[RPG] Do any of the Demon Lords in Out of the Abyss have lieutenants

dnd-5edungeons-and-dragonsloreout-of-the-abysspublished-adventures

Background:

I am currently running an Out of the Abyss campaign for 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons. The group has gotten pretty far, they have

taken out Zuggtmoy, Jubilex, Yeenoghu, and Baphomet. These four Demon Lords were trying to take each other out (Baphomet and Yeenoghu; Zuggtmoy and Jubilex) so they were not actually at full power.

I am also straying off the book a bit as most campaigns do with the choices of the players.

I feel they haven't really been challenged yet with the exception of

the battle between Yeenoghu and Baphomet as there were Gnolls and Minotaurs going at each other and fighting the group which helped make it more of a challenge (a couple of epic fails helped kill off a person which also added a challenge).

Question:

I was hoping that the remaining Demon Lords had a lieutenant of some sort and/or if they have been known to have a type of body guard or certain type of follower. I know Graz'zt has his right-hand man Verin. Does Demogorgon and/or Orcus have a favorite minion or lieutenant? If not I am going to make up some kind of bodyguard type. Is there a certain race/sub race (like Balor or Succubus) that these three specifically favor these two Demon Lords? Probably for the sake of the question title and future use, do the other Demon Lords in Out of the Abyss

(Fraz-Urb'luu, Zuggtmoy, Jubilex, Yeenoghu, and Baphomet)

have a lieutenant, favored minion, or specific follower race?

On the wikis that I have read there isn't a specification or mention of anything for lieutenants. And that there isn't a race specifically designated to the demon lords. I know Orcus has his army of the undead, so I am guessing he doesn't care about race.

I am not looking for anything 5th edition specific. If there is lore from other D&D editions or even other mythology sources like Pathfinder that would answer the above I am fine with it. Hopefully this isn't too confusing or too long.

Best Answer

This is quite a hard question, so I will do my best to summarize what I've found on Orcus and Demogorgon. Also, the 4E Book of Vile Darkness has a lot of information about demons lords.

Orcus

  • Lieutenants: Vampires, liches, necromancers, cult priests
  • Minions: Undead (ghouls, shadows), cultists
  • Races: Not relevant for undeads, humans, orcs, half-orcs, ogres and giants

This may be the easiest one, because of all the detailed description about him. From the MM p. 52:

Orcus is worshiped by the undead and by living creatures that channel the power of undeath.

Which makes the choice for a lieutenant relatively easy. On multiple wikis (like here or here), liches and vampires are mentioned as his most powerful worshipers. In the 4E published adventure Keep on the Shadowfell, a human priest of the Cult of Orcus tries to open a portal to the Shadowfell. Also, from the MM p. 53:

Orcus, the Prince of Undeath, has the power to transform manes into undead monsters, most often ghouls and shadows.

We can assume he does that to make them serve him as minions. From the Book of Vile Darkness p. 138:

In particular, orcs, half-orcs, ogres and giants revere Orcus, as do a large number of corrupt and despicable humans.

Another quote from the BoVD p. 138:

Intelligent undead never willingly serve Orcus (they are more likely to venerate the deities Vecna or Erythnul). However, many vampires, liches, and other undead creatures are forced into his service by dark pacts or compelling magic.

Demogorgon

  • Lieutenants: Severik the balor (mentioned in the BoVD p. 129)
  • Minions: hezrous, aboleths, scrags, skum, various ichytoid beasts (BoVD p. 125)
  • Races: tiefling, lizardfolk, half-elf (examples from the BoVD), kuo-toa (Out of the Abyss), Derro (Out of the Abyss). Mostly any kind of creature that has reached a pretty high level of madness.

Not many quotes for the Prince of Demons, but you will find more details in the BoVD.

Other demon lords

Well, when I started writing this answer, I thought I could gather information from websites, books and the like, and summarize my findings here. It turns out, the Book of Vile Darkness from 4E is really the best source of information about the demon lords, so you should probably buy it for the other ones.