Asmodeus

Supreme Master of the Nine Hells, Lord of Nessus, The Lord of the Ninth, The Cloven, Old Hoof and Horn, Lord of Lies, The Archfiend, The Raging Fiend, Prince of Evil

Asmodeus (pronounced: /æzmoʊˈdeɪʌs/ æz-mo-DAY-us or: /æzˈmoʊdiʌs/ æz-MO-dee-us) was the Faerûnian deity of indulgence and ruler of all devils. Asmodeus never showed himself except through avatars or project image, both in humanoid forms. Asmodeus's avatars looked like a slim, charismatic, red-skinned humanoid over 13 feet (4 meters) tall, with horns on his head and glowing red eyes. Overall, he had charismatic and beautiful looks that captivated people. He always had a perfectly trimmed beard and wore very expensive red and black clothing, which were valuable enough to cover the annual national spending of any nation. However, underneath these expensive garments, the body was wracked with bleeding injuries. While he was in pain, he managed to give the impression of someone unconcerned with the pain the injuries caused him. Each of his ten avatars held a Ruby Rod of Asmodeus.

Personality

Asmodeus was a lawful evil creature with the goal of becoming the supreme being in the multiverse even if it required destroying the current multiverse and creating a new one. While the method he wanted to use to achieve this goal was not publicly known, and the only one who had the necessary knowledge to piece the method together hoped that it was not the one Asmodeus wanted to use, that Asmodeus wanted to take over the multiverse for himself was a known fact. He genuinely believed that a bright future awaited the multiverse, if he was to rule it. As arrogant as this claim sounded, Asmodeus had the competence to back it up. When faced directly, he presented himself as a confident and eloquent man who was quite reasonable to talk with. In fact, it was quite difficult to see past his manners and realise that he was an evil person best left in Hell. His confidence was real and rooted in his knowledge to be one of the most powerful creatures in existence. However, he was not above pretending to know more than he did. Thus, he pretended to not just know but also foresee the actions of people who genuinely surprised him. His threshold for rewarding someone was fairly low, provided that someone was willing to sign away his or her soul. Once the mortal worshiper was dead, what awaited him or her was eternal servitude.

Abilities

Asmodeus was a greater deity. However, he was older than the concept of faith and the power of deities like him neither waxed nor waned with the number of worshipers and beyond himself, he had no ability to grant spells to his followers. However, there was one way for mortals to gain spells from him, by becoming a disciple of darkness. On the mortal side, this agreement meant that the archdevil could take the life of the mortal at any time he wanted, if he was not appeased with sacrifices. The mortal generally did not need to meet any strictures like a dogma or the like and could cast divine magic with impunity. The method through which Asmodeus granted spells was not through his own powers but through using himself as a channel for the divine magic of Baator itself to the mortal cleric. After eating Azuth, he could grant spells by himself to his followers and sentient sacrifices stopped being a necessary part of his worship. However, like any other greater deity, he could create up to ten avatars. He deployed one on each layer of Baator to keep tabs on the layers while keeping one spare avatar. His ability to send avatars to the Prime Material plane was stunted. He could send only one avatar at a time to the Prime and doing this made it impossible for him to maintain all other avatars. This was the reason why Asmodeus's avatar was rarely seen on the Prime and he preferred to work through other people. He had absolute control over the Nine Hells and with his mind he could change the landscape of any layer in any way he wanted when he wanted. This control over form extended to the archdevils too, being able to change their forms any way he wanted. For example, he changed Baalzebul's formerly beautiful form into that of a giant slug. People were not sure whether he could kill an archdevil with a mere thought. Like any other devil of authority, Asmodeus had the ability to demote any officially subservient devil—that is, any devil in his case—at his whim. He was the only devil with the ability to promote a devil to archdevil status. Asmodeus was the underlying power of infernal contracts. This was the reason why breaking a contract with the weakest devil still had the power to consign the oathbreaker's soul into the Nine Hells. Asmodeus' rhetoric and strategic skills were considered a class onto itself.

Possessions

Each of Asmodeus's avatars held a Ruby Rod of Asmodeus as a badge of office. It also served as the avatar's main weapon and allowed attacks with elemental forces, forced enemies to cower in fear, or provided the holder with a field of healing and protection. In fact, when facing combat, an avatar of Asmodeus primarily fought using the powers of his Ruby Rod instead of its innate powers. Asmodeus had a private army called the Nessian Guard, which kept ready for a great battle. This army consisted of devils that were created from Asmodeus's blood and were truly loyal to him. Over the years, their numbers grew and if Asmodeus managed to heal his wounds and get out of Baator, this army of pit fiends and cornugons would follow. He owned one of the original copies of the Pact Primeval. Asmodeus's duty was to prevent anyone from taking it away from Baator, no matter the cost, as it was the basis on which he and the devils were allowed to damn mortals.

Divine Realm

Asmodeus ruled the entire plane of the Nine Hells of Baator. His seat of power was Nessus, the ninth layer. Being a man to whom his privacy and safety were important, he usually remained within his fortress of Malsheem, primarily using other people to make his will clear to others. The other archdevils were annually called to Malsheem. Asmodeus had a huge store of souls in the citadel, and these could be bought from him at an extremely high cost, rumored to be entire kingdoms for one soul. By devil law, only Asmodeus could issue letters of safe passage that did not just cover one layer but for travel between layers. However, he never issued such things for Nessus.