D&D MONSTER RANKINGS - DEMONS (pt. 1) 

Esper the bard: "That's right a demon orc" Me: A dork"

"how should these demons mechanics and lore be written, boss?" "hmmmm, *abysmally* "

It makes sense that they want to get to the material plane. It's like a game. They don't face repurcussions for their actions because they can't be killed there.

“Someone say demons?” Asked a man in green colored armor with a large rifle at the ready.

The old rule with demons (and devils) was that the shorter the name, the more dangerous they were.

I think you did the Barlgura dirty. Imagine him as this massive gorilla sneaking through the jungle, a demon escaped from the abyss and using the jungle as his hunting ground. He can use the trees as his cover, to hide and sneak around, picking the party off. With the right setting ans maybe a few tweaks, he can be a great low-mid level monster fight

For the Barlgura with it’s stealth spells and low hitpoints, not to mention it’s ape like appearance, I think it’s meant to be more of a drop ambush predator. Hides itself above a path, then drops down in the middle of a group of intruders, them tears them to pieces before they can react.

I think I figured out why the Barlgura has disguise self and invisibility. Picture this: deep in the swamp you get surrounded by bullywugs, when suddenly a crazed bullywug runs out from the woods, and begins brutally killing its own kin. As it does this, the party becomes confused and worried, but soon this bullywug begins growing in size. Tusks begin to painfully grow out of its mouth, and red fur begins to grow on it. The party soon realizes that it was not a bullywug, but in fact a balgura. It looks over its shoulder, eating a bullywug that it ripped into shreds, and lets out a painfully loud roar. You could also do something where the balgura suddenly ambushes the party with invisibility, but I like the disguise self thing more.

"Sorry Hezrou, 5e turned you into demonic fart ogres." lmao

I like your Slayer based rankings!

Heard your breakdown of the Barlgura abilities, and thought, "Sounds like some predator shit to me," and the description does say it takes trophies from kills much like a hunter would, so I think that might be where they're going with it.

I thought that the way D&D afterlife works is unless your soul is claimed by a god, if your evil you'll go to the 9 hells if your Lawful evil, hades if your neutral evil, or then to the abyss if your chaotic evil. i don't know that is how it was explained to me. Also hades basically sells its souls to the demons and devils.

Fun Fact: the Goristro was so boring that its first appearance (in TD91) was to make up for forgetting to include it the MMII hat mentioned it along with some other demons that did appear. Gary termed it a "big dumb demon."

For the Balgura... invisibility and disguise self make sense for an Apex Predator type of threat. That Brutal savagry makes me think that the idea was a magical stalker/hunter and like a Lion they are expected to try and stealth there way up to there prey and ambush; the low HP makes think that even more because attacking in small numbers in an ambush fashion leaves foes weakened enough that the low HP is in similar amount to those that were ambushed at most. Strongly suggestive stating+mostly non-existent expressing still lands it in D tier, but I hope I was able to make sense from your confusion.

Barlgura = ambush predator demon. They arr savage but prefer to attack by surprise and to pick prey off, one at a time. Hence the low HP and abilities centered around concealing itself.

Barlgura - You are overthinking this demon. Intelligence doesn't necessarily equal instinct. His abilities actually make perfect sense if you think of it as a hunter/ambush monster. Oh, a giant canyon the adventures have to get over or a giant hole...that if they fell would definitely do some damage making them easier prey. Enter invisibility and phantasmal force, you can't see it, but it can see you and effect you with spells, hide that under a general perception roll offsetting it to the DC, if they fail, "that's enough for you to notice a rickety bridge across the cavern(or hole) that looks like it supports your weight", because of the flavor text of phantasmal force, the person will just think the other's are blind and can't see it and walk to their doom...the RP in this creature's abilities is also better than you gave it.

Probably my biggest beef with demons and devils in the D&Dverse is their actual designs. CONCEPTUALLY the idea of devils as militant, tyrannical conquerors bent on controlling the cosmos and demons as ravening, chaotic hordes bent on tearing it apart for their own amusement, and perpetually at war with each other, is amazing. In practice, I feel like the design elements, a lot of which are grandfathered in from old editions, let it down, because they're either too random (Frog monsters! Vulture people!) or look too much like each other (Balors and Pit Fiends both being huge, bat-winged, horned, balrog-like demons, both sides having sexy humanoid tempters/temptresses). There's no common design thread that tells your eye "This is a demon" or "This is a devil" and nothing about any of their designs that could not also have been a design for a non-fiendish monster from elsewhere in the manual, except the aformentioned Balor/Pit Fiend because they literally look like the stereotypical horns/batwings/hooves. Compare this to, as an example, the Chaos forces in Warhammer or to a lesser extent the minions of the Prime Evils in the Diablo series, where the different flavors of evil are really given a distinct design aesthetic, you know instantly when you're fighting the forces of Nurgle vs those of Khorne, Tzeentch or Slaanesh. I'd love to see something like that in D&D.

When I DM, I like to describe all demons as sort of different from eachother, it does not seem logical to me that creatures born out of the abyss and pure chaos are neatly separated into categories. Of course I undearstand the authors Ideia behid it because it wouldnt be possible to have the monster sheets otherwise... But still, I like to give them some good diversity when describing each individual demon to sort of give them a unique chaotic identity,

I hope you can do a video on the common monsters like orcs, goblins, etc. those are my favorite and I love to RP them.

I wish that we got statblocks for Arch devils in their angelic form. Imagine a devil trying to get his original holy power back. Just a thought.

I’ve said it before but MONSTOSITY TIER LIST

Actually I like the simplicity of many of them. I imagine throwing a big army of them onto a kingdom and the party leading some units of a defending army. They are still versitale enough to challenge players in multiple different ways by placing different demon units at different locations and letting faster ones outflank them, but simple enough to not feel wasted as simple foot soldiers.

I created a homebrew artifact-rarity maul and put a goristro in it, so it just goes to show that even lower-tier demons in this ranking can be the perfect demon for a particular role in the game.

One of my favorite improvements to write onto the bulezau is improving the tail. giving it a 10 foot reach, letting it grapple while attacking, and giving it multiattack can make for some fun attacks. drags you in with its tail, starts carving into you, etc. Maybe it grabs you with its tail, then throws you into the ground mid-jump. raises the CR a bit, but makes it a way more memorable fight. Climbing speed, or at least letting it grab onto walls, also helps make it annoyingly mobile.

Thank you for this! I recently started DMing a campaign focusing on the Blood Wars with Demons as the main villains. This has been very helpful and interesting.

Esper, I would to hear your thoughts on the Demon Lords and Lords of Hell. X3

"Easy dc" >Dc14 con check For a condition as deadly as paralysis, which Id say is the deadliest condition, a dc14 is very scary. Like even if you have +5, that still means you need to roll 9 or higher. And until you do so all attacks against you crit. Combined with its multi attack this thing is very deadly.

I wanna see a campaign where the party plays as demons. You could make at least a whole session out of trying to get to the surface I think

21:00 I think the illusion spells are more so just to allow for it to be able to blend in with the jungle without having to use that space in the lore for it.

It would be cool if you did a part three to this, where you went over the demon lords. Maybe not a straight ranking; like you said they’re a bit beyond the scope, but a comparison of the various ones and the demons that serve them. “Yeenoghu has the most interesting campaign potential because these three demons that directly serve it mesh well with their mortal servants the gnolls” Etc. Etc.

I also love the Vrock. Can be used in so many situations and I just throw it in if I need a quick demon.

Like I said in a previous video do a video about dragons and dragonkin. Throw in drakes, hellfire wyrms, dragon turtles, and the works for your rankings.

Ah the Vrock, I remember fighting a few along with Camazotz in Ixala

On the Balgura, phantasmal force could be used to slow down and distract enemies, though this is somewhat out of place. However invisibility is a great skill for them to have due to their inability to tank ranged attacks and their low hp, meaning that they can get up close and deal damage before being hit

Yet another reason 3.5 was the golden age of Dungeons and Dragons. The demons were much more fleshed out and all scary

Now that we have done Demons and Devils, how about Celestials

Ironically, Hezrou are much more interesting as described in Pathfinder. They inhabit bodies of water like swamps and waterways, but more interesting is their presence blights the surrounding area, causing plants to wither and gnarl and making water foul and brackish. Their mere presence can mutate people, turning them into deformed mutants. Their immense strength combined with their laziness means they often bully lesser creatures into servitude, and apparently boggards are their favored servants. You could easily write an adventure about a suspicious and deformed community that distrusts outsiders, making the players assume it's just a backwards town with horrid practices, only to pull back the curtain a bit and steadily reveal it is the influence of a demon.

12:50 A-hem... "I can make mini-me's :D" *blows up Gohan*

Amazing work, Esper. I love the use of old black and white images from old school Dnd and your exhaustive lore research. I hit that button right away!

Perfect timing! My party just entered the abyss!

Chasme reminds me of those nasty mosquito vampires in the Darkest Dungeon blood court DLC

A while back, I considered a modification of an old adventure (N2 - The Oracle), but that went in a completely different direction than that one. Instead of the corruption of the land being a result of a "Gypsy Curse" (which, by the way, kinda offensive, DnD 1e), it's the result of a clan of orcs that fell into veneration of Baphomet. Years ago, after one too many defeats and being driven from their former home, the orcs renounced Gruumsh and began cult-ing it up with the Demon Prince of hunters. Culminating in a "human" sacrifice to Baphomet (namely the adult orcs who opposed the shift to abyssal worship), and the birth of a Tanarukk. When that Tanarukk reached adulthood - twisted and evil as all Tanarukk inevitably are - he forced himself into a leadership position of the clan. The priests of Baphomet backed him, since he was a simple orc, easily manipulated by advisors. With their prompting, he called for the opening of a portal to the Abyss, which he made from a defiled orcish fighting fit. The act of making the portal requires the sacrifice of many lives, as well as the drawing of life from the surrounding area (hence, what brings the player characters out to investigate). Such a concentration of abyssal energies, though, also attracts the attention of two other abyssal cults: a cult of gnolls and madmen that venerate Yonogu, and a cult of rat-men and wererats that venerate some Demon Prince of pestilence that I would make up. If the party starts investigating, they might attract the attention of orcs within the clan who remained loyal to Gruumsh, and who hate what the clan has become. They might try to get the PCs to solve the problem for them, but would need convincing that the PCs aren't useless against demons. And so would try to get them to attack and destroy one or both of the other cults, to prove their mettle. After all, the non-abyssal members of the orc clan survived by feigning loyalty and keeping their heads down. They don't intend to rush into betrayal and the possibility of failure, unless they can be sure that the PCs can handle the Tanarukk, the abyssal priests, and any more demons they might summon from the abyssal spawning pit.

If I had to take a guess the Balgura was designed to be savage ambush predators they're meant to use illusions to hide and then strike savagely.

the slayer song titles for ranking demons is one reason I love you.

I like vrocks because the dm can just go “vrock” in a funny voice

SLAYER!!! I fucking love these tier videos, 10 thumbs up buddy! Keep the metal and d&d scene alive!

probably one of my most defining memories ever playing D&D involved one time where my Kenku rogue got caught in a hopeless one-on-one fight with a Vrock that screeched and... then proceeded to snap all of her weapon. The nearby Succubus wanted my rouge as a 'pet' though, and the two started fighting amongst themselves, which gave the rest of the group time to come and save my battered and broken character.

I like how you used many pictures from the original 1E monster manual!

3.5 was the first edition I played D&D in, and whenever I play these new editions they do feel so much less developed. Not to knock 5e, it's very streamlined and for people just learning the game it makes things much easier. I still like and play 5e, but only for quick sessions. If I make a multi session campaign with my pals from back in the day it's in 3.5.

Another good one. FYI, minor point, but, "manes" is pronounced "MON-aze" or "MA-naze". It's a Latin word for the (plural) spirits of the dead, and Latin had no silent "e" convention (although in Latin it took a singular verb often, as it is a collective noun). The "a" is pronounced like the "o" in "cot" and the "e" like a long "a" in most Latin words.

The Chasme illustration from the Fiend Folio always reminded me of Layne Staley. Lol

Their abysmal roll playing. Intentional or not, that’s just gold.

I think if think of it as a 'I have no mouth and I must scream" thing, the rutterkin disease pretty cool and harrowing. No matter who you were, you're cursed to walk the world, forever as horrid, malformed cannon fodder.

On the Hezrou, the reason that he's been stripped of his spells in 5E is that they were spells that specifically targeted alignments (Or greater teleport and gaseous form, both of which are effective for escaping a fight or running away with a macguffin). The only spells left in 5e that mention alignments in their names now don't *actually* care about alignments, they only effect outsiders, fey, undead, and other such extraplanar types that would typically be repelled by protection from evil or good. While I like the change, I think they should have given the hezrou equivalent effects in the spirit of his original tools, spells that target specifically non-demons or non-outsiders. Personally I think that moving away from alignment-specific mechanics overall is a good thing, but spells like blasphemy, chaos hammer and the like do suffer for it.

13:29 I did this for my campaign, it ended up cursing the pet drake of out half elf pirate. Luckily the dragon doggo got healed by a storm giant pretending to be a god

"3.5 was a complicated mess, but 4e and 53 went too far in the other direction." 2nd edition ftw!

You help make monster ranking much better and less cluttered I love your videos from your friend the modron

Also I could see the Barlgvta using disguise self and invisibility in a jungle like setting to quickly get out of view and move around for a sneak attack while never truely leaving combat. While It doesn't too much intellect, I think 7 intelligence is more then enough for a simple brute to know how to take advantage of its abilities if it's old and experienced enough, which many demons are. I think mechanically it can still be a 4

I personally love the Rutterkin. Just the idea of turning a PC with limitless potential into a goomba for all of eternity kinda tickles my inner sadist. It just goes to show that no one not even the MCs are safe from demonic corruption.

Esper? Esper? That’s a color shard in magic one that I love dearly.

the disguise self for the bargura could camouflage

One character for a game I DM'ed drew a dreaded card from "The Deck Of Many Cards." Total enmity from a Lower Plane being.. The poor female had to contend with random encounters from a demon at the worst times lol..

You made some interesting comments, like "I wish this monster existed in V5", or "that monster should have had different abilities". Well, if it's your campaign world, you can have any monster you want and any monster can have any ability you think it should have (even if it means adjusting the CR). A good proportion of the monsters appearing in my own personal monster manual never officially existed in the version I play, and most of the others are modified in some way. It's a great tool to keep even the most experienced players guessing.

Everything has been "babied" or dummied down since after 3.5. Even unicorn and griffin have be turned into just pretty cool magic animals.

@Esper the Bard - I think you are using Shadow Demon's wrong. They are not designed for direct combat. They are used to collect information and sow the seeds of doubt in the minds of adventurers. Use them as information gathers who stalk the players, feeding info back to higher demons. They are also great for running against low level players.

Alkilith is now one of my favourites

I am currently running Out Of the Abyss, and this was very helpful. Great content, i will be eagerly awaiting part 2

This will come in handy. Can't wait to use whole A and S tier. Now I just gotta watch video.

my character is a lich that is weak with normal attacks but strong with crowd control abilities(stuns, mind controls), mastering armys of minions, summoning demons, and making anyone i want slowly go insane. i have been working on this character for 6 years througout both homebrew and local sessions. i am currently working towards becoming the leader in a cult that practices dark magics

Having less behavior description or even lore can be a benefit allowing the GM to create their own. 5e seems to give more allowance for individual story creation. With most of the demons that you ranked low tier, I can imagine creating so much lore with them. The ape monsters with the invisibility and phantasmal force liking to pick adventures off one by one in predator style, the Beelzebub demons being the hired assassins, The Shadow demon could ask the party to free it to go back to the abbys in exchange for loot or power (one character gaining a level in warlock), Alcolyth being used by the antagonist to create the portal or to protect the doorway to their study. The Hezrou having the same connection to the slaad as the orcs.

Imagine being a tiefling decended from a Bulezau with a phobia of insects.

Found your channel a few month ago and watched a few of your Ranking videos which I really liked. One of them was your devil ranking and I couldnt wait for the demon one. Now it is here and I cant wait to see it. (Ps sry for bad english)

long time coming but thank you so much 😊

@11:38, I recognize that art! That's the card art for Bad Ass from MTG's Unhinged set. He wanders the land in search of Good Ass.

Would you ever consider doing a monster ranking for the Creature Codex or The Tome of Beasts by the kobold press?

Note in the 1st ed MM2 entry. The intelligence is listed as "Very to High" which in 5th ed would translate to a 12-15 intelligence, and a wisdom of 8-14. They employed sly tactics in their jungles. Using illusions and their mimicry abilities to harrow, lure, and separate groups of opponents. They often preyed in packs like wolves. Just carry over their 1st ed abilities (including the old list of universal demon powers ). They will then make a significantly higher CR, and be much more flavorful. Take it from somebody who has RPGed since 1982. Sometimes you just add some spices if the dish seems too bland!

I have a very sadistic campaign I'm working on. Demons, devils, celestials, and the last few humanoids roaming the world, what's left of it, anyway, surviving and trying to become the one who forms the new world. Which will likely lead into a new campaign if the players win and fuck up the world(They will describe what they want, and I draw a new map).

4:30 my favorite demon art

I ran an encounter with a tanarukk war chief. It had killed one of my PCs friends in her childhood. They found it and it was stronger and mutated with an abyssal virus to be virtually invincible. It was an encounter to remember

Guerrilla warfare. I feel like that has a lot to do with why the big gorilla demon has spells that would let it be a good ambush predator

I like how there was enough Magic the gathering art there to highlight wotc's grasp on both DnD and Mtg

3.5 goristro is a fucking legend though. grabbing players and smashing them into walls, then throwing them over them into his collection for snack pile later. lucky they brought it down. if used right it can be a fun ass encounter.

Disguise self only lets you disguise as a creature a foot taller or shorter with the same basic arrangement of limbs. Balgura is 8-15 feet tall. And walks on it’s fist. It can only disguise itself as a giant ape.

In 3.5 the Bar-lgura had an ability called Abduction which lets a bar-lgura can use greater teleport to transport other creatures. Even unwilling ones but you can to make a DC 18 will save to resist it if you want. So having this ape knock a guy out in an ambush then whisking him away it do demon ape things to him is how its suppose to be played I guess. At least in 3.5

Me and my friends are playing through a magic themed dungeon, and I was planning a mini boss where the players fight a Bulezau demon with some Gibbering Mouthers fighting along side the demon.

Wow, thanks for the epigraph. Though it took me a while, as I figured the exact poem. "Besy" is more closely translated as imps or fiends. Spirits, that are mostly connected with natural disasters and superstitions. Demons in Russian poetry are usually beutiful, cold entities, that toy with souls and passions. You can compare Pushkin's "Imps" (1830) to "Demon" (1823)

This is so so good, that I have been missing this is making me mad at myself. Thank you, this is really good stuff, kind of like crack, I want more!

1:06 Large similarities to Warhammer 40k Daemons Left to right; Tzeench Slaanesh Khorne Nurgle

I’d consider donating to this guy’s patreon if there were more monsters in it. Like quite a few more. I’m definitely homebrewing this Alkiliths to have spider climb.

Finally! With all the other monster rankings you've done, a demon one was manditory

Wanted to have my party find a cult with a trapped demon found this video very helpful whilst finding my pick I chose the Tanarukk due to the way they are treated

yeah I was reading hordes of the old hezrou and it was so cool. all the old demons had like the same number of abilities as the demon lords even if they are weaker. 5e demons often just feel like they were made for a single purpose which works for devils but not so much demons. like hordes of the abyss specifically states that demon almost always have more abilities than they need for an encounter, so explain to me why hezrous have a classic multiattack and a stench.

You should check out the new book "Guildmasters Guide to Ravnica", it has some really interesting and unique monsters. The Master of Cruelties might be my favorite demon now.

Love the picture at 20:17

Easy way to remember how to play fiends: Demons (Tanar'ri, CE) are basically like *school bullies or psychosis* where anything goes as malicious as you want. Lie, cheat, steal, trick, maim, torture, betray, kill, but ALWAYS safety in numbers. The only loyalty is fear based. Do anything you can get away with just for the sheer joy of rebelling against rules and status quo. In my games, Tanar'ri have the highest numbers because they tend to die faster than other fiends due to general recklessness. If a low level fiend has its own agenda, it's usually just to lie and kill for the sake of lying and killing. Be wild; aka reap those souls! (Easiest way: terrify a paladin/ranger until he abandons his friends, then reap him while he's still scared.) Devils (Baatezu, LE) are more like *politicians or lawyers.* They make, bend, and follow laws. READ THE FINE PRINT. Their brand of lying is more like omitting parts of the truth, political propaganda, re-imagining history "from a different point of view." Their numbers are fewer than Tanar'ri because they recruit from those they corrupt, thus you'll find more refined characters here. They cultivate souls more carefully than demons, Baatezu don't just reap. These entities are more likely to serve causes than blindly following out of sheer terror. Torture is usually done for conditioning or interrogations, not just for sport. Killing usually sends a message or serves a purpose. (Easiest way to get a soul: seduce the paladin to abandon his friends or quest, then reap him after it's public while his honor loss makes him weak with guilt.) Daemons (Yugoloth, NE) are generally like the *mafia, mercenaries or life coaches.* Loyal to clans, cults, guilds, and usually willing to join whoever pays the most. This is more like playing Vampire: The Masquerade due to all the intrigue. The idea isn't necessarily to be on the winning side, but more like not to get caught up in the Blood War crossfire. I mean, one can arrange for a patsy/client to get entwined in whatever, just don't get _yourself_ too involved. (That's where the party comes in!) Yugoloth tend to be the most individual/relatable fiends in regard to personality in my games. They're free agents with minds of their own as long as they don't sell out their big boss. They have interests in reputation, earning loot, being bribed... Rather than corrupting or reaping, they tend to do worse... they _befriend._ (Easiest way: take the entire group to parties, introduce them, get them drunk, get them a job, and let them make their own choices as long as it's financially lucrative for you in the long term. Guilt by association can be a real bitch. If you go down, they all go down. Way down. Pro tip: don't just recruit the guy with the highest level; go for the guy with the best base stats too, at the very least.) Admittedly, I run mainly just e1 and e2.

I've never played D&D before this is interesting as heck

Wihile I enjoy 5e at times and I think it has it's place. (It's streamlined and fast and friendlier to new players) 3.5 is the epitome of what DnD should be imo. There are of course some things that can be fixed or changed but out of all the editions, when I think DnD, 3.5 is what I think of. On another note. Awesome Video man! Also, really enjoy the fact that you picked apart things that don't make sense for each individual creature. The Barluga inconsistencies that you mentioned were kind of eye-opening. Never really thought about it like that.

The Slayer references are awesome

You sound like the Alton Brown of D&D lore and I'm diggin' it

Love the slayer reverences