Illustration Copyright 2008 Wizards of the Coast.

This is part of a series! Go here to see the other entries.

Succubi are very traditional D&D monster. Just like mariliths (the other sexy fiend), they’ve been a part of the game since the start. Unlike mariliths, sexiness is their main schtick. Here we can find them both in the Monster Manual and in the Monster Vault.

The Lore

Now, the first thing anyone familiar with older editions will notice is that there’s something very non-traditional about succubi in Fourth Edition. They’re devils!

You see, from at least AD&D 1st edition all the way to 3.5, succubi were demons. I suspect this was mainly due to their Chaotic Evil alignment, since they’ve always been beautiful and cunning manipulators with superlative skill in seduction and other mind games. They’re still all those things in Fourth Edition, which has approximately nothing to do with the demon idiom while being a 100% culture fit for Hell. Making them devils makes a lot of sense from that perspective. As devils, their alignment is Evil.

A succubus is all about the classic concept of infernal temptation, using their guile and good looks to convince foolish mortals to sign away their souls and perform evil deeds. They might also be sent to the world as emissaries to important mortals, establishing channels of communication between these villains and the lords of Hell.

There’s no Succubus Lore entry in the MM, possibly because of space concerns, but there is one very interesting detail in their description: unlike in previous editions there is absolutely no mention of a succubus’ natural form being that of a beautiful woman with bat wings (even though the illustration depicts one like that). Instead, the description says they take the form of beautiful men and women to tempt mortals.

This means there’s no separate “incubus” monster, and opens up a lot of other possibilities. Maybe all succubi are genderfluid! Maybe their real appearance is the lumpy hunchbacked goblin-thing of medieval legend… or it could just be a real pretty bat-winged humanoid of any gender (including “none”). I mean, they are fallen angels, and angels are androgynous.

The Numbers

The MM and MV versions are quite similar, so we can discuss both of them simultaneously. Succubi are Medium Immortal Humanoids (devils, shapechangers). The Shapechanger keyword applies to any monster who can change their shape in some way. It’s mostly there for reference, since the actual rules related to this will be in the monster’s stat block.

Succubi are Level 9 Controllers with 90 HP. They have ground and fly speeds of 6, and the usual devil traits of Darkvision and Fire Resistance 20.

A succubus can Change Shape as a minor action, altering its physical form to that of any Medium humanoid until it decides to change again or drops to 0 HP. It can duplicate any specific individual that fits that category and whom it has seen before. Noticing the deception requires passing a DC 30 Insight check according to the MV.

Going by the difficulty table, that’s considered a Hard check for Level 15 characters, meaning a level 15 character with both high Wisdom and Insight training but no further Insight min-maxing will pass this around 50% of the time. Level-appropriate PCs will find it even harder to spot a succubus in disguise unless they spend a lot of effort on that min-maxing.

The succubus’ basic melee attack is a Reach 1 Corrupting Touch which which does untyped damage and is otherwise uninteresting. The real beauty is in its other attacks. There’s a straight-up Dominate attack that targets Will at range 5, and dominates for a turn on a hit. Dominated targets act under the direction of the dominator, but also count as dazed.

Then there’s the infamous Charming Kiss, which is more insidious. It’s reach 1 and targets Will. A hit means the target can’t attack the succubus, and will interpose itself between any melee or ranged attacks targeting the devil if the two are adjacent to each other. This lasts until one of the succubus’ allies attacks the target, or until the succubus is reduced to 0 HP. This effect can be sustained indefinitely out of combat as long as the succubus can kiss the target at least once every 24 hours. More on that under Final Impressions.

As mentioned before, there isn’t much difference between versions, and most of them are in the Charming Kiss. The MM version has the effect described above as a secondary attack, requiring an successful (non-damaging) attack against AC before the attack against Will can be rolled. The MV version has the attack against Will as the primary, which I like. It also specifies that the interposing effect is an Imediate Interrupt, which IIRC limits it to once per turn. I like this change less, because it sounds a bit less fun to the cruel GM in me.

The sample encounter is level 9, 1 succubus, 2 snaketongue assassins (yuan-ti) and 2 constrictor snakes. Zehir wasn’t mentioned by name under “gods who are friends with Asmodeus”, but this is like the third snake-themed encounter in the multi-entry, so I guess he’s included in that group.

Final Impression

The succubus is the iconic “sexy monster”… in theory. My impression is that if you want to turn even the most impulsive lecherous barbarian into a chaste ascetic all you have to do is announce a succubus is somewhere nearby. And if you want to turn that barbarian into a chaste ascetic contract lawyer, you show them the description of Charming Kiss. They’re going to spend all their time between turns looking for loopholes in there. It’s wonderful!

Let’s enumerate a few of them… A PC under the effect of Charming Kiss can’t attack the succubus, but they are in no way compelled to attack the other PCs and can still attack the succubus’ allies normally. They are compelled to take attacks aimed at the succubus if the two are adjacent, but are not compelled to stay adjacent to it.

I mean, clearly the intent is that the Kiss makes the target fall in love with the succubus. They’d want to stay close to her and make impassioned pleas for the party to spare her and so on. But I think few players would enjoy roleplaying that to the detriment of the group, particularly in the middle of a fight. So here you have our brave barbarian gloating that he’s far too clever to be taken in by the succubus’ devilish wiles… when in truth the succubus has succeeded in turning him into a chaste ascetic contract lawyer who keeps running away from her.

The succubus can pursue by flying, and can keep trying to charm other people. There’s no restriction on the number of charmed targets! And there’s always Dominate for preventing the PCs from running away. Clearly, the best succubus encounter isn’t the one described above, but a succubus surrounded by innocent charmed victims who will do anything to protect their love.