Assassins use stealth, prefer ambushes, and in certain cases set traps for their prey. This is a surprisingly lengthy discussion and, in many ways, tells a DM nothing. It provides example combat tactics for each type and a very general discussion of how each type will behave. This chapter also divides all demons into one of five roles: Assassin, Brute, Corruptor, Manipulator, and Overlord. For example, if I use the method that upon a demon’s death two snakes come out of its belly and begin devouring it from each end what do I do when a character attacks a snake? The book suggests the whole thing should disappear then, but once again that is unsatisfactory. I find this to be highly unsatisfying, and many of the example descriptive methods for doing this are problematic. The book states that demons teleport back to the Abyss, dissolve into ooze, or otherwise discombobulate upon death. The chapter then moves on to the Material Plane, how demons typically get there, and what happens to them upon death. A discussion of its anatomy, magical nature, and how death changes it is presented and it’s neat. The chapter kicks off with a dissection of a Dretch, a very low ranked demon. The whole product is focused around the idea that an ancient prophet wrote the Black Scrolls, the most complete treatise on demonology ever created, and that fragments of those Scrolls tell us all these wondrous things about demons. This product begins with an excellent index-like table of contents which makes finding information easy. Such content has been updated to 3.5 rules and, in the case of the demon lords, altered to be more accessible to lower level characters. * Some of the material presented in this product, most notably a few demons, the demon lords, and some feats, has been reprinted from The Book of Vile Darkness. On the whole this product is great for anyone who wants to include demons as a major theme in a traditional fantasy campaign, play Planescape or a similar plane hopping game which will involve the Abyss directly, or run an entirely Abyss focused campaign. While the Abyss is infinite, this product does an excellent job of presenting a wide variety of layers of the Abyss complete with their own rules of existence, interesting locations, and powerful NPCs. It presents rules for possession, a variety of new* demons, fully stated demon lords, new spells, demon feats, and a lengthy presentation on the Abyss. This product is focused on demons, the Chaotic Evil denizens of the Abyss. The formatting and font choices are excellent, leading to an easy to read product. Full color, detailed maps of various levels of the Abyss are particularly nice. The art is of good quality throughout the book, and is logically tied to the material being presented.
#D&d d20 wotc fiendish codex i hordes of the abyss full
This 160 page full color hardcover showcases above average production values. Whether they’re used as a permanent campaign locale, a brief hop across the planes, or as the single source of all a world’s evil the layers of the Abyss presented here are interesting and well written. Many layers of the Abyss are presented, a nod towards Planescape factions and cosmology is given, and the whole setting evokes thoughts of plane hopping adventure. Where this product really shines, however, is Chapter 5. The new feats are good, both conceptually and in terms of game mechanics. The demon lords are sufficiently powerful that nothing less than high teens to epic characters could hope to defeat them. Nevertheless, many of the stronger demons are meant for upper teens to 20+ campaigns. The demons occupy a wide level range, though they generally seem a bit stronger than their CR would imply. Despite borrowing a small amount of content from The Book of Vile Darkness, sometimes referencing a variety of other products, and providing focused content only particularly good in a demon focused campaign, this is a great product. Hordes of the Abyss provides new demons, demon lords, feats, spells, and adventure locations for any D&D 3.5 campaign.
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