Nale as a Least Devil

Nale is a Least Devil, empowered by externally supplied soul energy.

Blasphemy!

This is a temporary section for discussing 1338’s use of Blasphemy

Observed effects

Strip #1339

Roy, Elan, Haley, Vaarsuvius, and Durkon are shown with circling stars. This fits with them being dazed.
Blackwing and Mr. Scruffy are shown with black swirls.
Durkon changes from stars to swirls in panel 7.
Elan, Roy, Durkon, and Haley complain of weakness.
Vaarsuvius has not commented on weakness yet. Avoiding the effect would require level 19+, which implies significant previous access to 9th-level spells. No 9th-level spells have been shown on-panel so far. Vaarsuvius may simply not have had an opportunity to comment yet.
Minrah is paralyzed. In strip #1338, she is drawn without a doubling effect. It is possible the paralysis was prioritized over whatever the doubling effect was meant to convey. If this is true, it implies Sunny, O-Chul, and Lien were weakened.
Minrah says she is too paralyzed to speak out loud. Blackwing and Mr. Scruffy both speak. This suggests they haven’t been paralyzed.
Belkar and Serini are confirmed to be unaffected.

A Reconstruction

The reconstruction has been moved here

Character Level Summary

Character	Effect	Last Known Level	Basis
Serini	No Effect	21+	(Low Epic)
Elan	Weakened	18+	(17+ Bard required to swap Cure Critical Wounds); plus Dashing Swordsman 1+)
Haley	Weakened	16	(based on attacks per round and leveled since then)
Vaarsuvius	Weakened	16	(demonstrated here)
Belkar	No Effect	15	(Ranger 14 / Barbarian 1; deafened by Holy Word)
Roy	Weakened	14+	(forum)
Durkon	Weakened	13+	(required to cast Regenerate)
Lien	Weakened	12+	(higher level than Hinjo)
O-Chul	?	12+	(higher level than Hinjo)
Minrah	Paralyzed	10+	(Fighter 1+ / Cleric 9+)
Mr. Scruffy	Weakened	4.5	Half hit die from being a cat, plus 4 from Belkar’s observed Ranger level
Blackwing	Weakened	16	(V’s familiar uses V’s Caster Level in place of Hit Dice)
Sunny	?	11-16	(Beholders start as Large 11+ Hit Dice and can advance up to 16 HD without becoming Huge)
Mimi	?	11-21	(Mimi appears to be a Huge Mimic), and thus advanced to this HD range.)

Blasphemy Effects (Simplified)

Blasphemy affects nonevil creatures based on how their Hit Dice compare to the caster’s caster level.
All listed effects apply simultaneously.

Target HD relative to caster level	Resulting effects
Above Caster Level	No effect
Equal to caster level	Dazed
Up to caster level -1	Weakened, dazed
Up to caster level -5	Paralyzed, weakened, dazed
Up to caster level -10	Killed, paralyzed, weakened, dazed

If the caster has caster level 20, then nonevil creatures with 20 HD are dazed; creatures with 16–19 HD are weakened and dazed; creatures with 11–15 HD are paralyzed, weakened, and dazed; and creatures with 10 HD or fewer are killed, paralyzed, weakened, and dazed, while creatures with more than 20 HD are unaffected.

Echoes

In the final blasphemy panel, most characters are drawn with a doubled/afterimage effect, which may indicate they were affected. A few are not.

Serini may be unaffected due to relatively high Hit Dice.
Belkar, Sabine, and Thog likely qualify as Evil for the purposes of blasphemy, and so would not be affected.
Minrah does not appear to have the doubled effect, but it’s not yet clear why.

Mr. Scruffy

Mr. Scruffy is a cat with one half Hit Die. Belkar’s confirmed ranger level grants him an additional +4 Hit Dice. At a total of 4.5 HD, and with Elan at least 18th level, Mr. Scruffy would normally be expected to die to blasphemy. However, he has survived. A number of ways to increase his survivability have been proposed:

Urban Companion. Animal companions have a closed list of allowable creatures, and cats are not normally among them. The Urban Companion alternative class feature effectively replaces Animal Companion with a familiar, which would be protected in the same way as Blackwing, and explicitly allows cats. However, this would imply that Belkar can speak with cats, which he has not demonstrated. This speech ability is a feature of Urban Companions, not shared by familiars. (Cityscape Web Enhancement¹.)
Wild Cohort. This feat grants an animal-companion-like cohort. Mr. Scruffy would have +9 HD instead of +4. It uses the same animal list as Animal Companion. This would also explain why Belkar has both Mr. Scruffy and Bloodfeast, with Bloodfeast remaining his actual animal companion. (Wild Life column¹)
More ranger levels. Belkar could plausibly reach 18th level, increasing Mr. Scruffy’s bonus Hit Dice to +6 instead of +4.
Natural Bond. This feat adds +3 to Belkar’s effective druid level when determining his animal companion, which would grant Mr. Scruffy an additional +2 HD. It’s not compatible with Wild Cohort.
Warbeast template. The Warbeast template adds +1 HD, and Belkar could apply it to Mr. Scruffy with sufficient time and a few successful Handle Animal checks.
Foresight and preparation. For example, Mr. Scruffy may have been protected against such effects during his time as the pet of a fabulously wealthy and eccentric aristocrat, with that protection still in effect.

Least Devil

The IFCC offers to promote Nale to Least Devil.

In Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells, devils are divided into Least, Lesser, and Greater Devils. The Least Devils listed there are the Lemure, Nupperibo, and Spined Devil, ranked in that order.

New devils begin existence as Lemures, and may later be promoted to Spined Devils. At any point after that, a devil can be demoted to Nupperibo as a form of punishment.

Nale does not resemble any of these devils, but he does demonstrate cold resistance, and he initiates a telepathic conversation². Cold resistance 10 and telepathy (100 ft.) are universal devil traits.

One suggestion is that Nale differs from standard Least Devils because he did not undergo the usual rendering process applied to condemned souls before promotion. While this cannot be proven with the evidence available, I love this explanation.

Rich published a Descent of Devil panel, showing devils arranged by rank. All of the devils shown there have strong visual matches to devils previously published in A Monster For Every Season: Autumn 1. In order, the panel appears to depict:

Spined Devil (Rank 3 in Fiendish Codex II, Least Devil)
Bearded Devil (Rank 4, Lesser Devil)
Horned Devil (Rank 13, Greater Devil)
Pit Fiend (Rank 16, the highest rank, Greater Devil; mostly off panel)

Buy the set and decide for yourself whether there is a reason Rich chose these four. My inclination is that the selection reflects a combination of body plan, color scheme, and fit with Fiendish Codex II.

Taken together, the evidence suggests that Nale, as a Least Devil, may possess the baseline traits shared by devils in general:

Immunity to fire and poison
Resistance to acid 10 and cold 10
See in Darkness (Su)
Telepathy

Beyond these shared traits, there is not much evidence of any abilities that can be linked to Least Devil status specifically.

Baatezu

The chart labeled “Devil Traits,” which applies to “most devils” in the SRD, appears in the Monster Manual as applying to “all baatezu.” Both versions retain the “unless otherwise noted” language, so the practical difference between the two is limited.

Wizards of the Coast retained copyright over baatezu. This is why they do not appear in the SRD and are unlikely to be mentioned explicitly in the comic.

Nale is treated as a devil in the text: the IFCC offers to make him a devil, Nale refers to himself as the least devil possible, and the spell used to summon him is described as a “nonspecific devil summoning spell” when translated from Wizardspeak.

From there, it is possible to argue that Nale should be treated as a baatezu. Becoming a Least Devil places him in a hierarchy, the hierarchy shown by the IFCC, in the same panel, consists entirely of baatezu, and Nale has already demonstrated two traits that are listed as belonging to all baatezu.

A strong counterargument is that baatezu are copyrighted and do not exist in the story, so Nale cannot be one.

Fountain of Overriding Diminishment

While the link is active, the Fountain enhances a single linked fiend’s fiendish attributes and magic powers. It is not as powerful as a soul splice.

“A single linked fiend” and “fiendish attributes and magic powers” emphasize fiends in a way that suggests the Fountain and its enhancements only work on such creatures and their abilities.

After his soul empowerment, Nale has demonstrated the following:

Appearance

Nale displays hooves, horns, and an increased size. Hooves and horns could be interpreted as natural weapons, though they do not appear among the standard natural weapons of SRD devils. The Descent of Devil chart shows horn growth increasing with rank, suggesting fiendish progression rather than a discrete granted ability.

Flight

Nale demonstrates wingless flight. This most naturally fits a supernatural ability. In the SRD, devils that can fly do so with wings, so this differs from the standard fiend chassis.

Strength

Nale displays dramatically increased physical strength, consistent with a broad enhancement of his physical capabilities.

Long-range vision

Nale compliments his own long-range vision. In the SRD, devils tend to have very high Spot checks but gain them through skill ranks and high Wisdom, not racial bonuses or special senses. Whether Nale’s vision reflects enhanced physical aptitude, heightened perception, or a distinct fiendish sensory ability is unclear.

Blasphemy

Nale uses blasphemy. Among SRD devils, this appears as an at-will spell-like ability on pit fiends. It clearly qualifies as a fiendish magic power, but it raises the question of whether the Fountain enhances specific pre-existing abilities or enhances a fiend’s magical capability as a whole, allowing new expressions to appear.

Teleportation and soul energy transfer

Nale never teleports himself. Instead, he repeatedly weakens Sabine to use her teleport, even when doing so is costly and tactically awkward. Many fiends, including Sabine, possess greater teleport at will with an explicit restriction to themselves and a limited carried weight. After receiving Nale’s soul energy, Sabine teleports in ways that exceed that restriction. This represents a form of enhancement that does not grant a new ability or scale up an existing one, but instead removes a restriction on an ability Sabine already possessed.

Conclusions

Two operational models for the Fountain have been suggested.

Enhancement
Under this model, the Fountain amplifies a fiend’s pre-existing abilities. This would explain why Nale relies on Sabine for teleportation rather than demonstrating one himself: if Nale lacks teleport outright, the Fountain cannot supply it, only enhance it when present.

Endowment
Under this model, the Fountain draws from a fixed set of “fiendish” powers it can grant, independent of the subject’s original ability list. This cleanly explains Nale’s access to blasphemy. However, the absence of greater teleport under this interpretation is harder to reconcile, since a majority of SRD devils possess it as an at-will ability.

These models are not mutually exclusive. The Fountain may grant Nale abilities drawn from a predefined set of fiendish powers, while also enhancing or relaxing limitations on any fiendish powers he already possesses. Nale, as the “least devil possible”, probably does not have many fiendish powers to enhance.

A proposed synthesis

Least Devils have few Hit Dice, and templates like Half-Fiend gate their most powerful abilities behind additional Hit Dice. On that basis, Half-Fiend can be used as an analogy for a Least Devil template: such a Least Devil would still begin with weak abilities. The Fountain can then be understood as enhancing the Least Devil’s Hit Dice, creating the appearance of newly granted powers while remaining consistent with the IFCC’s “enhancement” language.

This becomes more complicated if Nale retained his Hit Dice from life, but Rich could instead have imagined a template that hinges on something other than Hit Dice. As a model, the idea remains internally consistent.

Why such a template would omit common devil powers like winged flight and greater teleport remains an open question.

Printed Devils as Reference Points

This section follows the core premise of the Geekery thread: for the purpose of analysis, the comic is treated as though it strictly follows the D&D 3.5 rules, even when we suspect it doesn’t.

The devils discussed below are not proposed as literal identities for Nale. They are reference points used to test what a Least Devil can plausibly look like under the rules, what abilities are typical at that tier, and which parts of Nale’s presentation require additional explanation.

Lemure

A lemure is a mindless mass of flesh with vaguely humanoid features. That appearance is a plausible outcome of prolonged soul rendering, which makes the lemure a natural fit for the idea that Nale retained his former appearance and abilities because his soul was never rendered before his promotion to Least Devil.

However, the lemure is a poor fit for any model where the Fountain only enhances pre-existing powers, because lemures have none.

Spinagon (Spined Devil)

The spinagon’s primary advantage over the lemure is that its existence is explicitly acknowledged in the comic. It appears as the small devil immediately after the human figure in the Descent of Devil chart, and this identification is confirmed by AMFES Autumn.

Like the lemure, it remains possible to argue that Nale retained his original appearance because his soul was not rendered down. Unlike the lemure, the spinagon actually has abilities: fire damage on melee attacks, ranged spine attacks, a low chance to summon other spinagons, spell resistance, and the spell-like abilities disguise self, produce flame, and stinking cloud.

The most obvious stumbling block is that a spined devil without spines is difficult to reconcile visually. In addition, the spinagon’s ability spread (Dex 25, Str 10) contrasts with Nale’s demonstrated physical strength and his comment that his aim “could use some work.”

Nupperibo

Nupperibos are devils undergoing punishment for misdeeds. They slightly resemble lemures in appearance. Their eyes and ears are sewn shut, and they navigate by smell. While they possess blindsight, fast healing, and immunity to mind-affecting effects, Nale is neither blind nor deaf, nor are the IFCC punishing him.

Pit Fiend

The Pit Fiend is a Greater Devil rather than a Least Devil, but it enters the discussion because it is the only SRD devil with access to blasphemy, which it uses at will. As the iconic apex of devilkind, it provides a clear reference point for what a fully realized fiendish ability suite looks like.

This suite includes greater teleport at will, so using the pit fiend as a template for the abilities granted by the Fountain raises an immediate question: if Nale’s power set is modeled after this archetype, why does he rely on Sabine for teleportation instead of using it himself?

Fiendish Creature Template

The fiendish creature template has been proposed as a model for the abilities Nale gained by becoming a Least Devil, which would replace the baseline devil traits.

It grants darkvision, cold and fire resistance, damage reduction, spell resistance, and a smite good attack, with most benefits scaling by Hit Dice. However, the template cannot be applied to outsiders and does not change the creature’s type. This conflicts with evidence that Nale is fully a devil, such as his eligibility for the Fountain and his summoning via a devil-summoning effect.

Half-Fiend Template

Half-Fiend is suggested mainly because it allows blasphemy without also implying greater teleport. In the printed template, blasphemy is gated behind 11+ Hit Dice, so a Least Devil modeled as a kind of Half-Fiend would still be weak overall, avoiding the problem of too much power for a Least Devil.

In addition to SLA’s like blasphemy, it grants smite good, cold resistance, damage reduction, and spell resistance.

Half-Fiend does not fit Nale perfectly. It explicitly grants wings, while Nale’s flight is wingless, and it applies a flat +4 bonus to both Strength and Dexterity, which contrasts with Nale’s comment that his aim “could use some work” compared to his strength increase.

One structural point does favor it: unlike Fiendish Creature, Half-Fiend changes the creature’s type to Outsider, which is consistent with Nale being treated as a true devil.

Former Self

Nale conjures clothes for Thog. This creates a chain of speculation:

Conjure Clothes is a single, concrete anomaly.
That anomaly implies spellcasting access.
Spellcasting access implies Sorcerer class levels.
Sorcerer class levels imply Nale’s Rogue and Fighter class levels.
Taken together, retained class levels imply total character level.
Total character level implies feats and ability score increases, independent of class.

Different purposes may change at what point it makes sense to cut this line of thought short.

There are additional questions:

Did Nale lose a level? He died but was not raised or resurrected.
Does Nale retain the benefits of being Human, specifically the bonus feat and bonus skill points?
Are Nale’s ability scores based on his scores in life, or on his current form? Physical and mental scores may not behave the same way here.

Finally, we know for certain Nale brought at least one thing with him.

Status

Soul Energy (Fountain of Overriding Diminishment)

Demonstrated Abilities

From Least Devil Status

From Soul Energy Augmentation

Constraints and Costs

Under Construction

Template comparisons (half-fiend, fiendish)
High-tier devil ability parallels

Thank you to Kazyan for sources. ↩ ↩²
Thanks to D.One for pointing out the telepathic exchange in comic 1338. Fiendish telepathy is established in comic 1319. ↩