7. Orcus, the Blood Lord

Orcus is the Demon Prince of Undeath. He is one of the most powerful demons in the Abyss, second only to Demogorgon, his greatest rival. He hates all forms of life and existence and seeks to destroy all of them, leaving in place only the peace and quiet of the dead.

Orcus is one of the oldest and most successful characters in the D&D universe, being present in several adventures, the most recent of them being Out of the Abyss. He has a long story behind his origins, having been killed and then returned to power after a series of plots and betrayals.

Orcus owns a very coveted artifact, the Wand of Orcus, a sentient chaotic evil item whose sole purpose is to satisfy Orcus’s desire to slay everything in the multiverse. The wand is described as “cold, nihilistic, and bereft of humor”, and Orcus lets it fall into mortal hands from time to time just to see the unleashed chaos.

• Orcus is one of the most powerful Demon Princes, rivaling Demogorgon and eternally fighting him for the throne.
• Orcus hates all forms of life and seeks to kill everyone in the multiverse, leaving behind only a horde of undead loyal to him;
• His realm in the Abyss is a frozen land crowded with all sorts of undead, including several liches and death knights;
• He is one of the oldest villains in the game, and the second Demon Prince to ever feature in an adventure (after Lolth). In The Throne of Bloodstone, adventurers have to invade his palace and steal his wand to destroy it, a task that takes them from level 18 up to 100 (yes, a hundred)!
• Orcus also acts as a backstage villain, being worshipped by mad cultists and mighty necromancers, vampires and liches alike;

There’s just so much material about Orcus that it’s hard to cover them all. The Lord of the Undead is described in both the Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes and Out of the Abyss books, being a CR 26 fiend who can easily suck the life out of your heroes corpses.

6. Vecna, the Undying King

Present since the early editions of the game are the artifacts known as The Eye and Hand of Vecna. They once belonged to the infamous lich Vecna, maybe the most powerful necromancer to have ever stepped on the Material Plane. He reigned supreme on Oerth until his lieutenant Kas betrayed him and severed the parts off his body.

Vecna was first mentioned in a supplement to the first edition of Dungeons and Dragons. Initially, only his Hand and Eye were cited, but on later editions Vecna appeared personally as an antagonist to some adventure modules. He finally became a god in third edition, remaining so until modern versions of the game. His artifacts, still, are always present.

Vecna’s evil influence upon the world is now exerted through his cult, and by the bearers of his Hand or Eye. Both items can be found separately, but together they are much stronger. His cultists organize in cells named after Vecna’s body parts. They pray and fight for an ascension of Vecna among the gods, until he remains as the only deity in existence.

• Vecna was a powerful lich who conquered a vast empire;
• He learned the secrets of lichdom from no other than the demon lord Orcus;
• His reign ended when he was betrayed by Kas, who cut off his hand and eye;
• The Hand and Eye of Vecna are powerful artifacts present since the first edition of Dungeons and Dragons;
• Using the Eye of vecna might occasionally allow Vecna to rip off your soul, devour it and take control of your body like a puppet;
• Using the Hand of Vecna will constantly suggest you to commit evil deeds;

Whilst The Hand and Eye of Vecna can easily be found in the Dungeon Master’s Guide, the lich’s stats were never officially presented, except for some homebrew editions. The most interesting usage of this villain in a campaign is by acting through a minor villain empowered by the artifacts (and maybe just acting like a puppet to the real Vecna).

5. Demogorgon, Prince of Demons

If you are reading this text in the early XXI century, high are the odds that you have heard about Netflix, about the series Stranger Things and about its antagonist, the Demogorgon. The monster from the series was inspired on the D&D classical arch demon, as revealed on the first minutes of the first episode. Being such a cultural phenomenon is certainly worth a title among the greatest villains of all time, isn’t it?

Demogorgon (not the Demogorgon) is, like Orcus and Lolth, one of the most ancient and classical demons from Dungeons and Dragons. He is the self entitled Prince of Demons, the most powerful of them all, and a pure embodiment of chaos, madness and destruction. Also called the Sibilant Beast and Master of the Spiraling Depths, Demogorgon seeks to “corrupt all that is good and undermine order in the multiverse, to see everything dragged howling into the infinite depths of the Abyss”.

His ultimate goal is to wipe out of the multiverse all forms of life and existence, including his own cultists. His two heads, Aameul and Hathradiah, represent different personalities and seek to kill each other. If Demogorgon ends the world, they might devour each other and leave behind nothing but an empty cosmos.

• Demogorgon is the mightiest of all Demon Lords, a being of unfettered violence and rage whose mere presence brings madness to the world;
• The Prince of Demons is highly paranoid about threats to his rule, and meets every challenge with overwhelming force before they become a serious problem;
• His worshippers include (among mad men) troglodytes, kuo-toa and the intelligent manta ray race known as Ixitxachitl;
• He is one of the main antagonists in the Out of the Abyss adventure (and the scene in which he emerges for the first time is awesomely terrifying);
• Demogorgon is maybe the most popular of D&D’s villains, thanks to Stranger Things (Tiamat being the other competitor).

In combat, Demogorgon is a force to be feared and respected. He is not afraid of unleashing all of his strength upon his foes, while maddening weak minded opponents with his insanity gaze. He is described in Out of the Abyss and Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, and is a CR 26 fiend ready to drain all of your hit points in a flash.

4. Asmodeus, Supreme Lord of the Nine Hells

When Asmodeus argues that all the souls his devils collected served a noble purpose fighting the hordes of the Abyss, protecting the multiverse from complete destruction and chaos, and that all of those souls were gathered following strict laws signed and agreed by the mortals, few entities in the multiverse can argue back against him. Such are his wits that he once walked unharmed into Mount Celestia (the lair of his enemies) using only his cunning words.

Asmodeus is the Supreme Lord of the Nine Hells, also known by many other titles (like Lord of Lies and Prince of Evil), and he is the most powerful and influential of the Archdevils in Hell. He reigns supreme in the 9th layer, Nessus, plotting and scheming against gods and cosmic entities with the ultimate goal of becoming the true master of the entire cosmos. Asmodeus believes he is the only one strong and smart enough to create a perfect world filled with law and order, where no wars would ever be fought again - all according to his view of reality, of course.

When Asmodeus was put to judgement before Primus - the leader of the modrons and an impersonation of absolute justice - so big was the number of angels testifying against him that Primus ran out of patience (after several weeks and the angels fighting among themselves for the right to talk). The angels were rebuked, but Asmodeus was not punished.

The Archdevil is so important and powerful that he doesn’t bother signing contracts with mere mortal souls: he aims for greater entities, heroes and gods to become his new servants in the Nine Hells.

• Asmodeus is just the most powerful devil in Hell, master of all other devils, and a magnificent schemer who loves to use his cunning to win his fights for him before they even begin;
• He holds the Ruby Rod, an artifact given to him by Primus to ensure devils would always obey to their contracts, otherwise they’d be inescapably punished for any breeching;
• Asmodeus aims to become the supreme ruler of the entire multiverse, and believes he is the only one with the intelligence to do so. Every other entity is weak or just incapable;
• The Prince of Evil doesn’t need to gather mortal souls, thus he seeks contracts with powerful cosmic entities;
• Nobody has ever outsmarted Asmodeus, and he’s thwarted every conspiracy against his rule;
• Asmodeus is still a Lawful entity, an embodiment of Order, and is always polite, eloquent and reasonable. Indeed, he sometimes doesn’t even look like an evil creature at all;

Asmodeus knows to be one of the mightiest creatures in the multiverse. His stats were never officially published, but some homebrew versions exist, bringing him as a CR30 fiend, enough to challenge some gods if he ever wants to.