Kostchtchie

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Archfiend
Kostchtchie
Kostchtchie, Prince of Wrath, as depicted on the cover of Dragon #119, art by Daniel Horne (1987).
Title: Prince of Wrath
Home plane: Abyss
Power level: Archfiend
Gender: Male
Class: Fighter 13 (avatar)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Portfolio: Strength, Violence, Wrath
Domains: Chaos, Evil, Fury, Winter
Superior: None

Kostchtchie is the Demon Prince of Wrath. His symbol is a hammer rimmed in bloody ice.

Description

Kostchtchie appears as a bandy-legged, yellow-skinned, and (other than his eyebrows) hairless brute, who carries a magic hammer which he squashes his victims with. In the game's first edition, Kostchtchie was a mere seven feet tall. In third edition, he is now more than 20 feet tall.

Relationships

Kostchtchie is a demon lord who is so hateful and hideous that all other demons despise him. He himself hates most everything, as befitting his title as the Prince of Wrath. Even though he is a tanar'ri himself, he wanted to destroy the tanar'ri race as he never saw himself as one of them. Toward this end, he has tried to form an alliance with Obox-ob. Three of Kostchtchie's most hated rivals include Graz'zt, Malcanthet, and the frost giant deity Thrym. The Prince of Wrath also bears great hatred for the celestial paragon Gwynharwyf.

Though she certainly played a part in his ascension, the current status of Baba Yaga's relationship with Kostchtchie is unknown.

Vassals

Kostchtchie's favored mount is a white dragon called Svafnir.

Realm

Kostchtchie resides on the 23rd layer of the Abyss, called the Iron Wastes, a realm of mighty glaciers and plunging temperatures.

Dogma

by Lee Jones

Worshippers

Although Kostchtchie himself was never a frost giant, he identifies himself as one of them, and works to subjugate the entire race to his worship, which puts him into direct conflict with the frost giant god Thrym. Kostchtchie's cult are for the most part males, and certainly none of his thralls are women. Any women in his cults have marginal roles, as he is misogynistic in the extreme. Frost giant tribes under Kostchtchie's rule often increase their numbers not by reproduction but by raiding other tribes who are not worshippers of the demon lord.

While most of Kostchtchie's cultists are frost giants, human and ogre worshippers exist as well. Millennia ago, frost giants of the Iron Wastes enslaved a clan of duergar and took them back to the Abyss to act as slaves. They have slowly changed, becoming more like their frost giant masters, and now these "frost dwarves" toil in Kostchtchie's mines and forges.

Clergy

Kotchtchie's clergy favor the maul.

History

Kostchtchie started life as a hideous mortal human whose physical ugliness was matched only the ugliness of his soul. Rejection and derision from his own people only served to foment his hatred. Kostchtchie eventually met the legendary witch Baba Yaga, who gave him a strange container of nested skulls into which he can store his soul. As long as the skulls remained hidden and unharmed, Kostchtchie was invulnerable to death. With his newfound immortality, Kostchtchie wreaked horrible vengeance upon all those who wronged and ridiculed him. Even then, his anger was not satiated and he went on to amass a huge army to spread more misery and destruction. Finally, a celestial paragon, Gwynharwyf, intervened and struck him down, sending his soul into the Abyss. There, it became lodged in the eternal ice of the Iron Wastes, a place as cold and pitiless as himself, and Kostchtchie began life anew, eventually becoming a demon lord. Zariel defeated him and took his hammer, Matalotok, which grants her immunity to cold damage.[1]

Creative origins

According to "Demonomicon of Iggwilv" in Dragon #345, Kostchtchie's name was inspired by Koschei the Deathless of Russian folklore.

Publishing history

Kostchtchie made his first appearance in the first edition adventure The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth. He later appeared in the first edition Monster Manual II.

Kostchtchie was first detailed for the d20 system in The Tome of Horrors (2002), from Necromancer Games, and received official 3.5 statistics in Fiendish Codex I (2006).

  • after Daniel Thorne
    after Daniel Thorne
  • after Daniel Thorne
    after Daniel Thorne
  • by Lee Jones
    by Lee Jones
  • Monster Manual II (1983).
    Monster Manual II (1983).

References

Notes

Citations

  1. ↑ Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus, p.243.

Bibliography

———. Monster Manual II. Lake Geneva, WI: TSR, 1983.

Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index

The Encyclopedia Greyhawkania Index (EGI) is based on previous work of Jason Zavoda through '08, continued by numerous other fans. The EGI article has a list of sources, product names, abbreviations, and a link to the full, downloadable index.

Topic Type Description Product Page/Card/Image

Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, Artifact of Evil 340
Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus, D&D 5e 4, 75, 96, 103, 104, 105, 148, 153, 155, 243
Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, Come Endless Darkness 49, 50, 57, 149, 157
Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, DMGR4 - Monster Mythology 3, 74, 82
Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, Dance of Demons 68, 173, 185, 191, 193, 197
Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, Defenders of the Faith, D&D 3.0e 96
Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, Dragon magazine #345 21-33
Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, Dungeon magazine #089 49
Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, Monster Manual 1, D&D 5e 52
Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, Monster Manual 2, AD&D 1e 35, 40
Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, Manual of the Planes, AD&D 1e 65, 102
Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, On Hallowed Ground 49, 162, 189, 192
Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, Pathfinder Chronicles: Campaign Setting, Pathfinder 1e 173, 174
Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, Book Two 9
Kostchtchie Deity Demon, Demon lord, Prince of Wrath, Worshipped by: Giant, Sea of Death 10, 12, 16, 18-21, 26, 80, 84
Kostchtchie's Hammer Item Artifact, DMGR4 - Monster Mythology 82
Kostchtchie's Hammer Item Artifact, Encyclopedia Magica - Volume II 556
Kostchtchie's Hammer Item Artifact, Reference SEE ALSO Matalotok
Kostchtchie's Hammer Item Artifact, S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, Book Two 9
Kostchtchie, Torc of Item Artifact, Artifacts and Legends, Pathfinder 1e 62
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