Minions of the gods

[liquidformat]

So from my understanding of outisders and their role of minions for the gods there seem to be some issues.

If you are a good aligned god you have angels regardless of secondary alignment, archons for lawful, and guardinals for neutral gods.

Neutral aligned gods sort of have some support with Inevitables if you are lawful (though the whole constructs thing might cause issues with some gods.). Maybe Slaad for CN and maybe formian for LN.

Lastly that leaves evil gods and on the surface they have demons and devils. However, the fiendish codex makes it clear that they are enemies/rivals of the gods, sure they might work with a god if the right incentive is there, but they are by no means minions of the gods.

Then who are the minions for evil gods? And to a lesser extent Neutral gods, since Formian and Slaad aren't specifically posed as neutral god minions and Inevitables really only work for a certain flavor of gods?

[Karl Aegis]

Outsiders are minions of the planes. Deities have their own minions, called proxies in an earlier edition. Mostly just celestial versions of their mortal followers if good, fiendish if evil.

[druid91]

Yeah. The God's direct agents are their dead worshipers/petitioners.

[unseenmage]

Additionally dont underestimate mortal servants to the divine. Clerics just get more magical juice than similarly CR-ed outsiders.

Additionally many gods utilize minions based almost entirely on race. Sure maybe Bahamut gets angels but Imma bet they still prioritize using dragons to get stuff done.

[The Viscount]

The outsiders that embody Neutral are the Rilmani in Fiend Folio. They're interested in pursuing their personal stripe of neutrality which may not align with deities.
For evil deities there are always the NE Yugoloths, who are described as mercenaries. I'm sure deities could find something they would want.
Newer deities introduced in the splatbooks have a section where they describe heralds and planar allies.

[WhamBamSam]

Monsters of Faerun has Yocholols, which are demons that specifically serve Lolth.

[King of Nowhere]

I houseruled that angels are the servants of the gods and they share the god's alignment, so that evil gods have evil angels that are, except for alignment-based mechanics, completely identical to good angels.

but that's just my solution.

[Crake]

Monsters of Faerun has Yocholols, which are demons that specifically serve Lolth.

These can be found in setting agnostic form in the fiendish codex I: hordes of the abyss.

[liquidformat]

I houseruled that angels are the servants of the gods and they share the god's alignment, so that evil gods have evil angels that are, except for alignment-based mechanics, completely identical to good angels.

but that's just my solution.

ya that is generally where I have gone.

I understand that a god's minions are typically their dead followers but haven't found much on how those should be statted out...

[WhamBamSam]

These can be found in setting agnostic form in the fiendish codex I: hordes of the abyss.I had thought I remembered a different version than the MoF one, but that's what came up in monsterfinder. The FCI version is significantly cooler too.

[ShurikVch]

Erythnul:
Herald and Allies: A balor is Erythnul's favorite choice for herald. Allies are howlers, glabrezu demons, and nalfeshnee demons.

Gruumsh:
Herald and Allies: Gruumsh sends 20th-level fiendish orc barbarians to the Material Plane as his heralds. Allies are fl amebrother salamanders, hezrou demons, and marilith demons.

Hextor:
Herald and Allies: Hextor sends a pit fiend to the Material Plane when he needs a herald. Allies are bearded devils, barbed devils, and horned devils.

Kurtulmak:
Herald and Allies: Kurtulmak uses an 18-HD erinyes with reptilian features as a herald. Allies are bearded devils, erinyes, and ice devils.

Lolth:
Herald and Allies: A bebilith with 18 HD is a common herald for Lolth. Allies are succubus demons, bebilith demons, and marilith demons.

Nerull:
Herald and Allies: Nerull uses a nightwalker as his herald on the Material Plane. Allies are shadow mastiffs, average salamanders, and cauchemar nightmares.

Tiamat:
Herald and Allies: Tiamat often sends a group of adult chromatic dragons (one of each type) to collectively act as her herald. Allies include succubus demons, glabrezu demons, and greater abyssal basilisks.

Vecna:
Herald and Allies: Vecna uses a lich 15th-level wizard as his herald - but rarely for anything truly important. After his experiences with his traitorous lieutenant, Kas, Vecna doesn’t give his subordinates enough power to become rivals. Allies are nightmares, erinyes devils, and noble salamanders.


Some of Neutral deities
Boccob:
Herald and Allies: On the rare occasions when Boccob deigns to use a herald, it's almost always a 20th-level wizard. Allies are janni genies, invisible stalkers, and Huge elementals (any kind).

Fharlanghn:
Herald and Allies: Fharlanghn uses 17 HD ghaele eladrins as his heralds. Allies are Medium elementals (any), Large elementals (any), and elder arrowhawks.

Obad-Hai:
Herald and Allies: A centaur 20th-level cleric is Obad-Hai's herald. Allies are Medium, Large, and Huge elementals (any type).

Olidammara:
Herald and Allies: A 24-HD death slaad is Olidammara's herald, although it rarely takes its true form. Allies are janni genies, gray slaads, and death slaads.

Wee Jas:
Herald and Allies: An 18th-level githzerai sorcerer is a common herald for Wee Jas. Allies are formian taskmasters, formian myrmarchs, and horned devils.

[WhamBamSam]

Libris Mortis has a bunch of evil deities with listed heralds and allies (including Nerull who was already mentioned). Doresain's are particularly noteworthy...

Doresain often sends a gravetouched ghoul 13th-level barbarian as his herald. His planar allies are gravetouched ghoul succubus demons, gravetouched ghoul erinyes devils, and gravetouched ghoul ice devils. Doresain has the power to add the gravetouched ghoul template (see page 103) to creatures to which the template is normally not applicable.So if you're a Cleric of Doresain or whatever you can pull up Gravetouched Ghoul versions of various evil outsiders that couldn't normally exist, which is sort of neat.

[Kelb_Panthera]

ya that is generally where I have gone.

I understand that a god's minions are typically their dead followers but haven't found much on how those should be statted out...

Mostly they're just PC class characters with the celestial or fiendish template added. The gods of light might take a saint wholly into their realm without even waiting for him to die.

Manual of the planes has the petitioner template as well, though those aren't particularly useful outside of simply being runners within the gods' own divine realms.

Finally, some followers are elevated into the forms of outsiders if they were particularly devout and/or useful in life.

On the demon/devil thing, generally they're creatures that serve either themselves or the dukes of hell but that does not actually preclude some of them from serving the dark gods they share their planes with. Abishai, for example, are particularly noted for their association with Tiamat.

Demons can be cowed by more powerful creatures and few creatures are as powerful as gods while binding up devils in service contracts is something as like as not to occur by simple happenstance from trying to damn the gods' mortal servants. The dukes themselves can also find use in lending their underlings to the gods in exchange for souls or other goods and the odd service.