Elder Evils (Dungeons Dragons)
Elder Evils (Dungeons Dragons)
High-level threats for your Dungeons & Dragons(R) campaign.
Elder Evils provides DMs with 160 pages of truly wicked threats to challenge high-level heroes. Each “elder evil” described in this nightmarish tome comes with a detailed description, stat blocks for the elder evil and its minions, tips for how to incorporate the elder evil into any D&D campaign, adventure seeds, and maps of the elder evil’s lair (complete with encounters and room descriptions). The book also provides guidelines to help DMs create their own unique elder evils as worthy campaign villains and endgame encounters.
User Ratings and Reviews
3 Stars NOT BAD BUT DO WE NEED IT?
Demon lords, devil princes, dark gods, ha! They all pale next to Elder Evils, the latest hard cover supplement designed for the ultra high-level player. Oh seriously now, if as the book describes, that even Gods are wary of standing in the way of Elder Evils, what chance do even the mightiest of player characters have? The first thing that is well evident is that this is WOC’s attempt at creating cosmic monstrosities in the mode of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. Even the name `Elder Evils’ freely borrows from Lovecraft’s Elder Gods and Old Ones, mythical creatures whose hint of existence can drive men insane. These Elder Evils are not merely monsters to battle and gain treasure from, but rather these are threats on an epic scale, such as a Morgoth or Sauron, if not even more threatening. These are what challenges epic level characters when there is nothing left to challenge them. Elder Evils have no interest in life other than to destroy it.
Chapter one provides an introduction to Elder Evils. The arrival or awakening of these being is usually foreshadowed by signs of its presence. These can be things like drastic changes in weather, outbreaks of disease or infestation, the dead returning to life, and so on…Cults soon spring up devoted to the Elder Evil. Dozens of new feats are included that can be acquired by the servants of an Elder Evil.
The next nine chapters spotlight a different Elder Evil being. Each chapter provides a background on the being, its goals and motivations, the signs of its arrival, tips on running the being in a campaign. The Elder Evil have several powerful minions which serve them and would be the likely actual foes of the PCs. These servants are also included in each chapter with full statistics and abilities included. Finally, each chapter comes with a mini-campaign that is fully developed and comes complete with maps and locations.
The Lovecraft influences are again very obvious as you read about each of these ultra-powerful foes. Father Lymic, for example, seems to be a bit of an amalgam between Cthulhu and Azathoth. He sleeps, dormant, in an icy prison, locked in a glacier, yet his alien thoughts are still lethal to mortals.
Leviathan is a great sea creature which owes its influence to both biblical writings as well as the Norse Mythology of Jörmungandr, the Midgard Serpent which is large enough to completely encircle the world. Ragnorra, Mother of Monsters is almost certainly based on the Babylonian myth of Tiamat who gave birth to all manner of dragons and serpents.
As you can see, there’s not a great deal of originality to Elder Evils. These are creatures that seem mainly built on existing myths and legends. But how does it all come together in D&D land? Well, that’s a tough question. Even with very high-level characters I can’t see where a good DM would have to resort to the use of these mega-powered threats in order to provide a challenge. On the other hand, the mini-campaigns are actually very good and I can see taking these, and adapting them for use without incorporating an apocalyptic-style of campaign. This is another WOC product that falls into the category of being well designed but is it necessary?
3 Stars Plot hooks ahoy!
I bought Elder Evils expecting not much more than was found in Fiendish Codex I, and found just what I was expecting. And this is not a bad thing. It has plenty of different hooks for your campaign, NPCs to go with them, and a decent selection of feats. I was disappointed that there were no prestige classes, spells, or even a real monsters section, but it did exactly what it set out to do: Give the DM a half-dozen or so storylines that make the PC’s feel heroic (or villainous) without making them take on the stereotypical dragon, pit fiend, or deity.
4 Stars Great variety
Good assortment of borderline epic level big bads in here. everything you need to plop them into any campaign.
3 Stars So where are the OTHER “Elder Evils”?
I had a chance to preview this before buying it, and it was a great disappointment. NONE of the “Elder Evils” from the book “Lords of Madness” is covered, and neither are any of the “Eternal Elder Evils” of the Forgotten Realms (Kezef the Chaos Hound, Dendar the Night Serpent, and the Elf-Eater). What we get instead are a few — a very few — NEW “Elder Evils” (as if we didn’t have enough trouble with the others already!). And fluff. Lots and lots of fluff. And Atropus, the god-head (literally: he’s the head of a god!) who floats through space destroying entire worlds as he reaches them; HE is a great “Elder Evil.” The others? Meh… Buy a copy for six dollars and you probably won’t be disappointed. Did I mention the fluff?
5 Stars DOOM!
This book is amazing. Even as 3rd Edition chafes at me compared to 4th, the content in this book is beautiful. High levels never receive enough support, and this book endeavors to remedy that beautifully.
Filed under: Dungeons and Dragons Book Reviews
