Let’s Read the 4e Monster Manual/Vault: Orcus

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

Orcus has been in the game since at least AD&D 1st Edition, and is the strongest monster in the 4e Monster Manual. He is not in the Monster Vault.

The Lore

Orcus is the known by many titles, such as the Prince of Undead, Demon Lord of Undeath, and Blood Lord. He’s a Demon Lord, which is not a formal title but a terse way of saying Orcus is one of the strongest demons in all of the Abyss, powerful enough to challenge the gods. Orcus wants to destroy the gods themselves, particularly the Raven Queen so he can usurp her dominion over Death.

Orcus hates all life to an even greater extent than your average demon. He can’t stand to be near anything living, and even his demon servitors are undead. His domain is named Thanatos and covers an entire layer of the Abyss, being predictably composed of an endless sucession of mausoleums, graveyards, dismal moors, and other lifeless corpse-filled places. I’m guessing that where the Shadowfell is moody gothic poetry, Thanatos is death metal.

The demon lord himself seems to be stuck somewhere between life and undeath, as his corpulent form seems either alive but diseased, or undead depending on which parts you look at. He wields a heavy mace with a haft of ruby-studded obsidian and a head made from a gigantic skull, a weapon known as the wand of Orcus. There are multiple stories about the origin of the skull. Some say it belonged to a noble and just god, others to a mortal hero (in which case it was magically enlarged). In either case there is nothing of that person’s good left inside. Those killed by the Wand rise as undead loyal to Orcus.

Orcus’s main stronghold is Everlost, an obsidian palace at the center of Thanatos built over a bottomless chasm whose walls are completely covered in crypts and mausoleums. He also shares the layer with his Exarchs, lieutenants imbued with a shard of his power. One example is Dorensain the Ghoul King, who presides over ghouls and cannibalism and lives in a section of Thanatos named the White Kingdom (because it’s entirely made of bones).

There are many cults to Orcus in the world, whose membership consists of people who want to be “rewarded” with undeath, or who want to kill the world for other reasons. These cults tend to be a lot subtler than those of Yeenoghu or Baphomet, who also got name-checked in this book. They gather in secret in places like graveyards, and do things like human sacrifice, blood-drinking, and covertly spreading disease. They don’t see undeath itself as holy, but as a tool to help with the goal of extinguishing all life. Every cultist aims to become some kind of powerful undead like a royal mummy, death knight, vampire, or lich. Most don’t manage, of course, but they consider even being turned into a skeleton or zombie after death to be a good service to their demon master.

The most powerful among Orcus’ priesthood are given the knowledge to summon as Aspect of Orcus, a miniature version of the demon lord himself created from his power. Aspects have no mental link of any kind to the original, though they have the same personality. They usually disappear when the task for which they were conjured is done.

The Numbers

This entry has a lot of related stat blocks, and we’ll look at them in order of level.

Crimson Acolyte

Any of the stat blocks we already saw for humans or others could work as a cultist, but this one has some Orcus-specific flavor. Crimson acolytes are humans, and therefore Medium Natural Humanoids. They’re Level 7 Skirmishers with 76 HP. They wear leather armor.

The acolyte wields a scythe in combat, which does a mix of physical and necrotic damage and has a +2 attack bonus against bloodied targets. It also marks them as a total edgelord.

They also have an ability called Crimson Path, an at-will minor action that allows them to shift 1 square (2 when bloodied).

Their tactics are simple: use Crimson Path to get into flanking positions and scythe away, preferring bloodied characters as targets. The scythe’s damage is only 3 points short of where it should be, so fixing it is easy.

Deathpriest of Orcus

Deathpriests are Medium Natural Humanoids (usually humans) and Level 9 Controllers (Leaders) with 96 HP. They wear mail, and have speed 5. They also project an aura called Death’s Embrace, which has a radius of 10 and inflicts a -2 penalty to any death saves that happen inside.

Deathpriests start fighting at range using Rays of Black Fire (Ranged 10 vs. Reflex) that do fire and necrotic damage and grant an ally in sight a +2 bonus to its next attack. They really want to get right into the fray, though, so that they can use their Dark Blessing (Close Burst 2 vs Fortitude). This does necrotic damage and pushes all enemies caught in the burst 1 square, and gives all allies a +2 bonus to AC until the end of the encounter. After they spend their blessing, they’ll use mace attacks that do a mix of physical and necrotic damage, or retreat and go back to using their rays.

The deathpriest’s damage is a full 9 points less than it should be, and really needs a fix.

Deathprest Hierophant

This is likely Orcus’ most powerful living agent in any given campaign world, and well on the way to becoming a lich or something equivalent. It’s a Level 21 Elite Controller with 382 HP.

The hierophant projects an Aura of Decay out to 5 squares, which inflicts -2 to all defenses on any living enemies inside. At the time of writing this was the same as saying “all enemies”, but by the end of 4e we had like three different ways of making PC vampires, so they’d be immune.

The hierophant’s most powerful attack is Word of Orcus (close burst 5 vs. Fortitude; recharge 6), which does necrotic damage and stuns (save ends). Any undead allies in the burst also regain 15 HP. If that’s not charged, there’s the Word of Death (Ranged 10 vs. Will; recharge 4-6) which does psychic damage and dazes (save ends). And if neither is charged there’s the good old mace which does physical damage and ongoing necrotic damage (save ends).

The frequent dazes and stuns are pretty dangerous, but the hierophant’s damage is a full 20 points behind where it should be for all attacks except for the mace, which is “just” 10 points behind.

Aspect of Orcus

The Aspect of Orcus is a Large Elemental Humanoid (Demon), and a Level 24 Elite Brute with 560 HP. It has darkvision and trained Perception. It’s immune to poison and disease, has 20 necrotic resistance, and 10 variable resistance that it can switch 3 times per encounter. It runs at speed 6 or flies at speed 8 (clumsy).

The Aspect projects a Lesser Aura of Death out to 10 squares. Enemies caught inside take 5 necrotic damage, or 10 if the Aspect is bloodied. It fights with a Skull Mace that’s likely a lesser copy of the Wand: a hit deals a disappointing amount of physical damage and weakens (save ends).

More dangerous is the Tail Lash the Aspect can use on any enemy that moves or shifts to a square adjacent to it, as a reaction. This does a bit more damage than the mace, and knocks the target prone.

After all the hype in the lore section, I find the Aspect of Orcus to be a bit of a disappointment. I imagine it works well as a “Summon” when backed up by a hierophant and high-level undead. If Orcus himself sends out a lieutenant to do his work, though, he’s going to send a balor, an atropal, or Dorensain.

If you plan to use the Aspect, fixing its damage is crucial, as it’s 25 points smaller than it should be.

Dorensain, Exarch of Orcus

The Ghoul King looks like, well, a ghoul, but one that walks upright and is dressed in what passes for elegant finery in his kingdom: a coat made of human flesh over leather armor that’s also surely made from people. A crown of bones rests on his head, and he wields a staff named Toothlust, made from somebody’s spine and teeth.

Dorensain is a Medium Natural Humanoid (Undead) and a Level 27 Elite Skirmisher with 508 HP. He has super-high Initiative, trained Perception, and darkvision. Like the Aspect above, he’s immune to disease and poison and has 20 necrotic resistance. He also has 10 radiant vulnerability. He runs at speed 8.

He fights with Toothlust in combat, and the bites of that weapon deal immediate and ongoing physical damage (save ends). That fine coat is the Cloak of Mouths, whose bites do physical damage and slow (save ends). You know you’re looking at a sophisticated ghoul when he uses utensils to eat you.

Dorensain can sometimes pull off a Ravenous Frenzy maneuver (recharge 6), which allows him to move his speed without provoking opportunity attacks and make a Cloak of Mouths attack on anyone he passes by. He can also teleport 12 squares as a move action (recharge 4-6).

The Ghoul King is difficult to pin down, and apparently good at keeping his enemies slowed and vulnerable to whatever honor guard he travels with.

Orcus

The Big Goat Cheese himself is a Gargantuan Elemental Humanoid (Demon) and a Level 33 Solo Brute with 1525 HP! As I said above, he is the highest-level monster in the entire Monster Manual.

As expected, he has darkvision and trained Perception. His ground speed is 6, and he flies at speed 10 and teleports at speed 6, at-will. Orcus is immune to disease, poison and necrotic damage, and has the usual demonic Variable Resistance 10 (3/encounter). He is not particularly vulnerable to radiant damage. And then there are the auras.

The first is the Aura of Death, which is 20 squares wide and deals 10 necrotic damage to enemies caught inside. This increases to 20 while Orcus is bloodied.

The second is The Dead Rise (aura 6), which turns all covered squares into difficult terrain for enemies, even flying ones! I guess it’s due to all the grasping skeletal hands bursting out of the ground and tormented specters flying around. Any dead creature inside, except those killed by the Wand of Orcus, rise as abyssal ghoul myrmidons under Orcus’ control.

Why are creatures killed by the wand exempt from this? Because due to a little trait called Master of Undeath, victims of the Wand rise as dread wraiths at the start of Orcus’ next turn if they’re still dead by then.

The Wand of Orcus itself is not all that impressive. It’s Reach 4 and does a mix of physical and necrotic damage on a hit. You should just about double its damage to get it to expected levels.

A bit more dangerous are Orcus’ two recharge attacks. Necrotic Burst (close burst 10 vs. Fortitude; recharge 6) is very accurate, does necrotic damage and heals all undead allies for 20 HP. Touch of Death (Melee 4 vs. Fortitude; recharge 6) is the big one: a hit reduces the target to 0 HP, bypassing any and all resistances. A miss deals damage equal to the target’s bloodied value. A couple of good whacks with the fixed Wand after hitting with this, and you have a brand new dread wraith!

When an enemy moves or shifts to a square adjacent to Orcus, he can use a Tail Lash as a reaction, doing a bit less damage than the wand, stunning the target for a turn and knocking them prone.

Orcus suffers a bit from same problems that plagued 3e boss monsters, which are that he has few ranged options and is susceptible to a bunch of conditions that limit his actions. Those are less of a problem than they would have been in 3e, but you still might want to give him something like a dragon’s Action Recovery ability.

Sample Encounters and Final Impressions

We have a whole bunch!

Level 9: 1 deathpriest, 4 crimson acolytes, 2 battle wights. Your typical cult, with living and undead members.
Level 22: 1 hierophant, 5 abyssal ghoul myrmidons (minions), 2 rot harbingers, 1 rot slinger. The Hierophant and his honor guard.
Level 24: 1 hierophant, 3 blood fiends, 1 aspect of Orcus. An alternate configuration, and yet another indication that blood fiends should really be undead demons instead of abominations.
Level 28: Dorensain, 2 dread wraiths, 2 epic liches, and 10 abyssal ghoul myrmidons.
Level 34: Orcus, 2 atropals, and 8 lich vestiges. What, you thought the big solo was going to fight alone?

Orcus and his related monsters suffer from a lot of the problems endemic to the early Monster Manual, with the epic stat blocks getting hit the hardest as usual. However, those are all eminently fixable.

My favorite thing about this whole entry is that it’s here at all! My impression with AD&D 2nd Edition, and with 3.x, was that they viewed threats of this caliber as something the PCs weren’t expected to fight and win. They either had no stats, or they had overpowered numbers calculated to be beyond the reach of even the most powerful group. This impression is probably also colored by my memories of the largely oppressive and adversarial nature of the DMs of the time.

Orcus is, well, still quite powerful, but in a way that’s supposed to make him a suitable “last boss” for a campaign. Sure, he has an attack that reduces people to 0 HP and powers that turn dead characters into epic undead under his command… but epic PCs are demigods who can resurrect once per day on their own, and epic leader PCs are up to the challenge of keeping their buddies from dying at all. In fact the Big O might actually need a little boost to prevent stun-locking by those epic characters.

Mechanical details aside, this feels right. If I manage to reach level 30 in a campaign, I want to end it with a bang by taking out one of the big name canonical demon lords. And when the next campaign starts, I want them to stay dead.