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Yugoloth

2021-04-20T16:30:50Z

2601:203:400:CE90:3105:35F0:99F7:4105: /* Greater Yugoloths */

[[File:Yugoloth puppetmaster.png|thumb|right|[[Furries]]: the purest distillation of evil]]
Also known as '''[[Daemon#Dungeons_.26_Dragons_and_Pathfinder|daemons]]''' (no, not [[Daemon#Warhammer|''those'' Daemons]]), '''Yugoloths''' are the [[Alignment#Neutral_Evil|neutral evil]] grid-fill for the [[devils]] and [[demons]] in post-1980 [[Dungeons & Dragons]].

The first published were the Mezzodaemon and Nycadaemon of [[Drow trilogy|D3]], just chillin' in [[Erelhei-Cinlu]] as fiends do; whence they went into the [[Fiend Folio]], and then got more buddies in the second Monster Manual. A decade later [[2e]] did to daemonkind what it did to the [[Baatezu]] and [[Tanar'ri]] (and [[Demodand|Gehreleth]]), changing the name to some babble, because it SOUNDED too much like "demon" for [[Lorraine Williams]] to allow in an [[RPG]].

But in this (rare) case That Woman had a point. Their name was always redundant with "demon"; and as spelled out, it conflicts with the ancient Greek word for “spirit” or even "lesser god" - Socrates had a daemon with him, for instance. And the eeevil daemons never enjoyed anything like the popularity as the two major fiendish races on either side, nor were they as well known. Her name-change didn't help their case, though. We'll get to some reasons why not.

Originally the Neutral Evil outworlders daemons got allocated to the Gray Waste of [[Hades]], though ''[[Planescape]]'' shifted most of them to [[Gehenna]] because Hades really sucks. In 5e this has actually been retconned into their ''home plane'' for some fucking reason.

Yugoloths embody the platonic idea of Evil itself. Not “evil”, mind you, but capital-e Evil. They lie, cheat, and betray for its own sake, and generally seek to cause as much suffering and hate as possible to everyone. Whereas the demons embody anarchy, and the devils embody tyranny, the yugoloth embody sociopathy. They're kind of dicks like that. They act as mercenaries (primarily in the [[Blood War]], but they'll work for anyone who can meet their price, even their polar opposites the [[guardinal|Guardinals]]), constantly switching sides between the factions involved in whatever conflict they were paid to fight in (this can happen multiple times in a single battle). In fact, there are conspiracy theories that ''they'' are the original fiends and/or that they're the ones who started the Blood War and are playing it to their own end.

The term "Yugoloth" is still being used in 5th edition even though "[[Baatezu]]" and "[[Tanar'ri]]" and other terms for evil outsiders which 2nd edition had pulled out of Lorraine's fat ass were dropped. As noted, "daemon" never was a good name for them.

=Why The Yugoloths Are [[FAIL]]=
As to why the Yugoloths own the Great Wheel's Wooden Spoon (as Victorians called it), behind Law's and Chaos': A philosophical reason might be that "pure" evil without a desire to destroy or dominate doesn't actually seem likely to do much of anything with real consequences. A narrative-based reason might be that demons and devils are more easily contrasted with each other. A more realistic reason for their low profile is that they're just really boring, having failed to tap into the predominant [[Mythology#Abrahamic_Mythology (Judaism,_Christianity,_Islam)|Abrahamic mythos]] the way that tanar'ri demons and baatezu devils did. The Archdemons are some of the [[Baphomet|biggest]], [[Orcus|baddest]], and [[Lamashtu|most horrifying]] creatures in the entire setting, while the ruler of the Nine Hells is a [[Creed|strategic mastermind]] who pretends to be The God-Fiend of the Pit, Master of Slavery and Tyranny because that is ''less'' threatening than [[Asmodeus|what he really is]]. Not to mention a wide variety of lesser demons who are iconic, terrifying, and awesome. Despite the fact that in Gygax's ''Come Endless Darkness'' novel the oinoloth Infestix and the deity [[Nerull]] are the same being, [[Lorraine_Williams|the sociopathic bitch]] had already ousted [[Gygax|D&D founder Gary Gygax]] from [[TSR]] so Nerull-as-Infestix was never included in published game materials; yugoloths have fewer interesting leaders (about which very little is known), just a city that moves around or some shit. Forget these assholes and get back to headbutting pit fiends in [[Baator]]; D&D publishers dropped the ball by not publishing a neutral evil [https://d20npcs.fandom.com/wiki/Bale_Fiend ''bale fiend''] yugoloth, which would have fit perfectly in [[Planescape]]'s notion that yugoloths were the origin of the other [[Fiend|fiends]].
[[Image:Yugoloths.png|400px|thumb|right|Planescape's cattle call]]
Yugoloths' heyday was ''Planescape'', where they met an actual niche as the [[Blood War]]'s profiteers. But here they were battling hags for market-share. And then they lost even that in 3e and beyond.

With [[Planescape]] not getting an official 3.x release, and the Blood War thusly getting a lot less shilling, the yugoloths were mostly forgotten aside from the occasional update in a [[Monster Manual]]. In [[4e]] they lost their whole reason to exist with the almost non-existent Blood War and were instead made a subtype of Demon. The jackal-like Arcanoloths were even divorced entirely from the Daemon family tree and made an entirely new species of scheming, manipulative evil immortals called [[Raavasta]].

In [[5e]], Yugoloths were created by the Baatezu in order to combat the Tanar'ri. However, the Baatezu lost control of them, and now they're a mercenary fiend race giving their help wherever the most profit is to be made.

Pathfinder avoided the Yugoloth name for copyright reasons, with their [[Daemon_(Pathfinder)|daemons]] becoming an omnicidal race lead by (a version of) the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But after the ''Legacy of Fire'' [[Adventure Path]] introduced [[Divs]]... why even bother?

Truly the yugoloth is well named, to sum up; putting a daemon in your campaign is like driving to prom in a 1982 Yugo.

=If You Gotta Use 'Em=
Whereas devils are living embodiments of oppressive tyranny and demons living embodiments of mayhem and anarchy, the Yugoloth are living embodiments of opportunistic sociopathy. Whereas the mind of a devil or demon is sufficiently diluted by law or chaos for them to care about a larger cause (multiversal conquest and destruction, respectively), a Yugoloth doesn't give a crap about anything other than its own well being and agenda. Which, if one thinks about it, should ironically make them far more amiable and cooperative than either demons or devils, since they wouldn't give two rat's asses about where their pay is coming from, so long as their price is being met (and woe betide any moron who should try to stiff them).

As for deals: Devils of course prefer rigidly formal contracts with maximized loopholes (on their side of the deal) and Fine Print (on the other side), so it would stand to reason that demons, when they bother to enter such a relationship at all instead of simply killing you, would prefer informal agreements and promises with flexible and non-binging terms. Yugoloth, then, would go with either one or something in between, whichever they'd think would benefit them most at the time. Also, you probably shouldn't pay them up front, in which case they might just take then money, kill you, and take the rest of your stuff.

In other words, they're murderhobos but smarter.

==As Player Characters (LOL)==
It should come as no surprise that the same edition of D&D that made [[neogi]], [[unbodied|flying ghost brains]], [[maug|extraplanar robots]], [[mind flayer]]s, and the [[ixitxachitl]] playable or pseudo-playable also took a shot at making Yugoloths playable. Specifically, the ''Canoloth'', of all variants, was given a level adjustment in the 2001 [[Manual of the Planes]], although between the adjustment and racial hit dice they're largely still unplayable.

==The Truest Fiends==
The Yugoloth maintain a number of strongholds on the Lower Planes. Their biggest one is the Crawling City making its way on the slopes of Gehenna. Here the General of Gehenna, the leader of the Yugoloth, holds his court and plots against the Multiverse itself. Also on Gehenna is the Tower Arcane, where the Arcanoloth record all the deals made with mortals and Outsiders alike. Hades houses Khin-Oin, a massive tower allegendly made from the spine of a deity the Yugoloth killed. Here many of the soldiers of the Yugoloth armies live and train. Finally there is the Tower of Incarnate Pain, which is still under construction in [[Carceri]]. Made from the screaming bodies of petitioners and the skin of a dead god, the Yugoloth intend to use the tower to link their two other towers and obtain considerable power that way. The native inhabitants of Carceri, the [[Demodand|Gehreleth]] do not agree with this and frequently attack the tower to tear it down. Without their attacks the Yugoloth would have been done centuries ago, but because of the actions of the Gehreleth they are far behind on schedule. While the fiends are very limited in number and the Yugoloth could easily crush them with a superior force, they do not do this because it would draw too much attention to their secret project.

==The Shapes of Evil==
===Yugoloth Creations===
*'''[[Canoloth]]s''' eyeless quadrupedal guard dog yugoloth with the tongue <s>you wish your boyfriend had</s> of a chameleon. the area around them is a no-teleport-zone. Depending on the contract, being caught by a Canoloth either means death or him siting on you until the big man comes to get you.
<gallery>
Canoloth 2e.gif
Canoloth 3e.png
Canoloth 4e.jpg
Canoloth-5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Guardian Yugoloth]]s:''' Least, Lesser, Greater.
<gallery>
Guardian Yugoloth 1e.jpg
Guardian yugoloth MM 2e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Battleloth]]s:''' Arrow, Axe, Crossbow, Pick, Spiked Chain, Sword.
<gallery>
Battleloth.png
</gallery>

===Lesser Yugoloths===
*'''[[Mezzoloth]]''': Mid-ranking bug monsters. Are the proper foot soldiers. Really like money and violence. Most notable for dropping massed Cloudkill spells.
<gallery>
Mezzoloth 1e.jpg
Mezzoloth 2e.gif
Mezzoloth 3e.jpg
Mezzoloth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Dergholoth]]''' (also spelled Dhergoloth): Remarkably ridiculous four-armed insectoids in D&D; their heads don't turn, but their entire torso whirls about wildly. [[Pathfinder]]'s [[Daemon_(Pathfinder)#Derghodaemon|derghodaemons]] however look like nightmares of Ginsu blades that could vivisect you before you could even scream. They love slaughter and will often fumble complicated orders (on purpose).
<gallery>
Dergholoth 1e.png
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Dergholoth 3e.jpg
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Dergholoth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Piscoloth]]''': If [[Cthulhu]] and a lobster had a lovechild, it would be a piscoloth.
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Piscoloth 2e.gif
Piscoloth 3e.jpg
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*'''[[Hydroloth]]''': Flying frog monsters. Take dips into the Styx, which makes their minds both scrambled and unreadable. Trade in information, ironically.
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Hydroloth 1e.jpg
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*'''[[Yagnoloth]]''': Goofy-looking lopsided freaks, yagnoloths bear much of the blame for why D&D aficionados typically regard tanar'ri and baatezu as cooler than yugoloths. Is a lieutenant over other lesser yugoloths, being a mediator for contract signing when it's not worth an Arcanaloth's time.
<gallery>
Yagnoloth 1e.png
Yagnoloth 2e.gif
Yagnoloth 4e.jpg
Yagnoloth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Marraenoloth]]''' (also spelled Merrenoloth): Boatmen of the Styx. Loyal to their boats and nothing else.
<gallery>
Merrenoloth 1e.jpg
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Merrenoloth 5e.jpg
</gallery>

===Greater Yugoloths===

*'''[[Nycaloth]]''' : Classically horned and draconian winged fiends. Headsmen and executioners. They're large, brutish, and carry vorpal axes. In [[3e|3rd edition D&D]] nycaloths gained the distinction of having four arms. Although Nycaloths' combat abilities are some of the most underhanded among Yugoloths, they can be one of the most loyal Yugoloths if treated well (You will have to bribe them at least quadruple their pay instead of only double to get them to switch sides).
<gallery>
Nycaloth 1e.jpg
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Nycaloth 2e.gif
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Nycaloth 5e.png
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*'''[[Arcanaloth]]''': Probably the most famous of the yugoloth species [at least among [[furry]] fans], arcanaloths look like anthropomorphic jackals and are known for managing the mercenary contracts that are the lifeblood of the yugolothic personal involvement in the [[Blood War]]. In essence, all contracts to hire yugoloths ultimately get approved by these guys. These guys are perhaps best known because they have two representative characters living in [[Sigil]]; A'kin the Friendly Fiend, a seemingly benevolent (not that anyone buys it) merchant, and [[Shemeshka]] the Marauder, aspiring to be the biggest wheeler-dealer in the Cage, who calls herself "King of the Crosstrade" and is famous as one of the first canonical non-cisgender NPCs -- she calls herself female, but her profile in the Sigil bigwig NPC splat "Uncaged: Faces of Sigil" depicts her with a ''male'' symbol, implying she's trans. Of course, according to ''Faces of Evil'', all yugoloths are hermaphrodites (<strike>not that the hypothetical sex of a fiend even matters, since fiends of all varieties "reproduce" by uplifting Maggots, which are the forms evil mortals take upon dying and arriving at any of the lower planes</strike>. Actually, yugoloths don't reproduce from maggots/larva. They procreate as mammals do, and when one dies, another mezzoloth is spat out, ensuring their numbers never decrease). By [[4e|4th edition D&D]] the publishers finally realized that [[Furry|jackal furries]] (only some of which even have horns) are just not daemonic enough, and so [[Retcon|retconned]] them to instead be the [[raavasta]] race (with distant yugoloth ancestry). If D&D publishers had actually put effort into making arcanadaemons, well, daemonic, they all would have had larger-than-merely-token horns, mange-exposed patches of diseased skin, and one or more additional monstrous/daemonic features (such as tentacles). But they didn't, so now they're back to being Yugoloth.
<gallery>
Arcanaloth 1e.jpg
Arcanaloth 2e.png
Arcanaloth 5e.png
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*'''[[Ultroloth]]''': Unlike the pit fiends and balors of the devils and demons, respectively, the leaders of the yugoloths are thinking, scheming mages-sneaks that disguise their strength behind melted, emaciated, and shifting forms rather than roar into battle wreathed in flame. Unfortunately, the fact that ultroloths have zero daemonic features and instead look like <s>weather balloons</s> sci-fi aliens is much of why Balor demons and pit fiend devils better fascinated [[God|dungeon masters]] and [[murderhobos|players]] alike, whose cultural mythos is primarily [[Mythology#Abrahamic Mythology (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)|Abrahamic]]. Now imagine an ultroloth but with large horns and tentacles; much more daemonic, eh?
<gallery>
Ultroloth 1e.png
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Ultroloth 3e.png
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===[[Altraloth]]s===
If they are willing to serve the [[Hag#Night_Hags|Night Hags]] for a specific purpose, a yugoloth can choose to undergo a ritual to become a powerful new being: an altraloth. In a long and painful ritual any yugoloth from mezzoloth to ultraloth can be turned into a new creature of superior power, but to do this they will have to enter a contract with the Night Hags and complete its terms before being freed. Most yugoloth chafe at this because they are not able to betray their new mistresses: hurting them will result in unspeakable pain for the altraloth, and if one of them were to die for any reason the altraloth perishes as well. As such, they are invested to the wellbeing of their masters and will do anything to protect them.

===[[Baernaloths]]===
Unverified ancient texts claim that baernaloths were the first [[Fiend|fiends]], and the origin of the other fiends. It's said that every individual powerful being in the Lower planes has a baernoloth hand in their origin, including the [[Obyrith]], who are said to have been lured to this multiverse in the first place by the Baernoloth. Those versions which TSR/WotC have published so far have sucked the papery scrotum of Hades himself. Homebrew versions exist online, though, worthy of these most primordial of fiends.

Notable because as the eldest evils native to the Great Wheel (save perhaps the [[Aboleth]]), they acquire various abilities from various sources over the eons in addition to the ones they already have just from being a baernoloth, and each one has a different set. Some of the more notable ones from the list include one where whatever being that kills them is transformed body and mind over time into the baernoloth they killed, one where they can summon ''any'' other individual fiend in all the lower planes, including a Demon Prince or Archdevil, one where they can spend a week meditating to grant themselves one unique ability, quality, attack, etc. from any other breed of fiend, and the ability to Dominate all evil creatures below CR 12 within 300ft of itself.

Also notable for spending their time doing nothing but tormenting other beings, and they don't even seem to take any joy in it. Oh they don't ''regret'' their actions in the slightest, it's just that in their minds, they exist to torment, and all other beings exist to be tormented.

<gallery>
Baernaloth.png
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===[[Oinoloths]]===
The prefix ''oino''- means "one"; the word ''oinoloth'' is a title of the yugoloth ruler of [[Hades]], not a type of yugoloth, though the process of attaining the oinoloth title could conceivably involve a transformation.

...at least originally. now the being with the best claim to being "ruler of all yugoloth" is the General of Gehenna, assumed to be an ultraloth, and now oinoloths are just another type of yugoloth that specializes in disease.
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Oinoloth 1e.jpg
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==Yugoloth Lords==
Most active yugoloth lords are altraloths.

*'''[[Apomps]] the Three-Sided''' - baernaloth. Possibly is the creator and lord of the [[Demodand]]s.

*'''[[Anthraxus]] the Decayed''' - altraloth (and held oinoloth title)

*'''[[Bubonix]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[Charon]] (a.k.a. Cerlic)''' - altraloth

*'''[[Cholerix]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[The General of Gehenna]]''' - ultroloth (and probably an altraloth)

*'''[[Helekanalaith]]''' - arcanaloth

*'''[[Infestix]]''' - [[Gygax]]'s ''Come Endless Darkness'' novel posits that the first oinoloth Infestix and the deity [[Nerull]] were the same being.

*'''[[Mydianchlarus]]''' - ultroloth (and held oinoloth title)

*'''[[Taba]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[Typhus]]''' - altraloth

* '''[[Xengahra]]''' - altraloth

=See Also=
*[[Daemon (Pathfinder)]]
*[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition races]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Ultroloth Arcanaloth.webp
File:Yugoloths by the Styx.jpg
File:Canoloth Ultroloth.jpg
File:Zastava-yugo-311-1982-300300.jpg
</gallery>

{{D&D-Outsiders}}
[[Category:FAIL]]

Yugoloth

2021-04-20T16:27:55Z

2601:203:400:CE90:3105:35F0:99F7:4105: /* Greater Yugoloths */

[[File:Yugoloth puppetmaster.png|thumb|right|[[Furries]]: the purest distillation of evil]]
Also known as '''[[Daemon#Dungeons_.26_Dragons_and_Pathfinder|daemons]]''' (no, not [[Daemon#Warhammer|''those'' Daemons]]), '''Yugoloths''' are the [[Alignment#Neutral_Evil|neutral evil]] grid-fill for the [[devils]] and [[demons]] in post-1980 [[Dungeons & Dragons]].

The first published were the Mezzodaemon and Nycadaemon of [[Drow trilogy|D3]], just chillin' in [[Erelhei-Cinlu]] as fiends do; whence they went into the [[Fiend Folio]], and then got more buddies in the second Monster Manual. A decade later [[2e]] did to daemonkind what it did to the [[Baatezu]] and [[Tanar'ri]] (and [[Demodand|Gehreleth]]), changing the name to some babble, because it SOUNDED too much like "demon" for [[Lorraine Williams]] to allow in an [[RPG]].

But in this (rare) case That Woman had a point. Their name was always redundant with "demon"; and as spelled out, it conflicts with the ancient Greek word for “spirit” or even "lesser god" - Socrates had a daemon with him, for instance. And the eeevil daemons never enjoyed anything like the popularity as the two major fiendish races on either side, nor were they as well known. Her name-change didn't help their case, though. We'll get to some reasons why not.

Originally the Neutral Evil outworlders daemons got allocated to the Gray Waste of [[Hades]], though ''[[Planescape]]'' shifted most of them to [[Gehenna]] because Hades really sucks. In 5e this has actually been retconned into their ''home plane'' for some fucking reason.

Yugoloths embody the platonic idea of Evil itself. Not “evil”, mind you, but capital-e Evil. They lie, cheat, and betray for its own sake, and generally seek to cause as much suffering and hate as possible to everyone. Whereas the demons embody anarchy, and the devils embody tyranny, the yugoloth embody sociopathy. They're kind of dicks like that. They act as mercenaries (primarily in the [[Blood War]], but they'll work for anyone who can meet their price, even their polar opposites the [[guardinal|Guardinals]]), constantly switching sides between the factions involved in whatever conflict they were paid to fight in (this can happen multiple times in a single battle). In fact, there are conspiracy theories that ''they'' are the original fiends and/or that they're the ones who started the Blood War and are playing it to their own end.

The term "Yugoloth" is still being used in 5th edition even though "[[Baatezu]]" and "[[Tanar'ri]]" and other terms for evil outsiders which 2nd edition had pulled out of Lorraine's fat ass were dropped. As noted, "daemon" never was a good name for them.

=Why The Yugoloths Are [[FAIL]]=
As to why the Yugoloths own the Great Wheel's Wooden Spoon (as Victorians called it), behind Law's and Chaos': A philosophical reason might be that "pure" evil without a desire to destroy or dominate doesn't actually seem likely to do much of anything with real consequences. A narrative-based reason might be that demons and devils are more easily contrasted with each other. A more realistic reason for their low profile is that they're just really boring, having failed to tap into the predominant [[Mythology#Abrahamic_Mythology (Judaism,_Christianity,_Islam)|Abrahamic mythos]] the way that tanar'ri demons and baatezu devils did. The Archdemons are some of the [[Baphomet|biggest]], [[Orcus|baddest]], and [[Lamashtu|most horrifying]] creatures in the entire setting, while the ruler of the Nine Hells is a [[Creed|strategic mastermind]] who pretends to be The God-Fiend of the Pit, Master of Slavery and Tyranny because that is ''less'' threatening than [[Asmodeus|what he really is]]. Not to mention a wide variety of lesser demons who are iconic, terrifying, and awesome. Despite the fact that in Gygax's ''Come Endless Darkness'' novel the oinoloth Infestix and the deity [[Nerull]] are the same being, [[Lorraine_Williams|the sociopathic bitch]] had already ousted [[Gygax|D&D founder Gary Gygax]] from [[TSR]] so Nerull-as-Infestix was never included in published game materials; yugoloths have fewer interesting leaders (about which very little is known), just a city that moves around or some shit. Forget these assholes and get back to headbutting pit fiends in [[Baator]]; D&D publishers dropped the ball by not publishing a neutral evil [https://d20npcs.fandom.com/wiki/Bale_Fiend ''bale fiend''] yugoloth, which would have fit perfectly in [[Planescape]]'s notion that yugoloths were the origin of the other [[Fiend|fiends]].
[[Image:Yugoloths.png|400px|thumb|right|Planescape's cattle call]]
Yugoloths' heyday was ''Planescape'', where they met an actual niche as the [[Blood War]]'s profiteers. But here they were battling hags for market-share. And then they lost even that in 3e and beyond.

With [[Planescape]] not getting an official 3.x release, and the Blood War thusly getting a lot less shilling, the yugoloths were mostly forgotten aside from the occasional update in a [[Monster Manual]]. In [[4e]] they lost their whole reason to exist with the almost non-existent Blood War and were instead made a subtype of Demon. The jackal-like Arcanoloths were even divorced entirely from the Daemon family tree and made an entirely new species of scheming, manipulative evil immortals called [[Raavasta]].

In [[5e]], Yugoloths were created by the Baatezu in order to combat the Tanar'ri. However, the Baatezu lost control of them, and now they're a mercenary fiend race giving their help wherever the most profit is to be made.

Pathfinder avoided the Yugoloth name for copyright reasons, with their [[Daemon_(Pathfinder)|daemons]] becoming an omnicidal race lead by (a version of) the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But after the ''Legacy of Fire'' [[Adventure Path]] introduced [[Divs]]... why even bother?

Truly the yugoloth is well named, to sum up; putting a daemon in your campaign is like driving to prom in a 1982 Yugo.

=If You Gotta Use 'Em=
Whereas devils are living embodiments of oppressive tyranny and demons living embodiments of mayhem and anarchy, the Yugoloth are living embodiments of opportunistic sociopathy. Whereas the mind of a devil or demon is sufficiently diluted by law or chaos for them to care about a larger cause (multiversal conquest and destruction, respectively), a Yugoloth doesn't give a crap about anything other than its own well being and agenda. Which, if one thinks about it, should ironically make them far more amiable and cooperative than either demons or devils, since they wouldn't give two rat's asses about where their pay is coming from, so long as their price is being met (and woe betide any moron who should try to stiff them).

As for deals: Devils of course prefer rigidly formal contracts with maximized loopholes (on their side of the deal) and Fine Print (on the other side), so it would stand to reason that demons, when they bother to enter such a relationship at all instead of simply killing you, would prefer informal agreements and promises with flexible and non-binging terms. Yugoloth, then, would go with either one or something in between, whichever they'd think would benefit them most at the time. Also, you probably shouldn't pay them up front, in which case they might just take then money, kill you, and take the rest of your stuff.

In other words, they're murderhobos but smarter.

==As Player Characters (LOL)==
It should come as no surprise that the same edition of D&D that made [[neogi]], [[unbodied|flying ghost brains]], [[maug|extraplanar robots]], [[mind flayer]]s, and the [[ixitxachitl]] playable or pseudo-playable also took a shot at making Yugoloths playable. Specifically, the ''Canoloth'', of all variants, was given a level adjustment in the 2001 [[Manual of the Planes]], although between the adjustment and racial hit dice they're largely still unplayable.

==The Truest Fiends==
The Yugoloth maintain a number of strongholds on the Lower Planes. Their biggest one is the Crawling City making its way on the slopes of Gehenna. Here the General of Gehenna, the leader of the Yugoloth, holds his court and plots against the Multiverse itself. Also on Gehenna is the Tower Arcane, where the Arcanoloth record all the deals made with mortals and Outsiders alike. Hades houses Khin-Oin, a massive tower allegendly made from the spine of a deity the Yugoloth killed. Here many of the soldiers of the Yugoloth armies live and train. Finally there is the Tower of Incarnate Pain, which is still under construction in [[Carceri]]. Made from the screaming bodies of petitioners and the skin of a dead god, the Yugoloth intend to use the tower to link their two other towers and obtain considerable power that way. The native inhabitants of Carceri, the [[Demodand|Gehreleth]] do not agree with this and frequently attack the tower to tear it down. Without their attacks the Yugoloth would have been done centuries ago, but because of the actions of the Gehreleth they are far behind on schedule. While the fiends are very limited in number and the Yugoloth could easily crush them with a superior force, they do not do this because it would draw too much attention to their secret project.

==The Shapes of Evil==
===Yugoloth Creations===
*'''[[Canoloth]]s''' eyeless quadrupedal guard dog yugoloth with the tongue <s>you wish your boyfriend had</s> of a chameleon. the area around them is a no-teleport-zone. Depending on the contract, being caught by a Canoloth either means death or him siting on you until the big man comes to get you.
<gallery>
Canoloth 2e.gif
Canoloth 3e.png
Canoloth 4e.jpg
Canoloth-5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Guardian Yugoloth]]s:''' Least, Lesser, Greater.
<gallery>
Guardian Yugoloth 1e.jpg
Guardian yugoloth MM 2e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Battleloth]]s:''' Arrow, Axe, Crossbow, Pick, Spiked Chain, Sword.
<gallery>
Battleloth.png
</gallery>

===Lesser Yugoloths===
*'''[[Mezzoloth]]''': Mid-ranking bug monsters. Are the proper foot soldiers. Really like money and violence. Most notable for dropping massed Cloudkill spells.
<gallery>
Mezzoloth 1e.jpg
Mezzoloth 2e.gif
Mezzoloth 3e.jpg
Mezzoloth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Dergholoth]]''' (also spelled Dhergoloth): Remarkably ridiculous four-armed insectoids in D&D; their heads don't turn, but their entire torso whirls about wildly. [[Pathfinder]]'s [[Daemon_(Pathfinder)#Derghodaemon|derghodaemons]] however look like nightmares of Ginsu blades that could vivisect you before you could even scream. They love slaughter and will often fumble complicated orders (on purpose).
<gallery>
Dergholoth 1e.png
Dergholoth 2e.png
Dergholoth 3e.jpg
Dergholoth 4e.jpg
Dergholoth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Piscoloth]]''': If [[Cthulhu]] and a lobster had a lovechild, it would be a piscoloth.
<gallery>
Piscoloth 1e.png
Piscoloth 2e.gif
Piscoloth 3e.jpg
Piscoloth 4e.jpg
</gallery>
*'''[[Hydroloth]]''': Flying frog monsters. Take dips into the Styx, which makes their minds both scrambled and unreadable. Trade in information, ironically.
<gallery>
Hydroloth 1e.jpg
Hydroloth 2e.jpg
Hydroloth 4e.jpg
Hydroloth 5e.jpg
</gallery>
*'''[[Yagnoloth]]''': Goofy-looking lopsided freaks, yagnoloths bear much of the blame for why D&D aficionados typically regard tanar'ri and baatezu as cooler than yugoloths. Is a lieutenant over other lesser yugoloths, being a mediator for contract signing when it's not worth an Arcanaloth's time.
<gallery>
Yagnoloth 1e.png
Yagnoloth 2e.gif
Yagnoloth 4e.jpg
Yagnoloth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Marraenoloth]]''' (also spelled Merrenoloth): Boatmen of the Styx. Loyal to their boats and nothing else.
<gallery>
Merrenoloth 1e.jpg
Merrenoloth 2e.jpg
Merrenoloth 5e.jpg
</gallery>

===Greater Yugoloths===

*'''[[Nycaloth]]''' : Classically horned and draconian winged fiends. Headsmen and executioners. They're large, brutish, and carry vorpal axes. In [[3e|3rd edition D&D]] nycaloths gained the distinction of having four arms. Although Nycaloths' combat abilities are some of the most underhanded among Yugoloths, they can be one of the most loyal Yugoloths if treated well (most likely by bribing them quadruple their usual pay instead of double).
<gallery>
Nycaloth 1e.jpg
Nycadaemon Monster card.jpg
Nycaloth 2e.gif
Nycaloth 3e.jpg
Nycaloth 5e.png
</gallery>

*'''[[Arcanaloth]]''': Probably the most famous of the yugoloth species [at least among [[furry]] fans], arcanaloths look like anthropomorphic jackals and are known for managing the mercenary contracts that are the lifeblood of the yugolothic personal involvement in the [[Blood War]]. In essence, all contracts to hire yugoloths ultimately get approved by these guys. These guys are perhaps best known because they have two representative characters living in [[Sigil]]; A'kin the Friendly Fiend, a seemingly benevolent (not that anyone buys it) merchant, and [[Shemeshka]] the Marauder, aspiring to be the biggest wheeler-dealer in the Cage, who calls herself "King of the Crosstrade" and is famous as one of the first canonical non-cisgender NPCs -- she calls herself female, but her profile in the Sigil bigwig NPC splat "Uncaged: Faces of Sigil" depicts her with a ''male'' symbol, implying she's trans. Of course, according to ''Faces of Evil'', all yugoloths are hermaphrodites (<strike>not that the hypothetical sex of a fiend even matters, since fiends of all varieties "reproduce" by uplifting Maggots, which are the forms evil mortals take upon dying and arriving at any of the lower planes</strike>. Actually, yugoloths don't reproduce from maggots/larva. They procreate as mammals do, and when one dies, another mezzoloth is spat out, ensuring their numbers never decrease). By [[4e|4th edition D&D]] the publishers finally realized that [[Furry|jackal furries]] (only some of which even have horns) are just not daemonic enough, and so [[Retcon|retconned]] them to instead be the [[raavasta]] race (with distant yugoloth ancestry). If D&D publishers had actually put effort into making arcanadaemons, well, daemonic, they all would have had larger-than-merely-token horns, mange-exposed patches of diseased skin, and one or more additional monstrous/daemonic features (such as tentacles). But they didn't, so now they're back to being Yugoloth.
<gallery>
Arcanaloth 1e.jpg
Arcanaloth 2e.png
Arcanaloth 5e.png
</gallery>

*'''[[Ultroloth]]''': Unlike the pit fiends and balors of the devils and demons, respectively, the leaders of the yugoloths are thinking, scheming mages-sneaks that disguise their strength behind melted, emaciated, and shifting forms rather than roar into battle wreathed in flame. Unfortunately, the fact that ultroloths have zero daemonic features and instead look like <s>weather balloons</s> sci-fi aliens is much of why Balor demons and pit fiend devils better fascinated [[God|dungeon masters]] and [[murderhobos|players]] alike, whose cultural mythos is primarily [[Mythology#Abrahamic Mythology (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)|Abrahamic]]. Now imagine an ultroloth but with large horns and tentacles; much more daemonic, eh?
<gallery>
Ultroloth 1e.png
Ultroloth 2e.gif
Ultroloth 3e.png
Ultroloth 4e.jpg
Ultroloth 5e.png
</gallery>

===[[Altraloth]]s===
If they are willing to serve the [[Hag#Night_Hags|Night Hags]] for a specific purpose, a yugoloth can choose to undergo a ritual to become a powerful new being: an altraloth. In a long and painful ritual any yugoloth from mezzoloth to ultraloth can be turned into a new creature of superior power, but to do this they will have to enter a contract with the Night Hags and complete its terms before being freed. Most yugoloth chafe at this because they are not able to betray their new mistresses: hurting them will result in unspeakable pain for the altraloth, and if one of them were to die for any reason the altraloth perishes as well. As such, they are invested to the wellbeing of their masters and will do anything to protect them.

===[[Baernaloths]]===
Unverified ancient texts claim that baernaloths were the first [[Fiend|fiends]], and the origin of the other fiends. It's said that every individual powerful being in the Lower planes has a baernoloth hand in their origin, including the [[Obyrith]], who are said to have been lured to this multiverse in the first place by the Baernoloth. Those versions which TSR/WotC have published so far have sucked the papery scrotum of Hades himself. Homebrew versions exist online, though, worthy of these most primordial of fiends.

Notable because as the eldest evils native to the Great Wheel (save perhaps the [[Aboleth]]), they acquire various abilities from various sources over the eons in addition to the ones they already have just from being a baernoloth, and each one has a different set. Some of the more notable ones from the list include one where whatever being that kills them is transformed body and mind over time into the baernoloth they killed, one where they can summon ''any'' other individual fiend in all the lower planes, including a Demon Prince or Archdevil, one where they can spend a week meditating to grant themselves one unique ability, quality, attack, etc. from any other breed of fiend, and the ability to Dominate all evil creatures below CR 12 within 300ft of itself.

Also notable for spending their time doing nothing but tormenting other beings, and they don't even seem to take any joy in it. Oh they don't ''regret'' their actions in the slightest, it's just that in their minds, they exist to torment, and all other beings exist to be tormented.

<gallery>
Baernaloth.png
</gallery>

===[[Oinoloths]]===
The prefix ''oino''- means "one"; the word ''oinoloth'' is a title of the yugoloth ruler of [[Hades]], not a type of yugoloth, though the process of attaining the oinoloth title could conceivably involve a transformation.

...at least originally. now the being with the best claim to being "ruler of all yugoloth" is the General of Gehenna, assumed to be an ultraloth, and now oinoloths are just another type of yugoloth that specializes in disease.
<gallery>
Oinoloth 1e.jpg
Oinoloth 5e.png
</gallery>

==Yugoloth Lords==
Most active yugoloth lords are altraloths.

*'''[[Apomps]] the Three-Sided''' - baernaloth. Possibly is the creator and lord of the [[Demodand]]s.

*'''[[Anthraxus]] the Decayed''' - altraloth (and held oinoloth title)

*'''[[Bubonix]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[Charon]] (a.k.a. Cerlic)''' - altraloth

*'''[[Cholerix]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[The General of Gehenna]]''' - ultroloth (and probably an altraloth)

*'''[[Helekanalaith]]''' - arcanaloth

*'''[[Infestix]]''' - [[Gygax]]'s ''Come Endless Darkness'' novel posits that the first oinoloth Infestix and the deity [[Nerull]] were the same being.

*'''[[Mydianchlarus]]''' - ultroloth (and held oinoloth title)

*'''[[Taba]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[Typhus]]''' - altraloth

* '''[[Xengahra]]''' - altraloth

=See Also=
*[[Daemon (Pathfinder)]]
*[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition races]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Ultroloth Arcanaloth.webp
File:Yugoloths by the Styx.jpg
File:Canoloth Ultroloth.jpg
File:Zastava-yugo-311-1982-300300.jpg
</gallery>

{{D&D-Outsiders}}
[[Category:FAIL]]

Yugoloth

2021-04-20T16:26:00Z

2601:203:400:CE90:3105:35F0:99F7:4105: /* Lesser Yugoloths */

[[File:Yugoloth puppetmaster.png|thumb|right|[[Furries]]: the purest distillation of evil]]
Also known as '''[[Daemon#Dungeons_.26_Dragons_and_Pathfinder|daemons]]''' (no, not [[Daemon#Warhammer|''those'' Daemons]]), '''Yugoloths''' are the [[Alignment#Neutral_Evil|neutral evil]] grid-fill for the [[devils]] and [[demons]] in post-1980 [[Dungeons & Dragons]].

The first published were the Mezzodaemon and Nycadaemon of [[Drow trilogy|D3]], just chillin' in [[Erelhei-Cinlu]] as fiends do; whence they went into the [[Fiend Folio]], and then got more buddies in the second Monster Manual. A decade later [[2e]] did to daemonkind what it did to the [[Baatezu]] and [[Tanar'ri]] (and [[Demodand|Gehreleth]]), changing the name to some babble, because it SOUNDED too much like "demon" for [[Lorraine Williams]] to allow in an [[RPG]].

But in this (rare) case That Woman had a point. Their name was always redundant with "demon"; and as spelled out, it conflicts with the ancient Greek word for “spirit” or even "lesser god" - Socrates had a daemon with him, for instance. And the eeevil daemons never enjoyed anything like the popularity as the two major fiendish races on either side, nor were they as well known. Her name-change didn't help their case, though. We'll get to some reasons why not.

Originally the Neutral Evil outworlders daemons got allocated to the Gray Waste of [[Hades]], though ''[[Planescape]]'' shifted most of them to [[Gehenna]] because Hades really sucks. In 5e this has actually been retconned into their ''home plane'' for some fucking reason.

Yugoloths embody the platonic idea of Evil itself. Not “evil”, mind you, but capital-e Evil. They lie, cheat, and betray for its own sake, and generally seek to cause as much suffering and hate as possible to everyone. Whereas the demons embody anarchy, and the devils embody tyranny, the yugoloth embody sociopathy. They're kind of dicks like that. They act as mercenaries (primarily in the [[Blood War]], but they'll work for anyone who can meet their price, even their polar opposites the [[guardinal|Guardinals]]), constantly switching sides between the factions involved in whatever conflict they were paid to fight in (this can happen multiple times in a single battle). In fact, there are conspiracy theories that ''they'' are the original fiends and/or that they're the ones who started the Blood War and are playing it to their own end.

The term "Yugoloth" is still being used in 5th edition even though "[[Baatezu]]" and "[[Tanar'ri]]" and other terms for evil outsiders which 2nd edition had pulled out of Lorraine's fat ass were dropped. As noted, "daemon" never was a good name for them.

=Why The Yugoloths Are [[FAIL]]=
As to why the Yugoloths own the Great Wheel's Wooden Spoon (as Victorians called it), behind Law's and Chaos': A philosophical reason might be that "pure" evil without a desire to destroy or dominate doesn't actually seem likely to do much of anything with real consequences. A narrative-based reason might be that demons and devils are more easily contrasted with each other. A more realistic reason for their low profile is that they're just really boring, having failed to tap into the predominant [[Mythology#Abrahamic_Mythology (Judaism,_Christianity,_Islam)|Abrahamic mythos]] the way that tanar'ri demons and baatezu devils did. The Archdemons are some of the [[Baphomet|biggest]], [[Orcus|baddest]], and [[Lamashtu|most horrifying]] creatures in the entire setting, while the ruler of the Nine Hells is a [[Creed|strategic mastermind]] who pretends to be The God-Fiend of the Pit, Master of Slavery and Tyranny because that is ''less'' threatening than [[Asmodeus|what he really is]]. Not to mention a wide variety of lesser demons who are iconic, terrifying, and awesome. Despite the fact that in Gygax's ''Come Endless Darkness'' novel the oinoloth Infestix and the deity [[Nerull]] are the same being, [[Lorraine_Williams|the sociopathic bitch]] had already ousted [[Gygax|D&D founder Gary Gygax]] from [[TSR]] so Nerull-as-Infestix was never included in published game materials; yugoloths have fewer interesting leaders (about which very little is known), just a city that moves around or some shit. Forget these assholes and get back to headbutting pit fiends in [[Baator]]; D&D publishers dropped the ball by not publishing a neutral evil [https://d20npcs.fandom.com/wiki/Bale_Fiend ''bale fiend''] yugoloth, which would have fit perfectly in [[Planescape]]'s notion that yugoloths were the origin of the other [[Fiend|fiends]].
[[Image:Yugoloths.png|400px|thumb|right|Planescape's cattle call]]
Yugoloths' heyday was ''Planescape'', where they met an actual niche as the [[Blood War]]'s profiteers. But here they were battling hags for market-share. And then they lost even that in 3e and beyond.

With [[Planescape]] not getting an official 3.x release, and the Blood War thusly getting a lot less shilling, the yugoloths were mostly forgotten aside from the occasional update in a [[Monster Manual]]. In [[4e]] they lost their whole reason to exist with the almost non-existent Blood War and were instead made a subtype of Demon. The jackal-like Arcanoloths were even divorced entirely from the Daemon family tree and made an entirely new species of scheming, manipulative evil immortals called [[Raavasta]].

In [[5e]], Yugoloths were created by the Baatezu in order to combat the Tanar'ri. However, the Baatezu lost control of them, and now they're a mercenary fiend race giving their help wherever the most profit is to be made.

Pathfinder avoided the Yugoloth name for copyright reasons, with their [[Daemon_(Pathfinder)|daemons]] becoming an omnicidal race lead by (a version of) the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But after the ''Legacy of Fire'' [[Adventure Path]] introduced [[Divs]]... why even bother?

Truly the yugoloth is well named, to sum up; putting a daemon in your campaign is like driving to prom in a 1982 Yugo.

=If You Gotta Use 'Em=
Whereas devils are living embodiments of oppressive tyranny and demons living embodiments of mayhem and anarchy, the Yugoloth are living embodiments of opportunistic sociopathy. Whereas the mind of a devil or demon is sufficiently diluted by law or chaos for them to care about a larger cause (multiversal conquest and destruction, respectively), a Yugoloth doesn't give a crap about anything other than its own well being and agenda. Which, if one thinks about it, should ironically make them far more amiable and cooperative than either demons or devils, since they wouldn't give two rat's asses about where their pay is coming from, so long as their price is being met (and woe betide any moron who should try to stiff them).

As for deals: Devils of course prefer rigidly formal contracts with maximized loopholes (on their side of the deal) and Fine Print (on the other side), so it would stand to reason that demons, when they bother to enter such a relationship at all instead of simply killing you, would prefer informal agreements and promises with flexible and non-binging terms. Yugoloth, then, would go with either one or something in between, whichever they'd think would benefit them most at the time. Also, you probably shouldn't pay them up front, in which case they might just take then money, kill you, and take the rest of your stuff.

In other words, they're murderhobos but smarter.

==As Player Characters (LOL)==
It should come as no surprise that the same edition of D&D that made [[neogi]], [[unbodied|flying ghost brains]], [[maug|extraplanar robots]], [[mind flayer]]s, and the [[ixitxachitl]] playable or pseudo-playable also took a shot at making Yugoloths playable. Specifically, the ''Canoloth'', of all variants, was given a level adjustment in the 2001 [[Manual of the Planes]], although between the adjustment and racial hit dice they're largely still unplayable.

==The Truest Fiends==
The Yugoloth maintain a number of strongholds on the Lower Planes. Their biggest one is the Crawling City making its way on the slopes of Gehenna. Here the General of Gehenna, the leader of the Yugoloth, holds his court and plots against the Multiverse itself. Also on Gehenna is the Tower Arcane, where the Arcanoloth record all the deals made with mortals and Outsiders alike. Hades houses Khin-Oin, a massive tower allegendly made from the spine of a deity the Yugoloth killed. Here many of the soldiers of the Yugoloth armies live and train. Finally there is the Tower of Incarnate Pain, which is still under construction in [[Carceri]]. Made from the screaming bodies of petitioners and the skin of a dead god, the Yugoloth intend to use the tower to link their two other towers and obtain considerable power that way. The native inhabitants of Carceri, the [[Demodand|Gehreleth]] do not agree with this and frequently attack the tower to tear it down. Without their attacks the Yugoloth would have been done centuries ago, but because of the actions of the Gehreleth they are far behind on schedule. While the fiends are very limited in number and the Yugoloth could easily crush them with a superior force, they do not do this because it would draw too much attention to their secret project.

==The Shapes of Evil==
===Yugoloth Creations===
*'''[[Canoloth]]s''' eyeless quadrupedal guard dog yugoloth with the tongue <s>you wish your boyfriend had</s> of a chameleon. the area around them is a no-teleport-zone. Depending on the contract, being caught by a Canoloth either means death or him siting on you until the big man comes to get you.
<gallery>
Canoloth 2e.gif
Canoloth 3e.png
Canoloth 4e.jpg
Canoloth-5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Guardian Yugoloth]]s:''' Least, Lesser, Greater.
<gallery>
Guardian Yugoloth 1e.jpg
Guardian yugoloth MM 2e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Battleloth]]s:''' Arrow, Axe, Crossbow, Pick, Spiked Chain, Sword.
<gallery>
Battleloth.png
</gallery>

===Lesser Yugoloths===
*'''[[Mezzoloth]]''': Mid-ranking bug monsters. Are the proper foot soldiers. Really like money and violence. Most notable for dropping massed Cloudkill spells.
<gallery>
Mezzoloth 1e.jpg
Mezzoloth 2e.gif
Mezzoloth 3e.jpg
Mezzoloth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Dergholoth]]''' (also spelled Dhergoloth): Remarkably ridiculous four-armed insectoids in D&D; their heads don't turn, but their entire torso whirls about wildly. [[Pathfinder]]'s [[Daemon_(Pathfinder)#Derghodaemon|derghodaemons]] however look like nightmares of Ginsu blades that could vivisect you before you could even scream. They love slaughter and will often fumble complicated orders (on purpose).
<gallery>
Dergholoth 1e.png
Dergholoth 2e.png
Dergholoth 3e.jpg
Dergholoth 4e.jpg
Dergholoth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Piscoloth]]''': If [[Cthulhu]] and a lobster had a lovechild, it would be a piscoloth.
<gallery>
Piscoloth 1e.png
Piscoloth 2e.gif
Piscoloth 3e.jpg
Piscoloth 4e.jpg
</gallery>
*'''[[Hydroloth]]''': Flying frog monsters. Take dips into the Styx, which makes their minds both scrambled and unreadable. Trade in information, ironically.
<gallery>
Hydroloth 1e.jpg
Hydroloth 2e.jpg
Hydroloth 4e.jpg
Hydroloth 5e.jpg
</gallery>
*'''[[Yagnoloth]]''': Goofy-looking lopsided freaks, yagnoloths bear much of the blame for why D&D aficionados typically regard tanar'ri and baatezu as cooler than yugoloths. Is a lieutenant over other lesser yugoloths, being a mediator for contract signing when it's not worth an Arcanaloth's time.
<gallery>
Yagnoloth 1e.png
Yagnoloth 2e.gif
Yagnoloth 4e.jpg
Yagnoloth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Marraenoloth]]''' (also spelled Merrenoloth): Boatmen of the Styx. Loyal to their boats and nothing else.
<gallery>
Merrenoloth 1e.jpg
Merrenoloth 2e.jpg
Merrenoloth 5e.jpg
</gallery>

===Greater Yugoloths===

*'''[[Nycaloth]]''' : Classically horned and draconian winged fiends. Headsmen and executioners. They're large, brutish, and carry vorpal axes. In [[3e|3rd edition D&D]] nycaloths gained the distinction of having four arms. Although Nycaloths' combat abilities are some of the most underhanded among Yugoloths, they can be one of the most loyal Yugoloths if treated well (well you're going to have to bribe them quadruple their usual pay instead of the usual double).
<gallery>
Nycaloth 1e.jpg
Nycadaemon Monster card.jpg
Nycaloth 2e.gif
Nycaloth 3e.jpg
Nycaloth 5e.png
</gallery>

*'''[[Arcanaloth]]''': Probably the most famous of the yugoloth species [at least among [[furry]] fans], arcanaloths look like anthropomorphic jackals and are known for managing the mercenary contracts that are the lifeblood of the yugolothic personal involvement in the [[Blood War]]. In essence, all contracts to hire yugoloths ultimately get approved by these guys. These guys are perhaps best known because they have two representative characters living in [[Sigil]]; A'kin the Friendly Fiend, a seemingly benevolent (not that anyone buys it) merchant, and [[Shemeshka]] the Marauder, aspiring to be the biggest wheeler-dealer in the Cage, who calls herself "King of the Crosstrade" and is famous as one of the first canonical non-cisgender NPCs -- she calls herself female, but her profile in the Sigil bigwig NPC splat "Uncaged: Faces of Sigil" depicts her with a ''male'' symbol, implying she's trans. Of course, according to ''Faces of Evil'', all yugoloths are hermaphrodites (<strike>not that the hypothetical sex of a fiend even matters, since fiends of all varieties "reproduce" by uplifting Maggots, which are the forms evil mortals take upon dying and arriving at any of the lower planes</strike>. Actually, yugoloths don't reproduce from maggots/larva. They procreate as mammals do, and when one dies, another mezzoloth is spat out, ensuring their numbers never decrease). By [[4e|4th edition D&D]] the publishers finally realized that [[Furry|jackal furries]] (only some of which even have horns) are just not daemonic enough, and so [[Retcon|retconned]] them to instead be the [[raavasta]] race (with distant yugoloth ancestry). If D&D publishers had actually put effort into making arcanadaemons, well, daemonic, they all would have had larger-than-merely-token horns, mange-exposed patches of diseased skin, and one or more additional monstrous/daemonic features (such as tentacles). But they didn't, so now they're back to being Yugoloth.
<gallery>
Arcanaloth 1e.jpg
Arcanaloth 2e.png
Arcanaloth 5e.png
</gallery>

*'''[[Ultroloth]]''': Unlike the pit fiends and balors of the devils and demons, respectively, the leaders of the yugoloths are thinking, scheming mages-sneaks that disguise their strength behind melted, emaciated, and shifting forms rather than roar into battle wreathed in flame. Unfortunately, the fact that ultroloths have zero daemonic features and instead look like <s>weather balloons</s> sci-fi aliens is much of why Balor demons and pit fiend devils better fascinated [[God|dungeon masters]] and [[murderhobos|players]] alike, whose cultural mythos is primarily [[Mythology#Abrahamic Mythology (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)|Abrahamic]]. Now imagine an ultroloth but with large horns and tentacles; much more daemonic, eh?
<gallery>
Ultroloth 1e.png
Ultroloth 2e.gif
Ultroloth 3e.png
Ultroloth 4e.jpg
Ultroloth 5e.png
</gallery>

===[[Altraloth]]s===
If they are willing to serve the [[Hag#Night_Hags|Night Hags]] for a specific purpose, a yugoloth can choose to undergo a ritual to become a powerful new being: an altraloth. In a long and painful ritual any yugoloth from mezzoloth to ultraloth can be turned into a new creature of superior power, but to do this they will have to enter a contract with the Night Hags and complete its terms before being freed. Most yugoloth chafe at this because they are not able to betray their new mistresses: hurting them will result in unspeakable pain for the altraloth, and if one of them were to die for any reason the altraloth perishes as well. As such, they are invested to the wellbeing of their masters and will do anything to protect them.

===[[Baernaloths]]===
Unverified ancient texts claim that baernaloths were the first [[Fiend|fiends]], and the origin of the other fiends. It's said that every individual powerful being in the Lower planes has a baernoloth hand in their origin, including the [[Obyrith]], who are said to have been lured to this multiverse in the first place by the Baernoloth. Those versions which TSR/WotC have published so far have sucked the papery scrotum of Hades himself. Homebrew versions exist online, though, worthy of these most primordial of fiends.

Notable because as the eldest evils native to the Great Wheel (save perhaps the [[Aboleth]]), they acquire various abilities from various sources over the eons in addition to the ones they already have just from being a baernoloth, and each one has a different set. Some of the more notable ones from the list include one where whatever being that kills them is transformed body and mind over time into the baernoloth they killed, one where they can summon ''any'' other individual fiend in all the lower planes, including a Demon Prince or Archdevil, one where they can spend a week meditating to grant themselves one unique ability, quality, attack, etc. from any other breed of fiend, and the ability to Dominate all evil creatures below CR 12 within 300ft of itself.

Also notable for spending their time doing nothing but tormenting other beings, and they don't even seem to take any joy in it. Oh they don't ''regret'' their actions in the slightest, it's just that in their minds, they exist to torment, and all other beings exist to be tormented.

<gallery>
Baernaloth.png
</gallery>

===[[Oinoloths]]===
The prefix ''oino''- means "one"; the word ''oinoloth'' is a title of the yugoloth ruler of [[Hades]], not a type of yugoloth, though the process of attaining the oinoloth title could conceivably involve a transformation.

...at least originally. now the being with the best claim to being "ruler of all yugoloth" is the General of Gehenna, assumed to be an ultraloth, and now oinoloths are just another type of yugoloth that specializes in disease.
<gallery>
Oinoloth 1e.jpg
Oinoloth 5e.png
</gallery>

==Yugoloth Lords==
Most active yugoloth lords are altraloths.

*'''[[Apomps]] the Three-Sided''' - baernaloth. Possibly is the creator and lord of the [[Demodand]]s.

*'''[[Anthraxus]] the Decayed''' - altraloth (and held oinoloth title)

*'''[[Bubonix]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[Charon]] (a.k.a. Cerlic)''' - altraloth

*'''[[Cholerix]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[The General of Gehenna]]''' - ultroloth (and probably an altraloth)

*'''[[Helekanalaith]]''' - arcanaloth

*'''[[Infestix]]''' - [[Gygax]]'s ''Come Endless Darkness'' novel posits that the first oinoloth Infestix and the deity [[Nerull]] were the same being.

*'''[[Mydianchlarus]]''' - ultroloth (and held oinoloth title)

*'''[[Taba]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[Typhus]]''' - altraloth

* '''[[Xengahra]]''' - altraloth

=See Also=
*[[Daemon (Pathfinder)]]
*[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition races]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Ultroloth Arcanaloth.webp
File:Yugoloths by the Styx.jpg
File:Canoloth Ultroloth.jpg
File:Zastava-yugo-311-1982-300300.jpg
</gallery>

{{D&D-Outsiders}}
[[Category:FAIL]]

Yugoloth

2021-04-20T16:22:48Z

2601:203:400:CE90:3105:35F0:99F7:4105: /* The Shapes of Evil */ I'm sorry but is English not your first language?

[[File:Yugoloth puppetmaster.png|thumb|right|[[Furries]]: the purest distillation of evil]]
Also known as '''[[Daemon#Dungeons_.26_Dragons_and_Pathfinder|daemons]]''' (no, not [[Daemon#Warhammer|''those'' Daemons]]), '''Yugoloths''' are the [[Alignment#Neutral_Evil|neutral evil]] grid-fill for the [[devils]] and [[demons]] in post-1980 [[Dungeons & Dragons]].

The first published were the Mezzodaemon and Nycadaemon of [[Drow trilogy|D3]], just chillin' in [[Erelhei-Cinlu]] as fiends do; whence they went into the [[Fiend Folio]], and then got more buddies in the second Monster Manual. A decade later [[2e]] did to daemonkind what it did to the [[Baatezu]] and [[Tanar'ri]] (and [[Demodand|Gehreleth]]), changing the name to some babble, because it SOUNDED too much like "demon" for [[Lorraine Williams]] to allow in an [[RPG]].

But in this (rare) case That Woman had a point. Their name was always redundant with "demon"; and as spelled out, it conflicts with the ancient Greek word for “spirit” or even "lesser god" - Socrates had a daemon with him, for instance. And the eeevil daemons never enjoyed anything like the popularity as the two major fiendish races on either side, nor were they as well known. Her name-change didn't help their case, though. We'll get to some reasons why not.

Originally the Neutral Evil outworlders daemons got allocated to the Gray Waste of [[Hades]], though ''[[Planescape]]'' shifted most of them to [[Gehenna]] because Hades really sucks. In 5e this has actually been retconned into their ''home plane'' for some fucking reason.

Yugoloths embody the platonic idea of Evil itself. Not “evil”, mind you, but capital-e Evil. They lie, cheat, and betray for its own sake, and generally seek to cause as much suffering and hate as possible to everyone. Whereas the demons embody anarchy, and the devils embody tyranny, the yugoloth embody sociopathy. They're kind of dicks like that. They act as mercenaries (primarily in the [[Blood War]], but they'll work for anyone who can meet their price, even their polar opposites the [[guardinal|Guardinals]]), constantly switching sides between the factions involved in whatever conflict they were paid to fight in (this can happen multiple times in a single battle). In fact, there are conspiracy theories that ''they'' are the original fiends and/or that they're the ones who started the Blood War and are playing it to their own end.

The term "Yugoloth" is still being used in 5th edition even though "[[Baatezu]]" and "[[Tanar'ri]]" and other terms for evil outsiders which 2nd edition had pulled out of Lorraine's fat ass were dropped. As noted, "daemon" never was a good name for them.

=Why The Yugoloths Are [[FAIL]]=
As to why the Yugoloths own the Great Wheel's Wooden Spoon (as Victorians called it), behind Law's and Chaos': A philosophical reason might be that "pure" evil without a desire to destroy or dominate doesn't actually seem likely to do much of anything with real consequences. A narrative-based reason might be that demons and devils are more easily contrasted with each other. A more realistic reason for their low profile is that they're just really boring, having failed to tap into the predominant [[Mythology#Abrahamic_Mythology (Judaism,_Christianity,_Islam)|Abrahamic mythos]] the way that tanar'ri demons and baatezu devils did. The Archdemons are some of the [[Baphomet|biggest]], [[Orcus|baddest]], and [[Lamashtu|most horrifying]] creatures in the entire setting, while the ruler of the Nine Hells is a [[Creed|strategic mastermind]] who pretends to be The God-Fiend of the Pit, Master of Slavery and Tyranny because that is ''less'' threatening than [[Asmodeus|what he really is]]. Not to mention a wide variety of lesser demons who are iconic, terrifying, and awesome. Despite the fact that in Gygax's ''Come Endless Darkness'' novel the oinoloth Infestix and the deity [[Nerull]] are the same being, [[Lorraine_Williams|the sociopathic bitch]] had already ousted [[Gygax|D&D founder Gary Gygax]] from [[TSR]] so Nerull-as-Infestix was never included in published game materials; yugoloths have fewer interesting leaders (about which very little is known), just a city that moves around or some shit. Forget these assholes and get back to headbutting pit fiends in [[Baator]]; D&D publishers dropped the ball by not publishing a neutral evil [https://d20npcs.fandom.com/wiki/Bale_Fiend ''bale fiend''] yugoloth, which would have fit perfectly in [[Planescape]]'s notion that yugoloths were the origin of the other [[Fiend|fiends]].
[[Image:Yugoloths.png|400px|thumb|right|Planescape's cattle call]]
Yugoloths' heyday was ''Planescape'', where they met an actual niche as the [[Blood War]]'s profiteers. But here they were battling hags for market-share. And then they lost even that in 3e and beyond.

With [[Planescape]] not getting an official 3.x release, and the Blood War thusly getting a lot less shilling, the yugoloths were mostly forgotten aside from the occasional update in a [[Monster Manual]]. In [[4e]] they lost their whole reason to exist with the almost non-existent Blood War and were instead made a subtype of Demon. The jackal-like Arcanoloths were even divorced entirely from the Daemon family tree and made an entirely new species of scheming, manipulative evil immortals called [[Raavasta]].

In [[5e]], Yugoloths were created by the Baatezu in order to combat the Tanar'ri. However, the Baatezu lost control of them, and now they're a mercenary fiend race giving their help wherever the most profit is to be made.

Pathfinder avoided the Yugoloth name for copyright reasons, with their [[Daemon_(Pathfinder)|daemons]] becoming an omnicidal race lead by (a version of) the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But after the ''Legacy of Fire'' [[Adventure Path]] introduced [[Divs]]... why even bother?

Truly the yugoloth is well named, to sum up; putting a daemon in your campaign is like driving to prom in a 1982 Yugo.

=If You Gotta Use 'Em=
Whereas devils are living embodiments of oppressive tyranny and demons living embodiments of mayhem and anarchy, the Yugoloth are living embodiments of opportunistic sociopathy. Whereas the mind of a devil or demon is sufficiently diluted by law or chaos for them to care about a larger cause (multiversal conquest and destruction, respectively), a Yugoloth doesn't give a crap about anything other than its own well being and agenda. Which, if one thinks about it, should ironically make them far more amiable and cooperative than either demons or devils, since they wouldn't give two rat's asses about where their pay is coming from, so long as their price is being met (and woe betide any moron who should try to stiff them).

As for deals: Devils of course prefer rigidly formal contracts with maximized loopholes (on their side of the deal) and Fine Print (on the other side), so it would stand to reason that demons, when they bother to enter such a relationship at all instead of simply killing you, would prefer informal agreements and promises with flexible and non-binging terms. Yugoloth, then, would go with either one or something in between, whichever they'd think would benefit them most at the time. Also, you probably shouldn't pay them up front, in which case they might just take then money, kill you, and take the rest of your stuff.

In other words, they're murderhobos but smarter.

==As Player Characters (LOL)==
It should come as no surprise that the same edition of D&D that made [[neogi]], [[unbodied|flying ghost brains]], [[maug|extraplanar robots]], [[mind flayer]]s, and the [[ixitxachitl]] playable or pseudo-playable also took a shot at making Yugoloths playable. Specifically, the ''Canoloth'', of all variants, was given a level adjustment in the 2001 [[Manual of the Planes]], although between the adjustment and racial hit dice they're largely still unplayable.

==The Truest Fiends==
The Yugoloth maintain a number of strongholds on the Lower Planes. Their biggest one is the Crawling City making its way on the slopes of Gehenna. Here the General of Gehenna, the leader of the Yugoloth, holds his court and plots against the Multiverse itself. Also on Gehenna is the Tower Arcane, where the Arcanoloth record all the deals made with mortals and Outsiders alike. Hades houses Khin-Oin, a massive tower allegendly made from the spine of a deity the Yugoloth killed. Here many of the soldiers of the Yugoloth armies live and train. Finally there is the Tower of Incarnate Pain, which is still under construction in [[Carceri]]. Made from the screaming bodies of petitioners and the skin of a dead god, the Yugoloth intend to use the tower to link their two other towers and obtain considerable power that way. The native inhabitants of Carceri, the [[Demodand|Gehreleth]] do not agree with this and frequently attack the tower to tear it down. Without their attacks the Yugoloth would have been done centuries ago, but because of the actions of the Gehreleth they are far behind on schedule. While the fiends are very limited in number and the Yugoloth could easily crush them with a superior force, they do not do this because it would draw too much attention to their secret project.

==The Shapes of Evil==
===Yugoloth Creations===
*'''[[Canoloth]]s''' eyeless quadrupedal guard dog yugoloth with the tongue <s>you wish your boyfriend had</s> of a chameleon. the area around them is a no-teleport-zone. Depending on the contract, being caught by a Canoloth either means death or him siting on you until the big man comes to get you.
<gallery>
Canoloth 2e.gif
Canoloth 3e.png
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</gallery>
*'''[[Guardian Yugoloth]]s:''' Least, Lesser, Greater.
<gallery>
Guardian Yugoloth 1e.jpg
Guardian yugoloth MM 2e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Battleloth]]s:''' Arrow, Axe, Crossbow, Pick, Spiked Chain, Sword.
<gallery>
Battleloth.png
</gallery>

===Lesser Yugoloths===
*'''[[Mezzoloth]]''': Mid-ranking bug monsters. Are the proper foot soldiers. Really like money and violence. Most notable for dropping massed Cloudkill spells.
<gallery>
Mezzoloth 1e.jpg
Mezzoloth 2e.gif
Mezzoloth 3e.jpg
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</gallery>
*'''[[Dergholoth]]''' (also spelled Dhergoloth): Remarkably ridiculous four-armed insectoids in D&D; their heads don't turn, but their entire torso whirls about wildly. [[Pathfinder]]'s [[Daemon_(Pathfinder)#Derghodaemon|derghodaemons]] however look like nightmares of Ginsu blades that could vivisect you before you could even scream. They love slaughter and will often fumble complicated orders (on purpose).
<gallery>
Dergholoth 1e.png
Dergholoth 2e.png
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</gallery>
*'''[[Piscoloth]]''': If [[Cthulhu]] and a lobster had a lovechild, it would be a piscoloth.
<gallery>
Piscoloth 1e.png
Piscoloth 2e.gif
Piscoloth 3e.jpg
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</gallery>
*'''[[Hydroloth]]''': Flying frog monsters. Take dips into the Styx, which makes their minds both scrambled and unreadable. Trade in information, ironically.
<gallery>
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*'''[[Yagnoloth]]''': Goofy-looking lopsided freaks, yagnoloths bear much of the blame for why D&D aficionados typically regard tanar'ri and baatezu as cooler than yugoloths. is a lieutenant over other lesser yagnoloth, being a mediator for contract signing when it's not worth an Arcanaloth's time.
<gallery>
Yagnoloth 1e.png
Yagnoloth 2e.gif
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</gallery>
*'''[[Marraenoloth]]''' (also spelled Merrenoloth): Boatmen of the Styx. Loyal to their boats and nothing else.
<gallery>
Merrenoloth 1e.jpg
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</gallery>

===Greater Yugoloths===

*'''[[Nycaloth]]''' : Classically horned and draconian winged fiends. Headsmen and executioners. They're large, brutish, and carry vorpal axes. In [[3e|3rd edition D&D]] nycaloths gained the distinction of having four arms. Although Nycaloths' combat abilities are some of the most underhanded among Yugoloths, they can be one of the most loyal Yugoloths if treated well (well you're going to have to bribe them quadruple their usual pay instead of the usual double).
<gallery>
Nycaloth 1e.jpg
Nycadaemon Monster card.jpg
Nycaloth 2e.gif
Nycaloth 3e.jpg
Nycaloth 5e.png
</gallery>

*'''[[Arcanaloth]]''': Probably the most famous of the yugoloth species [at least among [[furry]] fans], arcanaloths look like anthropomorphic jackals and are known for managing the mercenary contracts that are the lifeblood of the yugolothic personal involvement in the [[Blood War]]. In essence, all contracts to hire yugoloths ultimately get approved by these guys. These guys are perhaps best known because they have two representative characters living in [[Sigil]]; A'kin the Friendly Fiend, a seemingly benevolent (not that anyone buys it) merchant, and [[Shemeshka]] the Marauder, aspiring to be the biggest wheeler-dealer in the Cage, who calls herself "King of the Crosstrade" and is famous as one of the first canonical non-cisgender NPCs -- she calls herself female, but her profile in the Sigil bigwig NPC splat "Uncaged: Faces of Sigil" depicts her with a ''male'' symbol, implying she's trans. Of course, according to ''Faces of Evil'', all yugoloths are hermaphrodites (<strike>not that the hypothetical sex of a fiend even matters, since fiends of all varieties "reproduce" by uplifting Maggots, which are the forms evil mortals take upon dying and arriving at any of the lower planes</strike>. Actually, yugoloths don't reproduce from maggots/larva. They procreate as mammals do, and when one dies, another mezzoloth is spat out, ensuring their numbers never decrease). By [[4e|4th edition D&D]] the publishers finally realized that [[Furry|jackal furries]] (only some of which even have horns) are just not daemonic enough, and so [[Retcon|retconned]] them to instead be the [[raavasta]] race (with distant yugoloth ancestry). If D&D publishers had actually put effort into making arcanadaemons, well, daemonic, they all would have had larger-than-merely-token horns, mange-exposed patches of diseased skin, and one or more additional monstrous/daemonic features (such as tentacles). But they didn't, so now they're back to being Yugoloth.
<gallery>
Arcanaloth 1e.jpg
Arcanaloth 2e.png
Arcanaloth 5e.png
</gallery>

*'''[[Ultroloth]]''': Unlike the pit fiends and balors of the devils and demons, respectively, the leaders of the yugoloths are thinking, scheming mages-sneaks that disguise their strength behind melted, emaciated, and shifting forms rather than roar into battle wreathed in flame. Unfortunately, the fact that ultroloths have zero daemonic features and instead look like <s>weather balloons</s> sci-fi aliens is much of why Balor demons and pit fiend devils better fascinated [[God|dungeon masters]] and [[murderhobos|players]] alike, whose cultural mythos is primarily [[Mythology#Abrahamic Mythology (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)|Abrahamic]]. Now imagine an ultroloth but with large horns and tentacles; much more daemonic, eh?
<gallery>
Ultroloth 1e.png
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</gallery>

===[[Altraloth]]s===
If they are willing to serve the [[Hag#Night_Hags|Night Hags]] for a specific purpose, a yugoloth can choose to undergo a ritual to become a powerful new being: an altraloth. In a long and painful ritual any yugoloth from mezzoloth to ultraloth can be turned into a new creature of superior power, but to do this they will have to enter a contract with the Night Hags and complete its terms before being freed. Most yugoloth chafe at this because they are not able to betray their new mistresses: hurting them will result in unspeakable pain for the altraloth, and if one of them were to die for any reason the altraloth perishes as well. As such, they are invested to the wellbeing of their masters and will do anything to protect them.

===[[Baernaloths]]===
Unverified ancient texts claim that baernaloths were the first [[Fiend|fiends]], and the origin of the other fiends. It's said that every individual powerful being in the Lower planes has a baernoloth hand in their origin, including the [[Obyrith]], who are said to have been lured to this multiverse in the first place by the Baernoloth. Those versions which TSR/WotC have published so far have sucked the papery scrotum of Hades himself. Homebrew versions exist online, though, worthy of these most primordial of fiends.

Notable because as the eldest evils native to the Great Wheel (save perhaps the [[Aboleth]]), they acquire various abilities from various sources over the eons in addition to the ones they already have just from being a baernoloth, and each one has a different set. Some of the more notable ones from the list include one where whatever being that kills them is transformed body and mind over time into the baernoloth they killed, one where they can summon ''any'' other individual fiend in all the lower planes, including a Demon Prince or Archdevil, one where they can spend a week meditating to grant themselves one unique ability, quality, attack, etc. from any other breed of fiend, and the ability to Dominate all evil creatures below CR 12 within 300ft of itself.

Also notable for spending their time doing nothing but tormenting other beings, and they don't even seem to take any joy in it. Oh they don't ''regret'' their actions in the slightest, it's just that in their minds, they exist to torment, and all other beings exist to be tormented.

<gallery>
Baernaloth.png
</gallery>

===[[Oinoloths]]===
The prefix ''oino''- means "one"; the word ''oinoloth'' is a title of the yugoloth ruler of [[Hades]], not a type of yugoloth, though the process of attaining the oinoloth title could conceivably involve a transformation.

...at least originally. now the being with the best claim to being "ruler of all yugoloth" is the General of Gehenna, assumed to be an ultraloth, and now oinoloths are just another type of yugoloth that specializes in disease.
<gallery>
Oinoloth 1e.jpg
Oinoloth 5e.png
</gallery>

==Yugoloth Lords==
Most active yugoloth lords are altraloths.

*'''[[Apomps]] the Three-Sided''' - baernaloth. Possibly is the creator and lord of the [[Demodand]]s.

*'''[[Anthraxus]] the Decayed''' - altraloth (and held oinoloth title)

*'''[[Bubonix]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[Charon]] (a.k.a. Cerlic)''' - altraloth

*'''[[Cholerix]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[The General of Gehenna]]''' - ultroloth (and probably an altraloth)

*'''[[Helekanalaith]]''' - arcanaloth

*'''[[Infestix]]''' - [[Gygax]]'s ''Come Endless Darkness'' novel posits that the first oinoloth Infestix and the deity [[Nerull]] were the same being.

*'''[[Mydianchlarus]]''' - ultroloth (and held oinoloth title)

*'''[[Taba]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[Typhus]]''' - altraloth

* '''[[Xengahra]]''' - altraloth

=See Also=
*[[Daemon (Pathfinder)]]
*[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition races]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Ultroloth Arcanaloth.webp
File:Yugoloths by the Styx.jpg
File:Canoloth Ultroloth.jpg
File:Zastava-yugo-311-1982-300300.jpg
</gallery>

{{D&D-Outsiders}}
[[Category:FAIL]]

Yugoloth

2021-04-20T16:04:23Z

2601:203:400:CE90:3105:35F0:99F7:4105: /* Lesser Yugoloths */ learn to spell

[[File:Yugoloth puppetmaster.png|thumb|right|[[Furries]]: the purest distillation of evil]]
Also known as '''[[Daemon#Dungeons_.26_Dragons_and_Pathfinder|daemons]]''' (no, not [[Daemon#Warhammer|''those'' Daemons]]), '''Yugoloths''' are the [[Alignment#Neutral_Evil|neutral evil]] grid-fill for the [[devils]] and [[demons]] in post-1980 [[Dungeons & Dragons]].

The first published were the Mezzodaemon and Nycadaemon of [[Drow trilogy|D3]], just chillin' in [[Erelhei-Cinlu]] as fiends do; whence they went into the [[Fiend Folio]], and then got more buddies in the second Monster Manual. A decade later [[2e]] did to daemonkind what it did to the [[Baatezu]] and [[Tanar'ri]] (and [[Demodand|Gehreleth]]), changing the name to some babble, because it SOUNDED too much like "demon" for [[Lorraine Williams]] to allow in an [[RPG]].

But in this (rare) case That Woman had a point. Their name was always redundant with "demon"; and as spelled out, it conflicts with the ancient Greek word for “spirit” or even "lesser god" - Socrates had a daemon with him, for instance. And the eeevil daemons never enjoyed anything like the popularity as the two major fiendish races on either side, nor were they as well known. Her name-change didn't help their case, though. We'll get to some reasons why not.

Originally the Neutral Evil outworlders daemons got allocated to the Gray Waste of [[Hades]], though ''[[Planescape]]'' shifted most of them to [[Gehenna]] because Hades really sucks. In 5e this has actually been retconned into their ''home plane'' for some fucking reason.

Yugoloths embody the platonic idea of Evil itself. Not “evil”, mind you, but capital-e Evil. They lie, cheat, and betray for its own sake, and generally seek to cause as much suffering and hate as possible to everyone. Whereas the demons embody anarchy, and the devils embody tyranny, the yugoloth embody sociopathy. They're kind of dicks like that. They act as mercenaries (primarily in the [[Blood War]], but they'll work for anyone who can meet their price, even their polar opposites the [[guardinal|Guardinals]]), constantly switching sides between the factions involved in whatever conflict they were paid to fight in (this can happen multiple times in a single battle). In fact, there are conspiracy theories that ''they'' are the original fiends and/or that they're the ones who started the Blood War and are playing it to their own end.

The term "Yugoloth" is still being used in 5th edition even though "[[Baatezu]]" and "[[Tanar'ri]]" and other terms for evil outsiders which 2nd edition had pulled out of Lorraine's fat ass were dropped. As noted, "daemon" never was a good name for them.

=Why The Yugoloths Are [[FAIL]]=
As to why the Yugoloths own the Great Wheel's Wooden Spoon (as Victorians called it), behind Law's and Chaos': A philosophical reason might be that "pure" evil without a desire to destroy or dominate doesn't actually seem likely to do much of anything with real consequences. A narrative-based reason might be that demons and devils are more easily contrasted with each other. A more realistic reason for their low profile is that they're just really boring, having failed to tap into the predominant [[Mythology#Abrahamic_Mythology (Judaism,_Christianity,_Islam)|Abrahamic mythos]] the way that tanar'ri demons and baatezu devils did. The Archdemons are some of the [[Baphomet|biggest]], [[Orcus|baddest]], and [[Lamashtu|most horrifying]] creatures in the entire setting, while the ruler of the Nine Hells is a [[Creed|strategic mastermind]] who pretends to be The God-Fiend of the Pit, Master of Slavery and Tyranny because that is ''less'' threatening than [[Asmodeus|what he really is]]. Not to mention a wide variety of lesser demons who are iconic, terrifying, and awesome. Despite the fact that in Gygax's ''Come Endless Darkness'' novel the oinoloth Infestix and the deity [[Nerull]] are the same being, [[Lorraine_Williams|the sociopathic bitch]] had already ousted [[Gygax|D&D founder Gary Gygax]] from [[TSR]] so Nerull-as-Infestix was never included in published game materials; yugoloths have fewer interesting leaders (about which very little is known), just a city that moves around or some shit. Forget these assholes and get back to headbutting pit fiends in [[Baator]]; D&D publishers dropped the ball by not publishing a neutral evil [https://d20npcs.fandom.com/wiki/Bale_Fiend ''bale fiend''] yugoloth, which would have fit perfectly in [[Planescape]]'s notion that yugoloths were the origin of the other [[Fiend|fiends]].
[[Image:Yugoloths.png|400px|thumb|right|Planescape's cattle call]]
Yugoloths' heyday was ''Planescape'', where they met an actual niche as the [[Blood War]]'s profiteers. But here they were battling hags for market-share. And then they lost even that in 3e and beyond.

With [[Planescape]] not getting an official 3.x release, and the Blood War thusly getting a lot less shilling, the yugoloths were mostly forgotten aside from the occasional update in a [[Monster Manual]]. In [[4e]] they lost their whole reason to exist with the almost non-existent Blood War and were instead made a subtype of Demon. The jackal-like Arcanoloths were even divorced entirely from the Daemon family tree and made an entirely new species of scheming, manipulative evil immortals called [[Raavasta]].

In [[5e]], Yugoloths were created by the Baatezu in order to combat the Tanar'ri. However, the Baatezu lost control of them, and now they're a mercenary fiend race giving their help wherever the most profit is to be made.

Pathfinder avoided the Yugoloth name for copyright reasons, with their [[Daemon_(Pathfinder)|daemons]] becoming an omnicidal race lead by (a version of) the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But after the ''Legacy of Fire'' [[Adventure Path]] introduced [[Divs]]... why even bother?

Truly the yugoloth is well named, to sum up; putting a daemon in your campaign is like driving to prom in a 1982 Yugo.

=If You Gotta Use 'Em=
Whereas devils are living embodiments of oppressive tyranny and demons living embodiments of mayhem and anarchy, the Yugoloth are living embodiments of opportunistic sociopathy. Whereas the mind of a devil or demon is sufficiently diluted by law or chaos for them to care about a larger cause (multiversal conquest and destruction, respectively), a Yugoloth doesn't give a crap about anything other than its own well being and agenda. Which, if one thinks about it, should ironically make them far more amiable and cooperative than either demons or devils, since they wouldn't give two rat's asses about where their pay is coming from, so long as their price is being met (and woe betide any moron who should try to stiff them).

As for deals: Devils of course prefer rigidly formal contracts with maximized loopholes (on their side of the deal) and Fine Print (on the other side), so it would stand to reason that demons, when they bother to enter such a relationship at all instead of simply killing you, would prefer informal agreements and promises with flexible and non-binging terms. Yugoloth, then, would go with either one or something in between, whichever they'd think would benefit them most at the time. Also, you probably shouldn't pay them up front, in which case they might just take then money, kill you, and take the rest of your stuff.

In other words, they're murderhobos but smarter.

==As Player Characters (LOL)==
It should come as no surprise that the same edition of D&D that made [[neogi]], [[unbodied|flying ghost brains]], [[maug|extraplanar robots]], [[mind flayer]]s, and the [[ixitxachitl]] playable or pseudo-playable also took a shot at making Yugoloths playable. Specifically, the ''Canoloth'', of all variants, was given a level adjustment in the 2001 [[Manual of the Planes]], although between the adjustment and racial hit dice they're largely still unplayable.

==The Truest Fiends==
The Yugoloth maintain a number of strongholds on the Lower Planes. Their biggest one is the Crawling City making its way on the slopes of Gehenna. Here the General of Gehenna, the leader of the Yugoloth, holds his court and plots against the Multiverse itself. Also on Gehenna is the Tower Arcane, where the Arcanoloth record all the deals made with mortals and Outsiders alike. Hades houses Khin-Oin, a massive tower allegendly made from the spine of a deity the Yugoloth killed. Here many of the soldiers of the Yugoloth armies live and train. Finally there is the Tower of Incarnate Pain, which is still under construction in [[Carceri]]. Made from the screaming bodies of petitioners and the skin of a dead god, the Yugoloth intend to use the tower to link their two other towers and obtain considerable power that way. The native inhabitants of Carceri, the [[Demodand|Gehreleth]] do not agree with this and frequently attack the tower to tear it down. Without their attacks the Yugoloth would have been done centuries ago, but because of the actions of the Gehreleth they are far behind on schedule. While the fiends are very limited in number and the Yugoloth could easily crush them with a superior force, they do not do this because it would draw too much attention to their secret project.

==The Shapes of Evil==
===Yugoloth Creations===
*'''[[Canoloth]]s''' eyeless quadrupedal guard dog yugoloth with the tongue <s>you wish your boyfriend had</s> of a chameleon. the area around them is a no-teleport-zone. Depending on contract, being caught by a Canoloth either means death or him siting on you until the big man comes to get you.
<gallery>
Canoloth 2e.gif
Canoloth 3e.png
Canoloth 4e.jpg
Canoloth-5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Guardian Yugoloth]]s:''' Least, Lesser, Greater.
<gallery>
Guardian Yugoloth 1e.jpg
Guardian yugoloth MM 2e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Battleloth]]s:''' Arrow, Axe, Crossbow, Pick, Spiked Chain, Sword.
<gallery>
Battleloth.png
</gallery>

===Lesser Yugoloths===
*'''[[Mezzoloth]]''': Mid-ranking bug monsters. are the proper foot soldiers. Realy likes money and violence. Most notable for dropping massed Cloudkill spells.
<gallery>
Mezzoloth 1e.jpg
Mezzoloth 2e.gif
Mezzoloth 3e.jpg
Mezzoloth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Dergholoth]]''' (also spelled Dhergoloth): Remarkably ridiculous four-armed insectoids in D&D; their heads don't turn, but their entire torso whirls about wildly. [[Pathfinder]]'s [[Daemon_(Pathfinder)#Derghodaemon|derghodaemons]] however look like nightmares of Ginsu blades that could vivisect you before you could even scream. They love slaughter and will often fumble complicated orders (on purpose).
<gallery>
Dergholoth 1e.png
Dergholoth 2e.png
Dergholoth 3e.jpg
Dergholoth 4e.jpg
Dergholoth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Piscoloth]]''': If [[Cthulhu]] and a lobster had a lovechild, it would be a piscoloth.
<gallery>
Piscoloth 1e.png
Piscoloth 2e.gif
Piscoloth 3e.jpg
Piscoloth 4e.jpg
</gallery>
*'''[[Hydroloth]]''': Flying frog monsters. Take dips into the Styx, which makes their minds both scrambled and unreadable. Trade-in information, ironically.
<gallery>
Hydroloth 1e.jpg
Hydroloth 2e.jpg
Hydroloth 4e.jpg
Hydroloth 5e.jpg
</gallery>
*'''[[Yagnoloth]]''': Goofy-looking lopsided freaks, yagnoloths bear much of the blame for why D&D aficionados typically regard tanar'ri and baatezu as cooler than yugoloths. is a Lieutenant over other lesser yagnoloth, being a mediator for contract signing when its not worth a Arcanaloths time.
<gallery>
Yagnoloth 1e.png
Yagnoloth 2e.gif
Yagnoloth 4e.jpg
Yagnoloth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Marraenoloth]]''' (also spelled Merrenoloth): Boatmen of the Styx. Loyal to their boats and nothing else.
<gallery>
Merrenoloth 1e.jpg
Merrenoloth 2e.jpg
Merrenoloth 5e.jpg
</gallery>

===Greater Yugoloths===

*'''[[Nycaloth]]''' : Classically horned and draconian winged fiends. Headsmen and executioners. They're large, brutish, and carry vorpal axes. In [[3e|3rd edition D&D]] nycaloths gained the distinction of having four arms. Although Nycaloth's combate abilities are some of the most underhanded among Yugoloths to fight, They can be one of the most loyal Yugoloth if treated well (well your going to have to bribe them Quadruple their usual pay instead of usual double).
<gallery>
Nycaloth 1e.jpg
Nycadaemon Monster card.jpg
Nycaloth 2e.gif
Nycaloth 3e.jpg
Nycaloth 5e.png
</gallery>

*'''[[Arcanaloth]]''': Probably the most famous of the yugoloth species [at least among [[furry]] fans], arcanaloths look like anthropomorphic jackals and are known for managing the mercenary contracts that are the lifeblood of the yugolothic personal involvement in the [[Blood War]]. In essence, all contracts to hire yugoloths ultimately get approved by these guys. These guys are perhaps best known because they have two representative characters living in [[Sigil]]; A'kin the Friendly Fiend, a seemingly benevolent (not that anyone buys it) merchant, and [[Shemeshka]] the Marauder, aspiring to be the biggest wheeler-dealer in the Cage, who calls herself "King of the Crosstrade" and is famous as one of the first canonical non-cisgender NPCs -- she calls herself female, but her profile in the Sigil bigwig NPC splat "Uncaged: Faces of Sigil" depicts her with a ''male'' symbol, implying she's trans. Of course, according to ''Faces of Evil'', all yugoloths are hermaphrodites (<strike>not that the hypothetical sex of a fiend even matters, since fiends of all varieties "reproduce" by uplifting Maggots, which are the forms evil mortals take upon dying and arriving at any of the lower planes</strike>. Actually, yugoloths don't reproduce from maggots/larva. They procreate as mammals do, and when one dies, another mezzoloth is spat out, ensuring their numbers never decrease). By [[4e|4th edition D&D]] the publishers finally realized that [[Furry|jackal furries]] (only some of which even have horns) are just not daemonic enough, and so [[Retcon|retconned]] them to instead be the [[raavasta]] race (with distant yugoloth ancestry). If D&D publishers had actually put effort into making arcanadaemons, well, daemonic, they all would have had larger-than-merely-token horns, mange-exposed patches of diseased skin, and one or more additional monstrous/daemonic features (such as tentacles). But they didn't, so now they're back to being Yugoloth.
<gallery>
Arcanaloth 1e.jpg
Arcanaloth 2e.png
Arcanaloth 5e.png
</gallery>

*'''[[Ultroloth]]''': Unlike the pit fiends and balors of the devils and demons, respectively, the leaders of the yugoloths are thinking, scheming mages-sneaks that disguise their strength behind melted, emaciated, and shifting forms rather than roar into battle wreathed in flame. Unfortunately, the fact that ultroloths have zero daemonic features and instead look like <s>weather balloons</s> sci-fi aliens is much of why Balor demons and pit fiend devils better fascinated [[God|dungeon masters]] and [[murderhobos|players]] alike, whose cultural mythos is primarily [[Mythology#Abrahamic Mythology (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)|Abrahamic]]. Now imagine an ultroloth but with large horns and tentacles; much more daemonic, eh?
<gallery>
Ultroloth 1e.png
Ultroloth 2e.gif
Ultroloth 3e.png
Ultroloth 4e.jpg
Ultroloth 5e.png
</gallery>

===[[Altraloth]]s===
If they are willing to serve the [[Hag#Night_Hags|Night Hags]] for a specific purpose, a yugoloth can choose to undergo a ritual to become a powerful new being: an altraloth. In a long and painful ritual any yugoloth from mezzoloth to ultraloth can be turned into a new creature of superior power, but to do this they will have to enter a contract with the Night Hags and complete its terms before being freed. Most yugoloth chafe at this because they are not able to betray their new mistresses: hurting them will result in unspeakable pain for the altraloth, and if one of them were to die for any reason the altraloth perishes as well. As such, they are invested to the wellbeing of their masters and will do anything to protect them.

===[[Baernaloths]]===
Unverified ancient texts claim that baernaloths were the first [[Fiend|fiends]], and the origin of the other fiends. It's said that every individual powerful being in the Lower planes has a baernoloth hand in their origin, including the [[Obyrith]], who are said to have been lured to this multiverse in the first place by the Baernoloth. Those versions which TSR/WotC have published so far have sucked the papery scrotum of Hades himself. Homebrew versions exist online, though, worthy of these most primordial of fiends.

Notable because as the eldest evils native to the Great Wheel (save perhaps the [[Aboleth]]), they acquire various abilities from various sources over the eons in addition to the ones they already have just from being a baernoloth, and each one has a different set. Some of the more notable ones from the list include one where whatever being that kills them is transformed body and mind over time into the baernoloth they killed, one where they can summon ''any'' other individual fiend in all the lower planes, including a Demon Prince or Archdevil, one where they can spend a week meditating to grant themselves one unique ability, quality, attack, etc. from any other breed of fiend, and the ability to Dominate all evil creatures below CR 12 within 300ft of itself.

Also notable for spending their time doing nothing but tormenting other beings, and they don't even seem to take any joy in it. Oh they don't ''regret'' their actions in the slightest, it's just that in their minds, they exist to torment, and all other beings exist to be tormented.

<gallery>
Baernaloth.png
</gallery>

===[[Oinoloths]]===
The prefix ''oino''- means "one"; the word ''oinoloth'' is a title of the yugoloth ruler of [[Hades]], not a type of yugoloth, though the process of attaining the oinoloth title could conceivably involve a transformation.

...at least originally. now the being with the best claim to being "ruler of all yugoloth" is the General of Gehenna, assumed to be an ultraloth, and now oinoloths are just another type of yugoloth that specializes in disease.
<gallery>
Oinoloth 1e.jpg
Oinoloth 5e.png
</gallery>

==Yugoloth Lords==
Most active yugoloth lords are altraloths.

*'''[[Apomps]] the Three-Sided''' - baernaloth. Possibly is the creator and lord of the [[Demodand]]s.

*'''[[Anthraxus]] the Decayed''' - altraloth (and held oinoloth title)

*'''[[Bubonix]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[Charon]] (a.k.a. Cerlic)''' - altraloth

*'''[[Cholerix]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[The General of Gehenna]]''' - ultroloth (and probably an altraloth)

*'''[[Helekanalaith]]''' - arcanaloth

*'''[[Infestix]]''' - [[Gygax]]'s ''Come Endless Darkness'' novel posits that the first oinoloth Infestix and the deity [[Nerull]] were the same being.

*'''[[Mydianchlarus]]''' - ultroloth (and held oinoloth title)

*'''[[Taba]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[Typhus]]''' - altraloth

* '''[[Xengahra]]''' - altraloth

=See Also=
*[[Daemon (Pathfinder)]]
*[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition races]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Ultroloth Arcanaloth.webp
File:Yugoloths by the Styx.jpg
File:Canoloth Ultroloth.jpg
File:Zastava-yugo-311-1982-300300.jpg
</gallery>

{{D&D-Outsiders}}
[[Category:FAIL]]

Yugoloth

2021-04-20T16:02:10Z

2601:203:400:CE90:3105:35F0:99F7:4105: /* Yugoloth Creations */

[[File:Yugoloth puppetmaster.png|thumb|right|[[Furries]]: the purest distillation of evil]]
Also known as '''[[Daemon#Dungeons_.26_Dragons_and_Pathfinder|daemons]]''' (no, not [[Daemon#Warhammer|''those'' Daemons]]), '''Yugoloths''' are the [[Alignment#Neutral_Evil|neutral evil]] grid-fill for the [[devils]] and [[demons]] in post-1980 [[Dungeons & Dragons]].

The first published were the Mezzodaemon and Nycadaemon of [[Drow trilogy|D3]], just chillin' in [[Erelhei-Cinlu]] as fiends do; whence they went into the [[Fiend Folio]], and then got more buddies in the second Monster Manual. A decade later [[2e]] did to daemonkind what it did to the [[Baatezu]] and [[Tanar'ri]] (and [[Demodand|Gehreleth]]), changing the name to some babble, because it SOUNDED too much like "demon" for [[Lorraine Williams]] to allow in an [[RPG]].

But in this (rare) case That Woman had a point. Their name was always redundant with "demon"; and as spelled out, it conflicts with the ancient Greek word for “spirit” or even "lesser god" - Socrates had a daemon with him, for instance. And the eeevil daemons never enjoyed anything like the popularity as the two major fiendish races on either side, nor were they as well known. Her name-change didn't help their case, though. We'll get to some reasons why not.

Originally the Neutral Evil outworlders daemons got allocated to the Gray Waste of [[Hades]], though ''[[Planescape]]'' shifted most of them to [[Gehenna]] because Hades really sucks. In 5e this has actually been retconned into their ''home plane'' for some fucking reason.

Yugoloths embody the platonic idea of Evil itself. Not “evil”, mind you, but capital-e Evil. They lie, cheat, and betray for its own sake, and generally seek to cause as much suffering and hate as possible to everyone. Whereas the demons embody anarchy, and the devils embody tyranny, the yugoloth embody sociopathy. They're kind of dicks like that. They act as mercenaries (primarily in the [[Blood War]], but they'll work for anyone who can meet their price, even their polar opposites the [[guardinal|Guardinals]]), constantly switching sides between the factions involved in whatever conflict they were paid to fight in (this can happen multiple times in a single battle). In fact, there are conspiracy theories that ''they'' are the original fiends and/or that they're the ones who started the Blood War and are playing it to their own end.

The term "Yugoloth" is still being used in 5th edition even though "[[Baatezu]]" and "[[Tanar'ri]]" and other terms for evil outsiders which 2nd edition had pulled out of Lorraine's fat ass were dropped. As noted, "daemon" never was a good name for them.

=Why The Yugoloths Are [[FAIL]]=
As to why the Yugoloths own the Great Wheel's Wooden Spoon (as Victorians called it), behind Law's and Chaos': A philosophical reason might be that "pure" evil without a desire to destroy or dominate doesn't actually seem likely to do much of anything with real consequences. A narrative-based reason might be that demons and devils are more easily contrasted with each other. A more realistic reason for their low profile is that they're just really boring, having failed to tap into the predominant [[Mythology#Abrahamic_Mythology (Judaism,_Christianity,_Islam)|Abrahamic mythos]] the way that tanar'ri demons and baatezu devils did. The Archdemons are some of the [[Baphomet|biggest]], [[Orcus|baddest]], and [[Lamashtu|most horrifying]] creatures in the entire setting, while the ruler of the Nine Hells is a [[Creed|strategic mastermind]] who pretends to be The God-Fiend of the Pit, Master of Slavery and Tyranny because that is ''less'' threatening than [[Asmodeus|what he really is]]. Not to mention a wide variety of lesser demons who are iconic, terrifying, and awesome. Despite the fact that in Gygax's ''Come Endless Darkness'' novel the oinoloth Infestix and the deity [[Nerull]] are the same being, [[Lorraine_Williams|the sociopathic bitch]] had already ousted [[Gygax|D&D founder Gary Gygax]] from [[TSR]] so Nerull-as-Infestix was never included in published game materials; yugoloths have fewer interesting leaders (about which very little is known), just a city that moves around or some shit. Forget these assholes and get back to headbutting pit fiends in [[Baator]]; D&D publishers dropped the ball by not publishing a neutral evil [https://d20npcs.fandom.com/wiki/Bale_Fiend ''bale fiend''] yugoloth, which would have fit perfectly in [[Planescape]]'s notion that yugoloths were the origin of the other [[Fiend|fiends]].
[[Image:Yugoloths.png|400px|thumb|right|Planescape's cattle call]]
Yugoloths' heyday was ''Planescape'', where they met an actual niche as the [[Blood War]]'s profiteers. But here they were battling hags for market-share. And then they lost even that in 3e and beyond.

With [[Planescape]] not getting an official 3.x release, and the Blood War thusly getting a lot less shilling, the yugoloths were mostly forgotten aside from the occasional update in a [[Monster Manual]]. In [[4e]] they lost their whole reason to exist with the almost non-existent Blood War and were instead made a subtype of Demon. The jackal-like Arcanoloths were even divorced entirely from the Daemon family tree and made an entirely new species of scheming, manipulative evil immortals called [[Raavasta]].

In [[5e]], Yugoloths were created by the Baatezu in order to combat the Tanar'ri. However, the Baatezu lost control of them, and now they're a mercenary fiend race giving their help wherever the most profit is to be made.

Pathfinder avoided the Yugoloth name for copyright reasons, with their [[Daemon_(Pathfinder)|daemons]] becoming an omnicidal race lead by (a version of) the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But after the ''Legacy of Fire'' [[Adventure Path]] introduced [[Divs]]... why even bother?

Truly the yugoloth is well named, to sum up; putting a daemon in your campaign is like driving to prom in a 1982 Yugo.

=If You Gotta Use 'Em=
Whereas devils are living embodiments of oppressive tyranny and demons living embodiments of mayhem and anarchy, the Yugoloth are living embodiments of opportunistic sociopathy. Whereas the mind of a devil or demon is sufficiently diluted by law or chaos for them to care about a larger cause (multiversal conquest and destruction, respectively), a Yugoloth doesn't give a crap about anything other than its own well being and agenda. Which, if one thinks about it, should ironically make them far more amiable and cooperative than either demons or devils, since they wouldn't give two rat's asses about where their pay is coming from, so long as their price is being met (and woe betide any moron who should try to stiff them).

As for deals: Devils of course prefer rigidly formal contracts with maximized loopholes (on their side of the deal) and Fine Print (on the other side), so it would stand to reason that demons, when they bother to enter such a relationship at all instead of simply killing you, would prefer informal agreements and promises with flexible and non-binging terms. Yugoloth, then, would go with either one or something in between, whichever they'd think would benefit them most at the time. Also, you probably shouldn't pay them up front, in which case they might just take then money, kill you, and take the rest of your stuff.

In other words, they're murderhobos but smarter.

==As Player Characters (LOL)==
It should come as no surprise that the same edition of D&D that made [[neogi]], [[unbodied|flying ghost brains]], [[maug|extraplanar robots]], [[mind flayer]]s, and the [[ixitxachitl]] playable or pseudo-playable also took a shot at making Yugoloths playable. Specifically, the ''Canoloth'', of all variants, was given a level adjustment in the 2001 [[Manual of the Planes]], although between the adjustment and racial hit dice they're largely still unplayable.

==The Truest Fiends==
The Yugoloth maintain a number of strongholds on the Lower Planes. Their biggest one is the Crawling City making its way on the slopes of Gehenna. Here the General of Gehenna, the leader of the Yugoloth, holds his court and plots against the Multiverse itself. Also on Gehenna is the Tower Arcane, where the Arcanoloth record all the deals made with mortals and Outsiders alike. Hades houses Khin-Oin, a massive tower allegendly made from the spine of a deity the Yugoloth killed. Here many of the soldiers of the Yugoloth armies live and train. Finally there is the Tower of Incarnate Pain, which is still under construction in [[Carceri]]. Made from the screaming bodies of petitioners and the skin of a dead god, the Yugoloth intend to use the tower to link their two other towers and obtain considerable power that way. The native inhabitants of Carceri, the [[Demodand|Gehreleth]] do not agree with this and frequently attack the tower to tear it down. Without their attacks the Yugoloth would have been done centuries ago, but because of the actions of the Gehreleth they are far behind on schedule. While the fiends are very limited in number and the Yugoloth could easily crush them with a superior force, they do not do this because it would draw too much attention to their secret project.

==The Shapes of Evil==
===Yugoloth Creations===
*'''[[Canoloth]]s''' eyeless quadrupedal guard dog yugoloth with the tongue <s>you wish your boyfriend had</s> of a chameleon. the area around them is a no-teleport-zone. Depending on contract, being caught by a Canoloth either means death or him siting on you until the big man comes to get you.
<gallery>
Canoloth 2e.gif
Canoloth 3e.png
Canoloth 4e.jpg
Canoloth-5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Guardian Yugoloth]]s:''' Least, Lesser, Greater.
<gallery>
Guardian Yugoloth 1e.jpg
Guardian yugoloth MM 2e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Battleloth]]s:''' Arrow, Axe, Crossbow, Pick, Spiked Chain, Sword.
<gallery>
Battleloth.png
</gallery>

===Lesser Yugoloths===
*'''[[Mezzoloth]]''': Mid-ranking bug monsters. are the proper foot soldiers. Realy likes money and Violence. Most notable for dropping massed Cloudkill spells.
<gallery>
Mezzoloth 1e.jpg
Mezzoloth 2e.gif
Mezzoloth 3e.jpg
Mezzoloth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Dergholoth]]''' (also spelled Dhergoloth): Remarkably ridiculous four-armed insectoids in D&D; their heads don't turn, but their entire torso whirls about wildly. [[Pathfinder]]'s [[Daemon_(Pathfinder)#Derghodaemon|derghodaemons]] however look like nightmares of Ginsu blades that could vivisect you before you could even scream. They Love the slaughter and will often fumble complicated orders (on purpose)
<gallery>
Dergholoth 1e.png
Dergholoth 2e.png
Dergholoth 3e.jpg
Dergholoth 4e.jpg
Dergholoth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Piscoloth]]''': If [[Cthulhu]] and a lobster had a lovechild, it would be a piscoloth.
<gallery>
Piscoloth 1e.png
Piscoloth 2e.gif
Piscoloth 3e.jpg
Piscoloth 4e.jpg
</gallery>
*'''[[Hydroloth]]''': Flying frog monsters. Take dips into the Styx, which makes their minds both scrambled and unreadable. Trade-in information, ironically.
<gallery>
Hydroloth 1e.jpg
Hydroloth 2e.jpg
Hydroloth 4e.jpg
Hydroloth 5e.jpg
</gallery>
*'''[[Yagnoloth]]''': Goofy-looking lopsided freaks, yagnoloths bear much of the blame for why D&D aficionados typically regard tanar'ri and baatezu as cooler than yugoloths. is a Lieutenant over other lesser yagnoloth, being a mediarotr for contract signing when its not worth a Arcanaloths time.
<gallery>
Yagnoloth 1e.png
Yagnoloth 2e.gif
Yagnoloth 4e.jpg
Yagnoloth 5e.png
</gallery>
*'''[[Marraenoloth]]''' (also spelled Merrenoloth): Boatmen of the Styx. Loyal to their boats and nothing else.
<gallery>
Merrenoloth 1e.jpg
Merrenoloth 2e.jpg
Merrenoloth 5e.jpg
</gallery>

===Greater Yugoloths===

*'''[[Nycaloth]]''' : Classically horned and draconian winged fiends. Headsmen and executioners. They're large, brutish, and carry vorpal axes. In [[3e|3rd edition D&D]] nycaloths gained the distinction of having four arms. Although Nycaloth's combate abilities are some of the most underhanded among Yugoloths to fight, They can be one of the most loyal Yugoloth if treated well (well your going to have to bribe them Quadruple their usual pay instead of usual double).
<gallery>
Nycaloth 1e.jpg
Nycadaemon Monster card.jpg
Nycaloth 2e.gif
Nycaloth 3e.jpg
Nycaloth 5e.png
</gallery>

*'''[[Arcanaloth]]''': Probably the most famous of the yugoloth species [at least among [[furry]] fans], arcanaloths look like anthropomorphic jackals and are known for managing the mercenary contracts that are the lifeblood of the yugolothic personal involvement in the [[Blood War]]. In essence, all contracts to hire yugoloths ultimately get approved by these guys. These guys are perhaps best known because they have two representative characters living in [[Sigil]]; A'kin the Friendly Fiend, a seemingly benevolent (not that anyone buys it) merchant, and [[Shemeshka]] the Marauder, aspiring to be the biggest wheeler-dealer in the Cage, who calls herself "King of the Crosstrade" and is famous as one of the first canonical non-cisgender NPCs -- she calls herself female, but her profile in the Sigil bigwig NPC splat "Uncaged: Faces of Sigil" depicts her with a ''male'' symbol, implying she's trans. Of course, according to ''Faces of Evil'', all yugoloths are hermaphrodites (<strike>not that the hypothetical sex of a fiend even matters, since fiends of all varieties "reproduce" by uplifting Maggots, which are the forms evil mortals take upon dying and arriving at any of the lower planes</strike>. Actually, yugoloths don't reproduce from maggots/larva. They procreate as mammals do, and when one dies, another mezzoloth is spat out, ensuring their numbers never decrease). By [[4e|4th edition D&D]] the publishers finally realized that [[Furry|jackal furries]] (only some of which even have horns) are just not daemonic enough, and so [[Retcon|retconned]] them to instead be the [[raavasta]] race (with distant yugoloth ancestry). If D&D publishers had actually put effort into making arcanadaemons, well, daemonic, they all would have had larger-than-merely-token horns, mange-exposed patches of diseased skin, and one or more additional monstrous/daemonic features (such as tentacles). But they didn't, so now they're back to being Yugoloth.
<gallery>
Arcanaloth 1e.jpg
Arcanaloth 2e.png
Arcanaloth 5e.png
</gallery>

*'''[[Ultroloth]]''': Unlike the pit fiends and balors of the devils and demons, respectively, the leaders of the yugoloths are thinking, scheming mages-sneaks that disguise their strength behind melted, emaciated, and shifting forms rather than roar into battle wreathed in flame. Unfortunately, the fact that ultroloths have zero daemonic features and instead look like <s>weather balloons</s> sci-fi aliens is much of why Balor demons and pit fiend devils better fascinated [[God|dungeon masters]] and [[murderhobos|players]] alike, whose cultural mythos is primarily [[Mythology#Abrahamic Mythology (Judaism, Christianity, Islam)|Abrahamic]]. Now imagine an ultroloth but with large horns and tentacles; much more daemonic, eh?
<gallery>
Ultroloth 1e.png
Ultroloth 2e.gif
Ultroloth 3e.png
Ultroloth 4e.jpg
Ultroloth 5e.png
</gallery>

===[[Altraloth]]s===
If they are willing to serve the [[Hag#Night_Hags|Night Hags]] for a specific purpose, a yugoloth can choose to undergo a ritual to become a powerful new being: an altraloth. In a long and painful ritual any yugoloth from mezzoloth to ultraloth can be turned into a new creature of superior power, but to do this they will have to enter a contract with the Night Hags and complete its terms before being freed. Most yugoloth chafe at this because they are not able to betray their new mistresses: hurting them will result in unspeakable pain for the altraloth, and if one of them were to die for any reason the altraloth perishes as well. As such, they are invested to the wellbeing of their masters and will do anything to protect them.

===[[Baernaloths]]===
Unverified ancient texts claim that baernaloths were the first [[Fiend|fiends]], and the origin of the other fiends. It's said that every individual powerful being in the Lower planes has a baernoloth hand in their origin, including the [[Obyrith]], who are said to have been lured to this multiverse in the first place by the Baernoloth. Those versions which TSR/WotC have published so far have sucked the papery scrotum of Hades himself. Homebrew versions exist online, though, worthy of these most primordial of fiends.

Notable because as the eldest evils native to the Great Wheel (save perhaps the [[Aboleth]]), they acquire various abilities from various sources over the eons in addition to the ones they already have just from being a baernoloth, and each one has a different set. Some of the more notable ones from the list include one where whatever being that kills them is transformed body and mind over time into the baernoloth they killed, one where they can summon ''any'' other individual fiend in all the lower planes, including a Demon Prince or Archdevil, one where they can spend a week meditating to grant themselves one unique ability, quality, attack, etc. from any other breed of fiend, and the ability to Dominate all evil creatures below CR 12 within 300ft of itself.

Also notable for spending their time doing nothing but tormenting other beings, and they don't even seem to take any joy in it. Oh they don't ''regret'' their actions in the slightest, it's just that in their minds, they exist to torment, and all other beings exist to be tormented.

<gallery>
Baernaloth.png
</gallery>

===[[Oinoloths]]===
The prefix ''oino''- means "one"; the word ''oinoloth'' is a title of the yugoloth ruler of [[Hades]], not a type of yugoloth, though the process of attaining the oinoloth title could conceivably involve a transformation.

...at least originally. now the being with the best claim to being "ruler of all yugoloth" is the General of Gehenna, assumed to be an ultraloth, and now oinoloths are just another type of yugoloth that specializes in disease.
<gallery>
Oinoloth 1e.jpg
Oinoloth 5e.png
</gallery>

==Yugoloth Lords==
Most active yugoloth lords are altraloths.

*'''[[Apomps]] the Three-Sided''' - baernaloth. Possibly is the creator and lord of the [[Demodand]]s.

*'''[[Anthraxus]] the Decayed''' - altraloth (and held oinoloth title)

*'''[[Bubonix]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[Charon]] (a.k.a. Cerlic)''' - altraloth

*'''[[Cholerix]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[The General of Gehenna]]''' - ultroloth (and probably an altraloth)

*'''[[Helekanalaith]]''' - arcanaloth

*'''[[Infestix]]''' - [[Gygax]]'s ''Come Endless Darkness'' novel posits that the first oinoloth Infestix and the deity [[Nerull]] were the same being.

*'''[[Mydianchlarus]]''' - ultroloth (and held oinoloth title)

*'''[[Taba]]''' - altraloth

*'''[[Typhus]]''' - altraloth

* '''[[Xengahra]]''' - altraloth

=See Also=
*[[Daemon (Pathfinder)]]
*[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition races]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Ultroloth Arcanaloth.webp
File:Yugoloths by the Styx.jpg
File:Canoloth Ultroloth.jpg
File:Zastava-yugo-311-1982-300300.jpg
</gallery>

{{D&D-Outsiders}}
[[Category:FAIL]]

Monster Manual

2021-04-20T15:57:27Z

2601:203:400:CE90:3105:35F0:99F7:4105: /* Monster Manual I (D&D 3.5E) */

[[File:MM 1e cover.jpg|thumb|D&D's first Monster Manual]]
A '''Monster Manual''' (sometimes called a Monstrous Manual or a Bestiary) is a book (or set of pages you can put in a binder if you are a particularly crusty [[neckbeard]]) used in [[RPG]]s to describe the various kinds of [[monster]]s the PCs can encounter and fight. The Manual is intended for [[DM]]s to make encounters for the players. Though they are more often described in the DMG, these books can also contain descriptions for the more exotic kind of [[trap]] (no not like that). Some books may also include templates to apply to existing monsters to change them (read: make them deadlier) or ways to make your very own monster from the ground up.

If they are not bundled into the main manual, a new release of a game can see a new Monster Manual as well. This first Monster Manual is seen as a "core book" in the trinity of the Manual, the [[Player's Handbook|Handbook]] and the holy [[Dungeon Master's Guide|Guide]]. There have been times when the first monster manual ''preceded'' the rest of the core: this notably happened in 1977, so its Manual was compatible with the ancient rules that became BXCMI, up to which the AD&D ''Dungeon Masters Guide'' had to catch. This also happened in 3e/d20 with [[White_Wolf|Sword and Sorcery Studios]]' rushed-to-print ''[[Creature Collection]]'', and with Violet Dawn's ''Denizens of Avadnu''. If ever comes that published setting at all, as Eden's ''Liber Bestarius''.

After the first Monster Manual of an edition the follow-up books are divided into two different camps. One is the list of Monster Manuals who will be named Monster Manual II, Monster Manual III and so on. The other are the more "themed" books that describe settings for adventures and monsters that fit in those settings, like books describing the [[Underdark]] having many [[Drow]], spider and Aberration type enemies, or [[The Manual of the Planes]] describing Fiends like [[Tanar'ri]] and [[Baatezu]], alongside creatures of Chaos like the [[Githzerai]] and creatures of Law like [[Modron]]s. Books in the latter category are not considered Monster Manuals despite their number of described creatures.

Then there are the "B Side Collections"... In the early 1980s TSR found itself with dozens of post-Manual monsters from early adventure-modules and especially from ''another country'' - Great Britain, in ''[[White Dwarf]]'' magazine. Gygax bundled the former with the best he could scrounge from the latter, birthing - or, perhaps, pinching off - the ''[[Fiend Folio]]''. After this one's [[skub|mixed]] reception, "fiend folio" is now a term for a holding-pen of niche monsters which you don't want defiling the mainline of Manual sequelae.

The problem with making a lot of Monster Manuals is that the monsters in the later books are split up into four groups: 30% will be reprints of monsters from older books of varying obscurity, 30% will be either upscaled animals or creatures made by slapping a number of templates together ending with creatures that lack the focus and originality of their progenitors, 30% will be 'Folio-bait (Three-headed hermaphrodites! Killer paper! Murderous hats!), and the final 10% being actually interesting creatures (either original or mythological) that could make an interesting addition to a game.

Theoretically the game can be played without the Monster Manual and just the PHB+DMG by making human(oid)s and traps the only enemies. In practice this is never done for long and the Monster Manual is an important part of any game, as a game with nothing interesting to fight is just as bad as uninteresting mechanics or [[class]]es.

The only two editions after AD&D to not start with a Monster Manual are 2nd Edition, which instead had the Monstrous Compendium series which were released in loose-leaf form instead of as books before they later released the Monst'''rous''' Manual, and 4th Edition Essentials, which instead had the short-lived Monster Vault series. Those ideas went down like Monica on the Hindenberg against the Washington Monument.

=List of Monster Manuals and the Monsters within=
(Under Construction)
==Monster Manual (AD&D)==
* [[Arial Servant]]
* [[Ankheg|Anhkheg]]
* Giant Ant
* Ape
** Gorilla
** Carnivorous Ape
* [[Axe Beak]]
* Baboon
* Badger
* [[Baluchitherium]]
* Barracuda
* [[Basilisk]]
* Bear
* Giant Beaver
* Giant Beetle
* [[Beholder]]
* [[Slime|Black Pudding]]
* [[Blink Dog]]
* Boar
* [[Brain Mole]]
* [[Brownie]]
* Buffalo
* [[Bugbear]]
* [[Bulette]]
* Bull
* Wild Camel

===Monster Manual II===

==Monstrous Manual (AD&D 2E)==
This was an odd duck in the series, because post-Gygax TSR got it into its head that we didn't ''need'' no stinkin' manual. Their rationale was that every setting should differ, and where an Athas might not have orcs (anymore) another locale might be like [[Talislanta]] and short on elves. Even if they did have something called an "elf" it will be setting-specific. So they released "Monstrous Compendium" sheafs, each monster to fill two sides of a page, which the DM could put into a binder or a Trapper Keeper or something.

As usual, early 1990s TSR had failed to listen to their actual customers, [[Lorraine Williams|lost demon-worshipping souls as we are]]. It turns out that plenty of settings agree on the same basic monsters, or at least like to leaf through the pages for inspiration. So, kicking and screaming, in 1993 TSR released the Monstr''ous'' Manual. It followed the same monster-to-a-page format, so you could detach these ladies and fill your binders with them as the Prophets demand.

==Monster Manual (D&D 3E)==
===Monster Manual II (D&D 3E)===

==Monster Manual (D&D 3.5E)==
===Monster Manual III (D&D 3.5E)===
===Monster Manual IV (D&D 3.5E)===
===Monster Manual V (D&D 3.5E)===

==Monster Manual (D&D 4E)==
===Monster Manual 2 (D&D 4E)===
===Monster Manual 3 (D&D 4E)===
==Monster Manual (D&D 5E)==

[[Category:Game Books]][[Category:Monsters]]

Monster Manual

2021-04-20T15:52:26Z

2601:203:400:CE90:3105:35F0:99F7:4105:

[[File:MM 1e cover.jpg|thumb|D&D's first Monster Manual]]
A '''Monster Manual''' (sometimes called a Monstrous Manual or a Bestiary) is a book (or set of pages you can put in a binder if you are a particularly crusty [[neckbeard]]) used in [[RPG]]s to describe the various kinds of [[monster]]s the PCs can encounter and fight. The Manual is intended for [[DM]]s to make encounters for the players. Though they are more often described in the DMG, these books can also contain descriptions for the more exotic kind of [[trap]] (no not like that). Some books may also include templates to apply to existing monsters to change them (read: make them deadlier) or ways to make your very own monster from the ground up.

If they are not bundled into the main manual, a new release of a game can see a new Monster Manual as well. This first Monster Manual is seen as a "core book" in the trinity of the Manual, the [[Player's Handbook|Handbook]] and the holy [[Dungeon Master's Guide|Guide]]. There have been times when the first monster manual ''preceded'' the rest of the core: this notably happened in 1977, so its Manual was compatible with the ancient rules that became BXCMI, up to which the AD&D ''Dungeon Masters Guide'' had to catch. This also happened in 3e/d20 with [[White_Wolf|Sword and Sorcery Studios]]' rushed-to-print ''[[Creature Collection]]'', and with Violet Dawn's ''Denizens of Avadnu''. If ever comes that published setting at all, as Eden's ''Liber Bestarius''.

After the first Monster Manual of an edition the follow-up books are divided into two different camps. One is the list of Monster Manuals who will be named Monster Manual II, Monster Manual III and so on. The other are the more "themed" books that describe settings for adventures and monsters that fit in those settings, like books describing the [[Underdark]] having many [[Drow]], spider and Aberration type enemies, or [[The Manual of the Planes]] describing Fiends like [[Tanar'ri]] and [[Baatezu]], alongside creatures of Chaos like the [[Githzerai]] and creatures of Law like [[Modron]]s. Books in the latter category are not considered Monster Manuals despite their number of described creatures.

Then there are the "B Side Collections"... In the early 1980s TSR found itself with dozens of post-Manual monsters from early adventure-modules and especially from ''another country'' - Great Britain, in ''[[White Dwarf]]'' magazine. Gygax bundled the former with the best he could scrounge from the latter, birthing - or, perhaps, pinching off - the ''[[Fiend Folio]]''. After this one's [[skub|mixed]] reception, "fiend folio" is now a term for a holding-pen of niche monsters which you don't want defiling the mainline of Manual sequelae.

The problem with making a lot of Monster Manuals is that the monsters in the later books are split up into four groups: 30% will be reprints of monsters from older books of varying obscurity, 30% will be either upscaled animals or creatures made by slapping a number of templates together ending with creatures that lack the focus and originality of their progenitors, 30% will be 'Folio-bait (Three-headed hermaphrodites! Killer paper! Murderous hats!), and the final 10% being actually interesting creatures (either original or mythological) that could make an interesting addition to a game.

Theoretically the game can be played without the Monster Manual and just the PHB+DMG by making human(oid)s and traps the only enemies. In practice this is never done for long and the Monster Manual is an important part of any game, as a game with nothing interesting to fight is just as bad as uninteresting mechanics or [[class]]es.

The only two editions after AD&D to not start with a Monster Manual are 2nd Edition, which instead had the Monstrous Compendium series which were released in loose-leaf form instead of as books before they later released the Monst'''rous''' Manual, and 4th Edition Essentials, which instead had the short-lived Monster Vault series. Those ideas went down like Monica on the Hindenberg against the Washington Monument.

=List of Monster Manuals and the Monsters within=
(Under Construction)
==Monster Manual (AD&D)==
* [[Arial Servant]]
* [[Ankheg|Anhkheg]]
* Giant Ant
* Ape
** Gorilla
** Carnivorous Ape
* [[Axe Beak]]
* Baboon
* Badger
* [[Baluchitherium]]
* Barracuda
* [[Basilisk]]
* Bear
* Giant Beaver
* Giant Beetle
* [[Beholder]]
* [[Slime|Black Pudding]]
* [[Blink Dog]]
* Boar
* [[Brain Mole]]
* [[Brownie]]
* Buffalo
* [[Bugbear]]
* [[Bulette]]
* Bull
* Wild Camel

===Monster Manual II===

==Monstrous Manual (AD&D 2E)==
This was an odd duck in the series, because post-Gygax TSR got it into its head that we didn't ''need'' no stinkin' manual. Their rationale was that every setting should differ, and where an Athas might not have orcs (anymore) another locale might be like [[Talislanta]] and short on elves. Even if they did have something called an "elf" it will be setting-specific. So they released "Monstrous Compendium" sheafs, each monster to fill two sides of a page, which the DM could put into a binder or a Trapper Keeper or something.

As usual, early 1990s TSR had failed to listen to their actual customers, [[Lorraine Williams|lost demon-worshipping souls as we are]]. It turns out that plenty of settings agree on the same basic monsters, or at least like to leaf through the pages for inspiration. So, kicking and screaming, in 1993 TSR released the Monstr''ous'' Manual. It followed the same monster-to-a-page format, so you could detach these ladies and fill your binders with them as the Prophets demand.

==Monster Manual (D&D 3E)==
===Monster Manual II (D&D 3E)===

==Monster Manual (D&D 3.5E)==
===Monster Manual III (D&D 3.5E)===
===Monster Manual IV (D&D 3.5E)===
===Monster Manual I (D&D 3.5E)===
==Monster Manual (D&D 4E)==
===Monster Manual 2 (D&D 4E)===
===Monster Manual 3 (D&D 4E)===
==Monster Manual (D&D 5E)==

[[Category:Game Books]][[Category:Monsters]]

Monster Manual

2021-04-20T15:50:17Z

2601:203:400:CE90:3105:35F0:99F7:4105: /* Monstrous Manual (AD&D 2e) */

[[File:MM 1e cover.jpg|thumb|D&D's first Monster Manual]]
A '''Monster Manual''' (sometimes called a Monstrous Manual or a Bestiary) is a book (or set of pages you can put in a binder if you are a particularly crusty [[neckbeard]]) used in [[RPG]]s to describe the various kinds of [[monster]]s the PCs can encounter and fight. The Manual is intended for [[DM]]s to make encounters for the players. Though they are more often described in the DMG, these books can also contain descriptions for the more exotic kind of [[trap]] (no not like that). Some books may also include templates to apply to existing monsters to change them (read: make them deadlier) or ways to make your very own monster from the ground up.

If they are not bundled into the main manual, a new release of a game can see a new Monster Manual as well. This first Monster Manual is seen as a "core book" in the trinity of the Manual, the [[Player's Handbook|Handbook]] and the holy [[Dungeon Master's Guide|Guide]]. There have been times when the first monster manual ''preceded'' the rest of the core: this notably happened in 1977, so its Manual was compatible with the ancient rules that became BXCMI, up to which the AD&D ''Dungeon Masters Guide'' had to catch. This also happened in 3e/d20 with [[White_Wolf|Sword and Sorcery Studios]]' rushed-to-print ''[[Creature Collection]]'', and with Violet Dawn's ''Denizens of Avadnu''. If ever comes that published setting at all, as Eden's ''Liber Bestarius''.

After the first Monster Manual of an edition the follow-up books are divided into two different camps. One is the list of Monster Manuals who will be named Monster Manual II, Monster Manual III and so on. The other are the more "themed" books that describe settings for adventures and monsters that fit in those settings, like books describing the [[Underdark]] having many [[Drow]], spider and Aberration type enemies, or [[The Manual of the Planes]] describing Fiends like [[Tanar'ri]] and [[Baatezu]], alongside creatures of Chaos like the [[Githzerai]] and creatures of Law like [[Modron]]s. Books in the latter category are not considered Monster Manuals despite their number of described creatures.

Then there are the "B Side Collections"... In the early 1980s TSR found itself with dozens of post-Manual monsters from early adventure-modules and especially from ''another country'' - Great Britain, in ''[[White Dwarf]]'' magazine. Gygax bundled the former with the best he could scrounge from the latter, birthing - or, perhaps, pinching off - the ''[[Fiend Folio]]''. After this one's [[skub|mixed]] reception, "fiend folio" is now a term for a holding-pen of niche monsters which you don't want defiling the mainline of Manual sequelae.

The problem with making a lot of Monster Manuals is that the monsters in the later books are split up into four groups: 30% will be reprints of monsters from older books of varying obscurity, 30% will be either upscaled animals or creatures made by slapping a number of templates together ending with creatures that lack the focus and originality of their progenitors, 30% will be 'Folio-bait (Three-headed hermaphrodites! Killer paper! Murderous hats!), and the final 10% being actually interesting creatures (either original or mythological) that could make an interesting addition to a game.

Theoretically the game can be played without the Monster Manual and just the PHB+DMG by making human(oid)s and traps the only enemies. In practice this is never done for long and the Monster Manual is an important part of any game, as a game with nothing interesting to fight is just as bad as uninteresting mechanics or [[class]]es.

The only two editions after AD&D to not start with a Monster Manual are 2nd Edition, which instead had the Monstrous Compendium series which were released in loose-leaf form instead of as books, and 4th Edition Essentials, which instead had the short-lived Monster Vault series. Those ideas went down like Monica on the Hindenberg against the Washington Monument.

=List of Monster Manuals and the Monsters within=
(Under Construction)
==Monster Manual (AD&D)==
* [[Arial Servant]]
* [[Ankheg|Anhkheg]]
* Giant Ant
* Ape
** Gorilla
** Carnivorous Ape
* [[Axe Beak]]
* Baboon
* Badger
* [[Baluchitherium]]
* Barracuda
* [[Basilisk]]
* Bear
* Giant Beaver
* Giant Beetle
* [[Beholder]]
* [[Slime|Black Pudding]]
* [[Blink Dog]]
* Boar
* [[Brain Mole]]
* [[Brownie]]
* Buffalo
* [[Bugbear]]
* [[Bulette]]
* Bull
* Wild Camel

===Monster Manual II===

==Monstrous Manual (AD&D 2E)==
This was an odd duck in the series, because post-Gygax TSR got it into its head that we didn't ''need'' no stinkin' manual. Their rationale was that every setting should differ, and where an Athas might not have orcs (anymore) another locale might be like [[Talislanta]] and short on elves. Even if they did have something called an "elf" it will be setting-specific. So they released "Monstrous Compendium" sheafs, each monster to fill two sides of a page, which the DM could put into a binder or a Trapper Keeper or something.

As usual, early 1990s TSR had failed to listen to their actual customers, [[Lorraine Williams|lost demon-worshipping souls as we are]]. It turns out that plenty of settings agree on the same basic monsters, or at least like to leaf through the pages for inspiration. So, kicking and screaming, in 1993 TSR released the Monstr''ous'' Manual. It followed the same monster-to-a-page format, so you could detach these ladies and fill your binders with them as the Prophets demand.

==Monster Manual (D&D 3E)==
===Monster Manual II (D&D 3E)===

==Monster Manual (D&D 3.5E)==
===Monster Manual III (D&D 3.5E)===
===Monster Manual IV (D&D 3.5E)===
===Monster Manual I (D&D 3.5E)===
==Monster Manual (D&D 4E)==
===Monster Manual 2 (D&D 4E)===
===Monster Manual 3 (D&D 4E)===
==Monster Manual (D&D 5E)==

[[Category:Game Books]][[Category:Monsters]]