Cambion (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the fantasy roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons the cambion is a creature descended from a fiend.

Contents

Publication history

The cambion was introduced to the D&D game in the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)

The cambion first appears under the demon on page 37 entry in the first edition Monster Manual II (1983), including the baron/marquis cambion (semi-demon) and the major cambion (semi-demon).[1]

A cambion named MacDaer appeared in Dungeon #13 (September 1988).

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)

The cambion appears under the tanar'ri entry in the Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix (1991), including the baron/marquis cambion tanar'ri and the major cambion tanar'ri.[2]

The cambion tanar'ri was further detailed in the first Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix (1994),[3] including the same variants from the Outer Planes Appendix.

Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 edition (2000-2002)

The cambion did not appear in any official Wizards of the Coast products for third edition. It did, however, appear as a demon in the Tome of Horrors (2002) [4] by Necromancer Games.

Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition (2003-2007)

The cambion appeared again in Necromancer Games's Tome of Horrors Revised PDF (2005).

The cambion demon returns to official Dungeons & Dragons products in Expedition to the Demonweb Pits (2007),[5] including the baron and marquis cambion, which also presents the cambion as a player character race.

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008-)

The cambion appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2008), including the cambion hellsword and the cambion hellfire magus.[6]

Description

The word cambion refers to a male "half-fiend", a cross between a fiend and another creature, often a human. The term alu-fiend refers to its female counterpart. In the 3rd Edition, cambions are the offspring of a tanar'ri father and a planetouched mother, often a tiefling.[7]

Iuz the Old of the World of Greyhawk game setting is referred to as a cambion. He is the son of the witch Iggwilv and the demon Graz'zt. In addition to his human form of an old man, he can appear as a 7-foot-tall (2.1 m), maroon demon with green eyes.

In the 4th edition of Dungeons and Dragons, Cambions are the result of devils mating with mortal beings- usually humans. They look much like tieflings, but with the addition of functional wings. The title is also gender-neutral, rather than being divided into male Cambions and female Alu-Fiends.

Other media

Two half-elven cambions, Isair and Madae appear in Icewind Dale II, as leaders of the Legion Of The Chimera.

References

  1. ^ Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual II (TSR, 1983)
  2. ^ LaFountain, J. Paul. Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix. (TSR, 1991)
  3. ^ Varney, Allen, ed. Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix (TSR, 1994)
  4. ^ Green, Scott; Peterson, Clark (2002). Tome of Horrors. Necromancer Games. pp. 328. ISBN 1-58846-112-2. 
  5. ^ Baur, Wolfgang, and Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel. Expedition to the Demonweb Pits (Wizards of the Coast, 2007)
  6. ^ Mearls, Mike, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2008)
  7. ^ Baur, Wolfgang; Kestrel, Gwendolyn F.M. (2007). Expedition to the Demonweb Pits. Wizards of the Coast. ISBN 978-0-7869-4038-7. 

External links