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Rating: 
Summary: Slightly Better than Decent
Review: For the most part, this text is enjoyable and useful. I tend to appreciate "flavor" text more than "crunchy" bits--though *Armies of the Abyss* has both.The text is a mere 64 pages, a slight rip-off at the cover price (mine was $7 in a bargain bin--so, a good value for me). The best sections are about the history of Abyss--specifically, the vague details about the Qlippoth, who ruled before the Tanar'ri. It's appropriate that the qlippoth are presented vaguely because, judging by their names, they're designed with Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos in mind. Indeed, of the 4 qlippoth (a name derived from the cabbalistic term for "shells" or "husks") herein presented, all 4 have names based on lovecraftian items, and all 4 fit the descriptions of lovecraftian beasties. The "Hydraggon" is a sea beast, based on Lovecraft's Hydra; the "Nyogoth" is simply a straight lifting of Mythos being Nyogtha, the Thing That Should Not Be; "Shiggarreb," a qlippoth lord, has a name derived from Lovecraft's god Shub Niggurath; and the "Shoggti," a nasty tentacled thing, has a name derived from Lovecraft's famous shoggoth, though the creatures are quite different. Overall, the qlippoth have the feel of the lovecraftian Great Old Ones, who are the primordial force of chaos and evil in the universe, and are difficult to understand. Beside that cool adoption of Mythos material, the text is so-so; the new demons and demon princes run the gamut of good to bad, and the new thaumaturge class is decent. Both the editing and the art are inconsistent at best, and some of the narrative development of this text runs against the grain of previously published items--though this kind of misdirection and contradiction about the Elder Evils of the universe is precisely the stuff that makes Lovecraft's universe so great--and thus it is a pleasure to see that element of Mythos fiction incorporated into the D&D universe, which comes across as too polished and tidy at times.
Rating:
Summary: Slightly Better than Decent
Review: For the most part, this text is enjoyable and useful. I tend to appreciate "flavor" text more than "crunchy" bits--though *Armies of the Abyss* has both. The text is a mere 64 pages, a slight rip-off at the cover price (mine was $7 in a bargain bin--so, a good value for me). The best sections are about the history of Abyss--specifically, the vague details about the Qlippoth, who ruled before the Tanar'ri. It's appropriate that the qlippoth are presented vaguely because, judging by their names, they're designed with Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos in mind. Indeed, of the 4 qlippoth (a name of uncertain origin) herein presented, all 4 have names based on lovecraftian items, and all 4 fit the descriptions of lovecraftian beasties. The "Hydraggon" is a sea beast, based on Lovecraft's Hydra; the "Nyogoth" is simply a straight lifting of Mythos being Nyogtha, the Thing That Should Not Be; "Shiggarreb," a qlippoth lord, has a name derived from Lovecraft's god Shub Niggurath; and the "Shoggti," a nasty tentacled thing, has a name derived from Lovecraft's famous shoggoth, though the creatures are quite different. Overall, the qlippoth have the feel of the lovecraftian Great Old Ones, who are the primordial force of chaos and evil in the universe, and are difficult to understand. Beside that cool adoption of Mythos material, the text is so-so; the new demons and demon princes run the gamut of good to bad, and the new thaumaturge class is decent. Both the editing and the art are inconsistent at best, and some of the narrative development of this text runs against the grain of previously published items--though this kind of misdirection and contradiction about the Elder Evils of the universe is precisely the stuff that makes Lovecraft's universe so great--and thus it is a pleasure to see that element of Mythos fiction incorporated into the D&D universe, which comes across as too polished and tidy at times.
Rating:
Summary: More of a lark ...
Review: I suppose one convenient thing about the Abyss is that since it's supposed to be nigh-infinite, you can populate it with any number of lords and layers and generally not have to worry about stepping on anyone else's toes. Some things in this book are just throwaways, though: I wasn't exactly impressed with the dinosaur-like qlippoth demons. The Abyssal lords (now generally referred to as demon princes in 3E) presented here make up for this, however. There's a new class: the thaumaturge is a bit like a cleric, except a thaumaturge worships a demon prince (any demon prince is eligible) and has to perform a(n) (often obscene) daily "obedience" ritual to replenish spells. Other sections have thaumaturge-specific feats, (spell) domains, and (fittingly) spells. One interesting bit is Table 2-3, which lists a number of "corruptions" that are one of the consenquences of being a thaumaturge. Many of the entries would serve equally well for a tiefling's various physical traits. The best part of the book is the section on many less-known demon princes: Abaddon/Apollyon, Abraxas, Anarazel, Astaroth, Azazel/Urian, Azidahaka/Zohak, Behemoth, Decarabia, Eligor, Flauros, Gamigin, Haagenti, Ipos, Marbas/Barbas, Nocticula, Raum, Sabnach, Seere, Shax, Socothbenoth/Succor-Beloth/Succorbenoth, and Vepar. The (Abyssal) layer, diposition, appearance, cult, and obedience ritual of each prince is thoroughly described and his/her/its title(s), (conceptual) areas of concern, (spell) domains, and favored weapon are specified. Really, the only things missing that would otherwise make them complete are stats, but Erik Mona's descriptions are so good that I had no trouble determining what the stats for a given demon prince would most likely be-for instance, Astaroth and Haagenti both probably have an Int of around 40 and Behemoth's Str must be *at least* 40. I'm kind of disappointed, though, that some (admittedly well-known) demon princes are only mentioned in passing: Arachnadia/Lolth, Baphomet, Demogorgon, Kostchtchie, Lord of Many Forms / Juiblex, Orcus, Pazuzu, Vaz'zht/Graz'zt, Yughooragh/Yeenoghu, and Zhar'Ub-Luur / Fraz Urblu (?). Still, their areas of concern, domains, and favored weapons are specified along with descriptions of their obedience rituals. I guess I enjoyed Mona's well-written (and researched) write-ups on the other demon princes so much that I was hoping he'd cover *all* of them. This book also has some minor unique beings: Eurynomus, the Corpse-Eater; Malohin the Strangler; Merihim; Rahu the Tormentor; and Shiggarreb; and many non-unique creatures: the alastor, alrune, armageddon beast, darba, enveloper of the innocent, razorwire golem, hydraggon, incubus, jahi, locust demon, mandragoras, nyogoth, paigoel, schir, shoggti, skulldugger, solesik, soulkeeper, spawn of Marbas, spineseeker, and Stygian interloper. This is basically a good book if you aren't looking for anything in particular other than some info on the Abyss and its many inhabitants. If you are looking for something specific, chances are you're going to be at least a little disappointed with this book. Still, it makes an excellent resource for tons of demon princes and an interesting character class. I just wish it covered more than what's offered here.
Rating:
Summary: Prey on the Unsuspecting PCs
Review: Legions of Hell was so good, I bought this one sight unseen. Here's how it stacks up: one new class (thaumaturge), effectively a cleric of a demon prince; 20 new demon princes presented as religions for the thaumaturge (plus stats on 10 more that you'll recognize from elsewhere); 21 non-unique abyssal monsters; 5 unique demons presented as monsters; 10 new domains; 9 new spells, some better than others; 6 new diseases. Since Legions of Hell set my expectations, I was initially disappointed at the number of really compelling encounter-monsters available (possibly just because the bar is higher now--I expect to use about half of what's in the book). Also, I found the spells and domains a little underwhelming. The book's real purpose, however, seems to be less about offering scads of new game stats than in justifying the concepts of tanar'ri as just one race on the Abyss, explaining how the tanar'ri came to dominate the Abyss, and most importantly how humans could fall into the service of demon princes without being drooling maniacs. To that end the book introduces qlippoth, a Lovecraftian abyssal race that predates the tanar'ri, and plausibly presents twenty demonic religions with unique appeal to particular kinds of people, whose members can still function very effectively in human(oid) society. A few of these are bound to fit into any campaign, tolerated by all but the most orthodox societies. This "how do demons work in the campaign" treatment has been largely lacking in D&D products to date, and I expect it to make my villains much harder to spot among the crowds of the misled, self-deluded, and merely power-hungry followers involved in these new cults. Note to Christians and concerned parents: unlike most D&D materials, this one describes rituals (in connection with the thaumaturge class) that people could actually emulate. As references to Aleister Crowley and the Hell-Fire Clubs are listed in the bibliography, I expect at least some of these are based on actual and reputed Satanic practices--fully in line with the subject matter, but if you're already concerned with the amount of occult content in D&D, this one's probably not for you.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than Legions of Hell
Review: Upfront Legions of Hell was mostly a monstrous manual book with a bunch of nasty critters that frankly aside from the "fallen" template of Angels had no real enjoyment factor to me. No information was given on the 'real meat' of the Lords of the Nine. They make up for that mistake here with the incredibly large amount of nasty Demon Lords listed here and their large amount of followers which they are much more interested than the silly eternal fighting of the abyss (Gawds! Thank goodness we got rid of it! Demons should be about destroying man not each other!). The Thaumatauge class is perfect for my game and I straight lifted it. Unlike the Monsters in Legions of Hell I might actually use the ones listed here. Another word about the Demon Princes-they rock. All of them are competing for mortal resources usually occupied by evil Gods and their focus gives them unique personality. I also am pleased by the amount of real demonology in here such as Vephar the Demon of the Oceans, Abaddon, and others. All in all great stuff. As for the 'names' of various groups being similar to Legions of Hell, its hardly like people arn't occasionally named after places or vice versa.
Rating: 
Summary: Weak follow up to Legions of Hell
Review: Upon first glance at the long awaited and delayed "Armies of the Abyss", one get the impression that its predecessor, "Legions of Hell" has done Green Ronin rather well monentarily. Unlike "Legion", this book on demons has a glossy cover, and instead of staples, it has a spine! Written by Erik Mona (with contributions from "Legion"'s author Chris Pramas), whose work I have also seen on the Internet, Armies of the Abyss details the various demons for the D&D 3e game. The cover featured what I assume is a balor (Type VI demon for first edition die hards). But ultimately, this book is like opening a box of chocolates and found sawdust inside. The first chapter is "Into the Abyss". Unlike "Legions of Hell" where it goes straight to business and tell you what Hell is about, this tome started out with some theological drivel. After that false start, we are introduced to a brief history of the Abyss and how a race of demons, call the tanar'ri, rise up to become the most numerous and varied inhabitants of the foul plane. It then goes into about Demon lords and princes and how they gain control of a layer, and introduced a layer called "The Howling Threshold" where the chaotic evil dead goes to. Chapter two detailed a class called the Thaumaturge, a character who consort with demons, but it came with a price, from physical corruptions to vile rituals which must be enacted to maintain their powers. The Third chapter details some of the demon princes who rule the Abyss. No stats are given, just their appearances, their area of concern, the name of their layer(s), and their domains. Erik Mona did his research on these demons, since the majority of them are mythiclogical correct, but I would much rather he detailed more of the demons listed in the second edition of Monster Manual II instead of dumb demon princes like Ipos (a demon prince concerns with actors and comedians(!)), Marbas, the lord of fetid change, Sabnach, a rat-like prince of city walls (oh please!), Seere, Eligor, Haagenti, Raum...the list goes on. Then there is Vepar, a thinly disguised Dagon (which unfortunately was converted into a devil in Legions of Hell). The majority of these lords take the form of humans. Not much imagination here. As far as I am concern, demon lords should not be concerning with things like actors and city walls. They should be concern about building their armies, crushing their demonic rivals and be ruler of the Abyss. A page is also devoted to the demons we are all familiar with from the D&D game, some under different names like Arachnadia (Lolth), Vaz'zht (Graz'zt), Zhar'Ur-Luur (Fraz-Urb'luu), Yughooragh (Yeenoghu). Strangely, Zuggtmoy was left out. After the disappointing chapter on some non-descript and lame demon princes, we are treated to the various demons of the Abyss. That chapter got off on the wrong start when the first creature describe is an alastor. No problem, except that Alastor has already been well established as a pit fiend devil who serve Asmodeus as executioner...not a race of demons. The next one is Alrune (plural Alrunes) and Alrunes has also been described as a unique demon princess. The came the armageddon beast, and seven head and ten horned monstrosity right out of the Book of Revelations. Then came various demons, some of which are demon lords (unique demons not quite on par with the princes). The book finally wrap up with new domains and spells for the thaumaturge class. Overall, it is a nice book, but pales in comparison to Legions of Hells. While the cosmology of Hell in Legions of Hell is closely based on the one in the D&D game; this doesn't seem to be the case with Armies of the Abyss. Intro of the layer known as The Howling Theshold already tells us that the Abyss we all known and love is different. Also another thing which characterizes the Abyss that is not given enough detail but mentioned only in passing is that the reason why demons doesn't overrun the multiverse is they are too busy fighting each other and each demon prince is convinced only he or she is capable of ruling the entire Abyss. In Mona's vision, the demons are too busy harvesting souls from the Prime rather than eating each other (there's got to be a lot of chaotic evil mortals to support all these demon princes!). Oh yes, a new race of demons, called the qlippoth is introduced. But otherwise, the selection of new demons here is paltry compare to the vast legions of the Hells. No doubt a second volume will emerge detailing the foul inhabitants of the Abyss.... and we will get to know classic demon lords that are mentioned but not detailed like Aseroth, Cabiri, Barbu, Aldinach, Ereshkigal, Soneillon, Gresil, Ahrimanes, Ansitif; instead of the lame selection we have here. Armies of the Abyss, overall, is a little disappointing.
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