Dungeons & Dragons Teases Changes to Visual Designs of Demons and Devils

Dungeons & Dragons could be making more changes to its iconic monsters.

By Christian Hoffer

Dungeons & Dragons could be changing how demons and devils look in the near future. As part of the upcoming rules revisions to Dungeons & Dragons, Wizards of the Coast has redesigned the game's iconic chromatic and metallic dragons with brand new looks. While the dragons are the focus of the big marketing push for D&D's 50th anniversary, some fans are wondering if other classic Dungeons & Dragons monsters will also see similar big visual updates. 

At Gen Con earlier this month, ComicBook sat down with Dungeons & Dragons art designer Josh Herman to find out if other monsters would be getting a new look in the new 2025 Monster Manual. "I'd say yes and no," Herman said. "Some of the stuff is classic, and doesn't need to be reinvented. The Gelatinous Cube doesn't need to be reinvented. We're happy with that. There are some updates to some of the monsters specifically. Some of them are because we just want to update the design to maybe fall in line within a family or groups, or something like that. Maybe some things are just getting a little old in the tooth, and we are just going to update the visual. Some stuff we want to reinvent all the way up, just to kind of give it a little bit of a push. So, it really depends on what the thing is." 

Herman specifically mentioned demons and devils as something that could see redesigns in ther near future. "The level of work that you saw on the dragons is probably work that will be reserved for very specific types of creatures or villains or characters like that," Herman said. "So, you won't see design sheets for all 500 monsters that are going to be in the Monster Manual, just to be clear. There's a good handful, I'd say. One that we're exploring moving forward is the difference between demons and devils. What did the fiends look like? And this is, I think, the critique of when you look at an illustration of a demon or a devil, you should know which group they fall into. And some of them don't." 

Demons and devils have been a part of Dungeons & Dragons' history since the beginning of the game, but have underwent several significant changes in lore. Most notably, demons and devils were called "baatezu" and "tanar'ri" in an attempt to distance the game from the Satanic Panic in the 1980s.

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Herman also mentioned Demogorgon as an example of a creature that could get a tweaked visual look. "Demogorgon is actually a good example," Herman said. " It could have the exact same general look, but what if there was more under the surface that you didn't know was there? Almost like a plus-one-ing to what we could do, or adding some fun flavor to that. And maybe we can add that in some fun visuals that will kind of add a little bit more flavor, and sort of a deeper reveal to the character that was there all along."

We'll see more of the new monster designs when the 2025 Monster Manual comes out next year.

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