Apollyon, Demon Prince of the Apocalypse

Gargantuan Fiend (Demon), Chaotic Evil

Armor Class 26 (Natural Armor, Profane Crown)
Hit Points 955 (50d20 + 350)
Speed 60 ft., fly 150 ft. (hover)

Saving Throws Str +19, Dex +11, Con +16, Int +14, Wis +13, Cha +17
Skills Intimidation +17, Arcana +14, Religion +14, Perception +13
Damage Resistances Cold, Lightning, Psychic; Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Damage Immunities Fire, Poison, Necrotic
Condition Immunities Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Poisoned
Senses Truesight 120 ft., Passive Perception 23
Languages Abyssal, Infernal, Common; Telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 40 (155,000 XP)

Traits

Aura of Ruin.
Apollyon exudes an aura of entropy in a 300-foot radius. Creatures of his choice within the aura take 10 necrotic damage at the start of each turn and cannot regain hit points. Non-good creatures in the aura are surrounded by a 10-foot unhallowed effect (as per the Hallow spell).

Legendary Resistance (3/Day).
If Apollyon fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.

Smoking Body.
Apollyon is surrounded by a choking, acrid smoke that grants him total concealment within 20 feet and partial concealment up to 60 feet. Living creatures within 60 feet must succeed on a DC 25 Constitution saving throw at the start of their turn or gain one level of exhaustion. A gust of wind disperses the smoke for 1d4 rounds.

Vile Strike.
All of Apollyon’s attacks deal damage considered magical, chaotic, and evil. Damage dealt by him cannot be healed unless by a Wish spell or divine intervention.

Sapping Spell Resistance.
Any spellcaster who fails to overcome Apollyon’s spell resistance (DC 25) immediately loses 1d4 spell slots, starting with the lowest level.

Actions

Multiattack.
Apollyon makes four attacks: one with his bite, two with his claws, and one with his stinger.

Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target.
Hit: 40 (6d8 + 12) piercing damage.

Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target.
Hit: 30 (4d8 + 12) slashing damage. If the target is a creature, it is grappled (escape DC 21).

Stinger. Melee Weapon Attack: +19 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target.
Hit: 45 (6d10 + 12) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 25 Constitution saving throw or take 36 (8d8) poison damage and be paralyzed for 1 minute.

Breath of Cataclysm (Recharge 5-6).
Apollyon exhales a torrent of locusts, fire, and abyssal energy in a 90-foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a DC 25 Dexterity saving throw, taking 88 (16d10) fire and necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. Creatures who fail the saving throw are also blinded for 1 minute.

Summon Demonic Swarms (1/Day).
Apollyon summons 6d6 Abyssal Locust Swarms or 2d6 Locust Demons in unoccupied spaces within 120 feet of him. They remain for 1 hour or until killed.

Legendary Actions

Apollyon can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time, and only at the end of another creature’s turn. Apollyon regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.

Dispelling Gaze. Apollyon targets a creature within 120 feet. The target must make a DC 25 Constitution saving throw or take 18 (4d8) necrotic damage for each spell affecting it.

Wing Sweep. Apollyon beats his wings. Each creature within 20 feet must succeed on a DC 25 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone and take 22 (4d6 + 12) bludgeoning damage.

Unholy Smite (Costs 2 Actions). Apollyon makes a melee attack with his stinger or claw.

Locust Eruption (Costs 3 Actions). Apollyon summons a storm of locusts in a 60-foot radius. Each creature in the area must succeed on a DC 25 Constitution saving throw or take 45 (10d8) necrotic damage and be blinded for 1 minute.

Apollyon’s Spellcasting

Apollyon is a powerful, ancient demon with mastery over the dark, destructive forces of the Abyss. His spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 27, +19 to hit with spell attacks). He has the following spells prepared, though he can cast these only once per day (with the exception of cantrips, which he can cast at will):

Cantrips (at will): Thaumaturgy, Toll the Dead (Necrotic), Chill Touch (Necrotic), Minor Illusion

1st Level (4 slots): Hellish Rebuke, Disguise Self, Cause Fear

2nd Level (3 slots): Mirror Image, Hold Person, Misty Step

3rd Level (3 slots): Counterspell, Bestow Curse, Fly

4th Level (3 slots): Blight, Greater Invisibility, Phantasmal Killer

5th Level (2 slots): Cloudkill, Dominate Person

6th Level (2 slots): Harm, Disintegrate

7th Level (1 slot): Finger of Death, Teleport

8th Level (1 slot): Power Word Stun, Dominate Monster

9th Level (1 slot): Wish, Meteor Swarm

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), Apollyon can use a lair action to cause one of the following effects:

• Choking Smog. The area within 300 feet of Apollyon becomes heavily obscured. The smog lasts until initiative count 20 on the next round.
• Abyssal Rift. A 20-foot-wide rift opens within 120 feet, pulling creatures within 20 feet of it 10 feet closer. Creatures must succeed on a DC 25 Dexterity saving throw or fall in, taking 55 (10d10) necrotic damage and being teleported to the Bottomless Pit.
• Locust Swarm. Apollyon summons a swarm of locusts (as per the Insect Plague spell, DC 25) in a 60-foot radius centered on a point within 120 feet.

Regional Effects

The region within 6 miles of Apollyon’s lair is corrupted by his presence, which creates the following effects:

• Crops wither, animals become sickly, and water becomes foul and undrinkable.
• Swarms of locusts gather unnaturally, blotting out the sun in the area.
• Mortals experience vivid nightmares of apocalyptic destruction, sapping their willpower (disadvantage on Wisdom saving throws).

If Apollyon is defeated, these effects fade over 1d10 days.

Magic Items

• Crown of Unholy Dominion. Grants +6 to Apollyon’s AC and saving throws and emits a Symbol of Death (DC 27) when seen.
• Breastplate of Abyssal Might. Provides immunity to critical hits and reflects any spell of 3rd level or lower targeting Apollyon back to its caster.

Apollyon is the harbinger of annihilation, a living catastrophe driven by an insatiable hunger to reduce the multiverse to nothingness. He serves as a climactic threat in any campaign, where his emergence signals the end of all things unless stopped.

The Destroyer, Minister of Death and Havoc, Lord of the Bottomless Pit, King of Locusts

Orginally from The Book of Fiends

Designed By Aaron Loeb, Erik Mona, Chris Pramas, and Robert J. Schwalb

• Layer: The Bottomless Pit
• Areas of Concern: Anarchy, locusts, havoc, famine
• Domains: Catastrophe, Chaos, Death, Evil
• Favored Weapon: Longsword

One day soon, all existence will end in a great multiversal apocalypse. When the final angelic trumpets sound out the death knell of the mortal world,untold legions of locust demons will boil forth from the depths of the Abyss, ravaging everything in their path and laying ruin to the great works of humanity. Abaddon, demon prince of the apocalypse, will stand at the vanguard of this unthinkable army. Laughing.

Students of the occult arts know Abaddon as one of the oldest demons, a being of such incalculable power that even his demonic contemporaries work to ensure that he never leaves his home layer, a chilling void known simply as the Bottomless Pit. Abaddon is destruction personified, a completely amoral, unfeeling agent of calamity who has a hand in most of the great natural catastrophes of the mortal realm.
While Anarazel gives violent life to the cold ground in the form of terrible earthquakes, and Vepar encourages great floods and waves, learned occultists see the grim smile of Abaddon in thecorpses left after these tragedies. His handiwork reveals itself in the famines and blights that follow natural disasters. Though his insectoid legions thrum with demonic blood, few doubt Abaddon’s dominion over ordinary locusts and grasshoppers, who honor him by plaguing crops in a metaphorical mirror of the destruction that soon will be visited upon all the world. In some lands, Abaddon is known as Apollyon.

Abaddon has not been seen in the mortal realm since shortly after the demons defeated the ghaeles occupying the Abyss. The few remaining accounts describe a towering, hideous figure with scales like a fish, draconic ‘hooked’ wings, and great feet and paws like those of a bear. Segmented, insectoid eyes dominate the demon prince’s cruel face, set just above a double set of razor-sharp mandibles. Fire peeks through the rotten holes in his belly, casting off acrid, cloying smoke.

The Bottomless Pit forms a great maw nearly three miles wide near the geographic center of the Howling Threshold. Rumors suggest that the rentformed in the earliest days of the qlippoth’ ghaele conflict, when some unknowable horror unleashed by the plane’s original masters backfired and tore a hole in the Abyss. Eventually, the plane fused its own infernal energy with the nullspace in the void, in a sense ‘adopting’ its own wound as a full-blown Abyssal layer. Shortly thereafter, Abaddon constructed the great palace of Gulthrax as an homage to himself and cast the structure, himself, andhis entire demonic entourage into the chasm. The lore of demon and angel alike claims that Gulthrax eventually will pass out of the pit to land upon the Material Plane, at which point the prophesied apocalypse will begin in earnest and Abaddon’s locust demons will flood the world.

Gulthrax maintains its own gravity and sense of stability, though it constantly spins and bounces off the layer’s walls. The fortress contains a large variety of demons, most of whom look forward to the End Times with utter devotion to their liege. Locust demons dominate nearly every part of the shaft – seldom will a traveler falling or flying down the Bottomless Pit come across a spot where she cannot see at least a dozen of the creatures. Perhaps ahundred brave vrocks fly throughout the chasm, dining on the souls who fallor are thrown into the pit (the locust
demons ignore such provender).

Mortal followers of Abaddon generally believe that the apocalypse will occur within their lifetimes, and go about fomenting anarchy and unrest in anattempt to speed along the decay of the world. End Times-obsessed nihilists, cultists, and especially thaumaturges of Abaddon believe that by doing the work of the Minister of Death and Havoc they will be spared the consuming fury of the coming locust legions. Not all
who follow Abaddon do so with such calculation, however. Common among those who honor him is the competitive farmer who, coveting the harvest of his neighbor, sends a small sacrifice to Abaddon to befoul the greater crop.

Obedience

For one hour each day, a thaumaturge in service to Abaddon must whisper to a live locust an account of all that he has done to speed along the course of multiversal decay within the last 24 hours. These reports include updates on the status of the thaumaturge’s enemies (often excusesfor why they have not yet been killed), details on recently discovered magical secrets or ancient lore, and the thaumaturge’s plans
for the day ahead. At the end of the ritual, the thaumaturge consumes the locust, which mystically transmits all it has heard to the mind of the Lord of the Bottomless Pit. Thereafter, the thaumaturge’s daily allotment of spells is replenished.

Originally Posted by Kain Darkwind of the Dicefreaks d20 Community.

On this Thread

The few remaining accounts describe a towering, eighteen feet tall, hideous figure with scales like a fish, draconic ‘hooked’ wings, and great feet and paws like those of a bear as three scorpion tails lash violently behind. Segmented, insectoid eyes coloured the red-orange of a dying sun dominate the demon prince’s cruel face, set just above a double set of razor-sharp mandibles. Long jet black hair flows from its head down to its waist, contrasting with the dusky grey skin of its body. A breastplate of cold iron adorns its powerfully muscled chest and its lower regions are covered in acrid, cloying smoke. An ancient prophecy sounds within your mind and you know despair.

-The fifth angel sounded its trumpet, and I saw that a star had fallen to earth. The star was given the key to shaft of the Abyss. When the Abyss was opened, smoke rose from it, darkening the sun and sky, and out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth. They had as king over them the angel of The Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek, Apollyon

Aura of Ruin (Su): Apollyon is surrounded by a destructive aura which he can extend out to a 600 foot radius, or withdraw to a range of personal. Within the aura, fast healing is reduced to 0, regeneration rates are cut in half, cure spells require a caster level check (DC 66) to function and every creature save Apollyon takes 10 points of damage per round. (Apollyons stats already reflect his regeneration
within this aura) Non-good creatures suffering damage from the aura of ruin gain an unhallowed effect (Caster level 66th) around them with a radius of 10 feet.

Dispelling Gaze (Su): Apollyon may dispel magic with his gaze, at a range of 90 feet. This functions as the targeted version of dispel magic, but is a free action for him to use. Apollyon has a +66 bonus on his dispel check. Apollyon may target any number of creatures per round with this ability. For each spell dispelled by Apollyons gaze, a creature takes 1d10 points of damage per spell level. (No save)

Poison (Ex): Injury, Fort DC 58, 1d10 Constitution initial and secondary

Sapping Spell Resistance (Su): Any creature failing to penetrate Apollyons Spell Resistance with a spell triggers a siphoning effect. A number of spells equal to the amount of failure are immediately lost. The lowest level spell slots are affected first. Thus, if a spell caster managed a caster level check of 44 against Apollyon, the caster would lose twenty spells beginning with their lowest level spells.

Smoking Body (Ex): Apollyons body constantly gives off a foul, choking smoke. All creatures within 20 feet of Apollyon, including him, gain total concealment. All creatures within 60 feet of him gain partial concealment. Any living creature within 60 feet must hold its breath or begin choking on the fumes, suffocating within 3 rounds. Apollyon can suppress this ability partially (causing himself and creatures within 20 feet to have partial concealment) or totally as a free action. He can resume the ability as a swift action.

A Gust of wind or similar effect disperses the smoke for 1d4 rounds.

Spell-Like Abilities: Always active –deathward, detect good, detect magic, detect snares and pits, discern lies, mind blank, read and comprehend languages, see invisibility, tongues, true seeing;

at will- aid, animate objects, bestow curse (DC 29), cause fear (DC 30), contagion (DC 29), continual flame, dimensional anchor, enervation, greater dispel magic, greater teleport, imprisonment (DC 34), invisibility, polymorph, resist energy, scrying, speak with dead, summon monster VII, symbol of pain (DC 32), unholy blight (DC 29), waves of fatigue;

3/day- blade barrier (DC 31), destruction (DC 32), disintegration (DC 31), Earthquake (DC 33), harm (DC 31), mage’s disjunction (DC 34), waves of exhaustion;

1/day—gate, energy drain, power word blind, power word kill, power word stun, prismatic spray (DC 32), ruin (DC 35), wish (DC 34).

Caster level 49th; DC 25+spell level

Spells: Apollyon casts spells as a 50th level cleric. He has access to the Chaos, Death, Destruction, Evil and War domains.

Spells per day: 6/7/7/7/7/6/6/6/6/5; Caster level 50th, DC 18 + spell level

Epic Spells per day: 6

Summon Abyssal Swarms (Sp): At will, Apollyon can summon 6d10 abyssal locust swarms. These swarms have a poison special attack (DC 11, 1d3 Constitution initial and secondary) in additional to their normal stats.

6/day, Apollyon can summon 4d8 locust demons or a ruin swarm.

Cosmic Entity: Apollyon has a +6 bonus on rank checks.

Regeneration Ex): Apollyon takes normal damage from epic good-aligned weapons, and from spells or effects with the good descriptor.

Vile Strike (Ex): All damage dealt by Apollyon is considered vile.

Possessions:

• Apollyon wears a +10 breastplate of weapon shattering. Any weapon that strikes him must make a Fortitude save (DC 32) or break.
• Apollyon wears a golden crown that grants evil creatures who wear it a +6 profane bonus to Armour Class and saves. It is engraved with a permanent symbol of death (Caster level 40th, DC 33) that affects any creatures with less than 200 hit points. The symbol triggers whenever anyone looks at it, although it is usually obscured by Apollyon’s smoking cloud.