D&D's Greatest Demon Lord - Orcus: Lore

DnD has some great lore buried in all five editions of source books, but some of the consistent characters and monsters have changed a lot. This week I'm diving into the Demon Lord of Undeath himself, Orcus...
#dnd #dungeonsanddragons #dnd5e

[@darksoulsss2618]

Orcus has the potential to be one of the most compelling villains in d&d. Hes the pure definition of evil.

[@pandoraeeris7860]

Orcus was always my favorite demon...at least until I learned about Pale Night! 😱

[@thezerowulf2046]

Anyone whos looked at their stat blocks knows Orcus would dumpster demogorgon

[@jprp999]

Orcus is supposed to hold power over any lich that he assisted to ascend which includes both Kyuss and Vecna so he has at least 2 gods in his pocket .

[@juliogouvea9447]

Great channel, keep it with the lore!

[@The_NaturalOnes]

Thanks!

[@the_beast_among_sheep]

I wanted to play a Thrall of Orcus in 3rd Edition, but I was never able to find another DM. This was before the digital age. MySpace was the newest thing

[@Zoe-ke3lo]

I actually just started a new character who is a "Son of Orcus". He was created as a means to infiltrate the Raven Queens forces in the Shadowfell in order to take it over. However, the trip to the Shadowfell creates a severance between him and Orcus, enough where he warns the Raven Queen, who in return becomes his patron in order to keep an eye on him and banishes him to the mortal plane. He essentially is a character sandwiched between the dynamics of two deities and needs to fight against his natural instinct for carnage and chaos, while trying to do good for his Patron and create balance by destroying the Orcus Wand in order to finally rid himself and the world of his father. Pretty much the campaign starts right when he's banished to the mortal plane.

[@anon-yw4wd]

In my homebrewed Forgotten Realms Orcus is, and has been, the Greater God of the Undead and Undeath. He is worshipped by evil cultists, all sentient undead and all necromancers. His specialty preists are a clerical version of necromancers.
Myrkul is only the God of Death and the Dead, but Orcus rules Undeath. Orcus is too awesome to not be a Greater God. I retconned all the "official" lore. Orcus has always been the Abyssal Lord of Undeath

[@The_NaturalOnes]

Sounds like a great decision, I agree Orcus should be a greater god, or at least the power of a greater god. Demon lords are in a category all their own

[@anon-yw4wd]

In the Realms if a Power gains enough worshippers they gain Godhood. Orcus started out as s demon lord, took over Undeath/Undead as his pantheon eons ago and then gained enoigh worshippers to become a God. It's like how Bane, Bhall and Myrkul were all humans once but rose to Goodhood.

[@ethannewcomer3035]

Great video! I look forward to seeing more videos you make. Keep up the good work!

[@The_NaturalOnes]

Thank you so much!

[@MajuGen]

This guy sounds like he would get along great with Nurgle of Warhammer

[@fastollie1]

HOW DO YOU GET PAST LEVEL 20 with talents specials skills gear etc

[@the_beast_among_sheep]

I've always found Orcus more interesting than Demogorgon....but Orcus doesn't want to mess with Demogorgon. Orcus does have the most influence on the material plane tho

[@damianarvizu1095]

Your data is mistaken. Orcus is older than ADnD.

[@The_NaturalOnes]

Thanks! It’s kind of difficult to find stuff before AD&D but I know some of that stuff is floating around

[@Jaugernaut_]

of course a literal demon lord is a forgotten character

[@The_NaturalOnes]

I don’t think he’s really forgotten, but the series is forgotten lore

[@tylerbeanstraw7411]

First

[@The_NaturalOnes]

Nice!