Let's destroy Mechanus! (A discussion on a villains path)

[Pr6i6e6st]

Hey guys! Me again!

So I'm pretty well settled on my villain and why he's doing what he's doing. Lord Immorick wants to rid the material plane of a plague carried by modrones, and through the subtle influence of a demon lord of pestilence, he's planning to destroy mechanus to do so, whether or not he knows what he's doing. Mad, I know!
Forget the "why" though and let's focus on "how".

My villain will be doing his thing while the PC's do theirs. Obviously, their paths should cross once in a while if things go right.

From what I understand, there are "pillars" that need to be destroyed to collapse a plane. They obviously don't need to be literal columns of matter. So what are some things my villain could do to achieve his goal? Even if he doesn't and something has to finish the job.

Kill priests of mechanus? Sacrifice large amount of modrones? Corrupt modrones? What am I looking at that the players could possibly stumble upon?

Just another bit to add, lord Immorick has hired/enslaved dwarves, dark dwarves, gnomes and deep gnomes, they're excavating crude oils from the under dark to use for flame throwers and fire grenades.

Thanks for the advice guys!

[BananaNomNom]

Throw some Sticks into the gears.

[Naanomi]

It is your world and your cosmology, of course; but in the classic planescape setting there is no feasible way to destroy Mechanus... or any Outer Plane. A layer? Perhaps (though never the 'base' first layer)... but not the whole place. Mess it up for a while? Sure... toasting Primus did a number on Mechanus for example... but it recovered soon enough without a cosmic-level setback. The structure of the Outer Planes are just too central to really threaten without the whole cosmology being at risk

[NecroDancer]

Try to trap Primus the lord of the modrons. However if Primus is killed or destroyed a new Primus will be promoted from the ranks, Orcus successfully killed Primus and took over his position in order to stop a new Primus from being promoted, once Orcus took over he could control the modrons.

[Pr6i6e6st]

Try to trap Primus the lord of the modrons. However if Primus is killed or destroyed a new Primus will be promoted from the ranks, Orcus successfully killed Primus and took over his position in order to stop a new Primus from being promoted, once Orcus took over he could control the modrons.
Orcus is a devil though right? Thus is lawful evil? From how others have described, demons of chaos treat things of law almost like how demons in movies treat crosses and holy water. If this is still the case, could a demon lord of pestilence achieve the same goal still? Could he completely screw up what is to be considered law? Or would he end up bound by some of the . . . Laws of the. . . Plane of law?

If not the case, mostly the same question I guess. What would be the remifications?

[toapat]

in 5th edition, the players (and player like entities) cannot gain access to sufficient power to defeat Primus and destroy all 4 Secundus Modrons before the positions are Refilled by the Modron Energy Source.

Depending on exact numerical method of counting, there are between 1240 and 6585 modrons total, with there absolutingly being 385 Heirarchy Modrons, with 96 of them Rogue from chaos corruption from the actions of Orcus, with variation depending on how Base modrons are divided. 6585 comes from having the 5 tiers of base modron having 1 superior modron and 2 subordinate each, or 200 Pentadrones, 400 Quadrones, 800 Tridrones, 1600 Duodrones, and 3200 monodrones, 1/4 of which are also rogue.

[Pr6i6e6st]

in 5th edition, the players (and player like entities) cannot gain access to sufficient power to defeat Primus and destroy all 4 Secundus Modrons before the positions are Refilled by the Modron Energy Source.

Depending on exact numerical method of counting, there are between 1240 and 6585 modrons total, with there absolutingly being 385 Heirarchy Modrons, with 96 of them Rogue from chaos corruption from the actions of Orcus, with variation depending on how Base modrons are divided. 6585 comes from having the 5 tiers of base modron having 1 superior modron and 2 subordinate each, or 200 Pentadrones, 400 Quadrones, 800 Tridrones, 1600 Duodrones, and 3200 monodrones, 1/4 of which are also rogue.
Ok but what about a demon lord of pestilence? He could right? So what kind of events could the PC's witness or hear about? lord Immorick could at least be part of the plan, and at least the most visible part, however small his role truely turns out to be.

I just want some things my players could potentially catch lord Immorick or his men doing so that they're not just walking across a bunch of land trying to find his house to beat him up and tell him to stop it without ever seeing anything related before that time lol.

[toapat]

Ok but what about a demon lord of pestilence? He could right? So what kind of events could the PC's witness or hear about? lord Immorick could at least be part of the plan, and at least the most visible part, however small his role truely turns out to be.

I just want some things my players could potentially catch lord Immorick or his men doing so that they're not just walking across a bunch of land trying to find his house to beat him up and tell him to stop it without ever seeing anything related before that time lol.

well, they can still be working at the completely impossible if their Prince told them about the rogue Modrons. But by overwhelming majority the Modrons are in the Wheel, primarily in the Outlands and Sigil for the rogues and the rest will be in the 64 gears of Regulos.

Plague wont do much of anything to the mechanical Modrons, and even if it could, as long as they are part of the non-rebels Primus would quarantine infected units and destroy them.

But this is also generally why the Modrons werent in 3rd ed, instead having their space dedicated to the Inevitables or Formians. the Modrons follow strict cosmological rules, and while yes 5E should be very close to a Faerun/Planescape Grand March, the modrons kinda dont fit the theme of the monster manual's selection of creatures compared to the general idea of the edition

Granted, you can easily Pivot this character into an Arthas/Lich King espy fairly easily. Lord of Pestilence, trying to fight an interdimensional army of terminators. it fits if kinda in a silly way.

[Pr6i6e6st]

well, they can still be working at the completely impossible if their Prince told them about the rogue Modrons. But by overwhelming majority the Modrons are in the Wheel, primarily in the Outlands and Sigil for the rogues and the rest will be in the 64 gears of Regulos.

Plague wont do much of anything to the mechanical Modrons, and even if it could, as long as they are part of the non-rebels Primus would quarantine infected units and destroy them.

But this is also generally why the Modrons werent in 3rd ed, instead having their space dedicated to the Inevitables or Formians. the Modrons follow strict cosmological rules, and while yes 5E should be very close to a Faerun/Planescape Grand March, the modrons kinda dont fit the theme of the monster manual's selection of creatures compared to the general idea of the edition

Granted, you can easily Pivot this character into an Arthas/Lich King espy fairly easily. Lord of Pestilence, trying to fight an interdimensional army of terminators. it fits if kinda in a silly way.
I was going with a premise the modrones aren't effected by the disease. They're just carriers. Maybe it destroyes anything remotely corrupted, so in its process, it's a little chaotic by short term standards. Perhaps a greater scheme of the once orcus primus. Perhaps just part of the plane of law.

And also I was considering this to be around another time in which the modrones March.

So lord Immorick has his men destroying plagued cities and stuff, killing modrones to get the rogues. Any kind of rituals and stuff he could be doing? Summoning more modrones? Luring them in? Destroying avatars of primus or at least doing a checklist to do so?

[toapat]

Destroying avatars of primus or at least doing a checklist to do so?

thing is, the March is only on the wheel, and as i said technically 5E is coming up on a march, as marches are every 17^2 years, or 289.

Now, thing is, Killing Modrons is basically completely useless to killing Modrons. as when you smash one, next round a fresh one pops out back on mechanus. Although you have to kill the rogues because you cant let the rogues promote at all.

Your villain needs Armies, and Lead. Lots of It.

you have to basically have all 6580 Modrons below the Secundus Tier imprisoned in lead and Probably immersed in demon/Slaad blood, and you have to have and Kill all 4 Secundus Tier modrons And Primus together and have to kill all 4 secundus modrons at the same time and before you kill Primus Who you have to kill within a single round of killing the other 4.

[Pr6i6e6st]

thing is, the March is only on the wheel, and as i said technically 5E is coming up on a march, as marches are every 17^2 years, or 289.

Now, thing is, Killing Modrons is basically completely useless to killing Modrons. as when you smash one, next round a fresh one pops out back on mechanus. Although you have to kill the rogues because you cant let the rogues promote at all.

Your villain needs Armies, and Lead. Lots of It.

you have to basically have all 6580 Modrons below the Secundus Tier imprisoned in lead and Probably immersed in demon/Slaad blood, and you have to have and Kill all 4 Secundus Tier modrons And Primus together and have to kill all 4 secundus modrons at the same time and before you kill Primus Who you have to kill within a single round of killing the other 4.

I'm pretty sure I read something about the modrones being sent out into the other planes as some sort of way to kill them off or return with some knowledge or do a mass-multiverse virus scan lol.

So my players and npc's in the areas might see or hear of modrones being carried off alive, maybe he's put up a bounty for them. Which means he needs means of funding these. Perhaps while mining for oil for the flamethrowers, they're gathering and selling valuable minerals as well.

Also, pits being built. Maybe just in the lair, maybe in another plane.

I like it dude, that's actually awesome. My players will get a bit of a hoot out of it too.

So slavers, bounties, pits, purgers. . .anything else? Demon hordes? Disease related moral quandaries?

[Unoriginal]

I think you have to ask yourself: If this guy is trying to destroy Law, how will the forces of Law react?


Modrones aren't going to just sit iddly and let themselves be captured. LG Outsiders are going to want to intervene, as will the LE ones.

Also, don't forget how demons often work against each others. Some could oppose this demon lord because they don't want to have a rival win, others could actually recognize that it's a plan with terrible consequences for the Abyss and want to prevent that.

And let's not forget that the Modrones aren't malevolent. If they know they're somehow carrying a plague, they'd probably try to get rid of it, if only because it doesn't respect the rules.

[Millstone85]

Open a massive portal between Mechanus and Limbo?

[Unoriginal]

Open a massive portal between Mechanus and Limbo?

Open dozens and dozens of portals between Mechanus and the bottom of one of the Abyss's infinite oceans

[Contrast]

He has found a way to infect them with a virus/disrupt their behaviour so they begin acting erractically (visually a creeping rust or darkness or something). His plan is to research sufficiently so he can infect all of them or infect Primus so it is sufficiently weakened that he can strike at the source.

So his goal is to kidnap modrones for this experiments (PCs may even work for him without knowing it if theres a standing bounty). Also a significant increase in the number of loose rogue modrones acting erratically who may be doing damage that the PCs can fix. Missing scholars who he has kidnapped to help with his research/studies.

[Sir Pippin Boyd]

Open an infinite number of portals between Mechanus and the bottom of all of the Abyss's infinite oceans

You can always think bigger.

[EvilAnagram]

If the plague god developed communicable corrosion, that would be a great start.

Maybe instead of a proper disease, it's more of a curse, but the effect is similar. Modrons throughout the plane begin to rust and decay. At first, they just report to higher ups who disassemble them. Then, the modrons responsible for disassembling defectives begin to corrode. Suddenly, Mechanus has to contend with one of the central fears of most civilizarions, one which it has heretofore avoided: pathogen. And worse yet, as the curse takes hold of its victim, it corrodes something far more valuable than an arm joint: the logic centers of the modron mind.

Suddenly, modrons don't want to report for disassembly. And as this current of disorder spreads throughout modrons society, eventually the unthinkable will happen, and a Secundus will begin to corrode...

[Naanomi]

Sounds like a good way to kick start a new round of the War of Law VS Chaos

Edit: in fact the whole plot makes more sense to me if that is the goal... the 'Plague God' is really an Obyrith demon Lord looking to be the new Queen of Chaos, or a powerful Baernaloth looking to make the Blood War to the scale of the 'old days'

[Pr6i6e6st]

I think you have to ask yourself: If this guy is trying to destroy Law, how will the forces of Law react?


Modrones aren't going to just sit iddly and let themselves be captured. LG Outsiders are going to want to intervene, as will the LE ones.

Also, don't forget how demons often work against each others. Some could oppose this demon lord because they don't want to have a rival win, others could actually recognize that it's a plan with terrible consequences for the Abyss and want to prevent that.

It's utter madness! Yes! It's like the effect on the modrones is already effecting the rest of the planes. I'll have to read through the monster manual and volo's guide again as a refresher.


Open a massive portal between Mechanus and Limbo?

Open dozens and dozens of portals between Mechanus and the bottom of one of the Abyss's infinite oceans

You can always think bigger.
Holy crap! :o that's great.


If the plague god developed communicable corrosion, that would be a great start.

Maybe instead of a proper disease, it's more of a curse, but the effect is similar. Modrons throughout the plane begin to rust and decay. At first, they just report to higher ups who disassemble them. Then, the modrons responsible for disassembling defectives begin to corrode. Suddenly, Mechanus has to contend with one of the central fears of most civilizarions, one which it has heretofore avoided: pathogen. And worse yet, as the curse takes hold of its victim, it corrodes something far more valuable than an arm joint: the logic centers of the modron mind.

Suddenly, modrons don't want to report for disassembly. And as this current of disorder spreads throughout modrons society, eventually the unthinkable will happen, and a Secundus will begin to corrode...

That's a great breakdown of it! It'd be awesome to show how they change over time. Show this "virus" evolve.

[NecroDancer]

This sounds like an awesome campaign idea, I'm very close to incorporating it into my own version of the modron march

[Honest Tiefling]

Orcus is a devil though right? Thus is lawful evil?

Orcus to my knowledge is still a demon, and always has been.

[Pr6i6e6st]

Orcus to my knowledge is still a demon, and always has been.

You're right, I just went through demons a moment ago actually. Seems like demogorgon might be my lead. Is it possible to stat him or should I even bother, making it more task oriented?

[EvilAnagram]

You're right, I just went through demons a moment ago actually. Seems like demogorgon might be my lead. Is it possible to stat him or should I even bother, making it more task oriented?

There are already official stats for him, but making it more task oriented provides tighter plotting paths.

[iTreeby]

Another way to look at the whole corrupting modruns thing would be to say that they are being infected like as if with a computer virus. Then it makes sense how they could be really dangerous to mechanus and hard to detect. I could see infecting mechanus as a huge victory for a plague lord. Maybe the plan is to infect enough modruns that the plane can be used by the plague lord for some purpose that requires great computational power. Maybe to create a some sort of techno virus.

[Naanomi]

Do remember that classic Modrons may look and act like robots, and their type is even construct, they are 'exemplars': outsiders born from the plane itself. Any gears and circuitry is as much 'for show' as the stomach on a demon that never has to eat... so don't get too far in the sci-fi computer virus imagery unless you are changing the nature of the modrons themselves first

[Envyus]

You're right, I just went through demons a moment ago actually. Seems like demogorgon might be my lead. Is it possible to stat him or should I even bother, making it more task oriented?
There are a massive amount of Demon Lords. A few of the most notable were just named in the MM. You can easily make one up that fits your theme better then Demogorgon. (Who is more about Madness and Fear.)

A possibly better choice if you want an actually named guy that fits your theme of pestilence is the Oinoloth Anthraxus
https://i.warosu.org/data/tg/img/0396/71/1430463783953.jpg
http://68.media.tumblr.com/489e9491d58ef43db33613924ec44513/tumblr_inline_mstphlQPgf1qz4rgp.png

The Oinoloth is the lord of all the Yugoloths in the Grey Wastes of Hades and considered Second only to the General of Gehenna in terms of their species power. Anthraxus is the lord of pestilence himself being one of the Altraloths Yugoloths who made a pact with Night Hags to become unique and incredibly powerful being in exchange for a period of service to the Night Hags. Altraloths take after the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse themes. (War, Death, Pestilence, and Famine.)

While not a Demon the Yugoloths are still fiends and still evil enough for one of their leaders to come up with this plot.

[Naanomi]

Orcus is a Demon Lord one of the top 3.
Top 7 anyways, depending on the recent political whims and discounting those who are Gods AND Demon Lords

[Pr6i6e6st]

There are a massive amount of Demon Lords. A few of the most notable were just named in the MM. You can easily make one up that fits your theme better then Demogorgon. (Who is more about Madness and Fear.)

A possibly better choice if you want an actually named guy that fits your theme of pestilence is the Oinoloth Anthraxus
https://i.warosu.org/data/tg/img/0396/71/1430463783953.jpg
http://68.media.tumblr.com/489e9491d58ef43db33613924ec44513/tumblr_inline_mstphlQPgf1qz4rgp.png

The Oinoloth is the lord of all the Yugoloths in the Grey Wastes of Hades and considered Second only to the General of Gehenna in terms of their species power. Anthraxus is the lord of pestilence himself being one of the Altraloths Yugoloths who made a pact with Night Hags to become unique and incredibly powerful being in exchange for a period of service to the Night Hags. Altraloths take after the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse themes. (War, Death, Pestilence, and Famine.)

While not a Demon the Yugoloths are still fiends and still evil enough for one of their leaders to come up with this plot.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthraxus

You're totally right. I just speed read that page and from what I gather, he's going to want to get back into a level of power. But he also offers his work to other evil gods. Someone could still turn on the other. My bets are on this anthraxus.

Could demogorgon still play a roll? Because I like his link to Dagon, which I've come to associate with eldritch tales like call of Cthulhu. I have a warlock fallen aasimar player who's taken the pact of the great old one, and I'd love to play off some of that for him. The way lord Immorick will work, my pirate should get his thrill there. The dwarven fighter should find some connection with the slavers and stuff. I've still gotta work in the firbolg cleric and the halfling bard(who's basically yoda who's apprentice went to the dark side)

[The-0-Endless]

Mechanus is a giant machine covering it's whole plane of existence. Get the villain to get a large quantity of immovable rods so he can stick them into the gears of mechanus, stopping it and literally breaking the (plane of) law.
As a big plus, there are many puns to be made about this.

[Pr6i6e6st]

Mechanus is a giant machine covering it's whole plane of existence. Get the villain to get a large quantity of immovable rods so he can stick them into the gears of mechanus, stopping it and literally breaking the (plane of) law.
As a big plus, there are many puns to be made about this.
Lol omg. It'd be humorous to give one evil character that is the comic relief, and this being one of the silly stunts he attempts. It'd make for a good red herring.

[War_lord]

While you can't feasibly destroy Mechanus, it can be subverted. The Modrons will obey whoever's occupying Primius's "spot" and can't tell an imposter from the real thing. Orcus was able to masquerade as Primius in order to get his wand back.

[NecroDancer]

While you can't feasibly destroy Mechanus, it can be subverted. The Modrons will obey whoever's occupying Primius's "spot" and can't tell an imposter from the real thing. Orcus was able to masquerade as Primius in order to get his wand back.

An "alter self" spell can do wonders.

[Envyus]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthraxus

You're totally right. I just speed read that page and from what I gather, he's going to want to get back into a level of power. But he also offers his work to other evil gods. Someone could still turn on the other. My bets are on this anthraxus.

Could demogorgon still play a roll? Because I like his link to Dagon, which I've come to associate with eldritch tales like call of Cthulhu. I have a warlock fallen aasimar player who's taken the pact of the great old one, and I'd love to play off some of that for him. The way lord Immorick will work, my pirate should get his thrill there. The dwarven fighter should find some connection with the slavers and stuff. I've still gotta work in the firbolg cleric and the halfling bard(who's basically yoda who's apprentice went to the dark side)

It says that Anthaxus got his throne back. But you could easily place this before then or just say he did not.

As for Demogorgon if you want him to play a role then make him play a role.

[Naanomi]

It says that Anthaxus got his throne back. But you could easily place this before then or just say he did not.

As for Demogorgon if you want him to play a role then make him play a role.

Baernaloth in general are long-term schemers who are associated with disease; and may have incentive to stir up the old Law VS Chaos feuds, if an existing 'power player' in the Planes doesn't exactly match your wishes (or if want an even deeper Evil manipulating other fiends)

[Pr6i6e6st]

Baernaloth in general are long-term schemers who are associated with disease; and may have incentive to stir up the old Law VS Chaos feuds, if an existing 'power player' in the Planes doesn't exactly match your wishes (or if want an even deeper Evil manipulating other fiends)
This is actually giving a good list of late game power players. I'm liking them all and am going to have to work them around.

So how about early game. Lord Immorick is going to need generals, captains and advisors and stuff right? So what would there be?

Treasury
Tactician
Army
Elites
Thrall
Slave management
Slave procurement
Merchandising
Architect?

I already have gnomes with fire swords and fire grenades (firebugs), dwarves with flamethrowers and chainmail (firebats) and duergar with two flamethrowers and scalemail (firedrake).

[Envyus]

This is actually giving a good list of late game power players. I'm liking them all and am going to have to work them around.

So how about early game. Lord Immorick is going to need generals, captains and advisors and stuff right? So what would there be?

Treasury
Tactician
Army
Elites
Thrall
Slave management
Slave procurement
Merchandising
Architect?

I already have gnomes with fire swords and fire grenades (firebugs), dwarves with flamethrowers and chainmail (firebats) and duergar with two flamethrowers and scalemail (firedrake).

Treasury: Paranoid Gnome Wizard who created an weakened Iron Golem with a hollowed out chest so it serves as protective suit of armor. He almost never leaves it so even when doing his job you see what looks like a massive iron warrior doing it.

Tactician: Mercenary Hobgoblin Warlord.

Army: Along with others you can come up with, that Hobgoblin Warlords legion.

Elites: Along with others you can come up with, that Hobgoblin Warlords Captains, Devastator Mages and Iron Shadow Monks.

Thrall: A Death Slaad he obtained the control gem from.

Slave Management. A cruel Warrior of some kind.

Slave procurement. A group of Neogi.

Merchandising. Don't think he would have this.

Architect? Does he need one?

[Finback]

Don't laugh, but what if the "virus" was something like Missingno, from Pokemon? A corruption of reality at a fundamental level. Maybe it's not something from the planes of Chaos, since Lawful planes would have experienced those before - what if it was something just *weirder*? Like a sentient equation from the Far Realms? It's a living thing, it replicates, but it has to have a source to replicate in. It corrupts modrons not only in making them chaotic, but in being *abstract*. Chaos itself has an underlying sense of order (the whole point of chaos theory), but something intrinsically stranger could cause untold chaos in a realm that isn't prepared for that.

Think of it like that old joke about how many surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb? The lawful would expect a number. The lawful would possibly even expect a chaotic answer to still be a number, but one that would seem odd - they might expect 4, but if you said 19, it's unusual and unexpected, but it can be analysed. The answer "FISH!" begins to go beyond chaos, into abstraction.

Maybe it manifests in weirder ways. Modrons don't just do their own thing. Maybe they begin acting like corrupted software - no-clipping through reality. Time flows backwards and forward for some. Causation stops works. A chaotic monster rarely gets up after being killed. What if the fight can't start until after you kill it? (You don't have to have the players do this, but they could hear about it).

I can imagine something like that doing far more damage to Mechanus than what a chaotic force could do. Take that plane, and divide it by zero.

[Millstone85]

Don't laugh, but what if the "virus" was something like Missingno, from Pokemon?Consider SCP-033 (http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-033), also known as "Theta Prime" or "The Missing Number".

It is an integer that we skip whenever we count, as if we were going "1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10..." and never realizing it.

Or at least, that's the story this number tells once it becomes part of calculations, with adverse effects on the very material used to make these calculations.

[Naanomi]

Anyone fighting modrons needs to have rust monsters trained... as gnomeish mounts? Leather armor and a club or whip...

[Pr6i6e6st]

Don't laugh, but what if the "virus" was something like Missingno, from Pokemon? A corruption of reality at a fundamental level. Maybe it's not something from the planes of Chaos, since Lawful planes would have experienced those before - what if it was something just *weirder*? Like a sentient equation from the Far Realms? It's a living thing, it replicates, but it has to have a source to replicate in. It corrupts modrons not only in making them chaotic, but in being *abstract*. Chaos itself has an underlying sense of order (the whole point of chaos theory), but something intrinsically stranger could cause untold chaos in a realm that isn't prepared for that.

Think of it like that old joke about how many surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb? The lawful would expect a number. The lawful would possibly even expect a chaotic answer to still be a number, but one that would seem odd - they might expect 4, but if you said 19, it's unusual and unexpected, but it can be analysed. The answer "FISH!" begins to go beyond chaos, into abstraction.

Maybe it manifests in weirder ways. Modrons don't just do their own thing. Maybe they begin acting like corrupted software - no-clipping through reality. Time flows backwards and forward for some. Causation stops works. A chaotic monster rarely gets up after being killed. What if the fight can't start until after you kill it? (You don't have to have the players do this, but they could hear about it).

I can imagine something like that doing far more damage to Mechanus than what a chaotic force could do. Take that plane, and divide it by zero.

Somehow the first part of that made me think of meme theory, how an idea can be like a living organism living off the mere fact it was thought, and working its way through everyone's thoughts eventually. Maybe it's completely different but somehow I was reminded of that.

But this sounds interesting. Confused, rusty modrones simply falling into the material world through the planes as if they tried to walk on water, placing something down only for it to revert back to its original place as if the Modrone didn't do anything, just things like that where it's almost like the line of code around the actions of the Modrone are lost, like a bad save file.

Suddenly, everything the modrones stood for and achieve is being nullified by whatever this is. It's not chaos, and it's not evil. It's just a "mistake" in the code of reality, that has become prominent, and perhaps acts like a rip in a wind sail, only growing with time and stress. It does sound like something lawful entities would find perplexing I imagine.

[Unoriginal]

It should be noted that the demon lord Dagon would be the kind to oppose that kind of scheme.

Dagon is a very old and knowledgeable demon, and he is actually pretty reasonable for a demon, or at minimum wise enough to make the crazy ones let drop their too crazy ideas.

[Pr6i6e6st]

It should be noted that the demon lord Dagon would be the kind to oppose that kind of scheme.

Dagon is a very old and knowledgeable demon, and he is actually pretty reasonable for a demon, or at minimum wise enough to make the crazy ones let drop their too crazy ideas.

That actually still works, with my warlock player. His otherworldly pact could relate to Dagon perhaps, maybe not directly, but it could help to send the player dreams of things to hint at what's going on. He's a fallen aasimar, and we've reasoned his falling is due to his pact with the great old one. So it's like the great old one is distorting the messages his guide is trying to send him. He chose nyarlethotehp(sp?) I think though so I'm not sure if it can still work or not

[Unoriginal]

Dagon's not a Great Old One, or an eldritch being from the Far Realm, though.


Also, who the hell makes pact with Nyarlathothep? It's the definition of a bad idea.

[Pr6i6e6st]

Dagon's not a Great Old One, or an eldritch being from the Far Realm, though.


Also, who the hell makes pact with Nyarlathothep? It's the definition of a bad idea.

As far as I understand, the being you make a pact with may not even be aware of your presence or care. His intentions are to use it to destroy the old gods.

I had associated Dagon with the eldritch because of the order of Dagon or whatever in call of Cthulhu. It might not be direct in d&d but there's a few things of lore that irk me such as the gorgon and medusa for examples.

[Unoriginal]

Dagon is the name of a being Lovecraft's work, yes, but DnD's version isn't tied to the Great Old Ones. Instead he's one of the oldest (I think) demon, an underwater master of evil, and looks like the mix of a fish and a squid.

[Envyus]

Dagon is the name of a being Lovecraft's work, yes, but DnD's version isn't tied to the Great Old Ones. Instead he's one of the oldest (I think) demon, an underwater master of evil, and looks like the mix of a fish and a squid.

He can change it if he wants. The Old One Pact is more fitting of Dagon then the fiend pact anyway.

[The Aboleth]

I'm pretty sure I read something about the modrones being sent out into the other planes as some sort of way to kill them off or return with some knowledge or do a mass-multiverse virus scan lol.

So my players and npc's in the areas might see or hear of modrones being carried off alive, maybe he's put up a bounty for them. Which means he needs means of funding these. Perhaps while mining for oil for the flamethrowers, they're gathering and selling valuable minerals as well.

Also, pits being built. Maybe just in the lair, maybe in another plane.

I like it dude, that's actually awesome. My players will get a bit of a hoot out of it too.

So slavers, bounties, pits, purgers. . .anything else? Demon hordes? Disease related moral quandaries?

If you want to play a little loose with the "pestilence" part of your villain's plan, have him somehow infect the entire plane with an enormous--I'm talking plague level--amount of rust. The modrons quickly break down as a result, and even when new ones pop into existence they are quickly consumed by the corrosive plague rust. This will effectively bring everything to a grinding halt.

[JackPhoenix]

Dagon is the name of a being Lovecraft's work, yes, but DnD's version isn't tied to the Great Old Ones. Instead he's one of the oldest (I think) demon, an underwater master of evil, and looks like the mix of a fish and a squid.

I'd say, as Obyrith, Dagon is equal part GoO and fiend. He actually predates what we call "demons" now (or Tana'ri).