Tricking Asmodeus in Dungeons & Dragons 

The best way to understand Orcus is to imagine a person who's pretty sensitive to sound being trapped in a room stuffed full of toys that activated off of sound, including when you accidentally trip on one. He just. Wants. Silence.

Interesting twist, what if Asmodeus is actually a fiction to keep the archdevils in line. You can flip the saying to ‘they greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing you he existed at all’

I imagine a Warlock's pact with Asmodeus is like: Asmodeus gives the mortal something that he doesn't care about. Which is the ability to cast spells. In return, the mortal has to do something that he doesn't care about, but as some kind of butterfly effect, it will help Asmodeus at some point. "Bring object X to place Y" -> later randomwarlockZ has to bring it somewhere else again. -> Eventually it is a weapon in the bloodwar.

Neutral evil is the most evil alignment. Chaos is just wild and free, law is bout in red tape and rules. Neutral evil is a intentional targeted evil, that follows no bounds. Chaotic Evil is often a state of being and existence, but neutral evil is something that is intentional. You follow the rules when it benefits you, and break them when they don't.

The most evil entity in the multiverse is obviously chris perkins!

I seem to recall lore indicating that Asmodeus (pronounced correctly by Mearls, thank you: AHZ-mo-DAY-ooss) was formerly an angel. He wished to end the war with demons by any means necessary, and for his violence, was cast out. Thus the robes. They hide his ever-bleeding wounds from the fall from Celestia. His loyal angels were cast out with him, becoming the first Devils. They were never mortal. Tharizdun, too, is responsible for the creation of the demons, as he created the Abyss with his initial defeat...which created the first among Demons, Demogorgon. A J Pickett has done a LOT of research on this and has videos on all of it.

I don't know about tricking Asmodeus. This is the guy who literally wrote the book. What you need to consider most of all, I think, is _leverage._ Asmodeus' rules revolve around gaining leverage over others, often in hidden and tricky ways through his rules. In order to 'have one over' on the guy, you'd need something that actually matters to him, like, say, his own original copy of the Tablets of Fate that gives him the right to impose these rules in the first place. Or the fragment of the spear he used to kill his brother, also a full divine god. Both of these are artifacts he keeps in his own palace in Nessus, though, because he is acutely aware of his own weaknesses.

Just a thing to mention Jack didnt go to the nether realm for making the deal. He went their because after he tricked him he lived a life of sin thinking he was free. In the end heavens gates shut for him, and hell couldnt let him in either. Satan tossed him a coal from hell. Which he put into the turnip/pumpkin

how to trick Asmodeus make him believe you know something he doesn't.

GOD I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS BOOK TO COME OUT DEAR L O R D

How to trick asmodeus: Asmodeus needs to play weak to trick one of his underlings to make a precipitated move on him. You get some trinket powers and ultimately play into his hands anyway.

Oh man, poor Asmodeus had his story changed so many times since ad&d. Or did he and Mearls is just his pawn, trying to trick us all AGAIN? :D

My character learned the true name of Asmodeus through lots a rabbit hole research when we were hunting down a tiefling. Lots of books, history checks, and one book of vile darkness later, I had managed to blackmail Asmodeus with his true name, threatening to broadcast it to the astral plane through a glyph of warding with a million conditions to go off. I managed to get some warlock features for free in exchange for keeping my mouth shut.

10:06 - 10:12 Law of Acquisition 76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.

love hearing this guy talk about dnd lore and character stuff! the video he did talking about mordenkainen where he was swapping perspectives of characters in world was enthralling

Neutral Evil is the most evil!

1:45 "you can use his laws against him" is the crux of how, if I were a DM, I would completely screw over some greedy fool who got ahold of an Efreeti Bottle. The argument goes something like this. The fool wishes for "wealth beyond the dreams of avarice", to which the Efreet queries, "O Master, pray forgive my ignorance... what is beyond the dreams of avarice?" The fool, of course, makes the grave mistake of replying "Nothing!", at which point the Efreet towers above him and screams. "Then it is NOTHING you shall have!" Cue the loss of all equipment, money, land, XP, and even a name. Good thing I'm not a DM.

Chaotic lawful. I have a strong moral code but you'll never know what it is!

You can always trust a dishonest man to act dishonestly.

What I got from this is that Asmodeus is Tzeentch. Which is equal parts awesome and terrifying.

Other people: Asmodeus is evil! He's the literal embodiment of it!! Me and my party: (killing demons and spreading his name) But he not tho

Dndbeyond, great video! Enjoy your Thursday! 💯🙏🙌

Great video, I’m a big fan of asmodeus

I am loving these videos!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love love love this episode. Uncle Asmo is the best!

I just use 5e for the rules. I like to twist up the lore from all the editions into my games. Long goal I have planned for my players is they are going to have to find He who was, but they don't know that. Or how one of the NPC's they love is a vessel for Asmodeus who has been tricking them into doing his bidding.

I’m curious about Asmo having been a mortal. How does this tie in to the story about him destroying He Who Was, or about being the brother of Jezerian?

From my knowledge: Asmodeus, was originally an angel that was vying for diesm which allowed him to use a contract to gain the hells as his domain to punish those mortal souls that broke the gods rules. He used the power of these tortured souls to ultimately absorb a less deities divinity and became a deity in of himself

Woe and weal. Poor judge getting confused.

great seeing Mike again

I will trick the devil into buying me walnuts!

When your playing the game to trick Asmodeus All you need to do is trick the DM! But lore wise: He's the devil 😈 he invented trickery. He literally tricked the gods into giving him his own plane! "To fight evil in" he says. You're proposal is to trick him?

So is the whole "pact primordial" backstory for Asmo no longer cannon????

My fave Pathfinder character was a 2lvl Monk/13lvl Inquisitor. He belonged to a human cult of demons hunters called the Black Library. Essentially, each member had 13 demon names carved into their skin, which bound them to hunting and killing those demons. If they failed to do so, they would become fodder for the devil war machines (heavily borrowed from an old TV show called Brimstone). It was a loooong campaign of hunting and fulfilling his pact; the last being a Balor. Managed to solo it with a long range of nat 20s and it rolling 3s lol. During his 15 lvls, he maximized all sorts of synergies to get his Linguistics skill up. Being Lawful Evil himself, he started helping his friends in the party fulfill their goals by writing contracts, which was always to their benefit....but he would have their souls pledged to himself. Now, this got Amadeus' attention. My dude was an infamous demons hunter, and even led a battalion of devils at one point JUST to stick it to demons. The time came when he drafted up another contract, this time with Asmodeus. Due to damn good roleplay and an insane linguistics skill, followed by no less than 5 nat 20s (even switching dice on the 3rd roll), my guy managed to outsmart Asmodeus and took the throne. His name was Lucifer St. Grim (corny name! Yea!) Asmodeus didn't really mind, as the time off was a blessing really. I got stuck with rulership, he fucked off and had a vacation. Eventually, I toddled off to a different dimension (campaign world) and he resumed rule. They write to each other every now and then lol

I always saw evil not as selfishness, but as actual cruelty, the enjoyment of the suffering of others....

Good stuff

How dare a mortal makes a pact with me... - asmodeus. Scary dude from the abyss. 😳

I'm trying to trick him through a secondary divine contract with an opposing good deity

Isn't the lore behind Asmodeus that he is actually the second universe creating serpent that was thrown down into the hells (and the path though is therefor serpent shaped in a way). That "Asmodeus" is a persona for the serpent who is in hiding gaining back his powers by draining the D&D world "atheists" (which in that world unlike ours is actually absurd with blatant powers showing everywhere). I personally find the Asmodeus character interesting because of his various backstories and possibilities, and think that a conversation as to how he got where he is to be something I'd want to discuss with him.

Since when he's always been lawful evil. Demons are chaotic devil's are lawful. Asmodeus is a devil

I like the idea that almost anything with ambition and drive can level up. Take an NPC in some of my own campaigns: Exkill. Exkill was a Shadar-Kai (shadow elf) assassin before he was killed. He returned as a shadow, but was destroyed and ended up as a demon. He grew in power to become a demon lord before one of his rivals tricked a mortal into summoning him. He was then killed but locked out of the Abyss by his rival, so he reformed as a shadow demon in Shadowfell. It was then when he was employed by a beholder to hunt down my players. They managed to kill him, but he possessed a red dragon, transforming him into a shadow dragon, to return and fight them. Exkill then returned as a Nightwalker after this, where he's still roaming around. I like to think that in D&D, even the lowest, smallest, most insignificant entities are never gone. You can kill them as many times as you like, yet somewhere out there, perhaps in the bowels of the Far Realm, some fragment of them remains, and one day it could return.

Imagine trying to fool the most deceptive being in existence by telling him a false backstory about himself

Asmodeus needs a Nord VPN subscription

It's similar if you get into computation theory. Computers only perform a small number of extremely simple tasks, They are essentially the essence of a lawful alignment. But due to the number and interaction of these simple tasks, it creates a complexity that is provably impossible to predict from within that framework. ie see the Halting Problem

Asmodeus was Ahriman. Shattered in the deepest depths.

Most evil thing in dnd is the perpetually unprepared DM. Second place goes to the player who always tries to make the entire campaign all about their character and ignore everyone else's actions or opinions at the table. Actually maybe they're the most evil. It's tough to pick which is worse.

The joker did that ounce and did a better job then batman

I’ve always been curious, there was some flippant lines about “whatever he used to be” and it is/was canon that Asmodeus is one of the two original coatal gods, but if he is an “elder being” what is Glasya, as she is his daughter Edit: Obv the coatal god theory is now just that, but the question remains, what is Glasya?

As the great philosopher Captain Jack Sparrow once said: "A dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you never know when they're going to do something extremely stupid."

THATS how you pr9nounce tharizdun??? My life is a lie

Read Roger Zelazny's Amber series The essence of this episode, maybe a bit jokingly but seriously it worth a read.

Chronicles of Amber are awesome. Ten book series by Roger Zelazny and it is AWESOME.

• Lawful Good - Good lies within a certain set of ideals, and you fall back on them whenever the chips are down. Breaking laws is bad, simply because they are the rules, and they are made to protect you! You'll spread the system because it is MUST be good, otherwise it just wouldn't exist. • Neutral Good - Good is doing something good, turning to chaos when necessary and staying within the rulers when they provide a net benefit, although you'll always seek to improve them. You accept deviations from rules, because some rules will naturally be unjust to some. You'll give and accept kindness, not any abstract concepts like anarchy or dogmas. • Chaotic Good - You fight for good constantly, attempting to root out any threats to creativity and liberty, and damn the authorities who keep them there. You have an instinctual dislike of authority and systems, and why shouldn't you? All they do is try to limit freedom to keep its subjects in a more manageable state. Besides, who doesn't like taking down corrupt regimes? • Lawful Neutral - The laws keep everything in check, and therefore should not be broken. If you wish to change laws, you must work your way through the system to do so. You will be punished if you do not follow the rules, with no exceptions. You have little desire to change the system, but actively enforce it to the letter because there will always those who attempt to squirm away from their consequences, and you'll keep the playing field as level as possible. • True Neutral - You favor those around you and in your life, with little regard for outsiders. If an ideal benefits you and your folk, then it's probably alright , but if something inhibits them, you've got to take care of your own. You normally won't go out of your way to bring either chaos or law; who's got the time? You're busy enough just going through life. • Chaotic Neutral - You deeply enjoy stirring the pot, and to hell with those who are too uptight to agree. You and your friends should be able to do what you want, and an authority will just inhibit your mutual happiness. In fact, those who benefit from the system are probably screwing you over on purpose, so why should you follow them? • Lawful Evil - The world isn't going to do you any favors, and while the rules around you may limit a few of your freedoms, you certainly wouldn't want to be worse than you are now. Besides, you can make a pretty comfortable living if you grease the right palms and pull the right strings. And if your friends find out? Hope to whatever god you worship they're on your side, otherwise, they're just a liability. You'll enforce a system that benefits you, and gain as much security as you can while you're there. And if it doesn't, well, it's pretty damn satisfying to take something down from the inside. • Neutral Evil - Everyone has been against you from the beginning, and you know what? They could stand to lose a few things that are important to them. You have put in so much damn work, and no one ever recognizes it, so why should you do the same? No one really cares if you mess around, and if they say they do, we'll they're only lying to you and themselves. As for laws and chaos, who cares? Just look out for yourself and let everyone else take a hike to the Styx, otherwise you'll just be constantly watching your back. • Chaotic Evil - You know, it seems like everybody around you is trying to hold you back. Don't you just want to go crazy? It'd be hilarious! Everyone is so caught up in their everyday lives, and none of it makes any difference in the long run. So do whatever the hell you'd like! Friend cut you off mid sentence? Punch em in the face to teach him a lesson! Long line in the bank? Shove them to the side and go to the teller first! In fact, just rob the joint and place a kick in the clerk's groin on your way out, cause they looked at you weird! Some people get a terrible lot in life, and you'll be damned if anyone is gonna say you'll get it. Chaos, baby: it's the world's most addictive drug.

The RU-vidr MrRhexx has an awesome theory about Atheists and Azmodeus. He brings up some interesting points about the 9 Hells, other plaines of existence, and how Azmodeus had to become a god (he didn't start as one) by eating one in a fairly recent Wizards of the Coast story.

@D&D Beyond its there a video about Shar, if not could one be made?

I try to make my chaos inconsistent. Including doing impulsive thungs that really don't fit their good evil axis, particularly long term. Or even fit self interest

Damn I want that hoodie

Good to see Mike again.

Isn’t Asmodeus secretly Ahriman, the other deity that made the multiverse?

Personally I think the smartest way to get something from Asmodeus would be to just come at him straight on. The dude's been working all of hell against each other since time immemorial and has been catching clever contracts just as long. Just straight up asking him for something has a better chance of catching him off guard than some clever legalese. He might just do it because once word gets out that someone got one over on Asmodeus for nothing, a few hundred thousand will walk right up to him to take their shot.

Tharizdun is possibly my favorite Evil God in D&D. The more I learn about him the more compelling of a character he becomes, such as creating the Astral Dreadnaughts because he wants Mortals to be separated from the Astral Plane. I'm not sure of the source, but there is a more interesting side to Tharizduns end goal that I remember finding. The idea that he wants to destroy the current Universe to replace it with a better one, as he feels the presence of Chaos and Decay proves the current universe shouldn't exist. But of course, Tharizdun is intentionally left vague so DMs can make their own story around him. TL:DR he became the God of Chaos and Decay, so he can make a universe where there is no Chaos and Decay

Nice background. And noyce pronunciation of As-mo-DAY-us.

Asmodeus wasn't originally a mortal in any of the various "multiple choice pasts" he has.

I thought Asmodeus used to be Ahriman, the Embodiment of Law?

Buls*it Chaotic evill means Joker, from dark knight (no purpose, just chaos and destruction) when lawful evill means totalitarian tyrants like H!tler... now - who is more predictable?

Is tharizdun the elder elemental eye? Im gonna be running POTA and would like to know some more of the lore

Where does one read more about this lore? Any books you'd recommend?

I am so impressed that Mike Mearls cited Roger Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber. It’s a bit obscure now, but an awesome fantasy series.

You can't trick him, but you can expose his embarrassing baby photos from his mom's scrapbook! :)

This is why people say Fey are dicks, because you never know when they will good, neutral or evil.

10:05 - Sounds like these guys need to read "White Knight".

Dimension of doors? Never heard of that. ...I have a plan. Any dangers in there? I imagine there is.

Asmodeus was Arhamon. 1 of 2 gods that represented law and gave birth to the universe. The other represented lawful good while Arhamon represented lawful evil. The two disagreed on where their domains should lie and separated from each other. The lawful good God had wings and ascended to mount Celestia while Arhamon had no wings and fell into the depths I'm finally crashing, into what is now a snake like chasm, he was wounded so deeply that he must consume the souls of living for Millennia so as to heal his wounded form.

I wish to undo my wish.

Chaos is a ladder

I thought Asmodeus was originally one of the two giant serpents that was part of the Ouroboros that kept time flowing, but then crashed to the ground etc. Then he just created a whole mess of fake mythos around him so that no one could understand where he came from.

I always looked at evil like that, evil is self interest to the point of being willing to harm others. That's the least extreme form of evil, typically that's how I look at lawful evil.

"Sigul"

I'm trying to RP a Cleric of Order of Asmodeas any tips?

Small technicality: Don't put Mike's mic so close to his throat - put it a bit lower, so we get more of his high notes.

Self interest at the expense of others is a contradiction but it is a common misconception.

Asmodeus is the puppet, Ahriman rules the 10th layer (puts on my tin foil hat)

Well the reason it's so hard to 'describe' chaos, and the reason chaos is so predictable is because it doesn't exist. Chaos is the name we give to Order we don't understand. Everything occurs according to defining principles. What we call chaos is just what is happening when we don't understand those principles.

The most evil creature would destroy a soul. Everything else is just window dressing.

This also means he is a bad father since Glagsya is his daughter and he pits her against his other lieutenants

So many people debating between asmodeus origins, he is the lord of lies they are all true or none are, his origins are total mystery, a lot like the joker

Where are the psyonics for PCs?

Are you playing anything currently? LOOKING TO START GROUP

Tricking asmodeus huh

If you don't think you can outsmart Asmodeus, you are correct

The evilest thing in the video is telling someone they're pronouncing sigil right when they're doing it wrong.

Wasn't Asmodeus a great space snake that fell on the bottom of hell and the demon face that he use is just an illusion to fool the other devils that he is a devil? And his purpose is to eat as meany souls as he needs to heal and leave hell?

WHEN IS BG3 being released!!!!!!!

Fun fact: joker has been a good guy by ethier A: believing Batman to be dead and therefore did not need to be a villian. Or B: being cured of his insanity (all be it temporarily)

The ginger is to quiet!!!

The yugoloths are the most evil

What is asmodeus’s symbol? Three triangles...

What about the yugoloths? Where are they on this spectrum.

Why would you choose the lesser evil?

How to trick Asmodues? Don't, you just don't.