I'm considering using Baalphegor as a campaign-arc villain of my latest Greyhawk campaign. I've got a copy of Dungeons of Despair, which contains her appearance in the adventure "Caermor," and I really like her as a super-intelligent archfiend who prefers to play with the PC's rather than demolish them.
I've got my PC's home base in an inn in Gradsul, where the innkeeper clears people for work as caravan guards. I've mentioned that among the help is a little girl named Belle, and if all goes according to plan, I'll keep her in the background until PC's can discover that this is Belle Fagor, the secret identity of Baalphegor.
While I may yet run the Caermor scenario with my PC's, her whole game is going to be a little different here. I'm thinking that Baalphegor took an interest in Greyhawk after the fiends were all banished by the Crook of Rao. That kinda thing doesn't go unnoticed in the Hells, and Baalphagor is among the archfiends who think Oerth has thrown down the gauntlet. She's not planning another physical invasion (that's more Iuz's speed) but rather a spiritual assault--a pestilential corruption of humankind.
The focus of her attention is on the thousands of orphans who have resulted from the Greyhawk Wars. She's doing her own case study of how orphans are treated--hence the choice to appear as a ten-year-old foundling herself--and she's seen many opportunities for an enterprising devil. Not only can she corrupt orphans by encouraging them toward vice and crime to survive, but she can often claim the souls of those who mistreat and abuse them.
Very well thought out plan. She may start off as the orphan and later take on the role of Turin Deathstalker. He was the head of the assassin guild and always made sure the orphans in Greyhawk were treated well. Baalphegor could use this to her advantage. Besides Turin would probably be noted as a war hero to the public. Remember he went missing during the wars. Maybe she just takes over the reins at the orphanage and/or the assassin guild.
Baalphegor also got a mention in "Dawn of a New Age" in Dungeon #135, in which an NPC has gotten hold of an artifact called Baalphegor's Grace. Those who drink from it gain the power to command Baalphegor's personal erinyes guard.
She was given a detailed treatment in Dragon #76. She appeared as the ultimate villain of "Caermor" in Dungeon #2, which was reprinted in the Dungeons of Despair anthology (1999). Baalphegor has been mentioned briefly on occasion since then in her role as Mephistopheles' consort. The Kobold Quarterly article offers a very different take on Baalphegor at odds with D&D canon.
In a past campaign (in Greyhawk City) I had a similar villain. He was a human, however, who was a devotee of Syrul. I made him a pied piper sort, who lured orphans and the disillusioned of the Wars with a scientology-type of cult that promised enlightenment, peace and fulfillment.
His real goal, of course was to corrupt these innocents, and eventually, one by one, sacrifice them. The heroes eventually stopped him, but he was able to escape to continue his evil plots in Furyondy.
I think you've got a great concept there, and will have a lot of fun with it!
Good point about Turin. He'd be an excellent feather in her cap, although I'd think she'd prefer to corrupt him than impersonate him. So far I've been outlining a few of her plots, both big and small:
--Create an orphans-cult in multiple areas. It'm going to use an adventure from Ravenloft involving a Fagin-type corrupting orphans, but let the PC's figure out it's far more widespread than first appears.
--Corrupt the people around the PC's, especially in the Green Gryphon. Using telepathy, suggestion, and careful sense motive checks, I'm ruling that she can whisper into a person's thoughts so skillfully that they may think it's their own. Among other things, she's going to whisper obscene desires into the thoughts of several of the inn staff, leading to debauchery, addiction, suicide, etc.
--Retrieving her artifact (Baalphegor's Grace) and using it to regain control of her erinyes elite.
--Tutoring orphan-cum-rebel Kuria Zeltrin of Pelagryn in the finer arts of manipulation and revenge.
--Encouraging various war powers to let children live when making war. While this may appear at first to be a good thing (and may even be supported by good religions) it's intended to overwhelm the orphanages and other support systems that take care of them.
--Encourage more sale of children into slavery (again, seen as more merciful than killing them).
--Encourage Nyrond's baby boom, and others like it.
--Subvert the Beggars Guild and Guides Guilds of Greyhawk into branches of her cult.
Rumors persist that Turin is dead that he died during the wars. Though his body was never recovered. I do like her machinations on controlling other guilds and boosting the orphanages. Besides its best to corrupt the young as they will be the future. Then slowly the entire free-city will be under her control.
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