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Gods of Dungeons & Dragons

2021-07-07T10:22:35Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:C541:8F8B:BB4E:5D9D: /* Eberron */

Within all roleplaying games (outside of Warhammer 40k's Dark Heresy, where thinking outside the box is [[Heresy]]) there are deities. Whether they are good or bad, they exist.

This list will more or less contain the versions of the deities from 3.5 to the latest edition, and how they can be used to portray characters in your settings.

==Infobox==
{{Infobox Deity
|Name = What the god is called.
|Symbol = What special marking worshippers use to signal their faith.
|Aliases = Other names and titles the god is known by.
|Alignment = Does this need explaining?
|Divine Rank = How the god ranks amongst its own kind.
|Pantheon = What group(s) of gods this god belongs to.
|Portfolio = What this god is responsible for.
|Domains = What [[Cleric Domain]]s it bestows.
|Home Plane = Place of residence in the multiverse.
|Worshippers = Who actually worships this god.
|Favoured Weapon = What faithful worshippers consider best to protect themselves with.
}}
The information box that should eventually grace each god's page, summing up their information in a nutshell.
{{clear}}

==Types of Religions==
These are how religions are categorized in D&D.

===Loose & Tight Pantheons===
Loose pantheons are the default for D&D. A bunch of gods with their own portfolio exist, have varying relationships with other deities, their own myths and doctrines, and each deity tries to advance their own portfolio and doctrine in the world.

Tight pantheons differ in that the gods usually have either a ruler among them, or some other body of myths, doctrine, or rituals common with them, with an aberrant deity or two whose worship is frowned upon. Most people in either of them are either polytheistic or henotheistic, acknowledge the other gods but only worship one or some of them.

===Mystery Cults===
Cults of a single deity, or at most a handful of deities, where the personal relationship with the deity is emphasized. Largely based on a ritual of initiation where the person is mystically identified with the deity in question, and are taught their own unique myths. Often associated with gods of nature, and a part of other religious systems. [[Dennari]]'s faith is an example of deity with a mystery cult.

===Monotheism===
You probably know what monotheism means, and if you don't look it up ya dingus! In D&D, monotheistic deities have aspects who the regular people worship. [[Taiia]] is an example of a monotheistic D&D deity.

===Dualism===
Here, you two opposing forces (Law vs. Chaos, Good Vs. Evil, etc.) fighting each other, and the whole world is the stage for their conflict. Most believe that one is good and the other is evil, but some say that the two must remain at balance for the best result. [[Elishar]] and [[Toldoth]] are examples of a dualistic religion and its deities.

===Animism===
Spirits are everywhere here, and I mean literally everywhere, a tree has its spirit, as does everyone of its leaves, and so does the mountain, the sun and moon, the river, your computer, and that pebble over there. Most people here tend give praise and sacrifices to a specific spirit depending on the occasion and situation, whiles a [[cleric]] worships a handful of them as his or her patrons.

An undetermined/unexplored form of Animism is the presumed default religion of the [[Druid]]s, which is literally why that class exists as a separate thing to the Nature God Clerics. In [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]], this desire to give druids a deeper meaning led to the creation of the [[Primal Spirits]] as ''the'' animistic religion of the [[World Axis]] cosmology.

===Forces & Philosophies===
Of course, some gain their powers from their devotion and beliefs of some ideal or philosophy (honor, freedom, wealth, power, etc.) or simply worship forces of either nature or magic, with deities being just personal manifestations of impersonal forces and philosophies. They don't deny the existance of deities, they just think them as too much like the mortals who worship them.

==Divine Ranks==
In D&D, deities have a rank, ranging from quasi-deity to greater deity. All it really means is that the greater deities rank the more powerful they are, more generalized their portfolio's are, and, depending on the setting, how many worshippers they have. The ranks shown here are the ones used in 3.5, and from bottom to top they are:
*'''Quasi-Deity:''' Not quite gods but still immortal and powerful beings. Planar powers ([[Archdevil]]s, [[Animal Lord]]s, [[Celestia|the Hebdomad]], etc.), [[Elder Evils]] (Though some of them such as Pandorym are much stronger than gods), and [[Vestige]]s go here.
*'''Hero-Deity:''' Ascended mortals, often sponsored by other gods, and descendants of mortals and deities go here. Often have very specialized portfolios.
*'''Demigod:''' Here be gods proper. From here on they can have their own realms in the [[Outer Planes]], and grant spells to their worshippers depending on the setting.
*'''Lesser Deity:''' More powerful than demigods and more widely worshipped.
*'''Intermediate Deity:''' More powerful than lesser deities and more widely worshipped.
*'''Greater Deity:''' The leaders of pantheons, usually, and gods of common nouns, concepts, and universal forces (magic, sun, nature, etc.) go here.
*'''Overdeity:''' Gods in charge of other gods, often the ones who decide whether or not someone becomes a god. Don't grant spells and have no worshippers, being beyond the need for them. Examples include [[Ao]] and possibly [[Lady of Pain]].

There are also two unique divine ranks that are tied to cosmologies outside of the [[Great Wheel]]...
*'''[[Mystaran Immortal]]s''' are named as such because they are tied to the nameless cosmology of [[Mystara]], which due to its basis in [[Sword & Sorcery]] meets [[Science Fantasy]] "Pulp Fantasy" uses a complex system of dimensions rather than planes. Immortals are former mortals who have attuned themselves to one of the five Spheres that make up the pillars of reality - Thought, Matter, Energy, Time and Entropy - by following one of four archetypal Paths (Dynast, Hero, Paragon, Polymath) to ascend into a multi-dimensional higher entity. They're gods, but they don't work the same way as the gods of Great Wheel do.
*'''[[Exarch]]s''' hail from the World Axis, and the term basically means "any powerful, unique, and immortal servant of a full-fledged god". In essence, the World Axis uses "God" to refer "Greater Deity" and "Exarch" to refer to "any divine entity below that in power".

==Historical Deities==
Whilst D&D has never shied away from creating gods of its own division for its various campaign settings, [[Gygax]] and his buddies were big mythology and history fans, so they eagerly explored the idea of using various "Pagan" religions as being real things in the D&D multiverse. This led to the [[Deities & Demigods]] [[splatbook]]. Whether or not people actually ''like'' this idea of "fictionalizing" real-world mythologies, which people can get rather touchy about... well...

Whatever the stance on actually ''using'' them in game is, they're well known and public domain so they ''do'' serve well as examples of how to make a D&D type deity without attaching a particular setting to the example.

{{D&D-Historical-Deities}}

==[[Birthright]]==
{{D&D-Birthright-Deities}}

==[[Dragonlance]]==
The gods of Dragonlance each have a constellation in the night sky or one of the three moons. When a god walks in the world among mortals, that constellation is absent from the sky, which is a dead giveaway to the other gods.

;Gods of Good
* Branchala (the harp), music, inspiration, bards
* Habbakuk (the phoenix), persistence, animals, rangers
* Kiri-Jolith (the bison's head), unity, strength, fighters
* Majere (the rose), discipline, dreams, monks
* Mishakal (the figure-eight), restoration, motherhood, healers
* Paladine (the platinum dragon), majesty, aspirations, leaders
* Solinari (the silver moon), magic used for good, wizards

;Gods of Neutrality
* Chislev (a wandering star (planet)), instinct, natural world
* Gilean (the book), knowledge, librarians, scholars
* Lunitari (the red moon), magic used for neutrality, wizards
* Reorx (a red star), creation, craftsmen, dwarves and gnomes
* Shinare (a wandering star (planet)), interaction, agreements, merchants
* Sirrion (a wandering star (planet)), transformation, fire, artists and alchemists
* Zivilyn (a wandering star (planet)), wisdom, awareness, completely impartial

;Gods of Evil
* Chemosh (the goat skull), fatalism, despair, undead
* Hiddukel (the broken scale), exploitation, selfishness, thieves
* Morgion (the diseased hood), decay, disease, suffering
* Nuitari (the black (invisible) moon), magic used for evil, wizards
* Sargonnas (the condor), wrath, revenge, minotaurs
* Takhisis (the five-headed dragon), control, conquest, tyrants
* Zeboim (the dragon-turtle), strife, mood-swings, bane of sailors

{{D&D-Dragonlance-Deities}}

==[[Eberron]]==
Religion here is more like actual religion than normal ''D&D''. There's evidence for and against the gods existing, and divine magic is fueled by faith, rather than the actual god. Some atheist/agnostic clerics or fanatical believers in a state or charismatic individual can also access spells for this reason, and there are no alignment restrictions on priesthood. The Silver Flame has the worst kind of evil hypocrites, deluded into thinking they're doing the right thing, the Blood of Vol has decent, innocent people taken in by its cultish lies, and everything on a spectrum in between, and so long as their faith holds, their spells come out right.

*The Sovereign Host: Traditional "good" gods.
*The Dark Six: Traditional "evil" gods.
*The Silver Flame: Similar to Medieval Catholicism
*The Dragon Below: Demon worship.
*The Lord of Blades: A [[warforged]]-supremacist preaching the death or enslavement of all the fleshies. Not ''actually'' a god, but his followers are such mad fanatics that they can manifest divine magic anyway.
*The Blood of Vol: Humanism with some Undeath mixed in. Most members don’t know about the evil cult running things from behind the scenes..
*The Path of Light: Kalashtar religion opposing the Quori.
*The Path of Inspiration: Quori-founded religion that ''looks'' like a peaceful religion but is actually helping them come into the world.
*The Becoming God: A bunch of warforged trying to build their own god. Probably not actually the Lord of Blades, though he certainly wants to be, and there's some overlap with his followers.

{{D&D-Eberron-Faiths}}

==[[Exandria]]==
{{D&D-Exandria-Deities}}

==[[Forgotten Realms]]==
{{D&D5e-FR-Deities}}

==[[Ghostwalk]]==
{{Ghostwalk-Deities}}

==[[Greyhawk]]==
{{D&D-Greyhawk-Deities}}

To make things more complicated, the gods that appear in the Flanaess originated from a number of ethnic groups appearing in the setting. The Oerdian, Baklunish, Flan and Suloise peoples all have their own gods, some of them overlapping. Some gods are revered by multiple groups and have no direct origin, while others are worshipped in only one region. Below are listed a number of these deities.

;Greater Deities
*[[Beory]], the Earth mother
*[[Boccob]], god of magic, arcane knowledge, balance and foresight.
*[[Incabulos]], god of plague, famine, disease and disaster.
*[[Istus]], goddess of fate, destiny and the future.
*[[Nerull]], god of death, darkness, murder and the underworld.
*[[Pelor]], god of sun, light, strength and healing. More humans worship Pelor than any other deity.
*[[Rao]], god of peace and reason.

;Intermediate Deities
*[[Celestian]], god of the stars, wanderers and space.
*[[Ehlonna]], goddess of forests, woodlands, flora & fauna, and fertility.
*[[Erythnul]], god of hate, envy, malice, panic, ugliness, and slaughter.
*[[Fharlanghn]], god of horizons, distance, travel, and roads.
*[[Heironeous]], god of chivalry, justice, honor, war, daring, and valor.
*[[Hextor]], god of war, discord, massacres, conflict, fitness, and tyranny.
*[[Kord]], god of athletics, sports, brawling, strength, and courage.
*[[Lendor]], god of time, patience and study.
*[[Obad-Hai]], god of nature, freedom, hunting, and beasts.
*[[Olidammara]], god of music, revels, wine, rogues, humor, and tricks. Tends to fuck with the other gods for the hell of it.
*[[Pholtus]], god of law, order, light, the sun and the moons.
*[[Procan]], god of the seas, sea life and navigation.
*[[Ralishaz]], god of chance, misfortune and insanity.
*[[Saint Cuthbert]], god of common sense, wisdom, zeal, honesty, truth, and discipline. Needless to say, he's all but dead in the [[Warhammer 40k|future]].
*[[Tharizdun]], god of entropy, insanity and darkness.
*[[Ulaa]], goddess of mountains, mining and gemstones.
*[[Wee Jas]], goddess of magic, death, vanity, and law.
*[[Zilchus]], god of trade and money.

;Lesser Deities
*[[Vecna]] god of secrets.
*[[Xan Yae]]

;Demi-Gods
*[[Wastri]]
*[[Ye'Cind]], [[Alignment#Chaotic_Good|Chaotic]] [[Seldarine|elven deity]] of music, enchantment, and magic.
*[[Zagyg]], deification of [[Gygax]] himself.
*[[Zuoken]]

==[[Mystara]]==
In Mystara, instead of Gods you have the Immortals, mortal beings who reached divinity through their actions in life and sponsorship by other Immortals. The Immortals are ranked by power (Initiates being the recently ascended and the weakest, with Hierarchs being the oldest and strongest), and divided based on which of the five Spheres they belong to.
*Sphere of Matter is mainly Lawful, concerned with stability and order.
*Sphere of Energy is mainly Chaotic, concerned with change and transformation.
*Sphere of Time is mainly Neutral, concerned with balance, growth, and rebirth.
*Sphere of Thought is mainly Good, concerned with understanding and enlightnement.
*Sphere of Entrophy is mainly Evil, concerned with destruction and opposing all of the above Spheres and itself.

Above the Immortals are the [[Old Ones]] ([[Old Ones (Warhammer)|No, not those ones]]), who are to Immortals, what Immortals are to mortals.

It's also possible for [[PC]]s to become Immortals (of any Sphere except Entropy), and even Old Ones (provided they can reach the highest level in their Sphere, level 40, twice).
{{D&D-Mystara-Immortals}}

==Nentir Vale (Dawn War Pantheon)==
The default setting for D&D 4E.
{{D&D4e-Deities}}

==[[Planescape]]==
Too many gods to count, some less potent than a 20th level player character. You can use gods from any of the other campaign settings, even multiple settings. Planescape adventures are usually based in the city of [[Planescape#Sigil|Sigil]] which no god may enter, not even when [[Orcus]] was acting as the [[BBEG]] of the entire AD&D 2nd edition.

Pantheons that have been mentioned in Planescape include:

;D&D
*[[Birthright]]
*[[Dragonlance]]
*[[Forgotten Realms]]
*[[Greyhawk]]

;Real life
*Babylonian
*Celtic
*Chinese
*Egyptian
*Finnish
*Greek
*Indian
*Japanese
*Native American
*Norse
*Sumerian

The [[Lady of Pain]] may or may not be a god. She is powerful enough to kill gods, but she usually kill anyone who tries worshiping her, which might indicate that she is trying to avoid becoming one.

==Racial==
{{D&D-Nonhuman-Deities}}

These deities appear in several campaign settings (including [[Forgotten Realms]] and [[Greyhawk]]) as part of their racial pantheons. Except when they're dead.
*[[Annam]], god of giants.
*[[Bahamut]], god of good dragons.
*[[Blibdoolpoolp]], god of kuo-toas.
*[[Corellon Larethian]], god of [[elves]], magic, music, and arts.
*[[Garl Glittergold]], god of [[gnomes]], humor, and gemcutting.
*[[Gruumsh]], god of [[orcs]].
*[[Kurtulmak]] god of [[kobold]]s.
*[[Lolth]], goddess of [[Drow]] and spiders.
*[[Moradin]], god of [[dwarves]].
*[[Tiamat]], goddess of evil dragons.
*[[Yondalla]], goddess of [[halflings]].

==[[Ravenloft]]==
Many of the gods of Ravenloft are confirmed to be or are likely not real, but people who worship them can gain spells anyway because the [[Dark Powers]] grant divine magic in their place. The Dark Powers may actually be granting the spells of all divine casters in Ravenloft no matter what deity they actually worship. So the Dark Powers may be the only gods or otherwise godlike beings that have any influence even if nobody actually worships them. Several of the gods worshiped in Ravenloft are [[#Historical_Deities]], or may be gods from other settings under different names.
{{D&D-Ravenloft-Deities}}

==Third Party Settings==

===[[Dragonmech]]===
Most people stopped believing in the gods after the moon got closer and clerics stopped getting spells properly. They do exist but are under siege from the lunar gods, who are also trying to steal their followers, which limits their capabilities. Along with that, some old and forgotten gods are coming back, a new god, [[Dotrak]], is being born from peoples faith in machines, and some people are gaining divine spells from their faith in ideas and philosophies.

===[[Dragonstar]]===
The Unification Church maintains that there are 12 "deitypes", or true gods, who created everything and from which all the other deities are derived, with some being combinations of two or more deitypes. Along with that you also have the Dualist Heresy who say that there are only two true gods.

===[[Humblewood]]===
The birdfolk and humblefolk both worship a pantheon known as the [[Amaranthine]], a collection of nature deities who each take responsibility for a specific aspect of nature. There are twelve Amaranthine in total; one spiritual patron for each of the [[beastfolk]] races of the setting, plus a duotheistic pair of pantheon leaders who, whilst depicted as birds, are regarded as above such a divide and thusly are connected to all races equally.
{{D&D-Amaranthine}}

===[[Ptolus]]===
In Ptolus, most people follow [[Lothian]], who is Jesus and whose church is the Roman Catholic Church. The said church went about oppressing all the other faiths until just 200 years ago when they lost enough power, and became a bit more tolerant, to allow other faiths to gain momentum again. You also have things like the Temple of Excellence, whose halfling cleric has divine spells simply because he believes in himself hard enough, and the cults of chaos who worship [[The Galchutt|various gribbly things]].

{{D&D-Ptolus-Deities}}

===[[Scarred Lands]]===
The world underwent a fantasy Titanomachy, i.e. mortal-friendly gods took over things from the less-friendly titans. There's the eight main gods, and a host of minor demigods, and titan-worshippers are hiding in the shadows, well except for the followers of [[Denev]]. In other places you have the [[Ushada]], the animistic spirits of everything, and the [[Agency of the Emperor]] in the Dragon Lands.

{{D&D-SL-Faiths}}

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
File:Greyhawk1.gif|Priests of [[Pholtus]], [[Al'Akbar]], [[Saint Cuthbert]], [[Heironeous]], and [[Hextor]]
File:Greyhawk2.gif|Priests of [[Lendor]], [[Istus]], [[Boccob]], [[Celestian]], and [[Fharlaghn]]
File:Greyhawk3.gif|Priests of [[Iuz]], [[Nerull]], [[Tharizdun]], [[Vecna]], and [[Wastri]]
File:Greyhawk4.gif|Priests of [[Sehanine Moonbow]], [[Mouqol]], [[Rao]], [[Zuoken]], and [[Xan Yae]]
File:Greyhawk5.gif|Priests of [[Kurell]], [[Trithereon]], [[Wenta]], [[Ralishaz]], and [[Kord]]
</gallery>
</center>

[[Category: Planescape]]

Taiia

2021-07-07T10:00:51Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:C541:8F8B:BB4E:5D9D: /* The church */

{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Taiia
|Symbol = [[File:Taiia symbol.jpg|150px]]
|Aliases = The Blinding Light, the Dancer, the Maker, the Watcher
|Alignment = True Neutral
|Divine Rank = Greater Goddess
|Pantheon = Faith of the Sun
|Portfolio = Creation, destruction, life, death
|Domains = '''Creator aspect:''' Air, Chaos, Earth, Good, Healing, Knowledge, Law, Luck, Magic, Protection, Sun, Travel<br>'''Destroyer aspect:''' Chaos, Death, Destruction, Evil, Fire, Law, Strength, Trickery, War, Water
|Home Plane =
|Worshippers = Everyone
|Favoured Weapon = '''Creator aspect:''' Trident<br>'''Destroyer aspect:''' Battleaxe
}}
{{Topquote|Taiia gives and she takes. We live and we die according to her will. The crops grow or wither under the frost if she speaks a word. Does she care? I don’t know. But I know she hears the prayers I offer in the temple, and sometimes she grants what I ask. She is life. And in the end, she is death as well, and she will eat my soul and let me be part of her if it pleases her.|An unnamed [[peasant]] on Taiia}}

'''Taiia''' is a greater goddess, given as an example of a monotheistic deity in D&D. She's often associated with the sun. Those who please her join her and become fuel for her eternal flames, while those who do not are forced to stay in darkness away from her for all eternity.

==The church==
There is no central authority in Taiia's church, so there are no sects that are "orthodox" or "[[Heresy|heretical]]". Instead, the various sects that make up the church are divided by which aspect of Taiia, creator or destroyer, they focus on.

===Blind Mendicants===
A creator-focused sect that focuses on ascetic practice (blinding oneself, poverty, fasting) and long hours of contemplative prayers. Through this they hope achieve a greater awareness of Taiia's presence and power, and earn her favor in some way.

===Darkened Penitents===
This destroyer-focused sect emphasizes Taiia's judgement upon a sinful world. They believe that they must voluntarily accept her rejection themselves, and thus bear the sins of everyone else. By doing this, they believe they can avert Taiia's wrath upon the rest of the world, whilst finding their own salvation in their selfless acts.

===Purifying Flame===
A destroyer-focused sect that believes that Taiia grants them insight and visions to her will and favor. These prophecies however always focus on judgement on a world that does not follow her adequately. Following these visions, they seek to bring judgement upon mortals, sometimes using legal means, sometimes assassination.

===Sun's Path===
A creator-focused sect characterized by devotional worship, putting emphasis on one's love for Taiia and devotion to the faith. The members meet regularly to worship through joyous singing and whirling dancing, symbolizing the sun's passage through the sky.

<center><gallery>
File:Taiia.jpg|If only I could be so grossly incandescent...
</gallery></center>

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Gods]]

Taiia

2021-07-07T09:56:46Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:C541:8F8B:BB4E:5D9D:

{{Infobox Deity
|Name = Taiia
|Symbol = [[File:Taiia symbol.jpg|150px]]
|Aliases = The Blinding Light, the Dancer, the Maker, the Watcher
|Alignment = True Neutral
|Divine Rank = Greater Goddess
|Pantheon = Faith of the Sun
|Portfolio = Creation, destruction, life, death
|Domains = '''Creator aspect:''' Air, Chaos, Earth, Good, Healing, Knowledge, Law, Luck, Magic, Protection, Sun, Travel<br>'''Destroyer aspect:''' Chaos, Death, Destruction, Evil, Fire, Law, Strength, Trickery, War, Water
|Home Plane =
|Worshippers = Everyone
|Favoured Weapon = '''Creator aspect:''' Trident<br>'''Destroyer aspect:''' Battleaxe
}}
{{Topquote|Taiia gives and she takes. We live and we die according to her will. The crops grow or wither under the frost if she speaks a word. Does she care? I don’t know. But I know she hears the prayers I offer in the temple, and sometimes she grants what I ask. She is life. And in the end, she is death as well, and she will eat my soul and let me be part of her if it pleases her.|An unnamed [[peasant]] on Taiia}}

'''Taiia''' is a greater goddess, given as an example of a monotheistic deity in D&D. She's often associated with the sun. Those who please her join her and become fuel for her eternal flames, while those who do not are forced to stay in darkness away from her for all eternity.

==The church==
There is no central authority in Taiia's church, so there are no sects that are "orthodox" or "[[Heresy|heretical]]". Instead, the various sects that make up the church are divided by which aspect of Taiia, creator or destroyer, they focus on.

===Blind Mendicants===
A creator-focused sect that focuses on ascetic practice (blinding oneself, poverty, fasting) and long hours of contemplative prayers. Through this they hope achieve a greater awareness of Taiia's presence and power, and earn her favor in some way.

===Darkened Penitents===
This destroyer-focused sect emphasizes Taiia's judgement upon a sinful world. They believe that they must voluntarily accept her rejection themselves, and thus bear the sins of everyone else. By doing this, they believe they can avert Taiia's wrath upon the rest of the world, whilst finding their own salvation in their selfless acts.

===Purifying Flame===
A destroyer-focused sect that believes that Taiia grants them insight and visions to her will and favor. These prophecies however always focus on judgement on a world that does not follow her adequately. Following these visions, they seek to bring judgement upon mortal, sometimes using legal means, sometimes assassination.

===Sun's Path===
A creator-focused sect characterized by devotional worship, putting emphasis on one's love for Taiia and devotion to the faith. The members meet regularly to worship through joyous singing and whirling dancing, symbolizing the suns passage through the sky.

<center><gallery>
File:Taiia.jpg|If only I could be so grossly incandescent...
</gallery></center>

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Gods]]

Elder Evils

2021-07-07T09:21:32Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:C541:8F8B:BB4E:5D9D: /* Shothragot */

[[File:Elder evils cover.jpg|thumb|The Elder Evils splatbook from 3.5e. This book unleashed many horrors upon many adventures.]]
[[Elder Evils]] are ancient evil beings of immense power whose existence threatens the world. Some Elder Evils are gods, while others are merely god like beings, such as extremely powerful [[Fiend]]s and creatures of the [[Far Realm]]. The concept of Elder Evils was first talked about in the second edition book ''Powers and Pantheons'', which gave stats for three very powerful monsters of the [[Forgotten Realms]] known as the Elder Eternal Evils. Later books would shorten the term to just Elder Evils. The third edition book, [[Lords of Madness]], lists five beings of immense power that are respected by the Aboleths as the closest thing they have to gods. Later, the [[Splatbook]] Elder Evils went into detail about how to use Elder Evils in a campaign. Two more were revealed in [[Dragon Magazine]]. Elder Evils are also mentioned in 4th and 5th edition.

=2nd Edition=
==Powers and Pantheons==
{{Dnd-stub}}

The Elder Eternal Evils are three monstrous creatures from the [[Forgotten Realms]] setting. They were updated to third edition in the book ''Champions of Ruin''.
===[[Dendar]]===
Dendar the Night Serpent is a monstrous snake who was born when something had a dream for the first time in [[Forgotten Realms]]. She grows stronger by eating nightmares and is said to be destined to destroy the entire setting when she has collected enough.

In third edition Dendar is CR 26.
<gallery>
Dendar P&P.png
Dendar CoR.jpg
</gallery>

===[[Kezef]]===
Kezef the Chaos Hound is a monstrous skeletal dog with maggots in place of flesh that consumes the souls of the faithful in the afterlife who may have been created by [[Jergal]]. Has a grudge against [[Mask]], which is a good thing because this drives it to spend more time hunting down Mask than eating souls.

In third edition Kezef is CR 21.
<gallery>
Kezef P&P.png
Kezef CoR.jpg
</gallery>

===[[Ityak-Ortheel]]===
Ityak-Ortheel the Elf-Eater is a horrible creature resembling a giant headless turtle with three legs and a giant mouth surrounded by forty tentacles. It gets its name because it can only gain sustenance from eating elves. It was born from the spilled blood of [[Corellon]] Larethian and [[Gruumsh]] and is used as a weapon by the god [[Malar]].

In third edition Ityak-Ortheel is CR 22.

<gallery>
Ityak-ortheel P&P.png
Ityak-ortheel CoR.jpg
</gallery>

=3rd Edition=
==Lords of Madness==
While most [[Aboleth]]s do not worship gods, there are five godlike beings that they pay respects to, which are described in the book [[Lords of Madness]], but not given stats.
* [[Bolothamogg]], Him Who Watches from Beyond the Stars: A primal force that keeps the multiverse separated from the outer dimensions.
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below: A gigantic centipede squid thing that eats its way through the material plane, leaving behind a black substance that can be compressed into Bilestone, a substance that debilitates non-aberrations.
* [[Piscaethces]], The Blood Queen: The origin of aboleths. She wanders throughout the multiverse spawning new aboleths. If she were to ever return aboleths would see it as proof that the multiverse isn't infinite.
* [[Shothotugg]], Eater of Worlds: A mass of liquid that travels between worlds, poisoning and parasitizing them and slowly changing the laws of the multiverse as it does so.
* [[Y'chak]], The Violet Flame: A pillar of violet flames concealing a form so horrifying it would destroy anyone who looked at it (a relative of [[Pale Night]] maybe?). It encourages mortals to worship evil gods and may be responsible for the creation of many of those gods.

==Elder Evils (the book)==
The book Elder Evils was released near the end of 3.5 edition as a tool for dungeon masters wanting to end their current campaign and switch to 4th edition, similar to how [[The Apocalypse Stone]] was released to give DMs in 2nd edition a way to end their campaigns before switching to 3rd. The Elder Evils described in the book are entities with the potential to end the world, and thus end the campaign if the players fail to stop them, or act as a satisfyingly epic final boss for the players. The book instructs the DM on how to base a campaign around stopping one of these beings. The book does not describe every detail of the campaigns like most books, but instead gives a general outline of the plot, plus the stats for major enemies the players will encounter, and details of the final dungeon, and what adjustments to make if the campaign is set in [[Faerun]] or [[Eberron]]. Many of the Elder Evils are not statted, as they are too powerful when fully unleashed for the players to stop, but instead only have stats for an aspect of them that the players can defeat.

===[[Atropus]]===
Known as The World Born Dead, Atropus is a moon sized undead creature that is as old as creation and desires the end of all life. It destroys worlds by crashing on them and then draining them of all positive energy. Atropus cannot be destroyed, but the players can drive it away. As Atropus approaches the world necromancy spells become more powerful and the dead begin to rise as undead spontaneously. Atropus itself has no stats (how the fuck do you stat '''''a godsdamned planet?!'''''), but the Aspect of Atropus is a CR 23 undead. Atropus is also infested with many kinds of undead, including famine spirits, advanced deathshriekers, rage winds, angels of decay, nightcrawlers, nightwalkers, nightwings, dread wraiths, and a single dread boneyard. Atropus is also a very hostile environment with no atmosphere unless it is about to collide with the world, and has a variety of effects that harm the living and boost the undead.

In the suggested campaign, Caira Xasten (human, level 5 bard, level 5 rogue, level 10 [[Ur-Priest]]) wants to attract Atropus to destroy the world to get revenge on the gods, blaming them for the death of her husband who was killed by a falling meteorite. To do this she and her cult first seek out a book about Atropus, then try to obtain the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] in order to learn the ''apocalypse of the sky'' spell which she will attempt to cast on a large city to attract Atropus with the mass death. Meanwhile, the world is also invaded by a powerful general of [[Orcus]] who also wants to summon Atropus named Gorguth ([[Bodak]], level 2 ranger, level 1 fighter, level 9 blackguard), who rides on a powerful construct named Skyshadow and leading his own army of the undead to cause mass death. After failing to stop either one of them, the players then must travel to Atropus and battle against a variety of undead monsters until they find and defeat the aspect of Atropus, which will cause Atropus to retreat.
<gallery>
File:Atropus.jpg
File:Map of Atropus's Face.jpg|so big that his face has a travel map.
File:Aspect of Atropus.jpeg|His significantly smaller (and killable) Aspect.
</gallery>

=== [[Father Llymic]] ===
Father Llymic is an entity from the [[Far Realm]] that sleeps in an icy prison that melts in darkness and thickens in sunlight. It wants to remake the world to be more hospitable to itself and its children, which it then creates by [[Nurgle|spreading a plague that]] [[Plaguebearer|turns the infected into creatures like itself]] [[Gellarpox Infected|known as brood spawn]]. The more people Father Llymic infects, the more he comes out of his sleep, and as it awakes the sun starts to go out, and darkness spells grow stronger while light spells weaken. He is called Father Llymic because he often projects an illusion of a friendly old man. Its true form is a massive demon like creature with scythes for arms, three eyes, and skin covered in icy crystal, with a CR of 18. Beings converted into brood spawn gain similar features.

In the suggested campaign, the player are sent to investigate the disappearance of a caravan that was attacked by a tribe of barbarians that worship Father Llymic. After this a huge glacier and icy weather spreads down from the mountain where Father Llymic is imprisoned and strange ice monsters start attacking people. Soon whole towns and villages are transformed into brood spawn as the weather gets worse and worse while the sun gets darker and darker. The players must travel up the mountain while battling through mad cultists and many kinds of brood spawn to face and defeat Father Llymic.

<Gallery>
File:Father Lymic.jpg
</Gallery>

===[[The Hulks of Zoretha]]===
The Hulks of Zoretha are five giants made of stone from another world that plan to exterminate all life on this plane to make room for them to repopulate it with their own kind. As they awaken, the moon turns red, causing people to experience uncontrollable rage. Four of the hulks are female and are each associated with a different element while the last one is male and has wings. They are also completely indestructible as long as they are asleep. All of them are CR 16.

In the suggested campaign, Soelma Nilaenish (elf, level 7 wizard, level 10 loremaster, level 1 rogue) hires the party to recover a copy of the Zoretha Scrolls, then later hires them again to protect the scrolls. She then travels with the party to stop the leader of the cult of Zoretha, Janwulf the Soulbiter (ice giant, level 11 bard). But after Janwulf is defeated Soelma betrays the party and takes control of the cult herself. Soelma is in fact horribly depressed and wants the world to be destroyed, while Janwulf actually had no interest in waking up the hulks and just wanted power. The party then stops Soelma from completing the ritual to wake up the hulks but the moon doesn't return to normal and the whole world is at war. A single cultist escapes from the players and finishes the ritual to wake up the hulks and the players must then destroy them.

If you want to be a smart DM, however, we recommend you just load them onto a [[Spelljammer]] to help them find an unoccupied planet.
<gallery>
Hulks-of-Zorthea.jpg
</gallery>

===[[The Leviathan]]===
An immense sea monster personifying primal chaos that will destroy the world if it ever wakes up. As it gets close to awakening, the world is affected by extreme weather. The Leviathan does not have stats, as it is too big for the players to fight, but the players may battle against aspects of the leviathan, which are CR 16, or an advanced aspect, which is CR 20.

In the suggested campaign, the players save a port town from a disaster and are sent to investigate the cause of the strange weather. The party then encounters and defeats a cult that worships the leviathan, but their leader, a mysterious man named Enshaddon, escapes. Enshaddon is actually an advanced vampiric [[Ixitxachitl]] with 16 cleric levels named Axihuatl. He is a worshiper of Demogorgon and wants to partially wake up the leviathan using a shard of chaos in order to flood the world. After the players first disrupt his plans, he sends Marcus Hape (human, level 4 rogue, level 4 assassin, level 4 thrall of Demogogon) to kill them. With the help of a sage named Mytus who provides the players with magic and equipment for underwater travel, the players attack a temple located in a hollow spine on the leviathan's back and interrupt Axihuatl's ritual to wake up the leviathan, causing him to lose control of the beast. Axihuatl then allies with the players because he does not want the leviathan to completely destroy the world. They must then travel deeper into the temple and throw the shard of chaos into a pit at the bottom to put the leviathan back to sleep.

The 'the' in the name probably represents the greatest of its kind, as in 5e Mordinkainen's tome of foes introduced the Leviathans as [[Elemental#Elder Elementals|Elder Elementals]], also a CR 20 like its advanced aspect.
<gallery>
Leviathan aspect.png|Aspect of the Leviathan
</gallery>

=== [[Pandorym]] ===
In ancient times, a group of wizards wanted to blackmail the gods. So they summoned a powerful eldritch abomination from "[[Far Realm| the space 'between' the planes]]" named Pandorym, contracted it to destroy all the gods, immediately sealed it away before it could do so by imprisoning its mind and body separately, and used the threat of its reunification as the divine blackmail. Fortunately the wizards didn't implement a deadman's switch or anything, so the gods smote their stupid asses when they heard their first demands and wiped the group from the face of history. In fact the book suggests that if you set the campaign in Ebberon that this is what creates the Mournlands to get a sense of scale. If made whole, Pandorym will first take revenge on the descendants of the wizards that imprisoned it, then kill all the gods as it was contracted to do. If the contract's completion doesn't return it "home", it'll destroy the universe out of frustration/boredom.

Pandorym's mindless body resembles a huge [[Sphere of Annihilation]] that moves towards anyone that tries to control it, which is kept in an unknown extradimensional prison. Pandorym's mind is sealed within a large near-indestructible crystal and is immensely powerful even without its body; the tiny leakage through the crystal is enough to corrupt nearby high level characters and obliterate the minds of weaker-willed folks, a small "fragment" of its mind is a ''CR 25'' Psionic threat, and the fully released mind is an unstatted behemoth that only divine intervention could stop...

...so far, so first-edition [[Tharizdun]]. It's unfortunate that Pandorym's sign interferes with the planar connections of the world (via a sky-spanning glyph) and makes conjuration+divine magic increasingly difficult as its mind gains influence. Presumably its fully released mind would completely block the world off and make divine intervention near impossible.

In the suggested campaign, Tune Majii (human, Level 2 bard, level 2 wizard) hires the player to find her missing father Lucather (quell, level 8 enchanter, level 10 loremaster), who has become enslaved to Pandorym. Meanwhile, the gods begin sending their mortal followers warnings that somebody is trying to unleash an unimaginably powerful evil. This person turns out to be the [[Inevitable]] named Obligatum VII (kolyarut, level 3 [[Hexblade]], level 5 [[Occult Slayer]]), our wiki's literal poster child of [[Lawful Stupid]]. Obligatum VII wants to release Pandorym because the poor old eldritch abomination entered into a bad-faith contract and ''must'' receive rightful legal remedy for the indignity, [[Lawful Stupid|regardless of the god-ending possibly-universe-ending consequences]]. The players will have to travel to the prison where Pandorym's mind is kept and defeat Lucather and Obligatum VII before they can smash the crystal open with Obligatum's adamantine sword. If the players succeed, they may have to travel to [[Mechanus]] and prevent Obligatum VIII's creation (who'd start this shit all over again). Quick tip: Soon as you learn about this thing try and tip off a [[Inevitable#Varakhut|Varakhut]], a protector of the divine order, and watch the ensuing Inevitable robot rumble.
<gallery>
File:Pandorym.jpg
</gallery>

=== [[Ragnorra]] ===
Ragnorra is an entity of corrupted life that wants to remake all life to fit her own ideals of what life should be. She travels between worlds in the form of a red comet, which crashes down on the world and begins spreading her skin and nerves over the planet, warping all creatures into aberrations. As Ragnorra gets closer to landing, positive energy spells become stronger but also cause gross blemishes, Ragnorra's spores start to fall from the sky that turn things into swarms of pests, living things gain healing abilities but are slowly corrupted into aberrations, and eventually even the dead start rising as aberrations, while undead are forced to flee underground. When Ragnorra crashes onto a planet she is reduced to a fraction of her full size but is still gargantuan size and has CR 19 in both her initial form after landing, and her True Mother form taken when she merges with the neurotangle.

In the suggested campaign, a cult that worships Ragnorra called the Malshapers attempts to attract Ragnorra to the player's world using kidnapped people and other stolen living entities as bait to guide her on her path to the world. The leader of the cult is Irthicax Vane ([[Zenythri]], level 17 monk), whose world was destroyed by Ragnorra and once fought against her, but eventually went mad and turned to worshiping her, though the players may be able to convince him to help stop her. As Ragnorra approaches, mysterious springs with healing properties start popping up everywhere that are controlled by the Malshapers. Swarms of vermin begin appearing in cities, and in response to this undead beings start showing up to fight them. As the red comet continues to get closer the undead all start leaving. While the players are investigating to see if the undead are planning anything, they get repeatedly attacked by low level rogues sent by the Malshapers. Then an [[Aboleth]] mage with the ability to breath air falls from the sky and enslaves the risen corpses of the Malshapers. Then Ragnorra crashes into the earth and creates an enormous crater full of aberrations and corrupt flesh. The players must travel across this crater to reach the center and confront Ragnorra. Once she has transformed into her True Mother form, the players must defeat her by breaking her connection with the planet, and thus forcing her to leave.

Getting her to crash into Atropus might make for an interesting campaign.
<gallery>
File:D7b59ix-5a1ad7e3-73d6-4cfc-ab6d-46b7825f13f2.jpg
File:Tumblr inline oyely8D2qp1robfbt 500.png
File:RagnorraFanart.jpg
</gallery>

===[[Sertrous]]===
Sertrous was a powerful [[Obyrith]] that was killed in the distant past, but whose spirit clings to life in his severed skull. He was first killed for refusing to serve [[The Queen of Chaos]] but his spirit escaped to the material plane where he possessed a snake and made it into his new body. After he sent armies of snakes and monsters to attack mortals because he was jealous of the worship the gods received from them, he was then killed again by a Solar named Avamerin, but not before Sertrous revealed the secret that divine magic is possible to gain from any kind of faith, not just faith in a god. Avamerin at first didn't understand what Sertrous had said and shared the words with others, and when godless clerics started appearing as a result he was punished by being demoted to a Planetar. Avamerin then turned on his god and began working to bring Sertrous back to life. Avamerin now leads a cult of heretical [[Yuan-ti]] called The Vanguard of Sertrous that claims Sertrous is the true creator of the Yuan-ti. As Sertrous gets closer to returning to life, encounters with snakes and snake-like monsters become more and more frequent. Sertrous does not have stats because he is nothing but an immobile skull, but the players may fight against a CR 23 aspect of Sertrous.

In the suggested campaign, the players are hired to find out why a merchant has cut contact with his business partners and discover that he has fallen under the sway of a group of Yuan-ti who are lead by somebody named Seghulerak (Yuan-ti abomination, level 10 cleric, level 5 thaumaturgist) and do not worship the traditional Yuan-ti gods. Seghulerak and the Vanguard of Sertrous seize control of a major Yuan-ti city and start setting up ''serpentgates'' in temples around the world from which to launch invasions. The players investigate an infestation of snakes and interfere with the creation of one of these gates. The players eventually makes their way to the city where the Vanguard of Sertrous is based after many battles against Yuan-ti and other snake monsters and defeat Seghulerak, but her body vanishes when she is killed, leaving behind a pile of dead headless snakes. After some investigation the players learn about the Serpent Reliquary, an extradimensional temple that is the true base of the Vanguard. The players locate the portal the Reliquary and defeat Seghulerak again. After this they meet Avamerin, who will try to trick the players into leaving by lying that Sertrous never existed and this was all a test by the gods. If the players attack and defeat him, he is transformed into the aspect of Sertrous which the players must destroy. If the players are dumb enough to fall for his trick, he might send them to a layer of the abyss disguised as their home.
<gallery>
Sertrous aspect.png|Aspect of Sertrous
</gallery>

===[[Kyuss]], The [[Worm That Walks]]===
The Worm That Walks is an evil demigod named [[Kyuss]] that wants to conquer the world and bring about the age of worms to become a full god. As he gets closer to escaping his prison, the world becomes infested with giant centipedes and other worm-like monsters. [[Kyuss]] was once a prophet of an evil god who attempted to ascend to godhood by sacrificing all of his followers and transforming into a great monster made of worms, but he got stuck between mortality and godhood and trapped inside an obelisk. The Worm That Walks is a CR 20 aberration.

In the suggested campaign, Edwin Tolstoff (human lesser worm that walks, level 3 necromancer, level 3 cleric, level 10 true necromancer), escapes from his prison by having his grandchildren kill their mother and release him, causing spawn of Kyuss to start appearing. Edwin wants to release Kyuss from his prison because he hates being a worm that walks and hopes that Kyuss will either kill him or restore his humanity. The players are called to solve a murder mystery, whose culprit is a wererat named Draen, who works for Katarin Tolstoff. After solving this mystery, people are kidnapped and the players track them down to find an [[Avolakia]] who is turning his captives into spawns of Kyuss. Though the players defeat him, people continue disappearing all over the nation. When the party's spellcaster visits a local wizard's guild, they find that it has been ransacked and most of the wizards transformed into undead by Edwin. The most notable item he has stolen is a [[Well of Many Worlds]]. The Herald of Kyuss (Avolakia, level 8 cleric) working for Edwin then poses as an NPC ally the players know and tells them that a wizard named Emirikol the Chaotic is planning to destroy the universe by putting a [[Sphere of Annihilation]] into the well. This is a trick by Edwin to give him the chance to steal a Talisman of the Sphere from Emirikol while the players are fighting him. But Edwin is unable to find a sphere of annihilation, and so anonymously hires the players to go to the [[Tomb of Horrors]] and secretly follows them so that he can steal the sphere from the tomb. The players then must chase him to Wormcrawl island to stop him from using it to break Kyuss's prison. When he reaches the obelisk he completes the ritual and places the sphere of annihilation into the well of many worlds, creating a black hole and releasing Kyuss. The players will have to defeat Kyuss and stop the black hole from destroying reality if it isn't stopped by divine intervention. If you don't have the [[Exemplars of Evil]] book, which includes the stats and description of Edwin's grandchildren and Drean, it suggests replacing Edwin with a different villain. The book also suggests combining this plot with the [[Adventure Path]], ''Age of Worms'' from [[Dungeon Magazine]], which also features Kyuss.
<gallery>
Kyuss.png
Kyuss.jpg
</gallery>

===[[Zargon]]===
Zargon is an ancient evil who once ruled over [[Baator]] as the father of the [[Baatorian]]s before Asmodeus and his [[Baatezu]] strutted in and slapped their dicks on the table. Although he was defeated by Asmodeus, he could not be killed even by the gods and was imprisoned on the material plane. His horn is nearly indestructible and he will regenerate from it if the rest of his body is destroyed. Now he has given up on reclaiming Baator and wants to conquer the mortal world. As he gets closer to awakening the world is affected by extreme weather, including rains of slime that pollute water sources with a contagion that can turn people into [[slime]]s called Whelps of Zargon. Zargon is only CR 16, though according to the fluff he is capable of killing gods due to them being vulnerable to his powers.

Dorn (Cynidicean, Level 1 rogue, level 3 fighter, level 3 ranger, level 7 thrall of Juiblex), the son of Zargon's high cultists, flees from Cynidicea, only to be captured by gnolls and rescued by the party. Zargon begins to wake up as his cultists dig him up. Dorn then gets captured by the cult of Juiblex who torture and eventually brainwash him into joining them. The players are then hired by an archeologist named Vanessa (Tiefling, level 7 [[Archivist]], level 7 [[Entropomancer]]) to take her to Cynidicea. However she gets separated from the party on the way and finds her way to Cynidicea alone, where she ends up joining Zargon's cult. The awakening of Zargon attracts the attention of [[Juiblex]], who sends Dorn to make an alliance with Zargon. [[Zuggtmoy]] attempts to stop Juiblex by having their own cult frame Juiblex's cult for murders, which the party investigates. Vanessa convinces Dorn to take control of Zargon's cult with her, and they sacrifice Dorn's father to speed up Zargon's revival. Several factions try to manipulate the players into leading them to Zargon's resting places and the players must play them against each other to find out about Zargon and where to find him. The players eventually make it to Zargon's tomb just as he is fully revived and defeat him and his cultists and ooze servants. But in order to destroy Zargon permanently, they will have to throw his horn into the Eye of Zargon deep underground.

A campaign where Demogorgon frees him in return for assistance in the blood war would be fucking dope.
<gallery>
Zargon B4.jpg
Zargon baatorian.jpg
Zargon the Returner.jpg
</gallery>

==Dragon Magazine==
Two more being described as Elder Evils appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]].

[[Zurguth]], The Feasting Vast is mentioned in the article Ecology of the Kaorti, in issue #358. Zurguth is an extremely powerful monster of the [[Far Realm]] in the form of an ocean of flesh. It accidentally created the [[Kaorti]] just by looking at a group of wizards who entered the Far Realm.

===[[Shothragot]]===
Shothragot is detailed in issue #362, in an article written similarly to a chapter of the Elder Evils book. Shothragot is an avatar of [[Tharizdun]] sealed beneath the temple of the Elder Elemental Eye, who works to free Tharizdun from his prison by collecting the 333 gems of Tharizdun. Shothragot itself is too big for the players to defeat and so doesn't have stats. Instead, the players must enter inside of Shothragot and fight the Essence of Shothragot, which is CR 22. As Shothragot gets closer to completing its goal the sky is covered in a Seal of Binding, similar to the one produced by Pandorym.

In the suggested adventure, the players stumble across one of the gems of Tharizdun while exploring a random dungeon and are harassed by agents of Tharizdun until they get rid of it. Later a massive earthquake causes widespread destruction but strangely leaves a tower untouched while burying everything around it. Investigating this tower leads to the players finding another black gem and several mad cultists also looking for it. The seal of binding appears in the sky and Tharizdun recognizes that the players are a threat and so Shothragot sends a powerful assassin named Giorge Forsworn after them, who then starts killing the player character's friends and family one by one before he starts going after the player characters. A group of powerful wizards then hire the players to find a member of theirs who went missing while investigating the cause of the Seal of Binding. When the players find them, they have already been warped into a servant of Tharizdun. The players then travel to several locations important to the Cult of Tharizdun to find clues. Shothragot finally emerges from its hiding place and the players must defeat it from the inside.

The final part of the adventure was detailed in [[Dungeon]] Magazine 152. Unfortunately, because Dungeon 152 was released in multiple parts online only and has been taken down since then, this adventure is now extremely hard to find since all the archives of Dungeon 152 don't have the complete version.

=4th Edition=
{{Dnd-stub}}
During 4th Edition, several of the Elder Evils were adapted by Dragon Magazine as potential sources of power for [[Warlock]]s. See [[Starspawn]] for details.

The 4th edition version of the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] describes the [[Tsochar]] god [[Mak Thuum Ngatha]] as an Elder Evil. And [[Kyuss]] gets 4th edition stats in Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead.

=5th Edition=
Zargon the Returner was listed as a possible patron for great old one warlocks in the Players Handbook. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes describes the Elder Evils as the source of monsters known as [[Star Spawn]] and it includes the list of Elder Evils copied below, which includes the elder evils from Powers and Pantheons and Lords of Madness, a few from the Elder Evils book, and some new ones, mainly [[Archomental|Primordials]] and some obscure evil gods from [[Forgotten Realms]]. Unfortunately it does not give any significant description of them beyond just listing their names so readers will have no idea what they are unless they search through previous editions to find them.

* [[Ityak-Ortheel]], the Elf-Eater
* [[Dendar]], the Night Serpent
* [[Borem]] of the Lake of Boiling Mud
* [[Kezef]], the Chaos Hound
* [[Zargon]], the Returner
* [[Carmnod]], the Unseen
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below
* [[Piscaethces]], the Blood Queen
* [[Shothotugg]], the Eater of Worlds
* [[Y'chak]], the Violet Flame
* [[Bolothamogg]], Who Watches from Beyond the Stars
* [[Hargut]], of the Gray Pestilence
* [[Haask]], the Voice of Hargut
* [[Ragnorra]], the Mother of Monsters
* The Hulks of [[Zoretha]]
* [[Kyuss]], the Worm That Walks
* [[Tharizdun]], the Elder Elemental Eye
* [[Atropus]], the World Born Dead
* [[Pandorym]], the Utter Annihilation
* [[Haemnathuun]], the Blood lord
* [[Maram]] of the Great Spear
* [[Tyranthraxus]], the Flamed One
* [[The Queen of Chaos]]
* [[Father Llymic]], the Alien Thought Given Flesh

A few of the [[Star Spawn]] Elder Evils from fourth edition are also mentioned in Volo's Guide to Monsters as beings that [[Neogi]] [[Warlock]]s make contracts with. Strangely, a few of them also appeared as [[Vestige]]s in the [[Curse of Strahd]]'s Amber Temple, though how they died and became vestiges is unexplained.

=External links=
* [https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LNa95CLcSwIUPkRniO3 Homebrew 5E stats for the Elder Evils as well as associated entities]

{{Template:D&D-Nonhuman-Deities}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Game Books]]
[[Category:Elder Evils]]

Elder Evils

2021-07-07T09:14:36Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:C541:8F8B:BB4E:5D9D: /* Zargon */

[[File:Elder evils cover.jpg|thumb|The Elder Evils splatbook from 3.5e. This book unleashed many horrors upon many adventures.]]
[[Elder Evils]] are ancient evil beings of immense power whose existence threatens the world. Some Elder Evils are gods, while others are merely god like beings, such as extremely powerful [[Fiend]]s and creatures of the [[Far Realm]]. The concept of Elder Evils was first talked about in the second edition book ''Powers and Pantheons'', which gave stats for three very powerful monsters of the [[Forgotten Realms]] known as the Elder Eternal Evils. Later books would shorten the term to just Elder Evils. The third edition book, [[Lords of Madness]], lists five beings of immense power that are respected by the Aboleths as the closest thing they have to gods. Later, the [[Splatbook]] Elder Evils went into detail about how to use Elder Evils in a campaign. Two more were revealed in [[Dragon Magazine]]. Elder Evils are also mentioned in 4th and 5th edition.

=2nd Edition=
==Powers and Pantheons==
{{Dnd-stub}}

The Elder Eternal Evils are three monstrous creatures from the [[Forgotten Realms]] setting. They were updated to third edition in the book ''Champions of Ruin''.
===[[Dendar]]===
Dendar the Night Serpent is a monstrous snake who was born when something had a dream for the first time in [[Forgotten Realms]]. She grows stronger by eating nightmares and is said to be destined to destroy the entire setting when she has collected enough.

In third edition Dendar is CR 26.
<gallery>
Dendar P&P.png
Dendar CoR.jpg
</gallery>

===[[Kezef]]===
Kezef the Chaos Hound is a monstrous skeletal dog with maggots in place of flesh that consumes the souls of the faithful in the afterlife who may have been created by [[Jergal]]. Has a grudge against [[Mask]], which is a good thing because this drives it to spend more time hunting down Mask than eating souls.

In third edition Kezef is CR 21.
<gallery>
Kezef P&P.png
Kezef CoR.jpg
</gallery>

===[[Ityak-Ortheel]]===
Ityak-Ortheel the Elf-Eater is a horrible creature resembling a giant headless turtle with three legs and a giant mouth surrounded by forty tentacles. It gets its name because it can only gain sustenance from eating elves. It was born from the spilled blood of [[Corellon]] Larethian and [[Gruumsh]] and is used as a weapon by the god [[Malar]].

In third edition Ityak-Ortheel is CR 22.

<gallery>
Ityak-ortheel P&P.png
Ityak-ortheel CoR.jpg
</gallery>

=3rd Edition=
==Lords of Madness==
While most [[Aboleth]]s do not worship gods, there are five godlike beings that they pay respects to, which are described in the book [[Lords of Madness]], but not given stats.
* [[Bolothamogg]], Him Who Watches from Beyond the Stars: A primal force that keeps the multiverse separated from the outer dimensions.
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below: A gigantic centipede squid thing that eats its way through the material plane, leaving behind a black substance that can be compressed into Bilestone, a substance that debilitates non-aberrations.
* [[Piscaethces]], The Blood Queen: The origin of aboleths. She wanders throughout the multiverse spawning new aboleths. If she were to ever return aboleths would see it as proof that the multiverse isn't infinite.
* [[Shothotugg]], Eater of Worlds: A mass of liquid that travels between worlds, poisoning and parasitizing them and slowly changing the laws of the multiverse as it does so.
* [[Y'chak]], The Violet Flame: A pillar of violet flames concealing a form so horrifying it would destroy anyone who looked at it (a relative of [[Pale Night]] maybe?). It encourages mortals to worship evil gods and may be responsible for the creation of many of those gods.

==Elder Evils (the book)==
The book Elder Evils was released near the end of 3.5 edition as a tool for dungeon masters wanting to end their current campaign and switch to 4th edition, similar to how [[The Apocalypse Stone]] was released to give DMs in 2nd edition a way to end their campaigns before switching to 3rd. The Elder Evils described in the book are entities with the potential to end the world, and thus end the campaign if the players fail to stop them, or act as a satisfyingly epic final boss for the players. The book instructs the DM on how to base a campaign around stopping one of these beings. The book does not describe every detail of the campaigns like most books, but instead gives a general outline of the plot, plus the stats for major enemies the players will encounter, and details of the final dungeon, and what adjustments to make if the campaign is set in [[Faerun]] or [[Eberron]]. Many of the Elder Evils are not statted, as they are too powerful when fully unleashed for the players to stop, but instead only have stats for an aspect of them that the players can defeat.

===[[Atropus]]===
Known as The World Born Dead, Atropus is a moon sized undead creature that is as old as creation and desires the end of all life. It destroys worlds by crashing on them and then draining them of all positive energy. Atropus cannot be destroyed, but the players can drive it away. As Atropus approaches the world necromancy spells become more powerful and the dead begin to rise as undead spontaneously. Atropus itself has no stats (how the fuck do you stat '''''a godsdamned planet?!'''''), but the Aspect of Atropus is a CR 23 undead. Atropus is also infested with many kinds of undead, including famine spirits, advanced deathshriekers, rage winds, angels of decay, nightcrawlers, nightwalkers, nightwings, dread wraiths, and a single dread boneyard. Atropus is also a very hostile environment with no atmosphere unless it is about to collide with the world, and has a variety of effects that harm the living and boost the undead.

In the suggested campaign, Caira Xasten (human, level 5 bard, level 5 rogue, level 10 [[Ur-Priest]]) wants to attract Atropus to destroy the world to get revenge on the gods, blaming them for the death of her husband who was killed by a falling meteorite. To do this she and her cult first seek out a book about Atropus, then try to obtain the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] in order to learn the ''apocalypse of the sky'' spell which she will attempt to cast on a large city to attract Atropus with the mass death. Meanwhile, the world is also invaded by a powerful general of [[Orcus]] who also wants to summon Atropus named Gorguth ([[Bodak]], level 2 ranger, level 1 fighter, level 9 blackguard), who rides on a powerful construct named Skyshadow and leading his own army of the undead to cause mass death. After failing to stop either one of them, the players then must travel to Atropus and battle against a variety of undead monsters until they find and defeat the aspect of Atropus, which will cause Atropus to retreat.
<gallery>
File:Atropus.jpg
File:Map of Atropus's Face.jpg|so big that his face has a travel map.
File:Aspect of Atropus.jpeg|His significantly smaller (and killable) Aspect.
</gallery>

=== [[Father Llymic]] ===
Father Llymic is an entity from the [[Far Realm]] that sleeps in an icy prison that melts in darkness and thickens in sunlight. It wants to remake the world to be more hospitable to itself and its children, which it then creates by [[Nurgle|spreading a plague that]] [[Plaguebearer|turns the infected into creatures like itself]] [[Gellarpox Infected|known as brood spawn]]. The more people Father Llymic infects, the more he comes out of his sleep, and as it awakes the sun starts to go out, and darkness spells grow stronger while light spells weaken. He is called Father Llymic because he often projects an illusion of a friendly old man. Its true form is a massive demon like creature with scythes for arms, three eyes, and skin covered in icy crystal, with a CR of 18. Beings converted into brood spawn gain similar features.

In the suggested campaign, the player are sent to investigate the disappearance of a caravan that was attacked by a tribe of barbarians that worship Father Llymic. After this a huge glacier and icy weather spreads down from the mountain where Father Llymic is imprisoned and strange ice monsters start attacking people. Soon whole towns and villages are transformed into brood spawn as the weather gets worse and worse while the sun gets darker and darker. The players must travel up the mountain while battling through mad cultists and many kinds of brood spawn to face and defeat Father Llymic.

<Gallery>
File:Father Lymic.jpg
</Gallery>

===[[The Hulks of Zoretha]]===
The Hulks of Zoretha are five giants made of stone from another world that plan to exterminate all life on this plane to make room for them to repopulate it with their own kind. As they awaken, the moon turns red, causing people to experience uncontrollable rage. Four of the hulks are female and are each associated with a different element while the last one is male and has wings. They are also completely indestructible as long as they are asleep. All of them are CR 16.

In the suggested campaign, Soelma Nilaenish (elf, level 7 wizard, level 10 loremaster, level 1 rogue) hires the party to recover a copy of the Zoretha Scrolls, then later hires them again to protect the scrolls. She then travels with the party to stop the leader of the cult of Zoretha, Janwulf the Soulbiter (ice giant, level 11 bard). But after Janwulf is defeated Soelma betrays the party and takes control of the cult herself. Soelma is in fact horribly depressed and wants the world to be destroyed, while Janwulf actually had no interest in waking up the hulks and just wanted power. The party then stops Soelma from completing the ritual to wake up the hulks but the moon doesn't return to normal and the whole world is at war. A single cultist escapes from the players and finishes the ritual to wake up the hulks and the players must then destroy them.

If you want to be a smart DM, however, we recommend you just load them onto a [[Spelljammer]] to help them find an unoccupied planet.
<gallery>
Hulks-of-Zorthea.jpg
</gallery>

===[[The Leviathan]]===
An immense sea monster personifying primal chaos that will destroy the world if it ever wakes up. As it gets close to awakening, the world is affected by extreme weather. The Leviathan does not have stats, as it is too big for the players to fight, but the players may battle against aspects of the leviathan, which are CR 16, or an advanced aspect, which is CR 20.

In the suggested campaign, the players save a port town from a disaster and are sent to investigate the cause of the strange weather. The party then encounters and defeats a cult that worships the leviathan, but their leader, a mysterious man named Enshaddon, escapes. Enshaddon is actually an advanced vampiric [[Ixitxachitl]] with 16 cleric levels named Axihuatl. He is a worshiper of Demogorgon and wants to partially wake up the leviathan using a shard of chaos in order to flood the world. After the players first disrupt his plans, he sends Marcus Hape (human, level 4 rogue, level 4 assassin, level 4 thrall of Demogogon) to kill them. With the help of a sage named Mytus who provides the players with magic and equipment for underwater travel, the players attack a temple located in a hollow spine on the leviathan's back and interrupt Axihuatl's ritual to wake up the leviathan, causing him to lose control of the beast. Axihuatl then allies with the players because he does not want the leviathan to completely destroy the world. They must then travel deeper into the temple and throw the shard of chaos into a pit at the bottom to put the leviathan back to sleep.

The 'the' in the name probably represents the greatest of its kind, as in 5e Mordinkainen's tome of foes introduced the Leviathans as [[Elemental#Elder Elementals|Elder Elementals]], also a CR 20 like its advanced aspect.
<gallery>
Leviathan aspect.png|Aspect of the Leviathan
</gallery>

=== [[Pandorym]] ===
In ancient times, a group of wizards wanted to blackmail the gods. So they summoned a powerful eldritch abomination from "[[Far Realm| the space 'between' the planes]]" named Pandorym, contracted it to destroy all the gods, immediately sealed it away before it could do so by imprisoning its mind and body separately, and used the threat of its reunification as the divine blackmail. Fortunately the wizards didn't implement a deadman's switch or anything, so the gods smote their stupid asses when they heard their first demands and wiped the group from the face of history. In fact the book suggests that if you set the campaign in Ebberon that this is what creates the Mournlands to get a sense of scale. If made whole, Pandorym will first take revenge on the descendants of the wizards that imprisoned it, then kill all the gods as it was contracted to do. If the contract's completion doesn't return it "home", it'll destroy the universe out of frustration/boredom.

Pandorym's mindless body resembles a huge [[Sphere of Annihilation]] that moves towards anyone that tries to control it, which is kept in an unknown extradimensional prison. Pandorym's mind is sealed within a large near-indestructible crystal and is immensely powerful even without its body; the tiny leakage through the crystal is enough to corrupt nearby high level characters and obliterate the minds of weaker-willed folks, a small "fragment" of its mind is a ''CR 25'' Psionic threat, and the fully released mind is an unstatted behemoth that only divine intervention could stop...

...so far, so first-edition [[Tharizdun]]. It's unfortunate that Pandorym's sign interferes with the planar connections of the world (via a sky-spanning glyph) and makes conjuration+divine magic increasingly difficult as its mind gains influence. Presumably its fully released mind would completely block the world off and make divine intervention near impossible.

In the suggested campaign, Tune Majii (human, Level 2 bard, level 2 wizard) hires the player to find her missing father Lucather (quell, level 8 enchanter, level 10 loremaster), who has become enslaved to Pandorym. Meanwhile, the gods begin sending their mortal followers warnings that somebody is trying to unleash an unimaginably powerful evil. This person turns out to be the [[Inevitable]] named Obligatum VII (kolyarut, level 3 [[Hexblade]], level 5 [[Occult Slayer]]), our wiki's literal poster child of [[Lawful Stupid]]. Obligatum VII wants to release Pandorym because the poor old eldritch abomination entered into a bad-faith contract and ''must'' receive rightful legal remedy for the indignity, [[Lawful Stupid|regardless of the god-ending possibly-universe-ending consequences]]. The players will have to travel to the prison where Pandorym's mind is kept and defeat Lucather and Obligatum VII before they can smash the crystal open with Obligatum's adamantine sword. If the players succeed, they may have to travel to [[Mechanus]] and prevent Obligatum VIII's creation (who'd start this shit all over again). Quick tip: Soon as you learn about this thing try and tip off a [[Inevitable#Varakhut|Varakhut]], a protector of the divine order, and watch the ensuing Inevitable robot rumble.
<gallery>
File:Pandorym.jpg
</gallery>

=== [[Ragnorra]] ===
Ragnorra is an entity of corrupted life that wants to remake all life to fit her own ideals of what life should be. She travels between worlds in the form of a red comet, which crashes down on the world and begins spreading her skin and nerves over the planet, warping all creatures into aberrations. As Ragnorra gets closer to landing, positive energy spells become stronger but also cause gross blemishes, Ragnorra's spores start to fall from the sky that turn things into swarms of pests, living things gain healing abilities but are slowly corrupted into aberrations, and eventually even the dead start rising as aberrations, while undead are forced to flee underground. When Ragnorra crashes onto a planet she is reduced to a fraction of her full size but is still gargantuan size and has CR 19 in both her initial form after landing, and her True Mother form taken when she merges with the neurotangle.

In the suggested campaign, a cult that worships Ragnorra called the Malshapers attempts to attract Ragnorra to the player's world using kidnapped people and other stolen living entities as bait to guide her on her path to the world. The leader of the cult is Irthicax Vane ([[Zenythri]], level 17 monk), whose world was destroyed by Ragnorra and once fought against her, but eventually went mad and turned to worshiping her, though the players may be able to convince him to help stop her. As Ragnorra approaches, mysterious springs with healing properties start popping up everywhere that are controlled by the Malshapers. Swarms of vermin begin appearing in cities, and in response to this undead beings start showing up to fight them. As the red comet continues to get closer the undead all start leaving. While the players are investigating to see if the undead are planning anything, they get repeatedly attacked by low level rogues sent by the Malshapers. Then an [[Aboleth]] mage with the ability to breath air falls from the sky and enslaves the risen corpses of the Malshapers. Then Ragnorra crashes into the earth and creates an enormous crater full of aberrations and corrupt flesh. The players must travel across this crater to reach the center and confront Ragnorra. Once she has transformed into her True Mother form, the players must defeat her by breaking her connection with the planet, and thus forcing her to leave.

Getting her to crash into Atropus might make for an interesting campaign.
<gallery>
File:D7b59ix-5a1ad7e3-73d6-4cfc-ab6d-46b7825f13f2.jpg
File:Tumblr inline oyely8D2qp1robfbt 500.png
File:RagnorraFanart.jpg
</gallery>

===[[Sertrous]]===
Sertrous was a powerful [[Obyrith]] that was killed in the distant past, but whose spirit clings to life in his severed skull. He was first killed for refusing to serve [[The Queen of Chaos]] but his spirit escaped to the material plane where he possessed a snake and made it into his new body. After he sent armies of snakes and monsters to attack mortals because he was jealous of the worship the gods received from them, he was then killed again by a Solar named Avamerin, but not before Sertrous revealed the secret that divine magic is possible to gain from any kind of faith, not just faith in a god. Avamerin at first didn't understand what Sertrous had said and shared the words with others, and when godless clerics started appearing as a result he was punished by being demoted to a Planetar. Avamerin then turned on his god and began working to bring Sertrous back to life. Avamerin now leads a cult of heretical [[Yuan-ti]] called The Vanguard of Sertrous that claims Sertrous is the true creator of the Yuan-ti. As Sertrous gets closer to returning to life, encounters with snakes and snake-like monsters become more and more frequent. Sertrous does not have stats because he is nothing but an immobile skull, but the players may fight against a CR 23 aspect of Sertrous.

In the suggested campaign, the players are hired to find out why a merchant has cut contact with his business partners and discover that he has fallen under the sway of a group of Yuan-ti who are lead by somebody named Seghulerak (Yuan-ti abomination, level 10 cleric, level 5 thaumaturgist) and do not worship the traditional Yuan-ti gods. Seghulerak and the Vanguard of Sertrous seize control of a major Yuan-ti city and start setting up ''serpentgates'' in temples around the world from which to launch invasions. The players investigate an infestation of snakes and interfere with the creation of one of these gates. The players eventually makes their way to the city where the Vanguard of Sertrous is based after many battles against Yuan-ti and other snake monsters and defeat Seghulerak, but her body vanishes when she is killed, leaving behind a pile of dead headless snakes. After some investigation the players learn about the Serpent Reliquary, an extradimensional temple that is the true base of the Vanguard. The players locate the portal the Reliquary and defeat Seghulerak again. After this they meet Avamerin, who will try to trick the players into leaving by lying that Sertrous never existed and this was all a test by the gods. If the players attack and defeat him, he is transformed into the aspect of Sertrous which the players must destroy. If the players are dumb enough to fall for his trick, he might send them to a layer of the abyss disguised as their home.
<gallery>
Sertrous aspect.png|Aspect of Sertrous
</gallery>

===[[Kyuss]], The [[Worm That Walks]]===
The Worm That Walks is an evil demigod named [[Kyuss]] that wants to conquer the world and bring about the age of worms to become a full god. As he gets closer to escaping his prison, the world becomes infested with giant centipedes and other worm-like monsters. [[Kyuss]] was once a prophet of an evil god who attempted to ascend to godhood by sacrificing all of his followers and transforming into a great monster made of worms, but he got stuck between mortality and godhood and trapped inside an obelisk. The Worm That Walks is a CR 20 aberration.

In the suggested campaign, Edwin Tolstoff (human lesser worm that walks, level 3 necromancer, level 3 cleric, level 10 true necromancer), escapes from his prison by having his grandchildren kill their mother and release him, causing spawn of Kyuss to start appearing. Edwin wants to release Kyuss from his prison because he hates being a worm that walks and hopes that Kyuss will either kill him or restore his humanity. The players are called to solve a murder mystery, whose culprit is a wererat named Draen, who works for Katarin Tolstoff. After solving this mystery, people are kidnapped and the players track them down to find an [[Avolakia]] who is turning his captives into spawns of Kyuss. Though the players defeat him, people continue disappearing all over the nation. When the party's spellcaster visits a local wizard's guild, they find that it has been ransacked and most of the wizards transformed into undead by Edwin. The most notable item he has stolen is a [[Well of Many Worlds]]. The Herald of Kyuss (Avolakia, level 8 cleric) working for Edwin then poses as an NPC ally the players know and tells them that a wizard named Emirikol the Chaotic is planning to destroy the universe by putting a [[Sphere of Annihilation]] into the well. This is a trick by Edwin to give him the chance to steal a Talisman of the Sphere from Emirikol while the players are fighting him. But Edwin is unable to find a sphere of annihilation, and so anonymously hires the players to go to the [[Tomb of Horrors]] and secretly follows them so that he can steal the sphere from the tomb. The players then must chase him to Wormcrawl island to stop him from using it to break Kyuss's prison. When he reaches the obelisk he completes the ritual and places the sphere of annihilation into the well of many worlds, creating a black hole and releasing Kyuss. The players will have to defeat Kyuss and stop the black hole from destroying reality if it isn't stopped by divine intervention. If you don't have the [[Exemplars of Evil]] book, which includes the stats and description of Edwin's grandchildren and Drean, it suggests replacing Edwin with a different villain. The book also suggests combining this plot with the [[Adventure Path]], ''Age of Worms'' from [[Dungeon Magazine]], which also features Kyuss.
<gallery>
Kyuss.png
Kyuss.jpg
</gallery>

===[[Zargon]]===
Zargon is an ancient evil who once ruled over [[Baator]] as the father of the [[Baatorian]]s before Asmodeus and his [[Baatezu]] strutted in and slapped their dicks on the table. Although he was defeated by Asmodeus, he could not be killed even by the gods and was imprisoned on the material plane. His horn is nearly indestructible and he will regenerate from it if the rest of his body is destroyed. Now he has given up on reclaiming Baator and wants to conquer the mortal world. As he gets closer to awakening the world is affected by extreme weather, including rains of slime that pollute water sources with a contagion that can turn people into [[slime]]s called Whelps of Zargon. Zargon is only CR 16, though according to the fluff he is capable of killing gods due to them being vulnerable to his powers.

Dorn (Cynidicean, Level 1 rogue, level 3 fighter, level 3 ranger, level 7 thrall of Juiblex), the son of Zargon's high cultists, flees from Cynidicea, only to be captured by gnolls and rescued by the party. Zargon begins to wake up as his cultists dig him up. Dorn then gets captured by the cult of Juiblex who torture and eventually brainwash him into joining them. The players are then hired by an archeologist named Vanessa (Tiefling, level 7 [[Archivist]], level 7 [[Entropomancer]]) to take her to Cynidicea. However she gets separated from the party on the way and finds her way to Cynidicea alone, where she ends up joining Zargon's cult. The awakening of Zargon attracts the attention of [[Juiblex]], who sends Dorn to make an alliance with Zargon. [[Zuggtmoy]] attempts to stop Juiblex by having their own cult frame Juiblex's cult for murders, which the party investigates. Vanessa convinces Dorn to take control of Zargon's cult with her, and they sacrifice Dorn's father to speed up Zargon's revival. Several factions try to manipulate the players into leading them to Zargon's resting places and the players must play them against each other to find out about Zargon and where to find him. The players eventually make it to Zargon's tomb just as he is fully revived and defeat him and his cultists and ooze servants. But in order to destroy Zargon permanently, they will have to throw his horn into the Eye of Zargon deep underground.

A campaign where Demogorgon frees him in return for assistance in the blood war would be fucking dope.
<gallery>
Zargon B4.jpg
Zargon baatorian.jpg
Zargon the Returner.jpg
</gallery>

==Dragon Magazine==
Two more being described as Elder Evils appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]].

[[Zurguth]], The Feasting Vast is mentioned in the article Ecology of the Kaorti, in issue #358. Zurguth is an extremely powerful monster of the [[Far Realm]] in the form of an ocean of flesh. It accidentally created the [[Kaorti]] just by looking at a group of wizards who entered the Far Realm.

===[[Shothragot]]===
Shothragot is detailed in issue #362, in an article written similarly to a chapter of the Elder Evils book. Shothragot is an avatar of [[Tharizdun]] sealed beneath the temple of the Elder Elemental Eye, who works to free Tharizdun from his prison by collecting the 333 gems of Tharizdun. Shothragot itself is too big for the players to defeat and so doesn't have stats. Instead, the players must enter inside of Shothragot and fight the Essence of Shothragot, which is CR 22. As Shothragot gets closer to completing its goal the sky is covered in a Seal of Binding, similar to the one produced by Pandorym.

In the suggested adventure, the players stubble across one of the gems of Tharizdun while exploring a random dungeon and are harassed by agents of Tharizdun until they get rid of it. Later a massive earthquake causes massive destruction but strangely leaves a tower untouched while burying everything around it. Investigating these tower leads to the players finding another black gem and several mad cultists also looking for it. The seal of binding appears in the sky and Tharizdum recognizes that the players are a threat and so Shothragot sends a powerful assassin named Giorge Forsworn after them, who then starts killing the player character's friends and family one by one before he starts going after the player characters. A group of powerful wizards then hire the players to find a member of theirs who when missing while investigating the cause of the Seal of Binding. When the players find them they have already been warped into a servant of Tharizdun. The players then travel to several locations important to the Cult of Tharizdun to find clues. Shothragot finally emerges from its hiding place and the players must defeat it from the inside.

The final part of the adventure was detailed in [[Dungeon]] Magazine 152. Unfortunately, because Dungeon 152 was released in multiple parts online only and has been taken down since then, this adventure is now extremely hard to find since all the archives of Dungeon 152 don't have the complete version.

=4th Edition=
{{Dnd-stub}}
During 4th Edition, several of the Elder Evils were adapted by Dragon Magazine as potential sources of power for [[Warlock]]s. See [[Starspawn]] for details.

The 4th edition version of the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] describes the [[Tsochar]] god [[Mak Thuum Ngatha]] as an Elder Evil. And [[Kyuss]] gets 4th edition stats in Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead.

=5th Edition=
Zargon the Returner was listed as a possible patron for great old one warlocks in the Players Handbook. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes describes the Elder Evils as the source of monsters known as [[Star Spawn]] and it includes the list of Elder Evils copied below, which includes the elder evils from Powers and Pantheons and Lords of Madness, a few from the Elder Evils book, and some new ones, mainly [[Archomental|Primordials]] and some obscure evil gods from [[Forgotten Realms]]. Unfortunately it does not give any significant description of them beyond just listing their names so readers will have no idea what they are unless they search through previous editions to find them.

* [[Ityak-Ortheel]], the Elf-Eater
* [[Dendar]], the Night Serpent
* [[Borem]] of the Lake of Boiling Mud
* [[Kezef]], the Chaos Hound
* [[Zargon]], the Returner
* [[Carmnod]], the Unseen
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below
* [[Piscaethces]], the Blood Queen
* [[Shothotugg]], the Eater of Worlds
* [[Y'chak]], the Violet Flame
* [[Bolothamogg]], Who Watches from Beyond the Stars
* [[Hargut]], of the Gray Pestilence
* [[Haask]], the Voice of Hargut
* [[Ragnorra]], the Mother of Monsters
* The Hulks of [[Zoretha]]
* [[Kyuss]], the Worm That Walks
* [[Tharizdun]], the Elder Elemental Eye
* [[Atropus]], the World Born Dead
* [[Pandorym]], the Utter Annihilation
* [[Haemnathuun]], the Blood lord
* [[Maram]] of the Great Spear
* [[Tyranthraxus]], the Flamed One
* [[The Queen of Chaos]]
* [[Father Llymic]], the Alien Thought Given Flesh

A few of the [[Star Spawn]] Elder Evils from fourth edition are also mentioned in Volo's Guide to Monsters as beings that [[Neogi]] [[Warlock]]s make contracts with. Strangely, a few of them also appeared as [[Vestige]]s in the [[Curse of Strahd]]'s Amber Temple, though how they died and became vestiges is unexplained.

=External links=
* [https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LNa95CLcSwIUPkRniO3 Homebrew 5E stats for the Elder Evils as well as associated entities]

{{Template:D&D-Nonhuman-Deities}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Game Books]]
[[Category:Elder Evils]]

Elder Evils

2021-07-07T09:11:51Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:C541:8F8B:BB4E:5D9D: /* Zargon */

[[File:Elder evils cover.jpg|thumb|The Elder Evils splatbook from 3.5e. This book unleashed many horrors upon many adventures.]]
[[Elder Evils]] are ancient evil beings of immense power whose existence threatens the world. Some Elder Evils are gods, while others are merely god like beings, such as extremely powerful [[Fiend]]s and creatures of the [[Far Realm]]. The concept of Elder Evils was first talked about in the second edition book ''Powers and Pantheons'', which gave stats for three very powerful monsters of the [[Forgotten Realms]] known as the Elder Eternal Evils. Later books would shorten the term to just Elder Evils. The third edition book, [[Lords of Madness]], lists five beings of immense power that are respected by the Aboleths as the closest thing they have to gods. Later, the [[Splatbook]] Elder Evils went into detail about how to use Elder Evils in a campaign. Two more were revealed in [[Dragon Magazine]]. Elder Evils are also mentioned in 4th and 5th edition.

=2nd Edition=
==Powers and Pantheons==
{{Dnd-stub}}

The Elder Eternal Evils are three monstrous creatures from the [[Forgotten Realms]] setting. They were updated to third edition in the book ''Champions of Ruin''.
===[[Dendar]]===
Dendar the Night Serpent is a monstrous snake who was born when something had a dream for the first time in [[Forgotten Realms]]. She grows stronger by eating nightmares and is said to be destined to destroy the entire setting when she has collected enough.

In third edition Dendar is CR 26.
<gallery>
Dendar P&P.png
Dendar CoR.jpg
</gallery>

===[[Kezef]]===
Kezef the Chaos Hound is a monstrous skeletal dog with maggots in place of flesh that consumes the souls of the faithful in the afterlife who may have been created by [[Jergal]]. Has a grudge against [[Mask]], which is a good thing because this drives it to spend more time hunting down Mask than eating souls.

In third edition Kezef is CR 21.
<gallery>
Kezef P&P.png
Kezef CoR.jpg
</gallery>

===[[Ityak-Ortheel]]===
Ityak-Ortheel the Elf-Eater is a horrible creature resembling a giant headless turtle with three legs and a giant mouth surrounded by forty tentacles. It gets its name because it can only gain sustenance from eating elves. It was born from the spilled blood of [[Corellon]] Larethian and [[Gruumsh]] and is used as a weapon by the god [[Malar]].

In third edition Ityak-Ortheel is CR 22.

<gallery>
Ityak-ortheel P&P.png
Ityak-ortheel CoR.jpg
</gallery>

=3rd Edition=
==Lords of Madness==
While most [[Aboleth]]s do not worship gods, there are five godlike beings that they pay respects to, which are described in the book [[Lords of Madness]], but not given stats.
* [[Bolothamogg]], Him Who Watches from Beyond the Stars: A primal force that keeps the multiverse separated from the outer dimensions.
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below: A gigantic centipede squid thing that eats its way through the material plane, leaving behind a black substance that can be compressed into Bilestone, a substance that debilitates non-aberrations.
* [[Piscaethces]], The Blood Queen: The origin of aboleths. She wanders throughout the multiverse spawning new aboleths. If she were to ever return aboleths would see it as proof that the multiverse isn't infinite.
* [[Shothotugg]], Eater of Worlds: A mass of liquid that travels between worlds, poisoning and parasitizing them and slowly changing the laws of the multiverse as it does so.
* [[Y'chak]], The Violet Flame: A pillar of violet flames concealing a form so horrifying it would destroy anyone who looked at it (a relative of [[Pale Night]] maybe?). It encourages mortals to worship evil gods and may be responsible for the creation of many of those gods.

==Elder Evils (the book)==
The book Elder Evils was released near the end of 3.5 edition as a tool for dungeon masters wanting to end their current campaign and switch to 4th edition, similar to how [[The Apocalypse Stone]] was released to give DMs in 2nd edition a way to end their campaigns before switching to 3rd. The Elder Evils described in the book are entities with the potential to end the world, and thus end the campaign if the players fail to stop them, or act as a satisfyingly epic final boss for the players. The book instructs the DM on how to base a campaign around stopping one of these beings. The book does not describe every detail of the campaigns like most books, but instead gives a general outline of the plot, plus the stats for major enemies the players will encounter, and details of the final dungeon, and what adjustments to make if the campaign is set in [[Faerun]] or [[Eberron]]. Many of the Elder Evils are not statted, as they are too powerful when fully unleashed for the players to stop, but instead only have stats for an aspect of them that the players can defeat.

===[[Atropus]]===
Known as The World Born Dead, Atropus is a moon sized undead creature that is as old as creation and desires the end of all life. It destroys worlds by crashing on them and then draining them of all positive energy. Atropus cannot be destroyed, but the players can drive it away. As Atropus approaches the world necromancy spells become more powerful and the dead begin to rise as undead spontaneously. Atropus itself has no stats (how the fuck do you stat '''''a godsdamned planet?!'''''), but the Aspect of Atropus is a CR 23 undead. Atropus is also infested with many kinds of undead, including famine spirits, advanced deathshriekers, rage winds, angels of decay, nightcrawlers, nightwalkers, nightwings, dread wraiths, and a single dread boneyard. Atropus is also a very hostile environment with no atmosphere unless it is about to collide with the world, and has a variety of effects that harm the living and boost the undead.

In the suggested campaign, Caira Xasten (human, level 5 bard, level 5 rogue, level 10 [[Ur-Priest]]) wants to attract Atropus to destroy the world to get revenge on the gods, blaming them for the death of her husband who was killed by a falling meteorite. To do this she and her cult first seek out a book about Atropus, then try to obtain the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] in order to learn the ''apocalypse of the sky'' spell which she will attempt to cast on a large city to attract Atropus with the mass death. Meanwhile, the world is also invaded by a powerful general of [[Orcus]] who also wants to summon Atropus named Gorguth ([[Bodak]], level 2 ranger, level 1 fighter, level 9 blackguard), who rides on a powerful construct named Skyshadow and leading his own army of the undead to cause mass death. After failing to stop either one of them, the players then must travel to Atropus and battle against a variety of undead monsters until they find and defeat the aspect of Atropus, which will cause Atropus to retreat.
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File:Atropus.jpg
File:Map of Atropus's Face.jpg|so big that his face has a travel map.
File:Aspect of Atropus.jpeg|His significantly smaller (and killable) Aspect.
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=== [[Father Llymic]] ===
Father Llymic is an entity from the [[Far Realm]] that sleeps in an icy prison that melts in darkness and thickens in sunlight. It wants to remake the world to be more hospitable to itself and its children, which it then creates by [[Nurgle|spreading a plague that]] [[Plaguebearer|turns the infected into creatures like itself]] [[Gellarpox Infected|known as brood spawn]]. The more people Father Llymic infects, the more he comes out of his sleep, and as it awakes the sun starts to go out, and darkness spells grow stronger while light spells weaken. He is called Father Llymic because he often projects an illusion of a friendly old man. Its true form is a massive demon like creature with scythes for arms, three eyes, and skin covered in icy crystal, with a CR of 18. Beings converted into brood spawn gain similar features.

In the suggested campaign, the player are sent to investigate the disappearance of a caravan that was attacked by a tribe of barbarians that worship Father Llymic. After this a huge glacier and icy weather spreads down from the mountain where Father Llymic is imprisoned and strange ice monsters start attacking people. Soon whole towns and villages are transformed into brood spawn as the weather gets worse and worse while the sun gets darker and darker. The players must travel up the mountain while battling through mad cultists and many kinds of brood spawn to face and defeat Father Llymic.

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===[[The Hulks of Zoretha]]===
The Hulks of Zoretha are five giants made of stone from another world that plan to exterminate all life on this plane to make room for them to repopulate it with their own kind. As they awaken, the moon turns red, causing people to experience uncontrollable rage. Four of the hulks are female and are each associated with a different element while the last one is male and has wings. They are also completely indestructible as long as they are asleep. All of them are CR 16.

In the suggested campaign, Soelma Nilaenish (elf, level 7 wizard, level 10 loremaster, level 1 rogue) hires the party to recover a copy of the Zoretha Scrolls, then later hires them again to protect the scrolls. She then travels with the party to stop the leader of the cult of Zoretha, Janwulf the Soulbiter (ice giant, level 11 bard). But after Janwulf is defeated Soelma betrays the party and takes control of the cult herself. Soelma is in fact horribly depressed and wants the world to be destroyed, while Janwulf actually had no interest in waking up the hulks and just wanted power. The party then stops Soelma from completing the ritual to wake up the hulks but the moon doesn't return to normal and the whole world is at war. A single cultist escapes from the players and finishes the ritual to wake up the hulks and the players must then destroy them.

If you want to be a smart DM, however, we recommend you just load them onto a [[Spelljammer]] to help them find an unoccupied planet.
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Hulks-of-Zorthea.jpg
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===[[The Leviathan]]===
An immense sea monster personifying primal chaos that will destroy the world if it ever wakes up. As it gets close to awakening, the world is affected by extreme weather. The Leviathan does not have stats, as it is too big for the players to fight, but the players may battle against aspects of the leviathan, which are CR 16, or an advanced aspect, which is CR 20.

In the suggested campaign, the players save a port town from a disaster and are sent to investigate the cause of the strange weather. The party then encounters and defeats a cult that worships the leviathan, but their leader, a mysterious man named Enshaddon, escapes. Enshaddon is actually an advanced vampiric [[Ixitxachitl]] with 16 cleric levels named Axihuatl. He is a worshiper of Demogorgon and wants to partially wake up the leviathan using a shard of chaos in order to flood the world. After the players first disrupt his plans, he sends Marcus Hape (human, level 4 rogue, level 4 assassin, level 4 thrall of Demogogon) to kill them. With the help of a sage named Mytus who provides the players with magic and equipment for underwater travel, the players attack a temple located in a hollow spine on the leviathan's back and interrupt Axihuatl's ritual to wake up the leviathan, causing him to lose control of the beast. Axihuatl then allies with the players because he does not want the leviathan to completely destroy the world. They must then travel deeper into the temple and throw the shard of chaos into a pit at the bottom to put the leviathan back to sleep.

The 'the' in the name probably represents the greatest of its kind, as in 5e Mordinkainen's tome of foes introduced the Leviathans as [[Elemental#Elder Elementals|Elder Elementals]], also a CR 20 like its advanced aspect.
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Leviathan aspect.png|Aspect of the Leviathan
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=== [[Pandorym]] ===
In ancient times, a group of wizards wanted to blackmail the gods. So they summoned a powerful eldritch abomination from "[[Far Realm| the space 'between' the planes]]" named Pandorym, contracted it to destroy all the gods, immediately sealed it away before it could do so by imprisoning its mind and body separately, and used the threat of its reunification as the divine blackmail. Fortunately the wizards didn't implement a deadman's switch or anything, so the gods smote their stupid asses when they heard their first demands and wiped the group from the face of history. In fact the book suggests that if you set the campaign in Ebberon that this is what creates the Mournlands to get a sense of scale. If made whole, Pandorym will first take revenge on the descendants of the wizards that imprisoned it, then kill all the gods as it was contracted to do. If the contract's completion doesn't return it "home", it'll destroy the universe out of frustration/boredom.

Pandorym's mindless body resembles a huge [[Sphere of Annihilation]] that moves towards anyone that tries to control it, which is kept in an unknown extradimensional prison. Pandorym's mind is sealed within a large near-indestructible crystal and is immensely powerful even without its body; the tiny leakage through the crystal is enough to corrupt nearby high level characters and obliterate the minds of weaker-willed folks, a small "fragment" of its mind is a ''CR 25'' Psionic threat, and the fully released mind is an unstatted behemoth that only divine intervention could stop...

...so far, so first-edition [[Tharizdun]]. It's unfortunate that Pandorym's sign interferes with the planar connections of the world (via a sky-spanning glyph) and makes conjuration+divine magic increasingly difficult as its mind gains influence. Presumably its fully released mind would completely block the world off and make divine intervention near impossible.

In the suggested campaign, Tune Majii (human, Level 2 bard, level 2 wizard) hires the player to find her missing father Lucather (quell, level 8 enchanter, level 10 loremaster), who has become enslaved to Pandorym. Meanwhile, the gods begin sending their mortal followers warnings that somebody is trying to unleash an unimaginably powerful evil. This person turns out to be the [[Inevitable]] named Obligatum VII (kolyarut, level 3 [[Hexblade]], level 5 [[Occult Slayer]]), our wiki's literal poster child of [[Lawful Stupid]]. Obligatum VII wants to release Pandorym because the poor old eldritch abomination entered into a bad-faith contract and ''must'' receive rightful legal remedy for the indignity, [[Lawful Stupid|regardless of the god-ending possibly-universe-ending consequences]]. The players will have to travel to the prison where Pandorym's mind is kept and defeat Lucather and Obligatum VII before they can smash the crystal open with Obligatum's adamantine sword. If the players succeed, they may have to travel to [[Mechanus]] and prevent Obligatum VIII's creation (who'd start this shit all over again). Quick tip: Soon as you learn about this thing try and tip off a [[Inevitable#Varakhut|Varakhut]], a protector of the divine order, and watch the ensuing Inevitable robot rumble.
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File:Pandorym.jpg
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=== [[Ragnorra]] ===
Ragnorra is an entity of corrupted life that wants to remake all life to fit her own ideals of what life should be. She travels between worlds in the form of a red comet, which crashes down on the world and begins spreading her skin and nerves over the planet, warping all creatures into aberrations. As Ragnorra gets closer to landing, positive energy spells become stronger but also cause gross blemishes, Ragnorra's spores start to fall from the sky that turn things into swarms of pests, living things gain healing abilities but are slowly corrupted into aberrations, and eventually even the dead start rising as aberrations, while undead are forced to flee underground. When Ragnorra crashes onto a planet she is reduced to a fraction of her full size but is still gargantuan size and has CR 19 in both her initial form after landing, and her True Mother form taken when she merges with the neurotangle.

In the suggested campaign, a cult that worships Ragnorra called the Malshapers attempts to attract Ragnorra to the player's world using kidnapped people and other stolen living entities as bait to guide her on her path to the world. The leader of the cult is Irthicax Vane ([[Zenythri]], level 17 monk), whose world was destroyed by Ragnorra and once fought against her, but eventually went mad and turned to worshiping her, though the players may be able to convince him to help stop her. As Ragnorra approaches, mysterious springs with healing properties start popping up everywhere that are controlled by the Malshapers. Swarms of vermin begin appearing in cities, and in response to this undead beings start showing up to fight them. As the red comet continues to get closer the undead all start leaving. While the players are investigating to see if the undead are planning anything, they get repeatedly attacked by low level rogues sent by the Malshapers. Then an [[Aboleth]] mage with the ability to breath air falls from the sky and enslaves the risen corpses of the Malshapers. Then Ragnorra crashes into the earth and creates an enormous crater full of aberrations and corrupt flesh. The players must travel across this crater to reach the center and confront Ragnorra. Once she has transformed into her True Mother form, the players must defeat her by breaking her connection with the planet, and thus forcing her to leave.

Getting her to crash into Atropus might make for an interesting campaign.
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File:RagnorraFanart.jpg
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===[[Sertrous]]===
Sertrous was a powerful [[Obyrith]] that was killed in the distant past, but whose spirit clings to life in his severed skull. He was first killed for refusing to serve [[The Queen of Chaos]] but his spirit escaped to the material plane where he possessed a snake and made it into his new body. After he sent armies of snakes and monsters to attack mortals because he was jealous of the worship the gods received from them, he was then killed again by a Solar named Avamerin, but not before Sertrous revealed the secret that divine magic is possible to gain from any kind of faith, not just faith in a god. Avamerin at first didn't understand what Sertrous had said and shared the words with others, and when godless clerics started appearing as a result he was punished by being demoted to a Planetar. Avamerin then turned on his god and began working to bring Sertrous back to life. Avamerin now leads a cult of heretical [[Yuan-ti]] called The Vanguard of Sertrous that claims Sertrous is the true creator of the Yuan-ti. As Sertrous gets closer to returning to life, encounters with snakes and snake-like monsters become more and more frequent. Sertrous does not have stats because he is nothing but an immobile skull, but the players may fight against a CR 23 aspect of Sertrous.

In the suggested campaign, the players are hired to find out why a merchant has cut contact with his business partners and discover that he has fallen under the sway of a group of Yuan-ti who are lead by somebody named Seghulerak (Yuan-ti abomination, level 10 cleric, level 5 thaumaturgist) and do not worship the traditional Yuan-ti gods. Seghulerak and the Vanguard of Sertrous seize control of a major Yuan-ti city and start setting up ''serpentgates'' in temples around the world from which to launch invasions. The players investigate an infestation of snakes and interfere with the creation of one of these gates. The players eventually makes their way to the city where the Vanguard of Sertrous is based after many battles against Yuan-ti and other snake monsters and defeat Seghulerak, but her body vanishes when she is killed, leaving behind a pile of dead headless snakes. After some investigation the players learn about the Serpent Reliquary, an extradimensional temple that is the true base of the Vanguard. The players locate the portal the Reliquary and defeat Seghulerak again. After this they meet Avamerin, who will try to trick the players into leaving by lying that Sertrous never existed and this was all a test by the gods. If the players attack and defeat him, he is transformed into the aspect of Sertrous which the players must destroy. If the players are dumb enough to fall for his trick, he might send them to a layer of the abyss disguised as their home.
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Sertrous aspect.png|Aspect of Sertrous
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===[[Kyuss]], The [[Worm That Walks]]===
The Worm That Walks is an evil demigod named [[Kyuss]] that wants to conquer the world and bring about the age of worms to become a full god. As he gets closer to escaping his prison, the world becomes infested with giant centipedes and other worm-like monsters. [[Kyuss]] was once a prophet of an evil god who attempted to ascend to godhood by sacrificing all of his followers and transforming into a great monster made of worms, but he got stuck between mortality and godhood and trapped inside an obelisk. The Worm That Walks is a CR 20 aberration.

In the suggested campaign, Edwin Tolstoff (human lesser worm that walks, level 3 necromancer, level 3 cleric, level 10 true necromancer), escapes from his prison by having his grandchildren kill their mother and release him, causing spawn of Kyuss to start appearing. Edwin wants to release Kyuss from his prison because he hates being a worm that walks and hopes that Kyuss will either kill him or restore his humanity. The players are called to solve a murder mystery, whose culprit is a wererat named Draen, who works for Katarin Tolstoff. After solving this mystery, people are kidnapped and the players track them down to find an [[Avolakia]] who is turning his captives into spawns of Kyuss. Though the players defeat him, people continue disappearing all over the nation. When the party's spellcaster visits a local wizard's guild, they find that it has been ransacked and most of the wizards transformed into undead by Edwin. The most notable item he has stolen is a [[Well of Many Worlds]]. The Herald of Kyuss (Avolakia, level 8 cleric) working for Edwin then poses as an NPC ally the players know and tells them that a wizard named Emirikol the Chaotic is planning to destroy the universe by putting a [[Sphere of Annihilation]] into the well. This is a trick by Edwin to give him the chance to steal a Talisman of the Sphere from Emirikol while the players are fighting him. But Edwin is unable to find a sphere of annihilation, and so anonymously hires the players to go to the [[Tomb of Horrors]] and secretly follows them so that he can steal the sphere from the tomb. The players then must chase him to Wormcrawl island to stop him from using it to break Kyuss's prison. When he reaches the obelisk he completes the ritual and places the sphere of annihilation into the well of many worlds, creating a black hole and releasing Kyuss. The players will have to defeat Kyuss and stop the black hole from destroying reality if it isn't stopped by divine intervention. If you don't have the [[Exemplars of Evil]] book, which includes the stats and description of Edwin's grandchildren and Drean, it suggests replacing Edwin with a different villain. The book also suggests combining this plot with the [[Adventure Path]], ''Age of Worms'' from [[Dungeon Magazine]], which also features Kyuss.
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Kyuss.png
Kyuss.jpg
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===[[Zargon]]===
Zargon is an ancient evil who once ruled over [[Baator]] as the father of the [[Baatorian]]s before Asmodeus and his [[Baatezu]] strutted in and slapped their dicks on the table. Although he was defeated by Asmodeus, he could not be killed even by the gods and was imprisoned on the material plane. His horn is nearly indestructible and he will regenerate from it if the rest of his body is destroyed. Now he has given up on reclaiming Baator and wants to conquer the mortal world. As he gets closer to awakening the world is affected by extreme weather, including rains of slime that pollute water sources with a contagion that can turn people into [[slime]]s called Whelps of Zargon. Zargon is only CR 16, though according to the fluff he is capable of killing gods due to them being vulnerable to his powers.

Dorn (Cynidicean, Level 1 rogue, level 3 fighter, level 3 ranger, level 7 thrall of Juiblex), the son of Zargon's high cultists, flees from Cynidicea, only to be captured by gnolls and rescued by the party. Zargon begins to wake up as his cultists dig him up. Dorn then gets captured by the cult of Juiblex who tortured and eventually brainwashed him into joining them. The players are then hired by an archeologist named Vanessa (Tiefling, level 7 [[Archivist]], level 7 [[Entropomancer]]) to take her to Cynidicea. However she gets separated from the party on the way and finds her way to Cynidicea alone, where she ends up joining Zargon's cult. The awakening of Zargon attracts the attention of [[Juiblex]], who sends Dorn to make an alliance with Zargon. [[Zuggtmoy]] attempts to stop Juiblex by having their own cult frame Juiblex's cult for murders, which the party investigates. Vanessa convinces Dorn to take control of Zargon's cult with her, and they sacrifice Dorn's father to speed up Zargon's revival. Several factions try to manipulate the players into leading them to Zargon's resting places and the players must play them against each other to find out about Zargon and where to find him. The players eventually make it to Zargon's tomb just as he is fully revived and defeat him and his cultists and ooze servants. But in order to destroy Zargon permanently, they will have to throw his horn into the Eye of Zargon deep underground.

A campaign where Demogorgon frees him in return for assistance in the blood war would be fucking dope.
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Zargon B4.jpg
Zargon baatorian.jpg
Zargon the Returner.jpg
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==Dragon Magazine==
Two more being described as Elder Evils appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]].

[[Zurguth]], The Feasting Vast is mentioned in the article Ecology of the Kaorti, in issue #358. Zurguth is an extremely powerful monster of the [[Far Realm]] in the form of an ocean of flesh. It accidentally created the [[Kaorti]] just by looking at a group of wizards who entered the Far Realm.

===[[Shothragot]]===
Shothragot is detailed in issue #362, in an article written similarly to a chapter of the Elder Evils book. Shothragot is an avatar of [[Tharizdun]] sealed beneath the temple of the Elder Elemental Eye, who works to free Tharizdun from his prison by collecting the 333 gems of Tharizdun. Shothragot itself is too big for the players to defeat and so doesn't have stats. Instead, the players must enter inside of Shothragot and fight the Essence of Shothragot, which is CR 22. As Shothragot gets closer to completing its goal the sky is covered in a Seal of Binding, similar to the one produced by Pandorym.

In the suggested adventure, the players stubble across one of the gems of Tharizdun while exploring a random dungeon and are harassed by agents of Tharizdun until they get rid of it. Later a massive earthquake causes massive destruction but strangely leaves a tower untouched while burying everything around it. Investigating these tower leads to the players finding another black gem and several mad cultists also looking for it. The seal of binding appears in the sky and Tharizdum recognizes that the players are a threat and so Shothragot sends a powerful assassin named Giorge Forsworn after them, who then starts killing the player character's friends and family one by one before he starts going after the player characters. A group of powerful wizards then hire the players to find a member of theirs who when missing while investigating the cause of the Seal of Binding. When the players find them they have already been warped into a servant of Tharizdun. The players then travel to several locations important to the Cult of Tharizdun to find clues. Shothragot finally emerges from its hiding place and the players must defeat it from the inside.

The final part of the adventure was detailed in [[Dungeon]] Magazine 152. Unfortunately, because Dungeon 152 was released in multiple parts online only and has been taken down since then, this adventure is now extremely hard to find since all the archives of Dungeon 152 don't have the complete version.

=4th Edition=
{{Dnd-stub}}
During 4th Edition, several of the Elder Evils were adapted by Dragon Magazine as potential sources of power for [[Warlock]]s. See [[Starspawn]] for details.

The 4th edition version of the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] describes the [[Tsochar]] god [[Mak Thuum Ngatha]] as an Elder Evil. And [[Kyuss]] gets 4th edition stats in Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead.

=5th Edition=
Zargon the Returner was listed as a possible patron for great old one warlocks in the Players Handbook. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes describes the Elder Evils as the source of monsters known as [[Star Spawn]] and it includes the list of Elder Evils copied below, which includes the elder evils from Powers and Pantheons and Lords of Madness, a few from the Elder Evils book, and some new ones, mainly [[Archomental|Primordials]] and some obscure evil gods from [[Forgotten Realms]]. Unfortunately it does not give any significant description of them beyond just listing their names so readers will have no idea what they are unless they search through previous editions to find them.

* [[Ityak-Ortheel]], the Elf-Eater
* [[Dendar]], the Night Serpent
* [[Borem]] of the Lake of Boiling Mud
* [[Kezef]], the Chaos Hound
* [[Zargon]], the Returner
* [[Carmnod]], the Unseen
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below
* [[Piscaethces]], the Blood Queen
* [[Shothotugg]], the Eater of Worlds
* [[Y'chak]], the Violet Flame
* [[Bolothamogg]], Who Watches from Beyond the Stars
* [[Hargut]], of the Gray Pestilence
* [[Haask]], the Voice of Hargut
* [[Ragnorra]], the Mother of Monsters
* The Hulks of [[Zoretha]]
* [[Kyuss]], the Worm That Walks
* [[Tharizdun]], the Elder Elemental Eye
* [[Atropus]], the World Born Dead
* [[Pandorym]], the Utter Annihilation
* [[Haemnathuun]], the Blood lord
* [[Maram]] of the Great Spear
* [[Tyranthraxus]], the Flamed One
* [[The Queen of Chaos]]
* [[Father Llymic]], the Alien Thought Given Flesh

A few of the [[Star Spawn]] Elder Evils from fourth edition are also mentioned in Volo's Guide to Monsters as beings that [[Neogi]] [[Warlock]]s make contracts with. Strangely, a few of them also appeared as [[Vestige]]s in the [[Curse of Strahd]]'s Amber Temple, though how they died and became vestiges is unexplained.

=External links=
* [https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LNa95CLcSwIUPkRniO3 Homebrew 5E stats for the Elder Evils as well as associated entities]

{{Template:D&D-Nonhuman-Deities}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Game Books]]
[[Category:Elder Evils]]

Elder Evils

2021-07-07T09:05:38Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:C541:8F8B:BB4E:5D9D: /* Kyuss, The Worm That Walks */

[[File:Elder evils cover.jpg|thumb|The Elder Evils splatbook from 3.5e. This book unleashed many horrors upon many adventures.]]
[[Elder Evils]] are ancient evil beings of immense power whose existence threatens the world. Some Elder Evils are gods, while others are merely god like beings, such as extremely powerful [[Fiend]]s and creatures of the [[Far Realm]]. The concept of Elder Evils was first talked about in the second edition book ''Powers and Pantheons'', which gave stats for three very powerful monsters of the [[Forgotten Realms]] known as the Elder Eternal Evils. Later books would shorten the term to just Elder Evils. The third edition book, [[Lords of Madness]], lists five beings of immense power that are respected by the Aboleths as the closest thing they have to gods. Later, the [[Splatbook]] Elder Evils went into detail about how to use Elder Evils in a campaign. Two more were revealed in [[Dragon Magazine]]. Elder Evils are also mentioned in 4th and 5th edition.

=2nd Edition=
==Powers and Pantheons==
{{Dnd-stub}}

The Elder Eternal Evils are three monstrous creatures from the [[Forgotten Realms]] setting. They were updated to third edition in the book ''Champions of Ruin''.
===[[Dendar]]===
Dendar the Night Serpent is a monstrous snake who was born when something had a dream for the first time in [[Forgotten Realms]]. She grows stronger by eating nightmares and is said to be destined to destroy the entire setting when she has collected enough.

In third edition Dendar is CR 26.
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Dendar P&P.png
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===[[Kezef]]===
Kezef the Chaos Hound is a monstrous skeletal dog with maggots in place of flesh that consumes the souls of the faithful in the afterlife who may have been created by [[Jergal]]. Has a grudge against [[Mask]], which is a good thing because this drives it to spend more time hunting down Mask than eating souls.

In third edition Kezef is CR 21.
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Kezef P&P.png
Kezef CoR.jpg
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===[[Ityak-Ortheel]]===
Ityak-Ortheel the Elf-Eater is a horrible creature resembling a giant headless turtle with three legs and a giant mouth surrounded by forty tentacles. It gets its name because it can only gain sustenance from eating elves. It was born from the spilled blood of [[Corellon]] Larethian and [[Gruumsh]] and is used as a weapon by the god [[Malar]].

In third edition Ityak-Ortheel is CR 22.

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Ityak-ortheel P&P.png
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=3rd Edition=
==Lords of Madness==
While most [[Aboleth]]s do not worship gods, there are five godlike beings that they pay respects to, which are described in the book [[Lords of Madness]], but not given stats.
* [[Bolothamogg]], Him Who Watches from Beyond the Stars: A primal force that keeps the multiverse separated from the outer dimensions.
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below: A gigantic centipede squid thing that eats its way through the material plane, leaving behind a black substance that can be compressed into Bilestone, a substance that debilitates non-aberrations.
* [[Piscaethces]], The Blood Queen: The origin of aboleths. She wanders throughout the multiverse spawning new aboleths. If she were to ever return aboleths would see it as proof that the multiverse isn't infinite.
* [[Shothotugg]], Eater of Worlds: A mass of liquid that travels between worlds, poisoning and parasitizing them and slowly changing the laws of the multiverse as it does so.
* [[Y'chak]], The Violet Flame: A pillar of violet flames concealing a form so horrifying it would destroy anyone who looked at it (a relative of [[Pale Night]] maybe?). It encourages mortals to worship evil gods and may be responsible for the creation of many of those gods.

==Elder Evils (the book)==
The book Elder Evils was released near the end of 3.5 edition as a tool for dungeon masters wanting to end their current campaign and switch to 4th edition, similar to how [[The Apocalypse Stone]] was released to give DMs in 2nd edition a way to end their campaigns before switching to 3rd. The Elder Evils described in the book are entities with the potential to end the world, and thus end the campaign if the players fail to stop them, or act as a satisfyingly epic final boss for the players. The book instructs the DM on how to base a campaign around stopping one of these beings. The book does not describe every detail of the campaigns like most books, but instead gives a general outline of the plot, plus the stats for major enemies the players will encounter, and details of the final dungeon, and what adjustments to make if the campaign is set in [[Faerun]] or [[Eberron]]. Many of the Elder Evils are not statted, as they are too powerful when fully unleashed for the players to stop, but instead only have stats for an aspect of them that the players can defeat.

===[[Atropus]]===
Known as The World Born Dead, Atropus is a moon sized undead creature that is as old as creation and desires the end of all life. It destroys worlds by crashing on them and then draining them of all positive energy. Atropus cannot be destroyed, but the players can drive it away. As Atropus approaches the world necromancy spells become more powerful and the dead begin to rise as undead spontaneously. Atropus itself has no stats (how the fuck do you stat '''''a godsdamned planet?!'''''), but the Aspect of Atropus is a CR 23 undead. Atropus is also infested with many kinds of undead, including famine spirits, advanced deathshriekers, rage winds, angels of decay, nightcrawlers, nightwalkers, nightwings, dread wraiths, and a single dread boneyard. Atropus is also a very hostile environment with no atmosphere unless it is about to collide with the world, and has a variety of effects that harm the living and boost the undead.

In the suggested campaign, Caira Xasten (human, level 5 bard, level 5 rogue, level 10 [[Ur-Priest]]) wants to attract Atropus to destroy the world to get revenge on the gods, blaming them for the death of her husband who was killed by a falling meteorite. To do this she and her cult first seek out a book about Atropus, then try to obtain the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] in order to learn the ''apocalypse of the sky'' spell which she will attempt to cast on a large city to attract Atropus with the mass death. Meanwhile, the world is also invaded by a powerful general of [[Orcus]] who also wants to summon Atropus named Gorguth ([[Bodak]], level 2 ranger, level 1 fighter, level 9 blackguard), who rides on a powerful construct named Skyshadow and leading his own army of the undead to cause mass death. After failing to stop either one of them, the players then must travel to Atropus and battle against a variety of undead monsters until they find and defeat the aspect of Atropus, which will cause Atropus to retreat.
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File:Atropus.jpg
File:Map of Atropus's Face.jpg|so big that his face has a travel map.
File:Aspect of Atropus.jpeg|His significantly smaller (and killable) Aspect.
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=== [[Father Llymic]] ===
Father Llymic is an entity from the [[Far Realm]] that sleeps in an icy prison that melts in darkness and thickens in sunlight. It wants to remake the world to be more hospitable to itself and its children, which it then creates by [[Nurgle|spreading a plague that]] [[Plaguebearer|turns the infected into creatures like itself]] [[Gellarpox Infected|known as brood spawn]]. The more people Father Llymic infects, the more he comes out of his sleep, and as it awakes the sun starts to go out, and darkness spells grow stronger while light spells weaken. He is called Father Llymic because he often projects an illusion of a friendly old man. Its true form is a massive demon like creature with scythes for arms, three eyes, and skin covered in icy crystal, with a CR of 18. Beings converted into brood spawn gain similar features.

In the suggested campaign, the player are sent to investigate the disappearance of a caravan that was attacked by a tribe of barbarians that worship Father Llymic. After this a huge glacier and icy weather spreads down from the mountain where Father Llymic is imprisoned and strange ice monsters start attacking people. Soon whole towns and villages are transformed into brood spawn as the weather gets worse and worse while the sun gets darker and darker. The players must travel up the mountain while battling through mad cultists and many kinds of brood spawn to face and defeat Father Llymic.

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File:Father Lymic.jpg
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===[[The Hulks of Zoretha]]===
The Hulks of Zoretha are five giants made of stone from another world that plan to exterminate all life on this plane to make room for them to repopulate it with their own kind. As they awaken, the moon turns red, causing people to experience uncontrollable rage. Four of the hulks are female and are each associated with a different element while the last one is male and has wings. They are also completely indestructible as long as they are asleep. All of them are CR 16.

In the suggested campaign, Soelma Nilaenish (elf, level 7 wizard, level 10 loremaster, level 1 rogue) hires the party to recover a copy of the Zoretha Scrolls, then later hires them again to protect the scrolls. She then travels with the party to stop the leader of the cult of Zoretha, Janwulf the Soulbiter (ice giant, level 11 bard). But after Janwulf is defeated Soelma betrays the party and takes control of the cult herself. Soelma is in fact horribly depressed and wants the world to be destroyed, while Janwulf actually had no interest in waking up the hulks and just wanted power. The party then stops Soelma from completing the ritual to wake up the hulks but the moon doesn't return to normal and the whole world is at war. A single cultist escapes from the players and finishes the ritual to wake up the hulks and the players must then destroy them.

If you want to be a smart DM, however, we recommend you just load them onto a [[Spelljammer]] to help them find an unoccupied planet.
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Hulks-of-Zorthea.jpg
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===[[The Leviathan]]===
An immense sea monster personifying primal chaos that will destroy the world if it ever wakes up. As it gets close to awakening, the world is affected by extreme weather. The Leviathan does not have stats, as it is too big for the players to fight, but the players may battle against aspects of the leviathan, which are CR 16, or an advanced aspect, which is CR 20.

In the suggested campaign, the players save a port town from a disaster and are sent to investigate the cause of the strange weather. The party then encounters and defeats a cult that worships the leviathan, but their leader, a mysterious man named Enshaddon, escapes. Enshaddon is actually an advanced vampiric [[Ixitxachitl]] with 16 cleric levels named Axihuatl. He is a worshiper of Demogorgon and wants to partially wake up the leviathan using a shard of chaos in order to flood the world. After the players first disrupt his plans, he sends Marcus Hape (human, level 4 rogue, level 4 assassin, level 4 thrall of Demogogon) to kill them. With the help of a sage named Mytus who provides the players with magic and equipment for underwater travel, the players attack a temple located in a hollow spine on the leviathan's back and interrupt Axihuatl's ritual to wake up the leviathan, causing him to lose control of the beast. Axihuatl then allies with the players because he does not want the leviathan to completely destroy the world. They must then travel deeper into the temple and throw the shard of chaos into a pit at the bottom to put the leviathan back to sleep.

The 'the' in the name probably represents the greatest of its kind, as in 5e Mordinkainen's tome of foes introduced the Leviathans as [[Elemental#Elder Elementals|Elder Elementals]], also a CR 20 like its advanced aspect.
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Leviathan aspect.png|Aspect of the Leviathan
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=== [[Pandorym]] ===
In ancient times, a group of wizards wanted to blackmail the gods. So they summoned a powerful eldritch abomination from "[[Far Realm| the space 'between' the planes]]" named Pandorym, contracted it to destroy all the gods, immediately sealed it away before it could do so by imprisoning its mind and body separately, and used the threat of its reunification as the divine blackmail. Fortunately the wizards didn't implement a deadman's switch or anything, so the gods smote their stupid asses when they heard their first demands and wiped the group from the face of history. In fact the book suggests that if you set the campaign in Ebberon that this is what creates the Mournlands to get a sense of scale. If made whole, Pandorym will first take revenge on the descendants of the wizards that imprisoned it, then kill all the gods as it was contracted to do. If the contract's completion doesn't return it "home", it'll destroy the universe out of frustration/boredom.

Pandorym's mindless body resembles a huge [[Sphere of Annihilation]] that moves towards anyone that tries to control it, which is kept in an unknown extradimensional prison. Pandorym's mind is sealed within a large near-indestructible crystal and is immensely powerful even without its body; the tiny leakage through the crystal is enough to corrupt nearby high level characters and obliterate the minds of weaker-willed folks, a small "fragment" of its mind is a ''CR 25'' Psionic threat, and the fully released mind is an unstatted behemoth that only divine intervention could stop...

...so far, so first-edition [[Tharizdun]]. It's unfortunate that Pandorym's sign interferes with the planar connections of the world (via a sky-spanning glyph) and makes conjuration+divine magic increasingly difficult as its mind gains influence. Presumably its fully released mind would completely block the world off and make divine intervention near impossible.

In the suggested campaign, Tune Majii (human, Level 2 bard, level 2 wizard) hires the player to find her missing father Lucather (quell, level 8 enchanter, level 10 loremaster), who has become enslaved to Pandorym. Meanwhile, the gods begin sending their mortal followers warnings that somebody is trying to unleash an unimaginably powerful evil. This person turns out to be the [[Inevitable]] named Obligatum VII (kolyarut, level 3 [[Hexblade]], level 5 [[Occult Slayer]]), our wiki's literal poster child of [[Lawful Stupid]]. Obligatum VII wants to release Pandorym because the poor old eldritch abomination entered into a bad-faith contract and ''must'' receive rightful legal remedy for the indignity, [[Lawful Stupid|regardless of the god-ending possibly-universe-ending consequences]]. The players will have to travel to the prison where Pandorym's mind is kept and defeat Lucather and Obligatum VII before they can smash the crystal open with Obligatum's adamantine sword. If the players succeed, they may have to travel to [[Mechanus]] and prevent Obligatum VIII's creation (who'd start this shit all over again). Quick tip: Soon as you learn about this thing try and tip off a [[Inevitable#Varakhut|Varakhut]], a protector of the divine order, and watch the ensuing Inevitable robot rumble.
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File:Pandorym.jpg
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=== [[Ragnorra]] ===
Ragnorra is an entity of corrupted life that wants to remake all life to fit her own ideals of what life should be. She travels between worlds in the form of a red comet, which crashes down on the world and begins spreading her skin and nerves over the planet, warping all creatures into aberrations. As Ragnorra gets closer to landing, positive energy spells become stronger but also cause gross blemishes, Ragnorra's spores start to fall from the sky that turn things into swarms of pests, living things gain healing abilities but are slowly corrupted into aberrations, and eventually even the dead start rising as aberrations, while undead are forced to flee underground. When Ragnorra crashes onto a planet she is reduced to a fraction of her full size but is still gargantuan size and has CR 19 in both her initial form after landing, and her True Mother form taken when she merges with the neurotangle.

In the suggested campaign, a cult that worships Ragnorra called the Malshapers attempts to attract Ragnorra to the player's world using kidnapped people and other stolen living entities as bait to guide her on her path to the world. The leader of the cult is Irthicax Vane ([[Zenythri]], level 17 monk), whose world was destroyed by Ragnorra and once fought against her, but eventually went mad and turned to worshiping her, though the players may be able to convince him to help stop her. As Ragnorra approaches, mysterious springs with healing properties start popping up everywhere that are controlled by the Malshapers. Swarms of vermin begin appearing in cities, and in response to this undead beings start showing up to fight them. As the red comet continues to get closer the undead all start leaving. While the players are investigating to see if the undead are planning anything, they get repeatedly attacked by low level rogues sent by the Malshapers. Then an [[Aboleth]] mage with the ability to breath air falls from the sky and enslaves the risen corpses of the Malshapers. Then Ragnorra crashes into the earth and creates an enormous crater full of aberrations and corrupt flesh. The players must travel across this crater to reach the center and confront Ragnorra. Once she has transformed into her True Mother form, the players must defeat her by breaking her connection with the planet, and thus forcing her to leave.

Getting her to crash into Atropus might make for an interesting campaign.
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File:RagnorraFanart.jpg
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===[[Sertrous]]===
Sertrous was a powerful [[Obyrith]] that was killed in the distant past, but whose spirit clings to life in his severed skull. He was first killed for refusing to serve [[The Queen of Chaos]] but his spirit escaped to the material plane where he possessed a snake and made it into his new body. After he sent armies of snakes and monsters to attack mortals because he was jealous of the worship the gods received from them, he was then killed again by a Solar named Avamerin, but not before Sertrous revealed the secret that divine magic is possible to gain from any kind of faith, not just faith in a god. Avamerin at first didn't understand what Sertrous had said and shared the words with others, and when godless clerics started appearing as a result he was punished by being demoted to a Planetar. Avamerin then turned on his god and began working to bring Sertrous back to life. Avamerin now leads a cult of heretical [[Yuan-ti]] called The Vanguard of Sertrous that claims Sertrous is the true creator of the Yuan-ti. As Sertrous gets closer to returning to life, encounters with snakes and snake-like monsters become more and more frequent. Sertrous does not have stats because he is nothing but an immobile skull, but the players may fight against a CR 23 aspect of Sertrous.

In the suggested campaign, the players are hired to find out why a merchant has cut contact with his business partners and discover that he has fallen under the sway of a group of Yuan-ti who are lead by somebody named Seghulerak (Yuan-ti abomination, level 10 cleric, level 5 thaumaturgist) and do not worship the traditional Yuan-ti gods. Seghulerak and the Vanguard of Sertrous seize control of a major Yuan-ti city and start setting up ''serpentgates'' in temples around the world from which to launch invasions. The players investigate an infestation of snakes and interfere with the creation of one of these gates. The players eventually makes their way to the city where the Vanguard of Sertrous is based after many battles against Yuan-ti and other snake monsters and defeat Seghulerak, but her body vanishes when she is killed, leaving behind a pile of dead headless snakes. After some investigation the players learn about the Serpent Reliquary, an extradimensional temple that is the true base of the Vanguard. The players locate the portal the Reliquary and defeat Seghulerak again. After this they meet Avamerin, who will try to trick the players into leaving by lying that Sertrous never existed and this was all a test by the gods. If the players attack and defeat him, he is transformed into the aspect of Sertrous which the players must destroy. If the players are dumb enough to fall for his trick, he might send them to a layer of the abyss disguised as their home.
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Sertrous aspect.png|Aspect of Sertrous
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===[[Kyuss]], The [[Worm That Walks]]===
The Worm That Walks is an evil demigod named [[Kyuss]] that wants to conquer the world and bring about the age of worms to become a full god. As he gets closer to escaping his prison, the world becomes infested with giant centipedes and other worm-like monsters. [[Kyuss]] was once a prophet of an evil god who attempted to ascend to godhood by sacrificing all of his followers and transforming into a great monster made of worms, but he got stuck between mortality and godhood and trapped inside an obelisk. The Worm That Walks is a CR 20 aberration.

In the suggested campaign, Edwin Tolstoff (human lesser worm that walks, level 3 necromancer, level 3 cleric, level 10 true necromancer), escapes from his prison by having his grandchildren kill their mother and release him, causing spawn of Kyuss to start appearing. Edwin wants to release Kyuss from his prison because he hates being a worm that walks and hopes that Kyuss will either kill him or restore his humanity. The players are called to solve a murder mystery, whose culprit is a wererat named Draen, who works for Katarin Tolstoff. After solving this mystery, people are kidnapped and the players track them down to find an [[Avolakia]] who is turning his captives into spawns of Kyuss. Though the players defeat him, people continue disappearing all over the nation. When the party's spellcaster visits a local wizard's guild, they find that it has been ransacked and most of the wizards transformed into undead by Edwin. The most notable item he has stolen is a [[Well of Many Worlds]]. The Herald of Kyuss (Avolakia, level 8 cleric) working for Edwin then poses as an NPC ally the players know and tells them that a wizard named Emirikol the Chaotic is planning to destroy the universe by putting a [[Sphere of Annihilation]] into the well. This is a trick by Edwin to give him the chance to steal a Talisman of the Sphere from Emirikol while the players are fighting him. But Edwin is unable to find a sphere of annihilation, and so anonymously hires the players to go to the [[Tomb of Horrors]] and secretly follows them so that he can steal the sphere from the tomb. The players then must chase him to Wormcrawl island to stop him from using it to break Kyuss's prison. When he reaches the obelisk he completes the ritual and places the sphere of annihilation into the well of many worlds, creating a black hole and releasing Kyuss. The players will have to defeat Kyuss and stop the black hole from destroying reality if it isn't stopped by divine intervention. If you don't have the [[Exemplars of Evil]] book, which includes the stats and description of Edwin's grandchildren and Drean, it suggests replacing Edwin with a different villain. The book also suggests combining this plot with the [[Adventure Path]], ''Age of Worms'' from [[Dungeon Magazine]], which also features Kyuss.
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Kyuss.png
Kyuss.jpg
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===[[Zargon]]===
Zargon is an ancient evil who once ruled over [[Baator]] as the father of the [[Baatorian]]s before Asmodeus and his [[Baatezu]] strutted in and slapped their dicks on the table. Although he was defeated by Asmodeus, he could not be killed even by the gods and was imprisoned on the material plane. His horn is nearly indestructible and he will regenerate from it if the rest of his body is destroyed. Now he has given up on reclaiming Baator and wants to conquer the mortal world. As he gets closer to awakening the world is affected by extreme weather, including rains of slime that pollute water sources with a contagion that can turn people into [[slime]]s called Whelps of Zargon. Zargon is only CR 16, though according to the fluff he is capable of killing gods due to them being vulnerable to his powers.

Dorn (Cynidicean, Level 1 rogue, level 3 fighter, level 3 ranger, level 7 thrall of Juiblex), the son of Zargon's high cultists, flees from Cynidicea, only to be captured by gnolls and rescued by the party. Zargon begins to wake up as his cultists dig him up. Dorn then gets captured by the cult of Juiblex who tortured and eventually brainwashed him into joining them. The players are then hired by an archeologists named Vanessa (Tiefling, level 7 [[Archivist]], level 7 [[Entropomancer]]) to take her to Cynidicea. However she gets separated from the party on the way and finds her way to Cynidicea alone, where she ends up joining Zargon's cult. The awakening of Zargon attracts the attention of [[Juiblex]], who sends Dorn to make an alliance with Zargon. [[Zuggtmoy]] attempts to stop Juiblex by having their own cult frame Juiblex's cult for murders, which the party investigates. Vanessa convinces Dorn to take control of Zargon's cult with her, and they sacrifice Dorn's father to speed up Zargon's revival. Several factions try to manipulate the players into leading them to Zargon's resting places and the players must play them against each other to find out about Zargon and where to find him. The players eventually make it to Zargon's tomb just as he is fully revived and defeat him and his cultists and ooze servants. But in order to destroy Zargon permanently, they will have to throw his horn into the Eye of Zargon deep underground.

A campaign where Demogorgon frees him in return for assistance in the blood war would be fucking dope.
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Zargon B4.jpg
Zargon baatorian.jpg
Zargon the Returner.jpg
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==Dragon Magazine==
Two more being described as Elder Evils appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]].

[[Zurguth]], The Feasting Vast is mentioned in the article Ecology of the Kaorti, in issue #358. Zurguth is an extremely powerful monster of the [[Far Realm]] in the form of an ocean of flesh. It accidentally created the [[Kaorti]] just by looking at a group of wizards who entered the Far Realm.

===[[Shothragot]]===
Shothragot is detailed in issue #362, in an article written similarly to a chapter of the Elder Evils book. Shothragot is an avatar of [[Tharizdun]] sealed beneath the temple of the Elder Elemental Eye, who works to free Tharizdun from his prison by collecting the 333 gems of Tharizdun. Shothragot itself is too big for the players to defeat and so doesn't have stats. Instead, the players must enter inside of Shothragot and fight the Essence of Shothragot, which is CR 22. As Shothragot gets closer to completing its goal the sky is covered in a Seal of Binding, similar to the one produced by Pandorym.

In the suggested adventure, the players stubble across one of the gems of Tharizdun while exploring a random dungeon and are harassed by agents of Tharizdun until they get rid of it. Later a massive earthquake causes massive destruction but strangely leaves a tower untouched while burying everything around it. Investigating these tower leads to the players finding another black gem and several mad cultists also looking for it. The seal of binding appears in the sky and Tharizdum recognizes that the players are a threat and so Shothragot sends a powerful assassin named Giorge Forsworn after them, who then starts killing the player character's friends and family one by one before he starts going after the player characters. A group of powerful wizards then hire the players to find a member of theirs who when missing while investigating the cause of the Seal of Binding. When the players find them they have already been warped into a servant of Tharizdun. The players then travel to several locations important to the Cult of Tharizdun to find clues. Shothragot finally emerges from its hiding place and the players must defeat it from the inside.

The final part of the adventure was detailed in [[Dungeon]] Magazine 152. Unfortunately, because Dungeon 152 was released in multiple parts online only and has been taken down since then, this adventure is now extremely hard to find since all the archives of Dungeon 152 don't have the complete version.

=4th Edition=
{{Dnd-stub}}
During 4th Edition, several of the Elder Evils were adapted by Dragon Magazine as potential sources of power for [[Warlock]]s. See [[Starspawn]] for details.

The 4th edition version of the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] describes the [[Tsochar]] god [[Mak Thuum Ngatha]] as an Elder Evil. And [[Kyuss]] gets 4th edition stats in Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead.

=5th Edition=
Zargon the Returner was listed as a possible patron for great old one warlocks in the Players Handbook. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes describes the Elder Evils as the source of monsters known as [[Star Spawn]] and it includes the list of Elder Evils copied below, which includes the elder evils from Powers and Pantheons and Lords of Madness, a few from the Elder Evils book, and some new ones, mainly [[Archomental|Primordials]] and some obscure evil gods from [[Forgotten Realms]]. Unfortunately it does not give any significant description of them beyond just listing their names so readers will have no idea what they are unless they search through previous editions to find them.

* [[Ityak-Ortheel]], the Elf-Eater
* [[Dendar]], the Night Serpent
* [[Borem]] of the Lake of Boiling Mud
* [[Kezef]], the Chaos Hound
* [[Zargon]], the Returner
* [[Carmnod]], the Unseen
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below
* [[Piscaethces]], the Blood Queen
* [[Shothotugg]], the Eater of Worlds
* [[Y'chak]], the Violet Flame
* [[Bolothamogg]], Who Watches from Beyond the Stars
* [[Hargut]], of the Gray Pestilence
* [[Haask]], the Voice of Hargut
* [[Ragnorra]], the Mother of Monsters
* The Hulks of [[Zoretha]]
* [[Kyuss]], the Worm That Walks
* [[Tharizdun]], the Elder Elemental Eye
* [[Atropus]], the World Born Dead
* [[Pandorym]], the Utter Annihilation
* [[Haemnathuun]], the Blood lord
* [[Maram]] of the Great Spear
* [[Tyranthraxus]], the Flamed One
* [[The Queen of Chaos]]
* [[Father Llymic]], the Alien Thought Given Flesh

A few of the [[Star Spawn]] Elder Evils from fourth edition are also mentioned in Volo's Guide to Monsters as beings that [[Neogi]] [[Warlock]]s make contracts with. Strangely, a few of them also appeared as [[Vestige]]s in the [[Curse of Strahd]]'s Amber Temple, though how they died and became vestiges is unexplained.

=External links=
* [https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LNa95CLcSwIUPkRniO3 Homebrew 5E stats for the Elder Evils as well as associated entities]

{{Template:D&D-Nonhuman-Deities}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Game Books]]
[[Category:Elder Evils]]

Elder Evils

2021-07-07T08:52:42Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:C541:8F8B:BB4E:5D9D: /* Ragnorra */

[[File:Elder evils cover.jpg|thumb|The Elder Evils splatbook from 3.5e. This book unleashed many horrors upon many adventures.]]
[[Elder Evils]] are ancient evil beings of immense power whose existence threatens the world. Some Elder Evils are gods, while others are merely god like beings, such as extremely powerful [[Fiend]]s and creatures of the [[Far Realm]]. The concept of Elder Evils was first talked about in the second edition book ''Powers and Pantheons'', which gave stats for three very powerful monsters of the [[Forgotten Realms]] known as the Elder Eternal Evils. Later books would shorten the term to just Elder Evils. The third edition book, [[Lords of Madness]], lists five beings of immense power that are respected by the Aboleths as the closest thing they have to gods. Later, the [[Splatbook]] Elder Evils went into detail about how to use Elder Evils in a campaign. Two more were revealed in [[Dragon Magazine]]. Elder Evils are also mentioned in 4th and 5th edition.

=2nd Edition=
==Powers and Pantheons==
{{Dnd-stub}}

The Elder Eternal Evils are three monstrous creatures from the [[Forgotten Realms]] setting. They were updated to third edition in the book ''Champions of Ruin''.
===[[Dendar]]===
Dendar the Night Serpent is a monstrous snake who was born when something had a dream for the first time in [[Forgotten Realms]]. She grows stronger by eating nightmares and is said to be destined to destroy the entire setting when she has collected enough.

In third edition Dendar is CR 26.
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Dendar P&P.png
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===[[Kezef]]===
Kezef the Chaos Hound is a monstrous skeletal dog with maggots in place of flesh that consumes the souls of the faithful in the afterlife who may have been created by [[Jergal]]. Has a grudge against [[Mask]], which is a good thing because this drives it to spend more time hunting down Mask than eating souls.

In third edition Kezef is CR 21.
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Kezef P&P.png
Kezef CoR.jpg
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===[[Ityak-Ortheel]]===
Ityak-Ortheel the Elf-Eater is a horrible creature resembling a giant headless turtle with three legs and a giant mouth surrounded by forty tentacles. It gets its name because it can only gain sustenance from eating elves. It was born from the spilled blood of [[Corellon]] Larethian and [[Gruumsh]] and is used as a weapon by the god [[Malar]].

In third edition Ityak-Ortheel is CR 22.

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Ityak-ortheel P&P.png
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=3rd Edition=
==Lords of Madness==
While most [[Aboleth]]s do not worship gods, there are five godlike beings that they pay respects to, which are described in the book [[Lords of Madness]], but not given stats.
* [[Bolothamogg]], Him Who Watches from Beyond the Stars: A primal force that keeps the multiverse separated from the outer dimensions.
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below: A gigantic centipede squid thing that eats its way through the material plane, leaving behind a black substance that can be compressed into Bilestone, a substance that debilitates non-aberrations.
* [[Piscaethces]], The Blood Queen: The origin of aboleths. She wanders throughout the multiverse spawning new aboleths. If she were to ever return aboleths would see it as proof that the multiverse isn't infinite.
* [[Shothotugg]], Eater of Worlds: A mass of liquid that travels between worlds, poisoning and parasitizing them and slowly changing the laws of the multiverse as it does so.
* [[Y'chak]], The Violet Flame: A pillar of violet flames concealing a form so horrifying it would destroy anyone who looked at it (a relative of [[Pale Night]] maybe?). It encourages mortals to worship evil gods and may be responsible for the creation of many of those gods.

==Elder Evils (the book)==
The book Elder Evils was released near the end of 3.5 edition as a tool for dungeon masters wanting to end their current campaign and switch to 4th edition, similar to how [[The Apocalypse Stone]] was released to give DMs in 2nd edition a way to end their campaigns before switching to 3rd. The Elder Evils described in the book are entities with the potential to end the world, and thus end the campaign if the players fail to stop them, or act as a satisfyingly epic final boss for the players. The book instructs the DM on how to base a campaign around stopping one of these beings. The book does not describe every detail of the campaigns like most books, but instead gives a general outline of the plot, plus the stats for major enemies the players will encounter, and details of the final dungeon, and what adjustments to make if the campaign is set in [[Faerun]] or [[Eberron]]. Many of the Elder Evils are not statted, as they are too powerful when fully unleashed for the players to stop, but instead only have stats for an aspect of them that the players can defeat.

===[[Atropus]]===
Known as The World Born Dead, Atropus is a moon sized undead creature that is as old as creation and desires the end of all life. It destroys worlds by crashing on them and then draining them of all positive energy. Atropus cannot be destroyed, but the players can drive it away. As Atropus approaches the world necromancy spells become more powerful and the dead begin to rise as undead spontaneously. Atropus itself has no stats (how the fuck do you stat '''''a godsdamned planet?!'''''), but the Aspect of Atropus is a CR 23 undead. Atropus is also infested with many kinds of undead, including famine spirits, advanced deathshriekers, rage winds, angels of decay, nightcrawlers, nightwalkers, nightwings, dread wraiths, and a single dread boneyard. Atropus is also a very hostile environment with no atmosphere unless it is about to collide with the world, and has a variety of effects that harm the living and boost the undead.

In the suggested campaign, Caira Xasten (human, level 5 bard, level 5 rogue, level 10 [[Ur-Priest]]) wants to attract Atropus to destroy the world to get revenge on the gods, blaming them for the death of her husband who was killed by a falling meteorite. To do this she and her cult first seek out a book about Atropus, then try to obtain the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] in order to learn the ''apocalypse of the sky'' spell which she will attempt to cast on a large city to attract Atropus with the mass death. Meanwhile, the world is also invaded by a powerful general of [[Orcus]] who also wants to summon Atropus named Gorguth ([[Bodak]], level 2 ranger, level 1 fighter, level 9 blackguard), who rides on a powerful construct named Skyshadow and leading his own army of the undead to cause mass death. After failing to stop either one of them, the players then must travel to Atropus and battle against a variety of undead monsters until they find and defeat the aspect of Atropus, which will cause Atropus to retreat.
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File:Atropus.jpg
File:Map of Atropus's Face.jpg|so big that his face has a travel map.
File:Aspect of Atropus.jpeg|His significantly smaller (and killable) Aspect.
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=== [[Father Llymic]] ===
Father Llymic is an entity from the [[Far Realm]] that sleeps in an icy prison that melts in darkness and thickens in sunlight. It wants to remake the world to be more hospitable to itself and its children, which it then creates by [[Nurgle|spreading a plague that]] [[Plaguebearer|turns the infected into creatures like itself]] [[Gellarpox Infected|known as brood spawn]]. The more people Father Llymic infects, the more he comes out of his sleep, and as it awakes the sun starts to go out, and darkness spells grow stronger while light spells weaken. He is called Father Llymic because he often projects an illusion of a friendly old man. Its true form is a massive demon like creature with scythes for arms, three eyes, and skin covered in icy crystal, with a CR of 18. Beings converted into brood spawn gain similar features.

In the suggested campaign, the player are sent to investigate the disappearance of a caravan that was attacked by a tribe of barbarians that worship Father Llymic. After this a huge glacier and icy weather spreads down from the mountain where Father Llymic is imprisoned and strange ice monsters start attacking people. Soon whole towns and villages are transformed into brood spawn as the weather gets worse and worse while the sun gets darker and darker. The players must travel up the mountain while battling through mad cultists and many kinds of brood spawn to face and defeat Father Llymic.

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===[[The Hulks of Zoretha]]===
The Hulks of Zoretha are five giants made of stone from another world that plan to exterminate all life on this plane to make room for them to repopulate it with their own kind. As they awaken, the moon turns red, causing people to experience uncontrollable rage. Four of the hulks are female and are each associated with a different element while the last one is male and has wings. They are also completely indestructible as long as they are asleep. All of them are CR 16.

In the suggested campaign, Soelma Nilaenish (elf, level 7 wizard, level 10 loremaster, level 1 rogue) hires the party to recover a copy of the Zoretha Scrolls, then later hires them again to protect the scrolls. She then travels with the party to stop the leader of the cult of Zoretha, Janwulf the Soulbiter (ice giant, level 11 bard). But after Janwulf is defeated Soelma betrays the party and takes control of the cult herself. Soelma is in fact horribly depressed and wants the world to be destroyed, while Janwulf actually had no interest in waking up the hulks and just wanted power. The party then stops Soelma from completing the ritual to wake up the hulks but the moon doesn't return to normal and the whole world is at war. A single cultist escapes from the players and finishes the ritual to wake up the hulks and the players must then destroy them.

If you want to be a smart DM, however, we recommend you just load them onto a [[Spelljammer]] to help them find an unoccupied planet.
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Hulks-of-Zorthea.jpg
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===[[The Leviathan]]===
An immense sea monster personifying primal chaos that will destroy the world if it ever wakes up. As it gets close to awakening, the world is affected by extreme weather. The Leviathan does not have stats, as it is too big for the players to fight, but the players may battle against aspects of the leviathan, which are CR 16, or an advanced aspect, which is CR 20.

In the suggested campaign, the players save a port town from a disaster and are sent to investigate the cause of the strange weather. The party then encounters and defeats a cult that worships the leviathan, but their leader, a mysterious man named Enshaddon, escapes. Enshaddon is actually an advanced vampiric [[Ixitxachitl]] with 16 cleric levels named Axihuatl. He is a worshiper of Demogorgon and wants to partially wake up the leviathan using a shard of chaos in order to flood the world. After the players first disrupt his plans, he sends Marcus Hape (human, level 4 rogue, level 4 assassin, level 4 thrall of Demogogon) to kill them. With the help of a sage named Mytus who provides the players with magic and equipment for underwater travel, the players attack a temple located in a hollow spine on the leviathan's back and interrupt Axihuatl's ritual to wake up the leviathan, causing him to lose control of the beast. Axihuatl then allies with the players because he does not want the leviathan to completely destroy the world. They must then travel deeper into the temple and throw the shard of chaos into a pit at the bottom to put the leviathan back to sleep.

The 'the' in the name probably represents the greatest of its kind, as in 5e Mordinkainen's tome of foes introduced the Leviathans as [[Elemental#Elder Elementals|Elder Elementals]], also a CR 20 like its advanced aspect.
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Leviathan aspect.png|Aspect of the Leviathan
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=== [[Pandorym]] ===
In ancient times, a group of wizards wanted to blackmail the gods. So they summoned a powerful eldritch abomination from "[[Far Realm| the space 'between' the planes]]" named Pandorym, contracted it to destroy all the gods, immediately sealed it away before it could do so by imprisoning its mind and body separately, and used the threat of its reunification as the divine blackmail. Fortunately the wizards didn't implement a deadman's switch or anything, so the gods smote their stupid asses when they heard their first demands and wiped the group from the face of history. In fact the book suggests that if you set the campaign in Ebberon that this is what creates the Mournlands to get a sense of scale. If made whole, Pandorym will first take revenge on the descendants of the wizards that imprisoned it, then kill all the gods as it was contracted to do. If the contract's completion doesn't return it "home", it'll destroy the universe out of frustration/boredom.

Pandorym's mindless body resembles a huge [[Sphere of Annihilation]] that moves towards anyone that tries to control it, which is kept in an unknown extradimensional prison. Pandorym's mind is sealed within a large near-indestructible crystal and is immensely powerful even without its body; the tiny leakage through the crystal is enough to corrupt nearby high level characters and obliterate the minds of weaker-willed folks, a small "fragment" of its mind is a ''CR 25'' Psionic threat, and the fully released mind is an unstatted behemoth that only divine intervention could stop...

...so far, so first-edition [[Tharizdun]]. It's unfortunate that Pandorym's sign interferes with the planar connections of the world (via a sky-spanning glyph) and makes conjuration+divine magic increasingly difficult as its mind gains influence. Presumably its fully released mind would completely block the world off and make divine intervention near impossible.

In the suggested campaign, Tune Majii (human, Level 2 bard, level 2 wizard) hires the player to find her missing father Lucather (quell, level 8 enchanter, level 10 loremaster), who has become enslaved to Pandorym. Meanwhile, the gods begin sending their mortal followers warnings that somebody is trying to unleash an unimaginably powerful evil. This person turns out to be the [[Inevitable]] named Obligatum VII (kolyarut, level 3 [[Hexblade]], level 5 [[Occult Slayer]]), our wiki's literal poster child of [[Lawful Stupid]]. Obligatum VII wants to release Pandorym because the poor old eldritch abomination entered into a bad-faith contract and ''must'' receive rightful legal remedy for the indignity, [[Lawful Stupid|regardless of the god-ending possibly-universe-ending consequences]]. The players will have to travel to the prison where Pandorym's mind is kept and defeat Lucather and Obligatum VII before they can smash the crystal open with Obligatum's adamantine sword. If the players succeed, they may have to travel to [[Mechanus]] and prevent Obligatum VIII's creation (who'd start this shit all over again). Quick tip: Soon as you learn about this thing try and tip off a [[Inevitable#Varakhut|Varakhut]], a protector of the divine order, and watch the ensuing Inevitable robot rumble.
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File:Pandorym.jpg
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=== [[Ragnorra]] ===
Ragnorra is an entity of corrupted life that wants to remake all life to fit her own ideals of what life should be. She travels between worlds in the form of a red comet, which crashes down on the world and begins spreading her skin and nerves over the planet, warping all creatures into aberrations. As Ragnorra gets closer to landing, positive energy spells become stronger but also cause gross blemishes, Ragnorra's spores start to fall from the sky that turn things into swarms of pests, living things gain healing abilities but are slowly corrupted into aberrations, and eventually even the dead start rising as aberrations, while undead are forced to flee underground. When Ragnorra crashes onto a planet she is reduced to a fraction of her full size but is still gargantuan size and has CR 19 in both her initial form after landing, and her True Mother form taken when she merges with the neurotangle.

In the suggested campaign, a cult that worships Ragnorra called the Malshapers attempts to attract Ragnorra to the player's world using kidnapped people and other stolen living entities as bait to guide her on her path to the world. The leader of the cult is Irthicax Vane ([[Zenythri]], level 17 monk), whose world was destroyed by Ragnorra and once fought against her, but eventually went mad and turned to worshiping her, though the players may be able to convince him to help stop her. As Ragnorra approaches, mysterious springs with healing properties start popping up everywhere that are controlled by the Malshapers. Swarms of vermin begin appearing in cities, and in response to this undead beings start showing up to fight them. As the red comet continues to get closer the undead all start leaving. While the players are investigating to see if the undead are planning anything, they get repeatedly attacked by low level rogues sent by the Malshapers. Then an [[Aboleth]] mage with the ability to breath air falls from the sky and enslaves the risen corpses of the Malshapers. Then Ragnorra crashes into the earth and creates an enormous crater full of aberrations and corrupt flesh. The players must travel across this crater to reach the center and confront Ragnorra. Once she has transformed into her True Mother form, the players must defeat her by breaking her connection with the planet, and thus forcing her to leave.

Getting her to crash into Atropus might make for an interesting campaign.
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File:RagnorraFanart.jpg
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===[[Sertrous]]===
Sertrous was a powerful [[Obyrith]] that was killed in the distant past, but whose spirit clings to life in his severed skull. He was first killed for refusing to serve [[The Queen of Chaos]] but his spirit escaped to the material plane where he possessed a snake and made it into his new body. After he sent armies of snakes and monsters to attack mortals because he was jealous of the worship the gods received from them, he was then killed again by a Solar named Avamerin, but not before Sertrous revealed the secret that divine magic is possible to gain from any kind of faith, not just faith in a god. Avamerin at first didn't understand what Sertrous had said and shared the words with others, and when godless clerics started appearing as a result he was punished by being demoted to a Planetar. Avamerin then turned on his god and began working to bring Sertrous back to life. Avamerin now leads a cult of heretical [[Yuan-ti]] called The Vanguard of Sertrous that claims Sertrous is the true creator of the Yuan-ti. As Sertrous gets closer to returning to life, encounters with snakes and snake-like monsters become more and more frequent. Sertrous does not have stats because he is nothing but an immobile skull, but the players may fight against a CR 23 aspect of Sertrous.

In the suggested campaign, the players are hired to find out why a merchant has cut contact with his business partners and discover that he has fallen under the sway of a group of Yuan-ti who are lead by somebody named Seghulerak (Yuan-ti abomination, level 10 cleric, level 5 thaumaturgist) and do not worship the traditional Yuan-ti gods. Seghulerak and the Vanguard of Sertrous seize control of a major Yuan-ti city and start setting up ''serpentgates'' in temples around the world from which to launch invasions. The players investigate an infestation of snakes and interfere with the creation of one of these gates. The players eventually makes their way to the city where the Vanguard of Sertrous is based after many battles against Yuan-ti and other snake monsters and defeat Seghulerak, but her body vanishes when she is killed, leaving behind a pile of dead headless snakes. After some investigation the players learn about the Serpent Reliquary, an extradimensional temple that is the true base of the Vanguard. The players locate the portal the Reliquary and defeat Seghulerak again. After this they meet Avamerin, who will try to trick the players into leaving by lying that Sertrous never existed and this was all a test by the gods. If the players attack and defeat him, he is transformed into the aspect of Sertrous which the players must destroy. If the players are dumb enough to fall for his trick, he might send them to a layer of the abyss disguised as their home.
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Sertrous aspect.png|Aspect of Sertrous
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===[[Kyuss]], The [[Worm That Walks]]===
The Worm That Walks is an evil demigod named [[Kyuss]] that wants to conquer the world and bring about the age of worms to become a full god. As he gets closer to escaping his prison, the world becomes infested with giant centipedes and other worm-like monsters. [[Kyuss]] was once a prophet of an evil god who attempted to ascend to godhood by sacrificing all of his followers and transforming into a great monster made of worms, but he got stuck between mortality and godhood and trapped inside an obelisk. The Worm That Walks is a CR 20 aberration.

In the suggested campaign, Edwin Tolstoff (human lesser worm that walks, level 3 necromancer, level 3 cleric, level 10 true necromancer), escapes from his prison by having his grandchildren kill their mother and release him, causing spawn of Kyuss to start appearing. Edwin wants to release Kyuss from his prison because he hates being a worm that walks and hopes that Kyuss will either kill him or restore his humanity. The players are called to solve a murder mystery, whose culprit is a wererat named Draen, who works for Katarin Tolstoff. After solving this mystery, people are kidnapped and the players track them down to find an [[Avolakia]] who is turning his captives into spawns of Kyuss. Though the players defeat him, people continue disappearing all over the nation. When the party's spellcaster visits a local wizard's guild, they find that it has been ransacked and most of the wizard transformed into undead by Edwin. The most notable item he has stolen is a [[Well of Many Worlds]]. The Herald of Kyuss (Avolakia, level 8 cleric) working for Edwin then poses as an NPC ally the players know and tells them that a wizard named Emirikol the Chaotic is planning to destroy the universe by putting a [[Sphere of Annihilation]] into the well. This is a trick by Edwin to give him the chance to steal a Talisman of the Sphere from Emirikol while the players are fighting him. But Edwin is unable to find a sphere of annihilation, and so anonymously hires the players to go to the [[Tomb of Horrors]] and secretly follows them so that he can steal the sphere from the tomb. The players then must chase him to Wormcrawl island to stop him from using it to break Kyuss's prison. When he reaches the obelisk he completes the ritual and places the sphere of annihilation into the well of many worlds, creating a black hole and releasing Kyuss. The players will have to defeat Kyuss and stop the black hole from destroying reality if it isn't stopped by divine intervention. If you don't have the [[Exemplars of Evil]] book, which includes the stats and description of Edwin's grandchildren and Drean, it suggests replacing Edwin with a different villain. The book also suggests combining this plot with the [[Adventure Path]], ''Age of Worms'' from [[Dungeon Magazine]], which also features Kyuss.
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Kyuss.png
Kyuss.jpg
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===[[Zargon]]===
Zargon is an ancient evil who once ruled over [[Baator]] as the father of the [[Baatorian]]s before Asmodeus and his [[Baatezu]] strutted in and slapped their dicks on the table. Although he was defeated by Asmodeus, he could not be killed even by the gods and was imprisoned on the material plane. His horn is nearly indestructible and he will regenerate from it if the rest of his body is destroyed. Now he has given up on reclaiming Baator and wants to conquer the mortal world. As he gets closer to awakening the world is affected by extreme weather, including rains of slime that pollute water sources with a contagion that can turn people into [[slime]]s called Whelps of Zargon. Zargon is only CR 16, though according to the fluff he is capable of killing gods due to them being vulnerable to his powers.

Dorn (Cynidicean, Level 1 rogue, level 3 fighter, level 3 ranger, level 7 thrall of Juiblex), the son of Zargon's high cultists, flees from Cynidicea, only to be captured by gnolls and rescued by the party. Zargon begins to wake up as his cultists dig him up. Dorn then gets captured by the cult of Juiblex who tortured and eventually brainwashed him into joining them. The players are then hired by an archeologists named Vanessa (Tiefling, level 7 [[Archivist]], level 7 [[Entropomancer]]) to take her to Cynidicea. However she gets separated from the party on the way and finds her way to Cynidicea alone, where she ends up joining Zargon's cult. The awakening of Zargon attracts the attention of [[Juiblex]], who sends Dorn to make an alliance with Zargon. [[Zuggtmoy]] attempts to stop Juiblex by having their own cult frame Juiblex's cult for murders, which the party investigates. Vanessa convinces Dorn to take control of Zargon's cult with her, and they sacrifice Dorn's father to speed up Zargon's revival. Several factions try to manipulate the players into leading them to Zargon's resting places and the players must play them against each other to find out about Zargon and where to find him. The players eventually make it to Zargon's tomb just as he is fully revived and defeat him and his cultists and ooze servants. But in order to destroy Zargon permanently, they will have to throw his horn into the Eye of Zargon deep underground.

A campaign where Demogorgon frees him in return for assistance in the blood war would be fucking dope.
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Zargon B4.jpg
Zargon baatorian.jpg
Zargon the Returner.jpg
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==Dragon Magazine==
Two more being described as Elder Evils appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]].

[[Zurguth]], The Feasting Vast is mentioned in the article Ecology of the Kaorti, in issue #358. Zurguth is an extremely powerful monster of the [[Far Realm]] in the form of an ocean of flesh. It accidentally created the [[Kaorti]] just by looking at a group of wizards who entered the Far Realm.

===[[Shothragot]]===
Shothragot is detailed in issue #362, in an article written similarly to a chapter of the Elder Evils book. Shothragot is an avatar of [[Tharizdun]] sealed beneath the temple of the Elder Elemental Eye, who works to free Tharizdun from his prison by collecting the 333 gems of Tharizdun. Shothragot itself is too big for the players to defeat and so doesn't have stats. Instead, the players must enter inside of Shothragot and fight the Essence of Shothragot, which is CR 22. As Shothragot gets closer to completing its goal the sky is covered in a Seal of Binding, similar to the one produced by Pandorym.

In the suggested adventure, the players stubble across one of the gems of Tharizdun while exploring a random dungeon and are harassed by agents of Tharizdun until they get rid of it. Later a massive earthquake causes massive destruction but strangely leaves a tower untouched while burying everything around it. Investigating these tower leads to the players finding another black gem and several mad cultists also looking for it. The seal of binding appears in the sky and Tharizdum recognizes that the players are a threat and so Shothragot sends a powerful assassin named Giorge Forsworn after them, who then starts killing the player character's friends and family one by one before he starts going after the player characters. A group of powerful wizards then hire the players to find a member of theirs who when missing while investigating the cause of the Seal of Binding. When the players find them they have already been warped into a servant of Tharizdun. The players then travel to several locations important to the Cult of Tharizdun to find clues. Shothragot finally emerges from its hiding place and the players must defeat it from the inside.

The final part of the adventure was detailed in [[Dungeon]] Magazine 152. Unfortunately, because Dungeon 152 was released in multiple parts online only and has been taken down since then, this adventure is now extremely hard to find since all the archives of Dungeon 152 don't have the complete version.

=4th Edition=
{{Dnd-stub}}
During 4th Edition, several of the Elder Evils were adapted by Dragon Magazine as potential sources of power for [[Warlock]]s. See [[Starspawn]] for details.

The 4th edition version of the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] describes the [[Tsochar]] god [[Mak Thuum Ngatha]] as an Elder Evil. And [[Kyuss]] gets 4th edition stats in Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead.

=5th Edition=
Zargon the Returner was listed as a possible patron for great old one warlocks in the Players Handbook. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes describes the Elder Evils as the source of monsters known as [[Star Spawn]] and it includes the list of Elder Evils copied below, which includes the elder evils from Powers and Pantheons and Lords of Madness, a few from the Elder Evils book, and some new ones, mainly [[Archomental|Primordials]] and some obscure evil gods from [[Forgotten Realms]]. Unfortunately it does not give any significant description of them beyond just listing their names so readers will have no idea what they are unless they search through previous editions to find them.

* [[Ityak-Ortheel]], the Elf-Eater
* [[Dendar]], the Night Serpent
* [[Borem]] of the Lake of Boiling Mud
* [[Kezef]], the Chaos Hound
* [[Zargon]], the Returner
* [[Carmnod]], the Unseen
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below
* [[Piscaethces]], the Blood Queen
* [[Shothotugg]], the Eater of Worlds
* [[Y'chak]], the Violet Flame
* [[Bolothamogg]], Who Watches from Beyond the Stars
* [[Hargut]], of the Gray Pestilence
* [[Haask]], the Voice of Hargut
* [[Ragnorra]], the Mother of Monsters
* The Hulks of [[Zoretha]]
* [[Kyuss]], the Worm That Walks
* [[Tharizdun]], the Elder Elemental Eye
* [[Atropus]], the World Born Dead
* [[Pandorym]], the Utter Annihilation
* [[Haemnathuun]], the Blood lord
* [[Maram]] of the Great Spear
* [[Tyranthraxus]], the Flamed One
* [[The Queen of Chaos]]
* [[Father Llymic]], the Alien Thought Given Flesh

A few of the [[Star Spawn]] Elder Evils from fourth edition are also mentioned in Volo's Guide to Monsters as beings that [[Neogi]] [[Warlock]]s make contracts with. Strangely, a few of them also appeared as [[Vestige]]s in the [[Curse of Strahd]]'s Amber Temple, though how they died and became vestiges is unexplained.

=External links=
* [https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LNa95CLcSwIUPkRniO3 Homebrew 5E stats for the Elder Evils as well as associated entities]

{{Template:D&D-Nonhuman-Deities}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Game Books]]
[[Category:Elder Evils]]

Elder Evils

2021-07-07T08:46:24Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:C541:8F8B:BB4E:5D9D: /* Ragnorra */

[[File:Elder evils cover.jpg|thumb|The Elder Evils splatbook from 3.5e. This book unleashed many horrors upon many adventures.]]
[[Elder Evils]] are ancient evil beings of immense power whose existence threatens the world. Some Elder Evils are gods, while others are merely god like beings, such as extremely powerful [[Fiend]]s and creatures of the [[Far Realm]]. The concept of Elder Evils was first talked about in the second edition book ''Powers and Pantheons'', which gave stats for three very powerful monsters of the [[Forgotten Realms]] known as the Elder Eternal Evils. Later books would shorten the term to just Elder Evils. The third edition book, [[Lords of Madness]], lists five beings of immense power that are respected by the Aboleths as the closest thing they have to gods. Later, the [[Splatbook]] Elder Evils went into detail about how to use Elder Evils in a campaign. Two more were revealed in [[Dragon Magazine]]. Elder Evils are also mentioned in 4th and 5th edition.

=2nd Edition=
==Powers and Pantheons==
{{Dnd-stub}}

The Elder Eternal Evils are three monstrous creatures from the [[Forgotten Realms]] setting. They were updated to third edition in the book ''Champions of Ruin''.
===[[Dendar]]===
Dendar the Night Serpent is a monstrous snake who was born when something had a dream for the first time in [[Forgotten Realms]]. She grows stronger by eating nightmares and is said to be destined to destroy the entire setting when she has collected enough.

In third edition Dendar is CR 26.
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Dendar P&P.png
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===[[Kezef]]===
Kezef the Chaos Hound is a monstrous skeletal dog with maggots in place of flesh that consumes the souls of the faithful in the afterlife who may have been created by [[Jergal]]. Has a grudge against [[Mask]], which is a good thing because this drives it to spend more time hunting down Mask than eating souls.

In third edition Kezef is CR 21.
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Kezef P&P.png
Kezef CoR.jpg
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===[[Ityak-Ortheel]]===
Ityak-Ortheel the Elf-Eater is a horrible creature resembling a giant headless turtle with three legs and a giant mouth surrounded by forty tentacles. It gets its name because it can only gain sustenance from eating elves. It was born from the spilled blood of [[Corellon]] Larethian and [[Gruumsh]] and is used as a weapon by the god [[Malar]].

In third edition Ityak-Ortheel is CR 22.

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Ityak-ortheel P&P.png
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=3rd Edition=
==Lords of Madness==
While most [[Aboleth]]s do not worship gods, there are five godlike beings that they pay respects to, which are described in the book [[Lords of Madness]], but not given stats.
* [[Bolothamogg]], Him Who Watches from Beyond the Stars: A primal force that keeps the multiverse separated from the outer dimensions.
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below: A gigantic centipede squid thing that eats its way through the material plane, leaving behind a black substance that can be compressed into Bilestone, a substance that debilitates non-aberrations.
* [[Piscaethces]], The Blood Queen: The origin of aboleths. She wanders throughout the multiverse spawning new aboleths. If she were to ever return aboleths would see it as proof that the multiverse isn't infinite.
* [[Shothotugg]], Eater of Worlds: A mass of liquid that travels between worlds, poisoning and parasitizing them and slowly changing the laws of the multiverse as it does so.
* [[Y'chak]], The Violet Flame: A pillar of violet flames concealing a form so horrifying it would destroy anyone who looked at it (a relative of [[Pale Night]] maybe?). It encourages mortals to worship evil gods and may be responsible for the creation of many of those gods.

==Elder Evils (the book)==
The book Elder Evils was released near the end of 3.5 edition as a tool for dungeon masters wanting to end their current campaign and switch to 4th edition, similar to how [[The Apocalypse Stone]] was released to give DMs in 2nd edition a way to end their campaigns before switching to 3rd. The Elder Evils described in the book are entities with the potential to end the world, and thus end the campaign if the players fail to stop them, or act as a satisfyingly epic final boss for the players. The book instructs the DM on how to base a campaign around stopping one of these beings. The book does not describe every detail of the campaigns like most books, but instead gives a general outline of the plot, plus the stats for major enemies the players will encounter, and details of the final dungeon, and what adjustments to make if the campaign is set in [[Faerun]] or [[Eberron]]. Many of the Elder Evils are not statted, as they are too powerful when fully unleashed for the players to stop, but instead only have stats for an aspect of them that the players can defeat.

===[[Atropus]]===
Known as The World Born Dead, Atropus is a moon sized undead creature that is as old as creation and desires the end of all life. It destroys worlds by crashing on them and then draining them of all positive energy. Atropus cannot be destroyed, but the players can drive it away. As Atropus approaches the world necromancy spells become more powerful and the dead begin to rise as undead spontaneously. Atropus itself has no stats (how the fuck do you stat '''''a godsdamned planet?!'''''), but the Aspect of Atropus is a CR 23 undead. Atropus is also infested with many kinds of undead, including famine spirits, advanced deathshriekers, rage winds, angels of decay, nightcrawlers, nightwalkers, nightwings, dread wraiths, and a single dread boneyard. Atropus is also a very hostile environment with no atmosphere unless it is about to collide with the world, and has a variety of effects that harm the living and boost the undead.

In the suggested campaign, Caira Xasten (human, level 5 bard, level 5 rogue, level 10 [[Ur-Priest]]) wants to attract Atropus to destroy the world to get revenge on the gods, blaming them for the death of her husband who was killed by a falling meteorite. To do this she and her cult first seek out a book about Atropus, then try to obtain the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] in order to learn the ''apocalypse of the sky'' spell which she will attempt to cast on a large city to attract Atropus with the mass death. Meanwhile, the world is also invaded by a powerful general of [[Orcus]] who also wants to summon Atropus named Gorguth ([[Bodak]], level 2 ranger, level 1 fighter, level 9 blackguard), who rides on a powerful construct named Skyshadow and leading his own army of the undead to cause mass death. After failing to stop either one of them, the players then must travel to Atropus and battle against a variety of undead monsters until they find and defeat the aspect of Atropus, which will cause Atropus to retreat.
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File:Atropus.jpg
File:Map of Atropus's Face.jpg|so big that his face has a travel map.
File:Aspect of Atropus.jpeg|His significantly smaller (and killable) Aspect.
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=== [[Father Llymic]] ===
Father Llymic is an entity from the [[Far Realm]] that sleeps in an icy prison that melts in darkness and thickens in sunlight. It wants to remake the world to be more hospitable to itself and its children, which it then creates by [[Nurgle|spreading a plague that]] [[Plaguebearer|turns the infected into creatures like itself]] [[Gellarpox Infected|known as brood spawn]]. The more people Father Llymic infects, the more he comes out of his sleep, and as it awakes the sun starts to go out, and darkness spells grow stronger while light spells weaken. He is called Father Llymic because he often projects an illusion of a friendly old man. Its true form is a massive demon like creature with scythes for arms, three eyes, and skin covered in icy crystal, with a CR of 18. Beings converted into brood spawn gain similar features.

In the suggested campaign, the player are sent to investigate the disappearance of a caravan that was attacked by a tribe of barbarians that worship Father Llymic. After this a huge glacier and icy weather spreads down from the mountain where Father Llymic is imprisoned and strange ice monsters start attacking people. Soon whole towns and villages are transformed into brood spawn as the weather gets worse and worse while the sun gets darker and darker. The players must travel up the mountain while battling through mad cultists and many kinds of brood spawn to face and defeat Father Llymic.

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File:Father Lymic.jpg
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===[[The Hulks of Zoretha]]===
The Hulks of Zoretha are five giants made of stone from another world that plan to exterminate all life on this plane to make room for them to repopulate it with their own kind. As they awaken, the moon turns red, causing people to experience uncontrollable rage. Four of the hulks are female and are each associated with a different element while the last one is male and has wings. They are also completely indestructible as long as they are asleep. All of them are CR 16.

In the suggested campaign, Soelma Nilaenish (elf, level 7 wizard, level 10 loremaster, level 1 rogue) hires the party to recover a copy of the Zoretha Scrolls, then later hires them again to protect the scrolls. She then travels with the party to stop the leader of the cult of Zoretha, Janwulf the Soulbiter (ice giant, level 11 bard). But after Janwulf is defeated Soelma betrays the party and takes control of the cult herself. Soelma is in fact horribly depressed and wants the world to be destroyed, while Janwulf actually had no interest in waking up the hulks and just wanted power. The party then stops Soelma from completing the ritual to wake up the hulks but the moon doesn't return to normal and the whole world is at war. A single cultist escapes from the players and finishes the ritual to wake up the hulks and the players must then destroy them.

If you want to be a smart DM, however, we recommend you just load them onto a [[Spelljammer]] to help them find an unoccupied planet.
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Hulks-of-Zorthea.jpg
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===[[The Leviathan]]===
An immense sea monster personifying primal chaos that will destroy the world if it ever wakes up. As it gets close to awakening, the world is affected by extreme weather. The Leviathan does not have stats, as it is too big for the players to fight, but the players may battle against aspects of the leviathan, which are CR 16, or an advanced aspect, which is CR 20.

In the suggested campaign, the players save a port town from a disaster and are sent to investigate the cause of the strange weather. The party then encounters and defeats a cult that worships the leviathan, but their leader, a mysterious man named Enshaddon, escapes. Enshaddon is actually an advanced vampiric [[Ixitxachitl]] with 16 cleric levels named Axihuatl. He is a worshiper of Demogorgon and wants to partially wake up the leviathan using a shard of chaos in order to flood the world. After the players first disrupt his plans, he sends Marcus Hape (human, level 4 rogue, level 4 assassin, level 4 thrall of Demogogon) to kill them. With the help of a sage named Mytus who provides the players with magic and equipment for underwater travel, the players attack a temple located in a hollow spine on the leviathan's back and interrupt Axihuatl's ritual to wake up the leviathan, causing him to lose control of the beast. Axihuatl then allies with the players because he does not want the leviathan to completely destroy the world. They must then travel deeper into the temple and throw the shard of chaos into a pit at the bottom to put the leviathan back to sleep.

The 'the' in the name probably represents the greatest of its kind, as in 5e Mordinkainen's tome of foes introduced the Leviathans as [[Elemental#Elder Elementals|Elder Elementals]], also a CR 20 like its advanced aspect.
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Leviathan aspect.png|Aspect of the Leviathan
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=== [[Pandorym]] ===
In ancient times, a group of wizards wanted to blackmail the gods. So they summoned a powerful eldritch abomination from "[[Far Realm| the space 'between' the planes]]" named Pandorym, contracted it to destroy all the gods, immediately sealed it away before it could do so by imprisoning its mind and body separately, and used the threat of its reunification as the divine blackmail. Fortunately the wizards didn't implement a deadman's switch or anything, so the gods smote their stupid asses when they heard their first demands and wiped the group from the face of history. In fact the book suggests that if you set the campaign in Ebberon that this is what creates the Mournlands to get a sense of scale. If made whole, Pandorym will first take revenge on the descendants of the wizards that imprisoned it, then kill all the gods as it was contracted to do. If the contract's completion doesn't return it "home", it'll destroy the universe out of frustration/boredom.

Pandorym's mindless body resembles a huge [[Sphere of Annihilation]] that moves towards anyone that tries to control it, which is kept in an unknown extradimensional prison. Pandorym's mind is sealed within a large near-indestructible crystal and is immensely powerful even without its body; the tiny leakage through the crystal is enough to corrupt nearby high level characters and obliterate the minds of weaker-willed folks, a small "fragment" of its mind is a ''CR 25'' Psionic threat, and the fully released mind is an unstatted behemoth that only divine intervention could stop...

...so far, so first-edition [[Tharizdun]]. It's unfortunate that Pandorym's sign interferes with the planar connections of the world (via a sky-spanning glyph) and makes conjuration+divine magic increasingly difficult as its mind gains influence. Presumably its fully released mind would completely block the world off and make divine intervention near impossible.

In the suggested campaign, Tune Majii (human, Level 2 bard, level 2 wizard) hires the player to find her missing father Lucather (quell, level 8 enchanter, level 10 loremaster), who has become enslaved to Pandorym. Meanwhile, the gods begin sending their mortal followers warnings that somebody is trying to unleash an unimaginably powerful evil. This person turns out to be the [[Inevitable]] named Obligatum VII (kolyarut, level 3 [[Hexblade]], level 5 [[Occult Slayer]]), our wiki's literal poster child of [[Lawful Stupid]]. Obligatum VII wants to release Pandorym because the poor old eldritch abomination entered into a bad-faith contract and ''must'' receive rightful legal remedy for the indignity, [[Lawful Stupid|regardless of the god-ending possibly-universe-ending consequences]]. The players will have to travel to the prison where Pandorym's mind is kept and defeat Lucather and Obligatum VII before they can smash the crystal open with Obligatum's adamantine sword. If the players succeed, they may have to travel to [[Mechanus]] and prevent Obligatum VIII's creation (who'd start this shit all over again). Quick tip: Soon as you learn about this thing try and tip off a [[Inevitable#Varakhut|Varakhut]], a protector of the divine order, and watch the ensuing Inevitable robot rumble.
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File:Pandorym.jpg
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=== [[Ragnorra]] ===
Ragnorra is an entity of corrupted life that wants to remake all life to fit her own ideals of what life should be. She travels between worlds in the form of a red comet, which crashes down on the world and begins spreading her skin and nerves over the planet, warping all creatures into aberrations. As Ragnorra gets closer to landing, positive energy spells become stronger but also cause gross blemishes, Ragnorra's spores start to fall from the sky that turn things into swarms of pests, living things gain healing abilities but are slowly corrupted into aberrations, and eventually even the dead start rising as aberrations, while undead are forced to flee unless they are underground. When Ragnorra crashes onto a planet she is reduced to a fraction of her full size but is still gargantuan size and has CR 19 in both her initial form after landing, and her True Mother form taken when she merges with the neurotangle.

In the suggested campaign, a cult that worships Ragnorra called the Malshapers attempts to attract Ragnorra to the player's world using kidnapped people and other stolen living entities as bait to guide her on her path to the world. The leader of the cult is Irthicax Vane ([[Zenythri]], level 17 monk), whose world was destroyed by Ragnorra and once fought against her, but eventually went mad and turned to worshiping her, though the players may be able to convince him to help stop her. As Ragnorra approaches, mysterious springs with healing properties start popping up everywhere that are controlled by the Malshapers. Swarms of vermin begin appearing in cities, and in response to this undead beings start showing up to fight them. As the red comet continues to get closer the undead all start leaving. While the players are investigating to see if the undead are planning anything, they get repeatedly attacked by low level rogues sent by the Malshapers. Then an [[Aboleth]] mage with the ability to breath air falls from the sky and enslaves the risen corpses of the Malshapers. Then Ragnorra crashes into the earth and creates an enormous crater full of aberrations and corrupt flesh. The players must travel across this crater to reach the center and confront Ragnorra. Once she has transformed into her True Mother form, the players must defeat her by breaking her connection with the planet, and thus forcing her to leave.

Getting her to crash into Atropus might make for an interesting campaign.
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File:RagnorraFanart.jpg
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===[[Sertrous]]===
Sertrous was a powerful [[Obyrith]] that was killed in the distant past, but whose spirit clings to life in his severed skull. He was first killed for refusing to serve [[The Queen of Chaos]] but his spirit escaped to the material plane where he possessed a snake and made it into his new body. After he sent armies of snakes and monsters to attack mortals because he was jealous of the worship the gods received from them, he was then killed again by a Solar named Avamerin, but not before Sertrous revealed the secret that divine magic is possible to gain from any kind of faith, not just faith in a god. Avamerin at first didn't understand what Sertrous had said and shared the words with others, and when godless clerics started appearing as a result he was punished by being demoted to a Planetar. Avamerin then turned on his god and began working to bring Sertrous back to life. Avamerin now leads a cult of heretical [[Yuan-ti]] called The Vanguard of Sertrous that claims Sertrous is the true creator of the Yuan-ti. As Sertrous gets closer to returning to life, encounters with snakes and snake-like monsters become more and more frequent. Sertrous does not have stats because he is nothing but an immobile skull, but the players may fight against a CR 23 aspect of Sertrous.

In the suggested campaign, the players are hired to find out why a merchant has cut contact with his business partners and discover that he has fallen under the sway of a group of Yuan-ti who are lead by somebody named Seghulerak (Yuan-ti abomination, level 10 cleric, level 5 thaumaturgist) and do not worship the traditional Yuan-ti gods. Seghulerak and the Vanguard of Sertrous seize control of a major Yuan-ti city and start setting up ''serpentgates'' in temples around the world from which to launch invasions. The players investigate an infestation of snakes and interfere with the creation of one of these gates. The players eventually makes their way to the city where the Vanguard of Sertrous is based after many battles against Yuan-ti and other snake monsters and defeat Seghulerak, but her body vanishes when she is killed, leaving behind a pile of dead headless snakes. After some investigation the players learn about the Serpent Reliquary, an extradimensional temple that is the true base of the Vanguard. The players locate the portal the Reliquary and defeat Seghulerak again. After this they meet Avamerin, who will try to trick the players into leaving by lying that Sertrous never existed and this was all a test by the gods. If the players attack and defeat him, he is transformed into the aspect of Sertrous which the players must destroy. If the players are dumb enough to fall for his trick, he might send them to a layer of the abyss disguised as their home.
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Sertrous aspect.png|Aspect of Sertrous
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===[[Kyuss]], The [[Worm That Walks]]===
The Worm That Walks is an evil demigod named [[Kyuss]] that wants to conquer the world and bring about the age of worms to become a full god. As he gets closer to escaping his prison, the world becomes infested with giant centipedes and other worm-like monsters. [[Kyuss]] was once a prophet of an evil god who attempted to ascend to godhood by sacrificing all of his followers and transforming into a great monster made of worms, but he got stuck between mortality and godhood and trapped inside an obelisk. The Worm That Walks is a CR 20 aberration.

In the suggested campaign, Edwin Tolstoff (human lesser worm that walks, level 3 necromancer, level 3 cleric, level 10 true necromancer), escapes from his prison by having his grandchildren kill their mother and release him, causing spawn of Kyuss to start appearing. Edwin wants to release Kyuss from his prison because he hates being a worm that walks and hopes that Kyuss will either kill him or restore his humanity. The players are called to solve a murder mystery, whose culprit is a wererat named Draen, who works for Katarin Tolstoff. After solving this mystery, people are kidnapped and the players track them down to find an [[Avolakia]] who is turning his captives into spawns of Kyuss. Though the players defeat him, people continue disappearing all over the nation. When the party's spellcaster visits a local wizard's guild, they find that it has been ransacked and most of the wizard transformed into undead by Edwin. The most notable item he has stolen is a [[Well of Many Worlds]]. The Herald of Kyuss (Avolakia, level 8 cleric) working for Edwin then poses as an NPC ally the players know and tells them that a wizard named Emirikol the Chaotic is planning to destroy the universe by putting a [[Sphere of Annihilation]] into the well. This is a trick by Edwin to give him the chance to steal a Talisman of the Sphere from Emirikol while the players are fighting him. But Edwin is unable to find a sphere of annihilation, and so anonymously hires the players to go to the [[Tomb of Horrors]] and secretly follows them so that he can steal the sphere from the tomb. The players then must chase him to Wormcrawl island to stop him from using it to break Kyuss's prison. When he reaches the obelisk he completes the ritual and places the sphere of annihilation into the well of many worlds, creating a black hole and releasing Kyuss. The players will have to defeat Kyuss and stop the black hole from destroying reality if it isn't stopped by divine intervention. If you don't have the [[Exemplars of Evil]] book, which includes the stats and description of Edwin's grandchildren and Drean, it suggests replacing Edwin with a different villain. The book also suggests combining this plot with the [[Adventure Path]], ''Age of Worms'' from [[Dungeon Magazine]], which also features Kyuss.
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Kyuss.png
Kyuss.jpg
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===[[Zargon]]===
Zargon is an ancient evil who once ruled over [[Baator]] as the father of the [[Baatorian]]s before Asmodeus and his [[Baatezu]] strutted in and slapped their dicks on the table. Although he was defeated by Asmodeus, he could not be killed even by the gods and was imprisoned on the material plane. His horn is nearly indestructible and he will regenerate from it if the rest of his body is destroyed. Now he has given up on reclaiming Baator and wants to conquer the mortal world. As he gets closer to awakening the world is affected by extreme weather, including rains of slime that pollute water sources with a contagion that can turn people into [[slime]]s called Whelps of Zargon. Zargon is only CR 16, though according to the fluff he is capable of killing gods due to them being vulnerable to his powers.

Dorn (Cynidicean, Level 1 rogue, level 3 fighter, level 3 ranger, level 7 thrall of Juiblex), the son of Zargon's high cultists, flees from Cynidicea, only to be captured by gnolls and rescued by the party. Zargon begins to wake up as his cultists dig him up. Dorn then gets captured by the cult of Juiblex who tortured and eventually brainwashed him into joining them. The players are then hired by an archeologists named Vanessa (Tiefling, level 7 [[Archivist]], level 7 [[Entropomancer]]) to take her to Cynidicea. However she gets separated from the party on the way and finds her way to Cynidicea alone, where she ends up joining Zargon's cult. The awakening of Zargon attracts the attention of [[Juiblex]], who sends Dorn to make an alliance with Zargon. [[Zuggtmoy]] attempts to stop Juiblex by having their own cult frame Juiblex's cult for murders, which the party investigates. Vanessa convinces Dorn to take control of Zargon's cult with her, and they sacrifice Dorn's father to speed up Zargon's revival. Several factions try to manipulate the players into leading them to Zargon's resting places and the players must play them against each other to find out about Zargon and where to find him. The players eventually make it to Zargon's tomb just as he is fully revived and defeat him and his cultists and ooze servants. But in order to destroy Zargon permanently, they will have to throw his horn into the Eye of Zargon deep underground.

A campaign where Demogorgon frees him in return for assistance in the blood war would be fucking dope.
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Zargon B4.jpg
Zargon baatorian.jpg
Zargon the Returner.jpg
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==Dragon Magazine==
Two more being described as Elder Evils appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]].

[[Zurguth]], The Feasting Vast is mentioned in the article Ecology of the Kaorti, in issue #358. Zurguth is an extremely powerful monster of the [[Far Realm]] in the form of an ocean of flesh. It accidentally created the [[Kaorti]] just by looking at a group of wizards who entered the Far Realm.

===[[Shothragot]]===
Shothragot is detailed in issue #362, in an article written similarly to a chapter of the Elder Evils book. Shothragot is an avatar of [[Tharizdun]] sealed beneath the temple of the Elder Elemental Eye, who works to free Tharizdun from his prison by collecting the 333 gems of Tharizdun. Shothragot itself is too big for the players to defeat and so doesn't have stats. Instead, the players must enter inside of Shothragot and fight the Essence of Shothragot, which is CR 22. As Shothragot gets closer to completing its goal the sky is covered in a Seal of Binding, similar to the one produced by Pandorym.

In the suggested adventure, the players stubble across one of the gems of Tharizdun while exploring a random dungeon and are harassed by agents of Tharizdun until they get rid of it. Later a massive earthquake causes massive destruction but strangely leaves a tower untouched while burying everything around it. Investigating these tower leads to the players finding another black gem and several mad cultists also looking for it. The seal of binding appears in the sky and Tharizdum recognizes that the players are a threat and so Shothragot sends a powerful assassin named Giorge Forsworn after them, who then starts killing the player character's friends and family one by one before he starts going after the player characters. A group of powerful wizards then hire the players to find a member of theirs who when missing while investigating the cause of the Seal of Binding. When the players find them they have already been warped into a servant of Tharizdun. The players then travel to several locations important to the Cult of Tharizdun to find clues. Shothragot finally emerges from its hiding place and the players must defeat it from the inside.

The final part of the adventure was detailed in [[Dungeon]] Magazine 152. Unfortunately, because Dungeon 152 was released in multiple parts online only and has been taken down since then, this adventure is now extremely hard to find since all the archives of Dungeon 152 don't have the complete version.

=4th Edition=
{{Dnd-stub}}
During 4th Edition, several of the Elder Evils were adapted by Dragon Magazine as potential sources of power for [[Warlock]]s. See [[Starspawn]] for details.

The 4th edition version of the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] describes the [[Tsochar]] god [[Mak Thuum Ngatha]] as an Elder Evil. And [[Kyuss]] gets 4th edition stats in Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead.

=5th Edition=
Zargon the Returner was listed as a possible patron for great old one warlocks in the Players Handbook. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes describes the Elder Evils as the source of monsters known as [[Star Spawn]] and it includes the list of Elder Evils copied below, which includes the elder evils from Powers and Pantheons and Lords of Madness, a few from the Elder Evils book, and some new ones, mainly [[Archomental|Primordials]] and some obscure evil gods from [[Forgotten Realms]]. Unfortunately it does not give any significant description of them beyond just listing their names so readers will have no idea what they are unless they search through previous editions to find them.

* [[Ityak-Ortheel]], the Elf-Eater
* [[Dendar]], the Night Serpent
* [[Borem]] of the Lake of Boiling Mud
* [[Kezef]], the Chaos Hound
* [[Zargon]], the Returner
* [[Carmnod]], the Unseen
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below
* [[Piscaethces]], the Blood Queen
* [[Shothotugg]], the Eater of Worlds
* [[Y'chak]], the Violet Flame
* [[Bolothamogg]], Who Watches from Beyond the Stars
* [[Hargut]], of the Gray Pestilence
* [[Haask]], the Voice of Hargut
* [[Ragnorra]], the Mother of Monsters
* The Hulks of [[Zoretha]]
* [[Kyuss]], the Worm That Walks
* [[Tharizdun]], the Elder Elemental Eye
* [[Atropus]], the World Born Dead
* [[Pandorym]], the Utter Annihilation
* [[Haemnathuun]], the Blood lord
* [[Maram]] of the Great Spear
* [[Tyranthraxus]], the Flamed One
* [[The Queen of Chaos]]
* [[Father Llymic]], the Alien Thought Given Flesh

A few of the [[Star Spawn]] Elder Evils from fourth edition are also mentioned in Volo's Guide to Monsters as beings that [[Neogi]] [[Warlock]]s make contracts with. Strangely, a few of them also appeared as [[Vestige]]s in the [[Curse of Strahd]]'s Amber Temple, though how they died and became vestiges is unexplained.

=External links=
* [https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LNa95CLcSwIUPkRniO3 Homebrew 5E stats for the Elder Evils as well as associated entities]

{{Template:D&D-Nonhuman-Deities}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Game Books]]
[[Category:Elder Evils]]

Elder Evils

2021-07-07T08:41:28Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:C541:8F8B:BB4E:5D9D: /* Pandorym */

[[File:Elder evils cover.jpg|thumb|The Elder Evils splatbook from 3.5e. This book unleashed many horrors upon many adventures.]]
[[Elder Evils]] are ancient evil beings of immense power whose existence threatens the world. Some Elder Evils are gods, while others are merely god like beings, such as extremely powerful [[Fiend]]s and creatures of the [[Far Realm]]. The concept of Elder Evils was first talked about in the second edition book ''Powers and Pantheons'', which gave stats for three very powerful monsters of the [[Forgotten Realms]] known as the Elder Eternal Evils. Later books would shorten the term to just Elder Evils. The third edition book, [[Lords of Madness]], lists five beings of immense power that are respected by the Aboleths as the closest thing they have to gods. Later, the [[Splatbook]] Elder Evils went into detail about how to use Elder Evils in a campaign. Two more were revealed in [[Dragon Magazine]]. Elder Evils are also mentioned in 4th and 5th edition.

=2nd Edition=
==Powers and Pantheons==
{{Dnd-stub}}

The Elder Eternal Evils are three monstrous creatures from the [[Forgotten Realms]] setting. They were updated to third edition in the book ''Champions of Ruin''.
===[[Dendar]]===
Dendar the Night Serpent is a monstrous snake who was born when something had a dream for the first time in [[Forgotten Realms]]. She grows stronger by eating nightmares and is said to be destined to destroy the entire setting when she has collected enough.

In third edition Dendar is CR 26.
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Dendar P&P.png
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===[[Kezef]]===
Kezef the Chaos Hound is a monstrous skeletal dog with maggots in place of flesh that consumes the souls of the faithful in the afterlife who may have been created by [[Jergal]]. Has a grudge against [[Mask]], which is a good thing because this drives it to spend more time hunting down Mask than eating souls.

In third edition Kezef is CR 21.
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Kezef P&P.png
Kezef CoR.jpg
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===[[Ityak-Ortheel]]===
Ityak-Ortheel the Elf-Eater is a horrible creature resembling a giant headless turtle with three legs and a giant mouth surrounded by forty tentacles. It gets its name because it can only gain sustenance from eating elves. It was born from the spilled blood of [[Corellon]] Larethian and [[Gruumsh]] and is used as a weapon by the god [[Malar]].

In third edition Ityak-Ortheel is CR 22.

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Ityak-ortheel P&P.png
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=3rd Edition=
==Lords of Madness==
While most [[Aboleth]]s do not worship gods, there are five godlike beings that they pay respects to, which are described in the book [[Lords of Madness]], but not given stats.
* [[Bolothamogg]], Him Who Watches from Beyond the Stars: A primal force that keeps the multiverse separated from the outer dimensions.
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below: A gigantic centipede squid thing that eats its way through the material plane, leaving behind a black substance that can be compressed into Bilestone, a substance that debilitates non-aberrations.
* [[Piscaethces]], The Blood Queen: The origin of aboleths. She wanders throughout the multiverse spawning new aboleths. If she were to ever return aboleths would see it as proof that the multiverse isn't infinite.
* [[Shothotugg]], Eater of Worlds: A mass of liquid that travels between worlds, poisoning and parasitizing them and slowly changing the laws of the multiverse as it does so.
* [[Y'chak]], The Violet Flame: A pillar of violet flames concealing a form so horrifying it would destroy anyone who looked at it (a relative of [[Pale Night]] maybe?). It encourages mortals to worship evil gods and may be responsible for the creation of many of those gods.

==Elder Evils (the book)==
The book Elder Evils was released near the end of 3.5 edition as a tool for dungeon masters wanting to end their current campaign and switch to 4th edition, similar to how [[The Apocalypse Stone]] was released to give DMs in 2nd edition a way to end their campaigns before switching to 3rd. The Elder Evils described in the book are entities with the potential to end the world, and thus end the campaign if the players fail to stop them, or act as a satisfyingly epic final boss for the players. The book instructs the DM on how to base a campaign around stopping one of these beings. The book does not describe every detail of the campaigns like most books, but instead gives a general outline of the plot, plus the stats for major enemies the players will encounter, and details of the final dungeon, and what adjustments to make if the campaign is set in [[Faerun]] or [[Eberron]]. Many of the Elder Evils are not statted, as they are too powerful when fully unleashed for the players to stop, but instead only have stats for an aspect of them that the players can defeat.

===[[Atropus]]===
Known as The World Born Dead, Atropus is a moon sized undead creature that is as old as creation and desires the end of all life. It destroys worlds by crashing on them and then draining them of all positive energy. Atropus cannot be destroyed, but the players can drive it away. As Atropus approaches the world necromancy spells become more powerful and the dead begin to rise as undead spontaneously. Atropus itself has no stats (how the fuck do you stat '''''a godsdamned planet?!'''''), but the Aspect of Atropus is a CR 23 undead. Atropus is also infested with many kinds of undead, including famine spirits, advanced deathshriekers, rage winds, angels of decay, nightcrawlers, nightwalkers, nightwings, dread wraiths, and a single dread boneyard. Atropus is also a very hostile environment with no atmosphere unless it is about to collide with the world, and has a variety of effects that harm the living and boost the undead.

In the suggested campaign, Caira Xasten (human, level 5 bard, level 5 rogue, level 10 [[Ur-Priest]]) wants to attract Atropus to destroy the world to get revenge on the gods, blaming them for the death of her husband who was killed by a falling meteorite. To do this she and her cult first seek out a book about Atropus, then try to obtain the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] in order to learn the ''apocalypse of the sky'' spell which she will attempt to cast on a large city to attract Atropus with the mass death. Meanwhile, the world is also invaded by a powerful general of [[Orcus]] who also wants to summon Atropus named Gorguth ([[Bodak]], level 2 ranger, level 1 fighter, level 9 blackguard), who rides on a powerful construct named Skyshadow and leading his own army of the undead to cause mass death. After failing to stop either one of them, the players then must travel to Atropus and battle against a variety of undead monsters until they find and defeat the aspect of Atropus, which will cause Atropus to retreat.
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File:Atropus.jpg
File:Map of Atropus's Face.jpg|so big that his face has a travel map.
File:Aspect of Atropus.jpeg|His significantly smaller (and killable) Aspect.
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=== [[Father Llymic]] ===
Father Llymic is an entity from the [[Far Realm]] that sleeps in an icy prison that melts in darkness and thickens in sunlight. It wants to remake the world to be more hospitable to itself and its children, which it then creates by [[Nurgle|spreading a plague that]] [[Plaguebearer|turns the infected into creatures like itself]] [[Gellarpox Infected|known as brood spawn]]. The more people Father Llymic infects, the more he comes out of his sleep, and as it awakes the sun starts to go out, and darkness spells grow stronger while light spells weaken. He is called Father Llymic because he often projects an illusion of a friendly old man. Its true form is a massive demon like creature with scythes for arms, three eyes, and skin covered in icy crystal, with a CR of 18. Beings converted into brood spawn gain similar features.

In the suggested campaign, the player are sent to investigate the disappearance of a caravan that was attacked by a tribe of barbarians that worship Father Llymic. After this a huge glacier and icy weather spreads down from the mountain where Father Llymic is imprisoned and strange ice monsters start attacking people. Soon whole towns and villages are transformed into brood spawn as the weather gets worse and worse while the sun gets darker and darker. The players must travel up the mountain while battling through mad cultists and many kinds of brood spawn to face and defeat Father Llymic.

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File:Father Lymic.jpg
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===[[The Hulks of Zoretha]]===
The Hulks of Zoretha are five giants made of stone from another world that plan to exterminate all life on this plane to make room for them to repopulate it with their own kind. As they awaken, the moon turns red, causing people to experience uncontrollable rage. Four of the hulks are female and are each associated with a different element while the last one is male and has wings. They are also completely indestructible as long as they are asleep. All of them are CR 16.

In the suggested campaign, Soelma Nilaenish (elf, level 7 wizard, level 10 loremaster, level 1 rogue) hires the party to recover a copy of the Zoretha Scrolls, then later hires them again to protect the scrolls. She then travels with the party to stop the leader of the cult of Zoretha, Janwulf the Soulbiter (ice giant, level 11 bard). But after Janwulf is defeated Soelma betrays the party and takes control of the cult herself. Soelma is in fact horribly depressed and wants the world to be destroyed, while Janwulf actually had no interest in waking up the hulks and just wanted power. The party then stops Soelma from completing the ritual to wake up the hulks but the moon doesn't return to normal and the whole world is at war. A single cultist escapes from the players and finishes the ritual to wake up the hulks and the players must then destroy them.

If you want to be a smart DM, however, we recommend you just load them onto a [[Spelljammer]] to help them find an unoccupied planet.
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Hulks-of-Zorthea.jpg
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===[[The Leviathan]]===
An immense sea monster personifying primal chaos that will destroy the world if it ever wakes up. As it gets close to awakening, the world is affected by extreme weather. The Leviathan does not have stats, as it is too big for the players to fight, but the players may battle against aspects of the leviathan, which are CR 16, or an advanced aspect, which is CR 20.

In the suggested campaign, the players save a port town from a disaster and are sent to investigate the cause of the strange weather. The party then encounters and defeats a cult that worships the leviathan, but their leader, a mysterious man named Enshaddon, escapes. Enshaddon is actually an advanced vampiric [[Ixitxachitl]] with 16 cleric levels named Axihuatl. He is a worshiper of Demogorgon and wants to partially wake up the leviathan using a shard of chaos in order to flood the world. After the players first disrupt his plans, he sends Marcus Hape (human, level 4 rogue, level 4 assassin, level 4 thrall of Demogogon) to kill them. With the help of a sage named Mytus who provides the players with magic and equipment for underwater travel, the players attack a temple located in a hollow spine on the leviathan's back and interrupt Axihuatl's ritual to wake up the leviathan, causing him to lose control of the beast. Axihuatl then allies with the players because he does not want the leviathan to completely destroy the world. They must then travel deeper into the temple and throw the shard of chaos into a pit at the bottom to put the leviathan back to sleep.

The 'the' in the name probably represents the greatest of its kind, as in 5e Mordinkainen's tome of foes introduced the Leviathans as [[Elemental#Elder Elementals|Elder Elementals]], also a CR 20 like its advanced aspect.
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Leviathan aspect.png|Aspect of the Leviathan
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=== [[Pandorym]] ===
In ancient times, a group of wizards wanted to blackmail the gods. So they summoned a powerful eldritch abomination from "[[Far Realm| the space 'between' the planes]]" named Pandorym, contracted it to destroy all the gods, immediately sealed it away before it could do so by imprisoning its mind and body separately, and used the threat of its reunification as the divine blackmail. Fortunately the wizards didn't implement a deadman's switch or anything, so the gods smote their stupid asses when they heard their first demands and wiped the group from the face of history. In fact the book suggests that if you set the campaign in Ebberon that this is what creates the Mournlands to get a sense of scale. If made whole, Pandorym will first take revenge on the descendants of the wizards that imprisoned it, then kill all the gods as it was contracted to do. If the contract's completion doesn't return it "home", it'll destroy the universe out of frustration/boredom.

Pandorym's mindless body resembles a huge [[Sphere of Annihilation]] that moves towards anyone that tries to control it, which is kept in an unknown extradimensional prison. Pandorym's mind is sealed within a large near-indestructible crystal and is immensely powerful even without its body; the tiny leakage through the crystal is enough to corrupt nearby high level characters and obliterate the minds of weaker-willed folks, a small "fragment" of its mind is a ''CR 25'' Psionic threat, and the fully released mind is an unstatted behemoth that only divine intervention could stop...

...so far, so first-edition [[Tharizdun]]. It's unfortunate that Pandorym's sign interferes with the planar connections of the world (via a sky-spanning glyph) and makes conjuration+divine magic increasingly difficult as its mind gains influence. Presumably its fully released mind would completely block the world off and make divine intervention near impossible.

In the suggested campaign, Tune Majii (human, Level 2 bard, level 2 wizard) hires the player to find her missing father Lucather (quell, level 8 enchanter, level 10 loremaster), who has become enslaved to Pandorym. Meanwhile, the gods begin sending their mortal followers warnings that somebody is trying to unleash an unimaginably powerful evil. This person turns out to be the [[Inevitable]] named Obligatum VII (kolyarut, level 3 [[Hexblade]], level 5 [[Occult Slayer]]), our wiki's literal poster child of [[Lawful Stupid]]. Obligatum VII wants to release Pandorym because the poor old eldritch abomination entered into a bad-faith contract and ''must'' receive rightful legal remedy for the indignity, [[Lawful Stupid|regardless of the god-ending possibly-universe-ending consequences]]. The players will have to travel to the prison where Pandorym's mind is kept and defeat Lucather and Obligatum VII before they can smash the crystal open with Obligatum's adamantine sword. If the players succeed, they may have to travel to [[Mechanus]] and prevent Obligatum VIII's creation (who'd start this shit all over again). Quick tip: Soon as you learn about this thing try and tip off a [[Inevitable#Varakhut|Varakhut]], a protector of the divine order, and watch the ensuing Inevitable robot rumble.
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File:Pandorym.jpg
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=== [[Ragnorra]] ===
Ragnorra is an entity of corrupted life that wants to remake all life to fit her own ideals of what life should be. She travels between worlds in the form of a red comet, which crashes down on the world and begins spreading her skin and nerves over the planet, warping all creatures into aberrations. As Ragnorra gets closer to landing, positive energy spells become stronger but also cause gross blemishes, Ragnorra's spores start to fall from the sky that turn things into swarms of pests, living things gain healing abilities but are slowly corrupted into aberrations, and eventually even the dead start rising as aberrations, while undead are forced to flee unless they are underground. When Ragnorra crashes onto a planet she is reduced to a fraction of her full size but is still gargantuan size and has CR 19 in both her initial form after landing, and her True Mother form taken when she merges with the neurotangle.

In the suggested campaign, a cult that worships Ragnorra called the Malshapers attempts to attract Ragnorra to the player's world using kidnapped people and other stolen living entities as bait to guide her on her path to the world. The leader of the cult is Irthicax Vane ([[Zenythri]], level 17 monk), whose world was destroyed by Ragnorra and once fought against her, but eventually went mad and turned to worshiping her, though the players may be able to convince him to help stop her. As Ragnorra approaches, mysterious springs with healing properties start popping up everywhere that are controlled by the Malshapers. Swarms of vermin begin appearing in cities, and in response to this undead beings start showing up to fight them. As the red comet continues to get closer the undead all start leaving. While the players are investigating to see if the undead are planning anything, they get repeatedly attacked by low level rogues sent by the Malshapers. Then an [[Aboleth]] mage with the ability to breath air falls from the sky and enslaves the risen corpses of the Malshapers. Then Ragnorra crashes into the earth and creates an enormous crater full of aberrations and corrupt flesh. The players must travel across this crater to reach the center and confront Ragnorra. Once she has transformed into her True Mother form, the players must defeat her by breaking her connection with the planet, and thus forcing her to leave.

Getting her to crash into Atropus above might make for an interesting campaign.
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File:RagnorraFanart.jpg
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===[[Sertrous]]===
Sertrous was a powerful [[Obyrith]] that was killed in the distant past, but whose spirit clings to life in his severed skull. He was first killed for refusing to serve [[The Queen of Chaos]] but his spirit escaped to the material plane where he possessed a snake and made it into his new body. After he sent armies of snakes and monsters to attack mortals because he was jealous of the worship the gods received from them, he was then killed again by a Solar named Avamerin, but not before Sertrous revealed the secret that divine magic is possible to gain from any kind of faith, not just faith in a god. Avamerin at first didn't understand what Sertrous had said and shared the words with others, and when godless clerics started appearing as a result he was punished by being demoted to a Planetar. Avamerin then turned on his god and began working to bring Sertrous back to life. Avamerin now leads a cult of heretical [[Yuan-ti]] called The Vanguard of Sertrous that claims Sertrous is the true creator of the Yuan-ti. As Sertrous gets closer to returning to life, encounters with snakes and snake-like monsters become more and more frequent. Sertrous does not have stats because he is nothing but an immobile skull, but the players may fight against a CR 23 aspect of Sertrous.

In the suggested campaign, the players are hired to find out why a merchant has cut contact with his business partners and discover that he has fallen under the sway of a group of Yuan-ti who are lead by somebody named Seghulerak (Yuan-ti abomination, level 10 cleric, level 5 thaumaturgist) and do not worship the traditional Yuan-ti gods. Seghulerak and the Vanguard of Sertrous seize control of a major Yuan-ti city and start setting up ''serpentgates'' in temples around the world from which to launch invasions. The players investigate an infestation of snakes and interfere with the creation of one of these gates. The players eventually makes their way to the city where the Vanguard of Sertrous is based after many battles against Yuan-ti and other snake monsters and defeat Seghulerak, but her body vanishes when she is killed, leaving behind a pile of dead headless snakes. After some investigation the players learn about the Serpent Reliquary, an extradimensional temple that is the true base of the Vanguard. The players locate the portal the Reliquary and defeat Seghulerak again. After this they meet Avamerin, who will try to trick the players into leaving by lying that Sertrous never existed and this was all a test by the gods. If the players attack and defeat him, he is transformed into the aspect of Sertrous which the players must destroy. If the players are dumb enough to fall for his trick, he might send them to a layer of the abyss disguised as their home.
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Sertrous aspect.png|Aspect of Sertrous
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===[[Kyuss]], The [[Worm That Walks]]===
The Worm That Walks is an evil demigod named [[Kyuss]] that wants to conquer the world and bring about the age of worms to become a full god. As he gets closer to escaping his prison, the world becomes infested with giant centipedes and other worm-like monsters. [[Kyuss]] was once a prophet of an evil god who attempted to ascend to godhood by sacrificing all of his followers and transforming into a great monster made of worms, but he got stuck between mortality and godhood and trapped inside an obelisk. The Worm That Walks is a CR 20 aberration.

In the suggested campaign, Edwin Tolstoff (human lesser worm that walks, level 3 necromancer, level 3 cleric, level 10 true necromancer), escapes from his prison by having his grandchildren kill their mother and release him, causing spawn of Kyuss to start appearing. Edwin wants to release Kyuss from his prison because he hates being a worm that walks and hopes that Kyuss will either kill him or restore his humanity. The players are called to solve a murder mystery, whose culprit is a wererat named Draen, who works for Katarin Tolstoff. After solving this mystery, people are kidnapped and the players track them down to find an [[Avolakia]] who is turning his captives into spawns of Kyuss. Though the players defeat him, people continue disappearing all over the nation. When the party's spellcaster visits a local wizard's guild, they find that it has been ransacked and most of the wizard transformed into undead by Edwin. The most notable item he has stolen is a [[Well of Many Worlds]]. The Herald of Kyuss (Avolakia, level 8 cleric) working for Edwin then poses as an NPC ally the players know and tells them that a wizard named Emirikol the Chaotic is planning to destroy the universe by putting a [[Sphere of Annihilation]] into the well. This is a trick by Edwin to give him the chance to steal a Talisman of the Sphere from Emirikol while the players are fighting him. But Edwin is unable to find a sphere of annihilation, and so anonymously hires the players to go to the [[Tomb of Horrors]] and secretly follows them so that he can steal the sphere from the tomb. The players then must chase him to Wormcrawl island to stop him from using it to break Kyuss's prison. When he reaches the obelisk he completes the ritual and places the sphere of annihilation into the well of many worlds, creating a black hole and releasing Kyuss. The players will have to defeat Kyuss and stop the black hole from destroying reality if it isn't stopped by divine intervention. If you don't have the [[Exemplars of Evil]] book, which includes the stats and description of Edwin's grandchildren and Drean, it suggests replacing Edwin with a different villain. The book also suggests combining this plot with the [[Adventure Path]], ''Age of Worms'' from [[Dungeon Magazine]], which also features Kyuss.
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Kyuss.png
Kyuss.jpg
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===[[Zargon]]===
Zargon is an ancient evil who once ruled over [[Baator]] as the father of the [[Baatorian]]s before Asmodeus and his [[Baatezu]] strutted in and slapped their dicks on the table. Although he was defeated by Asmodeus, he could not be killed even by the gods and was imprisoned on the material plane. His horn is nearly indestructible and he will regenerate from it if the rest of his body is destroyed. Now he has given up on reclaiming Baator and wants to conquer the mortal world. As he gets closer to awakening the world is affected by extreme weather, including rains of slime that pollute water sources with a contagion that can turn people into [[slime]]s called Whelps of Zargon. Zargon is only CR 16, though according to the fluff he is capable of killing gods due to them being vulnerable to his powers.

Dorn (Cynidicean, Level 1 rogue, level 3 fighter, level 3 ranger, level 7 thrall of Juiblex), the son of Zargon's high cultists, flees from Cynidicea, only to be captured by gnolls and rescued by the party. Zargon begins to wake up as his cultists dig him up. Dorn then gets captured by the cult of Juiblex who tortured and eventually brainwashed him into joining them. The players are then hired by an archeologists named Vanessa (Tiefling, level 7 [[Archivist]], level 7 [[Entropomancer]]) to take her to Cynidicea. However she gets separated from the party on the way and finds her way to Cynidicea alone, where she ends up joining Zargon's cult. The awakening of Zargon attracts the attention of [[Juiblex]], who sends Dorn to make an alliance with Zargon. [[Zuggtmoy]] attempts to stop Juiblex by having their own cult frame Juiblex's cult for murders, which the party investigates. Vanessa convinces Dorn to take control of Zargon's cult with her, and they sacrifice Dorn's father to speed up Zargon's revival. Several factions try to manipulate the players into leading them to Zargon's resting places and the players must play them against each other to find out about Zargon and where to find him. The players eventually make it to Zargon's tomb just as he is fully revived and defeat him and his cultists and ooze servants. But in order to destroy Zargon permanently, they will have to throw his horn into the Eye of Zargon deep underground.

A campaign where Demogorgon frees him in return for assistance in the blood war would be fucking dope.
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Zargon B4.jpg
Zargon baatorian.jpg
Zargon the Returner.jpg
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==Dragon Magazine==
Two more being described as Elder Evils appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]].

[[Zurguth]], The Feasting Vast is mentioned in the article Ecology of the Kaorti, in issue #358. Zurguth is an extremely powerful monster of the [[Far Realm]] in the form of an ocean of flesh. It accidentally created the [[Kaorti]] just by looking at a group of wizards who entered the Far Realm.

===[[Shothragot]]===
Shothragot is detailed in issue #362, in an article written similarly to a chapter of the Elder Evils book. Shothragot is an avatar of [[Tharizdun]] sealed beneath the temple of the Elder Elemental Eye, who works to free Tharizdun from his prison by collecting the 333 gems of Tharizdun. Shothragot itself is too big for the players to defeat and so doesn't have stats. Instead, the players must enter inside of Shothragot and fight the Essence of Shothragot, which is CR 22. As Shothragot gets closer to completing its goal the sky is covered in a Seal of Binding, similar to the one produced by Pandorym.

In the suggested adventure, the players stubble across one of the gems of Tharizdun while exploring a random dungeon and are harassed by agents of Tharizdun until they get rid of it. Later a massive earthquake causes massive destruction but strangely leaves a tower untouched while burying everything around it. Investigating these tower leads to the players finding another black gem and several mad cultists also looking for it. The seal of binding appears in the sky and Tharizdum recognizes that the players are a threat and so Shothragot sends a powerful assassin named Giorge Forsworn after them, who then starts killing the player character's friends and family one by one before he starts going after the player characters. A group of powerful wizards then hire the players to find a member of theirs who when missing while investigating the cause of the Seal of Binding. When the players find them they have already been warped into a servant of Tharizdun. The players then travel to several locations important to the Cult of Tharizdun to find clues. Shothragot finally emerges from its hiding place and the players must defeat it from the inside.

The final part of the adventure was detailed in [[Dungeon]] Magazine 152. Unfortunately, because Dungeon 152 was released in multiple parts online only and has been taken down since then, this adventure is now extremely hard to find since all the archives of Dungeon 152 don't have the complete version.

=4th Edition=
{{Dnd-stub}}
During 4th Edition, several of the Elder Evils were adapted by Dragon Magazine as potential sources of power for [[Warlock]]s. See [[Starspawn]] for details.

The 4th edition version of the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] describes the [[Tsochar]] god [[Mak Thuum Ngatha]] as an Elder Evil. And [[Kyuss]] gets 4th edition stats in Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead.

=5th Edition=
Zargon the Returner was listed as a possible patron for great old one warlocks in the Players Handbook. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes describes the Elder Evils as the source of monsters known as [[Star Spawn]] and it includes the list of Elder Evils copied below, which includes the elder evils from Powers and Pantheons and Lords of Madness, a few from the Elder Evils book, and some new ones, mainly [[Archomental|Primordials]] and some obscure evil gods from [[Forgotten Realms]]. Unfortunately it does not give any significant description of them beyond just listing their names so readers will have no idea what they are unless they search through previous editions to find them.

* [[Ityak-Ortheel]], the Elf-Eater
* [[Dendar]], the Night Serpent
* [[Borem]] of the Lake of Boiling Mud
* [[Kezef]], the Chaos Hound
* [[Zargon]], the Returner
* [[Carmnod]], the Unseen
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below
* [[Piscaethces]], the Blood Queen
* [[Shothotugg]], the Eater of Worlds
* [[Y'chak]], the Violet Flame
* [[Bolothamogg]], Who Watches from Beyond the Stars
* [[Hargut]], of the Gray Pestilence
* [[Haask]], the Voice of Hargut
* [[Ragnorra]], the Mother of Monsters
* The Hulks of [[Zoretha]]
* [[Kyuss]], the Worm That Walks
* [[Tharizdun]], the Elder Elemental Eye
* [[Atropus]], the World Born Dead
* [[Pandorym]], the Utter Annihilation
* [[Haemnathuun]], the Blood lord
* [[Maram]] of the Great Spear
* [[Tyranthraxus]], the Flamed One
* [[The Queen of Chaos]]
* [[Father Llymic]], the Alien Thought Given Flesh

A few of the [[Star Spawn]] Elder Evils from fourth edition are also mentioned in Volo's Guide to Monsters as beings that [[Neogi]] [[Warlock]]s make contracts with. Strangely, a few of them also appeared as [[Vestige]]s in the [[Curse of Strahd]]'s Amber Temple, though how they died and became vestiges is unexplained.

=External links=
* [https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LNa95CLcSwIUPkRniO3 Homebrew 5E stats for the Elder Evils as well as associated entities]

{{Template:D&D-Nonhuman-Deities}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Game Books]]
[[Category:Elder Evils]]

Elder Evils

2021-07-07T08:32:39Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:C541:8F8B:BB4E:5D9D: /* Pandorym */

[[File:Elder evils cover.jpg|thumb|The Elder Evils splatbook from 3.5e. This book unleashed many horrors upon many adventures.]]
[[Elder Evils]] are ancient evil beings of immense power whose existence threatens the world. Some Elder Evils are gods, while others are merely god like beings, such as extremely powerful [[Fiend]]s and creatures of the [[Far Realm]]. The concept of Elder Evils was first talked about in the second edition book ''Powers and Pantheons'', which gave stats for three very powerful monsters of the [[Forgotten Realms]] known as the Elder Eternal Evils. Later books would shorten the term to just Elder Evils. The third edition book, [[Lords of Madness]], lists five beings of immense power that are respected by the Aboleths as the closest thing they have to gods. Later, the [[Splatbook]] Elder Evils went into detail about how to use Elder Evils in a campaign. Two more were revealed in [[Dragon Magazine]]. Elder Evils are also mentioned in 4th and 5th edition.

=2nd Edition=
==Powers and Pantheons==
{{Dnd-stub}}

The Elder Eternal Evils are three monstrous creatures from the [[Forgotten Realms]] setting. They were updated to third edition in the book ''Champions of Ruin''.
===[[Dendar]]===
Dendar the Night Serpent is a monstrous snake who was born when something had a dream for the first time in [[Forgotten Realms]]. She grows stronger by eating nightmares and is said to be destined to destroy the entire setting when she has collected enough.

In third edition Dendar is CR 26.
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===[[Kezef]]===
Kezef the Chaos Hound is a monstrous skeletal dog with maggots in place of flesh that consumes the souls of the faithful in the afterlife who may have been created by [[Jergal]]. Has a grudge against [[Mask]], which is a good thing because this drives it to spend more time hunting down Mask than eating souls.

In third edition Kezef is CR 21.
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Kezef P&P.png
Kezef CoR.jpg
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===[[Ityak-Ortheel]]===
Ityak-Ortheel the Elf-Eater is a horrible creature resembling a giant headless turtle with three legs and a giant mouth surrounded by forty tentacles. It gets its name because it can only gain sustenance from eating elves. It was born from the spilled blood of [[Corellon]] Larethian and [[Gruumsh]] and is used as a weapon by the god [[Malar]].

In third edition Ityak-Ortheel is CR 22.

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=3rd Edition=
==Lords of Madness==
While most [[Aboleth]]s do not worship gods, there are five godlike beings that they pay respects to, which are described in the book [[Lords of Madness]], but not given stats.
* [[Bolothamogg]], Him Who Watches from Beyond the Stars: A primal force that keeps the multiverse separated from the outer dimensions.
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below: A gigantic centipede squid thing that eats its way through the material plane, leaving behind a black substance that can be compressed into Bilestone, a substance that debilitates non-aberrations.
* [[Piscaethces]], The Blood Queen: The origin of aboleths. She wanders throughout the multiverse spawning new aboleths. If she were to ever return aboleths would see it as proof that the multiverse isn't infinite.
* [[Shothotugg]], Eater of Worlds: A mass of liquid that travels between worlds, poisoning and parasitizing them and slowly changing the laws of the multiverse as it does so.
* [[Y'chak]], The Violet Flame: A pillar of violet flames concealing a form so horrifying it would destroy anyone who looked at it (a relative of [[Pale Night]] maybe?). It encourages mortals to worship evil gods and may be responsible for the creation of many of those gods.

==Elder Evils (the book)==
The book Elder Evils was released near the end of 3.5 edition as a tool for dungeon masters wanting to end their current campaign and switch to 4th edition, similar to how [[The Apocalypse Stone]] was released to give DMs in 2nd edition a way to end their campaigns before switching to 3rd. The Elder Evils described in the book are entities with the potential to end the world, and thus end the campaign if the players fail to stop them, or act as a satisfyingly epic final boss for the players. The book instructs the DM on how to base a campaign around stopping one of these beings. The book does not describe every detail of the campaigns like most books, but instead gives a general outline of the plot, plus the stats for major enemies the players will encounter, and details of the final dungeon, and what adjustments to make if the campaign is set in [[Faerun]] or [[Eberron]]. Many of the Elder Evils are not statted, as they are too powerful when fully unleashed for the players to stop, but instead only have stats for an aspect of them that the players can defeat.

===[[Atropus]]===
Known as The World Born Dead, Atropus is a moon sized undead creature that is as old as creation and desires the end of all life. It destroys worlds by crashing on them and then draining them of all positive energy. Atropus cannot be destroyed, but the players can drive it away. As Atropus approaches the world necromancy spells become more powerful and the dead begin to rise as undead spontaneously. Atropus itself has no stats (how the fuck do you stat '''''a godsdamned planet?!'''''), but the Aspect of Atropus is a CR 23 undead. Atropus is also infested with many kinds of undead, including famine spirits, advanced deathshriekers, rage winds, angels of decay, nightcrawlers, nightwalkers, nightwings, dread wraiths, and a single dread boneyard. Atropus is also a very hostile environment with no atmosphere unless it is about to collide with the world, and has a variety of effects that harm the living and boost the undead.

In the suggested campaign, Caira Xasten (human, level 5 bard, level 5 rogue, level 10 [[Ur-Priest]]) wants to attract Atropus to destroy the world to get revenge on the gods, blaming them for the death of her husband who was killed by a falling meteorite. To do this she and her cult first seek out a book about Atropus, then try to obtain the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] in order to learn the ''apocalypse of the sky'' spell which she will attempt to cast on a large city to attract Atropus with the mass death. Meanwhile, the world is also invaded by a powerful general of [[Orcus]] who also wants to summon Atropus named Gorguth ([[Bodak]], level 2 ranger, level 1 fighter, level 9 blackguard), who rides on a powerful construct named Skyshadow and leading his own army of the undead to cause mass death. After failing to stop either one of them, the players then must travel to Atropus and battle against a variety of undead monsters until they find and defeat the aspect of Atropus, which will cause Atropus to retreat.
<gallery>
File:Atropus.jpg
File:Map of Atropus's Face.jpg|so big that his face has a travel map.
File:Aspect of Atropus.jpeg|His significantly smaller (and killable) Aspect.
</gallery>

=== [[Father Llymic]] ===
Father Llymic is an entity from the [[Far Realm]] that sleeps in an icy prison that melts in darkness and thickens in sunlight. It wants to remake the world to be more hospitable to itself and its children, which it then creates by [[Nurgle|spreading a plague that]] [[Plaguebearer|turns the infected into creatures like itself]] [[Gellarpox Infected|known as brood spawn]]. The more people Father Llymic infects, the more he comes out of his sleep, and as it awakes the sun starts to go out, and darkness spells grow stronger while light spells weaken. He is called Father Llymic because he often projects an illusion of a friendly old man. Its true form is a massive demon like creature with scythes for arms, three eyes, and skin covered in icy crystal, with a CR of 18. Beings converted into brood spawn gain similar features.

In the suggested campaign, the player are sent to investigate the disappearance of a caravan that was attacked by a tribe of barbarians that worship Father Llymic. After this a huge glacier and icy weather spreads down from the mountain where Father Llymic is imprisoned and strange ice monsters start attacking people. Soon whole towns and villages are transformed into brood spawn as the weather gets worse and worse while the sun gets darker and darker. The players must travel up the mountain while battling through mad cultists and many kinds of brood spawn to face and defeat Father Llymic.

<Gallery>
File:Father Lymic.jpg
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===[[The Hulks of Zoretha]]===
The Hulks of Zoretha are five giants made of stone from another world that plan to exterminate all life on this plane to make room for them to repopulate it with their own kind. As they awaken, the moon turns red, causing people to experience uncontrollable rage. Four of the hulks are female and are each associated with a different element while the last one is male and has wings. They are also completely indestructible as long as they are asleep. All of them are CR 16.

In the suggested campaign, Soelma Nilaenish (elf, level 7 wizard, level 10 loremaster, level 1 rogue) hires the party to recover a copy of the Zoretha Scrolls, then later hires them again to protect the scrolls. She then travels with the party to stop the leader of the cult of Zoretha, Janwulf the Soulbiter (ice giant, level 11 bard). But after Janwulf is defeated Soelma betrays the party and takes control of the cult herself. Soelma is in fact horribly depressed and wants the world to be destroyed, while Janwulf actually had no interest in waking up the hulks and just wanted power. The party then stops Soelma from completing the ritual to wake up the hulks but the moon doesn't return to normal and the whole world is at war. A single cultist escapes from the players and finishes the ritual to wake up the hulks and the players must then destroy them.

If you want to be a smart DM, however, we recommend you just load them onto a [[Spelljammer]] to help them find an unoccupied planet.
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Hulks-of-Zorthea.jpg
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===[[The Leviathan]]===
An immense sea monster personifying primal chaos that will destroy the world if it ever wakes up. As it gets close to awakening, the world is affected by extreme weather. The Leviathan does not have stats, as it is too big for the players to fight, but the players may battle against aspects of the leviathan, which are CR 16, or an advanced aspect, which is CR 20.

In the suggested campaign, the players save a port town from a disaster and are sent to investigate the cause of the strange weather. The party then encounters and defeats a cult that worships the leviathan, but their leader, a mysterious man named Enshaddon, escapes. Enshaddon is actually an advanced vampiric [[Ixitxachitl]] with 16 cleric levels named Axihuatl. He is a worshiper of Demogorgon and wants to partially wake up the leviathan using a shard of chaos in order to flood the world. After the players first disrupt his plans, he sends Marcus Hape (human, level 4 rogue, level 4 assassin, level 4 thrall of Demogogon) to kill them. With the help of a sage named Mytus who provides the players with magic and equipment for underwater travel, the players attack a temple located in a hollow spine on the leviathan's back and interrupt Axihuatl's ritual to wake up the leviathan, causing him to lose control of the beast. Axihuatl then allies with the players because he does not want the leviathan to completely destroy the world. They must then travel deeper into the temple and throw the shard of chaos into a pit at the bottom to put the leviathan back to sleep.

The 'the' in the name probably represents the greatest of its kind, as in 5e Mordinkainen's tome of foes introduced the Leviathans as [[Elemental#Elder Elementals|Elder Elementals]], also a CR 20 like its advanced aspect.
<gallery>
Leviathan aspect.png|Aspect of the Leviathan
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=== [[Pandorym]] ===
In ancient times, a group of wizards wanted to blackmail the gods. So they summoned a powerful eldritch abomination from "[[Far Realm| the space 'between' the planes]]" named Pandorym, contracted it to destroy all the gods, immediately sealed it away before it could do so by imprisoning its mind and body separately, and used the threat of its reunification as the divine blackmail. Fortunately the wizards didn't implement a deadman's switch or anything, so the gods smote their stupid asses when they heard their first demands and wiped the group from the face of history. In fact the book suggests that if you set the campaign in Ebberon that this is what creates the Mournlands to get a sense of scale. If made whole, Pandorym will first take revenge on the descendants of the wizards that imprisoned it, then kill all the gods as it was contracted to do. If the contract's completion doesn't return it "home", it'll destroy the universe out of frustration/boredom.

Pandorym's mindless body resembles a huge [[Sphere of Annihilation]] that moves towards anyone that tries to control it, which is kept in an unknown extradimensional prison. Pandorym's mind is sealed within a large near-indestructible crystal and is immensely powerful even without its body; the tiny leakage through the crystal is enough to corrupt nearby high level characters and obliterate the minds of weaker-willed folks, a small "fragment" of its mind is a ''CR 25'' Psionic threat, and the fully released mind is an unstatted behemoth that only divine intervention could stop...

...so far, so first-edition [[Tharizdun]]. It's unfortunate that Pandorym's sign interferes with the planar connections of the world (via a sky-spanning glyph) and makes conjuration+divine magic increasingly difficult as its mind gains influence. Presumably its fully released mind would completely block the world off and make divine intervention near impossible.

In the suggested campaign, Tune Majii (human, Level 2 bard, level 2 wizard) hires the player to find her missing father Lucather (quell, level 8 enchanter, level 10 loremaster), who has become enslaved to Pandorym. Meanwhile, the gods begin sending their mortal followers warnings that somebody is trying to unleash an unimaginably powerful evil. This person turns out to be the [[Inevitable]] named Obligatum VII (kolyarut, level 3 [[Hexblade]], level 5 [[Occult Slayer]]), our wiki's literal poster child of [[Lawful Stupid]]. Obligatum VII wants to release Pandorym because the poor old eldritch abomination entered into a bad-faith contract and ''must'' receive rightful legal remedy for the indignity, [[Lawful Stupid|regardless of the god-ending possibly-universe-ending consequences]]. The players will have to travel to the prison where Pandorym's mind is kept and defeat Lucather and Obligatum VII before they can smash the crystal open with Obligatum's adamantine sword. If the players succeed, they may have to travel to [[Mechanus]] and prevent Obligatum VIII's creation (who'd start this shit all over again). Quick tip: Soon as you learn about this thing try and tip off a [[https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Inevitable#Zelekhut|Varakhut]], a protector of the divine order, and watch the ensuring Inevitable robot rumble.
<gallery>
File:Pandorym.jpg
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=== [[Ragnorra]] ===
Ragnorra is an entity of corrupted life that wants to remake all life to fit her own ideals of what life should be. She travels between worlds in the form of a red comet, which crashes down on the world and begins spreading her skin and nerves over the planet, warping all creatures into aberrations. As Ragnorra gets closer to landing, positive energy spells become stronger but also cause gross blemishes, Ragnorra's spores start to fall from the sky that turn things into swarms of pests, living things gain healing abilities but are slowly corrupted into aberrations, and eventually even the dead start rising as aberrations, while undead are forced to flee unless they are underground. When Ragnorra crashes onto a planet she is reduced to a fraction of her full size but is still gargantuan size and has CR 19 in both her initial form after landing, and her True Mother form taken when she merges with the neurotangle.

In the suggested campaign, a cult that worships Ragnorra called the Malshapers attempts to attract Ragnorra to the player's world using kidnapped people and other stolen living entities as bait to guide her on her path to the world. The leader of the cult is Irthicax Vane ([[Zenythri]], level 17 monk), whose world was destroyed by Ragnorra and once fought against her, but eventually went mad and turned to worshiping her, though the players may be able to convince him to help stop her. As Ragnorra approaches, mysterious springs with healing properties start popping up everywhere that are controlled by the Malshapers. Swarms of vermin begin appearing in cities, and in response to this undead beings start showing up to fight them. As the red comet continues to get closer the undead all start leaving. While the players are investigating to see if the undead are planning anything, they get repeatedly attacked by low level rogues sent by the Malshapers. Then an [[Aboleth]] mage with the ability to breath air falls from the sky and enslaves the risen corpses of the Malshapers. Then Ragnorra crashes into the earth and creates an enormous crater full of aberrations and corrupt flesh. The players must travel across this crater to reach the center and confront Ragnorra. Once she has transformed into her True Mother form, the players must defeat her by breaking her connection with the planet, and thus forcing her to leave.

Getting her to crash into Atropus above might make for an interesting campaign.
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File:D7b59ix-5a1ad7e3-73d6-4cfc-ab6d-46b7825f13f2.jpg
File:Tumblr inline oyely8D2qp1robfbt 500.png
File:RagnorraFanart.jpg
</gallery>

===[[Sertrous]]===
Sertrous was a powerful [[Obyrith]] that was killed in the distant past, but whose spirit clings to life in his severed skull. He was first killed for refusing to serve [[The Queen of Chaos]] but his spirit escaped to the material plane where he possessed a snake and made it into his new body. After he sent armies of snakes and monsters to attack mortals because he was jealous of the worship the gods received from them, he was then killed again by a Solar named Avamerin, but not before Sertrous revealed the secret that divine magic is possible to gain from any kind of faith, not just faith in a god. Avamerin at first didn't understand what Sertrous had said and shared the words with others, and when godless clerics started appearing as a result he was punished by being demoted to a Planetar. Avamerin then turned on his god and began working to bring Sertrous back to life. Avamerin now leads a cult of heretical [[Yuan-ti]] called The Vanguard of Sertrous that claims Sertrous is the true creator of the Yuan-ti. As Sertrous gets closer to returning to life, encounters with snakes and snake-like monsters become more and more frequent. Sertrous does not have stats because he is nothing but an immobile skull, but the players may fight against a CR 23 aspect of Sertrous.

In the suggested campaign, the players are hired to find out why a merchant has cut contact with his business partners and discover that he has fallen under the sway of a group of Yuan-ti who are lead by somebody named Seghulerak (Yuan-ti abomination, level 10 cleric, level 5 thaumaturgist) and do not worship the traditional Yuan-ti gods. Seghulerak and the Vanguard of Sertrous seize control of a major Yuan-ti city and start setting up ''serpentgates'' in temples around the world from which to launch invasions. The players investigate an infestation of snakes and interfere with the creation of one of these gates. The players eventually makes their way to the city where the Vanguard of Sertrous is based after many battles against Yuan-ti and other snake monsters and defeat Seghulerak, but her body vanishes when she is killed, leaving behind a pile of dead headless snakes. After some investigation the players learn about the Serpent Reliquary, an extradimensional temple that is the true base of the Vanguard. The players locate the portal the Reliquary and defeat Seghulerak again. After this they meet Avamerin, who will try to trick the players into leaving by lying that Sertrous never existed and this was all a test by the gods. If the players attack and defeat him, he is transformed into the aspect of Sertrous which the players must destroy. If the players are dumb enough to fall for his trick, he might send them to a layer of the abyss disguised as their home.
<gallery>
Sertrous aspect.png|Aspect of Sertrous
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===[[Kyuss]], The [[Worm That Walks]]===
The Worm That Walks is an evil demigod named [[Kyuss]] that wants to conquer the world and bring about the age of worms to become a full god. As he gets closer to escaping his prison, the world becomes infested with giant centipedes and other worm-like monsters. [[Kyuss]] was once a prophet of an evil god who attempted to ascend to godhood by sacrificing all of his followers and transforming into a great monster made of worms, but he got stuck between mortality and godhood and trapped inside an obelisk. The Worm That Walks is a CR 20 aberration.

In the suggested campaign, Edwin Tolstoff (human lesser worm that walks, level 3 necromancer, level 3 cleric, level 10 true necromancer), escapes from his prison by having his grandchildren kill their mother and release him, causing spawn of Kyuss to start appearing. Edwin wants to release Kyuss from his prison because he hates being a worm that walks and hopes that Kyuss will either kill him or restore his humanity. The players are called to solve a murder mystery, whose culprit is a wererat named Draen, who works for Katarin Tolstoff. After solving this mystery, people are kidnapped and the players track them down to find an [[Avolakia]] who is turning his captives into spawns of Kyuss. Though the players defeat him, people continue disappearing all over the nation. When the party's spellcaster visits a local wizard's guild, they find that it has been ransacked and most of the wizard transformed into undead by Edwin. The most notable item he has stolen is a [[Well of Many Worlds]]. The Herald of Kyuss (Avolakia, level 8 cleric) working for Edwin then poses as an NPC ally the players know and tells them that a wizard named Emirikol the Chaotic is planning to destroy the universe by putting a [[Sphere of Annihilation]] into the well. This is a trick by Edwin to give him the chance to steal a Talisman of the Sphere from Emirikol while the players are fighting him. But Edwin is unable to find a sphere of annihilation, and so anonymously hires the players to go to the [[Tomb of Horrors]] and secretly follows them so that he can steal the sphere from the tomb. The players then must chase him to Wormcrawl island to stop him from using it to break Kyuss's prison. When he reaches the obelisk he completes the ritual and places the sphere of annihilation into the well of many worlds, creating a black hole and releasing Kyuss. The players will have to defeat Kyuss and stop the black hole from destroying reality if it isn't stopped by divine intervention. If you don't have the [[Exemplars of Evil]] book, which includes the stats and description of Edwin's grandchildren and Drean, it suggests replacing Edwin with a different villain. The book also suggests combining this plot with the [[Adventure Path]], ''Age of Worms'' from [[Dungeon Magazine]], which also features Kyuss.
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Kyuss.png
Kyuss.jpg
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===[[Zargon]]===
Zargon is an ancient evil who once ruled over [[Baator]] as the father of the [[Baatorian]]s before Asmodeus and his [[Baatezu]] strutted in and slapped their dicks on the table. Although he was defeated by Asmodeus, he could not be killed even by the gods and was imprisoned on the material plane. His horn is nearly indestructible and he will regenerate from it if the rest of his body is destroyed. Now he has given up on reclaiming Baator and wants to conquer the mortal world. As he gets closer to awakening the world is affected by extreme weather, including rains of slime that pollute water sources with a contagion that can turn people into [[slime]]s called Whelps of Zargon. Zargon is only CR 16, though according to the fluff he is capable of killing gods due to them being vulnerable to his powers.

Dorn (Cynidicean, Level 1 rogue, level 3 fighter, level 3 ranger, level 7 thrall of Juiblex), the son of Zargon's high cultists, flees from Cynidicea, only to be captured by gnolls and rescued by the party. Zargon begins to wake up as his cultists dig him up. Dorn then gets captured by the cult of Juiblex who tortured and eventually brainwashed him into joining them. The players are then hired by an archeologists named Vanessa (Tiefling, level 7 [[Archivist]], level 7 [[Entropomancer]]) to take her to Cynidicea. However she gets separated from the party on the way and finds her way to Cynidicea alone, where she ends up joining Zargon's cult. The awakening of Zargon attracts the attention of [[Juiblex]], who sends Dorn to make an alliance with Zargon. [[Zuggtmoy]] attempts to stop Juiblex by having their own cult frame Juiblex's cult for murders, which the party investigates. Vanessa convinces Dorn to take control of Zargon's cult with her, and they sacrifice Dorn's father to speed up Zargon's revival. Several factions try to manipulate the players into leading them to Zargon's resting places and the players must play them against each other to find out about Zargon and where to find him. The players eventually make it to Zargon's tomb just as he is fully revived and defeat him and his cultists and ooze servants. But in order to destroy Zargon permanently, they will have to throw his horn into the Eye of Zargon deep underground.

A campaign where Demogorgon frees him in return for assistance in the blood war would be fucking dope.
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Zargon B4.jpg
Zargon baatorian.jpg
Zargon the Returner.jpg
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==Dragon Magazine==
Two more being described as Elder Evils appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]].

[[Zurguth]], The Feasting Vast is mentioned in the article Ecology of the Kaorti, in issue #358. Zurguth is an extremely powerful monster of the [[Far Realm]] in the form of an ocean of flesh. It accidentally created the [[Kaorti]] just by looking at a group of wizards who entered the Far Realm.

===[[Shothragot]]===
Shothragot is detailed in issue #362, in an article written similarly to a chapter of the Elder Evils book. Shothragot is an avatar of [[Tharizdun]] sealed beneath the temple of the Elder Elemental Eye, who works to free Tharizdun from his prison by collecting the 333 gems of Tharizdun. Shothragot itself is too big for the players to defeat and so doesn't have stats. Instead, the players must enter inside of Shothragot and fight the Essence of Shothragot, which is CR 22. As Shothragot gets closer to completing its goal the sky is covered in a Seal of Binding, similar to the one produced by Pandorym.

In the suggested adventure, the players stubble across one of the gems of Tharizdun while exploring a random dungeon and are harassed by agents of Tharizdun until they get rid of it. Later a massive earthquake causes massive destruction but strangely leaves a tower untouched while burying everything around it. Investigating these tower leads to the players finding another black gem and several mad cultists also looking for it. The seal of binding appears in the sky and Tharizdum recognizes that the players are a threat and so Shothragot sends a powerful assassin named Giorge Forsworn after them, who then starts killing the player character's friends and family one by one before he starts going after the player characters. A group of powerful wizards then hire the players to find a member of theirs who when missing while investigating the cause of the Seal of Binding. When the players find them they have already been warped into a servant of Tharizdun. The players then travel to several locations important to the Cult of Tharizdun to find clues. Shothragot finally emerges from its hiding place and the players must defeat it from the inside.

The final part of the adventure was detailed in [[Dungeon]] Magazine 152. Unfortunately, because Dungeon 152 was released in multiple parts online only and has been taken down since then, this adventure is now extremely hard to find since all the archives of Dungeon 152 don't have the complete version.

=4th Edition=
{{Dnd-stub}}
During 4th Edition, several of the Elder Evils were adapted by Dragon Magazine as potential sources of power for [[Warlock]]s. See [[Starspawn]] for details.

The 4th edition version of the [[Book of Vile Darkness]] describes the [[Tsochar]] god [[Mak Thuum Ngatha]] as an Elder Evil. And [[Kyuss]] gets 4th edition stats in Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead.

=5th Edition=
Zargon the Returner was listed as a possible patron for great old one warlocks in the Players Handbook. Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes describes the Elder Evils as the source of monsters known as [[Star Spawn]] and it includes the list of Elder Evils copied below, which includes the elder evils from Powers and Pantheons and Lords of Madness, a few from the Elder Evils book, and some new ones, mainly [[Archomental|Primordials]] and some obscure evil gods from [[Forgotten Realms]]. Unfortunately it does not give any significant description of them beyond just listing their names so readers will have no idea what they are unless they search through previous editions to find them.

* [[Ityak-Ortheel]], the Elf-Eater
* [[Dendar]], the Night Serpent
* [[Borem]] of the Lake of Boiling Mud
* [[Kezef]], the Chaos Hound
* [[Zargon]], the Returner
* [[Carmnod]], the Unseen
* [[Holashner]], the Hunger Below
* [[Piscaethces]], the Blood Queen
* [[Shothotugg]], the Eater of Worlds
* [[Y'chak]], the Violet Flame
* [[Bolothamogg]], Who Watches from Beyond the Stars
* [[Hargut]], of the Gray Pestilence
* [[Haask]], the Voice of Hargut
* [[Ragnorra]], the Mother of Monsters
* The Hulks of [[Zoretha]]
* [[Kyuss]], the Worm That Walks
* [[Tharizdun]], the Elder Elemental Eye
* [[Atropus]], the World Born Dead
* [[Pandorym]], the Utter Annihilation
* [[Haemnathuun]], the Blood lord
* [[Maram]] of the Great Spear
* [[Tyranthraxus]], the Flamed One
* [[The Queen of Chaos]]
* [[Father Llymic]], the Alien Thought Given Flesh

A few of the [[Star Spawn]] Elder Evils from fourth edition are also mentioned in Volo's Guide to Monsters as beings that [[Neogi]] [[Warlock]]s make contracts with. Strangely, a few of them also appeared as [[Vestige]]s in the [[Curse of Strahd]]'s Amber Temple, though how they died and became vestiges is unexplained.

=External links=
* [https://www.gmbinder.com/share/-LNa95CLcSwIUPkRniO3 Homebrew 5E stats for the Elder Evils as well as associated entities]

{{Template:D&D-Nonhuman-Deities}}

[[Category:Roleplaying]]
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]]
[[Category:Game Books]]
[[Category:Elder Evils]]

Chimera

2021-07-07T01:53:57Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:C541:8F8B:BB4E:5D9D: /* Monstergirls */

''If you were looking for the 40k vehicle, see [[Chimera Transport]]''

[[File:Chimera statue.png|right|300px]]
The '''Chimera''' is a monster from Greco-Roman mythology, described as a tripartite fire-breathing beast with the forequarters and head of a lion, the hindquarters and head of a goat, and a serpentine or draconic tail with a dragon's or snake's head. Exactly how that works out depends on the artist; perhaps the most iconic of real-world art depicts it as having a lion's head on its neck, a goat's head [[what|growing straight up out of the middle of its back]], and the reptilian head replacing the tip of its tail, but the most common modern depiction has the three heads sharing the same neckstump. What doesn't vary, strangely enough, is that even though the original Chimera was female, it ''always'' has a mane (beard) on the lion, even in period art depicting it as a unique creature. It ravaged the land with its fiery breath until Bellerophon killed it by using [[Pegasus]] to fly out of range of the fire whilst carrying a lance with a big block of lead on its tip; [[awesome|he threw this at its mouth and the flames melted the lead so it poured down Chimera's throat and killed it]]. In the centuries since, the word chimera has gained a second more broad meaning, referring to any sort of weird mishmash between two or more different things Frankensteined together.

==In Fantasy Gaming==
Chimeras show up in a lot of fantasy games. Weirdly, they tend to have wings and be fliers (though admittedly they're usually very clumsy at it), despite the fact that the original Chimera was landlocked and this played a huge role in its defeat.

They are particularly prominent in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] (and thusly [[Pathfinder]]), where they are capable of speech, but usually not very bright. All the ego of a Red [[Dragon]] and none of the brains, essentially. The unique awnsheigh in [[Birthright]], the Chimera, is essentially a were-creature, a half-elf who sometimes explodes into a hideous and ever-shifting monster form that goes on feral rampages.

Chimeras also appear in [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and [[Age of Sigmar]], where they are creatures of [[Chaos]] and so usually show up as mounts for the Chaos Lords.

<gallery>
Chimera 1e.jpg|1e
Chimera MCV1.jpg|2e
Chimera MM 2e.png
Chimera 3e.jpg|3e
Chimera 4e.jpg|4e
Chimera 5e.jpg|5e
</gallery>

==Star Wars==
The Chimaera was introduced as Thrawn's flagship in ''Heir to the Empire'' and would quickly become one of the most prominent ships in the EU. This is despite it being a mere Imperial II class when many other Imperial warlords had Super Star Destroyers or some manner of super weapon. The Chimaera had a cloaking device... which was deemed useless without an allied force user because you can't see where you're going when cloaked without the force and all non-force base communications were blocked.

''[[Star Wars]]'' doesn't have Greek mythology, but it was assumed to refer to ''[[Wikipedia:Chimera (genetics)|genetic]]'' Chimeras or, at least, some mad science hybrid beast since ''[[Star Wars]]'' has genetics advanced enough to produce human clones.

== Monstergirls ==

[[File:MGE Chimaera.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Well, what did ''you'' think a cross between a [[catgirl]], a [[dragon]]girl and a [[satyr]]ess might look like?]]
{{Monstergirls}}
Chimera [[monstergirls]] are a rare breed, mostly because designers struggle with how to incorporate the three heads and tripartite body into one design.

In the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]], the "Chimaera" belongs to the small family of "Demon Beasts", and has the form of a lion-girl with goat's horns and legs, a serpent for a tail, a leonic paw for a right arm, a draconic paw for a left arm, and pauldrons reminiscent of a lion and a dragon's heads. Extremely powerful and destructive, it has a bad case of split personalities, with one persona for each of the four beasts that work as a team to support her in her goal of finding and keeping a lover.

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]]

[[Category: Monsters]]

[[Category: Greek Mythology]]

Chimera

2021-07-07T01:51:24Z

2603:8001:3500:CB:C541:8F8B:BB4E:5D9D:

''If you were looking for the 40k vehicle, see [[Chimera Transport]]''

[[File:Chimera statue.png|right|300px]]
The '''Chimera''' is a monster from Greco-Roman mythology, described as a tripartite fire-breathing beast with the forequarters and head of a lion, the hindquarters and head of a goat, and a serpentine or draconic tail with a dragon's or snake's head. Exactly how that works out depends on the artist; perhaps the most iconic of real-world art depicts it as having a lion's head on its neck, a goat's head [[what|growing straight up out of the middle of its back]], and the reptilian head replacing the tip of its tail, but the most common modern depiction has the three heads sharing the same neckstump. What doesn't vary, strangely enough, is that even though the original Chimera was female, it ''always'' has a mane (beard) on the lion, even in period art depicting it as a unique creature. It ravaged the land with its fiery breath until Bellerophon killed it by using [[Pegasus]] to fly out of range of the fire whilst carrying a lance with a big block of lead on its tip; [[awesome|he threw this at its mouth and the flames melted the lead so it poured down Chimera's throat and killed it]]. In the centuries since, the word chimera has gained a second more broad meaning, referring to any sort of weird mishmash between two or more different things Frankensteined together.

==In Fantasy Gaming==
Chimeras show up in a lot of fantasy games. Weirdly, they tend to have wings and be fliers (though admittedly they're usually very clumsy at it), despite the fact that the original Chimera was landlocked and this played a huge role in its defeat.

They are particularly prominent in [[Dungeons & Dragons]] (and thusly [[Pathfinder]]), where they are capable of speech, but usually not very bright. All the ego of a Red [[Dragon]] and none of the brains, essentially. The unique awnsheigh in [[Birthright]], the Chimera, is essentially a were-creature, a half-elf who sometimes explodes into a hideous and ever-shifting monster form that goes on feral rampages.

Chimeras also appear in [[Warhammer Fantasy]] and [[Age of Sigmar]], where they are creatures of [[Chaos]] and so usually show up as mounts for the Chaos Lords.

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Chimera 1e.jpg|1e
Chimera MCV1.jpg|2e
Chimera MM 2e.png
Chimera 3e.jpg|3e
Chimera 4e.jpg|4e
Chimera 5e.jpg|5e
</gallery>

==Star Wars==
The Chimaera was introduced as Thrawn's flagship in ''Heir to the Empire'' and would quickly become one of the most prominent ships in the EU. This is despite it being a mere Imperial II class when many other Imperial warlords had Super Star Destroyers or some manner of super weapon. The Chimaera had a cloaking device... which was deemed useless without an allied force user because you can't see where you're going when cloaked without the force and all non-force base communications were blocked.

''[[Star Wars]]'' doesn't have Greek mythology, but it was assumed to refer to ''[[Wikipedia:Chimera (genetics)|genetic]]'' Chimeras or, at least, some mad science hybrid beast since ''[[Star Wars]]'' has genetics advanced enough to produce human clones.

== Monstergirls ==

[[File:MGE Chimaera.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Well, what do you think a cross between a [[catgirl]], a [[dragon]]girl and a [[satyr]]ess might look like?]]
{{Monstergirls}}
Chimera [[monstergirls]] are a rare breed, mostly because designers struggle with how to incorporate the three heads and tripartite body into one design.

In the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]], the "Chimaera" belongs to the small family of "Demon Beasts", and has the form of a lion-girl with goat's horns and legs, a serpent for a tail, a leonic paw for a right arm, a draconic paw for a left arm, and pauldrons reminiscent of a lion and a dragon's heads. Extremely powerful and destructive, it has a bad case of split personalities, with one persona for each of the four beasts that work as a team to support her in her goal of finding and keeping a lover.

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons]]

[[Category: Monsters]]

[[Category: Greek Mythology]]

Reborn

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{{Topquote|The dead themselves walk upon this earth, and ''I'' am among them!|Baldur not taking news of his death very well, ''[[/v/|Too Human]]''}}

'''Reborn''' are a playable race for [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] introduced in [[Van Richten's Guide]] to [[Ravenloft]], the 5e revamp version of the [[Demiplane of Dread]], although they predated in the [[Unearthed Arcana]] article "Gothic Lineages".

To put it bluntly, you died. Fortunately, you stopped being dead and are now basically undead and/or a flesh golem.

==PC Stats==
As a "Lineage" race, reborn don't come with a preset ability score modifier like traditional races, and instead get to take either +2/+1 or +1/+1/+1 to whatever stats they like. They can also choose if they are Medium or Small sized.

In the Unearthed Arcana version, they had these racial traits:
::Type: Humanoid AND either Construct or Undead
::Darkvision 60 feet
::Deathless Nature: You have advantage against poison, disease, and ''[[Necron|death saving throws]]'', and you don't need to eat, drink, breathe, or sleep. You can also finish a long rest by staying still for four hours.
::Knowledge from a Past Life: You get to add a d6 to a skill check a number of times per day equal to your proficiency bonus.

The race was reprinted in ''Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft'' with some slight modifications. Most notably, the Lineage only has one creature type, so that was probably just some weird one-off experiment that was immediately abandoned.

::Type: Humanoid
::Ancestral Legacy: If you replace a race with this lineage, you can choose to keep proficiencies and/or movement speeds granted by that race. If you don't, you get two free proficiencies.
::Darkvision 60 feet
::Deathless Nature and Knowledge from a Past Life are both unchanged from the original UA.

[[Category: Dungeons & Dragons Races]]
[[Category: Ravenloft]]

Vedalken

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[[Image:Vedalken.png|thumb|600px|Bluer than a [[Avatar| Navi]]]]
{{Topquote|I'm blue, da ba dee da ba di|Eiffel 65}}
The '''Vedalken''' are a race of tall, blue-skinned humanoids native to several planes of [[Magic: The Gathering]]. Aligned to the powers of Blue Mana, they are a race focused heavily on learning and invention. Most branches of the species are emotionally stunted, favoring logic over emotion in accordance with their mana affinity, but this is not a multiversial trait; [[Kaladesh]]ii vedalkens are quite extroverted. The race first appeared in 2003, coinciding with the release of the first [[Mirrodin]] block; the basic idea was that, because the previously iconic Blue Mana race, the [[merfolk]], were unsuited for non-aquatic environments due to, y'know, the whole "fish tail for legs" thing, the vedalken would be promoted to take their place.

Results were... mixed. Eventually, merfolk were reworked to have species that had legs, reclaiming their position of authority as "The Blue Mana Race", but still, vedalken have found their place amongst the planes.

==Mirrodin==
On [[Mirrodin]], the mycosynth created a vapor which induced mutations in the vedalken, who developed four arms and gills. Soon, this variation became the norm. These vedalken are physically very different from the members of their race on other planes, and have more inhuman features, in some cases lacking a nose or visible ears.

The center of their culture was the city of Lumengrid, from which the Vedalken ruled over an empire that enslaved the Neurok tribes at the shores of the Quicksilver Sea. For a long time, the Vedalken were ruled by the Synod, who considered themselves servants of Mirrodin's guardian, Memnarch. After Memnarch's fall, they were forced to reorganize themselves. Central to this reorganization was the "Origin Query", the answer to the origin of the Vedalken race. With the loss of easy access to blinkmoth serum, their hold over the empire became fragile and revolts from the Neurok forced the two races into a state of cooperation rather than subservience.

When New Phyrexia rose, Lumengrid was overtaken by the forces of Jin-Gitaxias. Many Vedalken fell prey to phyresis, their distended brains looming over frail, but lethal and burr-pocked, bodies. Those few remaining have cast their lot with the surviving Neurok in an attempt to survive.

==Ravnica==
The vedalken of [[Ravnica]] are associated most closely with the [[Simic Combine]] and [[Azorius Senate]], though the [[Izzet League]] is also not an unprecedented choice. They look very much like tall humans, but with blue skin and a naturally reserved temperament; perhaps not to the same extent as their Mirrodin counterparts, but still inclined to trust logic over emotion. Though the vedalken of Ravnica are physically different from those Mirrodin, some Simic biomancy experiments have produced mutants with similar physical traits, including four arms and gills.

==Alara==
The vedalken are one of the many races of the broken plane of [[Alara]]. Originally native to Esper, some migrated to Naya after the Shards of Alara realigned.

Vedalken of Esper look very similar to their counterparts on Ravnica, but are more spindly, with elongated skulls. The vedalken, like all creatures in Esper, are enhanced by filigree of the mystical living metal etherium. The vedalken are among Esper's most prestigious mortal inhabitants and often hold positions of power thanks to their prodigious intellect and talent for spellcasting.

After Alara was reborn, some vedalken heretics from Esper were drawn to the verdant jungle of Naya. There they rejected the cold clutch of etherium in favor of the warm embrace of nature, seeking enlightenment in the infinite patterns of life rather than the dusty confines of ancient tomes

==Kaladesh==
The vedalken of [[Kaladesh]] can be defined from the rest of their kin by their extroverted natures, the fact they have hair, and their possession of 6 fingers to each hand, which works well given their racial tendency to be [[artificer]]s. This makes them the most human-looking of the vedalken strains, although their high forehead and comparatively small (but fully-formed) noses adds a certain subtle dash of "alien" to their looks.

Their most defining trait is their unusual view of progress: in a nutshell, the vedalken believe nothing can ever be perfect or is perfect, and that is something to rejoice in. Imperfection is a chance for improvement, progress is an endless march towards a state of perfection that can never actually be reached. Yes, this can make them quite exasperating, as their enthusiasm in noting flaws and problems can be quite a social blunder. Still, this drive for continues improvisation means they tend to be masters of their craft, simultaneously always open to new ideas and constantly in pursuit of a way to make things better.

Kaladeshii vedalkens are curious, excitable, and tend to become deeply engrossed in their labors. Gregarious in conversation, they are prone to talking a lot, if only to themselves, because they tend to find dialogue flow aids their thought processes. That said, they engage more with ideas than with people, and this in turn makes them quite circumspect when it comes to their personal lives. They form close friendships based around mutual interests or compelling disagreements, and their interactions focus on their thoughts about those issues rather than their feelings about them. Emotional dynamics don’t particularly interest vedalken, either as a conversational topic or a field of study. When they talk about their feelings, it is primarily to provide information that might be helpful to others. For example, a vedalken might tell her colleagues, “I’m feeling irritated right now, so I might not be reacting appropriately. Perhaps we should continue this later.” But any questions about the cause of the irritation are likely to be brushed off as being irrelevant to the situation.

==Dungeons & Dragons==
Vedalken were given rules as a PC race option in [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]] via the free online article "[[Plane Shift]]: [[Kaladesh]]", where they had the following statblock:
::Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Intelligence, +1 Wisdom
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 feet
::Vision: Normal
::Vedalken Cunning: You have Advantage on Int, Wis and Cha saving throws against magic.
::Aether Lore: You double your Proficiency bonus when making Int (History) checks relating to magic items and aether-powered tech devices.

When the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica was announced, anons began speculating that vedalkens would reappear as one of the new races. Purported leaks surfaced on /tg/ claiming that vedalkens were indeed going to be in that book, with the same basic stats as the Plane Shift vedalken, bar the addition of a new "Partially Amphibious" racial trait (you can breathe water for up to 1 hour, but then must take a long rest before you can do so again), but these turned out to be not entirely correct. They instead received the following statblock, which has attracted some justifiable contempt as being rather overpowered. Additionally, their fluff was retconned, making them still logical and focused, but also more talkative and extroverted, closer to their Kaladesh cousins.

Ravnican Vedalken
::Ability Scores: Int +2; Wis +1
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 30 ft.
::Age. Vedalken mature slower than humans do, reaching maturity around age 40. Their life span is typically 350 years, with some living to the age of 500.
::Alignment. Vedalken are usually lawful and non-evil.
::Size. Tall and slender, Vedalken stand 6 to 6½ feet tall on average and usually weigh less than 200 pounds. Your size is Medium.
::Vedalken Dispassion. You have advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws.
::Tireless Precision. You are proficient in one of the following skills of your choice: Arcana, History, Investigation, Medicine, Performance, or Sleight of Hand. You are also proficient with one tool of your choice.
Whenever you make an ability check with the chosen skill or tool, roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the check's total.
::Partially Amphibious. By absorbing oxygen through your skin, you can breathe underwater for up to 1 hour. Once you've reached that limit, you can't use this trait again until you finish a long rest.
::Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common, Vedalken, and one other language of your choice.

{{D&D5e-Races}}

[[Category:Magic: The Gathering]] [[Category: Monsters]] [[Category: Races]]