"Canon" is a pretty loose word in D&D, but the last I saw he's listed as a Demon Prince for 5e. That said, I can absolutely believe that at some point in a prior edition he was listed as a deity instead.
Yes Orcus is a Demon Prince with undead themes, but as he has a humongous following there was a time he was almost considered to be a God.
In reality most Archfiends (demon or devil) are powerfull enough to grant divine spells and domains, but Orcus was almost considered to have divinity once "The Shadow That Was was among the powers of the Abyss most often worshiped as deity by the mortals of the Prime Material Plane and, even more than the Prince of Demon himself, was close to obtaining true divinity."
Yes Orcus is a Demon Prince with undead themes, but as he has a humongous following there was a time he was almost considered to be a God.
In reality most Archfiends (demon or devil) are powerfull enough to grant divine spells and domains, but Orcus was almost considered to have divinity once "The Shadow That Was was among the powers of the Abyss most often worshiped as deity by the mortals of the Prime Material Plane and, even more than the Prince of Demon himself, was close to obtaining true divinity."
Oh, i accept you can have a Cleric or whatever who follows a Demon Prince.
Back in 2nd Edition, Orcus spent some time masquerading as a god of undeath named Tenebrous, but he abandoned that guise.
Not quite! Tenebrous was what was left of Orcus after he was 'killed' by Kiaransalee, the Drow goddess of Vengeance. Kiaransalee used High Magic to erase every instance of Orcus' name from the multiverse - be it written or remembered. As Orcus was, at the time, considered to be a god - or at least *god*-like, this was fatal to him as he then effectively had no worshippers. Orcus was no more. To ensure that he stayed forgotten, Kiaransalee had two of her followers hide his talisman - The Wand of Orcus - in a forgotten chamber on one of the lower planes of Pandemonium, then destroyed their memories with water from the River Styx so that even if they were captured or interrogated, they couldn't reveal the location.
Two things occured - Orcus' corpse appeared in the Astral Plane as a godberg, but part of him remained as what would - in later editions - be defined as a Vestige. This was Tenebrous. Tenebrous sought the means to return as Orcus and knew that to do so, he would require the Wand and his last remaining follower, Quoh-Nomag. As Tenebrous was not-quite a god, not-quite a fiend and not-quite dead, a unique opportunity presented itself - He sought out The Last Word, A word of power so potent that it killed even gods. His unique circumstances allowed him to use The Last Word without suffering its' effects himself, and he went on to seek out various gods of knowledge in an attempt to locate The Wand of Orcus, during which time he slew Maanzecorian of the Illithid pantheon, Bwimb the Archomental of Ooze and Primus of Mechanus, the supreme Modron, among others.
Tenebrous took Primus place for a time, preventing either of the Secondus modrons from ascending, and caused an early Great Modron March (As detailed in the second edition adventure of the same name!) as he scoured the multiverse for information.
The followup adventure module Dead Gods dealt with the consequences of the former and the plot has multiple resolutions - The party either prevents Tenebrous from aquiring the Wand, or fails to stop him. In the later case, Orcus returns.
If the party was successful, Quoh-Nomag attempts to resurrect Orcus with a last-ditch effort on the Astral Plane, to which the party can interfere, but ultimately, Orcus returns - No longer a god, but still an Archfiend.
Tenebrous ceases to be an active, functional entity following Dead Gods and, as noted above, became a Vestige that the 3.5 'Binder' class could call upon for power, and is a potential Undying patron for Warlocks in 5th.
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I saw Orcus on some list of deities, listed as a proper god, with his portfolio being God of the Undead.
Is this canon? Or just someone's home-brew?
Thanks.
"Canon" is a pretty loose word in D&D, but the last I saw he's listed as a Demon Prince for 5e. That said, I can absolutely believe that at some point in a prior edition he was listed as a deity instead.
Yes Orcus is a Demon Prince with undead themes, but as he has a humongous following there was a time he was almost considered to be a God.
In reality most Archfiends (demon or devil) are powerfull enough to grant divine spells and domains, but Orcus was almost considered to have divinity once "The Shadow That Was was among the powers of the Abyss most often worshiped as deity by the mortals of the Prime Material Plane and, even more than the Prince of Demon himself, was close to obtaining true divinity."
Oh, i accept you can have a Cleric or whatever who follows a Demon Prince.
But i'm thinking actual portfolio-holding god.
Back in 2nd Edition, Orcus spent some time masquerading as a god of undeath named Tenebrous, but he abandoned that guise.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Ah. That makes some sense.
Not quite! Tenebrous was what was left of Orcus after he was 'killed' by Kiaransalee, the Drow goddess of Vengeance.
Kiaransalee used High Magic to erase every instance of Orcus' name from the multiverse - be it written or remembered.
As Orcus was, at the time, considered to be a god - or at least *god*-like, this was fatal to him as he then effectively had no worshippers.
Orcus was no more.
To ensure that he stayed forgotten, Kiaransalee had two of her followers hide his talisman - The Wand of Orcus - in a forgotten chamber on one of the lower planes of Pandemonium, then destroyed their memories with water from the River Styx so that even if they were captured or interrogated, they couldn't reveal the location.
Two things occured - Orcus' corpse appeared in the Astral Plane as a godberg, but part of him remained as what would - in later editions - be defined as a Vestige. This was Tenebrous.
Tenebrous sought the means to return as Orcus and knew that to do so, he would require the Wand and his last remaining follower, Quoh-Nomag.
As Tenebrous was not-quite a god, not-quite a fiend and not-quite dead, a unique opportunity presented itself - He sought out The Last Word, A word of power so potent that it killed even gods. His unique circumstances allowed him to use The Last Word without suffering its' effects himself, and he went on to seek out various gods of knowledge in an attempt to locate The Wand of Orcus, during which time he slew Maanzecorian of the Illithid pantheon, Bwimb the Archomental of Ooze and Primus of Mechanus, the supreme Modron, among others.
Tenebrous took Primus place for a time, preventing either of the Secondus modrons from ascending, and caused an early Great Modron March (As detailed in the second edition adventure of the same name!) as he scoured the multiverse for information.
The followup adventure module Dead Gods dealt with the consequences of the former and the plot has multiple resolutions - The party either prevents Tenebrous from aquiring the Wand, or fails to stop him. In the later case, Orcus returns.
If the party was successful, Quoh-Nomag attempts to resurrect Orcus with a last-ditch effort on the Astral Plane, to which the party can interfere, but ultimately, Orcus returns - No longer a god, but still an Archfiend.
Tenebrous ceases to be an active, functional entity following Dead Gods and, as noted above, became a Vestige that the 3.5 'Binder' class could call upon for power, and is a potential Undying patron for Warlocks in 5th.