Tymmond fell as the arrows pierced his body; he had failed to see the gnolls sneaking around his party's flank. He clutched his holy symbol to Ilmater and began whispering a prayer, pushing himself back towards his retreating allies. The gnolls began to close in on him with their weapons ready to strike. Tymmond closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate.
A flash of light illuminated his eyelids and a splash of warm liquid scattered across his face. Tymmond slowly opened his eyes. Above him, floating in the air, supported by large feathered wings, her longsword dripping with the blood of the freshly slain gnoll, was a beautiful creature with flawless skin, deep crimson feathers, and awe inspiring armor that reflected his face in its darkly polished shine. He began standing to greet his angelic defender.
She turned her attention towards Tymmond, with wrath and hunger in her eyes. She took her sword and drove it through his chest, his blood coating the blade and furthering her bloodlust. Tymmond fell to the ground and watched as the Angel chased down and slew his companions, the light from his eyes slowly fading as she wreaked havoc between them. His last thoughts were of how he failed them again.
The fallen angel claimed more victims for her Devil Lord.
Overview
Straight out of Baator, these angelic-looking fiends find themselves to be great for Tier 2 or 3 campaigns. Simply put, the Erinyes are excellent for you to pit against your players once they hit level 6. Now, looking at the stat block, you might be thinking that I'm crazy, but trust me: the fight will be a slog, but the players can come out on top. Easily slotting in for a Tier 2 boss or Tier 3 lieutenant, the Erinyes will be a fun monster for you to run.
The first thing we should note here: the fluff text says “Legends tell that the first Erinyes were angels that fell…”. Lean into this. The Monster Manual keeps this intentionally vague to allow for DM creativity1, and we can take this concept and run. Hell, an influx of Erinyes to the lower planes can be the entire plot of a plane hopping campaign.2 Give your Erinyes angelic or holier-than-thou names to drive that they were once angels of the upper planes, and allow them to act differently than other devils.
Next, we should take a look at not just the text for Erinyes, but for Devils as a whole. The Erinyes fall under the “Greater Devil” category of fiends, putting them into the ranks of Horned Devils, Ice Devils, and even Pit Fiends. We can surmise, then, that the Erinyes have weight to throw around; their presence among other Devils should be shown as fear from the lesser Devils, and jealousy or “respect” from their Greater Devil counterparts. They will be plotting and scheming their own plans on behalf of their Archdevil masters, and possibly even against them. Now, if you look at the chart that describes which layer of the hells has what kind of Devil inhabiting it, you will notice that the Erinyes only appear in layers 1 and 9. This is very interesting, or so I think, because only Zariel, the poster child for fallen angels, and Asmodeus, possibly the Devil that caused Zariel's fall, control their layers, which allows us to beg the question of an Erinyes’ former celestial nature.
Finally, the trait all devils share, The Art of the Deal making contracts and mongering souls. Who better to make a deal than a Devil that will be perceived by the Average Joe to be a divine creature of good. Imagine all the juicy deals they can make under the guise of being an angel. By extension, they can also amass a following of commoners, merchants, and others like them, who are seeking a divine calling, or who are susceptible to religious indoctrination.3 This final point about the Erinyes can be the entire concept for a campaign.
Stats
Now that we have covered some of the fluff, let’s take a look at what our beastie can do.
There is so much good with this monster, even without the Rope of Entanglement (which is optional, but I decided to include it anyway). Before we dive in, I would like to include the optional rule for giving your Devil the ability to summon other Devils. With that being said, here is what the Erinyes can summon.
Making it a 50/50 once per day ability prevents this from being too overpowered, and will let you surprise your party with even more Devils, Yeah!4 This ability is listed in the Actions section of the stat block, meaning, if you use this ability, rather than attacking with a weapon, you will be using it in place of the Multiattack for the turn. Now, let's dive into the stat block
A very high Armor Class and average Hit Points for CR 12, this will give the Erinyes a decent amount of survivability, especially when coupled with their 60 foot flying movement speed.
Their saves are very solid, covering the vast majority of saves for spells with great bonuses. This, alongside Magic Resistance, giving them advantage against spells and other magical effects, will allow your Erinys5 to take command of the battlefield without having to expend too many resources.
The Hellish Weapons ability is a great addition to their weapon attacks. It adds just enough oomph to the damage rolls to take the Erinyes from a nuisance to a threat.
As I said in the second point, Magic Resistance is a great addition to make the Erinyes more than just a Hit Point sponge. Now your players will have to out-skill them instead of just beat them to death.
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times: Multiattack adds more survivability to a creature rather than adding DPR.6 When looking at a creature’s stat block, you should be thinking, “How does this affect my players and what will it do to their resources?” Yes, it makes players' Hit Points reduce, but ultimately, if the creature can provide status effects through its actions, the players will be spending their actions, spell slots, and items they forgot they had in their inventory to attempt to end the status. This will prolong the combat in meaningful ways. Instead of just hitting the baddie over and over, now the players are interacting with themselves, each other, and possibly the environment.
I’m going to lump the Weapon attacks together, but focus mostly on the Longbow. The bonus poison damage is always a big win, plus you get to roll 3d8, Mmm tasty. The Erinyes will want to stay at range, due to its fly speed, and pepper their enemies with arrows. The Constitution 14 Save DC will ensure that at least one player will likely fail the save. Now, players do tend to make Con a strong second pick for their ability scores (because they’re cowards7), but the dice math (there will be a post about dice math later) makes it happen more often than not. Also, the Poisoned Condition8, from the Longbow attack, lasts until the player is subject to Lesser Restoration or similar spells. This will be brutal in combat.
The Rope of Entanglement will be good fun for you, and, after the combat, allow some cathartic release for your players. It will take up two of your Erinys’ Multiattack slots, but it will allow you to harry the backliners and push the frontliners to help release them. You can find the details for the Rope of Entanglement on page 197 of the Dungeon Masters Guide, on D&D Beyond, or right here.
(2014) Dungeon Masters Guide, Wizards of the Coast via D&D Beyond Finally, Parry. Much like the Death Knight, the Erinyes can add a bonus to their Armor Class if they have their Longsword out, are hit by a melee attack; this only affects the attack that triggered the Parry.
Combat Examples
In our combat examples today, we will have one with the Erinyes using the Rope of Entanglement, and the other using the Summon Devil ability.
In our first example, the party has discovered that the celestial in a cave that the villagers bring offerings to and feverishly worship is, in fact, a Devil, and an Erinyes no less. The combat will include 1 Erinyes with a Rope of Entanglement and as many commoners as you want, against 5 tenth level adventurers.
The adventurers returned to the village of Talbrecht, a crowd of villagers standing in their way, blocking the road to the cave, with makeshift weapons and farming tools readied. Above, descending from the wet rainy clouds, an angelic form; she speaks with a booming voice, commanding her loyal followers to defend her to their last breath.
On the first turn of combat, being not trained for combat, the villagers (using the Commoner Stat Block) will charge forward and intercept the approaching adventurers. The Erinyes will use their 60’ of Flying to swoop down to the party's caster and attempt to entangle them. If the adventurer fails their save, the Erinyes will drag them into the mob, so that the villagers get advantage on their attacks. After this, they will continue flying around, avoiding melee combat as much as possible, and shooting the remaining adventurers with their Longbow.
However, if the initial player successfully avoids the entanglement, the Erinyes will circle about and begin firing arrows at the player. The first player they hit, the Erinyes will fly to and attempt to entangle. Notice I said the first player they hit, not the first player to fail the save against poisoning. Meta-gaming things like that is fun for no one.
In our next example, the party has cornered a Erinyes in their lair. The combat will consist of 1 Erinyes and multiple Spined Devils (added in during the combat) against 4 twelfth level adventurers.
The party has made their way through the Avernus fighting fiends over and over, each fight getting more perilous than the last. Finally, they make their way into the central rooms of the Stronghold of Saulathiel the Fallen, the quarry they have been hunting in order to leave the hellish landscape. Entering the room, the party sees Saulatheil sitting on his throne of Ivory and Infernal Iron.
On the first turn of combat, the Erinyes will summon the Spined Devils. Now, you can roll the 3d8 to determine how many are summoned; however, if you do, you have the potential of overwhelming the players or not summoning enough creatures to make it a useful ability. That being said, I would recommend rolling the dice and telling your players that six Spine Devils are summoned, regardless of what you actually roll. Then, the Erinyes will take to the skies and fly up their full 60 feet.
Side note: a rule I use for balancing combats that have summoned creatures or creatures suddenly entering the fray on the side against the players is: the summons' first turn is spent rolling their initiative and getting into the combat. They can move, but they do not take their actions.
The Spined Devils, when they enter, will similarly fly up and around the room. For added flavor, you can have them screech obscenities (in Infernal, of course), or taunt the adventurers in an attempt to pull attacks away from the Erinyes.
Final Thoughts
I love the Erinyes (might be the religious trauma); the roleplay potential of a fallen angel creating chaos is too good to let go. They can give you, as the DM, so much fun in combat, as well as outside it. Their position within the Infernal hierarchy as a Greater Devil allows them to be big bads, or even the right-hand man of the big bad, and their abilities will make players have to adjust the strategies they have codified over many sessions of play.
It may be canon in previous editions of Dungeons and Dragons, but there is no solid evidence for it in 5th Edition, at least none I can find. If you know otherwise, please let me know in the comments.
I’m actually gonna write this down for a future campaign idea.
We love religious trauma.
This is the singular form of Erinyes.
Damage per Round, or how hurt you can make a person using your actions and reaction.
It’s me, I’m Cowards.
A Poisoned creature has disadvantage on all Attack Rolls and Saving Throws until the condition ends.