Day 18: Favourite Immortal/Outsider

There can be only one choice here. My Favourite Immortal/Outsider is the demon Balor. Many more will know the creature as the balrog at the end of the Fellowship of the Ring. The story goes that this type of demon was originally called balrog that was changed in 2nd Edition AD&D to balor to avoid issues with J.R.R. Tolkien’s copyright.

You cannot pass….I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor. You cannot pass. The dark fire will not avail you, flame of Udûn. Go back to the Shadow! You cannot pass.

Whatever the reason, the creatures are the same and they are iconic demons. Ever since I read the Fellowship of the Ring I wanted to act out that scene. Unfortunately I’ve never played, or run, a game where the PCs got even close to a balor. That is because I can count on one hand the number of campaigns that have run past 10th-level. This does mean that some of the more iconic, and more powerful, creatures stay out of reach, but it’s fun to read about them in the Monster Manual.

That said, I am planning a follow-on campaign to Storm King’s Thunder (once Strongholds and Followers is released) for the upper end of the level table so who knows.

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