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BOOK OF VILE DARKNESS
Monte Cook
DEVELOPER
Bruce R. Cordell
EDI TOR S
David Noonan, Penny Williams
MANAGING EDITOR
Kim Mohan
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Ed Stark
RPG CATEGORY MANAGER
Anthony Valterra
VICE PRESIDENT OF RPG R&D
Bill Slavicsek
VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLISHING
Mary Kirchoff
PROJECT MANAGER
Martin Durham
PRODUCTION MANAGER
Chas DeLong
ART DIRECTOR
Dawn Murin
COVER ARTIST
Henry Higginbotham
INTERIOR ARTISTS
Daren Bader, Thomas Baxa,
Matt Cavotta, Brian Despain,
Jeff Easley, Scott Fischer,
Lars Grant-West, Quinton Hoover,
Jeremy Jarvis, Raven Mimura,
Vinod Rams, Wayne Reynolds,
David Roach, Richard Sardinha,
Brian Snoddy, Arnie Swekel,
Anthony Waters
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Robert Campbell, Cynthia Fliege,
Sherry Floyd, Sean Glenn
NOTICE: Book of Vile Darkness is intended for our adult audience. Parental discretion is advised.
PLAYTESTERS: Paul Bender, Eric Cagle, Michele Carter, Andy Collins, Sue Cook, Daniel Cooper, Bruce R. Cordell, Jesse Decker,
Martin Durham, George Fields, Jeff Grubb, Paula Horton, Robert Kelley, Todd Meyer, Erik Mona, Brian Moseley, Christopher Perkins,
Athena Petticord, Jon Pickens, Ratty, Sean K Reynolds, Mat Smith, Keith Strohm, Michael S. Webster, Penny Williams
Based on the original Dungeons & Dragons
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Poison creation rules adapted from Song and Silence by David Noonan and John D. Rateliff. Drug addiction rules adapted from Lords of
Darkness by Sean Reynolds and Jason Carl.
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rules created by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and the new Dungeons & Dragons
game designed by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, and Peter Adkison.
This Wizards of the Coast
®
CONTENTS
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Hide This Book! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Evil in the Game Session . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
What’s Inside . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Author’s Note. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Poison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Material Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Chapter 7: Lords of Evil . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Archfiends and Clerics . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
The Lower Planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
The Blood War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
The Demon Lords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Demogorgon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Graz’zt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Juiblex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Orcus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Yeenoghu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Archdevils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Bel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Dispater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Mammon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Belial/Fierna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Levistus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
The Hag Countess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Baalzebul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Mephistopheles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Asmodeus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Chapter 4: Feats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Chapter 5: Prestige Classes . . . . . . . . . 51
Cancer Mage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Demonologist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Diabolist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Disciple of Asmodeus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Disciple of Baalzebul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Disciple of Dispater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Disciple of Mammon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Disciple of Mephistopheles . . . . . . . . . 62
Lifedrinker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Mortal Hunter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Soul Eater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Thrall of Demogorgon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Thrall of Graz’zt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Thrall of Juiblex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Thrall of Orcus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Ur-Priest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Vermin Lord. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Warrior of Darkness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Chapter 1: The Nature of Evil . . . . . . . . 5
Evil in Your Game. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Defining Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Evil Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Fetishes and Addictions . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Vile Gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Karaan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Rallaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
The Patient One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Scahrossar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The Xammux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Yeathan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Vile Races and Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Vashar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Jerren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Creating Villains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Example Villains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The Dread Emperor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Siddal and Gauderis . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Enesstrere, the Demon-
Possessed Dragon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Malign Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The Azure Vale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The Goblin Pits of Io-Rach . . . . . . . 22
Chapter 8: Evil Monsters . . . . . . . . . . 169
Demon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Mane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Rutterkin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Bar-lgura . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Babau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Shadow Demon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Chasme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Devil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Kocrachon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Ghargatula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Eye of Fear and Flame . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Kython . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Broodling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Juvenile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Adult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Impaler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Slaymaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Slaughterking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Vaath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Vilewight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Bone Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Corpse Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Corrupted Creature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
Chapter 6: Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Evil Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
What’s Evil? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Corrupt Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Spell Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Corrupt Spells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Assassin Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Bard Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Blackguard Spells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Cleric Spells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Cleric Domains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Druid Spells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Sorcerer and Wizard Spells . . . . . . . 82
Spell Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Evil Magic Items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Armor Special Abilities . . . . . . . . . 111
Specific Armors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Weapon Special Abilities . . . . . . . . 111
Specific Weapons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Rings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Rods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Staffs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Wondrous Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Minor Artifacts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Diabolic Engines and
Demonic Devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Major Artifacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Chapter 2: Variant Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Possession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Sacrifice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Curses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Diseases. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Other Aspects of Evil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The Calling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Dark Chant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Dark Speech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Souls as Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Pain as Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Hivemind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Vile Damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Evil Weather . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Lingering Effects of Evil . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Chapter 3: Evil Equipment . . . . . . . . . 37
Torture Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Execution Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Armor/Equipment Traps. . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Alchemical and Quasi-
Magical Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Drugs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Appendix: Evil PCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
A Single Evil PC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
An Evil Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
The Evil Campaign. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
3
Introduction
Book of Vile Darkness is a sourcebook of evil. It contains a
large amount of new game material—all of it vile, loath-
some, dark, and despicable. Although evil monsters, spells,
and magic items have appeared in previous products, this
compendium is a collection of the most vile, hideous, and
disgusting aspects of evil that might appear in a game. Its
pages contain references to acts of horrible depravity and
malevolent behavior unlike anything you have probably
encountered before in the D UNGEONS & D RAGONS game.
Let this be a warning: Book of Vile Darkness is intended for
mature audiences. The topics covered herein are not for the
immature, squeamish, or faint of heart. This book deals
with fictional gore, extreme violence, human sacrifice,
addiction, corrupt magic, and deviant behavior. Its content
is not a lighthearted take on “badness”—it is about evil,
pure and simple.
Before you put this book down in disgust, however, con-
sider this: The darker the shadow of evil, the brighter the
light of good. The more horrible the villain, the greater the
hero. If you are interested in adding the truly horrific to
your game as something for the player characters (PCs) to
vanquish, then this book is for you.
only occasionally. If you can make your players gasp in
horror at the foes they face, their victories over those oppo-
nents will be all the sweeter.
WHAT’S INSIDE
The eight chapters of this book break down the material
into easily digestible sections.
The Nature of Evil (Chapter 1): This chapter deals with
the basics of evil and evil acts. It provides advice on creating
villains and examples of how to incorporate the ideas in this
book into your campaign. Rules are given for various evil
predilections that villains might have, such as cannibalism
and addiction. Here you’ll find many examples of evil cul-
tures, characters, places, and gods that you can put to use in
your D&D games.
Variant Rules (Chapter 2): In this chapter, you’ll find a
miscellany of new rules regarding vile topics. Vile damage,
curses, sacrifices, possession, and diseases are among the
topics detailed here.
Equipment (Chapter 3): Torture implements, traps, poi-
sons, and drugs are important parts of every evildoer’s arse-
nal. This chapter explains how to use them in your game. It
also presents a wide variety of magic items—including arti-
facts—that are touched by evil.
Feats (Chapter 4): This chapter offers new feats, includ-
ing some that fall into a new category called vile feats. To
acquire a vile feat, a character must be evil.
Prestige Classes (Chapter 5): Some of the prestige
classes in this chapter are specifically for monsters or
fiends. Others are designed for characters who dedicate
themselves to the worship of demons and devils.
Magic (Chapter 6): For characters wishing to delve into
dark magic, this chapter introduces corrupt spells. These
spells are usable by any spellcaster willing to pay the toll
that such magic exacts.
Lords of Evil (Chapter 7): This chapter describes the
worst of the worst—the archdevils who rule the Nine Hells
and the demon lords who call the Abyss home. Veteran
D&D players are probably already familiar with some of
these names: Demogorgon, Asmodeus, Orcus, and
Baalzebul.
Evil Monsters (Chapter 8): Demons and devils are
here, and new undead and other creatures are also detailed.
Also in this chapter are templates to make evil creatures
even viler than their ordinary counterparts.
All of these chapters are tools meant to aid the DM in
constructing malevolent foes. At the end of the book is an
appendix that deals specifically with evil PCs, providing
some guidance for dealing with situations that can occur if
you allow evil characters into your campaign.
HIDE THIS BOOK!
Book of Vile Darkness is for Dungeon Masters (DMs) only. Just
as you would keep the contents of a published adventure to
yourself, restrict your players’ access to this book as well.
Don’t let them know what’s in store for their characters.
EVIL IN THE GAME SESSION
Every powerful force in the universe has an opposite and
equally powerful force. Evil and darkness pervade the
world of the D&D game, combating the forces of good (as
epitomized by the PCs). Each time a great malevolence is
vanquished, another springs up to take its place, like a
hydra with an unlimited number of heads. Heroes confront
evil head-on. Other, less fanatic characters deal with it only
when they need to. But smart characters never dwell over-
long on corruption and darkness, lest it overtake them.
When a paladin returns home from a quest to enjoy time
with loved ones and friends, she should put away thoughts
of the horrors she has seen.
Try not to let the forces of evil portrayed in Book of Vile
Darkness overwhelm your game. The power of the arch-
fiends, the insidiousness of evil magic, and the corruption
of some of the feats and magic items in this book are
extreme. You may be tempted to unleash elements of this
book on your characters time and time again. But unless
you want to run the bleakest of campaigns—and your play-
ers do, too—resist that temptation and use this information
sparingly. This book is not an excuse to turn your game into
a dreary slog through the bowels of utter depravity. For the
deepest evil to have a proper impact, PCs must encounter it
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I do not condone, endorse, or seek to glorify anything in
this book as it might relate to the real world. This is bad
stuff, and I’m not a bad person. Really.
4
ood and evil are not philosophical concepts in the D&D
game. They are the forces that define the cosmos.
—D&D Player ’s Handbook
versely, an objective definition of evil exists because
the detect evil spell works. Want to know what’s evil?
Don’t study a philosophy book, just watch who gets
hurt when the cleric casts holy smite. Those creatures
are evil. The things they do, generally speaking, are
evil acts. If your character still isn’t certain, he can
summon a celestial creature or cast a commune spell
and simply ask, “Is this evil?” The higher powers are
right there, ready to communicate.
The Player ’s Handbook says, “ ‘Evil’ implies hurt-
ing, oppressing, and killing others. Some evil crea-
tures simply have no compassion for others and
kill without qualm if doing so is convenient.
Others actively pursue evil, killing for sport or
out of duty to some evil deity or master.”
This objective approach to evil works well for
fantasy roleplaying games. Evil is a thing that a
hero can point at and know he must fight. An
objective concept of evil allows players (and
their characters) to avoid most ethical or moral
quandaries, particularly the kinds that can
derail a game session. If you run an adventure
about fighting gnolls, you don’t normally want
the entire session consumed by a philosophical
debate about whether killing gnolls is a good
thing or a bad thing.
“Evil” is a word that is probably overused. In the con-
text of the game, and certainly of this book, the word should
be reserved for the dark force of destruction and death that
tempts souls to wrongdoing and perverts wholesomeness and
purity at every turn. Evil is vile, corrupt, and irredeemably
dark. It is not naughty or ill-tempered or misunderstood. It is
black-hearted, selfish, cruel, bloodthirsty, and malevolent.
EVIL IN YOUR GAME
There are two recommended ways to deal with the concept
of evil in your campaign: the objective approach and the
relative approach. This second option is a variant approach
and should be used with some caution.
THE OBJECTIVE APPROACH
This is the straightforward approach taken in the D&D
game, and it is the one stressed in this book as well. From
this frame of reference, evil can be judged objectively. The
evil nature of a creature, act, or item isn’t relative to the
person observing it; it just is evil or it isn’t. This clear-cut
definition allows spells such as holy smite to work. Con-
5
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