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The story of the Lord of Wrath begins in the depths of the lower planes, paradoxically in Barathus and Malor at the same time. In an echo of the Dark God Vornoth's betrayal of the other evil gods when he created the Book of Seven, the origin of the Captain of the Deadly Lords began when evil turned on itself, seeking its own advantage. Two warlords, the Pit Fiend Nabarus and the Balor Bakahul, clashed in the astral river, pitting their devilish and demonic armies against one another. The fiendish armies were able to take advantage of the less restrictive boundaries between the lower planes set by Vornoth, who was known as the Walker-in-Darkness because of his habit of traversing the planes of evil at will. Both creatures hoped that the destruction of such a powerful adversary would win them prestige in the eyes of the demons and devils above them. So evenly matched were the two fiends, however, that neither was able to gain the upper hand and, their armies decimated, each returned to their infernal fortresses to nurse their egos, Nabarus stewing and Bakahul raging at the stalemate.
There, in his black-spired, lava-moated castle, the wily devil Nabarus hatched a plot to rise in the ranks of the strict hierarchies of Hell. He began slowly researching a demonic ritual that would allow him to absorb the powers of his enemy Bakahul, thereby increasing his own personal power and prestige at the same time. After several years, Nabarus was unable to make much progress on his rite, and it seemed that such a thing might be impossible. Then, in his search for knowledge, he encountered a powerful evil being from another plane: he contacted the Dweller in the Wintervale herself. After soliciting a promise of service from Nabarus, the Dweller supplied the Pit Fiend with the magical phrases, drawn from the Book of Seven, that were the key to unlocking the ritual. Luring the Balor to the astral river under flag of truce, Nabarus uttered the magical words and began, in a blinding flash, to absorb the power of the Balor. Taken by surprise at the betrayal, Bakahul, in a fit of anger, called for aid upon the darkest power of the lower planes: the god Vornoth himself. Normally, the Walker-in-Darkness would not have batted an eye at the plight of a single demon, even a demon lord, but in this instance, the cunning Lord of Evil saw a valuable tool. He answered Bakahul's call, permitting his consciousness to continue existing inside Nabarus, even though the body of the Balor was destroyed once and for all. Nabarus and Bakahul were forever merged. The Pit Fiend thus found himself with a problem that he did not anticipate; he discovered that in times of stress or injury, the personality of his enemy Bakahul, ever fighting to come to the surface, would gain control of his body and would seek to undue the desires of Nabarus.
Anger at this unexpected development filling him, Nabarus put his ambitions of rising in the hellish hierarchies on hold and began trying to research ways to remove the personality of Bakahul from his body. But these efforts too were thwarted, for at that moment the Dweller in the Wintervale called in her favor. She summoned the Pit Fiend to Núrion to serve as the Captain of the Lords of Sin. Using the Book of Seven, the Dweller imbued Nabarus with the Dark Will, and, bound him to his promise, the devil angrily agreed to become the Lord of Wrath, his dreams of becoming an Overlord of Hell slipping away forever.
But here the Lord Vornoth's plan came to fruition. The dark god knew that the Dweller had long chafed at his control and sought to escape her sentence of doom. He knew that the fallen elf would betray him, somehow, if she only felt she could get away with it. Thus Vornoth communicated with the personality of Bakahul, making it known to the raging, nearly-insane demon that it owed its continued existence to Vornoth, and that its plight was the fault of the Dweller in the Vale. Vornoth charged Bakahul with noting all the movements and machinations of the Dweller and reporting them back to Vornoth. This was a necessity for the Walker-in-Darkness, since any direct presence or intervention on Núrion by a deity had been forbidden by the Council of the Gods. Because of this interdiction, Vornoth's awareness of what exactly transpired on Núrion was occluded, and the Dweller had grown especially adept at hiding from his sight when she wanted to. Bakahul agreed to spy for Vornoth on his master the Dweller in the Vale.
In terms of personality, both Nabarus and Bakahul are colored through and through by anger. Nabarus' wrath is cold and calculating. Bound by his oath to serve the will of the Dweller, wrath at being unable to achieve his personal ambition of becoming the Overlord of Hell still pierces his heart like an icicle. Bakahul's anger, however, is fiery and chaotic. He burns with rage because of his defeat at the hands of Nabarus and by the loss of his own form. His fury is primarily directed at the Dweller in the Vale and at his captor, though he hates every creature in existence besides the Walker-in-Darkness, whom he views as his salvation. Nonetheless, when he is in control of Nabarus' body, Bakahul is able to martial his anger long enough to use mighty magics to report to Vornoth on the doings of the Dweller.
In combat, Nabarus is cold, calculating, dangerous, and strategic. He is constantly guarded by legions of hobgoblin troops, as well as the crack force called the Crimson Lion Guard, and he is glad to let these minions do his fighting for him. However, if he is injured, Bakahul will try to gain control of his form, and it will become more and more difficult to resist as he grows more angry or injured. Once Bakahul does manage to gain control, the Lord of Anger will tend to be more reckless and less tactical. Bakahul is still quite intelligent, but he will usually give himself over to his anger eventually and wade into combat with his fearsome magical greataxe.
Large fiend (devil), lawful evil
Armor Class 19 (natural armor)
Hit Points 420 (30d10+240)
Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft.
STR 26 (+8) DEX 14 (+2) CON 26 (+8) INT 22 (+6) WIS 18 (+4) CHR 24 (+7)
Saving Throws Dex +9, Con +15, Wis +11
Skills Persuasion +17, Stealth +8
Damage Resistance cold; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered
Damage Immunities fire, poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages Dark Speech, Farlandish, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 23 (50,000 XP-- only awarded once upon the death of either Nabarus or Bakahul)
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If Nabarus fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead. However, the amount of times Bakahul has used his legendary resistance counts against the amount of times Nabarus can use his.
Fear Aura. Any creature hostile to Nabarus that starts its turn within 20 feet of him must make a DC 22 Wisdom saving throw, unless Nabarus is incapacitated. On a failed save, the creature is frightened until the start of its next turn. If a creature's saving throw is successful, the creature is immune to Nabarus' Fear Aura for the next 24 hours.
Magic Resistance. Nabarus has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Magic Weapons. Nabarus' weapon attacks are magical.
Spellcasting. Nabarus' spellcasting ability is charisma (spell save DC 22). Nabarus can use the following spells:
At will: detect magic, fireball
3/day each: hold monster, wall of fire
Transform to Bakahul. When Nabarus takes damage that reduces him to half of his total hit points, the personality of Bakahul takes over. His body immolates, his tail elongates, and he becomes ruled by pure rage. While Bakahul, he cannot use any of Nabarus' traits or abilities, and vice versa. Alternately, any event that greatly enrages Nabarus may cause him to become Bakahul (DM's choice). Both Nabarus and Bakahul can use the Lord of Wrath's legendary and lair actions.
Multiattack. Nabarus makes four attacks: one with his bite, one with his claw, one with his axe, and one with his tail.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 28 (6d6+8) piercing damage. The target must succeed on a DC 21 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned. While poisoned in this way, the target can't regain hit points, and it takes 35 (10d6) poison damage at the start of each of its turns. The poisoned target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
Axe. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (4d6 + 8) slashing damage plus 8 (2d8) damage from bleeding.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 25 (4d8 + 8) slashing damage.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 34 (5d10 + 8) bludgeoning damage.
Large fiend (demon), chaotic evil
Armor Class 19 (natural armor)
Hit Points 420 (30d10+240) but Bakahul starts with the same hit points Nabarus had when he transformed to Bakahul.
Speed 40 ft., fly 80 ft.
STR 28 (+9) DEX 15 (+2) CON 26 (+8) INT 18 (+4) WIS 16 (+3) CHR 22 (+6)
Saving Throws Str +16, Con +15, Wis +9, Cha +13
Damage Resistance cold, lightning; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Damage Immunities fire, poison
Condition Immunities poisoned
Senses truesight 120 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Dark Speech, Farlandish, telepathy 120 ft.
Challenge 23 (50,000 XP-- only awarded once upon the death of either Nabarus or Bakahul)
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If Bakahul fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead. However, The amount of times Nabarus has used his legendary resistance counts against the amount of times Bakahul can use his.
Death Throes. When Bakahul dies, he explodes, and each creature within 30 feet of him must make a DC 20 Dexterity saving throw, taking 85 (25d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The explosion ignites flammable objects in that area that aren't being worn or carried, and it destroys Bakahul's weapons.
Fire Aura. At the start of each of Bakahul's turns , each creature within 5 feet of him takes 16 (5d6) fire damage, and flammable objects in the aura that aren't being worn or carried ignite. A creature that touches Bakahul or hits him with a melee attack while within 5 feet of him takes 16 (5d6) fire damage.
Magic Resistance. Bakahul has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Magic Weapons. Bakahul's weapon attacks are magical.
Spellcasting. Bakahul' spellcasting ability is charisma (spell save DC 21). Bakahul can use the following spells:
At will: detect magic, lightning bolt
Transform to Nabarus. If Bakahul slays all of his enemies, regains hit points such that he currently possesses more than half of his total hit points, or if he grows calm, he will transform to Nabarus in 10 (2d10) rounds. The flames on his body are extinguished, and his tail shrinks. When he transforms from Bakahul to Nabarus, his new hit point total is the same as Bakahul's when Bakahul transformed to Nabarus, except he regains 20 (4d10) hit points. While Nabarus, he cannot use any of Bakahul's traits or abilities, and vice versa. Both Bakahul and Nabarus can use the Lord of Wrath's legendary and lair actions.
Multiattack. Bakahul makes four attacks: two with his axe and two with his tail.
Axe. Melee Weapon Attack: +15 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (4d6 + 9) slashing damage plus 17 (4d8) lightning damage. If Bakahul scores a critical hit, he rolls damage dice three times, instead of twice.
Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +15 to hit, reach 30 ft., one target. Hit: 34 (5d10 + 8) bludgeoning damage plus 16 (5d6) fire damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 21 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 25 feet toward Bakahul.
Teleport. Bakahul magically teleports, along with any equipment he is wearing or carrying, up to 120 feet to an unoccupied space he can see.
The Lord of Wrath can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Lord of Wrath regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.
Enrage. A random creature that is an enemy of the Lord of Wrath within sight of the Lord of Wrath must succeed at a DC 21 Wisdom saving throw or become enraged. On its next turn, the creature uses its action to make a melee or ranged attack against a randomly determined ally within its reach or range. If there is no ally within its reach or range, the creature does nothing on its turn except fume.
Axe (costs two actions). The Lord of Wrath makes an axe attack.
Tail Attack (costs two actions). The Lord of Wrath makes a tail attack.
The Lord of Wrath lairs in the Flamespire, the highest tower in the Palace of Wrath in the Far City. Creatures that dwell within a mile of the Flamespire are short-tempered, irritable, and given to angry outbursts and even unnecessary violence. The Palace is guarded by hobgoblin legions as well as the dreaded Crimson Lion Guard. But the Flamespire itself also works to defeat the foes of the Lord of Wrath. On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), The Lord of Wrath takes a lair action to cause one of the following effects. The Lord of Wrath can't use the same effect two rounds in a row. The Lord of Wrath is CR 24 (62,000 XP) while in his lair.