Archdevil, Moloch

This immense figure appears to be a suit of blackened, diabolic armor filled with shrieking blasts of blistering fire.

Moloch CR 29

XP 6,553,600
LE Huge outsider (devil, evil, extraplanar, lawful)
Init +11; Senses darkvision 60 ft., detect chaos, detect good, mistsight, see in darkness, true seeing; Perception +49
Aura fiendish furnace (10 ft.), frightful presence (120 ft., DC 38), shield of law (DC 29)

DEFENSE

AC 47, touch 34, flat-footed 40 (+4 deflection, +7 Dex, +13 natural, +15 profane, –2 size)
hp 731 (34d10+544); regeneration 30 (deific or mythic)
Fort +39, Ref +24, Will +35; +8 vs. mind-affecting effects
Defensive Abilities fortification (50%), infernal resurrection, mind blank; DR 20/epic, good, and silver; Immune ability damage, ability drain, charm, compulsion, death effects, energy drain, fire, petrification, poison; Resist acid 30, cold 30; SR 40

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft., air walk
Melee Goreletch +46/+41/+36/+31 (3d6+18/19–20/×4), Ramithaine +46/+41 (3d6+18/17–20/×3), bite +42 (2d6+7 plus grab and burn), gore +42 (2d6+7 plus burn)
Space 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks barbed blademaster, burn (2d6 hellfire, DC 43), fast swallow, incinerate, spirit of hellfire, swallow whole (20d10 hellfire damage plus pain, AC 16, 73 hp)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 29th; concentration +40)

Constant—air walk, detect chaos, detect good, mind blank, shield of law (DC 29), true seeing
At will—astral projection, desecrate^M, dictum^M (DC 28), dominate person^M (DC 26), fireball^M (DC 24), greater dispel magic, greater teleport, order’s wrath^M (DC 25), slow^M (DC 24), unhallow, wall of fire^M
3/day—quickened blade barrier^M (DC 27), empowered fire storm (DC 29), mass charm monster (DC 29), mass hold person (DC 28), summon devils
1/day—meteor swarm^M (DC 30), time stop^M, wish^M

^M Moloch can use this ability’s mythic version in his realm.

STATISTICS

Str 40, Dex 25, Con 42, Int 25, Wis 34, Cha 33
Base Atk +34; CMB +51 (+53 bull rush); CMD 87 (89 vs. bull rush)
Feats Combat Expertise, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Critical Focus, Double Slice, Empower Spell-Like Ability (fire storm), Improved Bull Rush, Improved Critical (battleaxe, longsword), Improved Initiative, Improved Lightning Reflexes, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Lightning Reflexes, Power Attack, Quicken Spell-Like Ability (blade barrier), Staggering Critical, Two-Weapon Fighting, Two-Weapon Rend
Skills Bluff +48, Intimidate +48, Knowledge (arcana, history, religion) +41, Knowledge (nobility, planes) +44, Linguistics +44, Perception +49, Sense Motive +49, Spellcraft +44, Survival +46, Use Magic Device +45
Languages all (language mastery); telepathy 300 ft.
SQ call weaponry, infernal fortress

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Barbed Blademaster (Ex)

Moloch is proficient with all weapons. In addition, any piercing or slashing weapon he wields sprouts cruel, wicked barbs that increase the weapon’s critical multiplier by 1 for as long as he wields it. Targets that have fortification gain only half their usual chance of ignoring Moloch’s critical hits.

Call Weaponry (Su)

Moloch can call his weapons Goreletch (a +3 adamantine unholy vorpal battleaxe) and Ramithaine (a +3 axiomatic cruel unholy wounding longsword) to his hands at will as a free action from any distance (even across planar boundaries). If one of these weapons is destroyed, he can remake it and cause the rebuilt weapon to appear in his hand as a standard action; if needed, he can instead remake both weapons as a full-round action. Remaking a weapon in this way provokes attacks of opportunity, but calling a weapon does not.

Fiendish Furnace (Ex)

Any creature that comes within 10 feet of Moloch or begins its turn within this area takes 2d8 points of hellfire damage (no save). In addition, creatures that strike Moloch in melee are affected by his burn ability unless they succeed at a DC 43 Reflex save. Whenever Moloch would take cold damage, he can choose to block all cold damage from that attack, but doing so causes his fiendish furnace ability to be negated until the start of his next turn. Choosing to do so is reflexive and does not require any action on Moloch’s part. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Incinerate (Su)

When a creature is reduced to 0 hit points by an attack or effect used by Moloch that deals hellfire damage, it is instantly killed and its body reduced to ash (Fortitude DC 38 negates). Creatures destroyed in this way can be restored to life only through miracle, true resurrection, wish, or divine intervention. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Infernal Fortress (Su)

Once per day as a full-round action, Moloch can cause a towering fortress to erupt from the ground at a point within 30 feet. Treat this ability as if Moloch used an instant fortress, save that the fortress is 60 feet square and 90 feet tall, and sized for a Huge inhabitant.

Once created, this fortress is permanent until Moloch uses the ability again, whereupon the previous fortress vanishes; any objects and creatures within the fortress fall to the ground at this time.

Spirit of Hellfire (Su)

Whenever Moloch creates an effect that would normally deal fire damage, it instead deals hellfire damage. Half of the damage dealt by hellfire is fire damage, with the other half being unholy damage that is not reduced by fire resistance or fire immunity.

Swallow Whole (Su)

Whenever a creature takes hellfire damage as a result of being swallowed whole by Moloch, it must succeed at a DC 43 Will save or be so overwhelmed with pain that it can do nothing but shriek and wail in agony, and can take no other action; this is a pain effect.

Each round that such a victim shrieks in pain, Moloch’s frightful presence is automatically activated and he gains a +4 profane bonus to the save DC to resist its effects. The save DC is Constitution-based.

ECOLOGY

Environment any (Hell)
Organization solitary (unique)
Treasure triple (Goreletch, Ramithaine, other treasure)

Moloch is the dread general of Hell’s armies, both his own hordes in the pits of Malebolge and the legions serving his lieutenants throughout the plane. He is fiercely loyal to Asmodeus and to Hell itself, and he marshals not only devils but also lost souls, other denizens of Hell, and interplanar mercenaries in brutal, endless campaigns.

He can recount the dispositions and particulars of every military formation in Hell, and he brooks no insubordination or disobedience in martial matters, under threat of burning torments that are terrible even by Hell’s standards. Moloch is surprisingly responsive to his mortal worshipers, and he is quite willing to exchange his favor for gifts of provisions, supplies, and soldiers for the infernal armies. Those sacrificed to him in the fires of the mortal world or ritually cremated in his honor after death face an eternity of soldierly slavery in his legions.

Moloch is a hulking giant of fire and steel, standing 24 feet tall and weighing 5 tons. What appears to be his armor is in fact his flesh, inside which lies nothing but flames, ash, and bits of scorched bone from previous victims. Despite his fiery appearance, he is a cool and professional tactician who has studied war for eons and has put every known tactical theory into practice in the endless war against the celestial hosts and the fiendish rivals of Hell.

Moloch’s Cult

Moloch is worshiped by warlords and tyrants alike.

Unlike for many archdevils, his worship is often public, with monolithic temple complexes and pits of eternal flame where sacrifices to the Ashen Bull are made to pass through the fire, or their hearts are cut out and burned to sear their courage into the immortal armies that the Lord of the Sixth marshals at the behest of the high lords of Hell. His sacred places are altars of blackened stone and twisted iron, replete with massive gongs and braziers to sound the knell of death that war will bring to all.

Moloch’s unholy symbol is a shadowed red-and-black bull’s head with a sickly yellow flame within. Although he can use any weapon (and favors the battleaxe Goreletch and the longsword Ramithaine), his favored weapon is the whip, as he prefers his worshipers to drive armies by the lash. He grants access to the Evil, Fire, Law, and War domains, and to the Ash, Devil, Smoke, and Tactics subdomains.