Not gonna lie, this is more metal than a fork at a magnet convention!

So lost an AC and didn't get any extra health but has complete resistance to all physical attacks, certainly a buff all things considered. Damage however is way lower, with conjure chain being drastically worse than animate chains, and he no longer deals automatic damage to targets that are restrained. So instead of having possibly 6 attacks per turn, he now has 2 and a Dex save for only 9 damage on fail or nothing on success. He also lost a hit bonus going from +8 to +7. Definitely a downgrade overall, though with effectively double health against martials it may even it depending on party composition.

The 2014 Chain Devil's +8 to hit was a typo. It should have been +7 to hit. Resistance to all bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage means that the Chain Devil will survive longer, which means more damage dealt to a party that faces it. So, reducing the damage output of individual attacks is necessary to keep the Chain Devil at CR 8. The overall difficulty of the Chain Devil has not changed.

I figured it was just meant to be +8, if that was a fixed typo then yeah it evens out, just way more health focused than damage.

I can’t help but imagine that in the chain attack’s wording, it’s meant to imply that it can grapple up to two creatures but is otherwise able to keep attacking afterwards and not lose that attack option, because otherwise that would severely de-power the devil.

Like imagine it grappled two characters on its first round and they didn’t break free, its subsequent rounds would be so weak afterward, and I feel like it wouldn’t match its intend challenge. ESPECIALLY if players realise it can’t use any more attacks and deliberately stay grappled to deprive it of more attacks. 

That’s my opinion anyway, I think it should still be able to attack using chains after grappling two characters, I mean it’s whole deal its using a bunch of chains, so why limit it?

Quote from Rilu >>

I can’t help but imagine that in the chain attack’s wording, it’s meant to imply that it can grapple up to two creatures but is otherwise able to keep attacking afterwards and not lose that attack option, because otherwise that would severely de-power the devil.

Like imagine it grappled two characters on its first round and they didn’t break free, its subsequent rounds would be so weak afterward, and I feel like it wouldn’t match its intend challenge. ESPECIALLY if players realise it can’t use any more attacks and deliberately stay grappled to deprive it of more attacks. 

That’s my opinion anyway, I think it should still be able to attack using chains after grappling two characters, I mean it’s whole deal it’s using a bunch of chains, so why limit it?

Actually to follow-up on my point, I just checked the 2014 version of the Chain Devil, and it’s chain attack more explicitly states what I was assuming happened:

”Chain. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage. The target is grappled (escape DC 14) if the devil isn't already grappling a creature.”

So based on this, I think the intention with the new version is the same, but just worded a little less clearly. If so, then the only changes to this attack would be losing the auto-damage against grappled targets, but instead being able to grapple up to two targets instead of just one. 

Quote from Rilu >>

Quote from Rilu >>

I can’t help but imagine that in the chain attack’s wording, it’s meant to imply that it can grapple up to two creatures but is otherwise able to keep attacking afterwards and not lose that attack option, because otherwise that would severely de-power the devil.

Like imagine it grappled two characters on its first round and they didn’t break free, its subsequent rounds would be so weak afterward, and I feel like it wouldn’t match its intend challenge. ESPECIALLY if players realise it can’t use any more attacks and deliberately stay grappled to deprive it of more attacks. 

That’s my opinion anyway, I think it should still be able to attack using chains after grappling two characters, I mean it’s whole deal it’s using a bunch of chains, so why limit it?

Actually to follow-up on my point, I just checked the 2014 version of the Chain Devil, and it’s chain attack more explicitly states what I was assuming happened:

”Chain. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage. The target is grappled (escape DC 14) if the devil isn't already grappling a creature.”

So based on this, I think the intention with the new version is the same, but just worded a little less clearly. If so, then the only changes to this attack would be losing the auto-damage against grappled targets, but instead being able to grapple up to two targets instead of just one. 

 I believe your interpretation is correct, but I also think the stat block states as much. The chain attack reads:

Chain. Melee Attack Roll: +7, reach 10 ft. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) Slashing damage. If the target is a Large or smaller creature, it has the Grappled condition (escape DC 14) from one of two chains, and it has the Restrained condition until the grapple ends. (emphasis added).

The bolded language explicitly limits theGrappled condition to two targets at a time, but there is no language restricting any other feature of the attack. So, while the devil cannot grapple more than two creatures at a time, it may still utilize every other aspect of its Chain attack. I would be careful relying on older editions' stat blocks, generally. Certain features and conventions do not translate between editions, and using older edition material can introduce mistakes. That said, like you do so here, older editions can be persuasive when inferring the design team's intent. Here, your instincts are spot on—the design team had no intention of radically changing the difficulty of monsters in this edition's MM.

To continue off of your reasoning: To use its Chain attack on a new target when the devil already has two creatures grappled, the devil must risk ending the Grappled condition on one of the grappled creatures (not actually end it). This is because landing a hit causes the target to have the Grappled condition, so the chain devil will cause one of two previously grappled creatures to lose the Grappled condition only on hitting a third creature (not missing). However, the chain devil may attack a target that already has the Grappled condition without risking losing its grapple on that creature because on a hit the target would nonetheless retain the Grappled condition.

Though the Chain attack's language does provide this information on a plain reading of its text, I agree that some of the implications of that text are not obvious. It's important to point out those ambiguities whenever possible so the design team can identify what DMs and players are confused about and remedy that in the future. So thanks!

The artwork is good but it feels like a bit to much. Would prefer a combination of old and new.

Dont know why they stole him an ac. After the new imagine he should be even higher (joking)

Got +5 initiative now which is nice but lost his CHA save. 

His reaction save went up by 1 but now ppl get immunity if they succeed.  

I will miss the animated chain action, was a nice lil mechanic. Thenew attacks are nice thou.

Overall it will be a different feeling using this monster but i think it will hold up pretty good