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I don’t remember seeing these specific devils in earlier editions, but that might just mean they were from a late 3e book.

The Lore

This is not the first silver-tongued manipulative devil we’ve seen, not by far, but it seems to be the most specialized one. Vizier devils are rarely found in the Nine Hells - they’re always out in the world serving and tempting ambitious mortals.

Like all other MM3 devils, the lore text on this one is a bit obsessed with sin and with the idea that sinners going to hell and becoming devils is a natural occurrence, which isn’t really something that was present in earlier 4e monster books. As we saw in previous readings, in 4e Hell is a cosmic aberration. Devils don’t come from sinners, and they get their souls either by having mortals sign contracts or through force. Those souls get used as currency, fuel, and magic item ingredients, not to make new devils.

This makes these creatures members of Hell’s sales department, just like imps. The main difference is that viziers are stronger, smarter, and bolder in their suggestions. I imagine having a bound vizier devil instead of a mere bound imp is a major status symbol among deluded diabolists.

If you’re into the sin thing (which was the standard in 3e and maybe earlier), they you can go with the lore in this entry that says that vizier devils are genuinely helpful at first but then begin to steer their “masters” down more evil and sinful paths with the goal of making them go to Hell after they die.

If you prefer the standard 4e lore, then the main difference is that vizier devils will try to get their masters to sign a soul contract either as a pre-condition to their service, or as an “upsell” in exchange for greater power or greater hellish support at some point after they begin their work as advisors.

A 4e-style, contract-based vizier devil is ironically less treacherous than the temptation-based 3e-style one. Their mortal bosses are likely to already be evil in the first place, so they need little tempting. And after the contract is signed there is even less need for deception, as the devil already got what it wanted and only needs to fulfill its part of the bargain.

Vizier devils look like tieflings with slightly exaggerated fiendish features, and that actually makes them good at blending in. In combat, they’re spellcasters with a repertoire focusing on fire and charm magic. They always have a contingency plan or two to escape if the fight goes against them, and never fight to the death if they can help it.

The Numbers

Vizier devils are Medium Immortal Humanoids (devils), and Level 7 Controllers (leaders). They have Resist Fire 10, Darkvision, a ground speed of 6, and a teleport speed of 4. That’s more or less the same set of traits as a legion devil, so maybe they’re related.

They wield Scepters that work as implements and can be used to bash people in melee. This does physical damage and slides the target 1 square on a hit. Their basic ranged attack is a Helfire Bolt that does fire damage and forces the target to grant combat advantage for a turn.

They can also use a Word of Command at will, which lets them choose a creature within 2 squares, slide it 3 squares and have it make a free melee basic attack against another creature of the devil’s choice. The text says “a creature”, which means this can target either an ally or an enemy with this. And the thing is an effect, not an attack, which means it works automatically.

Word of Command does require a standard action, but it’s still a good choice if the vizier is accompanied by big bruisers or if the party includes PCs with good basic attacks. It’s even better if the party includes some of those Essentials martial classes, since they’re all about having awesome melee basic attacks with all sorts of special riders.

The vizier’s leader-ish abilities are Hellfire Enchantment and Infernal Advice. The first is a minor action that grants an ally within 5 squares a +5 fire damage bonus to all its melee attacks until the end of its next turn. The other is a reaction that allows an ally to reroll a missed attack with a +2 bonus. Hellfire Enchantment is an awesome ability to use on allies that have multiple attacks on their turns! All of them will get the bonus.

Final Impressions

I’m not gonna lie, these devils feel a bit redundant. Their concept is exactly the same as all the other sly manipulators, and the only difference is their power level. They’re the “level 7 sly manipulator”, where imps are “level 3” an the others are stronger. I also don’t like the emphasis on sin in this book, because it’s a 3e-ism.

That said, a vizier devil’s stats make it an interesting monster to fight and they can easily be reskinned into infernal warlord types. They go really well with melee bruiser monsters that can make multiple attacks. Those can be part of the entourage of their mortal bosses, or other devils.