I hope this hasn't been asked before, but I'm kind of wondering who the most powerful darklord is, and why.
We know for a fact that both Strahd and Azalin are puny necromancers compared to Meredoth, and puny undead compared with Ankhtepot. We know that with Vecna gone, there's only one deific person left, the demi-god Arijani. Then there's fiends, who'd be the most powerful? Mallochio? His dad? Or Ebonbane should he be unleashed? Or is Gwydion the most powerful one?
All have their strenghts, but I've never seen statblocks of them all (that is, statblocks converterted to the same version of the game ) so it's a purely theoretical guess for me. Hopefully you can teach me a bit more about the lands of mist.
That depends. If you assume they're stuck in their domains, with all the attendant powers thereof, then Azalin is still far more powerful than what his level-18 lich powers would suggest.
Even somebody as mighty as the level-20 Meredoth would have difficulty against an all-knowing lich who can A) look into your memories and change them at will, and B) instantly raise any number of undead from the earth to sweep your forces off the battlefield.
In Roots of Evil Azalin does eventually leave Darkon and the DM gets to see his powers outside of his domain. He's still pretty powerful - he can raise any undead of 8 HD or lower in a 2-mile radius. This is fairly non-canonical though since we're not sure what degree of Darklord powers the others would retain during a Grand Conjunction.
In 2nd edition, Arijani had the highest stats, and I think Diamabel also was way up there. Since then, in 3rd ed., stats are less important (undead for example have no Con score at all but nobody would argue that is a major handicap for them).
It would have to be Anton Misroi. While not a major threat as far as pure stats go (though being a zombie lord is nothing to laugh at) his darklord power more then makes up for it. You would have to kill him over a hundred times to finaly fisnish him off as every time he is killed while in the swamp he can return intantaniously in the body of a dead person burried in his swamp at full health. Mix in the ability to raise dead and the spells learned from the dance of the dead and he is a very powerfull foe.
"Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish it's source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings."
Anais Nin
The most powerful darklord ever was Vecna. As a demigod, he possessed more raw power than any other darklord before or afterwards--he's the only one to have escaped the demiplane on his own, which says a lot about how powerful he is.
Out of the current darklords, it would be Gwydion. Gwydion is very close in power to a deity, but not quite there. Granted, being trapped in the Obsidian Gate hampers a lot of his powers, but still, if he were to escape the Gate he'd be a force to reckon with.
Also, just a note: Malocchio and the Gentleman Caller aren't darklords, so they don't count.
Bluebomber4evr: The Justice, not you, since 2002.
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Perhaps we should also define 'powerful'. Jasper mentioned how difficult it is to kill Anton Misroi. But that doesn't give him the ability to boil oceans or bring the sky down. I remember the scene from Dragonlance-Legends: War of the Twins where Raistlin Majere creates a massive firestorm to destroy a plague village. Is that the kind of power we're talking about or is something else?
Last edited by Manofevil on Sat Dec 31, 2005 9:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Bluebomber4evr wrote:The most powerful darklord ever was Vecna. As a demigod, he possessed more raw power than any other darklord before or afterwards--he's the only one to have escaped the demiplane on his own, which says a lot about how powerful he is.
Quoted for Truth. Vecna had to be the most powerful.
The God Brain might be in the running for most powerful 'currently' however versing undead there would be significant problems so I wouldn't place it at #1.
If you were going to fight Azalin in Darkon he could seriously mess most other people right up.
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I think you will find that Vecna didn't escape. He was basicly confined to the netherworld of "This didn't happen because it was a BAD IDEA in the first place"
And anyway, if that was the case Kas was also the most powerful as he left too...
Anyway this is pointless as power means different things. One darklord can singlehandedly kill an entire army by handling thier dinner plates. Another can alter reality in his theater to any extreame he wishes, and has the power to killyou in a fire you cannot escape. In terms of combat power those 2 suck, but in terms of power those are increadable. then there the guy who can domonate you at will, send inumarable domonated fighters to kill you, tarnish your reputations so noone will help you. Can't fight his way out of a paper bag, but powerful nonetheless.
Its a bit like the difference between werewolves and mages in WOD. If a werewolf caught a mage unprepared the mage was dead. If not however the werewolf cought be strangly stuck in wolf form, and next time he relieved himself there would be an open electric wire right where the stream hit. Tragic really..
A different question would be "Who is the most dangerous?"
Which Darklord is the worst enemy? Who is the biggest threat to his/her enemies regardless of where they are (assuming their still in Ravenloft)?
A sort of "who would win in a face-to-face tournament".
Of course, it's useless to argue about stats, but I got the impression there are some serious buttkickers out there, even without darklord powers, and I was curious to see who'd win.
Takng away all Darklord powers and placing all of them in one arena without thier curses hands down it would be Gwydion. He is Cthulluesque in stature and just one of his tenticles has better stats then most darklords.
"Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish it's source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings."
Anais Nin
ScS of the Fraternity wrote:
A different question would be "Who is the most dangerous?"
Which Darklord is the worst enemy? Who is the biggest threat to his/her enemies regardless of where they are (assuming their still in Ravenloft)?
For sure Azalin. With his own intelligence/power and with the Kargat he can be able to do almost whatever he wants, things that would sound impossible for another darklord.
The second one I think is Strahd.
- The first 2 Feats a wizard should take are "point blank shot" and "Precise shot"!
- W H A T ! ? !
- Or they should NEVER memorize rays!
) so it's a purely theoretical guess for me. Hopefully you can teach me a bit more about the lands of mist.
