Lesser God

FREQUENCY: Very rare <(Unique)>
FREQUENCY: Very rare ([Dungeon Level X])
FREQUENCY: Very rare ([Astral Plane])

NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: -6
MOVE: 9"/18"
HIT DICE: 26.666 (120 HP) <>
% IN LAIR: 50% <link : H4>
TREASURE TYPE: [P], [S], [T], [U]. <(There is a 5% chance that the heart of Orcus is a Nanorion stone)>
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2 ~ 7 (base) | 1 (incl +6 from weapon) <>
DAMAGE/ATTACK: See below
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Poison (-4 on save), death wand, magic use, psionics
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +3 or better weapon to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 85%
INTELLIGENCE: Supra genius
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic evil
SIZE: L (15' tall)
PSlONlC ABILITY: 350
    Attack/Defense Modes: All/all
LEVEL/X.P. VALUE: X | 63,900 (for destroying material form) | 639,000 (if killed permanently)

It is probable that this creature is one of the most powerful and strongest of
all demons. If he so much as slops with his open hand the blow causes 1-4
hit points of damage. His terrible fists can deliver blows of 3-13 hit points.
If he uses a weapon he strikes with a bonus of +6 to hit and +8 on damage.

Poison: Additionally his tail has a virulent poison sting (-4 on all saves against its poison), and his tail strikes with an 18 dexterity which does 2-8 hit points each time it hits.

At Will: Orcus can, at will, use any one of the following powers:

Orcus can speak with the dead (as 20th level cleric).
Summon Undead,
Gate: 80% chance of gating in any demon of type I-V <(I, II, III, IV)> (but only a 50% chance of gating a type V or VI and will never call upon another prince).

<see original text: are these all daily?>

Daily: cast a feeblemind spell once per day,
use any one of the symbols once per day each, <list out the symbols>
time stop once per day,

Orcus furthermore is able to summon certain of the undead, for he is their prince. If random calling is desired by the referee the following chart is suggested:

1 - 4-48 skeletons
2 - 4-32 zombies
3 - 4-24 shadows
4 - 2-8 vampires
<extend with 2 FF creatures, 2 MM2 creatures?>

Wand of Orcus: Finally, Orcus holds the wand of death (Orcus' Wand) which is a rod of obsidian topped by a skull.
This instrument causes death (or annihilation) to any creature, save those of like status (other princes or
devils, saints, godlings, etc.) merely by touching their flesh. Other powers
of this device as rumored amongst mortals are dealt with in another book.

Description: Orcus is a grossly fat demon lord, some 15' tall.
His huge gray body is covered with goatish hair, and his head is goat-like although his
horns are similar to those of a rom. His great legs are also goat-like, but his
arms are human. Vast bat wings sprout from his back, and his long, snaky
tail is tipped with a poisonous head.

                                                              Clerics             Raiment                                                             Sacrifice/Propitiation

Sphere of Control	Animal	M	F	N-H	Head	Body	Color(s)	Holy Days	Frequency	Form	Place of Worship
-	-	-	-	-	Goat's head	Robes	-	-	-	-	-

Orcus should be treated as a lesser god, though he very rarely has human worshipers.
<incl. notes, images: H1-4>

merkholz wrote:
In the first few descriptions of the demi-god Iuz it is rumoured that he is the "by-blow of Orcus".
Then it is revealed that the true father was Graz'zt. Was that your plan all along or did we get to read a soap opera in the making?

M

For whatever it is worth I mentioned Orcus only to make Iuz a potentially more daunting figure.
I never inteneded to have him as the son of such a mighty demon, but rather one of lesser sort, thus Graz'zt.

Cheerio,
Gary

Quote:
Originally posted by Alzrius
Howdily hey Gary!

I'm a huge fan of Orcus (the biggest one I know, though Nightfall and the Necromancer Games people could contest that), and I was wondering if you could share any thoughts/opinions/anecdotes about him from back in the day. I know this isn't really a question, but anything at all would be really great. Thanks! 
 

As my campaign never got to the point where the PCs were of a level to dare any encounter with deities of even lesser sort than Orcus, the sum total of ,y development of the demon lords is pretty much contained in the core monster books.

The only anecdote I have regarding Orcus is this: When a party I was GMing was in the D3 module, they got into such trouble that they pleaded for divine intervention withoug being specific.
As thos was successful (a d% roll of 00), I had Orcus appear, he being the most potent deity likely to have attention focused in that area. <?>
At that point the party was toast, so knowing that they again pleaded for divine intervention, this time specifying a deity opposed to a demon lord, but no more.
Again they managed a successful roll, so Asmodeus appeared.
Having an immediate understanding of what was happening, the two Evil deities did not fight, not did they bother with the foolish mortals who had summoned them.
That was beneath them, of course.
So they gated out and left the party to their fate.
A couple of the characters actually managed to survive.

Cheers,
Gary

Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesM
Gary,

If my memory does not fail me, the original write-up for Iuz in Dragon was vague about his demonic parentage, theorizing that he might be "a by-blow of Orcus." Later, it was revealed that Graz'zt was the Old One's demonic sire. Was there any reason for this change (if change it be) and, if so, did it relate to your use of Orcus or Graz'zt in the Greyhawk campaign?

Thanks.

The very same question was recently posed on another website. When I was hyping Iuz I thought suggesting that Orcus was his sire would make Iuz more menacing. I never intenbded to link his parentage to that mighty demon, and thus later on I noted that Graz'zt was his progenator.

I had Orcus appear once in my campaign, but Iuz was was a behing-the-scenes figure far more often. That said, none of the PCs were of sufficient level to manage a confrontation with Iuz, let alone Graz'zt or Orcus.

Cheers,
Gary
 

Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesM
Gary,

Someone recently passed along a story, supposedly about your Greyhawk campaign and the origin of one of the demon princes. The story has the ring of plausibility to it, but I'd never heard it before, so I thought I'd ask.

The story goes that players in your campaign often ran afoul of Demogorgon by saying his name, which alerted him to their presence. To avoid this, they started calling him "You Know Who," which in turn led to your creation of the demon prince of Gnolls, Yeenoghu, to teach them a lesson.

Any truth to this tall tale or is it just a gamer urban legend? I'm inclined to believe it's not true but, as I said, it's not implausible given your love of puns and other wordplays.

Thanks.

Close but no cigar 

A group of players, including regulars that should have known better, did something that brought eother Demogorgon or Orcus, I can not recall which it was, to the location of their relatively high-level PCs. They used a wish to call a potent deity opposed to that demon prince, not specifying that the one desired be of Good alignment, so who should appear but Asmodeus.

They were glad to escape with their lives, for I rules that the two great lords of Evil were so amused by such stupidity that they found it beneath their dignity to expinge such bumblers, that they would soon manage that themselves without the helping hand they could employ.

Cheerio,
Gary