Editing Baatezu (section)

==The Hierarchy of Hell==

Baatezu are Lawful to a fault. They are masters of forming contracts that give themselves as many loopholes to exploit as possible, while bringing those for the other party down to zero. If a devil turns out to be clever, powerful, deceitful, lucky and sycophantic enough they may be promoted in an agonising ritual that grows a miniature fetal version of the new form inside of the devil, eventually bursting out in a grotesque and agonizing display. If a subject however fails its master, is betrayed in some way or if the master needs the energy that is released when doing so, a baatezu can be demoted back into a lesser form - which is a great humilitation for a devil.

All the various forms are part of a ranked hierarchy: the higher up the more powerful a devil is. Devils can only be promoted and demoted by their direct superiors, so it is not possible for rival devils to demote all of their rivals' servants or promote themselves to increase in power. As mentioned before, there is only so much power around to promote devils, gathered from souls. If a "drought" of sorts were to befall an area, high-ranking devils would be more stringent with their promotions or even demote their followers to reallocate resources: the latter is a powerful motivator for all devils to keep corrupting souls.

A few of the forms in the hierarchy are not part of the regular advancement. The wretched Nupperibo is the result of a demotion of a higher-ranking devil (from 3.5 onwards at least, see below), though it still outranks the lowly Lemures. However, it is skipped in the regular progression and is a form used as punishment, as are the Malebranche and the Xerfilstyx.

The Erinyes are an unusual group. Instead of being created from soul shells they are either fallen angels turned into their current form or born from another Erinyes. The most powerful of the Erinyes can be promoted to the rank of Brachina, or Pleasure Devil. These creatures are alluring seductresses and are ruthless in their searches for advancing to the highest ranks of devilkind. But because the step between Erinyes and Brachina is so big, only the most accomplished of Erinyes can be promoted to this rank.

Finally there are the Abishai. They are beholden to [[Tiamat]], who lives on the first layer of Baator.

Note that some of the rankings in the lists below may be incorrect and are only guesses based on comparing their challenge ratings because not all of the various devils have been officially placed in the hierarchy (and can be shuffled around through editons).

{|class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" border=0 align=center cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 style="margin: 1em; border: 2px solid black;"
!align=center colspan=3 | <span>Hierarchy of 3.5 Edition</span>
|-
! Category || Rank || Form || Punishment || Fallen Angels || Abishai
|-
| '''Least Devils''' || 1 || Lemure, <br> Ayperobos <br> Kalabon
|-
| || 2 || Legion Devil, <br> Advespa || Nupperibo || || White Abishai
|-
| || 3 || Spined Devil || || || Black Abishai
|-
| '''Lesser Devils''' || 4 || Bearded Devil, <br> Narzugon || || || Green Abishai
|-
| || 5 || Imp || ||  || Blue Abishai
|-
| || 6 || Steel Devil || Gulthir || || Red Abishai
|-
| || 7 || Chain Devil, <br> Kocrachon, <br> Desert Devil
|-
| || 8 || Harvester Devil, <br> Pain Devil, <br> Hellcat || || Erinyes
|-
| || 9 || Amnizu
|-
| '''Greater Devils''' || 10 || Bone Devil, <br> Orthon || Malebranche
|-
| || 11 || Barbed Devil
|-
| || 12 || Ice Devil || Xerfilstyx
|-
| || 13 || Logokron,<br>Remmanon,<br>Horned Devil,<br>Ghargatula || || Pleasure Devil
|-
| || 14 || Assassin Devil
|-
| || 15 || Paeliryon
|-
| || 16 || Pit Fiend
|-
| '''Archdevils''' || 17 || (unique forms)
|-
| || Archduke || (unique forms)
|-
| || King || [[Asmodeus]]
|}
{|class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed wikitable" border=0 align=center cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 style="margin: 1em; border: 2px solid black;"
!align=center colspan=4 | <span>Hierarchy of 5th Edition</span>
|-
! Category || Rank || Form || Abishai
|-
| '''Least Devils''' || 1 || Lemure <br> Nupperibo
|-
| '''Lesser Devils''' || 2 || Imp  
|-
| || 3 || Spined Devil   
|-
| || 4 || Bearded Devil <br> Merregon  
|-
| || 5 || Barbed Devil  || White Abishai
|-
| || 6 || Chain Devil   || Black Abishai
|-
| || 7 || Bone Devil 
|-
| '''Greater Devils''' || 8 || Orthon <br> Horned Devil
|-
| || 9 || Erinyes || 
|-
| || 10 || Narzugon <br> Ice Devil|| Green Abishai <br> Blue Abishai 
|-
| || 11 || Amnizu <br> Pit Fiend || Red Abishai
|-
| '''Archdevils''' || 12 || Duke or Duchess
|-
| || 13 || Archduke or Archduchess
|}