Review of The Encyclopedia of Demons & Devils, Volume II

The Encyclopedia of Demons & Devils Vol. II (EDDv2) is a good sourcebook for fell creatures great and small.  The quality of the text bears a much higher value than what the average production values and art might suggest.  EDDv2 is a solid sourcebook for and dungeon master who wants to introduce demons and devils into their campaign.

EDDv2 is a hardback and its layout is akin to either Monster Manuals: there are a bunch of demons and devils in alphabetical order with a brief introductory section.  It would have been nice to see the demons split into better groupings than alphabetical within the book, or having a table in the front that grouped them.  By groups I mean what culture did they originate from, what type they are or even factions.  While it is easy to find by name any given demon or devil, how they related to each other is haphazard at best.

Text in EDDv2 is generally well done.  Each demon or devil has its vital statistics, followers, history, motivation, combat style and even some text dedicated to them if they are viewed as a deity.  Minor demons or devils have 1-2 pages dedicated to them, while greater ones have 2-3 pages on average.  Some demons and devils are very intriguing, some less so.  But given the sheer amount of demons and devils there is likely numerous ones that would fit into a campaign.

In addition to the demons and devils themselves, EDDv2 has a number of prestige classes tied to the demons themselves.  Usually these classes are designed for followers and priests of the demon/devil and are likely only useful as an adversary and if the demon/devil is involved in the campaign’s story arc.  Though I do not see why some prestige classes could not be used for demons or devils with are similar.

Art inside EDDv2 is black and white and ranges from adequate to what looks like bad clip art.  Even though the art is a bit dodgy at times each demon/devil is represented which is helpful, especially when the text is factored in.  The cover is a scanned picture of a Greco-Roman statue with a layer of cheap digital graphic effects layered on.  Art I view as completely necessary, but unless it is truly hideous or brilliant does not factor too heavily in my review, EDDv2 is mostly adequate and I will leave it at that. 

From a text perspective the layout and design in EDDv2 is decent and easy to read given how much verbiage is there.  There are a few editing issues that should have been caught by the copyreader, which does matter since the book is a spendy hardback supplement.  If it were a 20 dollar softcover rather than a 30 dollar hardback, there is more room to be lenient.  But if a company is going to publish high-end books

Over all Encyclopedia of Demons & Devils Vol. II is a decent supplement with meaty text and a large volume of fell creatures big and small.  The price tag and average production values are deceptive to the good information within.