31 melee (3d8+12/19–20, bite) and +29 melee (2d6+6, 2 claws); Space/Reach 15 ft./10 ft.; SA pounce, rake 1d8+6, smite good 1/day (+20 damage), spell-like abilities; SQ damage reduction 10/magic, darkvision 60 ft., immune to poison, low-light vision, resistance to acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10, and fire 10, scent, spell resistance 30; AL CE; SV Fort +22, Ref +17, Will +8; Str 34, Dex 20, Con 30, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 12.
Skills: Hide +8, Jump +35, Listen +23, Move Silently +16, Search +10, Spot +23, Tumble +16.
Feats: Hover, Improved Critical (bite), Improved Natural Attack (bite, claws), Iron Will, Multiattack, Weapon Focus (bite).
Language: Abyssal.
As for Pazuzu's sword, it's in the article, in his stat block. It's a +5 anarchic speed adamantine greatsword.