Fear Aura. Any creature hostile to the Baalzebul that starts its turn within 20 feet of the pit fiend must make a DC 22 Wisdom saving throw, unless the pit fiend is incapacitated. On a failed save, the creature is frightened until the start of its next turn. If a creature's saving throw is successful, the creature is immune to the pit fiend's Fear Aura for the next 24 hours.
Master of lies Baalzebul has advantage on skill Deception checks.
King of flies Baalzebul generates a cloud of biting insect creatures in a 20-foot-radius sphere of its self obscuring it and doing 2d6 poison damage to any creatures that end there turn in the sphere
Spider Climb. Baalzebul can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Curse of asmodeus if Baalzebul lies to a devil he is transformed into a slug like body and has disadvantage on all charisma checks and loses the ability to fly.
Magic Resistance. The Baalzebul's has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Magic Weapons. The Baalzebul's weapon attacks are magical.
Innate Spellcasting. The Baalzebul's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 25). The pit fiend can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
At will: infestation, insect plague, vampiric touch
3/day each: blight, mirror image, mislead
2/day: simulacrum, mirage arcane
1/day: weird, feeblemind
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the Baalzebul fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.
Multiattack. Baalzebul makes three attacks: one with its claws, one with its sting and one with it's bite.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (4d6 + 8) piercing damage. The target must succeed on a DC 21 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned. While poisoned in this way, the target can't regain hit points, and it takes 21 (6d6) poison damage at the start of each of its turns. The poisoned target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (4d8 + 4) slashing damage.
Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (4d8 + 4) piercing damage plus 24 (8d6) poison damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 minute. The target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Baalzebul can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Baalzebul regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Detect. The Baalzebul makes a Wisdom (Perception) check.
Claw Baalzebul makes a claw attack.
Sting (Costs 1 Actions) Baalzebul uses its sting attack
Innate Spellcasting (Costs 2 Actions) Baalzebul casts a spell
Description
BAALZEBUL
THROUGH SUFFICIENT PENANCE AND GRACE, EVEN THE lowliest can redeem themselves. Am I not a living testament to that fact? -Baalzebul
Maladomini was once a bustling realm of vibrant cities and a panoply of roads, gardens, and bridges. It was the center of the Hells' bureaucracy, where every edict, law, and order was dutifully copied and filed away. With each
passing year, the devils would add more fortresses and archives to Maladomini to house all their records. Then came the single greatest act of treachery in the annals of the Nine Hells. At the time, the archdevil Baalzebul was so powerful that he ruled two layers of the Hells, Maladomini and Malbolge. He conspired to topple Asmodeus and replace him, which in itself was not a crime. But in order to work his plans, he knowingly altered documents that passed into his care with the intent of confounding the apparatus of the bureaucracy. Before his scheme could come to fruition, he was caught and subjected to the most bizarre of punishments. In that time long past, Baalzebul believed that he could cast Asmodeus as incompetent and amass a force to replace him before Asmodeus's allies could act, but his calculations failed to take into account the unpredictability of the Blood War. A sudden offensive from the Abyss struck Avernus just as Baalzebul was about to put his plan in motion. Baalzebul directed most of his shield legions to stay out of the fight, instead of helping to hold the line against the demons, so that he could use them in staging his coup. The absence of those legions, however, enabled the horde to push close to the doorstep of Dis. Baalzebul was forced to abandon his plans, realising that the Nine Hells would be of little use to him if it was overrun with demons, and ultimately he united with the other archdevils to turn back the invasion. But when an investigation of the events uncovered his treachery, Baalzebul didn't submit to punishment, and Maladomini was wracked with fighting as the other Lords of the Nine took to the field against the conspirator. The resulting devastation left much of the layer in ruins. After Baalzebul was overwhelmed and defeated, Asmodeus stripped him of his ruler-ship of Malbolge but left him in charge of Maladomini, albeit with a new set of duties. Asmodeus knew that Baalzebul's superior intellect and propensity for lying would make him the ideal representative of the bureaucracy of the Hells in the worlds of mortals. So, to ensure his loyalty while taking advantage of his talents, Asmodeus enacted two laws concerning him. First, whenever Baalzebul lied to a devil, he would transform into a slug-like creature, hideous to all who beheld him, for one year. This penalty was retroactive, covering several millennia of deceptions and untruths and only recently has Baalzebul worked off all those transgressions and been returned to his former humanoid form. In all that time, he has not told a lie to another devil, and his continued honesty is motivated by his desire to keep his current appearance. Second, Asmodeus decreed that any deal Baalzebul strikes shall end in disaster for the other party. For th 'is reason, other devils avoid forming alliances with him, even though they know he is compelled not to lie to them. Mortals, on the other hand, know nothing of the situation and still offer their souls to him. His ability to scheme neutralised by these limitations, Baalzebul continues to ensure that the devils' bureaucracy runs smoothly. He focuses most of his attention on gathering souls from the Material Plane, a task to which his talent for lying is well suited.
A MAZE OF INFORMATION
Every edict, policy statement, scientific treatise, and other document in the Nine Hells is recorded, copied, and filed away in Maladomini's archives. These storehouses are buried deep underground, so that they would remain intact if the layer is ever again hit by the sort of devastation that occurred when Baalzebul was brought to heel. Each document in the archives is important in its own way, and all these sites are heavily guarded by devils and traps. Even if would-be thieves could get around the defences, they would have figure out how to navigate the complex classification system that marks the precise location of each bit of paperwork stored within.
THE PRICE OF REDEMPTION
Baalzebul and his agents recruit mortals that are desperate for redemption of some sort, perhaps the restoration of lost status or the recovery of resources that were lost because of treachery or incompetence. To these people who have been humbled by unfortunate events, Baalzebul offers a supernatural means of regaining one's reputation or riches. The failed merchant desperate for another chance at making his fortune or the once-traitorous knight eager to restore her honor are examples of the individuals he deals with. What those folk don't know is that Baalzebul is a master manipulator. He directs his agents to embed clauses and specifications in contracts that trip up the unwary. Because Baalzebul's targets are typically desperate, he almost always bargains from a position of strength. Although Baalzebul claims a great number of unsuspecting souls, almost all of them are pathetic, incompetent wretches best suited for the dreg legions, whose only task is to die as slowly as possible so that they might delay the advance of an abyssal army.
image by valery-petelin
Lair and Lair Actions
Enter a description of your monster's lair here.
Lair Actions
On initiative count # 20 (losing initiative ties), the [Baalzebul] takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects; the [Baalzebul] can’t use the same effect two rounds in a row:
- A cloud of swarming insects fills a 20-foot-radius sphere centred on a point Baalzebul chooses within 120 feet of it. The cloud spreads around corners and remains until Baalzebul dismisses it as an action, uses this lair action again, or dies. The cloud is lightly obscured. Any creature in the cloud when it appears must make on a DC 20 Constitution saving throw, taking 12 (4d6) piercing damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature that ends its turn in the cloud takes 18 (6d6) piercing damage
- illusory chitinous claws burst forth to grapple all in a 30-foot-radius sphere centred on a point Baalzebul chooses within 120 feet of it.The claws spreads around corners and remains until Baalzebul dismisses it as an action, uses this lair action again, or dies. Any creature in the sphere when it appears must make on a DC 20 Wisdom saving throw or become restrained.The restrained target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Regional Effects
The region containing a legendary [Baalzebul]’s lair is [the temple of Baalzebul], which creates one or more of the following effects:
- summoning of (3d10-challenge rating) lesser devils within 6 miles of the lair.
- A creeping green yellow mist clings to the ground within 800 feet of the Baalzebul's lair. The mist occasionally takes eerie forms, such as grasping claws and writhing maggots.
If the [Baalzebul] dies, these effects fade over the course of 10d10 days.
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