how to ACTUALLY use Devils in D&D

hello i'm antonia d'amico this is pointy hat and welcome to d d with a twist i'm back to torture your silly little fantasy games with my weird little twists this is a show where i take a normal dnd thing could be a class could be a race could be a monster it's a monster and i give it a different twist it's like looking for a normal song to listen to on youtube only for you to realize that you accidentally clicked on the nightcore version of that song and you'll never admit it to anyone but you're low-key kind of vibing so when i think of devils i think of dungeons and dragons some claim it's a simple harmless game spells battles maiming killing hey it's all imagination so devils are well you know devils they are fiends which is a group that encompasses both devils and demons yes there is a difference between the two and d and d nerds will get extremely mad if you don't know it so listen up devils come from the nine hells while demons come from the abyss two of the lower planes in d d cosmology both of them are not only evil but born from evil they are literal embodiments of evil rather than just happening to be mean you might think that this common goal of being evil might make them team up to be eviler but nope demons and devils hate each other and fight just as much as they fight with angels which really puts a damper on the whole evil mastermind aspect of devils but oh well the main difference between devils and demons is that devils tend to have their together while demons just generally do whatever they want and answer to basically nobody which is reflected in devils being lawful and demons being chaotic devils being lawful means they have a very rigid and solid hierarchy with generals leaders and arts devils at the very top we're not getting into the arts devils or the hells in this video i'll talk about those in the nine hells video please don't scream about in the comment section i'll get to it calm down devils are characterized by being ambitious and to reflect this they have a very clear system of promotions where a devil can ascend ranks of hell and become more powerful if they prove themselves to be useful to whatever other devil rules over them if promoted they get more pay time off better coverage more company paid meals hotel stays and dental insurance but how is a poor devil to ascend this hierarchy and get promoted to regional manager of hell well with bitcoin souls souls are basically both money and fuel to devils the nine hells run on the energy of souls so the goal of devils and the way to ascend to higher echelons of the hierarchy is to convince as many living people as possible to invest in bitcoin give their souls to corruption this is usually done through what is called a faustian deal a mortal signs a contract with a devil in which they get something from the devil and in return the mortal soul is corrupted and goes to hell when they die and the twist coming at the end of this video is all about fashion deals so pay attention faustian deals are how most devils acquire souls if a devil hits a certain quota of corrupted tools they'll go up in the hierarchy and because devils are all about ambition this is the goal for most of them there's also talk about promotions happening if a devil doesn't mess up too much at their job or something else but souls are more interesting and i plan on using that later so i'm sticking with that so what actually happens when a mortal who is evil or with a soul corrupted by a devil dies and arrives in hell well the soul is quite literally put through the ringer like a humanoid shaped orange to extract the mythical soul juice and once that lovely process is over they are turned into a lemur or at least the souls that show the most promise to become an actual devil like a useful one become a lemur then the lemurs that show the most promise are then promoted and turn into another higher devil who will then try its best and get more souls and hopefully get promoted again and move up the hierarchy so on and so forth the devil hierarchy is pretty simple it starts with least devils the lowest rung where they are barely sentient and barely devils that's where lemurs are then there are lesser devils where the majority is not really that much more powerful but they are sentient and are generally all about collecting souls the final rung is greater devils which are pretty important in hell and where you find things like pit fiends this doesn't mean that there is nobody above greater devils but those are above them are like named characters for the most part and so powerful as to be close to gods like art devils dukes of hell and all like i said i plan on covering the nine health on its own video so we'll get more into it then but back to it this is hell which most consider to be a place of bad which means that other than promotion demotion is a thing like i said devils take their lawful thing very seriously and if a devil is particularly bad at their job or tries to cheat the system and gets caught or just does something against the wishes of hell in general that devil gets demoted the emotion can be bad where you can go down one rung or it can be completely awful where you're turned back into something like a lemire much like anyone in middle management levels love to torment their subordinates so if you've been doing that for a couple of hundred years and then you get demoted to actually become the servants of your previous subordinates you're in for a rough time as a result of this devils are absolutely terrified of demotion so that's a pretty complete primer on what devils are lawful fiends with a rigid and complex social hierarchy that are all about collecting souls so why don't we take a look at some of these guys and see what they actually look like and what they are about all devils are extremely different from each other but they do have some commonalities most have dark vision with many of them being able to see through magical darkness they are immune to fire they speak infernal or at least can understand it they don't need to eat or drink but apparently they do need to breathe which okay and most of them are incapable of reproducing which is why most devils happen when bad evil meanies die death in general is fun when it comes to devils they work under comic book rules which means that a devil is rarely if ever truly dead if a devil is killed outside of the nine hells they haven't been killed at all their body dissolves into flubber a wicked witch of the west or true blood and then they reform back in the nine hells as their own thing i try to get an actual number on how long it takes them to do so and in third edition it was 99 years but i don't know what's the case into the fifth edition so whenever the dm feels like it however if a devil is killed while they are in the ninth house then they are dead for good so you know opening a portal to hell in order to drag a devil in long enough to kill it there that's a good strategy despite these commonalities devils look widely different from each other many don't have the horned look that they are associated with so it makes it extra confusing to identify if what you're looking at is a devil or a demon cue the comments telling me that they can tell so easily let's take a look at some iconic devils to see what we're up against first off imps imps are some of the most common devils players can encounter they look like gross little guys with bad wings and a scorpion's tail they come in many colors and flavors but they're all mischievous and evil and their whole thing is serving more powerful devils by corrupting the souls of mortals aims are not very dangerous being a baby cr1 creature and about as threatening as the death metal version of tinkerbell so their mother's operandi in order to convince people to be evil relies on flattery lies and temptation they're quite literally the devil on top of your shoulder telling you to live a little and i don't know litter or whatever by their very nature being at the bottom of hell's hierarchy imps are always in service of someone but make no mistake imps are anything but loyal no matter how many times they may say that all they want is to serve they have their own goals which most likely is to lead mortals astray and collect souls so they made to ascend through the ranks and stop being imps a fun thing about imps is that they can be familiar to pack to the chain warlocks and in familiar is simply better stat wise than any other animal familiar they get access to extremely useful spells like invisibility which it can cast at will an actual decent damaging move with its sting the ability to see through magical darkness actual magic resistance and the imps shape-changing ability not to mention flight and the damage resistances and immunities that most devils have so all in all an incredibly more powerful option than your baseline familiar but the true power of the imp familiar is not for the players but for the dm as at the end having a player with a nib familiar allows you to have the imp speak to the warlock which unlocks all sorts of fun roleplay opportunities if the familiar is an imp the patron is most likely a devil which means that the imp is a hundred percent serving as a spy for its true master and trying to lead the warlock towards evil this can lead to fun shenanigans or actual awful advice or maybe the imp will betray the party and tell on them to the warlock's patron if they're going against their plan or hell why not have the imp have a change of heart and side against the patron of the warlock perhaps it's a little bit out of character for a devil but maybe the imp believes that the warlock is way more likely to respect the imp enough to give them more power and decides to betray the warlock's patron what i'm saying is that this is your chance to put iago from aladdin into your campaign and you would be a fool not to take it next up erenis ironies are interesting because they are the exception to many of the rules that apply to most devils for example they don't come from mortal souls being turned into lemurs but rather it's said that they are direct descendants of fallen angels that arrived in the hills ages ago which is why they've got that traditional celestial feathered wings instead of the spooky bad ones another way in which they differ from most devils is that they are one of the few that are able to actually reproduce and they are apparently super motherly and protect their progeny and stuff so that's cute as to what they do they are very much based on the theories of greek mythology yes those furies [Music] in greek mythology the ironies are catholic deities of vengeance and justice that punished those judged guilty of a crime in d d ironies are in charge of carrying justice in the nine hails to both mortals and devils funnily enough in that way they are possibly the most lawful of all devils as they genuinely care more about justice than doing evil they will make sure that the contracts made between a mortal and a devil are actually fair and will 100 punish a devil that hasn't kept up their end of their bargain ironies might be evil but they definitely have a strong moral code and that's generally a really cool thing to have players interact with they are also one of the only devils that is said to not be interested in being promoted of the hierarchy they see themselves as being superior to many other devils and enjoy their duties and they are given special privileges like being in direct contact with many extremely powerful devils so they generally have no interest in changing forms and going up the ladder that's the cool part of their lore and then there's the either outdated or just boring stuff that directly contradicts their whole thing about justice as apparently there are also wicked seductresses that go into the material plane to lure immortals with their sexy sexy ways and then just drop them naked into it who knows why anyone felt the need to do this when succubi and incubi do the exact same thing already but better as if we needed one more evil sexy devil lady to join the other 37 we already had it's double bad as it makes absolutely no sense for them to do the whole kidnapping and dropping the victim into hell and then turn around and be all about justice and punishing other devils for not adhering to the laws of hell by forcing people into contract like what kind of hypocritical double-think jews are they on even if most of them are not interested in being promoted ironies are one of the only devils that are said to be able to be promoted into pit fiends and speaking of pig feeds pet fiends are one of the most iconic devils in dnd 12 feet tall humanoid spooky sort of t-rexy-esque they just they look like the ball rock despite them looking like the devil embodiment of mad gains they are quite smart known to be great tacticians and mastermind manipulators in combat they are a chunky cr-20 and are kind of boring like yes they do have the big number in hpe and the big number in stats and all but in terms of actual abilities it's mainly just them being good at hitting stuff real good with like a couple of basic damaging spells and stuff like hold monster that just won't be able to be used against the party so whatever they are at the very top of hell's hierarchy for bethesda that is above them there are of course the dukes of hell and the archdevils but you know don't tell the pit fiends that we don't want to put a damper on their promotion in order for a devil to be promoted to be a pit fiend they must spend 1001 days in the pit of flames the worst place in all of the nine hells if they survive they rise as pit fiends hence the name apparently this whole thing is for them to finally understand the true meaning of pain and suffering very teen emo of them they are said to embody the true essence of devils side note here there's apparently a way to speed around becoming a pit fiend and it's by asmodius just bleeding somewhere a pitfein would then sprout from the blood of asmodius which is how the lord of hell filled his lair full of pitfiend creating the infernal frat house of doom and torment being basically above all other normal devils pit fiends rule over huge parts of the nine health they could command a fortress a legion or even a city in the hills they are also the generals in the war against demons which is where their whole master tactician thing pays off since devils are very much outnumbered by demons because they were already at the very top of the hell's hierarchy they are not too preoccupied with corrupting mortals to gain their souls they are simply too booked and blessed for that and there you go those are some devils we've looked at how devils work how and why they make pacts with mortals we've gone through some iconic devil enemies and that's all well and good but what if we gave devils a new twist [Music] so you want to fight a devil it's satan [Music] hey girl devils are paperwork obsessed bureaucrats straight from hell so bureaucrats so let's get it straight from the get devils as they are are cool they have really cool lore they have a solid motivation for corrupting mortals and leading them to be evil they have the whole hierarchy of hell thing to explore they create cool role play opportunities they are as evil as they come but also play fair which makes them interesting they're cool if you use alignment lawful evil is one of if not the alignment that can create the most easily compelling and fun antagonist devils can be an obstacle in your campaign the main attraction in an adventure or a short arc or the true big bad behind the entire campaign there are many many devils with great stat blocks that go through basically the entirety of all crs which makes it easy to use them throughout a campaign and they are tied to a really intricate and complex location that you can set a full campaign into you even have a book for it huh demons don't get a book huh that's interesting i wonder why so what could we possibly do to give devils a new twist well i think there's still room for exploration and dare i say improvement we know that most devil's motivation is to corrupt the souls of mortals so that they end up in the nine hells on account of souls being the thing that powers the nine health in order to do this devils often make pacts with mortals where they give them something in exchange for their soul when they die but for all the talk about devils being all about making pacts that sure rarely happens at the table in my experience faustian deals rarely if ever happen during play boston deals are seen either in the realm of backstory through a warlock that has chosen pact of the fiend as their subclass or when an npc makes a deal with the devil in my years of playing dnd i have honestly never seen a faustian deal happen in real time at the table between a devil and a pc unless someone took a level in warlock somewhere along the adventure now warlocks make sense because the player gets a great in-game bonus if they make a deal with the devil hell it's a whole subclass but why is it easier for an npc to make a fawcian deal an npc has things that they care about that the party simply doesn't care about and they don't have the means that adventurers do i don't think a single pc would take a fasting deal where they basically ensure an eternity of torment in hell for money but an npc sure will because they are not getting paid 3 000 gold pieces for killing a troll in the woods similarly a pc might react to their little sister coming down with an illness by asking the cleric to cast lesser restoration on her or remove curse if it's a curse maybe if they are low level enough they might have to go on a little quest to find this cleric or find the money to pay them but they'll get through it an npc though maybe a foster deal is the only way their little sister is getting out of that alive if we look at devil's abilities very little in their stat block is focused around what they could offer to a party of pcs in exchange for a fastian deal and it's a shame since this is their primary motivation and such a huge part of the whole devil thing devils are all about making deals but they can offer basically nothing enticing to a pc in order for that pc to make a deal with the devil other than the whole different class and subclass so what could we do about this how could we bring that sweet sweet enticing devil offer you a deal you cannot refuse flavor to the table well we know that the pact of the fiend warlock is enticing in part because it offers you a tangible benefit in gameplay it gives you abilities what if we did that what if we made a type of devil that is able to offer the party a tangible in-game benefit something that would tempt an adventurer to actually say yes to a fostering deal hear me out goethe demons [Music] quick history lesson on what is a goethe demon the lesser key of solomon is a grimoire on demonology the i'm not gonna call this science the art study the study of demons yes as i said before i know that devils and demons are not the same thing this isn't dnd you nerds i'm talking about an actual book in the real world the book is actually composed of five books the most well-known one and the one that has made it to our day in the best condition is the first one the r scotia goethe means evocation as in summoning of demons yes this is 100 a book on demon somebody you can say what you want about the channel but you can't say i don't bring something interesting but why would people need a book about how to summon demons well the r squad here gives you instructions on how to summon 72 different demons and it details what anyone that summons them can learn from them yes apparently a part of demonology was about learning actual useful skills from demons like herbology philosophy math science is math related to science magic cats rewriting an adventure set in a magical college where devils are summoned to teach students different classes but no for real i want to write that i love that i'm going to use that in the future but you didn't just get knowledge if you summoned one of the goethe demons you could ask them for favors you could have them cast spells for you you could use their help to do things you were not able to do before see where i'm going with this what if we took inspiration from the concept of goethe demons to create dnd devils that could offer great boons to your pcs in exchange for their soul hellish addicts are a specific type of devil who specializes in corrupting mortal souls by catering to the specific needs of mortals hellish addicts have access to the knowledge and training of the nine hells and have become impossibly skilled in one area of expertise they are known for being extremely skilled in one specific field and are attracted by the ambitions of mortals that match that field they can be summoned into the material plane like most devils but much like erendi's they can also cross into the material plane with no need of a summon but only when they locate a mortal that has a sufficient craving for an expertise in a skill they master a mortal that thirsts for forbidden knowledge that they cannot access might be visited by a hellish adept of intelligence a mortal that wishes with all their heart that they could enchant crowds with a silver tongue that they do not have might attract a hellish addict of charisma an immortal that wants to enact revenge against those that wronged them by killing them but is simply too weak to do so might inadvertently summon a hellish adept of strength hellish addicts come in many forms as their bodies and appearances change to reflect their expertise hellish adepts of strength have impossibly strong bodies with humongous hordes that they use to charge against their enemies hellish adepts of dexterity have many long life limbs and gaseous forms that they can dissipate and form at will turning invisible and more silent than smoke hellish adepts of intelligence have vestigial bodies that are covered with heads one head for each new area of study they master as a result of this their bodies are no longer able to move so they use their impossibly powerful psionic and arcane abilities to levitate and move at will hellish adepts of wisdom are covered in eyes and have several sets of noses and ears granting them not only supernatural perception but also the ability to see through any illusion and lie and hellish adepts of charisma have forms that combine the devilish and the beautiful with ornate and intricate horns and leathery skin fashion into beautiful gowns and tunics their entire bodies are covered with mouths that can talk in unison to sway anyone that hears them speak those that make a faustian deal with a hellish addict become their pupils and a devil mark appears somewhere on their bodies to anchor the adept's power into the body of the pupil the form of the mark depending on the particular hellish adip that has made the deal a pupil of a hellish addict enjoys boons that transcend the capabilities of any mortal they gain a supernatural level of skill in the field that they choose as well as other incredible powers a druid looking to become an expert of arcana and transcend the limits of their natural magic might summon a hellish adept of intelligence to make a deal after which they will learn spells they wouldn't be able to cast with their magic and will be able to summon the knowledge of the addict when they need it to learn more arcane secrets the more a pupil uses the skills they acquire through their deal with the adept the stronger the skill becomes making the pupil more and more powerful but any faustian deal has a downside pupils are enticed to use the scale that was given to them to rely on it but that skill has a limited number of uses as they use that skill their devil mark grows and the corruption of their soul does too after enough uses of that skill their soul is completely consumed by the hellish energy of the hellish addict quite literally burn away as their devil mark covers them entirely the pupil dies but something else takes their place that's how new hellish adepts are born the soul of the pupil is twisted into a new hellish adept that will make new deals perpetuating the cycle by sending more and more souls to be consumed by the nine hells and those are hellish arabs what i wanted to do was make it as enticing to the party as possible but also a great starting point for adventures imagine a party discovering a town where a paladin of good has been defending the town and saving it from certain doom with their unparalleled strength but then the party finds out that the paragon is a pupil of a hellish adapt of strength whose soul is close to burning they might decide to fight her to stop her before it's too late and imagine the boss fight that would be when the paragon uses her impossible strength one last time to stop the party and that finishes her full transformation into a new hellish addict you gotta love a fight with a final form in it but putting all that in would be a ton of work i mean you would need to make the stat blocks for the adept and then you would have to make up what the actual rules on soul corruption are that's just a ton of work and that's why i did it and you can have it for free yes the hellish added stat blocks and the rules on how to handle soul corruption if your players choose to make a deal with them are all in the description below so go out there disappoint your religious parents and make some deals with devils and welcome to the end of the video it's the end we did it you did it i did it we all did it and this sure sure was a lot of work but i really like devils and i wanted to do something special for them i really hope you like the video and that you like the hellish edits because i tried my very best to make them as cool and useful in games as possible like i said i'm sure some of you will know some of the inspirations behind the concepts of the artists you know people of culture if you did like them the channel is still extremely new so sharing the videos around to your friends that grew up in the 80s and are still psychologically traumatized by the satanic panic helps leaving a comment also helps so tell me what would make you make a foster deal so go ahead and check if there are any plates and any cups left in your room and bring them to the kitchen okay see you in two weeks bye bye

Channel: Pointy Hat

Views: 708,600

Keywords: DnD, D&D, DnD with a twist, 5e, TTRPG, How to, Illustration, Dungeons and Dragons, D&D with a twist, d&d battle music, pointy hat, animation, rant, hat, devils, demons, fiend, fiends, devil, demon, 9 hells, avernus, descent into avernus, rantsona, hellish adepts, homebrew

Id: p3hBGBNg6aQ

Length: 23min 59sec (1439 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 22 2022