I became interested in D&D after 3e came out, so while I am much more fond of 2e Planescape descriptions and storylines (which are far richer than anything 3e or 3.5e have yet offered, though they have come close with the Fiendish Codexes), I am oblivious to the actual 2e gameplay mechanics.
When it comes to the hierarchy of Hell, I much prefer the explained and therefore logical progression that is detailed in the 2e Faces of Evil - The Fiends than that which is reordered, sans any explanation but challenege rating, and presented in 3.5e Fiendish Codex 2 - Tyrants of Hell. As a personal choice, I prefer to stick with the 2e hierarchy in my own campaigns.
This leads to somewhat of a problem concerning stats. Why, for instance, is a Gelugon, one step away from being a Pit Fiend, so much weaker than the Cornugons that should be under it? Granted, it could be the case of more political power but less physical power, but from what I could gather from the 2e stats, this was not the case. Likewise, why are Amnizu, almost equal to a Pit Fiend in power, even if they do require demotion to be promoted, only CR 7!?
Thus, what I'm finally getting to is this: could anybody suggest some stat conversions for the 2e Baatezu that make more sense given the original hierarchy, maybe even some that retain the Pit Fiends polymorph ability? I found a few different Amnizu on this site, but stats are not really my forte and I was hoping that somebody could recommend a whole set of the complete Baatorian hierarchy.
Actually, as you thought, the current stats make sense for political reasons- yes the Cornugon is physically more powerful than the Gelugon but this is a sideways step in the hierarchy - it's an insult dressed as an honour. Promotion to Cornugon means that you have little chance of ever making any more of yourself since you'll either be assigned guard duty or sent into a blood war skirmish. Gelugons get to spend their time contemplating and striving to achieve perfection so while they are less combat oriented they are far closer to the top (or bottom depending on your perspective) than they appear.
I believe Amnizu are another special case - Levestus(sp?) promotes devils to this level to be his little helpers and puts them outside the normal progression. While on his layer they could conceivably boss around a pit-fiend but they can never progress beyond this point without first being demoted to a lower station.
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