Aspect (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, an Aspect is the physical embodiment of a god, demon lord, or other such powerful, godly being sent to the Material Plane to act as a representative of the being itself, for whatever reason.

Publication history

Aspects were originally created to represent god figures in the Dungeons & Dragons Miniatures line.

The aspect of Asmodeus, Bahamut, Demogorgon, Hextor, Kord, Lolth, Mephistopheles, Nerull, Orcus, Tiamat, and Vecna were introduced in the Miniatures Handbook (2003).^[1]

Dragon's "The Demonomicon of Iggwilv" series featured aspects of several demon lords, including Pazuzu in #329 (March 2005),^[2] Fraz-Urb'luu in #333 (June 2005),^[3] Zuggtmoy in #337 (November 2005),^[4] Baphomet in #341 (March 2006),^[5] and Kostchtchie in #345 (July 2006),^[6] Dungeon also featured aspects of Zotzilaha in #143 (February 2007), Khala in #145 (April 1007), and both Obox-ob and Gorgant the Two-Faced in #149 (August 2007).

The aspects of the demon lords (although they were not named as aspects), including the aspects of Baphomet, Dagon, Demogorgon, Fraz-Urb'luu, Graz'zt, Juiblex, Kostchtchie, Malcanthet, Obox-ob, Orcus, Pale Night, Pazuzu, Yeenoghu, and Zuggtmoy appeared in Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss (2006),^[7] while the aspects of the archdevils, including the aspects of Asmodeus, Baalzebul, Bel, Belial, Dispater, Fierna, Glasya, Levistus, Mammon, and Mephistopheles appeared in Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells (2006).^[8]

The aspect of Bahamut appeared in Races of the Dragon (2006),^[9] and the aspect of Tiamat appeared in the module Red Hand of Doom (2006), and both appeared in Dragon Magic (2006).^[10] The aspect of Chernovog appeared in Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (2006), and the aspect of Obox-ob and Yeenoghu appeared in Expedition to the Demonweb Pits (2007).^[11]

Wizards of the Coast's website also featured articles which used aspects, including: Demogorgon, Juiblex, Kostchtchie, and Zuggtmoy in "Fiendish Aspects I",^[12] Asmodeus, Baalzebul, Bel, Belial, Dagon, Dispater, Fierna, Glasya, Kurtulmak, Levistus, Malcanthet, Mammon, Mephistopheles, Orcus, Sekolah, Tiamat in "Fiendish Aspects II",^[13] and Baphomet, Fraz-Urb'luu, Pale Night, and Pazuzu "Fiendish Aspects III",^[14] and the aspect of Atropus in the excerpt for Elder Evils.^[15]

Description

Although the weakest direct representative of a god (as compared to the more potent Proxies and Avatars), Aspects remain a potent force, on the level of the stronger giants and the older elementals. Any god is easily capable of creating dozens of Aspects with little effort; but they usually only do so in response to their favored clerics, as destroying an Aspect weakens the original, and the original has no direct control over the Aspect. An odd quirk all Aspects share is that two Aspects of the same god will almost never be found in the same area; only powerful magic can force two of the same Aspects into close proximity. Aspects forced together so are likely to attack each other; evidently, the presence of another Aspect of the same deity causes an Aspect great distress.

As with most divine minions, Aspects can speak whatever language(s) their god speaks, and share the same alignment.

References